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Liftoff! Delta IV Launches Next Generation GPS Satellite - 0 views

  • A Delta IV rocket launched
  • sending a next-generation Global Positioning System satellite into orbit
  • satellite that will be part of the GPS system that is used by both civilians and the military
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  • will replace a 19-year-old navigation satellite in the global system that includes 31 operational satellites on-orbit which broadcast position
  • the third of 12 planned launches to provide improved GPS signals
  • featuring improved anti-jam technology, more precise atomic clocks, an upgraded civilian channel for commercial aviation and on-board processors that can be reprogrammed in flight
Mars Base

Station-Bound Dragon Spacecraft's Mission Patch Unveiled | | Space.com - 0 views

  • The first of NASA's contracted cargo resupply flights to the International Space Station now has its own mission patch, courtesy of the company launching the spacecraft.
  • The flight, referred to as Commercial Resupply Services-1 (CRS-1), is the first of a dozen resupply flights for which NASA is paying SpaceX $1.6 billion to fly.
  • The CRS-1 mission patch, which borrows its shape from the Dragon capsule, shows the solar-powered spacecraft grappled by the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm as it is being brought in to connect with the orbiting outpost's Harmony module
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  • Almost camouflaged with the patch's green-colored North American continent is a four leaf clover. The symbol for luck, the clover has become a regular feature on SpaceX's insignias since the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company's first successful Falcon 1 launch in September 2008
  • Based on pre-launch photos, the CRS-1 emblem does not appear on the Falcon 9 rocket or the Dragon capsule
  • embroidered versions of the patch may fly to the space station and back as part of the mission's Official Flight Kit (OFK) of mementos to be presented to NASA and SpaceX team members for a job well done.
Mars Base

Record-Breaking Supersonic Skydive Attempt Delayed to Tuesday | Space.com - 0 views

  • an incoming cold front is expected to bring cooler temperatures, strong winds and a bit of rain to the launch site on Monday
Mars Base

How Supersonic Skydiver Will Freefall Through Earth's Atmosphere | Felix Baumgartner Sp... - 0 views

  • Earth's atmosphere starts 430 miles (690 kilometers) up.
  • upper boundary of the thermosphere, the outermost layer of the atmosphere
  • Solar radiation bombards this layer, striking its sparse air molecules and causing them to emit flashes of light: the auroras
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  • altitude of 53 miles (85 km), the thermosphere transitions into the mesosphere, an atmospheric layer known for its faint clouds, as well as electrical discharge events called red sprites and blue jets.
  • e stratosphere extends from an altitude of 6 miles (10 kilometers) up to about 30 miles (50 km) above the surface. The air pressure drops from 10 percent of its value at sea level to just 0.1 percent
  • , unlike in the layers above and below, absorption of ultraviolet sunlight by ozone causes the temperature to increase as you move up in altitude
  • coupling of temperature with altitude prevents convection from happening, and so the air in this layer is dynamically stable.
  • troposphere, which includes everything from an altitude of 6 miles down over most of Eart
  • re all weather happens, as well as longer-term processes such as the jet stream. In this layer, temperature and pressure both drop as you move up in altitude
Mars Base

Well-preserved mammoth carcass found in Siberia - 0 views

  • the carcass of a 16-year-old mammoth that was possibly killed by humans tens of thousands of years ago and was excavated on the North Siberian Taimyr peninsula in late Sept. 28, 2012
  • one of the best-preserved bodies of a grown mammoth yet found
  • excavated from the Siberian permafrost in late September near the Sopochnaya Karga cape, 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) northeast of Moscow.
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  • n named Jenya, after the 11-year-old Russian boy who found the animal's limbs sticking out of the frozen mud
  • 2 meters (6 feet 6 inches) tall and weighed 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds).
  • what killed Jenya was
  • t a missing left tusk that made him unfit for fights with other mammoths or human hunters
  • proved that the massive humps on mammoths seen on Ice Age cave paintings
  • e were not extended bones but huge chunks of fat that helped them regulate their body temperatures and survive the long, cold winters
  • , its DNA has been damaged by low temperatures and is "hardly" suitable for possible cloning
  • an earlier mammoth discovery might be able to help recreate the Ice Age elephant.
  • in early September that an international team of researchers had discovered mammoth hair, soft tissues and bone marrow some 328 feet (100 meters) underground
  • Scientists already have deciphered much of the genetic code of the woolly mammoth from balls of mammoth hair found frozen in the Siberian permafros
Mars Base

Supersonic Skydive's 5 Biggest Risks: Boiling Blood, Deadly Spins, and Worse - 0 views

  • history's largest helium balloon—55 stories tall and as wide as a football field
  • s team estimates the Austrian sky diver and helicopter pilot will reach Mach 1.2—roughly 690 miles (1,110 kilometers) an hour
  • Originally scheduled for Monday but postponed due to projected high winds
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  • atmosphere above 12 miles, or 63,000 feet (19,200 meters)
  • is so thin that, if not protected, human blood will literally boil
  • , Baumgartner's airtight suit and the capsule around him will be continuously pressurized to create a personal atmosphere that isolates him from the void surrounding him
  • The smallest crack in this protective layer would cause almost immediate death
  • It is assumed this is what occurred on previous attempts to break Kittinger's record. Russian Pyotr Dolgov (1962) and American Nick Piantanida (1966) both died, most likely due to depressurization at extreme altitude
  • Baumgartner's balloon will be stressed by the cold, constructed as it is from plastic film just 0.0008 inch (0.02 millimeter) thick, to optimize weight-to-lift ratio
  • his balloon and capsule will pass through an atmospheric layer called the tropopause
  • Wind Could Blow Baumgartner off Course
  • Baumgartner Could Spin Uncontrollably, Even Fatally
  • flat-spin risk can be mediated with a technology first developed for Kittinger: a stabilization parachute to prevent further increase in rotation, deployed on command, or automatically if -3.5 G's are achieved.
  • Baumgartner has his eyes on a new speed record
  • won't open automatically
  • he will assume a rigid aerodynamic body position for the entire free fall—head first, arms at sides—and hope for the best.
  • Sonic Boom Could Do Unknown Damage
  • If Baumgartner becomes the first human to achieve supersonic speed with just his body—and without breaking his body—he will break new scientific ground.
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