SpaceX – Jupiter Broadcasting

Facts About SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Rocket — Musk first announced a bigger rocket — the Falcon Heavy — in 2011. At the time, he said the rocket would carry 117,000 lbs. (53,000 kilograms) of cargo to orbit — twice the capacity of the space shuttle. Musk also predicted the first Falcon Heavy flight would come in 2013.
Fresh off Falcon Heavy, Elon Musk launches broadband test satellites – ABC News — On Thursday, SpaceX on Thursday launched a pair of prototype satellites intended to form the basis for Starlink, a constellation of about 11,000 satellites that are designed to beam broadband internet down to Earth.
Amazon plans to open as many as six more cashierless Amazon Go stores this year — New futuristic convenience stores could appear in Seattle and Los Angeles.
Since October, Apple Made Around 1,600 Accidental 911 Calls — “We’ve been seeing these calls for the last four months from Apple,” said police dispatcher Jamie Hudso
Using a laser to wirelessly charge a smartphone safely across a room — The beam charges the smartphone via a power cell mounted on the back of the phone. A narrow beam can deliver a steady 2W of power to 15 square-inch area from a distance of up to 4.3 meters, or about 14 feet.
Kitchen Robot with Multi-Zone Cooking & Refrigeration by Suvie — Gourmet meals from fresh, raw ingredients ready when you come home; designed by former Apple engineer, appliance expert & gourmet chef.
Google plans deeper Assistant integration with phones and wireless carriers — The other two announcements being made today will arrive throughout the year: deeper integration between the Assistant and both smartphones and carriers.

The post The Launch | T3 261 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Rockets & Ravens | User Error 45

chris — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 21:51:27 +0000

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Air Gap Vulnerability | TTT 256

chris — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 19:05:05 +0000

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Kickstarter of the Week:

Put2Go: Car Mount with Wireless Charging, Ultra Convenient by Put2Go.com — Kickstarter

The post Air Gap Vulnerability | TTT 256 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Creeper Cookies | TTT 215

chris — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 10:20:20 +0000

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Verizon’s super cookie just got nastier, Facebook has plans for free Internet from space & Google launches AMP, Accelerated Mobile Pages Project for a faster, open mobile web.

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The post Creeper Cookies | TTT 215 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Exploited iOS Email | Tech Talk Today 181

chris — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 10:06:41 +0000

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Spotify announces some major fund raising in the shadow of Apple Music’s announcement, SpaceX wants to beam Internet from space, thoughts on Apple open sourcing Swift, and…

A special bonus lost episode of Tech Talk Today is embedded at the end of today’s show!

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The post Exploited iOS Email | Tech Talk Today 181 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Voyager 1 & SpaceX | SciByte 136

chris — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 20:45:40 +0000

Hello everyone and welcome back to SciByte!

We take a look at Voyager 1 reading a tsunami wave from the sun, SpaceX launching satellites into space and testing new reusable systems, story and spacecraft updates, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Book Pick:

The Martian Audiobook | Andy Weir | Audible.com

Voyager 1 Sees Another Interstellar Tsunami

NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has experienced a new “tsunami wave” from the sun as it sails through interstellar space
Such waves are what led scientists to the conclusion, in the fall of 2013, that Voyager had indeed left our sun’s bubble, entering a new frontier
Interstellar Tsunami
“Normally, interstellar space is like a quiet lake,But when our sun has a burst, it sends a shock wave outward that reaches Voyager about a year later. The wave causes the plasma surrounding the spacecraft to sing.” | Ed Stone of the California Institute of Technology
Data from this newest tsunami wave generated by our sun confirm that Voyager is in interstellar space
Coronal Mass Ejection
Our sun goes through periods of increased activity, where it explosively ejects material from its surface, flinging it outward
These events, called coronal mass ejections, generate shock, or pressure, waves.
Three such waves have reached Voyager 1 since it entered interstellar space in 2012
The first was too small to be noticed when it occurred and was only discovered later, but the second was clearly registered by the spacecraft’s cosmic ray instrument in March of 2013
In 2013, thanks to the second tsunami wave, the team acquired evidence that Voyager had been flying for more than a year through plasma that was 40 times denser than measured before – a telltale indicator of interstellar space
Now, the team has new readings from a third wave from the sun, first registered in March of this year
Frequency
The plasma wave instrument can detect oscillations of the plasma electrons
“The tsunami wave rings the plasma like a bell … While the plasma wave instrument lets us measure the frequency of this ringing, the cosmic ray instrument reveals what struck the bell – the shock wave from the sun.” | Ed Stone of the California Institute of Technology
This ringing of the plasma bell is what led to the key evidence showing Voyager had entered interstellar space, denser plasma oscillates faster, the team was able to figure out the density of the plasma
Of Note
These data show that the density of the plasma is similar to what was measured previously, confirming the spacecraft is in interstellar space
The mission has not left the solar system, it has yet to reach a final halo of comets surrounding our sun, but it broke through the wind-blown bubble, or heliosphere, encasing our sun
Further Reading / In the News
Sun sends more ‘tsunami waves’ to Voyager 1 | Phys.org

— NEWS BYTE —

SpaceX Launches Telecom Satellites

SpaceX successfully launched six ORBCOMM advanced telecommunications satellites into orbit on Monday, July 14, to significantly upgrade the speed and capacity of their existing data relay network.
Testing the Rocket Booster Reentry
They also used this launch opportunity to try and test the reusability of the Falcon 9′s first stage and its landing system while splashing down in the ocean
However, the booster did not survive the splashdown. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reported that the rocket booster reentry, landing burn and leg deployment worked well, the hull of the first stage “lost integrity right after splashdown
Musk tweeted. “Detailed review of rocket telemetry needed to tell if due to initial splashdown or subsequent tip over and body slam.”
SpaceX wanted to test the “flyback” ability to the rocket, slowing down the descent of the rocket with thrusters and deploying the landing legs for future launches so the first stage can be reused
The previous test of the landing system was successful, but the choppy seas destroyed the stage and prevented recovery
The Future
The six satellites launched are the first part of what the company hopes will be a 17-satellite constellation. They hope to have all 17 satellites in orbit by the end of the 2014
Multimedia
YouTube | Orbcomm OG2 | Falcon 9 Satellite Launch | Launch
YouTube | Orbcomm OG2 | Falcon 9 Satellite Launch | Seperation
YouTube | Orbcomm OG2 | Falcon 9 Satellite Launch | In Space
Further Reading / In the News
SpaceX Launches Six Commercial Satellites on Falcon 9; Landing Test Ends in “Kaboom” | UniverseToday.com

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

How Many Scientists Publish Papers?

A new study finds that very few scientists – fewer than 1% manage to publish a paper every year.
But these scientists dominate the research journals, having their names on 41% of all papers.
They looked at papers published between 1996 and 2011 by 15 million scientists worldwide in many disciplines
This research, published on 9 July in PLOS ONE, was led by epidemiologist John Ioannidis of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, with analysis of Elsevier’s Scopus database by colleagues Kevin Boyack and Richard Klavans at SciTech Strategies
By The Numbers
The ranks of scientists who repeatedly published more than one paper per year thin out dramatically
Two or more: 68,221
Three or more: 37,953
Four or more: 23,342
Five or more: 15,464
10 or more: 3269
How Does That Make Sense?
Many of these prolific scientists are likely the heads of laboratories or research groups; they bring in funding, supervise research, and add their names to the numerous papers that result
Others may be scientists with enough job security and time to do copious research themselves from highly productive labs
There is also a lot of grunt work behind these papers, for example doctoral students may be enrolled in high numbers, offering a cheap workforce
Those doctoral students might only get their name published on only one or a few papers and may spend years on research that yields
Further Reading / In the News
The 1% of scientific publishing | Science/AAAS | News

— Updates —

HIV Detected in ‘Cured’ ‘Mississippi Baby

Last Time on SciByte …
SciByte 84 | HIV & SpaceX Troubles | March 5, 2013
SciByte 123 | HIV Treatment & European Dinosaur | March 11, 2014](https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/53247/hiv-treatment-european-dinosaur-scibyte-123/
The child known as the ‘Mississippi baby’ — an infant seemingly cured of HIV that was reported as a case study of a prolonged remission of HIV infection now has detectable levels of HIV after more than two years of not taking antiretroviral therapy without evidence of virus
History
The child was born prematurely in a Mississippi clinic in 2010 to an HIV-infected mother who did not receive antiretroviral medication during pregnancy and was not diagnosed with HIV infection until the time of delivery
Because of the high risk of HIV exposure, the infant was started at 30 hours of age on liquid, triple-drug antiretroviral treatment.
Testing confirmed within several days that the baby had been infected with HIV. At two weeks of age, the baby was discharged from the hospital and continued on liquid antiretroviral therapy
The baby continued on antiretroviral treatment until 18 months of age, when the child was lost to follow up and no longer received treatment
When the child was again seen by medical staff five months later, blood samples revealed undetectable HIV levels (less than 20 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood (copies/mL)) and no HIV-specific antibodies
The child continued to do well in the absence of antiretroviral medicines and was free of detectable HIV for more than two years
Unfortunate New Findings
During a routine clinical care visit earlier this month, the child, now nearly 4 years of age, was found to have detectable HIV levels in the blood
Repeat viral load blood testing performed 72 hours later confirmed this finding
Additionally, the child had decreased levels of a key component of a normal immune system, and the presence of HIV antibodies — signals of an actively replicating pool of virus in the body.
Based on these results, the child was again started on antiretroviral therapy.
To date, the child is tolerating the medication with no side effects and treatment is decreasing virus levels
Genetic sequencing of the virus indicated that the child’s HIV infection was the same strain acquired from the mother
What This Means
In light of the new findings, researchers must now work to better understand what enabled the child to remain off treatment for more than two years without detectable virus or measurable immunologic response
Researchers are hoping to find out what might be done to extend the period of sustained HIV remission in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. Since typically, when treatment is stopped, HIV levels rebound within weeks, not years
“The prolonged lack of viral rebound, in the absence of HIV-specific immune responses, suggests that the very early therapy not only kept this child clinically well, but also restricted the number of cells harboring HIV infection,” said Katherine Luzuriaga, M.D., professor of molecular medicine, pediatrics and medicine at the University of Massachusetts
The results to indicate that early antiretroviral treatment in this HIV-infected infant did not completely eliminate the reservoir of HIV-infected cells that was established upon infection
The Clinical Trial
At the same time the results were announced in March, a clinical study was announced that would follow a similar treatment
The researchers planning the clinical trial will now need to take this new development into account, the case may have considerably limited its development and averted the need for antiretroviral medication over a considerable period
“Scientifically, this development reminds us that we still have much more to learn about the intricacies of HIV infection and where the virus hides in the body. The NIH remains committed to moving forward with research on a cure for HIV infection.” | NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Further Reading / In the News
‘Mississippi Baby’ now has detectable HIV, researchers find | ScienceDaily
Researchers Describe First ‘Functional HIV Cure’ in an Infant | ScienceDaily.com

— SPACECRAFT UPDATE—

ISEE3 Reboot Project

The Low Down
The previous ‘problems’ with the propulsion tanks were turned loose upon the internet looking for experts in various fields to help come up with ideas and solutions
One idea that came up was that that there would have been some ‘vapor lock’ where come fuel gasified in the lines
The team then used those experts to come up with a plan to heat and pulse the propulsion systems to hopefully clear the lines.
The current window of opportunity to test this is Wed, July 16
[Recently in ISEE-3 Reboot Project Category | SpaceCollege.org(https://spacecollege.org/isee3/)
Twitter | ISEE3 Reboot Project ‏@ISEE3Reboot
10 Jul 2014 | We have spent the day consulting with world class propulsion experts and have some solid plans for tackling our #ISEE3 propulsion issues.
11 Jul 2014 | Now focusing on more heating of hydrazine tanks & long sequences of thruster firing attempts to (possibly) clear #ISEE3 prop system
11 Jul 2014 | We did not have a successful #DSN ranging session today. DSN was unable to get a consistent lock on #ISEE3 – updates later today.
11 Jul 2014 | #ISEE3 is in Science Mode and is broadcasting telemetry which you can view in near real-time at https://www.amsat-dl.org
11 Jul 11 2014 | Our propulsion experts say it is unlikely that we’ve lost Nitrogen &/or Hydrazine reserves. Most likely some gas in the lines #ISEE3 1/2
11 Jul 2014 | Some additional heating and a few hundred thruster pulse firings might clear the lines. Working up a plan now for next week #ISEE3 2/2
12 Jun 2014 | the Voyager team reprogrammed both spacecraft billions of miles away. Nearby space plumbing on #ISEE3 is easy by comparison
12 Jun 2014 | we want to heat the fuel tanks and then fire the engines several hundred times to clear gas out of the lines. #ISEE3
13 Jul 2014| We’re focusing on heating hydrazine tanks & then making long series of thruster firing attempts to clear the lines. More info soon. #ISEE3
14 Jul 2014 | We’re putting final touches on #ISEE3 propulsion repair process to be implemented this week. We think there is still plenty of fuel for TCM
14 Jul 2014 | All we are waiting for now is a confirmed window from our friends at Arecibo & we’re ready to do some deep space plumbing repairs on #ISEE3
15 Jul 2014 | If you’ve ever had to clean out your car’s carburetor & fuel line then you have an idea of what our plan is to try & fix #ISEE3 tomorrow

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

Mission Info
Curiosity still has about another 2.4 miles (3.9 kilometers) to go to reach the entry way at a gap in the dunes at the foothills of Mount Sharp sometime later this year
To date, Curiosity’s odometer totals over 5.1 miles (8.4 kilometers) since landing inside Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012. She has taken over 162,000 images
Multimedia
YouTube Curiosity Rover Report JPLnews
Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
Social Media
Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
Further Reading / In the News

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

July 17, 709 BC : 2723 years ago : Earliest Record Solar Eclipse. : In 709 BC, the earliest record of a confirmed total solar eclipse was written in China. From: Ch’un-ch’iu, book I: “Duke Huan, 3rd year, 7th month, day jen-ch’en, the first day (of the month). The Sun was eclipsed and it was total.” This is the earliest direct allusion to a complete obscuration of the Sun in any civilisation. The recorded date, when reduced to the Julian calendar, agrees exactly with that of a computed solar eclipse. Reference to the same eclipse appears in the Han-shu (‘History of the Former Han Dynasty’) (Chinese, 1st century AD): “…the eclipse threaded centrally through the Sun; above and below it was yellow.” Earlier Chinese writings that refer to an eclipse do so without noting totality.

Looking up this week

Keep an eye out for …
Fri, Jul, 18 | Last-Quarter Moon
Sat, Jul 19 | Mars is still less than 3* (two fingers widths at arms length) from Spica, but sinking lower in the SW at dusk
Planets
Mercury | Dawn | Low in the glow of sunrise, Mercury is just 7* to the lower left of Venus all week. (A little over the width of all your fingers held at arms length)
Venus | Dawn | Low in the E-NE
Mars | Dusk | High in the SW with Spica very near it. Although they will start to slowly drift apart now, on Sat Jul 19 they are still less than 3* apart.
Jupiter | Hidden in sunset
Saturn | Twilight | Highest during twilight in the S-SW to the left/upper left of Mars/Spica
Further Reading and Resources
Sky&Telescope
SpaceWeather.com
StarDate.org
For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
AstronomyNow
HeavensAbove

— SciByte Summer Hiatus —

For Science and Show Updates
Heather / Mars_Base Twitter | @JB_Mars_Base
Chris Fisher @ChrisLAS

The post Voyager 1 & SpaceX | SciByte 136 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Marijuana & “Exo-Earth” | SciByte 127

chris — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 21:15:11 +0000

We take a look at marijuana\’s effect on the brain, an \”Earth-like\” exoplanet, the brains distraction controls, a possible new moon for Saturn, spacecraft updates, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Marijuana’s and Changes to the Brain

Young adults who used marijuana only recreationally showed significant abnormalities in two key brain regions that are important in emotion and motivation
The Study
This is the first study to show casual use of marijuana is related to major brain changes
Through different methods of neuroimaging, scientists examined the brains of young adults ages 18 to 25, from Boston-area colleges; 20 who smoked marijuana and 20 who didn\’t. Each group had nine males and 11 females
The users underwent a psychiatric interview to confirm they were not dependent on marijuana
The changes in brain structures indicate the marijuana users\’ brains are adapting to low-level exposure to marijuana
Results
The degree of brain abnormalities in these regions is directly related to the number of joints a person smoked per week, the more joints a person smoked, the more abnormal the shape, volume and density of the brain regions
Some of these people only used marijuana to get high once or twice a week thinking a little recreational use shouldn\’t cause a problem; however, data directly says this is not the case
Scientists examined the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala-key regions for emotion and motivation, and associated with addiction-in the brains of casual marijuana users and non-users
Researchers analyzed three measures: volume, shape and density of grey matter to obtain a comprehensive view of how each region was affected.
Both these regions in recreational pot users were abnormally altered for at least two of these structural measures and the degree of those alterations was directly related to how much marijuana the subjects used
What is Means
The study results fit with animal studies that show when rats are given tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) their brains rewire and form many new connections. THC is the mind-altering ingredient found in marijuana
Think when people are in the process of becoming addicted, their brains from these new connections
In animals, these new connections indicate the brain is adapting to the unnatural level of reward and stimulation from marijuana. These connections make other natural rewards less satisfying
The brain changes suggest that structural changes to the brain are an important early result of casual drug use
Researchers did not know the THC content of the marijuana, which can range from 5 to 9 percent or even higher, the THC content is much higher today than the marijuana during the 1960s and 1970s, which was often about 1 to 3 percent
Further Reading / In the News
- Casual marijuana use linked to brain abnormalities in students | MedicalXPress

— NEWS BYTE —

Another Earth-sized Exo-Planet

The first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of another star has been confirmed by observations with both the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini Observatory
The initial discovery, made by NASA\’s Kepler Space Telescope, is one of a handful of smaller planets found by Kepler and verified using large ground-based telescopes
The System
The host star, Kepler-186, is an M1-type dwarf star relatively close to our solar system, at about 500 light years and is in the constellation of Cygnus
The star is very dim, being over half a million times fainter than the faintest stars we can see with the naked eye and is cooler than the Sun
Five small planets have been found orbiting this star, four of which are in very short-period orbits and are very hot
This Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting this star, which is cooler than the Sun, resides in a temperate region where water could exist in liquid form
Observations
Neither Kepler (nor any telescope) is currently able to directly spot an exoplanet of this size and proximity to its host star all they can do is eliminate essentially all other possibilities so that the validity of these planets is really the only viable option
With such a small host star, the team employed a technique that eliminated the possibility that either a background star or a stellar companion could be mimicking what Kepler detected
Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI)
The team obtained extremely high spatial resolution observations from the eight-meter Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii using a technique called speckle imaging, as well as adaptive optics (AO) observations from the ten-meter Keck II telescope
The Gemini \”speckle\” data directly imaged the system to within about 400 million miles (about 4 AU, approximately equal to the orbit of Jupiter in our solar system) of the host star and confirmed that there were no other stellar size objects orbiting within this radius from the star
It works on a principle that utilizes multiple short exposures of an object to capture and remove the noise introduced by atmospheric turbulence producing images with extreme detail
The System
Kenny MacLeod ‏@siabost9deas
Multimedia
YouTube | Kepler-186f : First Earth-size Planet Discovered in the Habitable Zone of Another Star [HD] | The Mars Underground
Further Reading / In the News
First potentially habitable Earth-sized planet confirmed: It may have liquid water | Phys.org

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

The Brains Distraction Control

A new study to reveals that our brains rely on an active suppression mechanism to avoid being distracted by salient irrelevant information when we want to focus on a particular item or task
This discovery opens up the possibility that environmental and/or genetic factors may hinder or suppress a specific brain activity that the researchers have identified as helping us prevent distraction.
These results show clearly that this is only one part of the equation and that active suppression of the irrelevant objects is another important part
Psychologists say their discovery could help scientists and health care professionals better treat individuals with distraction-related attentional deficits
Distraction is a leading cause of injury and death in driving and other high-stakes environments
Disorders associated with attention deficits, such as ADHD and schizophrenia, may turn out to be due to difficulties in suppressing irrelevant objects rather than difficulty selecting relevant ones
Researchers are now turning their attention to understanding how we deal with distraction and why we can\’t suppress potentially distracting objects, whether some of us are better at doing so and why that is the case.
Further Reading / In the News
ADHD: Scientists discover brain\’s anti-distraction system | ScienceDaily

A New Moon for Saturn?

A bright clump spotted orbiting Saturn at the outermost edge of its A ring may be a brand new moon in the process of being born
The effects of this now 1,200-kilometer-long, 10-kilometer-wide arc of icy material were first seen in May 2012 traveling along the edge of the A ring
The arc is thought to be the result of gravitational perturbations caused by an as-yet unseen embedded object about a kilometer wide – possibly a miniature moon in the process of formation
The half-mile-wide object has been unofficially named “Peggy,” eventually it may coalesce into a slightly larger moon and move outward, establishing its own orbital path around Saturn
This is how many of Saturn’s other moons are thought to have formed much further back in the planet’s history
While it is possible that the bright perturbation is the result of an object’s breakup rather than formation, researchers are still looking forward to finding out more about its evolution.
Further Reading / In the News
Is Saturn Making a New Moon? | UniverseToday.com
NASA Cassini Images May Reveal Birth of New Saturn Moon | NASA.gov
NASA Cassini Missiom Page

— SPACECRAFT UPDATE—

SpaceX Dragon Delivery Mission

Last Time on SciByte …
SciByte 126 | Paraplegic Therapy & Exomoon – International Space Station (ISS) Glitch | April 15, 2014
Latest Delivery
The SpaceX 3 Dragon commercial cargo freighter successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Easter Sunday morning, April 20
The mission is the company’s third cargo delivery flight to the station and is loaded with nearly 2.5 tons of science experiments, it will remain attached to the station until May 18
There are over 150 science experiments loaded aboard the Dragon capsule for research to be conducted by the crews of ISS Expeditions 39 and 40
CRS-3 mission will deliver some 5000 pounds of science experiments, a high definition Earth observing imaging camera suite (HDEV), a pair of hi tech legs for Robonaut 2, a laser optical communications experiment (OPALS) and essential gear, the VEGGIE lettuce growing experiment, spare parts, crew provisions, food, clothing and supplies to the six person crews
Included in this delivery is equipment needed for the repair of the Multiplexer-Demultiplexer (MDM) that controls a robotics mobile transporter, but also radiators and a joint to move the station’s solar arrays, among other things.
Multimedia
YouTube | U.S. SpaceX Dragon Ship Arrives at the International Space Station with Important cargo | NASA
Further Reading / In the News
Easter Sunday Space Station Rendezvous and Berthing for SpaceX Dragon Freighter Succeessful | UnivrseToday.com

New Horizons and Questions About Pluto

Compositional Model Theories
Two space researchers have published a paper where they describe three possible interior models of the former planet Pluto
The possibilities include: an undifferentiated rock/ice mixture, a differentiated rock/ice mixture, and an ocean covered with ice, the third possibility suggests the likelihood, they claim, of tectonic action on the dwarf planet
Scientists believe that Pluto came to exist as it does today, in part due to a collision billions of years ago that led also to the formation of its moon Charon
When celestial bodies collide, not only do they knock each other around, they produce heat—heat, the researchers suggest that could still be evident today
A theory that suggests that shortly after impact, Pluto and Charon were much closer together where the gravity attraction between them would have caused both to be egg shaped.
As time passed, melted ice from the impact would have created an icy crust on top of an ocean on Pluto
As Charon moved farther away, the attractive pull would have diminished, causing ice plates to form and crack against one another, a form of tectonics.
If that were the case, the two add, then in all likelihood, when New Horizons begins sending back images, they should see evidence of such tectonic action—plate edges thrust into the air
Pluto circles the sun in an elliptical orbit, thus sometimes it\’s much closer to the sun than other times, when near, it has a defined atmosphere, when far away however, its atmosphere actually freezes to its surface
Something that could hide ridges in the ice and thus evidence of both tectonic activity and an ocean beneath the crust of ice
New Horizons will arrive during a time when its atmosphere is frozen to the surface, it might be difficult to determine which of the three proposed models actually describes the relationship between its exterior and interior
Further Reading / In the News
Research pair offer three possible models of Pluto ahead of New Horizons visit | Phys.org
New Horizons | NASA

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

New Science Location
Scientists using NASA\’s Curiosity Mars rover are eyeing a rock layer surrounding the base of a small butte, called \”Mount Remarkable,\” as a target for investigating with tools on the rover\’s robotic arm
The butte stands about 16 feet (5 meters) high. Curiosity\’s science team refers to the rock layer surrounding the base of Mount Remarkable as the \”middle unit\” because its location is intermediate between rocks that form buttes in the area and lower-lying rocks that show a pattern of striations
Depending on what the mission scientists learn from a close-up look at the rock and identification of chemical elements in it, a site on this middle unit may become the third rock that Curiosity samples with its drill
Multimedia
Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
Social Media
Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
Further Reading / In the News
NASA Mars Orbiter Spies Rover Near Martian Butte | mars.jpl.nasa.gov

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

April 25, 1990 : 24 years ago : Hubble Space Telescope : In 1990, the $2.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in space from the Space Shuttle Discovery into an orbit 381 miles above Earth. It was the first major orbiting observatory, named in honour of American astronomer, Edwin Powell Hubble. It was seven years behind schedule and nearly $2 billion over budget. In orbit, the 94.5-in primary mirror was found to be flawed, giving blurred images and reduced ability to see distant stars. However, correcting optics were successfully installed in 25 Dec 1993. The telescope 43-ft x 14-ft telescope now provides images with a clarity otherwise impossible due to the effect of the earth\’s atmosphere. Instrument packages capture across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Looking up this week

Solar Eclipse
On April 29th, an annular solar eclipse occurs over a small D-shaped 500 kilometre wide region of Antarctica
2014 has the minimum number of eclipses possible in one year, with four: two partial solars and two total lunars
This month’s solar eclipse is also a rarity in that it’s a non-central eclipse with one limit, where the center of the Moon’s shadow – known as the antumbra during an annular eclipse – will juuuust miss the Earth and instead pass scant kilometres above the Antarctic continent
Out of 3,956 annular eclipses occurring from 2000 BCE to 3000 AD, only 68 (1.7%) are of the non-central variety
An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon is too distant to cover the disk of the Sun, resulting in a bright “annulus” or “ring-of-fire” eclipse
Several southern Indian Ocean islands and all of Australia will still witness a fine partial solar eclipse from this event, a scattering of islands in the southern Indian Ocean will see a 55% eclipsed Sun.
In Australia, Perth will see a 55% eclipsed Sun and Sydney will be able to see a 50% partial eclipse low to the horizon in west at sunset
Don\’t Forget to Use Safe Viewing Practices
The safest way | Pinhole camera/projector and telescope — pinhole projector
Optical Filters | Eclipse glasses, welder\’s goggles rated at 14
Multimedia
YouTube | Safely See the Sun — Build a Shoebox Pinhole Camera | VideoFromSpace
YouTube | The April 29th, 2014 Annular Eclipse: Sims from Space | astroguyz
Further Reading / In the News
Our Guide to the Bizzare April 29th Solar Eclipse UniverseToday.com
Keep an eye out for …
Fri, April 25 | Dawn | The thin crescent Moon is low in the E and left of Venus
Planets
Venus | \”Morning Star\” | Look to the E-SE as daylight approached
Mars | Just past opposition you can see it most of the night. In the evening is is in the SW with Spica below it, both will be at their highest point around local 12pm DST moving towards the NE as dawn approaches
Jupiter | Twilight | High in the SW sinking towards the W horizon as the night progresses
Saturn | End of Twilight | Highest in the S around 2am
Further Reading and Resources
Sky&Telescope
SpaceWeather.com
StarDate.org
For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
AstronomyNow
HeavensAbove

The post Marijuana & “Exo-Earth” | SciByte 127 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Happy Science of 2013 | SciByte 114

chris — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 21:16:58 +0000

We take a look at my top science stories and events of 2013, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

Curiosity | Evidence of Ancient Habitable Water Locations

Habitable Water
Jan | Curiosity sees calcium rich deposits that on Earth are associated with water percolating through cracks and fractured rocks.
Mar | Drilling samples taken in Feb show that the minerals that are present in a lakebed sedimentary rock at John Klein were very different from just about anything ever analyzed before on Mars and was deposited in a freshwater environment
Sep | The Curiosity rover team revealed that the first scoop of soil analyzed by the rover showed several percent water by weight.
Dec | Curiosity rover has discovered evidence that an ancient Martian lake had the right chemical ingredients that could have sustained microbial life
Multimedia
YouTube | Curiosity Rover Report (Jan. 18, 2013): Curiosity Finds Calcium-Rich Deposits | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
YouTube | Curiosity Rover Report (Mar. 15, 2013): Rover Hits Paydirt | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Image | Pebbly Sandstone Conglomerate Rock at Curiosity’s Waypoint 1 | mars.jpl.nasa.gov
YouTube | Curiosity Rover Report (Dec. 9, 2013): Dating Younger Rocks | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
SciByte Episodes
SciByte 78 | Dyscalculia & the Flu | January 22, 2013
SciByte 86 | Exoplanet & Bee Venom | March 19, 2013
SciByte 104 | Fear & Lunar Formation | October 1, 2013
SciByte 112 | Typing & Dying Silk | December 10, 2013

— NEWS BYTE —

Voyager 1 | “Interstellar Space” Announcement

September
NASA says that the Voyager 1 spacecraft is in interstellar space and actually made the transition about a year ago.
Evidence is overwhelming that Voyager 1 has crossed the heliopause, but acknowledge that they have to determine why the magnetic field direction didn’t shift.
The data does show that Voyager 1 in certainly in a new region at the edge of the solar system where things are changing rapidly
Multimedia
YouTube | Voyager Captures Sounds of Interstellar Space | Sep 6, 2013
YouTube | Voyager Welcomed To Interstellar Space | VideoFromSpace
YouTube | Voyager 1 Goes Interstellar: Solar System Boundary Passed | VideoFromSpace
SciByte Episodes
SciByte 102 | Voyager 1 & Insect Gears | September 17, 2013

Exoplanets

How Common are Habitable Planets
Astronomers have analyzed all four years of Kepler data in search of Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of sun-like stars
Based on the analysis, they estimate that 22 percent of stars like the sun have potentially habitable Earth-size planets, though not all may be rocky or have liquid water
[SciByte 109 | ‘Earth-Like’ Planets & Sharks | November 12, 2013]
Clouds on Alien Planet Mapped for 1st Time
Astronomers using data from NASA\’s Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes have created the first cloud map of a planet known as Kepler-7b
Kepler\’s visible-light observations of Kepler-7b\’s moon-like phases led to a rough map of the planet that showed a bright spot on its western hemisphere
That data was not enough on its own to decipher whether the bright spot was coming from clouds or heat
[SciByte 105 | Exoplanet Clouds & Updates | October 15, 2013]
Two Potentially Habitable Planets
Astronomers have announced that they have found three new, potentially rocky, planets in the habitable zone of their stars by analyzing nearly three years’ worth of data
Two of the worlds, are the smallest exoplanets yet found in a habitable zone, and they might both be covered in water or ice, depending on what kind of atmosphere they might have
[SciByte 92 | Habitable Exoplanets & Diabetes | May 7, 2013]
Exoplanet Atmosphere
Found hints of ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide and acetylene in an exo-planets’ atmosphere in the sharpest spectrum ever obtained of an extrasolar planet
[SciByte 86 | Exoplanet & Bee Venom | March 19, 2013]
Small Exoplanet Discovered by Listening to Star
Scientists discovered a new planet orbiting a Sun-like star, and the exoplanet is the smallest yet found in data from the Kepler mission
They discovered it by measuring oscillations in the star’s brightness caused by continuous star-quakes, and turning those tiny variations in the star’s light into sounds
[SciByte 83 | Tiny Exo-planet & Medical Glue | February 26, 2013]
Multimedia
YouTube | One in Five Sun-Like Stars Have \’Goldilocks\’ Planets | VideoFromSpace
YouTube | Remote Reconnaissance of Another Solar System | American Museum of Natural History
3D Visualization Tool | A fully rendered tool, available for download at eyes.nasa.gov/exoplanets

International and Private Space Travel

India’s Mars Orbiter Mission
India’s first ever Mars probe ‘MOM’ successfully fired its main engine on Dec. 1 to begin its nearly yearlong momentous voyage to Mars
ISRO’s engineers devised a procedure to get the spacecraft to Mars on the least amount of fuel via six “Midnight Maneuver” engine burns over several weeks – and at an extremely low cost
This maneuver increases the ship’s velocity and gradually widens the ellipse eventually raising the apogee of the six resulting elliptical orbits around Earth that eventually injects MOM onto the Trans-Mars trajectory
SciByte 111| Memories & International Spacecraft (December 3, 2013)
SciByte 109 | ‘Earth-Like’ Planets & Sharks (November 12, 2013)
SciByte 107 | Dinosaurs & Satellites (October 29, 2013)
Chinese Lunar Lander
China had a successful touchdown of the Chang’e-3 probe with the ‘Yutu’ rover on the surface of the Moon on Dec. 14
They landed on the lava filled plains of the Bay of Rainbows occurred at about 8:11 am EST or 9:11 p.m. Beijing local time
Barely seven hours after the Chang’e-3 mothership touched down on Sunday, Dec. 15, the six wheeled ‘Yutu’, or Jade Rabbit, rover drove straight off a pair of ramps at 4:35 a.m. Beijing local time
SciByte 113 | Freshwater Aquifers & Brain Plasticity (December 17, 2013)
Bigelow Aerospace’s | Genesis, Inflatable Space Station Modules
On Jan 11 NASA announced they have awarded a $17.8 million contract to Bigelow to provide a new inflatable module for the ISS, making it the first privately built module to be added to the space station
The outer shell of their module is soft, as opposed to the rigid outer shell of current modules at the ISS, Bigelow’s inflatable modules are more resistant to micrometeoroid or orbital debris strikes it uses multiple layers of Vectran, a material which is twice as strong as Kevlar
The company wants to launch and link up several of its larger expandable modules to create private space stations, which could be used by a variety of clients.
SciByte 77 | Breath Analysis & Large Structures (January 15, 2013)
SpaceX | Geostationary Orbit
The Dec 3 liftoff at 5:41 p.m. EST (2241 GMT) marked SpaceX\’s first entry into the large commercial satellite market and its first launch into a geostationary transfer orbit needed for such a mission.
Being able to launch into this new orbit will let SpaceX compete against Europe and Russia to haul large telecommunications satellites into orbit.
This launch also marks the second of three certification flights needed to certify the Falcon 9 to fly missions for the U.S. Air Force under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program
When Falcon 9 is certified, SpaceX will be eligible to compete for all National Security Space (NSS) missions

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Science Events of 2013

Kepler Space Telescope
Jan | Kepler develops another reaction wheel problem, \’rests\’ for 1 days and then goes back to work | SciByte 78 | Dyscalculia & the Flu | January 22, 2013
May | [SciByte 94] | The second of four reaction wheel fails and may bring the mission to an end. NASA starts to put options together
Aug | NASA announces that Kepler may not fully recover, ends primary mission, opens up the possibility and ideas of another mission
K2 Second Light | Uses pressure from photons from the Sun some functionality will return
Image Galleries | kepler.nasa.gov
Twitter | NASA Kepler [@NASAKepler]
Russian Chelyabinsk Meteorite
SciByte 82 | Meteorites & Asteroids – 2013 Russian Meteorite Strike | February 19, 2013
SciByte 83 |
Tiny Exo-planet & Medical Glue – Russian Meteorite Orbital Calculations | February 26, 2013
SciByte 84 |
HIV & SpaceX Troubles – Russian Meteorite Chunk Found | March 5, 2013
Infographic | Huge Russian Meteor Blast is Biggest Since 1908 | Space.com
YouTube | Meteorite crash in Russia: Video of meteorite explosion that stirred panic in Urals region | RT
YouTube Huge hole as Russian meteor smashes into icy lake | RT
YouTube | Meteor Hits Russia 2013 – Best Footage Collection | Tuvix72

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

Software Upgrade
Curiosity engineers uploaded the third upgrade version of the software, completing the switch to the new software took about a week
Wheel Wear
An upcoming activity will be driving to a relatively smooth patch of ground to take a set of images of Curiosity\’s aluminum wheels, using the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end of the rover\’s arm.
Curiosity\’s recent driving has crossed an area that has numerous sharp rocks embedded in the ground. Routes to future destinations for the mission may be charted to lessen the amount of travel over such rough terrain, compared to smoother ground nearby.
Multimedia
Image | Left-Front Wheel of Curiosity Rover, Approaching Three Miles | mars.nasa.gov/msl
Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
Social Media
Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
Further Reading / In the News
Curiosity Team Upgrades Software, Checks Wheel Wear | December 20, 2013

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

Jan 11, 1954 : 59 years ago : First UK TV Weather Broadcast : The first in-vision weather forecaster broadcast on BBC television. George Cowling of the Meteorological Office presented from the BBC\’s Lime Grove studios with two hand-drawn weather charts pinned to an easel.

Looking up this week

Keep an eye out for …
Fri, Jan 10 | Nightfall | To the left of the moon you might be able to see the Pleiades star cluster, by 8-9 they will be above the moon
Sat, Jan 11 | Dusk | The orange giant star Aldebaran, \’eye\’ of the Constellation Taurus, will be below the moon and moving to the left of the Moon by around 11
Planets
Venus | Hiding in the glare of the sun
Mars | ~midnight | HIghest in the S before first light of dawn, with Spica to the lower left
Jupiter | Rises at sunset, highest in the sky around midnight. In the evenings it is the brightest object in the sky. On Jan 5, it is in opposition, directly opposite the Sun from our perspective.
Saturn | Dawn it\’s in the SE, far to the lower left of Mars and Spica
Further Reading and Resources
Sky&Telescope
SpaceWeather.com
StarDate.org
For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
AstronomyNow
HeavensAbove

The post Happy Science of 2013 | SciByte 114 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Memories & International Spacecraft | SciByte 111

chris — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 21:16:20 +0000

We take a look at how you remember things, 3D printing dinosaur bones, a SpaceX launch, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission, China’s lunar rover, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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MP3 Audio | OGG Audio | Video | Torrent | YouTube

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Geocaching Memories

Using a video game in which people navigate through a virtual town delivering objects to specific locations, a team of neuroscientists have discovered how brain cells that encode spatial information form \”geotags\” for specific memories and are activated immediately before those memories are recalled.
The work shows how spatial information is incorporated into memories and why remembering an experience can quickly bring to mind other events that happened in the same place
The findings provide the first direct neural evidence for the idea that the human memory system tags memories with information about where and when they were formed
The Study
This study involved playing a simple video game on a bedside computer
The game in this experiment involved making deliveries to stores in a virtual city
The participants were first given a period where they were allowed to freely explore the city and learn the stores\’ locations
When the game began, participants were only instructed where their next stop was, without being told what they were delivering
After they reached their destination, the game would reveal the item that had been delivered, and then give the participant their next stop
After 13 deliveries, the screen went blank and participants were asked to remember and name as many of the items they had delivered in the order they came to mind
Brain Recordings
This allowed the researchers to correlate the neural activation associated with the formation of spatial memories (the locations of the stores) and the recall of episodic memories: (the list of items that had been delivered).
\”Having these patients play our games allows us to record every action they take in the game and to measure the responses of neurons both during spatial navigation and then later during verbal recall.\” Michael Kahana, professor of psychology in Penn\’s School of Arts and Sciences
By asking participants to recall the items they delivered instead of the stores they visited, the researchers could test whether their spatial memory systems were being activated
Neural Map
Using the brain recordings generated while the participants navigated the city, the researchers were able to develop a neural map that corresponded to the city\’s layout
As participants passed by a particular store, the researchers correlated their spatial memory of that location with the pattern of place cell activation recorded
With maps of place cell activations in hand, the researchers were able to cross- reference each participant\’s spatial memories as they accessed their episodic memories of the delivered items
Results
Given just the place cell activations of a participant the researchers could predict, with better than chance accuracy, the item he or she was recalling
While researchers cannot distinguish whether these spatial memories are actually helping the participants access their episodic memories, simply seeing that this place cell activation plays a role in the memory retrieval processes
Earlier neuroscience research had suggested the hippocampus has two distinct roles, tracking the location information for spatial memory, and recording events for episodic memory
This experiment provides further evidence that these roles are intertwined
Further Reading / In the News
Memories Are ‘Geotagged’ With Spatial Information, Penn Researchers Say | University of Pennselvania News
Memories \’geotagged\’ with spatial information | ScienceDaily.com

— NEWS BYTE —

Printing Dinosaur Bones

During World War II, a bomb fell on the Museum of National History in Berlin\’s east wing, collapsing the basement where dinosaur fossils were stored
Most of the fossils that weren’t blasted to dust had had their labels burned, so no one could identify what the remaining concrete jackets held
or where they had been dug up
Last Time on SciByte …
YouTube | Special SciByte Nov 19 | with Nikki and Heather | Mars Base
In a small roadside quarry west of Denver, the first Apatosaurus ajax muzzle ever found in morrison sandstone. The sandstone surrounding the fragile fossils was so hard that the paleontologists were afraid that trying to remove the rock would irreparably damage the bone.
3D printing technology will allow paleontologists to see inside the block and even to 3D-print a perfect copy of the bones inside without having to remove them physically and still get the needed data
Layers of Confusing Identification
Bones from two separate expeditions had been housed in the same area
One expedition, in Tanzania, ran from 1909 to 1913 and brought back 235 tons of fossils, labeled with letters based on their locations.
The other fossils came from a 1909 discovery in Halberstadt, Germany. Those bones also used a letter-based label system based on individual animals
One Fossils Journey
The target fossil for the new study was a specimen that had been dug up from a German clay pit in the early 1900s
The object, still encased in much of the rock that had entombed it, had been slathered in concrete and then transported back to a museum in
Berlin
A CT scan of one revealed that it held a vertebra from a Plateosaurus and by comparing the scans to sketches of the long-ago digs, the researchers determined that the vertebra came from the Halberstadt dig in Germany
The scans showed a fractured bone. Some of the cracks were no doubt from fossilization, but one crunched-up corner was likely the result of the bombing
To recreate the bone as it was before the bombing, the researchers took data from the CT scan and built a blueprint to 3D print the fossil
When the process was done the researchers were able to print the bone chip from the bombing damage, which fit into the rest of the vertebra like a puzzle piece.
3D Printing Dinosaur Bones
Scientists have long used CT scans to peek inside fossil-bearing rocks, but the increasing use of 3D printers now enables them to make endless
numbers of exact copies of those relics
The technique might even help museum folk speed up their analyses: By knowing what’s inside a lump of rock, researchers can determine which
fossils are worth extracting, and which ones can wait
Further Reading / In the News
ScienceShot: Printing a Dinosaur | Science/AAAS
Dinosaur Bone Damaged in WWII Revealed with 3D Printing | LiveScience.com

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

SpaceX Launch

Thanksgiving Day Launch Aborted, What Happened
It fired its engines and was moments away from liftoff from Cape Canaveral when the commercial booster aborted the launch after computers detected the engines were too slow building up thrust.
The Falcon 9 pressurized its propellant tanks, switched to internal power and ignited its nine Merlin 1D first stage engines a few seconds before the appointed launch time
The Falcon 9\’s computer-controlled countdown sequencer recognized a problem and called off the launch
As engineers continued to study and resolve the problem, SpaceX elected to restart the countdown to preserve a chance to launch Thursday
Ultimately, however, SpaceX said they could not get comfortable with the issue in time and ordered another hold with less than a minute left in the day\’s second countdown.
The Mission
The Dec 3 liftoff at 5:41 p.m. EST (2241 GMT) marked SpaceX\’s first entry into the large commercial satellite market and its first launch into a geostationary transfer orbit needed for such a mission.
This also marks the first commercial launch from the this Florida
launch pad and the first commercial flight from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in over five years
**The Future***
SpaceX has nearly 50 launches on manifest, of which over 60% are for commercial customers
Being able to launch into this new orbit will let SpaceX compete against Europe and Russia to haul large telecommunications satellites into orbit.
This launch also marks the second of three certification flights needed to certify the Falcon 9 to fly missions for the U.S. Air Force under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program
When Falcon 9 is certified, SpaceX will be eligible to compete for all National Security Space (NSS) missions
Multimedia
YouTube | Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9\’s First Commercial Mission – SES-8 | SpaceVids.tv·
YouTube | SpaceX Falcon 9 / SES-8 Launch Abort After Engine Ignition On Thanksgiving Day |Matthew Travis
Further Reading / In the News
SpaceX Aborts Thanksgiving Rocket Launch Due to Engine Trouble | Space.com
SpaceX Successfully Completes First Mission to Geostationary Transfer Orbit | SpaceX
SpaceX Launches Falcon 9 Rocket On High-Stakes Commercial Satellite Mission | Space.com

— Updates —

Comet ISON

Last Time on SciByte …
SciByte 65 | Chocolate & Black Holes – Comet ISON, 2013 [October 2, 2012]
What They Were Looking For
Less light can sometimes mean that more of the material has boiled off and disappeared, perhaps pointing to a disintegrated comet
A disintegrating comet sometimes gives off more light, at least temporarily, so researchers look at the comet\’s pattern of behavior over the previous few days to work out what it may be doing.
This would provide a great opportunity for scientists to see the insides of the comet, and better understand its composition
Timeline
Early Nov 27, the comet appeared in the view of the European Space Agency/NASA mission the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory in the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph instrument
Nov 28 | comet ISON appeared to brighten again
Nov 29 | Comet ISON rounded the sun at 18:45 UTC/ 1:45 p.m. EST | Pictures from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which should have captured ISON on its closest approach to the Sun, showed absolutely nothing
Nov 29 | Evening | The European–US Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spotted a faint glimmer on the other side of the Sun, on a trajectory where ISON would have been expected to appear
Nov 30 | Analyses seemed to show the comet growing dimmer
Multimedia
YouTube | Comet ISON captured by SOHO LASCO-C3 on November 26 – December 1, 2013 – Update 11 | Comet ISON
Further Reading / In the News
Comet ISON | NASA
Comet ISON faded again | Human World | EarthSky
Remnants Suggest Comet ISON Still Going | Scientific American
ScienceShot: Comet ISON Could Be No More | Science/AAAS
SOHO shows new images of Comet ISON | Phys.org

— SPACECRAFT UPDATE—

India’s Mars Orbiter Mission

Last time on SciByte
SciByte 209 | ‘Earth-Like’ Planets & Sharks (November 12, 2013)
SciByte 107 | Dinosaurs & Satellites (October 29, 2013)
First Image
First ever image of Earth Taken by Mars Color Camera aboard India’s Mars Orbiter Mission
It was taken on Nov. 20 at around 1350 hrs (IST) from a height of almost 70,000 km above earth and was focused on the Indian subcontinent with a spatial resolution of 3.5 km, said ISRO
The image also gives a rather good approximation of what MOM’s color camera will actually see since the probe will enter a similarly highly elliptical orbit around Mars
On To Mars
India’s first ever Mars probe ‘MOM’ successfully fired its main engine on Dec. 1 to begin its nearly yearlong momentous voyage to Mars
Indian space engineers initiated the 440 Newton liquid fueled engine firing precisely as planned at 00:49 hrs (IST) on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013
during a critical nail-biting burn lasting some 22 minutes
MOM is nicknamed ‘Mangalyaan’ – which in Hindi means ‘Mars craft
Multimedia
Image | Mars Transfer Trajectory (MTT) | Credit: ISRO | UniverseToday.com)
Further Reading / In the News
India\’s MOM Mars Probe Images Earth\’s Children Prior to Nail Biting Red | UniverseToday.com
Wikipedia Mars Orbiter Mission

China\’s First Lunar Rover

China successfully launched its first ever lunar rover bound for the Moon’s surface aboard a Long March rocket at 1:30 a.m. Beijing local time, Dec. 2, 2013 (12:30 p.m. EST, Dec. 1) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China.
The name for the ‘Yutu’ rover – which translates as ‘Jack Rabbit’ – was chosen after a special naming contest involving a worldwide poll and voting to select the best name, ‘Yutu’ stems from a Chinese fairy tale, in which the goddess Chang’e flew off to the moon taking her little pet Jade rabbit with her.
Mission Plan
The Chang’e 3 lander will fire thrusters to enter lunar orbit on Dec. 6.
It is due to make a powered descent to the lunar surface on Dec. 14, firing thrusters at an altitude of 15 km (9 mi) for touchdown in a preselected area called the Bay of Rainbows or Sinus Iridum region.
The Rover
Jack Rabbit measures 150 cm, nearly 5 ft, high and weighs approximately 120 kg, 265 lb
The rover and lander are equipped with multiple cameras, spectrometers, an optical telescope, radar and other sensors to investigate the lunar surface and composition
The rover is expected to continue operating for at least three months
Of Note
The next step will be an unmanned lunar sample return mission, perhaps around 2020
If successful, the Chang’e 3 mission will mark the first soft landing on the Moon since the Soviet Union’s unmanned Luna 24 sample return vehicle landed nearly four decades ago back in 1976.
Multimedia
YouTube | Animation of Chang\’E-3 lunar probe | CCTV News
YouTube | China\’s Chang\’e-3 Lunar Probe Launch | CCTV America
Further Reading / In the News
Spectacular Liftoff Thrusts China\’s First Rover \’Yutu\’ to the Moon | UniverseToday.com

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

Dec 10, 1901: 112 years ago : First Nobel Prizes : At the first Nobel Prize Award Ceremony, the king of Sweden distributed the first Nobel Prizes, in accordance with the will of inventor Alfred Nobel. The day was the anniversary of Nobel\’s death. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences had decided on 10 Nov 1901 to award the first Nobel Prize in Physics to Wilhelm Röntgen for his discovery of X-rays and the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Jacobus H. van\’t Hoff for his work on rates of reaction, equilibrium and osmotic pressure. The first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was given to Emil von Behring, for his work on serum therapy, particularly for its use in the treatment of diphtheria. His Nobel diploma was dated 30 Oct 1901, signed by staff at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Nobel Foundation | Wikipedia, First Prizes | Wikipedia

Looking up this week

Keep an eye out for …
Wed, Dec 4 | Twilight | The waxing crescent moon is to the far lower right of Venus
Thurs, Dec 5 | Twilight | Venus now sits about 7* to the lower left of the moon. [5* ~3 middle fingers held at arms length]
Fri, Dec 6 | The moon will be high above Venus in the SW
Sat, Dec 7 | Earliest sunset of the years. *Note, the longest night is Dec 21st, and the latest sunrise will be Jan 4th. Apparent solar time or true solar time is based on the apparent motion of the actual Sun. The length of a solar day varies through the year, and the accumulated effect produces seasonal deviations of up to 16 minutes from the mean.
Planets
Saturn | Dawn | Saturn is in the E-SE skies as it returns to view as its position in the sky gets farther from the sun
Venus | \”Evening Star\” | In the SW during and after dusk, no settin until about 1.5 hours after dark
Mars | Rising about 1am local it moves to the high E skies by dawn
Jupiter | ~7-8 pm local | Rises in the E-NE until it reaches its highest point ~2am
Further Reading and Resources
Sky&Telescope
SpaceWeather.com
StarDate.org
For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
AstronomyNow
HeavensAbove

The post Memories & International Spacecraft | SciByte 111 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

“Hot-Earths” & New Species | SciByte 108

chris — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 21:09:20 +0000

We take a look at a strange exo-planet, SpaceX rocket testing, an Australian ‘lost world’, simulating dinosaurs walk, viewer feedback about human regeneration, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

Direct Download:

MP3 Audio | OGG Audio | Video | Torrent | YouTube

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MP3 Feed | OGG Feed | Video Feed | Torrent Feed | iTunes

[asa]B00E8S2JZ4[/asa]

Hot Exoplanet is NOT a \’New Earth\’

A team of astronomers have discovered an earth-like blazing hot planet that shouldn\’t exist
No matter what the headlines say, just because an exoplanet has somewhat like Earth in density or size, it doesn\’t mean it\’s habitable.
The Star Kepler 78
A sun-like G-type star
It is located 400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus
Discovered using data from NASA\’s Kepler Space Telescope with follow up observations were made using W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii
Kepler 78-b
First known Earth-sized planet with an Earth-like density
Diameter of 9,200 miles, 1.2 times the size of Earth
Mass is 1.7 times more than Earth
Composed of iron and rock
Orbit Length | 8.5 hours
Distance from star | 1.6 km / 1 mi
Kepler 78-b Mass Measurements
Two independent research teams have now confirmed the planet’s mass and density by measuring “wobbles” of its sun-like host star, seen as the exoplanet orbits around it
Generally it is difficult to measure the mass of planets that Kepler finds because it is hard for ground-based telescopes to spot the subtle wobble of the star
In the case of Kepler 78-b since it orbits so close to its star, the planet exerts a greater gravitational pull on the star that it would if it were as far as Earth is from our sun
Breaking The Rules
When this planetary system was forming, the young star was larger than it is now meaning that it would have been inside the swollen star
The planet couldn’t have formed farther out and migrated inward, because it should have been drawn straight into the star
One of the more exotic possibilities is that it is the remnant core of a disrupted gas giant
The extreme gravitational pull from its star will draw it ever closer in, ripping the entire planet apart in about three billion years
Multimedia
YouTube | Earth-like planet Kepler 78b | Nature Newsteam
Further Reading / In the News
+New Earth-Like Blazing Hot Planet ‘Kepler-78b’ Discovered | ScienceWorld.com
New-found Earth-size Exoplanet Doomed – News Watch | Newswatch.NationalGeographic.com
+Kepler Discovers Earth-Sized Mystery Planet – Popular Mechanics

— NEWS BYTE —

SpaceX Will Be Renting Test Space From NASA

SpaceX has signed a contract to research, develop and test Raptor methane rocket engines at the NASA Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi
Testing
SpaceX currently does most of its rocket testing in Texas
Now the plan is to use the E-2 test stand at Stennis, which is able to support both vertical and horizontal rocket engine tests
The E-2 stand is big enough for components, but SpaceX would need a bigger stand for the whole Raptor
Reportedly SpaceX is working out a Space Act agreement to establish user fees, amongst other things, once an agreement is finalized the testing can begin as early as next year
Used For?
There is little information on SpaceX’s website about what the Raptor engine is or specific development plans
Space News reports that it would be used for deep-space missions
There are multiple reports that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has mentioned the engine previously when talking about Mars missions
Raptor Rocket Engine, What We Know
Intended to power a higher performance upper stage for SpaceX launch vehicles, powered by methane and liquid oxygen (LOX)
Designed to produce more than 661,000 lbf (2,940 kN) thrust in vacuum, which is the space environment that the Raptor second-stage engine is designed for.
Multimedia
YouTube | Methane Rocket | Christopher Martinez
Further Reading / In the News
Stennis Space Center
SpaceX Signs Pact To Start Rocket Testing At NASA Stennis | UniverseToday.com

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Australian \’Lost World\’

An expedition to a remote part of northern Australia has uncovered three new vertebrate species isolated for millions of years
The Discovery
James Cook University and a National Geographic film crew were dropped by helicopter onto the rugged Cape Melville mountain range on Cape York Peninsula
Cape Melville, a plateau of boulder-strewn rainforest on top
The virtually impassable mountain range is home to millions of black granite boulders the size of cars and houses piled hundreds of metres high
National Geographic, the team plans to return to Cape Melville within months to search for more new species, including snails, spiders, and perhaps even small mammals
What Was Found
Leaf-tail gecko, a gold-coloured skink-a type of lizard-and a brown-spotted, yellow boulder-dwelling frog, none of them ever seen before
The Cape Melville Leaf-tailed Gecko, which has huge eyes and a long, slender body, is highly distinct from its relatives
A small boulder-dwelling frog, the Blotched Boulder-frog, which during the dry season lives deep in the labyrinth of the boulder-field where conditions are cool and moist. The tadpoles even develop within the egg and a fully formed frog hatches out in the absence of water
Further Reading / In the News
\’Lost world\’ discovered in remote Australia | Phys.org
Leaf-tailed gecko, golden-coloured skink and boulder-dwelling frog: New species found in Australia\’s lost world | independent.co.uk
Spectacular New Species Found in \”Lost World\” | news.nationalgeographic.com

How Dinosaurs Walked

Researchers have managed to use an advanced computer model to recreate the walking and running movements of the vast Cretaceous Argentinosaurus dinosaur
Argentinosaurus
The dinosaur lived on the then-island continent of South America somewhere between 97 and 94 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous
Not much of Argentinosaurus has been recovered, but the proportions of the bones found and comparisons with other sauropod relatives allow paleontologists to estimate the its size
The dinosaur weighed about 80 tons, making it one of the largest known dinosaurs, and the model showed that it would have reached about 5 mph when it walked across the Earth
The Computer Model
To create this computer model, the researchers laser scanned a 40 meter-long skeleton of Argentinosaurus
The simulation used the equivalent of 30,000 desktop computers to allow the dinosaur to take its first steps in over 94 million years
The digitization of such vast dinosaur skeletons using laser scanners brings Walking with Dinosaurs to life…this is science not just animation
Currently, the researchers plan to use this same computer technique in order to model the steps of other dinosaurs, such as the Triceratops, Brachiosaurus and T. rex.
Multimedia
YouTube | Argentinosaurus dinosaur digital reconstruction The University of Manchester: Dr Bill Sellers | Alison Barbuti
YouTube | Argentinosaurus – Planet Dinosaur – Episode 5 | BBC
Further Reading / In the News
Scientists Digitally Reconstruct Movements of Largest Dinosaur in the World (Video) | Phys.org
Argentinosaurus | Wikipedia

— VIEWER FEEDBACK —

Human Regeneration … Soon-ish?

Michael Thalleen ‏@ThalleenM
Regrowing human body parts: The dream comes within reach | nbcnews.com
Sometime in the next few decades, humans may be able to regrow a finger, toe, or among the most promising targets, maybe even fresh patches of beating heart tissue
Research
A decade ago scientists demonstrated that zebrafish have the ability to repair a badly damaged heart, thanks to a particular protein that regulates the regenerative process
Young mice are able to regenerate toes, and the salamander can regrow a whole arm below the joint
In 2010, one lab showed it was possible to enhance that same regenerative response in adult mice
Researchers have been studying mouse toes to understand how a similar regrowth mechanism can be reactivated or imitated in adult humans
In Humans
Humans already have demonstrated some ability to regenerate body parts, very young children can fill out the tips of chopped off fingers and toes
In August researchers from the Gladstone Institutes showed that they could turn human scar tissue into electrically conductive tissue in a lab dish by fiddling with just a few key genes
Among the hurdles that lie ahead: taking that technique out of the lab and applying it to living human hearts
Researchers are still cautious about predicting how studies of animal regeneration will be applied to humans and it\’s dangerous to say, \’Yes, we expect to regenerate a limb\’ although the field is reaching a turning point

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

h
+ NASA\’s Mars rover Curiosity completed its first two-day autonomous drive Monday, Oct 28
+ During an autonomous drive the rover chooses a safe route to designated waypoints by using its onboard computer to analyze stereo images that it takes during pauses in the drive
+ The autonomous drive brought Curiosity to about 80m (262 ft) from \”Cooperstown,\” an outcrop bearing candidate targets for examination with instruments on the rover\’s arm.
+ Cooperstown is about one-third of the way along the route to Mount Sharp
+ Improvements
+ A key activity planned for this week, week of Nov. 4, is uploading a new version of onboard software the third such upgrade since landing
+ Include what information the rover can store overnight to resume autonomous driving the next day.
+ It also expands capabilities for using the robotic arm while parked on slopes
+ Multimedia
+ Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
+ Social Media
+ Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
+ Further Reading / In the News
+ Mars Science Laboratory: NASA\’s Curiosity Mars Rover Approaches \’Cooperstown\’ | mars.jlp.nasa.gov

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

November 11, 1572 : 441 years ago : Tycho\’s Supernova / SN1572 : Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe began his meticulous observations of the supernova discovered in the W-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia. (Brahe was at the beginning of his career in 1572, and it was this supernova that inspired him to devote his lifetime to making accurate measurements of the positions of the stars and planets.) First noted by Wolfgang Schuler*of Wittenberg, for two weeks it was brighter than any other star in the sky and visible in daytime. By month\’s end, it began to fade but it remained visible to the naked eye for about 16 months until Mar 1574. Thus 16th-century astronomers learned that the heavens were not immutable, as had been believed. Brahe\’s book on his observations, De Nova Stella, originated the word “nova.”
SN 1572 | Wikipedia

Looking up this week

Keep an eye out for …
Wed, Nov 6 | Evening | Venus and the crescent Moon are close in the SW sky
Sat, Nov 9 | First-quarter Moon to the SW
Planets
Venus | dusk | Is in the SW around dusk moving to set in the E-NE near the stars Castor and Pollux of the constellation Gemini
Mars | Rises around 1-2am standard | Moves E, opposite to the stars, moving farther away from Regulus (blue-white star) and by dawn both are high in the S sky
Comet ISON | Just before dawn | Below mars, but still only a telescopic object
Jupiter | 9-10am standard | Rises in the E-NE moving to the high Southern sky by dawn
Further Reading and Resources
Sky&Telescope
SpaceWeather.com
StarDate.org
For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
AstronomyNow
HeavensAbove

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