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Mars Base

Private Groups Set Sights on Deep Space | Mars, the Moon & Asteroids | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ht-deep-space-exploration.html

scibyte84 PrivateSpaceTravel

shared by Mars Base on 28 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • The nonprofit Inspiration Mars Foundation announced
  • (Feb. 27) that it aims to launch two people on a 501-day Mars flyby mission in January 2018
  • main goals are to generate excitement about space travel and test out technologies that will be needed to put boots on Mars in the future
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • mission would combine a commercial space capsule and inflatable module into a single spacecraft that will carry a man and a woman, possibly a married couple, to Mars and back. 
  • A number of companies and nonprofit organizations are developing plans to visit Mars, the moon and asteroids, for a variety of purposes
Mars Base

Children with autism show increased positive social behaviors when animals are present - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...positive-social-behaviors.html

scibyte84

shared by Mars Base on 28 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • authors compared how 5-13 year old children with ASD interacted with adults and typically-developing peers in the presence of two guinea pigs compared to toys
  • The presence of an animal can significantly increase positive social behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
  • in the presence of animals, children with ASD demonstrated more social behaviors like talking, looking at faces and making physical contact
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • also more receptive to social advances from their peers in the presence of the animals than they were when playing with toys
  • also increased instances of smiling and laughing, and reduced frowning, whining and crying behaviors in children with ASD more than having toys did.
  • Previous studies have shown that people are more likely to receive overtures of friendship from strangers when walking a dog than when walking alone
  • similar effects have been observed for people holding smaller animals like rabbits or turtles
  • authors suggest that this 'social lubricant' effect of animals on human social interactions can be particularly important for individuals with socio-emotional disabilities
  • the ability of an animal to help children with ASD connect to adults may help foster interactions with therapists, teachers or other adult figures
  • animal-assisted interventions may have applications in the classroom as well,
  • For children with ASD, the school classroom can be a stressful and overwhelming environment
  • If an animal can reduce this stress or artificially change children's perception
  • then a child with ASD may feel more at ease and open to social approach behaviors
Mars Base

Astronomers Calculate Orbit and Origins of Russian Fireball - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...nd-origins-of-russian-fireball

scibyte83 RussianMeteor

shared by Mars Base on 26 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • Just a week after a huge fireball streaked across the skies of the Chelyabinsk region of Russia, astronomers published a paper that reconstructs the orbit and determines the origins of the space rock
  • University of Antioquia in
  • Colombia used a resource not always available in meteorite falls: the numerous dashboard and security cameras that captured the huge fireball
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • Using the trajectories shown in videos posted on YouTube, the researchers were able to calculate the trajectory of the meteorite as it fell to Earth and use it to reconstruct the orbit in space of the meteoroid before its violent encounter with our planet.
  • The results are preliminary
  • and they are already working on getting more precise results
  • But through their calculations, Zuluaga and Ferrin determined the rock originated from the Apollo class of asteroids
  • due to variations in time and date stamps on several of the videos
  • some which differed by several minutes
  • they decided to choose two videos from different locations that seemed to be the most reliable
  • used this data and Google Earth to reconstruct the path of the rock as it entered the atmosphere and showed that it matched an image of the trajectory taken by the geostationary Meteosat-9 weather satellite.
  • From triangulation, they were able to determine height, speed and position of the meteorite as it fell to Earth
Mars Base

Pioneering Moon, Mars Scientist David McKay Dies at 76 | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/-mckay-obituary-moon-mars.html

scibyte83

shared by Mars Base on 26 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • McKay, who served as chief scientist for astrobiology at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston,died peacefully in his sleep on Feb. 20
  • As a graduate student, McKay was in the audience
  • when President John F. Kennedy gave his legendary "We choose to go to the moon" speech
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • McKay joined NASA in June of 1965
  • participating extensively in astronaut training leading up to 1969's historic Apollo 11 mission
  • McKay was lead author of a 1996 paper in the journal Science that suggested ALH84001 may contain evidence of past life on Mars.
  • The claim still spurs controversy, but it also sparked a shift in perspectives that is alive and well within NASA today
  • McKay developed innovative new technology for both life detection and the use of lunar regolith as feedstock, radiation protection, fuel, nutrient source for microbial bioreactors and long-term lunar habitation.
Mars Base

Curiosity Rover Report (Feb. 21, 2013) Transcript - 0 views

www.nasa.gov/...curiosity20130221.html

scibyte83 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 22 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • The first thing you notice about the material is that it's a different color
  • Gray not the reddish orange color on the surface
  • That reddish orange color is a sign of an iron oxidation. A kind of rusting process that's occurred all around on Mars
Mars Base

Historic Mars Rock Drilling Sample Set for Analysis by Curiosity Robot in Search of Org... - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...ty-robot-in-search-of-organics

scibyte83 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 25 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • examining ancient rocks that have not been exposed to the Martian surface environment, and weathering, and preserve the environment in which they formed
  • This is a key point because subsequent oxidation reactions can destroy organic molecules and thereby potential signs of habitability and life.
  • The tailings are gray. All things being equal it’s better to have a gray color than red because oxidation is something that can destroy organic compounds
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • data so far indicate the drilled rock is either siltstone or mudstone with a basaltic bulk composition
  • The CheMin and SAM testing will be revealing
  • The high powered drill was the last of Curiosity 10 instruments still to be checked out and put into full operation and completes the robots commissioning phase
  • So far she has snapped over 45,000 images, traveled nearly 0.5 miles, conducted 25 analysis with the APXS spectrometer and fired over 12,000 laser shots with the ChemCam instrument
Mars Base

Red Planet Mars Not So Red Inside | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/olor-gray-curiosity-rover.html

scibyte83 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 24 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drilled 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) into a Red Planet outcrop called "John Klein" earlier this month, revealing rock that's decidedly gray rather than the familiar rusty orange of the Martian surface
Mars Base

Canadarm Ready to Ensnare Space Dragon after March 1 Blast Off - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...dragon-after-march-1-blast-off

scibyte83 dragon

shared by Mars Base on 22 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • On March 1 at 10:10 AM EST, a Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket is slated to blast off topped by the Dragon cargo vehicle on what will be only the 2nd commercial resupply mission ever to the ISS
  • The flight, dubbed CRS-2, will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida carrying about 1,200 pounds of vital supplies and science experiments for the six man international crew living aboard the million pound orbiting outpost
  • The Dragon will remain docked to the ISS for about three weeks while the crew unloads all manner of supplies including food, water, clothing, spare parts and gear and new science experiments
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • the astronauts will replace all that cargo load with numerous critical experiment samples they have stored during ongoing research activities, as well as no longer needed equipment and trash totaling about 2300 pounds, for the return trip to Earth and a Pacific Ocean splashdown set for March 25
Mars Base

Dennis Tito Wants to Send Human Mission to Mars in 2018 - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...-human-mission-to-mars-in-2018

scibyte83 mars

shared by Mars Base on 21 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • Dennis Tito — the first-ever space tourist — is planning send a human mission to Mars in January 2018 on a round-trip journey lasting 501 days
  • Reportedly, Tito has created a new nonprofit company called the Inspiration Mars Foundation to facilitate the mission
  • Tito, along with several other notable people from the space community will provide more information in a press conference set for Wednesday, February 27th
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • paper Tito plans to present at the IEEE Aerospace Conference in March, which discusses
  • a crewed free-return Mars mission that would fly by Mars
  • no going into orbit or landing
  • Such a 501-day mission would launch in January 2018, “using a modified SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launched on a Falcon Heavy rocket,”
  • existing environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) technologies would allow such a spacecraft to support two people for the mission,
  • Crew comfort is limited to survival needs only.
  • sponge baths are acceptable, with no need for showers
  • the paper outlines how NASA would also have a role in this mission in terms of supporting key life support and thermal protection systems, even though this is a private-sector effort
  • No estimates of what such a mission would cost are included in the paper, but it does say it would be financed privately
  • The paper adds that if they miss this favorable 2018 opportunity, the next chance to take advantage of this lower energy trajectory would be in 2031.
Mars Base

Retinal implants with wireless microchip restore functional vision in retinitis pigment... - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...less-microchip-functional.html

scibyte83 BionicEye

shared by Mars Base on 20 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • research found that, during the course of a three to nine month observation period, functional vision was restored in the majority of nine German patients implanted with a subretinal microchip as part of the first module of the Company's second human clinical trial
  • visual acuity for two of the nine patients surpassed the visual resolution of patients from the Company's first human clinical trial
  • Patients were implanted with Retina Implant AG's subretinal wireless 3x3 mm2, 1500 pixel Alpha IMS microchip and are able to adjust the level of stimulation received to view objects at varied distances
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Of the nine patients observed in the study, three patients were able to read letters spontaneously
  • During observation in and outside the laboratory patients also reported the ability to recognize faces, distinguish objects such as telephones and read signs on doors
  • Results from the first trial
  • concluding that the implantation of Retina Implant's microchip was successful in restoring useful vision in patients previously blind due to retinitis pigmentosa
  • second clinical trial with a wireless device that allows patients to use the implant outdoors and at home
  • has since expanded into the multicentre phase
Mars Base

Mussel Glue Could Help Repair Birth Defects - ScienceNOW - 0 views

news.sciencemag.org/...glue-could-help-repair-bi.html

scibyte83 BirthDefects

shared by Mars Base on 19 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • researcher said he has used the mollusk’s tricks to develop medical applications
  • include a biocompatible glue that could one day seal fetal membranes, allowing prenatal surgeons to repair birth defects without triggering dangerous premature labor
  • mussels secrete liquid proteins that harden into a solid, water-resistant glue
  • ...20 more annotations...
  • Not even Super Glue will stick in a fish aquarium because a layer of water forms that keeps the two surfaces from bonding
  • mussels somehow elbow the water aside and bind themselves to rocks anyway
  • Over 30 years, Waite’s team has uncovered the basis of this remarkable ability
  • parts of the proteins that face out toward the hard surface. It enables liquid holdfast proteins to solidify rapidly and stick flawlessly to wet and salty surfaces
  • If I were to list the desired properties for medical adhesives, they would look exactly the same
  • colleagues have created a synthetic, thread-like polymer called polyethylene glycol that mimics the mussel protein
  • To see if the compound worked in live animals, a veterinary surgeon collaborating with Messersmith's team made a 2.5-centimeter incision in the carotid artery of a dog and placed four stitches along the length of that incision to hold it in place
  • With the stitches alone, the incision bled when the surgeon pressed it.
  • just 20 seconds after the mussel-based glue was applied, the artery was sealed and didn’t bleed.
  • recently
  • team began testing its glue on fetal membranes
  • For the past few decades, surgeons have begun surgically repairing birth defects like spina bifida while a fetus is still in utero
  • the process is risky because the surgery risks rupturing the fetal membrane prematurely, sending the mother into premature labor.
  • There are no good adhesives on the market for surgeons to repair such fetal-membrane tears
  • in recent, unpublished experiments in rabbits, Messersmith and colleagues found that after a veterinary surgeon poked a 3.5-mm hole in the animal’s fetal membrane, the new, mussel-inspired glue readily sealed up the puncture
  • without the glue, only 40% of the fetal rabbits survived the surgery, but with the glue, 60% did.
  • In another recent result
  • researchers chemically altered the polyethylene glycol polymer so that the glue would shrink when it hardened
  • This could counter tissue swelling during surgery,
  • fetal surgeons working with Messersmith are testing whether the glue can help reseal the tissue surrounding the spinal cord to repair a serious birth defect known spinal bifida in rabbits
Mars Base

Apollo Moon Rocks Challenge Lunar Water Theory: Scientific American - 0 views

www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm

scibyte83 moon

shared by Mars Base on 22 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • Finding water in the moon's crust, the scientists say, implies that the moon's rocks could have taken longer to crystallize than previously thought
  • NASA's Clementine spacecraft found evidence of water ice after scanning the surface with radar in 1996
  • follow-up observations with the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico suggested the spots where it found ice were in areas with too much sun for ice to survive
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Instead of ice, later researchers chalked up the observations to piles of rubble.
  • NASA's Lunar Prospector found possible water in 1998 at both of the moon's poles, but the instrument was only able to detect the presence of hydrogen, not other elements
  • Then in 2008, new lab work on Apollo lunar samples found hydrogen in lunar volcanic glasses
  • in September 2009, however, three spacecraft orbiting the moon found "unambiguous evidence" of water on the lunar surface
  • in November 2009, however, scientists for the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission announced the spacecraft had found large deposits of ice at the moon's south pole
  • Scientists then discovered a trove of ice in the south pole's Shackleton Crater in 2012
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