Mars Rover Curiosity's Long Drive Shifts Into High Gear

By Megan Gannon, News Editor | July 15, 2013 05:24pm ET

Lower slopes of Mount Sharp appear at the top of this image taken by the right Navigation Camera (Navcam) of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity at the end of a drive of about 135 feet (41 meters) during the 329th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (July 9, 2013). 
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is pressing forward with an epic Red Planet road trip, a long-distance drive aimed at the central mountain of the robot's landing site.

Curiosity began its long Martian driveon July 4 and completed three separate trips in the days that followed. On the third leg of the 5-mile (8- kilometer) trek, the car-sized rover covered a distance of about 135 feet (41 meters), NASA officials said in a status update.

The Curiosity rover is currently driving toward Mount Sharp, a mysterious mountain that rises 3.4 miles (5.5 km) high in the middle of the rover's Gale Crater landing site. The journey will slow and long for the rover, which has a top speed across flat ground is only 0.09 mph (0.14 km/h). Since its arrival on Mars in August 2012, Curiosity has remained rather close to its landing site, traveling a total of just 0.51 miles (0.95 km), mission managers said. [See the Curiosity rover's latest photos of Mars]

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE


Curiosity is the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission. It finished work at its first major science destination, an area known as Glenelg, last week. The rover is now headed southwest for the foothills of Mount Sharp. Once there, scientists hope the 1-ton robot will find clues about how Mars' ancient environment changed and evolved.

Curiosity kicked off its long drive kicked on July 4 with a 59-foot (18 m) trip, which was followed by a July 7 haul that sent the rover 131 feet (40 m) closer to Mount Sharp. The third drive, on July 9, brought Curiosity's odometer reading to about 325 feet (99 meters) since completing the Glenelg investigations, according to NASA.

Though Curiosity is not bound to a strict timeline for its trek, mission officials have estimated that it will take about a year to complete. The progress of the drive will depend on what Curiosity finds along the way, rover mission managers said.

Curiosity already has accomplished the main objective of its mission, to find out if Mars is, or once was, suitable for life. At targets in the Glenelg area, the robot drilled samples of Martian rocks that helped scientists determine thatMars could have supported microbial life in the ancient past.

NASA's Curiosity rover mission is expected to spend at least two years exploring Gale Crater, with scientists planning to eventually send the rover on a trip up Mount Sharp.

From: http://www.space.com/21966-mars-rover-curiosity-long-drive-update.html

Sun Researchers May Crack 70 Year Old Mystery

Why Is The Sun's Corona Hotter Than The Sun Itself?

Added by Georgina Pijttersen on July 13, 2013.
Saved under Georgina Pijttersen, Science



Tsunami are not limited to earth, this phenomenon has now also been sighted on the Sun, of all places. The tsunami consists of heightened magnetic field and hot, ionized gases which race across the Sun at about 400km per second. These tsunami also help cause the release matter into space, and therefore might be causing the corona surrounding the sun to be hotter than the sun surface. Therefore the researchers involved in the analysis of the data from the satellites which captured this phenomenon might have cracked a 70 year old mystery. In addition studying the effects of the sun tsunami, the matter they release into the sun’s corona and the sun orbit itself, might be an invaluable source for understanding how this all will affect Earth, and crack it’s mysterious effects on our planet.

The satellites can’t just take photographs in a regular way because this would not capture everything that is going on with the Sun. The satellites have instruments which notice, and can analyse ultraviolet light which the sun emits. Humans can’t register these colors but the satellites can. This ultraviolet light gives us information about the chemical makeup and extreme physical conditions of the Sun.

David Long of University College London and teammates spotted the waves coming from the tsunami and going into the Sun’s corona. Therefore making them the Sun’s researchers who may crack the 70 year old mystery surrounding the Sun’s corona, and why it’s hotter than the rest of the sun. The waves coming off the tsunami and going into the corona are called EIT. David said to the BBC: ”These EIT waves are quite tricky – they’re very random and they’re relatively rare,” he added, “We need to be in the right place at the right time; this has been a long time coming. This tells us a lot about the nature of the Sun and what goes on in the atmosphere,” Dr Long went on to explain. “These waves are quite important because they’re associated with CMEs that fire plasma out into the heliosphere, toward the Earth. Generally we see them when there’s a CME coming straight at us – but when it’s coming straight at us then it’s quite difficult to measure how fast it’s coming at us or how strong it is,” Long stated, ”So by looking at these waves, we should be able to infer how powerful these CMEs are going to be.”

The research hasn’t been completed yet. The researchers haven’t been able to totally crack the 70 year old mystery into why the Sun’s corona is hotter than the core temperature. It is said that the Sun’s core is some 15,000,000C, but the Sun’s surface is below 6,000C. Meanwhile the corona is known to be at a temperature in excess of 1,000,000C. Which is very odd indeed. It does seem that they are on the right track and that we will soon be able to report that indeed the Sun tsunami are responsible for changing the temperature of the Sun’s corona.

By Georgina Pijttersen

From: http://guardianlv.com/2013/07/sun-researchers-may-crack-70-year-old-mystery/

Test of new magnet is an atom-smashing success

Tia GhoseLiveScience

July 12, 2013 at 1:35 PM ET

CERN / ATLAS
This track is an example of simulated data modeled for the ATLAS detector on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The Higgs boson is produced in the collision of two protons at 14 TeV and quickly decays into four muon, a type of heavy electron that is not absorbed by the detector. The tracks of the muons are shown in yellow.

A powerful new magnet to replace existing ones in the world's largest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider, just passed its first test with flying colors.


The magnet, which allows the massive particle collider to study two to three times more proton collisions, could help unveil the mysterious properties of the newly discovered Higgs boson, an elementary particle that is thought to explain how all other particles get their mass.

The Large Hadron Collider(LHC) between Switzerland and France sends two proton beams barreling at near light-speed around a 17-mile (27 kilometers) underground ring until they smash into each other, creating myriad subatomic particles in the process. [Beyond Higgs: 5 Elusive Particles that May Lurk in the Universe]

The new magnet produces a much larger magnetic field to focus the proton beams into an even more minuscule area, thereby ensuring that more protons crash into each other.

Focused beams
Right now, the Large Hadron Collider uses a magnet to focus the proton beams before they smash into each other. The farther the protons deviate off course, the stronger the magnet pulls them toward the center of the beam that's just a few thousandths of an inch wide. Though hundreds of billions of protons make up each beam, there are still relatively big empty spaces between them, meaning the odds of a collision are relatively small.


The current magnet is made of a superconductor called niobium titanium, which, when cooled to near absolute zero, allows large amounts of current to flow without overheating.

Niobium titanium was fine for simply discovering the Higgs boson, but revealing the properties of the Higgs boson requires more collisions than the LHC currently allows.

LBL / Fermilab
A powerful new magnet will let the Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest atom smasher, study two to three times more proton collisions. These collisions create myriad subatomic particles such as the Higgs boson.

"The LHC is already designed at the limit of the technology," said GianLuca Sabbi, an accelerator physicist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory who helped design the new magnet. "So how do you make it better?"


Brittle material
The answer, it turns out, was to find a better superconductor.


One of the top candidates was niobium tin, which can produce a higher magnetic field and more current at higher temperatures.

But superconducting coils made of niobium tin are more brittle and therefore prone to moving in response to the huge forces generated as the magnet turns on. That, in turn, could release energy in the form of heat and cause the magnet to lose its superconductivity.

Higher-power magnets also cause more radiation of subatomic particles during collisions, which can damage the magnet more quickly.

To solve these problems, the team built a thick aluminum shell to support the niobium tin superconductor and prevent its displacement.

The new magnet and its housing can produce magnetic fields 50 percent stronger than the LHC's current magnet. That extra strength translates to two or three times the number of collisions, Sabbi said.

But the LHC has a bigger goal: Over 10 years, researchers plan to revamp the entire system to achieve 10 times as many collisions.

"The magnets are just one element of many changes that are going to be made in the machines," Sabbi told LiveScience.

From: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/test-new-magnet-atom-smashing-success-6C10618722

Dramatic solar tsunamis reveal magnetic secrets in sun's corona

This image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the "quiet corona" and upper transition region of the sun. A study tracking solar tsunamis through the sun's plasma shows that the quiet corona may not be so quiet after all. (Solar Dynamics Observatory / NASA)


By Amina Khan
July 12, 2013, 3:50 p.m.



If tsunamis on Earth don’t seem terrifying enough, imagine the power of such a monstrous wave on the sun -- bigger, faster and made of searing plasma. Scientists have spotted two solar tsunamis that have allowed them to accurately measure the sun's magnetic field. The results, published by the journal Solar Physics, should help researchers better understand the makeup of the sun’s "quiet corona" and help predict when coronal mass ejections threaten Earth.


Solar tsunamis, spotted initially in 1997, are caused when a coronal mass ejection is hurled from the sun out into space. The eruption of charged matter pushes the surrounding plasma outward, sending out a circular wave that can travel 620 miles per second and cover half the sun’s surface in an hour, said study lead author David Long, a solar physicist at University College London.

Using NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and the Japanese Hinode spacecraft, the researchers managed to capture two solar tsunamis in action, rising about 43,500 miles high and speeding along at roughly 250 miles per second. Having data from both spacecraft was key. Using NASA’s spacecraft, they tracked the tsunami by watching the ultraviolet light given off as the wave progressed. Using data from the Japanese spacecraft, they determined the density of the matter it was traveling through.

“In both of these events we were just in the right place — wasn’t too close, wasn’t too far away,” Long said.

That’s because as the tsunami spreads outward somewhat like a ripple, it gets distorted by the material it passes through. It will travel faster in denser areas and slower in less dense ones, Long said, because in dense areas the molecules are tightly packed together and can quickly relay the wave along. In sparser areas there might be a slight delay before one molecule runs into the next. The resulting raggedy circles showed that the wave was running through patchy star stuff rather than a smooth, homogeneous medium.

Together, this information allowed the scientists to determine what the density, and the magnetic field, looked like in the less active areas of the sun’s atmosphere known as the quiet corona.

"The fact that it gets deformed means that there are variations in the magnetic field of the solar atmosphere, which was very interesting," Long said. "There’s a lot more going on there than we originally thought."

Understanding a solar tsunami could also help scientists better predict the arrival of a coronal mass ejection. If such a burst of charged particles reaches Earth, it can wreak havoc on the globe’s power, electronics and navigation systems.

"If a coronal mass ejection is coming straight at you, it’s very difficult to measure its speed; it’s very difficult to measure how powerful it is," Long said. "So we are hoping that by looking at these waves, we’d be able to tell something about coronal mass ejections, which would be very useful for space weather forecasting."

From: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-solar-tsunami-magnetic-coronal-mass-ejection-20130712,0,280618.story

The Explosive, Beautiful Death of a Star

JUL 12, 2013 12:00 PM ET // BY JASON MAJOR



The death of a Sun-like star as seen by the Chandra and Hubble space telescopes (click to enlarge).
X-RAY: NASA/CXC/IAA-CSIC/N.RUIZ ET AL, OPTICAL: NASA/STSCI



Although they may shine for many billions of years, stars like our sun don't last forever and when it's time for them to fizzle away into the night they most certainly don't go gently -- but the result can be quite beautiful.

PHOTOS: Hubble's Latest Mind Blowing Cosmic Pictures

The image above, a composite of optical data from Hubble and x-ray observations from NASA's Chandra observatory, shows the brilliant structure of planetary nebula NGC 2392 -- a.k.a. the "Eskimo nebula."

Named for their supposed resemblance to planetary disks in early telescopes, planetary nebulae are created when stars up to about 8 times the mass of our sun run out of fuel during the final stages of their natural lives. Powerful gravitational convulsions within a failing star blast its outermost layers into space, and when the outwardly-expanding shells of material are then impacted by the star’s radiation they become ionized, causing them to glow.

PHOTOS: Ten Cosmic Stunners to Point Your New Telescope At

The comet-shaped structures surrounding NGC 2392 are created by faster wind and radiation from the central star interacting with cooler shells of dust and gas that have already been ejected.

While not achieving the dramatic level of true supernova remnants, planetary nebulae like NGC 2392 are nonetheless fascinating targets for observation, not only for their unique beauty but also for the insight they can provide as to the eventual end of our own home star, the sun.

From: http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/hubble-chandra-death-star-eskimo-nebula-130712.htm

DARPA Unveils Atlas Humanoid Robot

By Adario Strange
July 12, 2013 09:28am EST




Some critics of military drones have called for a re-examination of how aerial robots are used in human conflicts. But it turns out that there's actually another kind of military robot on the horizon that may be far more threatening in terms of future human-robot encounters: the Atlas humanoid robot.

Developed by Boston Dynamics for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the 6'2", 330-pound Atlas is the most advanced robot created by the organization to date. Evoking images of James Cameron's sci-fi human hunter known as the Terminator, the human-scale proportions of Atlas give it the appearance of a mechanism simply waiting for a coating of artificial skin to be layered on.

The robot, an update of the previous PETMAN model, features two fully working hands with four fingers, including opposable thumbs, 28 hydraulically actuated joints, a "head" with LIDAR and stereo sensors, automatic crash protection, and an on-board, real-time control computer. In a demonstration video (see below), the robot is shown easily avoiding obstacles, maintaining a steady gait despite unexpected changes to the terrain, and even maintaining its balance when struck by a large object.

DARPA Wants Robotics to Rise to the Challenge of Disasters




VIEW ALL PHOTOS IN GALLERY

While the hardware of Atlas is impressive, the end goal is to make the robot available to teams involved in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) focused on developing innovative software to control the robot's functions. Last month, DARPA awarded funds and an Atlas robot to more than a half dozen teams who competed in a software challenge leading up to the first leg of the Robotics Challenge, which kicks off in December.

According to the project website, the goal of the DARPA Robotics Challenge is to create robotic systems that can work "in tandem with their human counterparts, in order to reduce casualties, avoid further destruction, and save lives."

Right now, the robots used by the military or by disaster response teams "tend to be pretty small machines, they have treads on them in most cases, and they're mostly used for inspection," Gill Pratt, DRC program manager, said last month. "They help to give situational awareness for first responders, but they don't do anything to really affect the disaster."

In the future, it would be helpful to have robots that can navigate more urban terrains - go through doors and navigate stairs or rubble and rough terrain after an explosion, he said.

From: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2421687,00.asp

First images of our solar system’s tail revealed

National Monitor, Lance Tillson | July 11, 2013

Photo credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center


NASA’s IBEX utilizes two new ENA cameras to take pictures of and map the heliosphere’s global interaction.

The first images of our solar system’s tail have been revealed. According to a news releasefrom the Southwest Research Institute, the space agency’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft, also known as IBEX, recently obtained the first images of the solar system’s downwind region, showing a unique and rather surprising structure.

Astronomers have long though that, like a comet, a “tail” trails the heliosphere, the large bubble in which our solar system lives, as the heliosphere travels through interstellar space. The first IBEX images revealed in 2009 displayed an unexpected ribbon of exceptionally high energetic neutral atom emissions circling the upwind side of the solar system.

With the accumulation of more ENAs over the first year of observations, a structured dictated by lower energy ENAs came forth, which was initially described as the heliotail. However, astronomers noted that is was very small and looked to be offset from the downwind direction, possibly due to the interactions from the galaxy’s external magnetic field.

Over the next two years, additional IBEX data helped fill in the observational gap in the downwind direction. As the data came in, researchers discovered a second tail region to the side of the previously located one. The IBEX team reshuffled the IBEX maps and two similar, low-energy ENA structures became visible straddling the downwind direction of the heliosphere, showing structures that look more like “lobes” than a single unified tail.

According to Dave McComas, IBEX principal investigator, “it may well be that these are separate structures bent back toward the downwind direction. However, we can’t say that for certain with the data we have today.”

The news release notes that the astronomers started using the terms port and starboard to differentiate the lobes, as the heliosphere is the “ship” that moves our solar system throughout the galaxy.

IBEX data reveals that the Sun’s slow solar wind flows down the tail in the port and starboard lobes at low- and mid-latitudes and the fast solar wind heads down it at high northern and southern latitudes.

“We’re seeing a heliotail that’s much flatter and broader than expected, with a slight tilt,” notes McComas. “Imagine sitting on a beach ball. The ball gets flattened by the external forces and its cross section is oval instead of circular. That’s the effect the external magnetic field appears to be having on the heliotail.”

NASA’s IBEX utilizes two new ENA cameras to take pictures of and map the heliosphere’s global interaction.

From: http://natmonitor.com/2013/07/11/first-images-of-our-solar-systems-tail-revealed/

Scientists Determine Blue Is Color of Distant Planet

U.S. NEWS
July 11, 2013, 10:16 a.m. ET

Astronomers Reach Conclusion by Analyzing Light Spectrum

By ROBERT LEE HOTZ

AFP/Getty Images

A photo released on July 10, 2013 shows an illustration depicting HD 189733b, a huge gas giant that orbits very close to its host star HD 189733.

For the first time, astronomers have discovered the true color of an alien planet orbiting another star—a deep azure blue like Earth seen from space—an international research team said Thursday.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, the researchers analyzed the spectrum of visible light from a planet known officially as HD 189733b, which orbits a faint star about 63 light years away. This immense blue world—among the closest and most well-studied of the hundreds of exoplanets discovered in recent years—is a hazy hothouse swept by blow-torch winds where it regularly rains molten glass.

For their analysis, the scientists used the Hubble's imaging spectrograph to measure visible light from the star and planet together, and then measured the light from the system when the planet passed behind the star and was hidden from observers on Earth. To isolate the planet's light, they subtracted one from the other.

The wavelength of the missing light corresponds to a visible shade of blue, and that is the color of the light reflected by the planet, the astronomers reported in the upcoming August issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"We inferred the color," said astrophysicist Tom Evans at the U.K.'s University of Oxford, who led the study. By knowing the wavelength, "we can imagine the color the planet would have if we could look at it with our own eyes."

As viewed from space, the planet Earth is itself a vibrant blue because of its oceans, which absorb red and green wavelengths more strongly than blue ones. Some blue wavelengths of sunlight also are selectively scattered by oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the air. Mars, in turn, appears red to the eye because its rusty surface is rich in iron oxide that absorbs the blue and green wavelengths of the light spectrum while reflecting the red wavelengths.

But the blue color of HD 189733b arises solely from the interplay of light in its super-heated atmosphere. Based on earlier measurements, scientists believe that the planet's exotic air is laced with grains of silicate, a common component of beach sand, whipped up in high clouds by winds that average more than 4,000 miles an hour.

In an atmosphere where the temperature appears to hover at 1,000 degrees Celsius, these silicate particles melt to make "raindrops" of glass that scatter visible blue light more than red light, the scientists reported. Consequently, the orb would appear blue because of its reflected light, but the planet is too far away for its hue to be seen directly with existing telescopes.

"We are really pushing the limits of what we can measure," said Mr. Evans.

From: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324425204578599542790673404.html

Gigantic Chunk of Iceberg Eight Times the Size of Manhattan Breaks off from Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier

Benita Matilda
First Posted: Jul 11, 2013 09:24 AM EDT

A massive ice shelf that is eight times the size of Mangattan separated itself from the Pine Island Glacier in the Antarctica on July 8, 2013. The gigantic ice shelf is currently floating in the Amundsen Sea in the form a very large iceberg (Photo : Alfred Wegener Institute)

A massive ice shelf that is eight times the size of Manhattan separated itself from the Pine Island Glacier in the Antarctica on July 8, 2013. The gigantic ice shelf is currently floating in the Amundsen Sea in the form of a very large iceberg.

It was on October 14, 2011 that a group of scientist from the American Space Agency NASA identified the first crack in the glacier tongue. The then emerging crack was some 24 kilometers long and 50 meters wide. The second crack was noticed on May 11, 2012. It produced a 30 square kilometer iceberg that was enclosed by another bigger iceberg.

"As a result of these cracks, one giant iceberg broke away from the glacier tongue. It measures 720 square kilometres and is therefore almost as large as the city of Hamburg", Prof. Angelika Humbert, ice researcher at the Alfred Wegener Institute, said in a press release.

Since then a team of scientists from Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research , have been following the cracks with the help of TerraSAR-X, an earth observation satellite from the German Space Agency. They have documented the changes in several single images and this data is believed to solve the secrecy of 'calving'.

In order to get a deep understanding of the physical processes involved in glacier movements and also to observe the progress of the two cracks spotted earlier, the team worked with the high resolution radar images of the DLR earth observation satellite TerraSAR-X. With this they managed to approximately measure the width of the cracks and measure the speed at which the ice was flowing.

"Above the large crack, the glacier last flowed at a speed of twelve metres per day", said Dr. Dana Floricioiu from DLR. And Nina Wilkens, PhD graduate in Prof. Humbert's team. "Using the images we have been able to follow how the larger crack on the Pine Island glacier extended initially to a length of 28 kilometres. Shortly before the "birth" of the iceberg, the gap then widened bit by bit so that it measured around 540 metres at its widest point."

The team used the data provided by TerraSAR-X satellite in computer simulation by which they can model the mechanism of the ice masses when they break and flow. These simulation results were compared with current satellite data.

According to Humbert, the Pine Island glacier, which flows from Hudson Mountains to Amundsen, is the fastest flowing glacier in Western Antarctic and flows at the speed of 4 kilometers per year. This speed is not affected by the rising air temperature but the wind directions.

A faster flow of the Pine Island glacier for the Western Antarctic ice shelf would lead to serious consequences.

From: http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/8081/20130711/gigantic-chunk-of-iceberg-eight-times-the-size-of-manhattan-breaks-off-from-antarctica-s-pine-island-glacier.htm

Astronomers Discover Baby ‘Monster’ Star Developing In A Dark Cloud [PHOTO]

By Charles Poladianon July 10 2013 9:21 AM

Astronomers have discovered a massive star developing in a dark cloud 11,000 light-years away. The so-called monster star could grow up to be a giant with a mass 100 times that of the sun, they say.



Astronomers discovered the massive star developing in a dark cloud 11,000 light-years from Earth. ALMA (ESO/NRAJ/NRAO)/NASA/Spitzer/JPL-Caltech/GLIMPSE

Led by Nicolas Peretto, from the CEA/AIM Paris-Saclay Cardiff University in the UK, the team of astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter array, or ALMA, to observe the massive star that is currently growing in the Spitzer Dark Cloud, SDC, 335.579-0.292. ALMA is a network of highly sensitive radio telescopes in Chile that can be used to observe the birth of stars and planet formation.

Massive stars are classified as those having a mass of at least 10 times that of the sun, notes the European Southern Observatory, but the classification has nothing to do with the actual size of the star. A dark cloud is a dense pocket of gas and dust that provides plenty of material for the formation of massive stars. According to ESO, astronomers believe that massive stars develop in these dark clouds by two possible methods. The first method involves smaller cores of dust and gas created within the cloud that collapse and create new stars in the process. The second method involves the collapse of the dark cloud, which can form massive stars as all the dust and gas merge at the center.

The core or "womb" of this new star developing in SDC 335.579-0.292 has a mass 500 times that of the sun, which means there is plenty of material to create one massive star. Pretto, speaking about the discovery using ALMA, said in a statement, “We wanted to see how monster stars form and grow, and we certainly achieved our aim! One of the sources we have found is an absolute giant — the largest protostellar core ever spotted in the Milky Way.” The protostellar core is the very beginning of star formation; after it gains enough mass, it will become a protostar.

The ALMA observations indicated the developing star is still collecting material within the dark cloud, notes ESO. Pretto notes SDC 335.579-0.292, through previous research, was a likely region to find a developing massive star, but he was still surprised to see a star that massive. “This object is expected to form a star that is up to 100 times more massive than the sun. Only about one in 10,000 of all the stars in the Milky Way reach that kind of mass!”

The developing massive star as observed in different wavelength.s ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/NASA/JPL-Caltech/GLIMPSE

Gary Fuller, from the University of Manchester and part of the team that discovered the massive star, said the discovery was important because a star develops rather quickly and observing a star in its infancy is rare. The observation of the developing massive star gives further credit to the second theory of massive star formation within a dark cloud. Material, gas and dust are flowing inward to the center of the dark cloud, indicating its collapse, reports ESO.

From: http://www.ibtimes.com/astronomers-discover-baby-monster-star-developing-dark-cloud-photo-1339851

NASA’s New Polar Rover Passes Greenland Test; Can Operate in Layers of Snow and Ice

By Julie S | Jul 08, 2013 10:38 PM EDT

The researchers brought the GROVER at the highest spot of Greenland between May 6 and June 8 to test if it can withstand the harshest weather condition. This test is the robot’s first polar experience in which it was able to perform commands sent over an Iridium satellite connection despite its far distance. (Photo : NASA)

Gusts and freezing temperatures are conditions that the NASA’s new polar rover can repel as proven by a test conducted in Greenland.

The GROVER-- Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research—is a robot designed by students during an engineering training in 2010 and 2011. Its purpose was to analyze layers of snow and ice.

The researchers brought the GROVER at the highest spot of Greenland between May 6 and June 8 to test if it can withstand the harshest weather condition. This test is the robot’s first polar experience in which it was able to perform commands sent over an Iridium satellite connection despite its far distance.

"When we saw it moving and travelling to the locations our professor had keyed in from Boise, we knew all of our hard work had paid off," said Gabriel Trisca, a graduate student from Boise State University who has been involved in the GROVER project from its start. "GROVER has grown to be a fully-autonomous, GPS-guided and satellite-linked platform for scientific research." Trisca accompanied the robot to Greenland.

The GROVER stayed in Greenland for five weeks gathering and storing radar data found in ice. It had travelled a total of 18 miles and was able to send the data real-time. Its battery life lasted for 12 hours before the researchers recharge it.

This is considered a breakthrough for science explorations in extremely cold places such as the Greenland which has temperatures going as low as 22 Fahrenheit and has gusts with speed that can reach 30 mph. Humans couldn’t stand these weather conditions so it would be a smart idea to deploy robots instead.

The researchers admitted that the GROVER is not yet a perfect research tool as it showed some problems during the tests such as the batteries draining faster than expected, rebooting issues, and being stuck in the snow. They are planning to change some of its components to address these issues before they run another test.

This was first reported in a press release in Science.

From: http://www.hngn.com/articles/7220/20130708/nasa-new-polar-rover-passes-greenland-test-operate-layers-snow.htm

Optical lattice atomic clock could 'redefine the second'

By Rebecca Morelle

Science reporter, BBC World Service

The optical lattice clock shines lasers on atoms to measure time


Scientists say they have found a more accurate way to measure time.

We currently use atomic clocks to count the seconds, but tests on an alternative atomic timekeeper have revealed that it is more precise.

The devices, called optical lattice clocks, lost just one second every 300 million years - making them three times as accurate as current atomic clocks.

Writing in Nature Communications, the team said they offered a better system for defining the second.

Laser show

We once used the Earth's rotation to measure time, where one spin equates to a day.

But because our planet wobbles on its axis as it rotates, some days can be shorter or longer than others.

The atomic clock has proved to be a far more accurate method of keeping the world on time and since the 1960s has been used to define a second in the International System of Units (SI units).

But now scientists say the optical lattice clock could improve the precision.

Just as a grandfather clock uses the swing of a pendulum to measure intervals of time, an atomic clock uses the very regular "vibrations" of atoms.

Our current systems, called caesium fountains, expose clouds of caesium atoms to microwaves to get them to oscillate. But the the new ones use light to excite strontium atoms.

Dr Jerome Lodewyck, from the Paris Observatory, said: "In our clocks we use laser beams. Laser beams oscillate much faster than microwave radiation, and in a sense we divide time in much shorter intervals so we can measure time more precisely."

The researchers believe the new clock could be used as a standard for the world's time

The optical clocks are three times as accurate as caesium fountains, which are accurate to one second every 100 million years.

As well as comparing the optical lattice clocks with our current atomic timekeepers, the researchers compared two optical clocks with each other. They found that they kept time in agreement, and were also very stable.

"For instance, if you have your wristwatch, and one day you are one second late, and one day one second early, then your clock is not stable. But it could still have good accuracy if over a million days the time is correct," Dr Lodewyck explained.

It is important to measure both accuracy and stability, he added.

Many technologies such as telecommunications, satellite navigation and the stock markets rely on ever-better time measurements. The researchers said the new clocks could one day help to redefine the second.

Another clock is also undergoing development - an ion clock. This clock loses just one second every few billion years, but because it relies on a single ion, it is not yet deemed to be stable enough for widespread use.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23231206

Bacteria In Space Grows in Strange Ways

by Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com Staff Writer
Date: 08 July 2013 Time: 06:14 PM ET



Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium grown onboard the space shuttle Atlantis, forms in a "column-and-canopy" structure unlike the arrangements observed in bacteria grown on Earth.
CREDIT: NASA



Bacteria grown in a dish of fake urine in space behaves in ways never-before-seen in Earth microorganisms, scientists say.

A team of scientists sent samples of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa into orbit aboard NASA's space shuttle Atlantis to see how they grew in comparison to their Earth-dwelling counterparts.

The 3D communities of microorganisms (called biofilms) grown aboard the space shuttle had more live cells, were thicker and had more biomass than the bacterial colonies grown in normal gravity on Earth as controls. Thespace bacteria also grew in a "column-and-canopy" structure that has never been observed in bacterial colonies on Earth, according to NASA scientists. [The Human Body in Space: 6 Weird Facts]

"Biofilms were rampant on the Mir space station and continue to be a challenge on the [International Space Station], but we still don't really know what role gravity plays in their growth and development," NASA's study leader Cynthia Collins, an assistant professor in the department of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., said in a statement. "Our study offers the first evidence that spaceflight affects community-level behaviors of bacteria, and highlights the importance of understanding how both harmful and beneficial human-microbe interactions may be altered during spaceflight."

Most biofilms found in the human body and in nature are harmless, but some are associated with disease, NASA officials said.

The space bacteria were cultured in artificial urine on NASA's Atlantis shuttle in 2010 and again in 2011 before the retirement of NASA's space shuttle program. Collins and her team of researchers used fabricated urine because it can be used to study the formation of biofilm outside and inside the body. Understanding how to safely remove and recycle waste is particularly relevant because of its importance in long-term spaceflight, NASA officials said.

"The unique appearance and structure of the P. aeruginosa biofilms formed in microgravity suggests that nature is capable of adapting to nonterrestrial environments in ways that deserve further studies, including studies exploring long-term growth and adaptation to a low-gravity environment," Collins said in a statement. "Before we start sending astronauts to Mars or embarking on other long-term spaceflight missions, we need to be as certain as possible that we have eliminated or significantly reduced the risk that biofilms pose to the human crew and their equipment."

Scientists sent 12 devices with eight vials of P. aeruginosa — a bacterium that can be associated with disease on Earth — into orbit on Atlantis. Once in space, astronauts on the shuttle introduced the bacterium to the fake urine while scientists on the ground began the control experiment.

After the samples arrived safely on Earth, Collins and her team took a detailed 3D image of the biofilms to investigate their internal structure, and used other research methods to investigate the colony's thickness and cell growth.

The study, published in the April 20 issue of the journal PLOS ONE, also could have implications for bacterial research on Earth. It's possible that this kind of research could help scientists and doctors more effectively limit the spread of infection in hospitals, Collins said.

From: http://www.space.com/21886-space-bacteria-grows-strange-ways.html

NASA outlines 2020 plans for Mars life search with Curiosity v2.0

Plans cache of drilling samples for return to Earth
By Iain Thomson in San Francisco, 9th July 2013


By 2020 NASA aims to have a next-generation Curiosity rover on Mars to search for signs of organisms that could have lived on the Red Planet, and to collect a cache of deep-drilled rock samples for eventual analysis back here on Earth.

Curiosity 2: the upgrade

The space agency has already said it plans to send another rover to Mars, and by reusing the proven Curiosity technology it can bring the entire mission in for under $1.5bn. Now that the original rover has shown that the conditions existed on Mars that would have made life possible, the next mission will try and find it – if it exists.

For the last five months, NASA's science definition team (SDT) has been working on this plan, and at a press conference on Tuesday they produced a 154-page report detailing how the goals of the next mission can be achieved using currently available technology.

"One of the very biggest questions for humankind is 'Are we alone?'" said Lindy Elkins-Tanton, SDT member. "That is the question we're hoping to make really big advances with with this Mars 2020 mission."

The proposal is to send the new rover to more-inaccessible areas of Mars that may be hiding evidence of life itself, and have it drill out samples of scientifically selected material for eventual return to Earth.

The plan is to drill 31 core samples, to be deposited in a specially designed container ready for shipment back to Earth. That retrieval will take another mission to achieve, and NASA didn't rule out the possibility that the cache could be picked up by human explorers, if funding is available.

To be picked up by robot – or possibly human – hands

Drilling is important because the current surface of Mars isn't exactly supportive of life. But by examining the geological record, scientists could get a clue as to whether life formed, by picking up biosignatures from the rocks.

The new rover will have enhanced imaging, chemical sampling, and drilling equipment to enable Earth-bound controllers to pick the most likely prospects for life. At the press conference, SDT chairman Jack Mustard said the most likely sources would come from water channels carved in rocks that may be found by an organic carbon detector that could be built into the robot.

Based on observations so far, it seems that Mars has gone through three distinct phases. Early in its life – around four billion years ago – the planet was wet and had a magnetic field that would have provided any life on the surface with some protection. That period was followed by about a half-billion years of geological disruption and volcanic activity that chilled the surface down, and for the last 3.5bn years it has been the largely arid rock we know today.

Assuming that life would develop on Mars in a similar way to that on Earth, it's that first period which looks the most promising. Drilling into older rock formations, particularly those which are not exposed to the full force of surface conditions, will give the best chance of finding signs of life – again, if it existed.

All this is, of course, dependent on NASA getting funding to send the rover off on its mission. The reduced price tag will help, but while Congress seems happy to spend billions on weaponry the US may never use, it tends to balk at putting up the cash needed for science. Hopefully the success of the original Curiosity mission will change some minds. ®

From: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/09/nasa_outlines_2020_plans_for_mars_life_search_with_curiosity_v20/

Md. congresswoman proposes national park on the moon

Edwards' legislation would protect Apollo artifacts
By John Fritze, The Baltimore Sun

8:03 p.m. EDT, July 9, 2013

WASHINGTON — —

To visit thenew national park proposed by a Maryland congresswoman would require a 239,000-mile journey and an oxygen tank.

On the plus side, there would be plenty of parking.

Rep. Donna Edwards, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Space, has introduced legislation that would establish a national park on the surface of the moon to commemorate NASA's Apollo program.

The Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act directs the federal government to endow the artifacts left on the moon as a park — protected from future landings or commercial mining.

The legislation would also require the government to pursue the nomination of the Apollo 11 landing zone as a United Nations World Heritage Site.

"In 1969, led by the late Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong, American ingenuity changed history as humanity took a giant leap forward on the surface of the moon," Edwards said Tuesday on the House floor.

"That history, as preserved on the lunar surface, is now in danger, as spacefaring commercial entities and foreign nations begin to achieve the technical capabilities necessary to land spacecraft on the surface of the moon," the Prince George's County lawmaker said.

Artifacts on the moon's surface include U.S. flags, a memorial to fallen astronauts and cosmonauts left by the Apollo 15 mission, and golf balls struck by Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard in 1971.

The proposal is partly a response to a 2011 NASA report that explored the potential impact of commercial lunar visits on the landing sites and artifacts, which, despite their location, remain U.S. government property.

The report notes that several commercial firms have contacted NASA seeking guidance on how to approach the "space assets."

A NASA spokesman could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Edwards, who also introduced broader legislation to increase spending for NASA over the next three years, has 11 co-sponsors on the lunar park bill. All are Democrats.

"The Apollo lunar program was one of the greatest achievements in American history," the legislation reads. "As commercial enterprises and foreign nations acquire the ability to land on the moon, it is necessary to protect the Apollo lunar landing sites for posterity."



Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-moon-national-park-20130709,0,447336.story#ixzz2Yb9ombqX

Artificial, Gold Skin Sensors 'Feel' Touch, Temperature and Humidity

Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Jul 09, 2013 07:45 AM EDT

Artificial skin would be a huge boon for patients with prosthetic limbs or those who have damaged their skin in incidents such as fires. Now, scientists have used tiny gold particles and a kind of resin to create a new kind of flexible sensor that could one day be integrated into electronic skin, or e-skin. (Photo : Microsoft)

Artificial skin would be a huge boon for patients with prosthetic limbs or those who have damaged their skin in incidents such as fires. Now, scientists have used tiny gold particles and a kind of resin to create a new kind of flexible sensor that could one day be integrated into electronic skin, or e-skin. The findings could pave the way for creating "skin" that can be felt by its user.

Flexible sensors have long interested researchers. But scientists have had problems adapting them for real-world use. To make them practical, these sensors would have to run on low voltage, measure a wide range of pressures and make more than one measurement at a time--including humidity, temperature, pressure and the presence of chemicals. In addition, these sensors would have to be both cheap and easy to make--that's a lot of factors to take into account.

Yet this new sensor may possess all of these components. The chip is created from the use of monolayer-capped nanoparticles that are only five to eight nanometers in diameter. They're made of gold and surrounded by connector molecules called ligands. When these nanoparticles were laid on top of a substrate--in this case, PET (flexible polyethylene terephthalate),--the resulting compound conducted electricity differently, depending on how the substrate was bent.

"Monoplayer-capped nanoparticles can be thought of as flowers, where the center of the flower is the gold or metal nanoparticle and the petals are the monlayer of organic ligands that generally protect it," said Hossam Haick, one of the researchers, in a news release.

So what does this mean exactly? The new sensor could detect a large range of pressures, from tens of milligrams to tens of grams. This means that the sensor could potentially be used to help create artificial skin that can resist and "feel" pressure.

"The sensor is very stable and can be attached to any surface shape while keeping the function stable," said Nir Peled, Head of the Thoracic Cancer Research and Detection Center and Sheba Medical Center who was not involved in the research, in a news release.

The findings could help pave the way for the development of artificial skin. This could mean the difference between an artificial limb that can move like the real thing and an artificial limb that can feel like the real thing.

The findings are published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

From: http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/8022/20130709/artificial-gold-skin-sensors-feel-touch-temperature-humidity.htm

Lake Vostok may provide clues for life on other planets

An underground lake could provide clues to how life may live on other planets.
By Andrew McDonald, The Space Reporter
Tuesday, July 09, 2013


Under more than 3,700 meters (12,130 feet) of Antarctic glacial ice rests a vast body of liquid water known as Lake Vostok. With a volume of 1,800 cubic kilometers and an average depth of 125 meters, Lake Vostok is the seventh largest and fourth deepest lake on Earth, and the largest subglacial lake on the planet. Vostok’s water remains liquid thanks to a geothermal heat source in the continental crust beneath the lake and the pressure of the overlying ice, and now it is providing scientists with an idea of just how life can adapt to nearly any environment, including space.

A team from Bowling Green State University, led by Yury M. Shtarkman, has analyzed genetic material contained in an ice core recently drilled by Russian researchers. The samples come from the accretion ice, a layer of relatively pristine ice that forms between the liquid water of the lake and the overlying glacier.

Shtarkman and his colleagues contend that the genetic material is not outside contamination, based upon the results of several previous studies: a higher concentration and diversity of cells is present in the accretion ice layer than in the glacier; unique bacterial and fungal sequences have been identified in the same sections of the accretion ice core; and all the genetic sequences are most closely related to species that inhabit similar environments, such as lake/ocean sediment and frigid, polar, and/or deep-sea settings.

In their current study, reported in PLoS ONE, Shtarkman and colleagues were able to identify 1,623 genetic sequences to their species. Ninety-six percent of the sequences came from bacteria and six percent from eukaryotes (mostly fungi). Some of the bacteria identified are normally associated with more complex organisms, including anemones, worms, and fish. These results suggest that a complex ecosystem might be thriving under the ice in Lake Vostok.

Although the lake has been isolated from Earth’s atmosphere for 14 million years, it was once exposed to the outside world; over 35 million years ago, Antarctica was far more hospitable and Vostok was free of ice, allowing organisms ample time to migrate in. Since becoming sealed under the glacier, Vostok’s organisms would have followed their own evolutionary course, possibly sustained by nutrients from hydrothermal vents fed by the geothermal activity in the underlying crust.

According to SETI astrobiologist Dale Andersen in an interview with Discovery News, research on Lake Vostok “helps us learn how to explore these kinds of environments better.” Vostok is a dry run, so to speak, for human exploration of the liquid oceans hypothesized to exist under the ice that covers some of our solar system’s moons, including Jupiter’s Ganymede and Europa, and Saturn’s Enceladus.

From: http://thespacereporter.com/2013/07/lake-vostok-may-provide-clues-for-life-on-other-planets/

NASA Will Discuss 2020 Mars Rover Launch Today: How to Listen Live

by Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor
Date: 09 July 2013 Time: 09:55 AM ET

This NASA artist concept for the agency's 2020 Mars rover is loosely based on the Curiosity rover in the Mars Science Laboratory mission.
CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA officials will discuss plans for the next big U.S. rover to land on Mars, a car-sized robot slated to launch toward the Red Planet.

During a teleconference today at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), scientists will "provide details about a report that will help define science objectives for the agency's next Mars rover," NASA officials said in an announcement.

You can follow the Mars 2020 teleconference live on SPACE.com here, courtesy of NASA.

"The report, prepared by the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team (SDT) NASA appointed in January, is an early, crucial step in developing the mission and the rover's prime science objectives," NASA officials added. [Boldest Missions to Mars of All Time]

This NASA artist's sketch for a Mars rover launching in 2020 is loosely based on the agency's Curiosity rover built for the Mars Science Laboratory mission.
CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech


NASA's Mars 2020 rover is a solar-powered robot expected to be based heavily on the agency's Mars Science Laboratory mission, which landed the $2.5 billion Curiosity rover on the Martian surface in August 2012.

This self-portrait, composed of more than 50 images taken by Curiosity's MAHLI camera on Feb. 3, 2013, shows the rover at the John Klein drill site. A drill hole is visible at bottom left.
CREDIT: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer
View full size image

Curiosity is a 1-ton rover about the size of a Mini Cooper car that is equipped with 12 different science instrument sets, including a suite of cameras, a mast-mounted laser and a drill on its robotic arm. The huge rover landed on Mars in a completely new way, using a rocket-powered sky crane to hover over the Martian surface while Curiosity itself was lowered to the ground on cables. Mars 2020 is expected to use a similar system.

Because of the Mars 2020 rover's anticipated similarity in design to Curiosity, the new robot is expected to cost about $1.5 billion, significantly less than its predecessor, NASA officials have said.

"Designed to advance high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, the mission would address key questions about the potential for life on Mars," NASA officials explain in a mission description. "The mission would also provide opportunities to gather knowledge and demonstrate technologies that address the challenges of future human expeditions to Mars."

Several key NASA Mars exploration officials will speak during today's Mars 2020 science briefing. They are:
John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science, Washington
Jim Green, director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington
Jack Mustard, SDT chair and professor of geological sciences, Brown University, Providence. R.I.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton, SDT member and director of the Carnegie Institution for Science's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Washington

The Mars 2020 rover is one of several NASA missions aimed at the Red Planet currently under development.

Later this year, NASA will launch the Mars Maven orbiter to study the Martian atmosphere in unprecedented detail. In 2016, the U.S. space agency will launch the Mars InSight lander to drill deep into the Martian surface.

The European Space Agency, meanwhile, is working with Russia on its ExoMars missions to launch an orbiter and rover to Mars in 2016 and 2018, respectively. India is also planning to launch its first Mars orbiter in the upcoming years.

Meanwhile, NASA's Curiosity rover and Opportunity rover are currently exploring the surface of Mars while spacecraft from NASA and the European Space Agency orbit the Red Planet.

From: http://www.space.com/21894-mars-rover-2020-nasa-webcast.html

Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Causing Desert ‘Greening’

By Sam Lehman | Jul 09, 2013 08:56 AM EDT

Rising Carbon Dioxide levels causing desert ‘greening’ (Photo : CSIRO)

Rise in the level of carbon dioxide in the air is causing desert "greening" and has increased foliage cover by 11 percent.

Up until now the negative aspects of rising levels of carbon dioxide have been highlighted in almost all studies conducted on this matter. A new study, based on satellite observations, CSIRO, in collaboration with the Australian National University (ANU) reported that the rising levels of carbon dioxide have caused deserts to start greening and increased foliage cover by 11 percent from 1982-2010 across parts of the arid areas studied in Australia, North America, the Middle East and Africa.

"In Australia, our native vegetation is superbly adapted to surviving in arid environments and it consequently uses water very efficiently," CSIRO research scientist, Dr Randall Donohue, said in a press statement. "Australian vegetation seems quite sensitive to CO2 fertilization."

While scientists have speculated that carbon dioxide may be causing such changes, this is the first study that confirmed the effects. For the study, researchers used a mathematical modeling together with satellite data adjusted to take out the observed effects of other influences such as rainfall, air temperature, the amount of light and land-use changes.

Elevated carbon dioxide levels affect the photosynthesis process of a leaf causing it to consume less water to convert sunlight into sugar. This leads to plants in arid environments increasing their number of leaves. This increase in the number of leaves can be easily detected by satellites since foliage cover is less in arid areas when compared to wet locations.

"On the face of it, elevated CO2 boosting the foliage in dry country is good news and could assist forestry and agriculture in such areas; however there will be secondary effects that are likely to influence water availability, the carbon cycle, fire regimes and biodiversity, for example," Dr Donohue concluded. "Ongoing research is required if we are to fully comprehend the potential extent and severity of such secondary effects."

The findings of the study were published in the journal US Geophysical Research Letters.

From: http://www.hngn.com/articles/7242/20130709/rising-carbon-dioxide-levels-causing-desert-greening.htm

SpaceX Tests Precision Landing Gear

By DANIELLE ELLIOT / CBS NEWS/ July 8, 2013, 10:35 AM


SpaceX, the private company that is pushing the boundaries of space exploration and travel, conducted a test launch on June 14. This YouTube video shows the 10-story Grasshopper rocket reaching 1066 feet before smoothly descending and landing on the launch pad. The landing utilized precision landing technology that includes higher-accuracy sensors than previous rockets.




Play VIDEO
The man behind SpaceX


The company is attempting to design a rocket that will return to Earth intact after space missions. Most rockets are designed to burn up as they return to Earth's atmosphere. Taking the goal one step further, SpaceX is working towards a rocket that will handle reentry while landing vertically on the launch pad.



The successful landing adds to SpaceX's growing list of firsts. In 2010, it was the first commercial company to launch, fly and recover a spacecraft from Earth's orbit. It was also first to launch a space vehicle into orbit and successfully dock it at the International Space Station.

©2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57592637/spacex-tests-precision-landing-gear/