120 space

How Do You Train Astronauts When You Don't Have Any Spaceships?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 11:52:00 +0000

Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger waves and smiles from within her area suit as a bright yellow crane slowly lowers her into the world’s largest indoor pool. because the water closes over her head, a trio of diverse swarm round her. They detach her 200-pound suit from its restraints and guide her all the way down to a life-size reproduction of a little of the International artificial satellite that hulks on the pool’s floor sort of a sunken sailing ship. The diverse gently spin Metcalf-Lindenburger, 37, around and the other way up as they fine-tune the flotation devices that render her neutrally buoyant—suspended underwater while not rising or sinking, associate degree approximation of zero gravity.

“Hearing Pine Tree State ok?” asks one amongst the technicians observance a video feed from the glass-walled room commanding the pool. “Yep, all set,” replies Metcalf-Lindenburger’s incorporeal voice through the management room’s speakers. As she grabs a balusters on the pretend area station’s exterior to start her apply activity, diode Zeppelin’s “Over the Hills and much Away” starts taking part in on the shared audio affiliation. “Get-psyched music,” the technical school tells Pine Tree State with a smile.

It’s simply another day of cosmonaut faculty at Johnson area Center, the 1,620-acre advanced south of Houston that has served as NASA’s main coaching facility and launch center since the start of America’s programme. cosmonaut ready here to become the primary yankee to orbit Earth. spaceman practiced the maneuvers that will take him to the moon. currently Metcalf-Lindenburger is connection the newest generation of the best-trained area travelers within the world. there's only 1 unresolved question: What specifically is that this generation coaching for?

Hunting Moons Outside the Solar System

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 11:43:00 +0000

Astronomers are becoming greedy. initial they wished to search out planets around alternative stars; they succeeded and presently have over three,000 confirmed or doubtless candidates. currently they require to get moons around those planets.

Detecting little objects that orbit alternative little objects trillions of miles away is associate degree bold endeavor, however our system offers several reasons to do. Jupiter and Saturn along host over one hundred moons, and a couple of of these frigid worlds—Europa, Enceladus, and Titan—are among the foremost intriguing searching grounds for alien life within the system. If conditions square measure similar around alternative stars and planets, there ought to be trillions of moons in our galaxy, with atiny low however important share of them appropriate for all times.

At the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for uranology, David Kipping has been considering finding faraway moons since 2007, before astronomers had the tools to discover them. currently he has the sensitive instrumentation he needs: NASA’s Kepler house telescope, that stares at stars and appears for refined dips in brightness caused by planets crossing before of the celebs and obstruction a number of their lightweight.

Driving Through Martian Storms on Earth

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 11:31:00 +0000

El constellation natural depression, Nevada—For the primary few hours it appeared as if nothing in any respect would possibly happen. we might simply roast out here all day within the 110-degree desert heat, staring across the expanse of dried-up lake bottom while not seeing any sign of the “dust devils” (video)—mini-tornadoes—that the scientists and arrays of instruments stood able to record.

Dust devils, I’d learned before coming back here, happen suddenly in weather over terribly dry ground. All it takes is daylight and a rising vortex of air to choose up some loose surface sand or dirt and whip the particles into a faint, slender funnel cloud. On Earth, the whirlwinds disintegrate at intervals moments, while not inflicting harm on anyone or something. however on Mars, similar storms unfold on a far larger scale (photograph; video). mud devils dominate the weather patterns on the Red Planet, sculpting its surface and probably threatening future robotic explorers or visiting astronauts. Researchers want rather more information on however mud devils type and behave so as to construct a meaty model of Martian climate. This corner of Sagebrush State offers one in all the most effective and most accessible arenas for finding out the development.

Still nothing. Tim Michaels of the Southwest analysis Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and Aymeric Spiga from Université Pierre et Madame Curie, Paris, 2 part modelers, wax philosophical over bottles of Gatorade. on a daily basis once nothing happens, they assure ME, is as necessary as on a daily basis of frantic activity: Since nobody is aware of exactly why mud devils type wherever and after they do, having the ability to mention of course what doesn't cause them would represent progress of a sort.

is 2012 the real end of the world ?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:35:00 +0000

we all have seen a lot of movies talking about the 2012 disasteris 2012 the end of the world
or it is just the end of the world as we know ?
is 2012 a new begining ?

let's see what nasa saying about 2012

Remember the Y2K scare? It came and went without much of a whimper because of adequate planning and analysis of the situation. Impressive movie special effects aside, Dec. 21, 2012, won't be the end of the world as we know. It will, however, be another winter solstice.

Much like Y2K, 2012 has been analyzed and the science of the end of the Earth thoroughly studied. Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the science behind the end of the world quickly unravels when pinned down to the 2012 timeline. Below, NASA Scientists answer several questions that we're frequently asked regarding 2012.
Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012. Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.
Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012? A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.
Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012? A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.
Q: Could phenomena occur where planets align in a way that impacts Earth? A: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.

Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?
A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.

Q: What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the earth’s crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?
A: A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-shift to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. A magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia, anyway.

Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?
A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Space guard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Q: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of pending doomsday?
A: For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.

Q: Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted for 2012?
A: Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.

what about you my friends
what about us
i'm don't think 2012 is the end of the world
but i'm beleive it will be the end of the world as we know
are you with me !!

share your opinion with us

last supernova have seen in our modern times

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:08:00 +0000

the closest exploding star seen in modern times was the Supernova 1987A . It occurred in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a small galaxy that orbits our own Milky Way.

Images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope were combined to make this composite of the blast's expanding debris. Credit: NASA / ESA / P. Challis and R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

Given the incredible amounts of energy in a supernova explosion – as much as the sun creates during its entire lifetime – another erroneous doomsday theory is that such an explosion could happen in 2012 and harm life on Earth. However, given the vastness of space and the long times between supernovae, astronomers can say with certainty that there is no threatening star close enough to hurt Earth.

Astronomers estimate that, on average, about one or two supernovae explode each century in our galaxy. But for Earth's ozone layer to experience damage from a supernova, the blast must occur less than 50 light-years away. All of the nearby stars capable of going supernova are much farther than this.

Any planet with life on it near a star that goes supernova would indeed experience problems. X- and gamma-ray radiation from the supernova could damage the ozone layer, which protects us from harmful ultraviolet light in the sun's rays. The less ozone there is, the more UV light reaches the surface. At some wavelengths, just a 10 percent increase in ground-level UV can be lethal to some organisms, including phytoplankton near the ocean surface. Because these organisms form the basis of oxygen production on Earth and the marine food chain, any significant disruption to them could cascade into a planet-wide problem.

Another explosive event, called a gamma-ray burst (GRB), is often associated with supernovae. When a massive star collapses on itself -- or, less frequently, when two compact neutron stars collide -- the result is the birth of a black hole. As matter falls toward a nascent black hole, some of it becomes accelerated into a particle jet so powerful that it can drill its way completely through the star before the star's outermost layers even have begun to collapse. If one of the jets happens to be directed toward Earth, orbiting satellites detect a burst of highly energetic gamma rays somewhere in the sky. These bursts occur almost daily and are so powerful that they can be seen across billions of light-years.

download animation video which showing a model of GRB 080319B from here, which was visible to the naked eye despite being billions of light-years away because one jet was directed Earth's way. Gamma-ray bursts longer than two seconds are caused by the collapse of a massive star. At the collapsing star's center, a newborn black hole drives outward jets of particles and gamma radiation. Credit: NASA/Swift/Cruz deWilde

i'm don't think our solar system could getout of any chalenge with the smallest supernova
what about you guys ?
share your opinion

photo : McCandless Orbits in Jetpack

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:01:00 +0000

On Feb. 12, 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless, ventured further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut had ever been. This space first was made possible by a nitrogen jet propelled backpack, previously known at NASA as the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU.
After a series of test maneuvers inside and above Challenger's payload bay, McCandless went "free-flying" to a distance of 320 feet away from the Orbiter. This stunning orbital panorama view shows McCandless out there amongst the black and blue of Earth and space.

photo : McCandless Orbits in Jetpack

photo : First Supernova Companion Star Found

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:51:00 +0000

In 2004, an international team of astronomers had, for the first time, observed a stellar "survivor" emerge from a double star system involving an exploded supernova.

Supernovae are some of the most significant sources of chemical elements in the universe, and they are at the heart of our understanding of the evolution of galaxies. In this artist's view, the red super-giant supernova progenitor star (left) is exploding after having transferred about 10 solar masses of hydrogen gas to the blue companion star (right).

the big bang theory

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:50:00 +0000

what is the big bang theory ?
the big bang theory is one of thousands of theories tried to explain how our lovely universe have been started .

the big bang theory say : "the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly, and by expanding the universe have been cooled and resulted in its present continuously expanding state"

let's watch this amazing video about the big bang theory

and this is the big bang simulation animation video

for my self i think the big bang theory wasn't the real beginning
it's just one step between some steps created because of the multi-verse
to know what i mean please read more about the super-string theory

my best wishes for all

the top unsolved 7 mysteries in the red planet mars

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:07:00 +0000

i have searched for the most strange things in the red planet and guess what ? i have found 7 unsolved mysteries in mars .
let's take a lock now

1 - two faces in mars !!!

Scientists have been puzzling over the differences between the two sides of Mars for decades. The northern hemisphere of the planet is smooth and low — it is among the flattest, smoothest places in the solar system, potentially created by water that once flowed across the Martian surface.

Meanwhile, the southern half of the Martian surface is rough and heavily cratered, and about 2.5 miles to 5 miles (4 km to 8 km) higher in elevation than the northern basin. Recent evidence suggests the vast disparity seen between the northern and southern halves of the planet was caused by a giant space rock smacking into Mars long ago.

2 - from where the methane came in mars ?!

Methane — the simplest organic molecule — was first discovered in the Martian atmosphere by the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft in 2003. On Earth, much of the atmospheric methane is produced by life, such as cattle digesting food. Methane is suspected to be stable in the Martian atmosphere for only about 300 years, so whatever is generating this gas did so recently.

Still, there are ways to produce methane without life, such as volcanic activity. ESA's ExoMars spacecraft planned for launch in 2016 will study the chemical composition of Mars' atmosphere to learn more about this methane.

3 - Does liquid water run on the surface of Mars now?

Although large amounts of evidence suggest that liquid water once ran on the surface of Mars, it remains an open question as to whether or not it occasionally flows on the face of the Red Planet now. The planet's atmospheric pressure is too low, at about 1/100th of Earth's, for liquid water to last on the surface. However, dark, narrow lines seen on Martian slopes hint that saltwater could be running down them every spring.

4 - where there an oceans on mars ?

Numerous missions to Mars have revealed a host of features on the Red Planet that suggest it was once warm enough for liquid water to run across its surface. These features include what appear to be vast oceans, valley networks, river deltas and minerals that required water to form.

However, current models of early Mars' climate cannot explain how such warm temperatures could have existed, as the sun was much weaker back then, leading some to ask whether these features might have been created by winds or other mechanisms. Still, there is evidence suggesting that ancient Mars was warm enough to support liquid water in at least one site on its surface. Other findings hint that ancient Mars was once cold and wet, not cold and dry nor warm and wet, as is often argued.

5 - is there a life on mars ?

The first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars, NASA's Viking 1, began a mystery that remains tantalizingly unsolved: Is there evidence of life on Mars? Viking represented the first and so far only attempt to search for life on Mars, and its findings are hotly debated today. Viking had detected organic molecules such as methyl chloride and dichloromethane. However, these compounds were dismissed as terrestrial contamination — namely, cleaning fluids used to prepare the spacecraft when it was still on Earth.

The surface of Mars is very hostile to life as we know it, in terms of cold, radiation, hyper-aridity and other factors. Still, there are numerous examples of life surviving in extreme environments on Earth, such as the cold, dry soils of the Antarctic Dry Valleys and the hyper-arid Atacama Desert in Chile.

There is life virtually wherever there is liquid water on Earth, and the possibility that there were once oceans on Mars leads many to wonder if life ever evolved on Mars and, if so, whether it might be extant. Answering these questions might help shed light on how common life may or may not be in the rest of the universe.

6 - did life on earth began on mars ?

Meteorites discovered in Antarctica that came from Mars — blasted off the Red Planet by cosmic impacts — have structures that resemble ones made by microbes on Earth. Although much research since then suggests chemical rather than biological explanations for these structures, the debate continues. These findings do raise the tantalizing possibility that life on Earth actually originated on Mars long ago, carried here on meteorites.

7 - can human live in mars ?

To answer whether or not life did or does exist on Mars, people might actually have to go there and find out.

NASA's plan as of 1969 was to have a human Mars mission by 1981 and a permanent Mars base in 1988. However, interplanetary human voyages pose definite scientific and technological challenges. One would have to deal with the rigors of travel — issues of food, water and oxygen, the deleterious effects of microgravity, potential hazards such as fire and radiation and the fact that any such astronauts would be millions of miles away from help and confined together for years at a time. Landing, working, living on another planet and returning from it would offer a host of challenges as well.

Nevertheless, astronauts seem eager to find out. For example, this year six volunteers lived in a pretend spacecraft for nearly a year and a half in the so-called Mars500 project, the longest spaceflight simulation ever conducted, aimed at replicating a manned mission to Mars from beginning to end. There are even numerous volunteers for a one-way trip to the Red Planet. Tiny rock-eating microbes could mine precious extraterrestrial resources from Mars and pave the way for the first human colonists, and farmers could grow crops on its surface. The mystery as to whether or not humans will ever go to Mars may rest largely on whether or not the powers-that-be can be convinced to go there.

for my self i think there where another life on mars before
but i'm don't think they where humans
what about you ?!