"Imagine the Earth as if it were immersed in honey. As the planet rotated its axis and orbited the Sun, the honey around it would warp and swirl, and it's the same with space and time. GP-B confirmed two of the most profound predictions of Einstein's universe, having far-reaching implications across astrophysics research. Likewise, the decades of technological innovation behind the mission will have a lasting legacy on Earth and in space."

Continue reading NASA concludes Gravity Probe B space-time experiment, proves Einstein really was a genius

NASA concludes Gravity Probe B space-time experiment, proves Einstein really was a genius originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Like a beach chair sagging under a sunbather's weight, the fabric of spacetime does indeed warp around the mass of the Earth - just as Albert Einstein predicted. And like a swimmer moving through the water, the rotation of the Earth affects the movement of spacetime itself. A gravity probe whose origins date to the era before human spaceflight has finally proved general relativity right, according to NASA.

The Gravity Probe-B measured the geodetic effect, the amount that Earth warps the space and time in which it sits, and frame-dragging, or the extent that Earth's rotation churns spacetime around with it.

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Technology, Rebecca Boyle, Einstein, general relativity, gravity, gravity probe b, nasa, satellites, spacetime, VORTEX, warp

What's more, the rotation of a massive body would also affect the fabric, so that a distant observer would perceive objects close to a gravitational body as being dragged around. Think of Earth sitting in a vat of liquid - as the planet rotates, the liquid starts to swirl, too, and so does everything near the Earth.

If this is true, the axis of a gyroscope would change when compared to the light from a faraway star. This is what GP-B was designed to do.

Orbiting 400 miles above the Earth in a polar orbit, GP-B contains four gyroscopes made of quartz-silicon spheres that are considered nearly perfect - they're in the Guinness Book of World Records. It has a telescope that stared at a single star, IM Pegasi, while the satellite made its rounds. If the Earth's mass did not affect spacetime, the gyroscopes would point the same direction forever. But they didn't, experiencing teeny but measurable changes in the direction of their spin. This is exactly what Einstein predicted back in 1916.

Gravity Probe-B and the Geodetic Effect:  Stanford University

For those who are interested, it measured a geodetic precession (spacetime depression) of 6.600 arcseconds, plus or minus 0.017, and a frame-dragging effect of 0.039 arcseconds, plus or minus 0.007, according to lead researcher Francis Everitt at Stanford University. An arcsecond is 1/3600th of a degree. The satellite's precision is thus equivalent to measuring the thickness of a sheet of paper edge-on from 100 miles away, according to an email from NASA. The calculations, published online in Physical Review Letters, mesh with Einstein's predictions.

Scientists are calling it an "epic result," and NASA announced the news at a press conference today. The success is despite the many twists and turns GP-B has experienced in its long life, from conception in 1959 to its eventual launch in 2004. It required new innovations along the way, including technology that can reduce drag, temperature fluctuations and magnetic influences on orbiting satellites. GP-B technologies are used in GPS equipment and were used on NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer mission, which determined the cosmic microwave background. After finally launching in 2004, GP-B ran out of funding in 2008 before researchers in Saudi Arabia stepped in.

GP-B's legacy will be this verification of relativity, said Clifford Will, a relativity expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

"One day this will be written up in textbooks as one of the classic experiments in the history of physics," he said.

[NASA Science News]

The US Naval Research Laboratory is proposing to encircle the Earth with tungsten dust in an attempt to bring down dangerous space junk

Space junk is a serious problem, particularly in some orbits where debris is increasing at alarming rates.

While there are some 900 active satellites orbiting the Earth, there are 19,000 bits of junk larger than 10 cm across. This stuff is big enough to be tracked and catalogued on the ground so that operational satellites can move away if it becomes a threat.

But it's the smaller stuff that represents a more insidious threat since it cannot be seen and therefore can't be avoided. Most experts agree that there's at least an order of magnitude more of this small stuff than large bits up there.

So what to do? Various organisations have suggested ways of minimising junk, such as reducing the amount of deliberately jettisoned junk such as lens caps, and by deorbiting defunct satellites or moving them into safe orbits using space tugs.

But these measures will only help reduce the amount of big junk. The smaller stuff is much harder to clean up.

There is a natural process that can help. Below 900km, the Earth's atmosphere generates a small but significant amount drag, which deorbits small junk in 25 years or less. So here the orbits are naturally flushed clean. But above 900km, the life time of junk stretches into centuries.

Today, Gurudas Ganguli at the US Naval Research Laboratory and a few pals describe a novel way of getting it down.

Their idea is to increase the drag on the stuff above 900 km so that their orbits decay more rapidly. That sounds perfectly sensible but their method is likely to be controversial.

Their scheme is to release some 20 tons of tungsten dust at an altitude of 1100km, creating a thin shell of particles that will entirely envelop the Earth. These tungsten particles will be just 30 micrometres across but still capable of packing a punch, tungsten being 1.7 times denser than lead.

Ganguli and co say that the dust's interaction with the atmosphere will cause its orbit to decay slowly. But within 10 years or so, it should drop below the critical 900 km level. After that, it will deorbit more quickly.

However, the crucial point is that the tungsten particles will naturally collide with any debris it encounters, taking this junk with it. The dust and the debris will then burn up in the Earth's atmosphere over the next 25 years or so.

So over period of 35 years, the orbits up to 1100km will be scrubbed clean. Ganguli and co call it a "dust snow plow".

There's an obvious question here: what of larger objects that get caught up in the dust storm, operational satellites, for example?

Ganguli and co say the risk is manageable. First, these satellites could be designed to move above the cloud. But even if they don't move, Gangulia and co claim these spacecraft will not be significantly damaged by the dust. "Dust grains of the size proposed by NRL will certainly not penetrate thermal blankets, spacecraft structure, or sensor baffles," they say.

They add that more sensitive equipment, such as the optics of Earth observing sensors or space telescopes, usually point straight up or straight down and so should be protected from dust flying in from the side.

One concern is solar panels which are likely to be sand blasted by the cloud. But Ganguli and co say that panels for the next generation of spacecraft could be strengthened to cope with this kind of problem.

There's also the question of the tungsten cloud's dynamics. Ganguli and co imagine it forming a shell about 30 km thick. This shell would then deorbit steadily. But there's another possible scenario: that the tungsten band simply widens to form a cloud several hundred kilometres thick!

The NRL will need to do more work on this problem.

Then there is one group of people whose concerns Ganguli and co fail to address entirely in this paper: astronomers. While a cloud of tungsten particles would have little affect at visible frequencies, astronomers will want to know what kind of effect this cloud will have at other wavelengths.

Is it possible that a cloud of metal particles encircling the Earth could significantly degrade our view of the Universe at certain frequencies, perhaps even acting like a giant spherical mirror? More work is needed here too.

But before dismissing the proposal out of hand, the alternative has to considered.

In 2007, the destruction of a defunct communications satellite at 900km by a Chinese anti-satellite weapon created, in an instant, 2400 pieces of large debris and countless smaller ones. The collision between the Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 satellite in 2009 created a similar amount of debris.

It's likely that we'll see more events of this kind in future and the possibility of a catastrophic cascade of collisions from the debris they produce.

So Ganguli and co are presenting the space-faring world with a choice: the controlled exposure of all satellites to a low level of small collisions or the uncontrolled exposure of a few satellites to catastrophic collisions.

Viewed in that way, NRL's orbiting dust storm may not be the perfect answer but it could well be the lesser of two evils.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1104.1401 : A Concept For Elimination Of Small Orbital Debris

You can now follow The Physics arXiv Blog on Twitter

This week in science: the deadly nature of biofuels, marauding space junk endangering astronauts and maybe even our connected life, underwater jets, and giant rockets. Also, a couple of multitasking power plants, and a very different way to re-use plastic. Read on for more!

Biofuels can kill

Two stories this week address the problematic nature of biofuels. At first they sound like a great idea, using food to create fuel, instead of petroleum. Decrease our dependence on foreign oil! But what happens when we are using too much food to create fuel, and there isn’t enough left for people to eat? And then add the fact (in the case of ethanol) that it takes more energy to produce the fuel than the fuel can actually generate. Now it starts to sound like a bad bargain.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) released a warning that policies in the U.S. and Europe to increase the production of biofuels could lead to close to 200,000 deaths in developing countries. Why? Because the purchase of food crops for use in fuel production has raised the price of food, especially corn, sugar and palm oil.

And in the past four years, China has drastically ramped up its purchase of cassava chips, which it uses for producing fuel. In fact, 90% of the cassava chips from Thailand, the world’s largest producer of the root, are going to China for that purpose, and that has caused the price to double.

According to the AAPS: “Research by the World Bank indicates that the increase in biofuels production over 2004 levels would push more than 35 million additional people into absolute poverty in 2010 in developing countries. Using statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Indur Goklany estimates that this would lead to at least 192,000 excess deaths per year.”

And the unfortunate thing is that this is all driven by the developed world trying to reduce global warming and our “carbon footprint”. While the goal is admirable, the side effects are proving disastrous. There has to be a better way.

[via TreeHugger, New York Times]

Marauding Space Junk

Space, or at least Earth’s orbit, is becoming more and more congested with satellites, communications equipment, and just junk, and this week the International Space Station was in danger from a rogue bit of space debris. The Pentagon estimates there are now more than 370,000 pieces of junk floating around in low-Earth orbit, from collisions, missile tests, and space missions, turning the area directly above Earth into “an orbiting rubbish dump”.

One piece of that rubbish, a piece of a Chinese satellite that was destroyed in 2007, almost collided with the International Space Station this week, and NASA was on alert in case the three astronauts on board the station needed to be evacuated to the nearby Soyuz capsule. But as the errant satellite scrap approached, it turned out it wouldn’t get close enough to pose a threat. This is becoming a more common occurrence, as the space station had to move out of the way of another piece of junk only a week ago. And experts have said that the floating debris could pose a real danger if a collision with a satellite causes a chain reaction that takes out multiple satellites and interferes with our communications on earth. Looks like we need an orbital cleanup crew.

[via SlashGear]

Things that go fast: Rocket sleds and ejector seats, Giant rockets launching more stuff into space, and an underwater jet

Looks like quite a ride
The new F-35 jet is being built right now, and the ejector seat was tested using a kind of rocket sled hurlting down railroad tracks at 600mph. The testing was done with a dummy of course, not a real pilot. It only takes three seconds from when the handle is pulled until the pilot is out and floating under the chute. From the video below, it looks like a rough ride.

[via SlashGear]

Falcon Heavy Rocket Sets Record

The private spaceflight company SpaceX announced a brand new, and gigantic, rocket this week. The Falcon Heavy will be 22 stories high, and have a cargo capacity of 117,000 pounds. The rocket will have 27 engines, and a 227 foot booster. It is intended for launching huge payloads into orbit for both government and commercial concerns. And this rocket will set a new world record for lowest cost per pound to orbit, launching 117,000 pounds for “just” $80-125 million, according to company founder Elon Musk.

[via SlashGear]

Sir Richard Branson Tackles the Ocean Deep in a Jet

Sir Richard Branson has his fingers into everything from space flight to air travel and lots in between. He is set to take is Virgin empire under the sea. Branson has launched a new enterprise called Virgin Oceanic. The goal of Virgin Oceanic is to explore the seas in a manned craft and map the bottom of the ocean at some of its deepest points.

Virgin oceanic will work with some of the most important scientific institutions in the world to collate the data collected on its voyages and to catalog the ocean life it finds that may have been undiscovered before. Branson also hopes to have some fun and set some world records.

The single person sub that the enterprise will use looks like an underwater airplane and Branson will pilot some of the missions himself. The ship will use Google mapping technology to chronicle the dives as they happen and share the discoveries made as well as the footage of the missions with the world. The company believes that it will set as many as 30 world records with each dive being the world’s first solo dive to the bottom of the five deepest trenches in the world.

[via SlashGear]

Multitasking power plants, and a new way to re-use plastic

Gas from Solid Waste Actually Benefits Someone

Usually, when one thinks of gas produced from solid waste, something like this comes to mind:

But in Scotland, researchers are working on a dual-purpose wastewater treatment system that could also produce electricity. The team has received a grant to create a waste treatment system based on special bio-engineered bacteria that use anaerobic digestion (without oxygen). The bacteria would break down large amounts of solid waste, and in the process would produce gas that can then be captured to produce electricity.

The system would be perfect for use in the developing world, where sewage systems are poor or non-existent. The principal investigator on the project, Dr. Gavin Collins, spoke with The Engineer about the project:

“We can use anaerobic digestion where we can pump high volumes of high-solid wastewater in to achieve a much more efficient system and at the same time not pump energy into the system because it doesn’t need air. The obvious alternatives are based on aerobic digestion like those used in developed countries. But these are unsustainable approaches where we don’t recoup any energy or useful products. Instead we put a lot of energy in and it costs a lot of money. Conventional techniques also result in the production of huge volumes of excess sludge and new waste, which we also want to avoid.”

There are still quite a few problems to be worked out, for example, anaerobic bacteria is now used in treating only wastewater with a low solid content so the bacterial won’t be pushed out of the tank by the solids (best not to dwell on what those are). But the team thinks it can bio-engineer bacteria to stay put. Then they will have to determine how to capture the gas produced. And on what scale it can be feasibly done. However, they think that they can come up with a prototype system in four years.

If successful, this would be a great way to use something gross to produce something good, but there are a lot of hurdles to be overcome. This could be useful not only in poor countries, but in the developed world as well.

[via The Engineer]

Coal Power also heats sidewalks


Heated sidewalks seem like kind of a luxury, similar to heated seats in your car. Well, 23 years ago, the town of Holland, Michigan came up with a way to keep its sidewalks from freezing without the use of salt or chemicals. They use the hot water generated by the coal power plant, and run it through 325,000 linear feet of uponor PEX plastic pipe that runs underneath the sidewalks, heating them up and keeping them snow-free. 762 gallons per minute are pumped through, and the water is put to a useful purpose instead of being pumped into nearby Lake Macatawa.

However, according to TreeHugger, the power plant has found ways to avoid upgrades to limit emissions, making it one of the dirtier coal plants around.

Well, at least they have found a way to use the hot water for a good purpose.

[via TreeHugger]

Bringing Plastic Full Circle

We are producing ever larger amounts of plastic waste. There is enough plastic in the Pacific Ocean gyre to fill Texas twice, and there are two trillion pounds of plastic sitting in US landfills. And at the same time, oil prices are going up at a rapid rate. Well, an Oregon company called Agilyx may have a solution to both of these pressing problems. The company has a patented method of converting plastic waste into synthetic crude oil. And they are currently selling the product to refineries.

Agilyx uses a set of four primary vessels, along with some secondary processing equipment, and can convert 10 tons of plastic into around 2,400 gallons of crude each day. You can see the process step-by-step here. The waste plastic is ground up, placed into a cartridge that is placed inside one of the vessels. Hot air is circulated around the cartridges, melts the plastic, and turns the plastic into a gas. The gas is pulled through a central condensing system, where it is cooled and condensed into synthetic crude. Impurities are filtered out, and gases that don’t condense are made environmentally friendly and released into the atmosphere (this part is a bit scary). Then, the oil can be sold to a refinery, mixed with regular crude oil, and distilled. It could possibly even be made back into plastic again.

This process can’t be used with all plastics, only those made from hydrocarbons, like ABS, polycarbonate, and polypropylene.

There is another company doing this now as well (thanks to a commenter for pointing this out), JBI Inc., and I am sure more will pop up. It is a genius idea, and a profitable one. Definite win-win.
[via SlashGear]

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Just this week, the crew aboard the International Space Station had to take shelter in its emergency quarters after a piece of a destroyed Chinese satellite passed "danger close" to the orbiting outpost, sharply reminding the space community of the dangers posed by space debris. The rest of us will get our reminder in November, when a massive asteroid will make a close flyby of Earth at a distance of just 0.85 lunar distances.

Asteroid 2005 YU55 was discovered six years ago and does not pose a collision risk, but it is passing close enough to be deemed a "potentially hazardous asteroid" by the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass. And in the grand scheme of the universe--or even the solar system--it will pass extremely close to the home planet.

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Technology, Clay Dillow, asteroids, flybys, near earth objects, neos, Space

So how are scientists reacting to this cosmic near miss? With glee, naturally. Extensive plans are being laid to radar image the slow-rotating hell out the rock as it passes, possibly down to resolutions nearing just 15 feet. That will help them build better 3-D models of YU55, as well as project its density and shape.

The good news for the rest of us: increased knowledge of the rock's spin rate, shape, density, etc. will also improve researchers' modeling of its whereabouts when it's not around, enabling better prediction models stretching for decades or even centuries. That way should YU55 come around again we'll perhaps have a more precise idea of its path, and a better than six-year heads-up.

[SPACE]

Space, or at least Earth’s orbit, is becoming more and more congested, and now the International Space Station may be in danger from a rogue bit of space debris. The Pentagon estimates there are now more than 370,000 pieces of junk floating around in low-Earth orbit, from collisions, missile tests, and space missions, turning the area directly above Earth into “an orbiting rubbish dump”. And now one piece of that rubbish may collide with the International Space Station, according to NASA.


The junk in question is a piece of a Chinese satellite that was destroyed in 2007. The debris will be near the space station at 4:21 p.m. eastern time. Around 3pm (or about twenty minutes from the time this was published), NASA will decide whether to evacuate the ISS crew of three to the Soyuz capsule for safety. According the a video on the NASA website, things are looking favorable now, but they are still on alert.

There is an imaginary box around the space station, measuring 25km x 25km x 0.75km. If anything looks like it will pass within that box, the space station will either be moved, or the astronauts will be evacuated. In this case, there was not enough time to steer the station out of the way. Only this past Friday, there was another piece of debris that came within the “box”. In that case, the station had time to move out of the way. Check in at NASA.gov to see if the Chinese satellite debris does in fact collide with the station. Let’s hope not.

The current space station team is made up of NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli.

*Update*: The space station was given the all-clear, the debris is not going to be close enough to warrant an evacuation.

[via CNN, Telegraph]

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If you’re constantly travelling around the world, you might face problems like forgetting to set the time on your watch when you hop from country to country, leading to missing flights and possibly, important meetings. Well the folks over at Citizen have come up with a solution – the Eco-Drive Satellite Wave watch. Instead of relying on users to calculate the time, or even radio waves to get accurate times, the Eco-Drive Satellite Wave gets its time from the GPS satellites that are constantly orbiting Earth. With one out of 24 accessible to you at all times, you can be sure that wherever you go, you’ll always have the right time. The watch uses geolocation to determine where you are and then adjusts your watch accordingly. No words on prices or exact availability date (Fall 2011 was mentioned), but it will be a limited edition watch, which means it shouldn’t be cheap.

Citizen Eco-Drive Satellite Wave watch tells the right time wherever you are, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPad 2 Review, Atrix Review,

The App of the Day for Saturday, December 25th is NASA App HD.

Come explore with NASA. The only official NASA app for iPad.

Features:
-Thousands of images from NASA, APOD and NASAImages.org
-On demand NASA Videos from around the agency
-Live Streaming of NASA TV
-Current NASA Mission Information
-Launch Information & Countdown clocks
-Current Visible Passes for the International Space Station (ISS)
-ISS and Earth Orbiting Satellite Tracker

Get NASA App HD now! (Free)

The survey would focus the G and K spectral type stars brighter than 12 magnitudes, approximately 2 million of them would be studied, and the 1,000 closest M-type red dwarfs (within 30 parsecs). It is expected to discover 1,000 - 10,000 transiting exoplanets down to the size of the Earth and up to 2 months of period. The candidates could be later investigated by the HARPS spectrometer and some of them could be targets of the James Webb Space Telescope. The developer team is optimistic enough to claim that the first interstellar space missions' destinations could be among these stars.

Another satellite effort currently underway at MIT is ExoplanetSat, a research project inspired by the increasing use of cube satellites, or “CubeSats,” by research universities as a way to conduct observations in space. The Rubik’s Cube-sized satellites are popular because they can piggyback on a variety of launch vehicles for a fraction of what it costs to put larger satellites in space. There are about a dozen CubeSats currently orbiting Earth.

Seager’s idea is that the odds of detecting a transiting planet orbiting a bright star increase significantly if there is just one telescope dedicated to observing a star that neither Kepler nor TESS can observe.

The concept eventually developed into ExoplanetSat, a research program that is designed to launch a fleet of about one dozen “triple CubeSats” (three cubes stuck together), and about another two dozen six-unit CubeSats into low-Earth orbit. Each satellite would have its own computer, processor and tiny camera and would be pointed at an individual star. Although the program doesn’t have funding yet, MIT students will try to build two prototypes within the next two years and then hopefully secure funding for a formal mission to send dozens of the tiny cubes into space.

But detecting Earthlike planets may only be half the battle, according to Joshua Winn, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Physics, who says “it remains to be seen” if current telescope technology will enable researchers to study Earthlike planets with enough detail to confirm whether they can host life. For now, researchers await the 2014 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, an instrument whose size will make it easier to obtain higher-quality data of exoplanet atmospheres.

Nanosatellites, i.e. spacecraft that weigh between 1 and 10 kg, are drawing increasing interest as platforms for conducting on-orbit science. This trend is primarily driven by the ability to piggyback nanosatellites on the launch of large spacecraft and hence achieve orbit at greatly reduced cost. The CubeSat platform is a standardized nanosatellite configuration, consisting of one, two, or three 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm units (1, 2, or 3 "U"s) arranged in a row. We present a CubeSat-based concept for the discovery of transiting exoplanets around the nearest and brightest Sun-like stars. The spacecraft prototype - termed ExoplanetSat - is a 3U space telescope capable of monitoring a single target star from low Earth orbit. Given the volume limitations of the CubeSat form factor, designing a capable spacecraft requires overcoming significant challenges. This work presents the initial satellite configuration along with several subsystem-specific solutions to the aforementioned constraints. An optical design based on a modified commercial off-the-shelf camera lens is given. We also describe a novel two-stage attitude control architecture that combines 3-axis reaction wheels for coarse pointing with a piezoelectric translation stage at the focal plane for fine pointing. Modeling and simulation results are used to demonstrate feasibility by quantifying ExoplanetSat pointing precision, signal-to-noise ratio, guide star magnitude, and additional design parameters which determine system performance.

ExoplanetSat is a proposed three-unit CubeSat designed to detect down to Earth-sized exoplanets in an orbit out to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars via the transit method. To achieve the required photometric precision to make these measurements, the target star must remain within the same fraction of a pixel, which is equivalent to controlling the pointing of the satellite to the arcsecond level. The satellite will use a two-stage control system: coarse control will be performed by a set of reaction wheels, desaturated by magnetic torque coils, and fine control will be performed by a piezoelectric translation stage. Since no satellite of this size has previously demonstrated this high level of pointing precision, a simulation has been developed to prove the feasibility of realizing such a system. The current baseline simulation has demonstrated the ability to hold the target star to within 0.05 pixels or 1.8 arcseconds (with an 85 mm lens and 15 μm pixels), in the presence of large reaction wheel disturbances as well as external environmental disturbances. This meets the current requirement of holding the target star to 0.14 pixels or 5.0 arcseconds. Other high-risk aspects of the design have been analyzed such as the effect of changing the guide star centroiding error, changing the CMOS sampling frequency, and reaction wheel selection on the slew performance of the satellite. While these results are promising as an initial feasibility analysis, further model improvements and hardware-in-the-loop tests are currently underway.

The possibility of discovering a planet that is small, cool, rocky, orbiting a sunlike star and able to host life — an Earth twin, in other words — has made the search for planets outside of our solar system, or exoplanets, one of the hottest research areas in physical science. This three-part series explores MIT researchers’ roles in the quest to find an Earth twin and the effort to make sense of the 500 exoplanets that have been discovered since 1995.

For some researchers, studying the exoplanets that have been discovered to date is just as critical as finding an Earth twin. Even though these planets are too hot to host life, they feature intriguing traits that the planets in our own solar system don’t. For instance, some have orbits that go in the opposite direction of the rotation of their host star. The benefit of studying these characteristics is twofold for astronomers. First, it helps them gain a better understanding of planet formation. This could help them locate Earth candidates and then probe those planets’ atmospheres for clues of life. Second, studying larger exoplanets enables researchers to create and refine the tools of exoplanetary research — tools that will help find and confirm the first Earth twin.

Joshua Winn, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Physics and a researcher for the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, is involved in both endeavors. Not only is he part of the MIT team that is designing the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite to search for rocky planets in the habitable zone of their host star, but he also studies “hot Jupiters,” or exoplanets that are about the size of Jupiter (318 times the mass of Earth). Although hot Jupiters are relatively easy to detect because of their size, they are located so close to their host stars that they are too hot to support life. Even so, Winn’s ongoing research of these planets has yielded valuable results that may apply to the formation of all exoplanets, including smaller, cooler ones.

Mission was meant to monitor volcanic activity on Venus, but craft may have lacked power to propel it into planet's orbit

A Japanese probe sent to Venus may have missed its target, space agency officials said, the latest in a series of disappointments for the country's space programme.

Officials had hoped the £190m Akatsuki mission, launched in May, would monitor volcanic activity on Venus and send back data on its cloud cover and climate.

Jaxa, Japan's space agency, said the probe – equipped with infrared cameras and high-tech instruments – may have lacked the engine power to propel it into Venus's orbit. Mission controllers had also encountered difficulties staying in contact with the craft.

"Unfortunately, it did not attain an orbit," said Hitoshi Soeno, a Jaxa spokesman. "But it appears to be functioning and we may be able to try again when it passes by Venus six years from now."

The failure contrasts with successful explorations of other planets by Russia, the US and Europe, although Moscow's attempts to access Venus have been marred by technical problems since it first sent a probe there in 1961.

Japan now fears its space programme is being overshadowed by that of China, which has twice sent astronauts into space since 2003.

Despite budgetary constraints, experts said Japan's space agency should persevere. "It's extremely regrettable because the Akatsuki had an important mission," Sho Sasaki, a professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, told the Mainichi newspaper.

"However, Jaxa can still communicate with the probe. It's important to analyse data gained from it and make good use of it for future missions. I'd like the agency to learn something from the failure and try again."

The probe reached Venus yesterday, but, according to officials, failed to fire its engines for long enough to attain the proper orbiting position.

It would have been the first Japanese spacecraft to enter the orbit of another planet. The country's attempts to explore Mars in 1998 were dogged by technical problems, and the programme was abandoned in 2003.

Japan was the first Asian nation to put a satellite in orbit in around the Earth, in 1970, and its success in sending a probe to an asteroid had raised hopes that it would gain advantage on its rivals, China and India.

A Japanese probe sent to Venus on an ambitious two-year mission to monitor the cloud-covered planet failed to reach orbit Wednesday and is believed to have been captured by the sun's gravitational pull, Japan's space agency said.

World War III: Scenario 2025

The technology of space and cyberwarfare is so new and untested that even the most outlandish scenarios may soon be superseded by a reality still hard to conceive. If we simply employ the sort of scenarios that the Air Force itself used in its 2009 Future Capabilities Game, however, we can gain "a better understanding of how air, space and cyberspace overlap in warfare," and so begin to imagine how the next world war might actually be fought.

It’s 11:59 p.m. on Thanksgiving Thursday in 2025. While cyber-shoppers pound the portals of Best Buy for deep discounts on the latest home electronics from China, U.S. Air Force technicians at the Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) on Maui choke on their coffee as their panoramic screens suddenly blip to black. Thousands of miles away at the U.S. CyberCommand's operations center in Texas, cyberwarriors soon detect malicious binaries that, though fired anonymously, show the distinctive digital fingerprints of China's People's Liberation Army.

The first overt strike is one nobody predicted. Chinese "malware" seizes control of the robotics aboard an unmanned solar-powered U.S. "Vulture" drone as it flies at 70,000 feet over the Tsushima Strait between Korea and Japan. It suddenly fires all the rocket pods beneath its enormous 400-foot wingspan, sending dozens of lethal missiles plunging harmlessly into the Yellow Sea, effectively disarming this formidable weapon.

Determined to fight fire with fire, the White House authorizes a retaliatory strike. Confident that its F-6 "Fractionated, Free-Flying" satellite system is impenetrable, Air Force commanders in California transmit robotic codes to the flotilla of X-37B space drones orbiting 250 miles above the Earth, ordering them to launch their "Triple Terminator" missiles at China's 35 satellites. Zero response. In near panic, the Air Force launches its Falcon Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle into an arc 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean and then, just 20 minutes later, sends the computer codes to fire missiles at seven Chinese satellites in nearby orbits. The launch codes are suddenly inoperative.

As the Chinese virus spreads uncontrollably through the F-6 satellite architecture, while those second-rate U.S. supercomputers fail to crack the malware's devilishly complex code, GPS signals crucial to the navigation of U.S. ships and aircraft worldwide are compromised. Carrier fleets begin steaming in circles in the mid-Pacific. Fighter squadrons are grounded. Reaper drones fly aimlessly toward the horizon, crashing when their fuel is exhausted. Suddenly, the United States loses what the U.S. Air Force has long called "the ultimate high ground": space. Within hours, the military power that had dominated the globe for nearly a century has been defeated in World War III without a single human casualty.

A new online technology from Google called Google Earth Engine allows scientists and researchers to track environmental changes by analyzing 25 years worth of images from the LANDSAT satellite, the longest continually orbiting satellite on earth.

The new project, which will be posted online for free, was introduced at the COP16 talks in Cancun last week and will include applications that monitor and measure deforestation, land use trends, water resources and more.  In honor of the conference's location, the first major creation of Google Earth Engine is the most comprehensive scale map of Mexico's forest and water resources to date.

Google officials touted the power of Google Earth Engine by saying that the amount of data processed in the Mexico map would have taken three years using a single computer, but only took one day with this new platform (1,000 computers in parallel processed more than 53,000 LANDSAT scenes from 1984 - 2010).

To kick-off the project's launch, the company is offering 20 million CPU hours free to developing nations and scientific organizations to utilize this new tool.

The technology was developed by Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm, and according to Google officials, will show the public how the earth is changing under a changing climate and hopefully drive public policy.

via Washington Post

A new online technology from Google called Google Earth Engine allows scientists and researchers to track environmental changes by analyzing 25 years worth of images from the LANDSAT satellite, the longest continually orbiting satellite on earth.

The new project, which will be posted online for free, was introduced at the COP16 talks in Cancun last week and will include applications that monitor and measure deforestation, land use trends, water resources and more.  In honor of the conference's location, the first major creation of Google Earth Engine is the most comprehensive scale map of Mexico's forest and water resources to date.

Google officials touted the power of Google Earth Engine by saying that the amount of data processed in the Mexico map would have taken three years using a single computer, but only took one day with this new platform (1,000 computers in parallel processed more than 53,000 LANDSAT scenes from 1984 - 2010).

To kick-off the project's launch, the company is offering 20 million CPU hours free to developing nations and scientific organizations to utilize this new tool.

The technology was developed by Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm, and according to Google officials, will show the public how the earth is changing under a changing climate and hopefully drive public policy.

via Washington Post

The hunt for 'exoplanets' – worlds outside our solar system – has had several successes, and new space telescopes will boost the chances of finding more

Gliese 581 is a modest star lying in an unfashionable part of the constellation Libra. It is dim, small and even though relatively close to Earth, cannot be seen by the naked eye. It is, to put it simply, insignificant – the Crouch End of interstellar real estate. But astronomers have recently found that it possesses an intriguing secret. In 2009, observations showed that the star has a family of five planets, including at least one body roughly the same size as Earth.

In September this year, this news was topped by US scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who announced they had detected a sixth planet orbiting the star. Crucially, this one seems to be orbiting in a region known as the "Goldilocks zone" – that part of space surrounding a star where it is not too hot and not too cold to support life, but just right.

The existence of Gliese 581g, as it is prosaically known, has been doubted by a group of Swiss astronomers, who can find no trace of the planet in their own analysis of the same data. But this controversy has, at least, raised the profile of those searching the universe for worlds like our own, a science whose sophistication has risen dramatically in the past few years.

The first extrasolar planet – or "exoplanet" – was discovered in orbit around the star PSR 1257+12 in 1992. Since then, developing techniques have revealed the presence of almost 500 more. Our galaxy appears to enjoy a rich abundance of worlds on which life might be detected. According to Giovanna Tinetti, an exoplanet expert at University College London: "These discoveries suggest planets are quite common in our galaxy – they make me optimistic that life is also common."

To date, most exoplanets detected have been giant worlds similar to Jupiter, the largest planet in our own solar system. A large proportion also orbit close to their mother stars; the crushing gravity fields and searing heat of these worlds make them unlikely candidates as homes for aliens.

However, more recently, astronomers have been able to pinpoint smaller, more Earth-like planets in more promising, temperate orbits.

Given the average star's colossal output of radiation and light, the ability to spot a tiny object that is less than one-10,000th as bright is quite an achievement. To do this, two key techniques are used, says Tinetti. The first involves studying the way planets make a star wobble as it moves across the sky. "A planet will pull it one way and then another as it orbits round a star," she says. "This fluctuation in its movements can then be revealed by studying the resulting shifts in its spectrum that are produced by the Doppler effect." This is the technique that was used to reveal the planets that orbit Gliese 581.

The second involves observing stars and noting any regular dimming that is caused by a planet sweeping in front of it. This system offers scientists better opportunities to study exoplanets directly and to observe the composition of their atmosphere. However, only 2% of planetary systems can be studied this way: those whose orbits are aligned so that they cross the face of their mother star when viewed from Earth. "These are the most promising planets for investigation because we can actually detect the presence of elements and chemicals in their atmospheres," says Tinetti. "We have found the presence of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour and other gases in some exoplanets, although these have all been super-giants with temperatures far too high to support life. On the other hand, it does show that the presence of the building blocks of organic matter – such as methane – is fairly widespread."

Even if Gliese 581g turns out not to exist, scientists using transit observations have pinpointed what looks to be an exoplanet of especial interest. Last December, a team at the Harvard–Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics announced the discovery of a planet round Gliese 1214, a small, dim red star in the constellation Ophiuchus. (These stars are named after the German astronomer Wilhelm Gliese who published, in 1957, a catalogue of near-Earth stars.) This world – known as Gliese 1214b – appears to be composed largely of water and has a mass and diameter two or three times that of Earth. "This is now the subject of a great deal of astronomical attention from observatories around the world," says Tinetti. "In a few months, these studies should be ready for publication and could provide some real surprises."

Further boosts to the detection of exoplanets will also occur in the next few years with the launch of new space telescopes. In addition to the huge land-based observatories now sweeping the skies for distant worlds, and existing telescopes such as the Hubble, Spitzer, Corot, and Kepler probes, new missions will include Europe's Gaia probe, which is scheduled for launch in 2012 and which is designed to detect, among other things, more than 100,000 exoplanets. European astronomers are also pressing for the construction of something they are calling the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (Echo) – an orbiting satellite that could study these worlds in detail and pinpoint those that are most likely to support life.

AP - China has pulled off a tricky and uncommon feat in space flight, maneuvering one of its satellites to within about 300 yards of another while they were orbiting Earth, space analysts say.

By Dr. Adrian Brown
Planetary physicist at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs

When most people look at photos of the Martian landscape, they see the kind of dry topography that, while attractive, shows only that at first glance Mars resembles many of the desert areas of Earth. By analyzing spectroscopic data gathered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, however, SETI Institute planetary scientist Dr. Adrian Brown sees clues to where liquid water might once have puddled and pooled on the Red Planet, and possibly spawned life. Adrian is interested in finding subtle hints that large bodies of water might once have flooded the northern regions of this now-dry world, hints that the Orbiter's infrared spectrometer could provide. In addition to his search for water, Adrian hunts for clues to volcanic activity in these same northern realms, because the energy provided by such eruptions could fuel microscopic life.

Adrian, pertaining to your scientific work, what motivates you?
I'm motivated by the fact that when it comes to Mars, there are always new challenges to tackle and solve every day. It's exciting knowing that each day may bring a new piece of the jigsaw puzzle. It's as if I have 50 pieces of the puzzle but there are 1,000 pieces out there, and they're not all in the same box. If I can find another 100, I can figure out this little corner of the puzzle. It's exciting to read the latest Mars Orbiter findings or to search for the most important books or papers to read and work out how to do it in an efficient way that will take me one step closer to finding another relevant piece of the puzzle.

I might come across some information that doesn't even seem like a piece of the puzzle. Then it will dawn on me that the puzzle parts can interrelate with another piece that I hadn't considered, and that's very cool. I'm continually learning about new physics, mathematics, and computer programs, and different ways to put them together to try and answer a scientific question that I thought of some time previously. I'm always motivated by finding new pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and then watching the overall picture grow over time.

Give us an overview of your research projects.
Most of my research revolves around Mars. One area I focus on is the polar regions of Mars. In spite of their extreme cold, most of the action on Mars occurs in those bitterly cold regions today. Ice is continually condensing and subliming throughout the year, so there are a lot of dynamic processes that cause Mars' atmosphere to inflate and deflate like a little ball. It's as if we can see it breathing every seasonal period. It gets so cold on Mars that the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere actually freezes out onto the surface. It would be like the nitrogen freezing out in our atmosphere. Can you imagine what sort of havoc that would create here on Earth? That's one reason I'm interested in studying these dynamics, which are actually quite different at the Martian North and South Poles.

I'm also very interested in the most ancient rocks on Mars. This area of research allows me to learn more about the many stages of development Mars has gone through. We can locate these rocks by using imaging, or infrared, spectroscopy to detect minerals on the surface. I use an instrument called the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that looks at the way light from the sun is reflected off rocks on the surface and bounces back to the satellite. We look for areas where light is absorbed in the electromagnetic spectrum. By looking for particular telltale absorptions, we can tell what minerals are on the surface. Using this technique, we can identify clays on the surface of Mars, which usually occur in the most ancient areas of the planet.

I've recently been interested in a place called Nili Fossae -- a region where we find carbonate minerals in the rocks. Carbonate is fairly common on Earth but is very rare on Mars. In these most ancient parts of Mars, we have found that running liquid water altered the original mineral structures in some of the basaltic, olivine-bearing rocks into carbonate-bearing rocks. We know this because once the rocks have changed into carbonate, their structure doesn't change again. This allows us to identify where olivine has changed into carbonate, and that's an indication of the action of heat and water in Mars' past. And very excitingly, that same heat and water might not just have altered minerals -- in the very early stages of Mars' development, they may have also provided energy for life on Mars. -- Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

What is the coolest thing about your research?
I'm driven by the fact that Mars is tangible. Since 1997, we've had at least one satellite orbiting Mars continuously. There is a deluge of information coming back from the planet. We're getting new pictures of unprecedented accuracy. We're learning incredible new things about Mars all the time. For example, at the moment there is a lot of excitement because there might be methane in Mars' atmosphere. That hasn't actually been proven to my satisfaction, but it is an exciting and tantalizing possibility that could prove to be a potential link to life and geological activity on Mars today. While our ignorance with regards to Mars is still overwhelming, it's so exciting to research a subject with such a wealth of new information.

The time for Mars is now! Mars exploration can be likened to the old Wild West of today. We're the early settlers, wondering what is beyond the next mountain range. We've crossed the Appalachians and are heading into the plains of the expansive Midwest. We're in our infancy of understanding Mars, and that's pretty cool -- there are so many surprises waiting for us to uncover!

As with the early pioneers heading West across America, do you envision humans settling on Mars?
As humans, we're going to go to Mars -- that is if we don't destroy ourselves beforehand. We're finding out as much as we can about our nearest habitable neighbor in order to lay the groundwork for the eventual colonization of Mars. There is nothing scientifically stopping us. Lots of challenges remain and not everyone may live on Mars, but one possible scenario is that Mars could turn into a region like the sparsely populated Antarctica. It's not very comfortable there, but they have some interesting activities and research you can't do anywhere else.

In the far-distant future, anywhere from 200 to 1,000 years from today, Mars could be much more Earth-like than today. With the intervention of humankind, Mars could be turned into another Earth, or at least similar enough to Earth that we could breathe the atmosphere and live pretty much as we do today on Earth. That's certainly physically possible. So Mars holds a lot of promise for humanity. If our bodies remain in their present form, Mars is the best place for humans to create a new Earth -- and hopefully we will act with more awareness of our actions than we do now.

Would you like to walk on the Martian landscape if you had the opportunity?
Absolutely! I think humans can play a role in the exploration of Mars. Some people say robots can do it all for us. I don't think our Rovers are going to provide us with all the answers unless we get extremely lucky and land in an area that is or was burdened with biology. That hasn't happened as of today and it may not happen within the next 15 years.

Martian landscape -- Image courtesy of NASA/JPL

This 15-year period will provide the private company SpaceX with enough time to develop their rockets for human travel. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, would like to send humans to Mars. If they continue on their successful trajectory, humans could be exploring Mars within 15-20 years on the SpaceX rockets. We'll see -- a lot of things have to go right for that to happen, but the strong possibility exists that we'll see private commercial flights to Mars within our lifetimes.

As a scientist, does it worry you that Mars could become a vacation destination before scientists have the opportunity to land on Mars and fully explore the planet for evidence of life?
The scientists of our generation, and particularly the next two generations, have a window of time when they will have to answer the question of life on Mars before humankind arrives in strength. Within that period, I don't think we can change our ways and develop an ability to live side-by-side with a possibly extant Martian biosphere. I also don't think Mars will be saved for science. Humankind will likely want to utilize Mars as a second Earth. It's important for scientists of this generation to push for the answer of whether Mars has -- or had -- a biosphere. Once we're armed with that information, or at least we've tried as much as possible to find life on Mars using robotics, then perhaps the colonization of the Red Planet will begin. This is going to be a very interesting period and I hope to stay involved in it. It's a fascinating stage in our development as a species.

Is there one fact about your research that surprises most people?
I am surprised by new findings all the time! The possibility of sending humans to Mars and then terraforming Mars, or changing it so it becomes more like Earth, is something that may not cross a lot of people's minds. Also, some people are surprised that the Polar Regions are so active. There are geysers that shoot up to 20 meters and create big dust fields around them on the ice. It's a very cool environment. Of course, you wouldn't want to step on the surface because your boots would probably stick to the ice. Our Phoenix lander was crushed by the CO2 ice; so if we can't get a robot to operate there, we are going to have a lot of challenges. The polar regions of Mars will long be an exploration frontier for humans. Image at left: Mars' north polar ice cap, Olympus Mons and three accompanying volcanoes, clouds over those volcanoes and the west edge of Valles Marineris -- Image courtesy of NASA/MSSS

How did you come to join the SETI Institute?
After earning my Ph.D. in Australia, I worked in a NASA post-doctoral program at NASA Ames from 2006 to 2007. My post-doc adviser, Janice Bishop, was (and is) an employee at the SETI Institute, so I spent a lot of time at the Institute. After my post-doc program was complete, I applied to NASA for grants through the Institute and was eventually successful. I then became an employee of the SETI Institute in 2008.

What do you currently consider your biggest challenge?
Funding my research would definitely be my biggest challenge at the moment. The scientific career I have is very liberating because I get to run my own projects and be my own boss. The ability to make up the projects I want to work on is exceptionally cool and it's what I'm so excited about. You're not pursuing anybody else's dreams; you get to invent the dreams that you will pursue. But it does come at a price, which is having to convince others to give you that funding in order to realize your dreams. The U.S. government supports research through NASA but that funding program is extremely competitive and scientists have to write 6-10 proposals in order to get just one funded.

Why should the general public care about your research?
As Mars becomes more important in the coming decades, I think the general public's interest will increase. We're about to see Virgin Galactic launch humans into space. There was a recent successful drop test of Virgin Galactic's spacecraft, and we're going to see a lot of activity in space over the next decade that will capture the public's attention much more. Costs may be prohibitive at first and wealthy people will be the ones to go into space. But prices will eventually come down, and regular people like you and me will be able to afford a pretty amazing getaway in space. The public will gradually expect to travel beyond the edge of space. They'll want to go to a space station, around or to the Moon, or destinations beyond. Over time, the capabilities of these commercial companies will increase. That will be tricky to do, but I don't think Richard Branson will stop at the edge of space as his current spacecraft do. Branson or those who follow him will want to travel beyond that, and they'll have the public watching and eagerly waiting.

People have inquisitive minds and have always been interested in planetary science and the nature of the universe. This curiosity can lead to a strong interest in subjects such as Mars and what's really going on around us in the universe. We're learning more about our solar system and beyond all the time. Astronauts will soon be visiting near-Earth asteroids and a next generation of spacecraft will hopefully be replacing the retiring shuttle in the next decade. For those who have an interest in the universe, these quests for knowledge and discovery will always be an important part of their lives.

In addition to your research projects, you organize the SETI Institute's Colloquium Series, which is taped and available to the public. Tell us about the program and its importance to you and the broader community.
I'm of the opinion there is not enough news or news sources about space and space science at the moment. We might catch a news-byte on the radio or TV about a new near-Earth asteroid that was discovered streaking toward us and missed us by two seconds. But usually that's it and you can't hear any more. If I was a member of the non-scientific general public, I'd love to see a "click here for more information" button on my radio or TV so I could learn more. That was one main motivator in creating the SETI Institute Talk series. And our viewers are showing there is a strong public interest in the content of these Talks. We have a growing audience that attends the Talks at our building in Mountain View, California. Even more so, we have a growing audience online. I encourage people to tell their friends to check out the Talks on YouTube. They're there to stay and people can watch them on their television or computer at their convenience.

I'm also seeing that YouTube is taking over as the new TV. If you buy an Apple TV, for example, a dropdown menu will take you to YouTube where you can watch our talks for free. Viewers will see very engaging videos that give them a high-quality presentation on fascinating topics by experts in their fields, and our production efforts are getting better all the time.

For whom are these talks intended?
Viewers do not need to have a strong scientific background in order to enjoy the talks. I always learn something new at every talk, which is really cool. We intend to deliver content just a bit above the Discovery channel level. The Discovery or History channels occasionally have some good programming but once you've seen it, you may have to wait another year for their next good program. Our format offers something new on a weekly basis. While you might not find each instant of every talk amazing, I think you'll be amazed at least once in every one of these talks.

The next time you're relaxing at home and find that the latest episode of your favorite TV show is a rerun, I hope you'll check out our growing list of Talks archived on a vast variety of subjects. I'm sure you'll find something of interest that's engaging, entertaining, and you just might hear something new that will amaze you.

What first sparked your interest in planetary science?
I remember watching a TV show about the the Voyager 2 spacecraft's grand voyage through the solar system. Voyager 2 and its tour past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune was a fascinating unveiling of the solar system before our eyes. I thought that was so cool. I was in school as each of the encounters was happening. It's been a thrill to work with some of the SETI Institute scientists who were involved in that mission, such as Drs. Laurance Doyle and Mark Showalter.

Additionally, while serving in the Australian Navy, I read the book, The Case for Mars, written by Robert Zubrin. That was at a time when I was mulling over what I was going to do with the rest of my life. That book is extremely motivational (to say the least) and offers a multitude of reasons why humanity should be going to Mars. It really awoke me from my dogmatic slumber and I thought, "This is where I could spend the rest of my career and remain excited for the rest of my life." Mars would be an object of interest to humanity for a long time to come.

I'm still excited every time I read papers on Mars. It's just a really cool planet. Everybody who reads and writes about it in the field is caught up in this excitement for Mars that makes you feel like you're part of a bigger team that's really interested in this one object and what it could -- and does -- mean for humanity. The number of people who have an interest in Mars in the United States is quite sizable.

What was your dream job as a child?
As a boy, I became aware of Southern California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) through the Voyager program and thought it would be great to work there as a planetary scientist. But that wasn't a viable option living in Australia. Instead, I decided to join the Navy because I thought that would broaden my horizons. I got an Electrical Engineering degree through them and also learned about the military and possible military careers. But I wanted to do something where the goals could change; you could be a little bit more imaginative and work "outside the box." As my wife often says, "I don't really know what a box is." I decided then to seek a career elsewhere and so I returned to my childhood dream upon leaving the Navy -- and my career since then has been even better than I expected.

What historic personality do you admire and why?
I admire people who are interested in finding out as much as they can about the universe around us. Socrates is one such person who immediately comes to mind. If he was anything like how he was portrayed, and certainly there has to be an element of truth in what Xenophon and Plato wrote about their idol, then he was obsessed by a love of knowledge and I think that is the most important part of our human experience. I believe we're here to learn more about ourselves, our circumstances, and our universe. Always seeking answers is how we help humankind progress. Along these lines, the curious Richard Feynman is also someone for whom I have a lot of respect.

If you could live and work anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
I would live in Fremantle. It's the port city of Perth and the capital city of Western Australia and yet has managed to maintain a "small town" feel. It was established in 1835 and has lots of 19th century maritime architecture. It's right on the edge of the Indian Ocean, and the weather is amazingly beautiful. Sometimes it gets a little hot during the day but the afternoon winds come in and cool everything off overnight. The people there also have a very liberal outlook. It has a wonderful market and it's so compact that you can get to everything on foot. I enjoyed living there for awhile but they don't do planetary science, so I had to leave that idyllic setting to pursue my career.

It sounds as if you have to live in certain areas to work as a planetary scientist.
I could probably be a SETI Institute scientist and live in Fremantle but I would miss out on the very important accessibility to other planetary scientists. It's easier to travel to conferences when living in the U.S., and there are several NASA and space centers throughout the United States. Of course, you can read books and materials; but if you want to do planetary science, you really have to be in the United States. You could make a case for some places in Europe or Japan, but there are not that many people with whom you can exchange ideas and have natural interwoven conversations where people are bouncing new ideas and learning new things about planetary science. This can come out of everyday conversations with other scientists at SETI and NASA Ames, for example.

If you could take a 6-12 month sabbatical, what would you like to learn or do?
In a typical job, you're working for somebody else and you're working on their goals. I think of a sabbatical as something you take when you need a break from your job in order to do what you really want to be working on. That is really different from my job. I don't have a need for a sabbatical. I'm working on exactly what I want to. I think I have the most fun job in the world!

Watch a video of Dr. Adrian Brown giving a one-minute summary of his work. This one-minute excerpt comes from a special colloquium celebrating the 25th anniversary of the SETI Institute.

Read Adrian's "Future Direction of Martian Exploration" blog.

Learn more about Adrian by visiting his web page.

Spanish robotics engineers have devised a new weapon in the battle against zombie-sats and space junk: an automated robotics system that employs computer vision technology and algorithmic wizardry to allow unmanned space vehicles to autonomously chase down, capture, and even repair satellites in orbit.

Scientists at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) created the system to allow for the removal of rogue satellites from low earth orbit or the maintenance of satellites that are nearing the ends of their lives, prolonging their service (and extending the value of large investments in satellite tech). Through a complex set of algorithms, space vehicles known as "chasers" could be placed into orbit with the mission of policing LEO, chasing down satellites that are damaged or have gone "zombie" and dealing with them appropriately.

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Technology, low earth orbit, robots, satellites, Space, zombiesat

Ostensibly, such robotic chasers could not only repair damaged satellites but could also re-up their supply of propellant, a lack of which is one of the primary reasons perfectly good satellites end up defunct. And of course using a robotic system to perform maintenance or remove a busted satellite from orbit saves the expense - and the risk - of sending a manned mission to do it.

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China on Friday celebrated 61 years of communist rule with the launch of its second lunar probe -- the next step in its ambitious programme to become the second country to put a man on the moon.

A Long March 3C rocket carrying the Chang'e-2, which is due to go into orbit within 15 kilometres (nine miles) of the moon, blasted off from the launch centre in Xichang in the southwestern province of Sichuan, state media said.

China Central Television briefly showed images of the rocket blasting off into the night sky -- a few seconds after lift-off -- before shifting to scenes inside the launch centre and computerised models of the rocket's flight.

The lunar probe will conduct various tests over a six-month period in preparation for the expected launch in 2013 of the Chang'e-3, which China hopes will be its first unmanned landing on the moon, state media has reported.

"Chang'e-2 lays a foundation for the soft-landing on the moon and the further exploration of outer space," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the chief designer of China's lunar orbiter project, Wu Weiren, as saying.

"It travels faster and closer to the moon, and it will capture clear pictures."

The probe successfully entered its trans-lunar orbit, Xinhua said. It will take five days for the Chang'e-2 to arrive at its lunar orbit.

It will first circle the moon at a distance of 100 kilometres, before hopefully dropping into orbit 15 kilometres from the moon's surface.

The Chang'e programme, named after a mythical Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, is seen as an effort to put China's space exploration programme on a par with those of the United States and Russia.

The first lunar probe, launched in October 2007, was in orbit for 16 months.

Beijing hopes to bring a moon rock sample back to earth in 2017, with a manned mission pencilled in for around 2020, according to state media.

The launch day was symbolic as it is China's National Day, which marks Mao Zedong's proclamation of the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.

People arrived early to watch the take-off, an employee at the launch site's tourism department, who refused to be named, told AFP.

"A stand has been built for them, and tickets cost 800 yuan (120 dollars)," she said, adding the whole area had been sealed off.

China sees its space programme as a symbol of its global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the formerly poverty-stricken nation.

It became the world's third nation to put a man in space independently -- after the United States and Russia -- when Yang Liwei piloted the one-man Shenzhou-5 space mission in 2003.

In September 2008, the Shenzhou-7, piloted by three astronauts, carried out China's first space walk.

The Americans have achieved the only manned lunar missions, making six trips from 1969 to 1972.

Beijing has other significant Asian competitors to reckon with as it vies to become the second nation to put a man on the moon.

India landed a lunar probe in 2008, and a top official said in January it was targeting a manned space mission in 2016. Japan, meanwhile, launched its first lunar satellite in June last year.

Earlier this year, China postponed the next step in its space station programme -- the placement of the Tiangong-1 space module in orbit -- until 2011 for technical reasons, state media reported.

The Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace," is seen as the building block of China's maiden space station. Weighing about 8.5 tonnes, it would provide a "safe room" for astronauts to live in and conduct research in zero gravity.

After being placed in orbit, the Tiangong-1 would dock with the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in the country's first space docking -- a feat to be controlled remotely by scientists on the ground.

Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10, carrying two to three astronauts, would dock with the orbiting module in successive years, officials have said.

The International Space Station began with the launch into orbit of the first station element, a Russian-built module, in 1998. The first full-time crew arrived two years later.

AFP

Peninsula Metropolis Daily, October 1, 2010

There's nothing much special about the number sixty-one.

That is the conclusion you could draw from many of today's mainland newspapers. Unlike last year, when practically every newspaper in the country was decked out in red to hail the 60th anniversary of the birth of the People's Republic, today's 61st anniversary failed to make the front page of a sizable proportion of commercial papers.

Instead, those papers turned their attention to topics such as today's lunar launch, Kim Jong Un, and housing policy.

Chang'e flies to the Moon today; passes over Qingdao tomorrow reads the locally-focused top headline of the Peninsula Metropolis Daily. Chang'e II, China's second lunar satellite, is scheduled to lift-off this evening at 18:59:57 and will enter the range of Qingdao's monitoring station nine hours later.

The main image is a rendering of a new astronomical discovery and carries the headline, America discovers habitable planet. The planet, orbiting the star Gliese 581, a distance of twenty light years from Earth, may support life.

Other top stories include a new bus line that counted the municipal party secretary among its first passengers, a shipwreck in Fujian Province that killed three and left nine missing, the release of three Japanese nationals who were detained for unauthorized entry into a military installation, and a clash between Chinese tourists and Japanese rightists.

This article is from Danwei.org.

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A new Space Based Surveillance satellite is orbiting Earth after a successful launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast.