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Mars Base

Russia Races to Save Mars Moon Probe from Space Junk Fate | Russia Phobos-Grunt Mars Mo... - 0 views

www.space.com/ars-moon-probe-space-junk.html

Phobos-Grunt scibyte21

shared by Mars Base on 11 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • "I think we have lost the Phobos-Grunt," Vladimir Uvarov, a former space official at the Russian Defense Ministry, told the Russian daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta today (Nov. 10), according to ABC News. "It looks like a serious flaw. The past experience shows that efforts to make the engines work will likely fail."
  • There have been conflicting news reports as to how long the Russians have before the spacecraft's batteries run out, ranging from two days to two weeks
  • The ambitious flight marks Russia's first attempt at an interplanetary mission since 1996.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Phobos-Grunt is in a safe, so-called parking orbit, and there is little danger of it colliding with other spacecraft or satellites
  • The space station is above that orbit, and the space station is one of the lowest spacecraft in orbit
  • The U.S. Space Surveillance Network is tracking without difficulty both the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft and its associated Zenit 2 second stage
  • This information is also available to Russian experts. NASA hopes that control of the spacecraft can still be achieved and that it can be sent on its proper path to Mars
  • a rough estimate, the lifetime is measured at several weeks to a few months at that altitude, but probably not much more than that
  • even though the spacecraft is still full of fuel. If the probe cannot be saved, Russian flight controllers have the option of venting out the onboard fuel into space.
  • even if it's full of fuel and it re-enters — it will break up in atmospheric re-entry, which does not really pose a hazard.
Mars Base

ScienceShot: Amoeba-Sized Insect Is Missing Some Pieces - ScienceNOW - 0 views

news.sciencemag.org/...eshot-amoeba-sized-insect.html

scibyte22

shared by Mars Base on 19 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • Amoeba-Sized Insect Is Missing Some Pieces
  • microscopic analysis of the fairy wasp (Megaphragma mymaripenne
  • 200 micrometers in length is one of the world's smallest animals
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • shown compared to a paramecium and amoeba above
  • When the scientist compared the neurons of adult and pupae fairy wasps, he discovered that more than 95% of adult neurons lack a nucleus
  • suggest that while a complete set of neurons is needed to grow, far less are required to live
Mars Base

Journey to the Red Planet: A Mars Missions Timeline | Mars Science Laboratory & MSL | M... - 0 views

www.space.com/missions-timeline-history.html

scibyte22 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 19 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • 1,980-pound (900-kilogram) vehicle is roughly twice the size of previous rovers
  • primary goal of the mission is to search for clues as to whether Mars was ever habitable
Mars Base

Company offers first true smartphone for the blind (w/ Video) - 0 views

phys.org/...any-true-smartphone-video.html

ScreenReader GrabBag

shared by Mars Base on 16 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • a suite of apps that turn a conventional phone running Android into a new way to use the phone
  • Instead of the usual mass of icons, the Georgie, as the company calls it, comes with a simple menu that offers auditory feedback and features that are important and useful to those who cannot see.
  • real world useful applications such as telling the user which direction they are facing, or where the nearest bus stop is
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • menus can be easily traversed by simply running the fingers across them, a voice calls out their function
  • Georgie can be purchased as a set of apps for those that already have a phone, or as a complete system, i.e. phones with preinstalled apps
  • comes with a single basic app that allows for performing functions such as dialing and voice dictation and has useful features such as “Places” that announce direction and can be loaded with known hazards such as low hanging tree branches or potholes
  • three different apps packages to choose from
  • “Travelers” app that features “Near Me,” which calls out place names such as restaurants, bus stops, stores, etc. along with weather reports
  • “Lifestyle” offers an ability to listen to newspaper and magazine articles or even whole books
  • “Communicate” helps users connect socially by helping them record, translate to text and then send twitter or text messages
  • basic app costs $230 and each add-on adds an additional $39. Most would consider this quite cheap however, as other systems total in the thousands and aren’t nearly as mobile.
Mars Base

10 Amazing Things NASA's Huge Mars Rover Can Do | NASA, Mars Science Laboratory & Curio... - 0 views

www.space.com/s-rover-curiosity-science.html

scibyte22 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 20 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • Mast Camera (MastCam)
  • capture high-resolution color pictures and video of the Martian landscape, which scientists will study and laypeople will gawk at
  • Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI)
  • ...43 more annotations...
  • will function much like a high-powered magnifying glass
  • instrument will take color pictures of features as tiny as 12.5 microns — smaller than the width of a human hair
  • MAHLI sits on the end of Curiosity's five-jointed, 7-foot (2.1-meter) robotic arm
  • Mars Descent Imager (MARDI)
  • small camera located on Curiosity's main body, will record video of the rover's descent to the Martian surface
  • will click on a mile or two above the ground, as soon as Curiosity jettisons its heat shield. The instrument will then take video at five frames per second until the rover touches down. The footage will help the MSL team plan Curiosity's Red Planet rovings, and it should also provide information about the geological context of the landing site, the 100-mile-wide
  • Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)
  • makes up about half of the rover's science payload.
  • a suite of three separate instruments — a mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph and a laser spectrometer
  • will search for carbon-containing compounds, the building blocks of life as we know it
  • look for other elements associated with life on Earth, such as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen
  • The rover's robotic arm will drop samples into SAM via an inlet on the rover's exterior
  • Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin)
  • CheMin will identify different types of minerals on Mars and quantify their abundance
  • will help scientists better understand past environmental conditions on the Red Planet
  • CheMin has an inlet on Curiosity's exterior to accept samples delivered by the rover's robotic arm
  • will shine a fine X-ray beam through the sample, identifying minerals' crystalline structures based on how the X-rays diffract
  • Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam)
  • This instrument will fire a laser at Martian rocks from up to 30 feet (9 meters) away and analyze the composition of the vaporized bits
  • help the mission team determine from afar whether or not they want to send the rover over to investigate a particular landform
  • The laser sits on Curiosity's mast, along with a camera and a small telescope
  • Three spectrographs sit in the rover's body, connected to the mast components by fiber optics
  • spectrographs will analyze the light emitted by excited electrons in the vaporized rock samples
  • Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS)
  • sits at the end of Curiosity's arm, will measure the abundances of various chemical elements in Martian rocks and dirt
  • APXS will shoot out X-rays and helium nuclei. This barrage will knock electrons in the sample out of their orbits, causing a release of X-rays. Scientists will be able to identify elements based on the characteristic energies of these emitted X-rays
  • Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN)
  • located near the back of Curiosity's main body, will help the rover search for ice and water-logged minerals beneath the Martian surface
  • The instrument will fire beams of neutrons at the ground, then note the speed at which these particles travel when they bounce back. Hydrogen atoms tend to slow neutrons down, so an abundance of sluggish neutrons would signal underground water or ice
  • should be able to map out water concentrations as low as 0.1 percent at depths up to 6 feet (2 m).
  • Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD)
  • instrument will measure and identify high-energy radiation of all types on the Red Planet, from fast-moving protons to gamma rays
  • designed specifically to help prepare for future human exploration of Mars
  • will allow scientists to determine just how much radiation an astronaut would be exposed to on Mars
  • Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS)
  • partway up Curiosity's mast, is a Martian weather station
  • measure atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction, air temperature, ground temperature and ultraviolet radiation.
  • integrated into daily and seasonal reports
  • MSL Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI)
  • MEDLI isn't one of Curiosity's 10 instruments
  • will measure the temperatures and pressures the heat shield experiences as the MSL spacecraft streaks through the Martian sky
  • will tell engineers how well the heat shield, and their models of the spacecraft's trajectory, performed
  • data to improve designs for future Mars-bound spacecraft
Mars Base

It's Alive! Russia's Phobos-Grunt Probe Phones Home | Phobos-Grunt Mars Mission | Mars ... - 0 views

www.space.com/signal-esa-ground-station.html

Phobos-Grunt scibyte23

shared by Mars Base on 23 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • the head of Russia's space agency, said after launch the mission could be salvaged until early December
  • many experts said the launch period has already expired, meaning Phobos-Grunt would have to wait until 2013 for another shot at Mars
  • Tuesday's brief contact did not produce telemetry to gain insight into the situation on-board the spacecraft
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Phobos-Grunt is likely functional and charging batteries through its solar panels
  • 23 November
Mars Base

China tells embassies to stop issuing pollution data - 0 views

phys.org/...bassies-issuing-pollution.html

scibyte50 ChinaPollution

shared by Mars Base on 06 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • China said foreign embassies were acting illegally in issuing their own air quality readings and that only the government could release data on the nation's heavy pollution.
  • until recently, official air quality measurements regularly rated their air quality as good
  • data from the US embassy in Beijing showed off-the-chart pollution
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • US embassy air quality Twitter feed gained a major following in Beijing, and later in Shanghai when it was introduced at the US consulate there
  • Beijing announced earlier this year it would change the way it measured air quality to include the smaller particles experts say make up much of the pollution in Chinese cities, after a vocal campaign
  • publishing of China's air quality are related to the public interests and as such are powers reserved for the government
  • vice minister of environment protection
  • did not name the US, but called on embassies to abide by China's laws
  • China's air quality is among the worst in the world
  • According to the latest Environmental Performance Index compiled by Yale University, China ranked 128th out of 132 countries for air quality.
  • Most Chinese cities base their air-quality information on particles of 10 micrometres or larger
  • China seeks to control the sources of particulates, such as coal burning and auto emissions
Mars Base

Send Your Names to an Asteroid, NASA Says - 0 views

www.scienceworldreport.com/...d-on-osiris-rex-spacecraft.htm

scibyte116 Asteroid

shared by Mars Base on 18 Jan 14 - No Cached
  • NASA invited the public to submit their names that will be engraved on a microchip aboard a spacecraft that will head to the 1,760-foot-wide asteroid.
  • The spacecraft will be sent to the asteroid where it will collect about two ounces of surface material and return with it to Earth in a sample-return capsule in 2023
  • submit their names online before September 30 at 'Message to Bennu.'
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • your name not just stays up there for 500 days but will remain in space even after the spacecraft returns the capsule to Earth.
  • Those who have submitted their names can download and print a certificate documenting their participation in the OSIRIS-REx mission
  • Participants who have registered their names and who 'follow' or 'like' the asteroid mission on Facebook and Twitter will get notifications on the status of their name in space from the time it is launched and until the samples are returned to Earth in 2013.
  • The aim of the OSIRIS-Rex mission is to address the basic questions on the composition of the early solar system.
  • Once the samples return to the Earth, the spacecraft will be placed into a long term solar orbit around the sun, along with the microchip on which the names are engraved.
Mars Base

SpaceX Launches Six Commercial Satellites on Falcon 9; Landing Test Ends in "Kaboom" - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...-9-landing-test-ends-in-kaboom

scibyte136 SpaceX

shared by Mars Base on 15 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • SpaceX successfully launched six ORBCOMM advanced telecommunications satellites into orbit on Monday, July 14, to significantly upgrade the speed and capacity of their existing data relay network.
  • SpaceX also used this launch opportunity to try and test the reusability of the Falcon 9′s first stage and its landing system while splashing down in the ocean
  • However, the booster did not survive the splashdown. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reported that the rocket booster reentry, landing burn and leg deployment worked well, the hull of the first stage “lost integrity right after splashdown
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Musk tweeted. “Detailed review of rocket telemetry needed to tell if due to initial splashdown or subsequent tip over and body slam.”
  • SpaceX wanted to test the “flyback” ability to the rocket, slowing down the descent of the rocket with thrusters and deploying the landing legs for future launches so the first stage can be re-used
  • The previous test of the landing system was successful, but the choppy seas destroyed the stage and prevented recovery
  • the six satellites launched
  • are the first part of what the company hopes will be a 17-satellite constellation. They hope to have all 17 satellites in orbit by the end of the 2014
Mars Base

Hubble Sees Jupiter's Red Spot Shrink to Smallest Size Ever - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...t-shrink-to-smallest-size-ever

scibyte132 jupiter ViewerFeedback

shared by Mars Base on 16 May 14 - No Cached
  • “Recent Hubble Space Telescope observations confirm that the spot is now just under  10,250 miles (16,500 km) across, the smallest diameter we’ve ever measured,” said Amy Simon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Cente
  • Using historic sketches and photos from the late 1800s, astronomers determined the spot’s diameter then at 25,475 miles (41,000 km) across
  • Amateur observations starting in 2012 revealed a noticeable increase in the spot’s shrinkage rate
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • The spot’s “waistline” is getting smaller by just under 620 miles (1,000 km) per year while its north-south extent has changed little
  • the spot has
  • become more circular in shape
  • what causing the drastic downsizing, there are no firm answers yet:
  • new observations
  • very small eddies are feeding into the storm
  • may be responsible for the accelerated change by altering the internal dynamics of the Great Red Spot
  • The Great Red Spot has been a trademark of the planet for at least 400 years
  • a giant hurricane-like storm whirling in the planet’s upper cloud tops with a period of 6 days
  • The storm appears to be conserving angular momentum by spinning faster the same way an ice skater spins up when she pulls in her arms
  • Wind speeds are increasing too, making one wonder whether they’ll ultimately shrink the spot further or bring about its rejuvenation.
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