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Mars Base

Astrobiologists claim meteorite carried space algae - 0 views

phys.org/...sts-meteorite-space-algae.html

scibyte86 meteorite

shared by Mars Base on 13 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • The structure of one of the samples led the Cardiff researchers to conclude that the fireball was once a comet.
Mars Base

Subsystems | ESTCube - 0 views

www.estcube.eu/subsystems

scibyte86 ESTCube

shared by Mars Base on 13 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • The satellite consits of
  • ADCS - attitude determination and control system, determines and modifies satellite's alignment
  • CAM - onboard camera for taking pictures of the Earth and the unreeled tether
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  • CDHS - command and data handling system, the satellite's main onboard computer
  • COM - communications system for up- and downlinks
  • EPS - electrical power system, provides electrical power for the satellite
  • PL - payload, the satellite's experiment module, that containt the tether and everything else related to the experiment
  • STR - satellite's structure
Mars Base

ESTCube-1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/ESTCube-1

scibyte86 ESTCube

shared by Mars Base on 13 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • scheduled to be launched to orbit in second half of 2013
  • Student Satellite is an educational project that university and high school students can participate in
  • The CubeSat standard for nanosatellites was followed during the engineering of ESTCube-1, resulting in a 10x10x11.35 cm cube, with a volume of 1 liter and a mass of 1.048 kg.
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  • According to the CubeSat standard there are three different sized CubeSats corresponding to size 1U, 2U and 3U. Base side lengths are the same but height is 2 to 3 times bigger than 1U CubeSats
  • Mass is also set in CubeSat standard, the highest possible mass for 1U CubeSat is 1300 grams, 2U CubeSat 2600 grams and 3U CubeSat 4000 grams
  • CubeSat base side length must be 100.0±0.1 millimeters and satellite height must be 113.5±0.1 mm
  • the Estonian satellite
  • a 1U CubeSat
  • Although
  • its main purpose was to educate students, the satellite does have a scientific purpose.
  • On board of the satellite is an electric solar wind sail (e-sail) which was created by a Finnish scientist Pekka Janhunen
  • it is the first real experimentation of the e-sail
  • 10 meters of e-sail 50 to 20 micrometers thick wire of high-technology structure so-called Heytether will be deployed from the satellite.
  • The deployment of the Heytether can be detected by decrease of the satellite's speed of rotation or by a on-board camera
  • To control the loaded solar wind sail elements interaction with the plasma surrounding the earth and the effect it has on the spacecraft spinning speed the spacecraft has two on-board nanotechnologic electron emitters/gun
  • The electron emitters are connected to the e-sail element and by shooting out electrons it loads the e-sail element positively to 500 volts
  • The positive ions in the plasma push the e-sail element and have an influence on the satellites rotation speed
  • The effect of the e-sail is measured by the change in rotation speed
  • The camera is used to take a picture of Earth and the successfully deployed Heytether. [edit]
  • ESTCube-1 will be sent to orbit by the European Space Agency's rocket Vega in spring of 2013
  • Start in spring of 2013
  • Half an hour after the satellites deployment from the start capsule satellites antennas will be opened and radio transmitter and important subsystems will be switched on
  • First days or weeks will be used to test the satellite and set it to work on full capacity.
  • Orienting the satellite so the on-board camera will be faced to earth
  • trying to take a picture of Estonia
  • Rotating the satellite on an axis with a speed of 1 revolution per second
  • E-sail element deployment from the satellite by a centrifugal force and confirming the deployment via the on-board camera
  • Activating the electron emitter and loading the e-sail
  • Measuring the e-sails and Lorentz force by satellites revolutions per second
  • If possible using the negatively charged e-sail to take the satellite off orbit and burn it in the earths atmosphere
  • If everything goes perfect the mission can be completed within a few weeks to a month
  • Lifespan of the satellite
  • Measurements and weight
  • Scientific purpose
  • Communicating with the satellite
  • held by two International Amateur Radio Unions three registered frequencies
  • Periodic but very slow communication is done on a telegraphic signal on a frequency of 437.250 MHz
  • the most important satellite parameters are transmitted every 3 to 5 minutes
  • For fast connections FSK-modulation radio signal on a frequency of 437.505 MHz with a 9600 baud connection speed and AX.25 standard is used.
  • Somewhat slow connection speed is caused by the usage of amateur radio frequencies which allow a maximum of 25 kiloherz bandwidth
  • Fast connection is used only when the satellite has been given a specific
  • Using the GFSK-modulation maximum possible connection speed is 19,200 bits per second
  • Software
  • FreeRTOS on the satellite's Command and Data Handling System and camera module
  • TinyOS on the satellite's communication module
  • Financing and costs
  • Cheapest possibility to send a satellite onto orbit is offered by European Space Agency. Because Estonia is an associated member of ESA most of the launch expenses (about 70,000 euros) will be covered from Estonian member fee for educational expenses. With the launch total expenses for the project are approximately 100,000 euros.
Mars Base

One of the world's oldest sun dial dug up in Kings' Valley - 0 views

phys.org/...world-oldest-sun-dial-dug.html

scibyte86 Sundial

shared by Mars Base on 16 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • During archaeological excavations in the Kings' Valley in Upper Egypt a team of researchers
  • found one of the world's oldest ancient Egyptian sun dials
  • During this year's excavations the researchers found a flattened piece of limestone (so-called Ostracon) on which a semicircle in black color had been drawn
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  • The semicircle is divided into twelve sections of about 15 degrees each.
  • A dent in the middle of the approximately 16 centimeter long horizontal baseline served to insert a wooden or metal bolt that would cast a shadow to show the hours of the day
  • Small dots in the middle of each section were used for even more detailed time measuring
  • found in an area of stone huts that were used in the 13th century BC to house the men working at the construction of the graves
  • possibly used to measure their work hours
  • the division of the sun path into hours also played a crucial role in the so-called netherworld guides that were drawn onto the walls of the royal tombs
  • These guides are illustrated texts that chronologically describe the nightly progression of the sun-god through the underworld.
  • the sun dial could also have served to further visualize this phenomenon.
Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: Images - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...images

scibyte86 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 17 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • This mosaic of images from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows Mount Sharp in raw color as recorded by the camera.
  • Raw color shows the scene's colors as they would look in a typical smart-phone camera photo, before any adjustment.
  • This mosaic was assembled from dozens of images from the 100-millimeter-focal-length telephoto lens camera mounted on the right side of the Mastcam instrument
Mars Base

NASA - Curiosity Rover Hits Paydirt - 0 views

www.nasa.gov/...curiosity20130315.html

scibyte86 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 17 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • This week the Curiosity science team released its initial findings from its first ever drilled sample on Mars
  • Curiosity obtained her first drill sample and passed that sample on to her onboard analytical lab instruments, called CheMin and SAM
  • These powerful instruments tell us about what minerals are present in these rocks and whether they contain the ingredients necessary to sustain life as we know it.
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  • When we combine what we have learned from our remote sensing and contact science instruments with the data that's coming in from CheMin and SAM, we get a picture of an ancient watery environment, which would have been habitable had life been present in it.
  • the information that we're getting from the CheMin instrument, tells us that the minerals that are present in this lakebed sedimentary rock at John Klein are very different from just about anything we've ever analyzed before on Mars
  • they tell us that the John Klein rock was deposited in a fresh water environment
  • This is an important contrast with other sedimentary environments that we've visited on Mars, like the Meridiani Planum landing site where the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, has been operating since 2004.
  • At that site, the sedimentary rocks record evidence of an environment that was only wet on a very intermittent basis, and when it was, the waters that were there were highly acidic, very salty, and not favorable for the survival of organic compounds.
  • direct contrast to the fresh water environment we're seeing here at the John Klein Site
  • The SAM instrument is telling us that these rocks contained all of the ingredients necessary for a habitable environment
  • We found carbon, sulfur and oxygen, all present and a number of other elements in states that life could have taken advantage of.
  • these few tablespoons of powder from a Martian rock have provided the Curiosity science team with an exciting new dataset
Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: Images - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...images

scibyte86 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 17 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • white-balanced color adjustment that makes the sky look overly blue but shows the terrain as if under Earth-like lighting
  • White-balancing helps scientists recognize rock materials based on their experience looking at rocks on Earth
  • White balancing yields an overly blue hue in images that have very little blue information, such as Martian landscapes, because the white balancing tends to overcompensate for the low inherent blue content.
Mars Base

Plastic Wrapped Shuttle Atlantis Slated for Grand Public Unveiling in June - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...grand-public-unveiling-in-june

scibyte86 shuttle

shared by Mars Base on 09 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • Space Shuttle Atlantis
  • will be unveiled to the public in June 2013
  • The plastic wrap is protecting the orbiter from construction debris and will be unfurled in May
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  • Then the payload bay doors will be carefully opened and the Canadian built remote manipulator system (RMS) — or robotic arm — will be installed and extended
  • new 90,000-square-foot home
  • mounted high on steel pedestals – tilted at exactly 43.21 degrees – simulating the outlook as though she was ‘in flight’ orbiting Earth and approaching the International Space Station (ISS).
  • Atlantis rises some 30 feet off the ground
  • nose soars 26.5 feet above ground the portside wingtip sits only 7.5 feet from the floor. The wing tip top soars 87 feet from the ground
  • sitting right beside Atlantis will be a co-orbiting, high fidelity full scale replica of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope
Mars Base

SpaceX Grasshopper Takes a Leap Into a 'Ring of Fire' - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...kes-a-leap-into-a-ring-of-fire

scibyte86 SpaceX

shared by Mars Base on 12 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • On March 7, 2013, the vertical and takeoff and landing (VTVL) vehicle, rose 24 stories or 80.1 meters (262.8 feet), hovered for approximately 34 seconds and then landed safely – and more accurately than ever before
  • The goal of Grasshopper is to eventually create a reusable first stage for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which would be able to land safely instead of falling back into the ocean and not being usable again
  • This is Grasshopper’s fourth in a series of test flights, with each test demonstrating exponential increases in altitude
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  • Last September, Grasshopper flew to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet),
  • in November, it flew to 5.4 meters (17.7 feet)
  • in December, it flew to 40 meters (131 feet).
  • Grasshopper stands 10 stories tall
  • consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure
Mars Base

Distant planets' atmospheres revealed | Atom & Cosmos | Science News - 0 views

www.sciencenews.org/...t_planets_atmospheres_revealed

scibyte86 exoplanet

shared by Mars Base on 15 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • Astronomers have gotten the most detailed look yet at the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar system
  • The study is among the first to directly analyze the chemical makeup of an exoplanet
  • In the past, astronomers inferred the existence of exoplanets and their gases by looking for subtle changes in the light streaming from the planet’s star
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  • Now, with improved instruments, a team
  • has detected light coming directly from a planet light-years away
  • The data have high enough resolution to reveal not only the presence but the abundance of carbon monoxide and water in the planet’s atmosphere
  • Such information could shed light on how the planet formed
  • studies could also reveal the presence of life on a distant planet, but the planet’s size and orbit have already ruled it out as a habitable world
  • In 2008
  • the first image of a multiplanet system outside the solar system, showing three gas giants orbiting the star HR 8799
  • HR 8799 is about 130 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Pegasus
  • The planets are scorching hot, making them bright enough for astronomers to detect directly
  • In 2010, the researchers imaged a fourth planet around HR 8799
  • In the new study
  • focused on one of these planets, HR 8799c.
  • Five to 10 times as massive as Jupiter, HR 8799c sits about eight times farther away from its star than Jupiter does from the sun
  • Because of that great distance, the astronomers could block the star’s light and record infrared light
  • Because different gases absorb and emit light in distinct ways, the team could identify carbon monoxide and water but found no methane, which scientists had thought might be present.
  • In another new study
  • researchers simultaneously collected infrared light from the atmospheres of all four planets
  • A team led by
  • an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, found hints of ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide and acetylene in the planets’ atmospheres
  • The chemistry of each planet varies
  • different from anything in our own solar system
  • Although the teams looked at different wavelengths of light, which pick up different types of molecules, the two studies appear consistent
  • by peering at just one planet, Konopacky’s team obtained more detailed data that allowed the researchers to get a sense of how much carbon and oxygen is in HR 8799c’s atmosphere
  • Knowing the ratio of carbon to oxygen in the atmosphere may reveal how the planet formed
  • Astronomers have two competing theories of how planets arise from the disk of gas and dust encircling a young star
  • In the gravitational instability model, some of the gas and dust suddenly clumps and collapses, simultaneously creating a planet’s core and atmosphere
  • In this scenario, the chemical composition of a planet should match that of its star
  • In the other model, known as core accretion, planet building is a two-step process
  • First, material from the disk accumulates into a core.
  • Later, the core captures gases swirling in the disk to form an atmosphere.
  • In this case, the carbon-to-oxygen ratio of the planet may differ from the star because the accretion of cores may deplete the disk of certain elements
  • Compared with its star, HR 8799c appears to have slightly more carbon relative to oxygen, suggesting the planet originated via core accretion
  • surmise that when the disk around HR 8799 formed, water froze into particles of ice.
  • The bits of ice collided to form the planet’s core, leaving behind little water vapor, and therefore less oxygen, when the planet accumulated its atmosphere later on
  • Other researchers are not convinced by this conclusion
  • “We don’t really understand planetary formation enough to make a strong case either way,”
  • the data from both new studies may help astronomers refine their simulations of planetary formation
  • astronomers have directly imaged planets around three distant stars
  • researchers are poised to capture light from many more planets
  • Project 1640,
  • is looking for Jupiter-sized planets around some 200 stars
  • “Ultimately, with better instruments, people will be able to use these methods on Earthlike planets.”
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