Red Bull Stratos – Jupiter Broadcasting https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com Open Source Entertainment, on Demand. Wed, 09 Jan 2013 07:12:01 +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 Red Bull Stratos – Jupiter Broadcasting https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com 32 32 Resolutions & Martian Meteorite | SciByte 76 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/29861/resolutions-martian-meteorite-scibyte-76/ Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:25:41 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=29861 We take a look at my version of the best and the worst science stories 2012, the science behind a few new years resolutions, IQ scores debunked, and more!

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We take a look at my version of the best and the worst science stories 2012, the science behind a few new years resolutions, IQ scores, a Martian Meteorite, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes:

“Best” and “Worst” of 2012

  • Retraction | Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos
  • Back in October 2011, CERN researchers timed the roughly 16,000 neutrinos and said that, on average, the neutrinos made the 450 mi [730 km], 2.43-millisecond trip roughly 60 nanoseconds faster than expected if they were traveling at light speed. (~ 0.0025% faster)
  • By February 2012 there were questions about wiring, GPS satellite timing, or missing suspected radiation should they have been FTL
  • The OPERA team later discovered that a loose fiber optic cable had introduced a delay in their timing system that explained the effect
  • A month later they measured the speed of neutrinos fired from CERN and found that they do indeed travel at light speed, as predicted
  • Some OPERA team members thought the whole episode had besmirched the collaboration’s reputation, and in March 2012, two of the team’s elected leaders lost a vote of no confidence and tendered their resignations.
  • Retraction | Hyung-In Moon
  • The Korean scientist Hyung-In Moon took the concept of scientific peer review to a whole new level by reviewing his own papers under various fake names
  • Peer review is a process in which scientific peers in the same field judge the merit of a submitted journal paper
  • The editors at a Medical Journal grew suspicious when four of his glowing reviews came back within 24 hours, when most reviewers take weeks or months to reply
  • Moon’s research, included a study on alcoholic liver disease and another on an anticancer plant substance
  • He admitted to falsifying data in some of his papers, and 35 of his papers were retracted in 2012
  • Retraction | Cell-phone Cancer links
  • Studies proposing a link between cellphone use and cancer often rely on weak statistics.
  • In 2008, scientists published a paper stating that cellphones in standby mode lowered the sperm count and caused other adverse changes in the testicles of rabbits
  • Although small and published in a rather obscure journal, the study made the news rounds.
  • In March 2012, the authors retracted the paper because the lead author didn’t get permission from his two co-authors
  • According to the retraction notice, there was a “lack of evidence to justify the accuracy of the data presented in the article.”
  • Retraction | Failure is Better?
  • Dutch social psychologist Diederik Stapel claimed that “failure sometimes feels better than success”
  • It now appears that his research is either mostly or completely fabricated
  • So far, 31 papers have been retracted
  • Another one of his studies that is now under suspicion found that meat eaters are more selfish and less social than vegetarians
  • My # 4 Story | Extremes
  • James Cameron is the first to go alone to Challenger Deep to almost 36,000 feet below sea level, during the Deep Sea Challenge.
  • The Mariana Trench,in the western Pacific Ocean, is deeper than Mount Everest is tall and only two other humans have ever visited it.
  • YouTube | Tiny sub used in James Cameron’s deep sea dive | CNN
  • Apollo 11 & James Cameron | SciByte 40 (April 3, 2012)
  • Felix Baumgartner jumped from a world record 128,100 ft [39,045 m] or just over 24 mi [39 km] and landed in eastern New Mexico on 14 October 2012
  • Baumgartner broke the speed of sound and the record for highest jump that had been set in 1960 by Col. Joe Kittinger
  • YouTube Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic freefall from 128k’ – Mission Highlights | redbull
  • Red Bull Stratos & SpaceX | SciByte 66 (October 9, 2012)
  • My # 3 Story | Dragon Spaceship
  • On 22 May 2012 SpaceX successfully launched the Dragon C2+ with almost 900 pounds of cargo to the international space station in its first official mission in October
  • The pressurized section carried 1,014 pounds [460 kg] of non-critical cargo to the ISS, which included food, water, clothing, cargo bags, computer hardware, the NanoRacks Module 9 (student experiments and scientific gear) and other miscellaneous cargo
  • The vehicle returned with 1,367 pounds [620 kg]
  • On 23 August 2012, NASA announced that SpaceX and their Falcon 9-Dragon system was certified to begin their cargo delivery
  • Their $1.6 billion contract calls for at least 12 resupply missions. The first of those flights was launched on October 7, 2012
  • Mission Highlights: SpaceX’s Dragon Makes History | spacexchannel
  • My # 2 Story | Curiosity Touchdown Confirmed
  • The first-of-it’s-kind landing process included a supersonic parachute and a sky crane that brought the rover to less than 1.5 mi [2.4 km] away from the center of the target landing area
  • Spirit and Opportunity, have found compelling evidence that liquid water once persisted on the surface of Mars
  • With Curiosity scientists hope to determine if other things necessary for life were also present, these building blocks include six elements necessary to all life on Earth: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur.
  • It is also examining the history of the Martian atmosphere, an earlier thicker, wetter atmosphere may have provided better environmental conditions for supporting microbial life in Mars’ early history.
  • Mars Science Laboratory will study the rock and soil record in order to understand the geologic processes that created and modified the martian crust and surface through time. In particular, it would look for evidence of rocks that formed in the presence of water.
  • Curiosity has already found an ancient streambed where water flowed continuously for thousands of years long ago. It has also identified some simple organics on Mars, though researchers aren’t yet sure if the carbon within the molecules is native to the Red Planet.
  • YouTube | Curiosity Has Landed | JPLnews
  • My # 1 Story| Higgs-Boson
  • Scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, said they used the Large Hadron Collider to detect a particle whose characteristics matched those of the Higgs boson.
  • The Higgs-Boson particle is part of the Higgs field, that is responsible for the mass of all the matter in the universe
  • While we know it is a Boson particle we are still waiting for more details on the characteristics of the particle to confirm it’s the Higgs-BOson
  • More results are expected in March 2013
  • YouTube : The Moment: CERN Scientist Announces Higgs Boson ‘God Particle’ Discovery | linktv
  • YouTube : Peter Higgs rection to the anoucement
  • YouTube : “Peter Higgs’ reaction on the day itself” / Peter Higgs, François Englert | Paul0de0Haas
  • YouTube : Higgs Boson Discovery announcement by Peter Higgs | MuonRay
  • YouTube : The Higgs Boson, Part I | minutephysics
  • YouTube : Higgs Boson ‘God Particle’ – What is it? BBC World News | mangstarrr
  • Social Media
  • DeepSea Challenge @DeepChallenge
  • Red Bull Stratos @RedBullStratos
  • Dragon Spaceship @DragonSpaceship
  • Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
  • CERN @CERN
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • COTS–2 Press Kit
  • Mars Rover Landing Guru Makes ‘Best of 2012’ List | Space.com

— NEWS BYTE —

New Years Resolutions | Dieting

  • The low down
  • Although cholesterol, blood pressure, triglycerides and blood sugar all improve with weight loss, with weight regain they all return to pre-diet levels and, in some cases, to even higher levels
  • Maintaining weight loss is just as important as losing weight
  • Even partial weight regain is associated with worsened diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors
  • Significance
  • More than 100 postmenopausal women took part in a five-month weight-loss program study and were continued to br monitor the women for a year
  • During the weight-loss program the women lost an average of 25 pounds
  • After a year, two-thirds of the women had regained at least four pounds, on average regaining about 70 percent of the weight they had lost
  • Women who regained 4.4 pounds or more in the year following the weight-loss intervention had several worsened cardiovascular and diabetes risk factors
  • Women who maintained their weight loss a year later managed to preserve most of the benefits
  • Of Note
  • This study highlights the importance of not just losing weight, but the need to develop effective and enduring strategies so that this weight loss can be successfully maintained long term
  • People should be focusing on being healthy, not skinny,
  • It is important to create strategies for reaching and maintaining a healthy weight throughout their lifetime
  • Start with simple changes such as swapping seltzer or soda, keeping a daily food record, adding a salad to lunch and substituting a second vegetable for half the starch at dinner
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Yo-yo dieting can hurt the heart, study finds | MedicalXPress.com

New Years Resolutions | Exercise

  • The low down
  • Olympic medallists live longer than the general population, regardless of country of origin, medal won, or type of sport played
  • However, those who engage in disciplines with high levels of physical contact, such as boxing, rugby and ice hockey, are at an increased risk of death in later life
  • Life Expectancy
  • Researchers compared life expectancy among 15,174 Olympic athletes who won medals between 1896 and 2010 with general population groups matched by country, sex, and age
  • All medallists lived an average of 2.8 years longer in eight out of the nine country groups studied.
  • Gold, silver and bronze medallists enjoyed roughly the same survival advantage, as did medallists in both endurance and mixed sports
  • Medallists in powersports had a smaller, but still significant, advantage over the general population.
  • While the study was not designed to determine why Olympic athletes live longer, possible explanations include genetic factors, physical activity, healthy lifestyle, and the wealth and status that come from international sporting glory
  • Intensity of Exercise
  • In a second study, researchers measured the effect of high intensity exercise on mortality later in life among former Olympic athletes
  • They tracked 9,889 athletes who took part in at least one Olympic Games between 1896 and 1936 and represented 43 disciplines requiring different levels of exercise intensity and physical contact
  • Two public health experts point out that people who do at least 150 minutes a week [~20min a day] of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity also have a survival advantage compared with the inactive general population
  • They also found that athletes from sports with high cardiovascular intensity (such as cycling and rowing) or moderate cardiovascular intensity (such as gymnastics and tennis) had similar mortality rates compared with athletes from low cardiovascular intensity sports, such as golf or cricket
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Olympians live longer than general population… But cyclists no survival advantage over golfers | MedicalXPress

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

IQ Score is Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be

  • The low down
  • After conducting the largest online intelligence study on record a research team has concluded that the notion of measuring one’s intelligence quotient or IQ by a singular, standardized test is highly misleading
  • Significance
  • The study, which included more than 100,000 participants Utilized an online study open to anyone, anywhere in the world
  • The researchers asked respondents to complete 12 cognitive tests tapping memory, reasoning, attention and planning abilities, as well as a survey about their background and lifestyle habits.
  • While the team expected a few hundred responses, thousands and thousands of people took part, including people of all ages, cultures and creeds from every corner of the world
  • The results showed that when a wide range of cognitive abilities are explored, the observed variations in performance can only be explained with at least three distinct components: short-term memory, reasoning and a verbal component
  • Of Note
  • Scientists used a brain scanning technique known as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to show that these differences in cognitive ability map onto distinct circuits in the brain.
  • Intriguingly, people who regularly played computer games did perform significantly better in terms of both reasoning and short-term memory
  • Smokers performed poorly on the short-term memory and the verbal factors
  • People who frequently suffer from anxiety performed badly on the short-term memory factor in particular
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Researchers debunk the IQ myth | MedicalXPress.com

— Updates —

Martian Meteorite

  • The low down
  • A rare Martian meteorite recently found in Morocco contains minerals with 10 times more water than previously discovered Mars meteorites
  • The black, baseball-sized stone, which weighs less than 1 pound, is 2.1 billion years old, meaning it formed during what is known as the early Amazonian era in Mars’ geologic history.
  • Officially known as Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, is the second-oldest of 110 named stones originating from Mars that have been retrieved on Earth
  • This discovery raises new questions about when and how long the planet most like Earth in the solar system had conditions suitable for life
  • Significance
  • Early Mars was believed to be warm and wet, but the planet lost most of its atmosphere and its surface water to become a cold, dry desert that appears today
  • The time from when our meteorite is from is maybe a transitional period in the climate, when Mars was losing its atmosphere, losing its water on the surface
  • The rock is relatively rich in water – about 6,000 parts per million – compared with typical Martian meteorites that contain about 200- to 300 parts per million
  • That’s 10 times more water than other Martian Meteorites
  • It is similar to basaltic rocks on Earth that form in volcanic eruptions
  • NWA 7034, nicknamed “Black Beauty,” also contains tiny bits of carbon, formed from geologic, not biological activity
  • Scientists don’t know why more meteorites like Black Beauty haven’t been found on Earth. + The period of time from which they originated may be relatively short, or most may not survive the trip through Earth’s atmosphere
  • Of Note
  • Because it was so different from other Martian meteorites it took several months to identify, otherwise it would have taken less than a day
  • After the initial battery of tests revealed the rock’s unique nature, meteorite hunters returned to the area where it was found to search for other similar stones
  • Four more pieces, all smaller than the original, have now been found
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Rare Water-Rich Mars Meteorite Discovered : Discovery News | news.discovery.com

– CURIOSITY UPDATE –

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • Jan 9, 1998 : 14 years ago : Cosmological Constant : Two teams of international collaborations of scientists announced the discovery that galaxies are accelerating, flying apart at ever faster speeds, by observing distant, ancient exploding stars. This observation – named as Science magazine’s “Breakthrough of the Year for 1998” – implies the existence of a mysterious, self-repelling property of space first proposed by Albert Einstein, which he called the cosmological constant. Researchers in England, France, Germany, and Sweden are among the members of the Supernova Cosmology Project based at Berkeley National Laboratory (headed by Saul Perlmutter) and the High-z Supernova Search Team based in Australia (led by Brian Schmidt).

Looking up this week

The post Resolutions & Martian Meteorite | SciByte 76 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]> Nobel & Stratos | SciByte 67 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/26116/nobel-stratos-scibyte-67/ Tue, 16 Oct 2012 21:04:57 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=26116 We take a look at the 2012 Nobel award in Physics, Felix Baumgartner’s jump, exoplanets, spacecraft and Curiosity updates and so much more!

The post Nobel & Stratos | SciByte 67 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

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We take a look at the 2012 Nobel award in Physics, Felix Baumgartner’s jump, exoplanets, dentists, spacecraft and Curiosity updates and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

Direct Download:

MP3 Download | Ogg Download | Video | YouTube

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Support the Show:

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Show Notes:

2012 Nobel in Physics

  • 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics
  • American physicist David Wineland and French physicist Serge Haroche were named winners of the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics “for groundbreaking experimental methods” that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems
  • Their experiments on quantum particles have already resulted in ultra-precise clocks and may one day help lead to computers many times faster than those in use today.
  • Their research is inventing methods to peer into the bizarre quantum world of ultra-tiny particles, work that could help in creating a new generation of super-fast computers
  • Quantum computers could radically change people’s lives in the way that classical computers did last century, but a full-scale quantum computer is still decades away
  • In a quantum computer, an individual particle can essentially represent a zero and a one at the same time
  • If scientists can make such particles work together, certain kinds of calculations could be done with blazing speed.
  • Why not Higgs?
  • There is a remote possibility that the new particle is not the Higgs, although this would be an even more ground shaking announcement.
  • Originally six physicists, each building on the work of others, published a flurry of papers on aspects of the theory within four months of each other back in 1964.
  • The first were Belgians Robert Brout, who died last year, and Francois Englert.
  • Followed by Higgs, who was the first to say only a new particle would explain the anomalies of mass
  • Further complicating the issue is that thousands of physicists worked in the two labs at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider near Geneva where Higgs experiments were conducted independently of each other.
  • Another question is whether theoreticians or experimentalists—or both—should get the glory.
  • At most three names, although they can include organisations, can share a Nobel and a prize cannot be given posthumously.
  • The Nobel will “eventually” go to the Higgs but it is not yet certain that the particle is indeed the Higgs Boson
  • The Nobel Peace Prize has often been awarded to organisations. But in the science prizes they have tried to “find the most prizeworthy individuals”
  • Of Note
  • The prizes are always handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.
  • Although they are announced before the Dec 10 anniversary
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Official website of the Nobel Prize
  • Frenchman, American win Nobel for quantum physics (Update 6) | phys.org
  • ‘God particle’ discovery poses Nobel dilemma | phys.org

— NEWS BYTE —

Red Bull Stratos


— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Exoplanet

  • The low down
  • The news is coming out that citizens utilizing Kepler data from PlanetHunters have found a planet in a 4-star system!
  • Also an Earth-sized exoplanet has been discovered about the nearest star
  • More information on this in next weeks SciByte!

Musical Dental Drill

  • The low down
  • A dental surgeon in the Indonesian city of Purworejo has connected an MP3 player to a dental drill that plays music loud enough to drown out the distinctive whine of the instrument
  • He discovered that many patients, especially children were not afraid of the dentist; instead, they were afraid of the drill
  • Patients are able to control its volume by opening and closing their mouths the wider they open, the louder the music grows which means the dentist doesn’t have to continually urge patients to open wider for better access to back teeth
  • It took Dr. Gustiana a year of research, effort, and 6 million rupiah (approximately $595) to configure the drill
  • He has been using it in his practice since 2006 and has noted that many adults also prefer the musical drill to the standard model.
  • Patients can make requests though he does try to limit the choices to songs that calm the nerves
  • Of Note
  • Doctor Gustiana presented his modified drill to attendees at the International Dental Congress held in Greece earlier this year.
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Dentist Creates Singing Dental Drill to Ease Fears | NTDTV
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Dental surgeon adds music to drill to appease patients | MedicalXpress.com

– SPACECRAFT UPDATE –

Shuttle Endeavour moves into new home

Return of “Voyager 1 in Interstellar space?”

  • Inch by inch to interstellar space
  • Voyager team has said they have been seeing two of three key signs of changes expected to occur at the boundary of interstellar space
  • A jump in the level of high-energy cosmic rays originating from outside our Solar System and a drop in particles from the Sun
  • A third key sign would be the direction of the magnetic field
  • New tantalizing data
  • Scientists are now analyzing the data to see whether the magnetic field has, indeed, changed direction
  • Of Note
  • Complicating the issue is the fact we don’t really know what to expect, in fact data from 2010 broke what working models we had
  • The entire team will come to a resolute consensus before any announcement is made
  • Social Media
  • NASAVoyager2 @NASAVoyager2
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Did NASA’s Voyager 1 Spacecraft Just Exit the Solar System? | Space.com
  • Voyager 1 may have left the solar system | Phys.org

Orbcomm

  • Last time on SciByte
  • Red Bull Stratos & SpaceX | SciByte 66 – Red Bull Stratos [October 9, 2012]
  • The low down
  • The Orbcomm satellite, launched Oct. 7 into a bad orbit by a Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket
  • It has however provided enough data to proceed with the launch of the full constellation starting next year.
  • In a statement, Orbcomm suggested that it had enough access to the satellite in less than four days in orbit to validate the performance of its major subsystems.
  • Also that had its satellite been the primary payload on SpaceX’s Oct. 7 flight, the mission would have been a success
  • The solar array and communications antenna deployments were successful
  • OG2 satellite bus systems including power, attitude control, thermal and data handling were also tested to verify proper operation
  • Orbcomm had requested that SpaceX carry one of their small satellites on this flight so that they could gather test data before we launch their full constellation next year.
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Satellite Left Stranded by SpaceX Rocket Falls From Space | Space.com

Opportunity Rover

  • The low down
  • Opportunity is conducting science campaign at a location where orbital observations show the presence of clay minerals
  • The rover is positioning near a large, light-toned block of exposed rock outcrop, called “Whitewater Lake.”
  • On Sol 3092 (Oct. 4, 2012), the rover moved, likely the smallest amount ever, with less than an inch (1 centimeter) of total motion in order to position the robotic arm favorable on a dark-rind surface target
  • On Sol 3094 (Oct. 6, 2012), Opportunity performed a 15-minute brush of a surface target with the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT
    followed with the collection of a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic
    then the placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) for an overnight integration
  • The total distance travelled during the mission is 21.78 miles (35,050.07 meters)
  • Multimedia
  • Image [Exposed rock outcrop, called Whitewater Lake(https://twitter.com/MarsRovers/status/256907735189299201/photo/1)
  • Social Media
  • Spirit and Oppy | @MarsRovers
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Mars Exploration Rover Mission: The Mission | marsrover.nasa.gov

– CURIOSITY UPDATE –

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • October 18, 1962 : 50 years ago : Nobel Prize for DNA : Dr. James D. Watson of the U.S., Dr. Francis Crick and Dr. Maurice Wilkins of Britain won the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).

Looking up this week

The post Nobel & Stratos | SciByte 67 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]> Red Bull Stratos & SpaceX | SciByte 66 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/25786/red-bull-stratos-spacex-scibyte-66/ Tue, 09 Oct 2012 21:39:42 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=25786 We take a look at Red Bull Stratos updates, an apple a day, new GPS satellites, SpaceX, and warp drive!

The post Red Bull Stratos & SpaceX | SciByte 66 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

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We take a look at Red Bull Stratos updates, an apple a day, new GPS satellites, a Space Station mission, Endeavours final leg of its journey, warp drive, SpaceX and Curiosity updates and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

Direct Download:

MP3 Download | Ogg Download | Video | YouTube

RSS Feeds:

MP3 Feed | Ogg Feed | iTunes Feed | Video Feed

Support the Show:

[asa]B008FTXQ8G[/asa]

   

Show Notes:

Red Bull Stratos

  • Last time on SciByte
  • iPhone Nurse & “Warp Drive” | SciByte 64 [September 25, 2012]
  • Olympic Science & Red Bull Stratos | SciByte 56 [July 31, 2012]
  • Launch Requirements
  • Winds of less than 2 mph [3 kph] up to 800 feet [244 m] in altitude
  • An FAA regulation prohibits balloons from ascending if skies are overcast such that horizontal visibility is less than 3 miles (4.8 kilometers)
  • Atmospheric air cool enough to enable Baumgartner’s falling body to surpass the speed of sound
  • Delays
  • The original launch date of Monday, October 8th was delayed due to high winds and less than horizontal visibility of 3 miles (4.8 kilometers)
  • On Tuesday early morning although winds were calm problems in Baumgartner’s custom-built capsule delayed liftoff for hours
  • Later on Tuesday
  • The Balloon
  • Helium filled balloon
  • Constructed of strips of high-performance polyethylene (plastic) film that is only 0.0008 inches thick
  • All of the strips combined would cover 40 acres if they laid out flat
  • At launch the uninflated balloon measures 592.41 ft [180.6 m]
  • At 120,000 feet: Height / Diameter of 334.82 ft / 424.37 ft [102.1 m/129.3 m]
  • Requires approximately 8 hours of preparation immediately before launch, including about 45 to 60 minutes for insertion of the helium.
  • The balloon once “unboxed” can not be used again as they are very fragile
  • The Descent
  • Expected freefall of 5 minutes, 35 seconds or more
  • Felix will deploy his parachute at 5,000 ft [1,524 m], after which it will take 10–15 minutes before reaching the ground
  • The total time in the air from the edge of space to Earth is estimated at about 15–20 minutes
  • The combined parachute system components – Felix’s overall rig – will weigh about 60 lbs./27 kg. In comparison, a typical skydiving rig weighs about 20 lbs./9 kg., and a BASE jumping rig weighs 10 to 12 lbs./4 to 5 kg.
  • Thermosphere
  • The outermost layer of the atmosphere
  • Solar radiation bombards this layer, striking sparse air molecules and causing them to emit flashes of light, the auroras
  • Mesosphere
  • At 53 miles [85 km] it has faint clouds
  • Electrical discharge events called red sprites and blue jets
  • Stratosphere
  • Goes from an altitude of 6 miles (10 kilometers) up to about 30 miles (50 km) above the surface.
  • Air pressure drops from 10 percent of its value at sea level to just 0.1 percent
  • Absorption of UV sunlight by ozone causes the temperature to actually increase as the altitude increases
  • The temperature coupling of temperature with altitude prevents convection from happening, and so the air in this layer is dynamically stable.
  • Troposphere
  • Includes everything from an altitude of 6 miles down over most of Earth
  • Weather and jet stream
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Free Fall Jump Aborted Cancelled due to High Winds | Red Bull Stratos Felix Baumgartner Upset | TheRobotCinema
  • Interactable Mission Timeline | RedBullStratos.com
  • Image Gallery RedBullStratos.com
  • Social Media
  • Red Bull Stratos @RedBullStratos
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Home | Red Bull Stratos
  • Drop Zone | Red Bull Stratos
  • How Supersonic Skydiver Will Freefall Through Earth’s Atmosphere | Felix Baumgartner Space Jump | Space.com
  • Record-Breaking Supersonic Skydive Attempt Delayed to Tuesday | Space.com
  • Supersonic Skydive’s 5 Biggest Risks: Boiling Blood, Deadly Spins, and Worse | National Geographic

Stitcher Radio

— NEWS BYTE —

An Apple a Day

  • In a study the consumption of one apple a day for four weeks lowered levels of a substance linked to hardening of the arteries by 40 percent blood
  • The low down
  • The difference between eating an apple or not was similar to that found between people with normal coronary arteries versus those with coronary artery disease
  • Apples seemed to lower LDL, “bad” cholesterol, levels during the study [LDL, low-density lipoprotein]
  • The cholesterol LDL is more likely to promote inflammation and can cause tissue damage.
  • There was a tremendous effect against LDL being oxidized with just one apple a day for four weeks
  • Significance
  • The study also showed that simply taking capsules containing polyphenols, a type of antioxidant found in apples, had a similar, but not as large of an effect.
  • The researchers believing that polyphenols in the apples contribute to the effects and tried to extract them
  • The extracted polyphenols did register a measurable effect although not as strong as straight apples
  • Higher doses that used in this study may improve the results although apples themselves could be doing better if there are other unknown compounds contributing to the effect
  • These possible unknown compounds could also contribute to the overall effect by aiding absorption
  • Of Note
  • Eating apples has also shown some effects on antioxidants in saliva, which has implications for dental health
  • The study is funded by an apple industrial group
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube An Apple a Day May Keep Heart Doctor Away | OARDC
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • An apple a day lowers level of blood chemical linked to hardening of the arteries | MedialXPress

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

New GPS Satellite System

  • A Delta IV rocket launched on Oct 4th, sending a next-generation Global Positioning System satellite into orbit
  • The low down
  • The satellite will be part of the GPS system that is used by both civilians and the military
  • This system will replace a 19-year-old navigation satellite in the global system that includes 31 operational satellites on-orbit which broadcast position
  • This particular launch is the the third of 12 planned launches to provide improved GPS signals
  • This satellite system features improved anti-jam technology, more precise atomic clocks, an upgraded civilian channel for commercial aviation and on-board processors that can be reprogrammed in flight
  • The new satellite should be available by November
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Launch of GPS IIF–3 on Delta IV Medium Rocket | SpaceVidsNet
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Liftoff! Delta IV Launches Next Generation GPS Satellite | UniverseToday.com

A Year in a Space Station

  • The low down
  • On October 5th NASA and the international partners of the International Space Station announced an agreement to send two crew members to the International Space Station on a one-year mission
  • This type of mission is designed to collect valuable scientific data needed to send humans to new destinations in the solar system
  • The crew on this mission would be one American astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut
  • The mission is scheduled to begin in spring 2015
  • Scientists say that if the mission proves to be effective, they will discuss making year long missions on a permanent basis
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Year-Long Missions Could Be Added to Space Station Manifest | UniverseToday.com

YouTube | 55 Years of Space Exploration, 1957 – 2012

– SPACECRAFT UPDATE –

SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft re-supply mission

  • The flight, referred to as Commercial Resupply Services–1 (CRS–1), is the first of a dozen resupply flights for which NASA is paying SpaceX $1.6 billion to fly.
  • Mission Patch
  • The first of NASA’s contracted cargo resupply flights to the International Space Station now has its own mission patch
  • The CRS–1 mission patch, which borrows its shape from the Dragon capsule, shows the solar-powered spacecraft grappled by the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm as it is being brought in to connect with the stations Harmony module
  • Almost camouflaged with the patch’s green-colored North American continent is a four leaf clover. The symbol for luck, the clover has become a regular feature on SpaceX’s insignias since the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company’s first successful Falcon 1 launch in September 2008
  • Embroidered versions of the patch may be in the mission’s Official Flight Kit (OFK) of mementos to be presented to NASA and SpaceX team members for a job well done.
  • Launch
  • Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, launched its second-station bound Dragon capsule atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket at 8:35 p.m. EDT (0035 GMT Oct. 8) from Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
  • Engine Failure
  • 79 seconds into the launch one out of nine of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 suddenly lost pressure and was shut down [it did not explode as they continued to receive data]
  • None of the other 8 engines were affected and the Falcon 9 rocket re-calculated a new launch profile to arrive in the correct orbit
  • Careful analysis of all data to find the cause, identify the problem and find solutions for future missions
  • Eleven minutes after launch, when the Dragon was safely in orbit, two 15-foot (4.6 m) solar arrays were deployed to provide power to the spacecraft.
  • The ‘debris’ seen falling from the engine is most likely protective fairings around the engine from engine pressure releases
  • Theodore Kurita | SpaceX Falcon Engine Failure
  • @StarbaseUGC | SpaceX Falcon Engine Failure
  • Orbcomm satellite
  • Orbcomm operates a global machine-to-machine messaging service using a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit.
  • Its second-generation constellation is designed to provide faster and higher-volume messaging, and also to provide a global Automatic Identification Service on maritime traffic.
  • The New Jersey-based company had a piggybacked payload on the Falcon 9 launch, the OG2
  • The failure in one of Falcon 9’s engines prevented the OG2 to be deployed into an orbit that was lower than intended
  • Both companies are working together in communication with the satellite to determine if it can be raised into an operational orbit
  • No statement has been released as of the filming of todays show but it is thought that they will be able to get a few months work out of the prototype
  • Plans are still in place to launch 17 more OG2 satellites on two Falcon 9 rockets in 2013 and 2014
  • Sweet Treat for the Space Station Crew
  • GLACIER, or General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator, is primarily used to preserve science samples that require temperatures between minus 301 and 39 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 160 and 4 degrees Celsius)
  • The mini-fridge sized freezer has previously flown aboard the space shuttle and will be used to return frozen samples back to Earth
  • The vanilla with swirled chocolate sauce ice cream cups won’t melt on their three-day journey to the space station thanks to a freezer on board the Dragon capsule
  • The brand of ice cream flying in the Dragon’s GLACIER is Blue Bell Creameries, a Texas dairy that has a strong fan base in Houston
  • Blue Bell ice cream has been flown to the space station before. The creamery’s cups first launched to the orbiting laboratory in 2006 on board the space shuttle Atlantis
  • Of Note
  • The Dragon Spacecraft should arrive at the space station on Wed when it will be captured using the station arm
  • It’s two week visit will conclude on Oct 28 for a splashdown off the coast of S California
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Space X/Dragon Heads to ISS | NASAtelevision
  • Image Gallery SpaceX Dragon Launches on 1st Space Station Cargo Trip | Space.com
  • Social Media
  • Handle @
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Private Rocket Suffered Slight Glitch During Sunday Cargo Launch | Space.com
  • Astronaut Ice Cream: Frozen Dessert Launching to Space Station | Space.com
  • Station-Bound Dragon Spacecraft’s Mission Patch Unveiled | Space.com
  • Recovery Prospects Unclear for Orbcomm Craft Launched by Falcon 9 | SpaceNews.com
  • [SpaceX Rocket Launch Glitch Left Piggyback Satellite in Wrong Orbit | Space.com]https://www.space.com/17984-spacex-private-rocket-glitch-satellite.html)

Shuttle Endeavour Parade Coming

  • Last time on SciByte
  • iPhone Nurse & “Warp Drive” | SciByte 64 [September 25, 2012]
  • The low down
  • Nicknamed Mission 26, pre-dawn Friday morning [Oct 12] Endeavour will starts it’s 2-day 12 mile journey from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to its new exhibition at the California Science Center (CSC)
  • Mission 26 will take Endeavour through Inglewood and Los Angeles, including passing over the 405 freeway
  • Endeavour will make the journey atop a modified NASA overland transporter, driven most of the time by four self powered, computer controlled vehicles.
  • Los Angeles and Inglewood police departments have said that public viewing will be limited on Friday until Endeavour’s overnight crossing of the 405 is completed
  • Although original plans included a Toyota stock truck to tow the shuttle on its last quarter-mile (400 meters) to the science center. Instead, the pickup will be used to move Endeavour over the freeway due to its computer-driven transporters not being cleared for use on the overpass.
  • Travel Logistics
  • Police will have to shut down streets and sidewalks
  • Crews will have to temporarily remove and reinstall power lines, traffic signals and street lights
  • Although the route did involve the removal of several hundred trees, for every tree that was removed, up to four trees of higher quality will be planted in its place, in addition 2-years of of tree maintenance will be provided
  • Multimedia
  • Google Map of the Journey
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Space shuttle Endeavour to leave on L.A. road trip this week | CollectSpace.com
  • How to Steal a Space Shuttle | UniverseToday.com

— VIEWER FEEDBACK —

Dilithium Crystals

  • A new fusion impulse engine could cut the travel time to Mars from six months to six weeks
  • The low down
  • Since the sponsors of the project have ties to military funding the project will first be available for military uses, possibly for nuclear testing equipment
  • The process still has a few things to work through such as a way to harness the fusion energy
  • Also in question is turning the power generated by the fusion into thrust for an engine
  • Any craft that used this system would need to be assembled in space
  • This technology also has applications far beyond military or space exploration
  • Even with these issues scientists on the project are hoping to make the system a reality by 2030
  • The scientists are hoping to make impulse drive a reality by 2030
  • Of Note
  • The fuel that they are calling “basically dilithium crystals” is deuterium [a stable isotope of hydrogen] and Li6 [a stable isotope of the metal lithium] in a crystal structure
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • ‘Star Trek’ fusion impulse engine in the works | Crave – CNET
  • Newest Fusion Engine Is Powered On Star Trek Like Dilithium Crystals | Business Insider

– CURIOSITY UPDATE –

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • Oct 10, 1846 : 166 years ago : Triton : Neptune’s moon, Triton, is discovered by William Lassell while he was observing the newly discovered planet Neptune. He was attempting to confirm his observation of the previous week, that Neptune had a ring. Instead he discovered that Neptune had a satellite, Triton. Lassell soon proved that the ring he thought he had seen was a product of his new telescope’s distortion. This picture of Triton was taken in 1989 by the only spacecraft ever to pass Triton: Voyager 2, which found fascinating terrain, a thin atmosphere, and even evidence for ice volcanoes on this world of peculiar orbit and spin. Ironically, Voyager 2 also confirmed the existence of complete thin rings around Neptune – but these would have been quite invisible to Lassell!

Looking up this week

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]]> Meteorites & Lasers | SciByte 38 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/18136/meteorites-lasers-scibyte-38/ Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:43:26 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=18136 We take a look at more Lego’s into space and near space, Venus transit, a meteorite that crashed through a cabin, guiding lightning with lasers, and more!

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We take a look at more Lego’s into space and near space, Venus transit, a meteorite that crashed through a cabin, guiding lightning with lasers, updates on Encyclopedia Britannica, near-orbital skydiving, check in on the latest news on Neutrinos and solar storms and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes:

Legoooo’s in Spaaaace … again

  • *The shuttle *
  • Raul Oaidia from Romania launched a Lego space shuttle into the stratosphere on the back of a weather balloon
  • Lego space shuttle model (set number 3367!) and a video camera to capture the voyage
  • Originally he was looking for someone to support project, found a businessman on twitter, who after discussing options decided that a launching something on a weather balloon
  • Launching in Romania required problematic flight clearance and waiting times, while Germany where his father worked had much looser regulations
  • He and his father traveled to Germany to launch the balloon, since that country’s regulations on this sort of project are more relaxed than those in Romania
  • The balloon lofted Lego shuttle flew to an altitude of about 114,800 ft [35,000 m]
  • Lego’s to Jupiter
  • Specially-constructed LEGO mini-figures are of the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno, and “father of science” Galileo Galilei.
  • Jupiter (who was the equivalent of “Zeus” to the Greeks) drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief. While Juno was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter’s true nature
  • Galileo Galilei first to point a telescope at the sky to make astronomical observations and discovered the four largest satellites of Jupiter – named the Galilean moons in his honor.
  • Juno and the mini-figures are scheduled to arrive in July 2016 and orbit Jupiter for a year (33 revolutions) before intentionally crashing into the giant gas planet
  • Made out of space-grade aluminum the figures, basically the size of the normal LEGO figures, were prepared in a very special way
  • * Lego Station*
  • While the actual Space Station (ISS) took more than 200 astronauts from 12 countries more than a dozen years to build an astronaut from Japan, matched that feat in just about two hours, at least in LEGO form
  • The Lego station would not be able to bear it’s own weight under gravity
  • The Lego station was used as a demonstration for a series of recorded videos aimed at engaging and educating children about living and working in space
  • Building Lego’s in space are much harder to put together in space, to keep the bricks contained it had to be put together inside a glove box
  • Because of the difficulty of putting it together in a glove box, some pieces of the model were launched partially-preassembled
  • In space you have to worry about the little pieces getting loose and becoming either lost or potentially getting jammed in equipment or even becoming a flammability hazard
  • There are flammability concerns about the Lego’s; due to the flammability hazards, the toy bricks could only be exposed to the open cabin air for two hours
  • Other building brick sets that were launched last year, the LEGO space station was part of an educational collaboration between the Danish toy company and NASA
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube VIDEO : Lego Space Shuttle
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Lego Space Shuttle Takes Flight, Returns to Earth Undamaged @ PCWorld.com
  • Astronaut Builds LEGO Space Station Inside Real-Life Space Station
  • What would you like to see in space? @ microblade.blogspot.com

*— NEWS BYTE — *

Venus Transit

  • The low down
  • Transits of Venus are when it passes in between the Earth and the sun and are among the rarest of planetary alignments
  • Between each occurrence is happens at uneven occurrences at 121.5, then 8 then 105.5, then 8 years again. So only four times every 243 years and only in early Dec or early June
  • Only six Venus transits have occurred since the invention of the telescope (1631, 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874
  • The last transit occurred in 2004
  • Observations
  • Your location north or south on Earth slightly affects the apparent path you see Venus taking south or north across the Sun
  • The transit this year will last about 6.5 hours and will be visible from more than half of the Earth’s surface; northwestern North America, Hawaii, the western Pacific, northern Asia, Japan, Korea, eastern China, Philippines, eastern Australia, and New Zealand.
  • The Sun will set while the transit is still in progress from most of North America, the Caribbean, and northwest South America
  • It will also already be in progress at sunrise for observers in central Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and eastern Africa
  • No portion of the transit will be visible from Portugal or southern Spain, western Africa, and the southeastern 2/3 of South America.
  • Significance
  • Edmund Halley first realized that transits of Venus could be used to measure the Sun’s distance which established the absolute scale of the solar system from Kepler’s third law
  • Accurately timing the transit from the surface of the Earth past a certain degree of accuracy due to atmospheric conditions and diffraction
  • The Venus transits in 1761 and 1769 were still able to give Astronomers their first good value for the Sun’s distance.
  • * Of Note*
  • The next pair of Venus transits occur over a century from now on 2117 Dec 11 and 2125 Dec 08.
  • Mercury, the other planet with an orbit between the sun and Earth undergoes transits about 13 or 14 transits of Mercury each century, and fall within several days of 8 May and 10 November
  • Multimedia
  • IMAGE : 2012 Venus Transit Map @ skyandtelescope.com
  • IMAGE : A line plotted of the transit as seen from Earth’s center, with Universal Times @ skyandtelescope.com
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Transit of Venus: June 5–6, 2012 @ skyandtelescope.com
  • 2004 and 2012 Transits of Venus @ nasa.gov

The sky, well a meteorite, fell in Norway right into a cabin

  • The low down
  • Norwegian family arrived at their holiday cabin in Oslo recently for the first time all winter, to discover that a meteorite had apparently fallen through their roof
  • Significance
  • No one is sure when the meteorite actually crashed through the cabin’s roof, because the cabin had been closed during the winter.
  • Although it is thought is may have fallen during a wave of meteor sightings over Norway on March 1
  • The 1.3 pound [585 gram] meteorite was found split in two
  • Cross-section’s of the meteorite show that it contains bits of many different particles that are compressed together
  • Identified as a rare type of breccia meteorite, which is a conglomerate of smaller fragments of minerals
  • These type of meteorites indicates that another, larger meteorite smashed rock on another planet before being propelled into outer space
  • * Of Note*
  • Meteorites rarely fall in populated areas
  • According to Views and News from Norway, only 14 meteorites have been found in the Scandinavian country since 1848
  • Photos and Video of the meteorite in local news site
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Meteorite smashed through Oslo roof @ newsinenglish.no
  • Norwegian Family Finds Meteorite Crashed Through Their Roof
  • Fikk meteorittstein gjennom taket i kolonihagen @ vg.no

Directing lightning with lasers

  • The low down
  • New research has shown that brief bursts of intense laser light can redirect lightning
  • Significance
  • Researchers in France have successfully directed coaxed laboratory-generated lightning into striking the same place, not just twice, but over and over
  • The researchers pulses of laser light, femtosecond (one quadrillionth of a second) long to create a virtual lightning rod out of a column of ionized gas
  • It has also been confirmed with other experiments that a femtosecond laser could produce an ultra-short filaments of ionized gas that act like electrical guide
  • Further studies revealed that these filaments could function over long distances, potentially greater than 164ft [50 m]
  • The research team sent a laser beam skimming past a spherical electrode to an oppositely charged planar electrode
  • The laser then stripped away the outer electrons from the atoms along its path
  • The resulting plasma filament channeled an electrical discharge from the planar electrode to the spherical one
  • The researchers then added a longer, pointed electrode to their experiment
  • With no laser the discharge obeyed normal rules and always struck the taller, pointed electrode
  • Then researchers used the later the discharge was redirected, following the filaments and striking the spherical electrode instead, even when they turned it on after the initial path of the discharge began to form
  • Multimedia
  • An illustration of how lightning occurs when two streamers meet. @ Wikipedia
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Laser lightning rod: Guiding bursts of electricity with a flash of light @ physorg.com

*— TWO-BYTE NEWS — *

Encyclopaedia Britannica, in print no more

  • The low down
  • Encyclopaedia Britannica has been in print since it was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768.
  • Significance
  • It was announced on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 that after 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print, instead focusing on its online encyclopedia
  • The President of Encyclopaedia Britannica said “This has to do with the fact that now Britannica sells its digital products to a large number of people.”
  • The final hardcover encyclopedia set is available for sale at Britannica’s website for $1,395.
  • * Of Note*
  • The top year for the printed encyclopedia was 1990, when 120,000 sets were sold
  • just six years later in 1996, that number fell to 40,000
  • The company started exploring digital publishing in the 1970s.
  • The first CD-ROM edition was published in 1989 and a version went online in 1994.
  • They made the contents of the website available for one week
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube VIDEO : Totally Digital: The Encyclopaedia Britannica Now
  • Social Media
  • Encyclo. Britannica@Britannica
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Last entry for Encyclopaedia Britannica book form

Skydiving at the orbital extreme

*— Updates — *

Neutrinos loop back around again

The Sun will not sit quietly

SCIENCE CALENDER

Looking back

  • March 26, 1859: 153 years ago : Vulcan Discovered? : In 1859, Lescarbault, a French medical doctor and amateur astronomer reported sighting a new planet in an orbit inside that of Mercury which he named Vulcan. He had seen a round black spot on the Sun with a transit time across the solar disk 4 hours 30 minutes. He sent this information and his calculations on the planet’s movements to Jean LeVerrier, France’s most famous astronomer. Le Verrier had already noticed that Mercury had deviated from its orbit. A gravitational pull from Vulcan would fit in nicely with what he was looking for. However, it was not consistently seen again and it is now believed to have been a “rogue asteroid” making a one-time pass close to the sun. [Or this is the non-prime universe and it was destroyed, que Bryan crying out in anguish]
  • March 25, 1970: 42 years ago : Concorde Flew : In 1970, the prototype British-built airplane Concorde 002 made its first supersonic flight (700 mph; 1,127 kph). A few months earlier, the French prototype, Concorde 001, had broken the sound barrier on 1 Oct 1969. Mach 2 was achieved by Concorde 001 on 4 Nov 1970, and by Concorde 002, a few days later on 12 Nov 1970. The combined number of supersonic flights by the two aircraft reached 100 by January of the following year, 1971.

Looking up this week

The post Meteorites & Lasers | SciByte 38 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

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