Apollo 13 – Jupiter Broadcasting https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com Open Source Entertainment, on Demand. Sun, 10 Jul 2022 17:41:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.3 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/cropped-favicon-32x32.png Apollo 13 – Jupiter Broadcasting https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com 32 32 Brunch With Brent: Tim Canham | Jupiter Extras 87 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/149177/brunch-with-brent-tim-canham-jupiter-extras-87/ Sun, 10 Jul 2022 10:00:00 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=149177 Show Notes: extras.show/87

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]]> Apollo 13 & Brain Training | SciByte 91 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/36201/apollo-13-brain-training-scibyte-91/ Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:03:25 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=36201 We take a look at critiquing the Apollo 13 movie, training your brain, inspecting power lines, SpaceShipTwo, solar cells, Viewer Feedback, and more!

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We take a look at critiquing the Apollo 13 movie, training your brain, inspecting power lines, SpaceShipTwo, solar cells, Viewer Feedback, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes:

Apollo 13, Truth vs Movie

  • Many people have seen the Apollo 13 movie, but sometimes the truth is stranger, and sometimes more amazing, than fiction.
  • This is from a 2001 interview with Thomas K. Mattingly II, the member of Apollo 13 who was bumped from the roster days before launch because of exposure to the German measles.
  • Crew Breakdown
  • Prime Crew : Commander – James Lovell, Command Module Pilot – Kenneth Mattingly, Lunar Module Pilot – Fred Haise
  • Backup Crew : Commander – John Young, Command Module Pilot – John Swigert, Lunar Module Pilot – Charles Duke
  • Flight Crew : Commander – James Lovell, Command Module Pilot – John Swigert, Lunar Module Pilot – Fred Haise
  • Mattingly Dropped From the Crew
  • Roughly 2 weeks before launch the crew was able to go home to visit and spend time with family
  • Charles Duke, a member of the backup crew, had attended a picnic where a family with a kid who had the measles which meant he was considered exposed
  • All members of the prime and backup crew had their blood tested, and it turned out that Mattingly had never contracted the measles and was considered a risk
  • Two days before launch he was driving and turned on the radio to head that he had been replaced by another member of the backup crew, Jack Swigered
  • As neither a member of the official back up crew or part of any official team in mission control, Mattingly did get to come in, but simple bounced around between teams
  • \”Houston, We Had a Problem\” … but What Kind of Problem
  • All problem solving problems were in part based on the rule that structural things don\’t break
  • \”Joints can leak, shorts can happen to wires, but physical structure doesn’t break,\” but physical structures don\’t break
  • Hardware goes through a lot of testing and has margins of safety, so they never looked at those kind of problems
  • The teams were trying to figure out what instrumentation failed when Flight Director, Gene Kranz, said “Sy, didn’t Jim say that he looked out the window and there’s stuff out in the sky and he heard something?” He says, “Does that sound like instrumentation to you?”
  • \”Failure is not an option\”
  • This catch phrase said by Gene Kranz, the lead flight director, in the movie was never actually said, it was based on a mentality
  • In an interview he said \”No, when bad things happened, we just calmly laid out all the options, and failure was not one of them. We never panicked, and we never gave up on finding a solution.\”
  • It was from the very first moment they assumed they would succeed and didn\’t do anything that got in the way.
  • The Return Debate
  • What to do and how to get back to earth was a rather \’charged\’ debate
  • One group wasn\’t sure what had happened and what the condition of anything was and didn\’t want to touch anything but to figure things out first
  • The other group saw the limited resources and wanted to turn around and come back immediately before the batteries ran out
  • Sim Preparation, Actually Not \’On The Fly\’
  • Thanks to the simulation training program things may not have been exactly the same or in the same order, but everything ended having been done before
  • During the mission didn’t actually solve any problems in the simulator, they ran those procedures, verified them, made some red lines
  • LM Lifeboat | In a previous sim about a contaminated atmosphere, they had prepared what they called a LM lifeboat, which meant they had to get the crew out of the command module and into the lunar module, and stay there
  • Midcourse Correction | On the way back the spacecraft started drifting slightly so they had to make a course correction, this too had been practiced in a sim at some point
  • Return Trajectory | Contrary to the nail biting moments in the movie, you don’t need to be the nearest five degrees. They had practiced it in simulation before and found they didn\’t have to be very accurate
  • Inertial Unit \”Semi-Apocryphal\” Story
  • Maintains a reference that lets you know where the whole universe is in terms of attitude so you can find stars, planets , etc
  • These units are notoriously very delicate, and they were going to have to bring them up from scratch
  • In order to achieve the precision needed they were allowed to run at a temperature of near 70, and tested at plus or minus 10.
  • During the mission they didn\’t know what temperature they were, but they knew they were below freezing
  • The story is that one of the employees at the company had accidentally had left had an IMU in the back of the station wagon during a snowstorm the winter before
  • When he discovered that and brought it back into the lab he hooked it up and tested it without any problems
  • \’Monday Morning Quarterbacking\’
  • A few weeks before the launch engineers saw some kind of a problem with detanking the oxygen from the service module, it took all night and a good bit of the next day to review the problem
  • The engineers had seen a problem like this before, and they could boil the oxygen out even though the regular drain system wasn’t working, it took eight hours of 65-volt DC power from the ground-support equipment to dissipate the oxygen.
  • Due to an oversight in replacing an underrated component during a design modification, this turned out to severely damage the internal heating elements of the tank
  • The oxygen tank that was discussed prior to launch was, in fact, the culprit in the explosion; although it was damaged in a the process and way that wasn\’t anticipated
  • Multimedia
  • Damage to Apollo 13 | Astronomy Picture of the Day
  • YouTube | Houston, We Have a Problem | Apollo 13 Movie Clip 4/11 | movieclips
  • YouTube | Sim Prep | Square Peg in a Round Hole | Apollo 13 Movie Clip 7/11 | movieclips
  • YouTube | The Return Debate | A New Mission | Apollo 13 Movie Clip 5/11 | movieclips
  • YouTube | \”Failure Is Not an Option\” | Apollo 13 Movie Clip 6/11 | movieclips
  • YouTube | Real Footage | Apollo 13 – Houston, We\’ve Got A Problem | AIRBOYD
  • YouTube | Real Footage | Apollo 13 Post Flight Press Conference (1970) | AIRBOYD
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Apollo 13 Mission Highlights | NASA.gov
  • Mission Transcripts: Apollo 13 | jsc.NASA.gov
  • T. K. Mattingly Oral History | jsc.NASA.gov
  • Ken Mattingly Explains How the Apollo 13 Movie Differed From Real Life | UniverseToday.com

— NEWS BYTE —

Train Your Brain

  • Using sea snail nerve cells, scientists have reversed memory loss by determining when the cells were primed for learning
  • Scientists were able to help the cells compensate for memory loss by retraining them through the use of optimized training schedules
  • The Study Model
  • The study is built on a 2012 investigation that pioneered a memory enhancement strategy that showed a significant increase in long-term memory in healthy sea snails
  • This study\’s co-lead author and a research scientist has developed a sophisticated mathematical model that can predict when the biochemical processes in the snail\’s brain are primed for learning
  • The model is based on five training sessions scheduled at different time intervals ranging from 5 to 50 minutes
  • The model can generate 10,000 different schedules and identify the schedule most attuned to optimum learning
  • Memory Impairment
  • Memory is due to a change in the strength of the connections among neurons. In many diseases associated with memory deficits, the change is blocked
  • A senior research scientist simulated a brain disorder in a cell culture by taking sensory cells from the sea snails and blocking the activity of a gene that produces a memory protein
  • This resulted in a significant impairment in the strength of the neurons\’ connections, which is responsible for long-term memory
  • Testing the Model
  • To mimic training sessions, cells were administered a chemical at intervals prescribed by the mathematical model
  • After five training sessions, which like the earlier study were at irregular intervals, the strength of the connections returned to near normal in the impaired cells
  • This methodology may apply to humans if we can identify the same biochemical processes in humans and suggest a new strategy for treatments of cognitive impairment
  • Optimization in the Future
  • Mathematical models might help design therapies that optimize the combination of training protocols with traditional drug treatments
  • Combining these two could enhance might increase effectiveness while compensating at least in part for any limitations or undesirable side effects of drugs
  • These two approaches are likely to be more effective together than separately and may have broad generalities in treating individuals with learning and memory deficits.\”
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Scientists reverse memory loss in animal brain cells | MedicalXPress

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Inspecting Power Lines

  • New Invention
  • Mechanical engineers at the University of California has invented a robot designed to scoot along utility lines, searching for damage and other problems that require repairs.
  • The prototypes is made of off-the-shelf electronics and plastic parts printed on an inexpensive 3D printer
  • Utility companies may also use manned or unmanned helicopters equipped with infrared imaging to inspect lines, the current line inspection robots are large, complex, and expensive
  • The SkySweeper prototype could be scaled up for less than $1,000, making it significantly more economical than the two models of robots currently used to inspect power lines
  • SkySweeper could be outfitted with induction coils that would harvest energy from the power line itself, making it possible for the robot to stay deployed for weeks or months at a time
  • By strengthening the clamps so they can release from the rope and swing down the line, one end to the other, thereby swinging past cable support points
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube | SkySweeper Robot Makes Inspecting Power Lines Simple and Inexpensive | JacobsSchoolNews
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • SkySweeper robot makes inspecting power lines simple and inexpensive | Phys.org

Virgin Galactic Test Flight

  • Flight Test
  • Virgin Galactic\’s suborbital SpaceShipTwo successfully conducted its first \”cold flow\” flight test above the Mojave Desert on April 12
  • During the test, oxidizer was run through the rocket\’s propulsion system and out the back nozzle of the ship, though the vehicle\’s rocket engine was not turned on
  • The next big step will probably be conducting a full flight test, igniting the rocket in the air.
  • Once SpaceShipTwo is operational, WhiteKnightTwo will carry the vehicle up to an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) before releasing it.
  • After separation, SpaceShipTwo will accelerate to 2,500 mph (4,000 km/h) and eventually pass an altitude of 62 miles (100 kilometers), the point at which passengers are considered astronauts
  • The spaceship will reach a peak altitude of 68 miles (110 km), giving the six passengers and two pilots about five minutes of weightlessness
  • Upon re-entry, SpaceShipTwo will be able to land on a conventional runway
  • A seat on board a SpaceShipTwo flight costs $200,000. More than 550 people have put down deposits to reserve a spot
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Clip | Release and Rocket Start
  • YouTube Clip | In Orbit
  • YouTube Clip | Weightless M-M\’s
  • YouTube | Virgin Galactic 8 5min video
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Virgin Galactic\’s SpaceShipTwo Makes Stunning Leap Toward Private Spaceflight | Space.com

More Efficient Solar Cells

  • A silicon solar cell can never generate more than one electron from a single photon which severely limit the conversion efficiency of photovoltaic cells, and scientists have spent decades looking for workarounds
  • In Solar cells if an incoming photon has too little energy, the cell won’t absorb it and if a photon has too much, the excess is wasted as heat
  • What’s New?
  • The key to greater solar efficiency might be an organic dye called pentacene
  • A photovoltaic cell based on pentacene can generate two electrons from a single photon-more electricity from the same amount of sun.
  • The key is a phenomenon called singlet-exciton fission, in which an arriving photon generates two “excitons” (excited states) that can be made to yield two electrons.
  • Previous researchers had accomplished similar tricks using quantum dots (tiny pieces of matter that behave like atoms) and deep-ultraviolet light
  • Why it works is still not particularly clear, and for now, the pentacene cell works only with an extremely narrow band of visible light
  • It should be possible to create a pentacene coating for silicon solar cells that boosts the total conversion efficiency from today’s 25 percent to a shade over 30 percent-a significant jump
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • The Solar Cell That Turns 1 Photon into 2 Electrons: Scientific American | ScientificAmerican.com

— VIEWER FEEDBACK —

TETRIS Lazy Eye

  • **”The Hubby” | Check This Out! **
  • TETRIS to Treat Lazy Eye?!?
  • A research team has used Tetris in an innovative approach to treat adult amblyopia, commonly known as \”lazy eye.\”
  • Amblyopia is the most common cause of visual impairment in childhood from poor processing in the brain results in suppression of the weaker eye by the stronger eye
  • It affects up to 3 per cent of the population and if not treated early, lazy eye can lead to permanent loss of vision in the weak eye
  • Previous treatments focused largely on covering the stronger eye in order to force the weaker eye to work and has proven only partially successful in children and have been ineffective in adults
  • The key to improving vision for adults was to enable the two eyes to cooperate for the first time in a given task
  • The adult human brain has a significant degree of plasticity and this provides the basis for treating a range of conditions where vision has been lost as a result of a disrupted period of early visual development in childhood
  • Using head-mounted video goggles we were able to display the game dichoptically, where one eye was allowed to see only the falling objects, and the other eye was allowed to see only the ground plane objects
  • By distributing information between the two eyes in a complementary fashion, the video game trains both eyes to work together, instead of making only the weak eye work like in patching
  • Researchers tested a sample of 18 adults with amblyopia; nine played the game monocularly with the weaker eye, while the stronger eye was patched; the other nine played the same game dichoptically, where each eye was allowed to view a separate part of the game.
  • After two weeks, the group playing the dichoptic game showed a dramatic improvement in the vision of the weaker eye as well as in 3-D depth perception
  • The monocular patching group, who had showed only a moderate improvement, was switched to the new dichoptic training, the vision of this group also improved dramatically
  • The suitability of this treatment in children will be assessed later this year in a clinical trial across North America
  • Nine of the participants wore the goggles an hour a day for two weeks while playing the popular game Tetris
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Researchers Treat Lazy Eye With Tetris | PopSci.com
  • Lazy Eye Disorder Treated With Video Game Tetris | ScienceDaily

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

  • Accurate Lasers
  • NASA\’s Curiosity Mars rover targeted the laser of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument with remarkable accuracy for assessing the composition of the wall of a drilled hole and tailings that resulted from the drilling
  • ChemCam fired its laser 150 times (5 bursts of 30 shots, each burst at a different target point) on the drill tailings between the two holes and 300 times (10 bursts of 30 shots) in the drill hole itself
  • The same day, ChemCam\’s remote micro-imager (RMI) captured images of the laser pits: small craters in the loose tailing and tiny scrapes on the hard surface of the hole walls
  • Conjunction
  • YouTube | Mars in a Minute: What Happens When the Sun Blocks our Signal? | JPLnews
  • Multimedia
  • Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
  • Social Media
  • Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Accurate pointing by Curiosity | Mars.jpl.NASA.gov

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • April 28, 1896 : 117 years ago : First Manual Parachute Jump : The first jump with the Army manually operated army parachute was made by Leslie LeRoy Irvin in Dayton, Ohio. This was the first test of this type, known as the \”free parachute,\” with which the operator jumps before pulling the ripcord. He jumped at an altitude of 1,500-ft from a de Havilland DH-9 biplane while flying at 100-mph over McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio. He broke his ankle upon landing on the ground. Later, he founded the Irving Air Chute, Co., now Irvin Aerospace which business name resulted from an spelling error on the incorporation papers

Looking up this week

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]]> Baby Mammoths & Feathered Dinosaurs | SciByte 41 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/18692/baby-mammoths-feathered-dinosaurs-scibyte-41/ Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:03:30 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=18692 We take a look at baby mammoth hair color, feathered dinosaurs, plasma, NASA funding, Apollo 13 and as always take a peek back into history and up into the sky.

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We take a look at baby mammoth hair color, feathered dinosaurs, plasma, NASA funding, Apollo 13 and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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MP3 Download | Ogg Download | HD Video | Mobile Video | YouTube

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Show Notes:

Well preserved mammoth discovered in Siberia



Left Image/Video Credit: BBC YouTube Channel || Right Image/Video Credit: news.bbcimg.co.uk

  • Thanks Peregrine Falcon for making sure I saw this
  • The low down
  • Extinct animals are mostly studied from bones, teeth and tusks, because these parts decompose over a relatively long time
  • Soft tissues like muscle, skin, and internal organs are rarely found on older carcasses because they decompose much quicker
  • Because of this information about a species or specimen is constrained to the slowly decomposing parts, vital information is unavailable
  • Most permafrost-preserved mammoth specimens consist solely of bones or bone fragments that currently provide little new insight into the species’ biology in life
  • Now a remarkably well preserved frozen juvenile mammoth carcass, nicknamed “Yuka,” was found entombed in Siberian ice
  • Although carbon dating is still in the works, it is believed to be at least 10,000 years old, it was found as part of a BBC/Discovery Channel-funded expedition
  • The mammoth was in such good shape that much of its flesh is still intact
  • The skin retained its pink color, and the blonde-red hue of the woolly coat also remains.
  • Significance
  • Yuka is the first mammoth carcass with soft tissues preserved it was also the first to show human interaction in the region
  • The soft tissues actually included strawberry-blonde hair, which could help reveal whether or not mammoths had all of the same hair colors that humans do
  • Analysis of the tusks and teeth researchers estimate that the animal was about 2.5 years old when it died.
  • Healed scratches found on the skin indicate a lion attack that Yuka survived earlier in its relatively short life
  • Judging by deep, unhealed scratches in the hide and bite marks on the tail suggest it was most likely pursued by one or more lions right before its death
  • Based on evidence of a freshly broken leg it probably took a bad fall and broke a lower hind leg
  • Scientists have guessed that the extinct subspecies of the African lion (Panthera leo spelea) were present in the area at the same time as the mammoths, and that they hunted mammoths.
  • Yuka provides fairly solid evidence that that was correct
  • Fifteen to thirty scalloped marks on the skin are an indication of possible saw-like motion of a human tool
  • Humans may have moved in either right before or after it died, suggesting that humans at that time ‘stole’ kills from hunting lions
  • The removed parts that could be of use immediately, and probably buried the rest of the body for possible later use
  • No longer with the animal are the main core mass of Yuka’s body, including the skull, spine, pelvis, organs, vertebrae, ribs, associated musculature, and some of the meat from upper parts of the legs
  • The skull and pelvis were found nearby
  • * Of Note*
  • The scientist to publish the genetic code of mammoth hemoglobin a few years ago
  • Both this specimen and the near complete specimen of a baby mammoth discovered in 2007 will help researchers with genotype (DNA sequences) which could lead the application of cloning to bring a mammoth back to life
  • The ability to bring it back the mammoth from extinction using cloning would probably take years to decades
  • Watch for Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice on BBC Two at 21:00 BST on Wednesday 4 April and will be shown on the Discovery Channel in the US at a future date.
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube VIDEO : The Perfectly Preserved Frozen Yuka Mammoth Mummy – Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Well-preserved strawberry-blond mammoth discovered in Siberia | Fox News
  • Woolly mammoth carcass may have been cut into by humans | BBC

*— NEWS BYTE — *

More Fine Feathered Dinosaurs



Left Image Credit: Zhang Hailong | Right Image Credit: Zhang Hailong

  • * Last time on SciByte*
  • Solar Storms & Higgs Boson | SciByte 37 [March 13, 2012] – More Dinosaur feathers get color
  • Feedback & Space Lego’s | SciByte 31 [Jan 31, 2012] – Dinosaur feather colors
  • The low down
  • New fossils of one adult and two younger dinosaurs show evidence of an extensively feathers dinosaur, the largest species to date
  • The region the new discoveries have been made is well known for keeping soft tissues of ancient animals well-preserved
  • Significance
  • Yutyrannus hauli, Y.huali, a mix of latin and mandarin translated into “beautiful feathered tyrant”, weighed up to about 3,000 lb (1,400 kg) and stretched 30ft (9m) from nose to tail
  • The species had include a high, bumpy nose plate, known as a midline crest and likely stood 8ft (2.5m) tall, although its posture is unknown
  • Y.huali, although differs in growth strategy, has the type of skeletal features that make it in the same family as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and would have reached T. rex’s chest.
  • The feathers of the Y.Hauli were at least 6in (15cm) long, although the color of the feathers is not known
  • There is some evidence that shows the coverage was a bit patchy which, might have given the dinosaur a shaggy appearance
  • Although its appears that the feathers might have entirely covered the dinosaurs skin, scientists are unable to confirm because the specimens aren’t complete.
  • * Of Note*
  • Some scientists hypothesize that smaller dinosaurs used a fluffy layer of feathers to stay warm
  • Other dinosaur specimens have shown evidence of being fully feathered, however all of those were far have been much smaller
  • Thanks to small surface-to-volume body ratios, large-bodied animals tend to maintain heat easily.
  • This hypothesis further goes on to suggest that the larger species found lost their feathers the bigger they got or were just not as extensively covered.
  • Other scientists point out that in warmer climates animals like the modern giraffes and wildebeests, have external covering but don’t need it for insulation
  • Another hypothesis is that the feathers were simply used to show off and attract mates.
    • Either hypothesis has some scientists reimagining the appearance of the Tyrannosaurus rex, and other dinosaurs
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube VIDEO : T-Rex Relative had Soft, Downy Feathers | NewsyScience
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • T. rex has another fine, feathered cousin | ScienceNews.org
  • A gigantic feathered dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China | Nature.com
  • Warm and fuzzy T. rex? New evidence surprises | Phys.org
  • Giant Feathered Tyrannosaur Found in China | Wired.com

Killing bacteria with plasma

  • The low down
  • Plasma is the fourth state of matter (solids, liquids and gases) has previously shown its worth in the medical industry by effectively killing bacteria and viruses on the surface of the skin and in water.
  • Plasmas are produced in electrical discharges, these gases of free electrons and ions
  • Medical science has high hopes for plasmas. and they have already been shown to destroy pathogens, help heal wounds, and selectively kill cancer cells
  • It seems that the highly reactive oxygen species generated oxidized cell membranes and damage DNA.
  • These oxygen species are also found in our immune system
  • Significance
  • Killing harmful bacteria in hospitals is difficult; out in the field, it can be an even bigger problem
  • Now researchers may have found a remote disinfection in a portable “flashlight” that shines a ray of cold plasma to kill bacteria in minutes.
  • In an experiment the ‘flashlight’ was put over a thick biofilm of one of the most antibiotic- and heat-resistant bacteria which often infects the root canals during dental treatments.
  • Biofilms created in this experiment were incubating bacteria for seven days, and were around 0.0001 in (25 micrometres) thick and consisted of 17 different layers of bacteria.
  • After five minutes of treatment the plasma not only inactivated the top layer of cells, but penetrated deep into the very bottom of the layers to kill the bacteria.
  • * Of Note*
  • Adding to the safety of the device was that the UV radiation in the jet created by the plasma flashlight was so low
  • In addition temperature of the plume of plasma in the experiments was between 20–230C, which is very close to room temperature and therefore prevents any damage to the skin
  • The device now costs less that $100 so produce, before making it ready for commercialisation
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Plasma Flashlight Zaps Bacteria | sciencemag.org
  • Handheld plasma flashlight rids skin of notorious pathogens | phys.org

*— Updates — *

James Cameron makes a Titanic correction

SPACECRAFT UPDATE

Extended funding for a few NASA programs



Credit: NASA

  • The low down
  • Because of tight budgets a number of programs including Kepler were slated to run out of funds this November
  • Scientists were particularly worried about Kepler Since it requires several years of observations are required in order for Kepler to confirm a repeated orbit as a planet transits its star
  • Other planets to receive additional funding are Hubble, Fermi and Swift
  • Only the Spitzer infrared telescope, as of right now, will be closed out in 2015, which is sooner than requested.
  • Hubble Space Telescope will continue at the currently funded levels
  • Kepler
  • The Kepler mission, launched in 2006 has discovered more than 2,300 potential alien planets to date, and 61 confirmed alien planets
  • The Kepler Mission is designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover Earth-size planets in the habitable zone.
  • Hubble Space Telescope
  • Is the first major optical telescope to be placed in space,
  • Scientists have used Hubble to observe the most distant stars and galaxies as well as the planets in our solar system.
  • Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, formerly GLAST
  • NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope (formerly GLAST) studies the extreme energy universe!
  • Explore the most extreme environments in the Universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything possible on Earth
    • Search for signs of new laws of physics and what composes the mysterious Dark Matter
    • Explain how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed.
    • Help crack the mysteries of the stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.
    • Answer long-standing questions across a broad range of topics, including solar flares, pulsars and the origin of cosmic rays.
  • Swift
    ultraviolet, and optical wavebands.
  • A multi-wavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) science.
    • Determine the origin of gamma-ray bursts
    • Classify gamma-ray bursts and search for new types
    • Determine how the blastwave evolves and interacts with the surroundings
    • Use gamma-ray bursts to study the early universe
    • Perform the first sensitive hard X-ray survey of the sky
  • Social Media
  • NASA Kepler @NASAKepler
  • NASAFermi NASAFermi
  • NASA Swift mission @NASASwift
  • Hubble @NASA_Hubble
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • FREE Kepler Explorer App By OpenLab
  • NASA Extends Kepler, Spitzer, Planck Missions | NASA.gov
  • Kepler Mission Extended to 2016 | UniverseToday.com
  • NASA Extends Planet-Hunting Kepler Mission Through 2016

SCIENCE CALENDER

Looking back

  • April 11, 1970 : 42 years ago : Apollo XIII Launch : The mission began with a little-known smaller incident: during the second-stage boost, the center (inboard) engine shut down two minutes early. The four outboard engines burned longer to compensate, and the vehicle continued to a successful orbit. The third manned lunar landing mission, was launched from Cape Canaveral with crew James Lovell, Fred Haise, and John Swigert. Swigert was a late replacement for the original CM pilot Ken Mattingly, who was grounded by the flight surgeon after exposure to German measles.
  • April 13, 1970 : 42 years ago : Apollo XIII Rescue : Disaster struck 200,000 miles from earth. A liquid oxygen tank exploded, disabling the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water. Swigert reported: “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” The lunar landing was aborted. After circling the moon, the crippled spacecraft began a long, cold journey back to earth with enormous logistical problems in providing enough energy to the damaged fuel cells to allow a safe return.
  • April 17, 1970 : 42 years ago : Apollo XIII Return : Apollo 13 landed safely with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, four days after the spacecraft aborted its mission while it was four-fifths of the way to the moon. Upon his return, astronaut A. J. Lovell, Jr. was the first American astronaut to travel over 700 hours in space.

Looking up this week

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