Russia wants bigger role in space

Proton Rocket

Russia will boost its efforts to explore the solar system and seek a bigger share of the market for space launches in the next decade, Prime Minister Vladmir Putin said on Thursday.

Speaking ahead of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering space flight, Putin said Russia's plans go beyond transporting crews to the International Space Station.

“Russia should not limit itself to the role of an international space ferryman. We need to increase our presence on the global space market,” Putin told space and other government officials at his residence outside Moscow.

Energy-rich Russia's space budget for 2010-2011 is 200 billion roubles ($7.09 billion), which Putin said made it the world's fourth-largest spender on space after US space agency Nasa, the European Space Agency and France.

“Such resources enable us to set serious goals,” Putin said.

Putin said Russia currently provides about 40 percent of all space launches and wants to increase its share of what he said was a $200 billion market to as much as 50 percent in the near future.

Russia, which has used the Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan for all manned launches since Gagarin's, would begin sending humans into space from a new facility it is building in Vostochny in eastern Siberia starting in 2018.

Juno, Almost Ready



Juno spacecraft. Credit Nasa/JPL



NASA's Juno spacecraft has arrived in Florida to begin final preparations for a launch this summer. The spacecraft was shipped from Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, to the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla. this week.

The solar-powered Juno spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

"The Juno spacecraft and the team have come a long way since this project was first conceived in 2003," said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator, based at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "We're only a few months away from a mission of discovery that could very well rewrite the books on not only how Jupiter was born, but how our solar system came into being."

Wind and wave energies are not renewable after all

Build enough wind farms to replace fossil fuels and we could do as much damage to the climate as greenhouse global warming

WITNESS a howling gale or an ocean storm, and it's hard to believe that humans could make a dent in the awesome natural forces that created them. Yet that is the provocative suggestion of one physicist who has done the sums.

He concludes that it is a mistake to assume that energy sources like wind and waves are truly renewable. Build enough wind farms to replace fossil fuels, he says, and we could seriously deplete the energy available in the atmosphere, with consequences as dire as severe climate change.

( note from DailycosmicNews: this article follow the copyrights of New Scientist to full extent, except in the article tittle, we remain with the first title used , as for New Scientist they were forced to change due complains. )

read more at New Scientist

Space,The Final Frontier

This month mankind will make 50 years of space flight. On April 12th, 1961 a man called Yuri Gagarine, went to space making all human race cross that last border, the other side, the universe awaiting to be discovered and explored.

But where are we know? How far have we gone?

Since that day we went far, far as the endings of our solar system. As you read this lines, Voyager 1  is more than 10,843,294,886 miles or about 0.00183 of a light-year from the Sun. We went to Mars and visit its plains, we watched fascinated Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Voyegars photos of the giant solar planets of our solar system, Venus and its acid rains, recently we discovered that Saturn moon Titan has components essencial to live appear.

We visit all the planets of our solar system, and we have other missions ready to go and visit some again. Juno will go to Jupiter, with the primary goal to significantly improve our understanding of the formation and structure of Jupiter. Its currently planned to be launched in August 2011 and will travel towards Jupiter after an Earth fly-by in October 2013 to provide a gravity assist.

We went far , but what are the next steps?

Its difficult to say, without international cooperation, and the present economical and financial situation around the world, going for Mars or even going  back to the moon seems difficult , and not any time soon.

A Storm is coming

Researchers announced that a storm is coming

The most intense solar maximum in fifty years is coming. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.

Active region 1158 let loose with an X2.2 flare late on February 15, the largest flare since Dec. 2006
credit:NASA/SDO

That was a solar maximum. The Space Age was just beginning: Sputnik was launched in Oct. 1957 and Explorer 1 (the first US satellite) in Jan. 1958. In 1958 you couldn't tell that a solar storm was underway by looking at the bars on your cell phone; cell phones didn't exist. Even so, people knew something big was happening when Northern Lights were sighted three times in Mexico. A similar maximum now would be noticed by its effect on cell phones, GPS, weather satellites and many other modern technologies.

But today a similar solar maximum would cause major problems in our technological addicted societies

April 8, Asteroid passing close to our home planet

Orbit Diagram of 2011GZ2 credit: NASA/JPL

A small Asteroid designated 2011GZ2 make a close approach to our world today.
The +/-25 meter rock will come close as 2.7 LD.  If it entered our atmosphere it would break apart and small parts would reach surface.

LD-Lunar Distance

Also see probabilities go worng and a meteorite hits you

by: dailycosmicnews

Dawn Approaches Asteroid Vesta

This video shows the scientists' best guess to date of what the surface of the protoplanet Vesta might look like. "We can't wait to see the real thing," says Marc Rayman.

After 3 ½ years of thrusting silently through the void, NASA's Dawn spacecraft is on the threshold of a new world. It's deep in the asteroid belt, less than 4 months from giant asteroid Vesta.
"We're closing in," says Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission manager. "And I'm getting more excited every day!"
Dawn will enter orbit around Vesta in July 2011, becoming the first spacecraft ever to orbit a body in the asteroid belt. After conducting a detailed study of the uncharted alien world for a year, the spacecraft will pull off an even more impressive first. It will leave Vesta, fly to dwarf planet Ceres, and enter orbit there.

Frozen Comet Had a Watery Past, UA Scientists Find



This artist’s impression shows the irregular surface of comet Wild-2 and jets spouting into space at speeds of several hundred kilometers per hour. A UA-led team of scientists now found evidence that Wild-2 harbored liquid water at some point in its history. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech)



By Daniel Stolte

The discovery of minerals requiring liquid water for their formation challenges the paradigm of comets as “dirty snowballs” frozen in time.

For the first time, scientists have found convincing evidence for the presence of liquid water in a comet, shattering the current paradigm that comets never get warm enough to melt the ice that makes up the bulk of their material.

"Current thinking suggests that it is impossible to form liquid water inside of a comet," said Dante Lauretta, an associate professor of cosmochemistry and planet formation at the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Lauretta is the

principal investigator of the UA team involved in analysis of samples returned by NASA's Stardust mission.

The increasing number of earthquakes on the Ring of Fire

credit USGS

DailyCosmicNews asked U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) some questions regarding the recent sesmic activity  in the called Ring of Fire. It appears very active, 260 earthquake have been detected in this area, many above 4.0 intensity, this week alone.

DCN- We have been observing since March a large number of earthquakes with a intensity superior to 4.0 on the region known as the Ring of Fire, is such activity normal?

USGS- We find it normal, specially after a major earthquake like the one that hit Japan March 11th. Even the aftershocks intensity is not out of the usual after an event like this.

DCN-  Can Japan expect a major earthquake on Tokai region due to some pressure in the Phillipine plate from the pacific plat after the 9.0 that recently hit Japan?

USGS- Plates shifting like they did , we expect that the stress regime in the plates also changes, however we don't have the science needed to be sure and know that the Tokai earthquake will happen due to the 9.0 earthquake.


DCN- Can somehow this affect the west coas of US? Has the number of earthquakes increase on this region after 11th March?

USGS- Its unlikely that an earthquake in west coast of the US results as direct influence of the Japan earthquake. There is no evidence that there is a correlation between earthquakes and so far apart.




 for more also see here


by: dailcosmicnews

Will Elenin comet hit our Planet ?

So what the deal with comet elenin, there does not seem to be too much credible information. Everyone seems to be freaking out about it, but no one even knows how big it is. Does this comet pose a threat and what is its size and nature?   AND   I have read about comet Elenin and how some nasa people want to keep it a secret. what are the chances of it coming to earth and what threat does it bring with it, and has this comet got anything to do with 2012 hoax?   AND   Elinin is only .117 au from earth on mar 11,2011. From march 8 to mar 15, 2011, what are the chances that Elinin either impacts us, or gets close enough to cause a major catastrophy?

The Orbit diagram shows the will go by peacefully credit:Nasa/JPL

I have been receiving many questions about Comet Elenin. Many of them refer to the outrageous lies on some conspiracy theory websites, which are amplified by people who seem to think this comet is highly unusual. It is not unusual, and it is not a threat to Earth. See the Wikipedia article on this comet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2010_X1] for more information. C2010 X1 Elenin (to give its full name) is a long-period comet, which takes about 10,000 years to complete one orbit around the Sun. It was discovered with a robotic telescope in New Mexico on 10 December 2010 by Russian amateur astronomer Leonid Elenin. 

NASA Telescopes Join Forces to Observe Unprecedented Explosion

NASA's Swift, Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory have teamed up to study one of the most puzzling cosmic blasts yet observed. More than a week later, high-energy radiation continues to brighten and fade from its location.

Astronomers say they have never seen anything this bright, long-lasting and variable before. Usually, gamma-ray bursts mark the destruction of a massive star, but flaring emission from these events never lasts more than a few hours.

Although research is ongoing, astronomers say that the unusual blast likely arose when a star wandered too close to its galaxy's central black hole. Intense tidal forces tore the star apart, and the infalling gas continues to stream toward the hole. According to this model, the spinning black hole formed an outflowing jet along its rotational axis. A powerful blast of X- and gamma rays is seen if this jet is pointed in our direction.

Remains of Past civilization on Mars ?

Have you seen 2001, Space Odyssey where they find a 'monolith' belonging to alien civilization? Well it is not in the moon , its on Mars.

High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is a camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and has provided a photo that shows a strange rock formation on the surface of the red planet.

Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  original photo at Hirise site id number PSP_009342_1725_RED.NOMAP.JP2

 

Many people have pointed out as proof of past intelligent life on Mars, some, like astronaut Buzz Aldrin mentioned the 'monolith' many times in several media, but is it really?

Its a strange formation without doubt. But we have many examples of rocks on Earth that are not man made and are also strange.

Its understandable that we would like this to be a long forgotten object , of a long lost Martian civilization, it would be an definite answer to the haunting question are we alone? I believe that we are not alone but hard evidence is still not found, perhaps someday.

see a interesting article about this topic at telegraph.co.uk

by: dailycosmicnews

Arctic Ozone Loss



NASA image by Rob Simmon, with data courtesy of Ozone Hole Watch. Caption by Mike Carlowicz and Kristyn Ecochard.


Recent observations from satellites and ground stations suggest that atmospheric ozone levels for March in the Arctic were approaching the lowest levels in the modern instrumental era. What those readings mean for the remainder of the year is unclear. But what they mean for the long-term is that the recovery from human-induced ozone depletion is an uneven climb.

These maps of ozone concentrations over the Arctic come from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite. The left image shows March 19, 2010, and the right shows the same date in 2011. March 2010 had relatively high ozone, while March 2011 has low levels. The large animation file (linked below the images) shows the dynamics of the ozone layer from January 1 to March 23 in both years.

NASA's Global Hawks Mark Year of Science Flights

The swirling circulation pattern of tropical storm Frank off the southwestern coast of Baja California was captured by Ames Research Center's HDVis camera mounted on the aft fuselage of NASA's Global Hawk unmanned research aircraft Aug. 28 during a hurricane monitoring flight. August 28, 2010
NASA/NOAA image

This week marks the first anniversary of the NASA Global Hawk project’s initial science mission. On April 7, 2010, Global Hawk No. 872 took off from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for its first science foray over the Pacific Ocean in the Global Hawk Pacific 2010 - or GloPac - science campaign.

Big, fast asteroid is coming our way

The near-Earth asteroid named 2005 YU55 — on the list of potentially dangerous asteroids — was observed with the Arecibo Telescope's planetary radar on April 19, 2010 when it was about 1.5 million miles from the Earth, which is about 6 times the distance to the moon.  CREDIT: Arecibo Observatory/Michael Nolan

updated 18 July 2011

A too close  flyby wil be made by Near-Earth asteroid 2005 YU55, will pass within 0.85 lunar distances from the Earth on November 8, 2011. The upcoming close approach by this relatively large between 110  - 240  meter-sized, C-type asteroid. Is one of the hazardous asteroids that can hit us in the future.

The asteroid 2005 YU55, is a round mini-world that is about 110  to  240 meters in diameter. In November, this asteroid will approach Earth within  0.85 lunar distances.

Orbit Diagram of 2005YU55.Too close for this big asteroid

Asteroid 2005 YU55 was discovered by Spacewatch at the University of Arizona, Tucson’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory on Dec. 28, 2005.

Probabilities go wrong and a meteorite hits you

The chances of a meteorite kill you are just 1 in a million. But can it happen?

Hodges Meteorite

The only known case of anyone being injured by a meteorite fall is that of Mrs. E. H. Hodges, who lived in Sylacauga, Alabama. 

On 1954, November 30, while Mrs. Hodges was resting on her sofa, a 4kg  meteorite crashed through the roof of her house, bounced off the radio and hit her arm, resulting in a minor injury.

Mrs Hodges

Injury caused by the meteorite

Mysterious Stone Spheres in Costa Rica

The ancient stone spheres of Costa Rica were made world-famous by the opening sequence of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” when a mockup of one of the mysterious relics nearly crushed Indiana Jones. 

Click to zoom

John Hoopes, associate professor of anthropology and director of the Global Indigenous Nations Studies Program, recently returned from a trip to Costa Rica where he and colleagues evaluated the stone balls for UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization that might grant the spheres World Heritage Status.
His report will help determine if sites linked to the massive orbs will be designated for preservation and promotion because of their “outstanding value to humanity.”

Hoopes, who researches ancient cultures of Central and South America, is one of the world’s foremost experts on the Costa Rican spheres. He explained that although the stone spheres are very old, international interest in them is still growing.

Seabed moved 24 meters near Japan quake's focus in Pacific

The seabed near the focus of a devastating earthquake that struck northeastern Japan last month has moved about 24 meters east-southeast and risen about 3 meters, a Japan Coast Guard survey showed Wednesday.

The crustal movement on the seabed, measured around 130 kilometers off the Oshika Peninsula in Miyagi Prefecture, was more than four times the movement of the peninsula itself -- east-southeast by 5.3 meters -- which was measured by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan.

The survey also showed a point about 40 km toward the coast from the focus of the March 11 maginitude-9.0 quake has moved about 15 meters east-southeast, according to the officials.

source: Kyodo news

DOUBLE ASTEROID FLYBY

Today, April 6th, we will have flies past Earth closer than the Moon. The  two asteroids newly-discovered space rocks 2011 GW9 and 2011 GP28 will zip through the Earth-Moon system at Earth-distances of 77,000 km and 192,000 km, respectively. They wont be visible to the naked eye.

Orbital diagram

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Both are ten-meter class asteroids two to three times smaller than the Tunguska impactor of 1908. There is no danger of a collision.

Turning the Lights Off in Alaska

The beautifull northern lights
Credit: Ole C. Salomonsen more photos at
http://flickr.com/salomonsen

After some 400 years of relative stability, Earth's North Magnetic Pole has moved nearly 1,100 kilometers out into the Arctic Ocean during the last century and at its present rate could move from northern Canada to Siberia within the next half-century.

If that happens, Alaska may be in danger of losing one of its most stunning natural phenomena - the Northern Lights.

But the surprisingly rapid movement of the magnetic pole doesn't necessarily mean that our planet is going through a large-scale change that would result in the reversal of the Earth's magnetic field, Oregon State University paleomagnetist Joseph Stoner reported at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, Calif.

"This may be part of a normal oscillation and it will eventually migrate back toward Canada," said Stoner, an assistant professor in OSU's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences. "There is a lot of variability in its movement."

Death Rays from Space

Cosmic rays pour down on Earth like a constant rain. We don't much notice these high-energy particles, but they may have played a role in the evolution of life on our planet.

Some of the mass extinctions identified in the fossil record can be linked to an asteroid impact or increased volcanism, but many of the causes of those ancient die-offs are still open for debate.

"There may have been nearby astronomical goings-on that drastically increased the radiation on Earth," says Brian Fields from the University of Illinois.

NASA, first food and other goods

Russian spacecraft delays American Shuttle.

who is first?

Following discussions among the International Space Station partners on Sunday, NASA has targeted the launch of space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission for 3:47 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 29. The delay removes a scheduling conflict with a Russian Progress supply vehicle scheduled to launch April 27 and arrive at the station April 29.

NASA managers will hold a Flight Readiness Review on Tuesday, April 19, to assess the team's readiness to support launch. An official launch date will be selected at the conclusion of the meeting.

The Progress 42 spacecraft will be delivering supplies to the station. Three more members of the Expedition 27 crew are scheduled to launch at 6:18 pm EDT on Monday, April 4, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Their arrival will return the station crew's size to six members. Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev and NASA astronaut Ron Garan are scheduled to arrive at the station at 7:18 p.m., Wednesday, April 6, to join cosmonaut Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev, European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, who have been aboard the station since mid-December.

source: Nasa

Space Station Crew Launches from Birthplace of Human Spacefligh

One week shy of the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight, NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev launched to the International Space Station at 6:18 p.m. EDT Monday (4:18 a.m. local time, April 5) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz rocket that lifted Garan, Borisenko and Samokutyaev into orbit was decorated with Yuri Gagarin's name. The mission lifted off from the same launch pad used April 12, 1961, when Gagarin became the first human to journey into space.

The crew is scheduled to dock its Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft to the station's Poisk port at 7:18 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6. The crew members will join Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Cady Coleman of NASA and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency, who have been aboard the orbiting laboratory since December 2010.

 
During Expedition 27, the six-person crew will continue scientific research, perform station maintenance and welcome two visiting vehicles. In addition to space shuttle Endeavour's planned visit during the STS-134 mission, the Expedition 27 crew is expecting the arrival of the 42nd Russian Progress cargo ship near the end of April.

Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli are scheduled to depart the station May 16.

NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are scheduled to join Garan, Borisenko and Samokutyaev aboard the station to complete the Expedition 28 crew. Their launch is set for May 30.

source:NASA 

Apophis, the God of Darkness

UPDATE! Apophis is bigger than estimated! click here for more

credit:dailycosmicnews

More than 100,000 asteroids hurtle past our planet. But only one—the one detected so far—may hit us in the next 30 years. Apophis, the ancient Egyptian god of darkness.

Detected in 2004 , all alarms went off, the calculations indicated that he could hit earth on Friday the 13th of April 2029. Further observations showed that will not happen. Scientists are 99.7 percent certain it will pass at a distance of 18,800 to 20,800 miles. In astronomical terms, 20,000 miles is a mere stone's throw,  well inside the orbits of Earth's many geosynchronous communications satellites.



Artist conception

 However, and here is the bad news, scientists calculate that if Apophis passes at a distance of exactly 18,893 miles, it will go through a "gravitational keyhole." This small region in space--only about a half mile wide, or twice the diameter of the asteroid itself--is where Earth's gravity would perturb Apophis in just the wrong way, causing it to enter an orbit that will  will put earth on  its way and set potentially catastrophic asteroid impact precisely seven years later, on April 13, 2036.

If it hits?

From the movie Deep Impact 

Well, is a doomsday scenario. According to projections, an Apophis impact would occur somewhere along a curving 30-mile-wide swath stretching across Russia, the Pacific Ocean, Central America and on into the Atlantic. The most likely target, though, is several thousand miles off the West Coast, where Apophis would create a 5-mile-wide, 9000-ft.-deep "crater" in the water. He would hit with a force result of a  28,000 mph entry releasing a energy of 65,000 Hiroshima bombs an a 800-ft. tsunami.

In 2013 Apophis will swings by Earth in prime position for tracking by the 1000-ft. Via the radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico,this data will probably rule out a keyhole hit in 2029.

In addition to the 2029 encounter, Apophis will likely make two other potentially dangerous close passes to Earth later this century, researchers said — though odds of an impact are currently remote in both cases.
In April 2036, the asteroid will come within about 18,300 miles (29,450 km) of Earth, with a 1-in-250,000 chance of hitting us. For the 2068 pass, the odds are even smaller — about 1 in 333,000.

So lets not think about apocalypse just yet, and even now the calculations show a 45,000-to-1 probability that in 2029 Apophis will pass close enough to make us worry.

But more observations are needed to really pin down where Apophis is headed, in case its orbit is disturbed.

Is Al Gore wrong?

Scientist Predicts New Ice Age

On the heels of the pronouncement by one of the gurus of global warming that any decrease in the earth’s temperature could be a thousand years away, another scientist has stepped forward with the warning that a new Ice Age could be right around the corner. Professor Tim Flannery, the head of Australia’s Climate Change Commission, sparked the latest scandal in the global warming community when he recently declared, "If the world as a whole cut all emissions tomorrow, the average temperature of the planet's not going to drop for several hundred years, perhaps over 1000 years." As reported previously for The New American, Prof. Flannery has endeavored to ameliorate the effects of his comment by claiming that temperatures would begin to drop by the end of the century, but his millenarian prognostications served to highlight the ineffectiveness — even insignificance — of the proposed draconian reductions in the world’s industrial activity.

Iran Unveils Flying Saucer

Iran unveiled a home-made unmanned flying saucer in an exhibition of strategic technologies. 

According to FARS news .The unmanned flying saucer, named "Zohal", was unveiled in a ceremony attended by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

Zohal, designed and developed jointly by Farnas Aerospace Company and Iranian Aviation and Space Industries Association (IASIA), can be used for various missions, specially for aerial imaging.

But those asking, it does not result of any retro engineering from a recovered alien Saucer.
Zohal is a small unmanned vehicle with possible military uses as of its western counterparts.

The flying machine is equipped with an auto-pilot system, GPS (Global Positioning System) and two separate imaging systems with full HD 10 mega-pixel picture quality and is able to take and send images simultaneously.

Zohal uses a small, portable navigation and monitoring center for transmission of data and images and can fly in both outdoor and indoor spaces.

China fired-up about manned space station

China plans to launch two manned spacecraft next year to dock with its space module, Tiangong-1, which will itself lift off later in 2011, according to a spokesman for the China Manned Space Engineering Office.

China is to launch its first unmanned space module, Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace, in the second half of 2011, serving as a platform for spacecraft to rendezvous and dock - allowing for the building of the space station.

China plans to have its own space station before 2020.

The 8.5-ton Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, is slated to blast off on top of a Long March 2F carrier rocket in the second half of this year.

The space module, which is now undergoing tests, will first be the target of an unmanned docking by the Shenzhou VIII spacecraft, which will be launched after Tiangong-1 later this year.

Xinhua News Agency quoted Liang Xiaohong, Party chief of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, on Thursday as saying that the interval between the two launches will be two months.

The unmanned rendezvous and docking will be the first of its kind attempted by China and involves key technology and skills that will be needed for the construction of a space station, which is something China aims to build by 2020.
China hopes to follow up the launch of its space module and the launch of the unmanned probe and subsequent docking with the launch next year of two manned spacecraft that will also dock with the module.

LRO takes a new Look at Apollo 14 site

A place visited 40 years ago with the marks of the men that went there, it will remain there for eternity.

NAC image of the Apollo 14 landing site acquired 25 January 2011. Descent stage of lunar module Antares in center, image width is 500 meters [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

The LROC Narrow Angle Cameras continue to image the Apollo landing sites as the mission progresses. Every time LRO passes overhead, the Sun is at a different position so each image gives a different perspective. Repeat imaging also serves LROC cartographic goals. Since the position of the lunar modules and other pieces of hardware are very accurately known, the LROC team can check the accuracy of the mission-provided ephemeris.

Close-up showing LM descent stage (right) and ALSEP (arrow), note astronaut tracks between the two landmarks [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

The Apollo 14 astronauts explored the surface of the Moon on February 5th and 6th, 1971, 40 years ago . Much was learned during the Apollo missions, yet most of the history and geology of the Moon remains a mystery.

Post EVA view from LW looking west towards ALSEP. Match astronaut track patterns in the surface image and LROC overhead view, AS14-66-9338 [NASA/Arizona State University].

Japanese government aware of possibility of reactor core's meltdown before quake, whos to blame TEPCO or Government?

Or none, as was result of a natural disaster?

The government was aware of the possibility that the reactor cores of nuclear plants could partially melt down if all power supply equipment was crippled, making it impossible to cool down the cores' nuclear fuel, even before the March 11 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, according to last May's lower house minutes.
Nobuaki Terasaka, who heads the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said on May 26, ''It is logically possible for a reactor core to melt down if all outer electricity sources were lost, leading the plant's cooling functions to be lost for many hours,'' according to the minutes of a House of Representatives committee.
Terasaka also said the operators of Japanese nuclear plants ''have ensured safety'' by fitting the plants with multiple backup electricity sources. He was responding to a question from Japanese Communist Party legislator Hidekatsu Yoshii.
Although the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 reactors of the Fukushima plant automatically shut down after the March 11 massive quake, the subsequent tsunami paralyzed backup power sources, leading the plant to lose the ability to cool down nuclear fuel with water.
As a result, the water boiled away due to heat stemming from the nuclear fuel, causing water levels inside the reactors to go down and leading the reactor cores to be exposed.
Fuel temperatures are estimated to have reached 1,200 C.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said 70 percent of nuclear fuel at the No. 1 reactor and 33 percent of nuclear fuel at the No. 2 reactor appears to have been damaged, with fuel at the No. 3 reactor partially damaged.
The agency said it had expected the functions of power supply sources to return to normal due to the presence of multiple safety-ensuring mechanisms in a few hours, even if they were crippled for some factors.
An agency official said, ''It is clear that this quake went beyond our expectations, so we have to take some countermeasures.''
Jun Tateno, former researcher at the predecessor of the government's Japan Atomic Energy Agency, said, ''The accident would not have occurred if Japan had had a philosophy of protecting backup power generators even if a quake of a magnitude of once in a thousand years or a tsunami twice as high as expectations may strike.''

Kyodo news agency

38-meter-high tsunami triggered by March 11 quake: survey

A tsunami that hit a coastal city in Iwate Prefecture after the March 11 massive earthquake is estimated to have reached 37.9 meters in height, a field survey by a researcher at the University of Tokyo showed Sunday.

The tsunami measured in the Taro district in the city of Miyako was higher than the domestic record of 38.2 meters marked in the city of Ofunato in the prefecture in the 1896 Meiji Sanriku Earthquake Tsunami, according to Yoshinobu Tsuji, associate professor at the Earthquake Research Institute at the university.
Tsuji and his team checked the drift displacement from a port in the district and found that lumber from the port had reached the slope of a mountain some 200 meters away from the coast.

Tsuji calculated the height of the tsunami from the points at which the lumber was found. The team also found fire engines and fishing boats washed away to the nearby points.

Tsuji's team also plans to thoroughly examine the area as there were some traces of water found at places higher than the 37.9-meter point, the researcher said.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, tsunami higher than 2 meters can destroy timber houses. Concrete buildings can withstand tsunami up to 4 meters or so, but would also be destroyed if waves exceed 16 meters.

see also USGS for more
Kyodo news

Watching for the rocks above us that can hit us

For this mounth of April several close approaches to our home planet by asteroids are expected.
The closest approach happen on April 1, by an asteroid named 2100FA23 , about 2.1 Lunar Distances.
It posed no danger for our planet, and even if it entered our atmosphere it would disintigrate before reaching surface.

2011 FA23 closes approach path on April 1.

Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid           Date(UT)       Miss Distance     Mag.    Size
2011FA23       Apr 1                  2.1 LD            --      7 m
2011 FT9        Apr 1                  7.5 LD            --      25 m
2011 FT29      Apr 7                  6.2 LD            --      36 m
2011 GE         Apr 12                 4.7 LD            --      28 m
2002 DB4       Apr 15               62.5 LD           --      2.2 km
2008 UC202   Apr 27                  8.9 LD            --      10 m

by:dailycosmicnews

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Earth's poles overdue for reversal?

A reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles could happen sooner than we think, according to Dutch scientists who report that the planet's magnetic field is becoming gradually less stable.

A reversal could affect everything from navigation and communications equipment to the composition of the atmosphere, say experts.
The report, in the U.K. journal Nature Geoscience, found that reversals have been far more common in the last 200 million years than they were deep in the planet's history.

Wandering poles



Were the hell is North?

 Researchers, led by Andrew Biggin of the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, made the discovery by analysing rocks formed between 2.45 to 2.82 billion years ago.

The story of the Earth's magnetic field is written in rocks over time. Because these rocks become 'magnetised' at the time of their formation, scientists can discover which direction the poles were facing and how strong the Earth's magnetic field was at that time.

The magnetic poles wander around the vicinity of the geographic poles all the time – the north magnetic pole currently resides in the Canadian Arctic.
However, at relatively regular intervals throughout the 4.5 billion year history of the planet, the magnetic poles have flipped completely.



A few thousand years before a reversal, the magnetic field gradually gets weaker; something which could cause problems for inhabitants of the planet.

"The Earth's magnetic field is important for shielding the atmosphere, and us, from damage caused by the solar wind," explained Biggin. "It's also used by us and other species for navigation". An increase in solar wind would disrupt communications equipment and power grids.

Current records suggest that we are long overdue for our next reversal, he said. "On average, there is a reversal around every 400,000 years, but this varies a lot." The geological record suggests that the last reversal was around 800,000 years ago.
Furthermore, there is already evidence to show that the field has been weakening over the last few centuries – some archaeological remains suggest that the field was far stronger in the time of the Roman Empire, some 2,000 years ago.

Don't throw away your compass

Don't throw away your compass just yet though – major changes may not even happen in our lifetimes. "The reversal process is very unpredictable," said Biggin. "We could be heading into a reversal in the next few centuries, or we might be waiting another million years".
Even then, reversal is a slow process, which can take some thousands of years to complete.
But what about the effect on living organisms? Another paper, published in Nature in March suggested that some species that rely on the field for navigation or orientation have taken a knock from pole reversals in the past.

Author David Gubbins, of the University of Leeds in England, said that some single-celled organisms that relied on magnetism to tell up from down likely went extinct during past reversals. Human beings have survived reversals in the past, however, added Gubbins, "so we are likely to come through the next one unscathed."

For earthquake warnings, look to ... toads?

Finally, scientists have found a tool to provide early warning of earthquakes: it's a small, brown, knobbly amphibian.
The researchers think toads flee in response to pre-seismic cues such as changes in the ionosphere, according to a study published in the Journal of Zoology.
The male common toad (Bufo bufo) gave five days' warning of the earthquake that ravaged the town of L'Aquila in central Italy on April 6, 2009, killing more than 300 people and displacing 40,000 others, they wrote.

Male toads flee site before quake

Biologist Rachel Grant of Britain's Open University embarked on a toad-monitoring project at San Ruffino Lake, 74 km north of L'Aquila, 10 days before the 6.3-magnitude quake.
Her two-person team observed the site for 29 days, counting toad numbers and measuring temperature, humidity, wind speed, rainfall and other conditions.
By March 28, more than 90 male toads had mustered for the spawning season, but two days later, their numbers suddenly fell, Grant reports. By April 1 - five days before the quake - 96% of the males had fled.

Return after last aftershock

Several dozen ventured back on April 9 for the full moon, a known courtship period for toads, although the tally was some 50-80% fewer than in previous years.
After this small peak, the numbers fell once more, only picking up significantly on April 15, two days after the last major aftershock, defined as 4.5 magnitude or higher.
In addition, the number of paired toads at the breeding site also dropped to zero three days before the quake. And no fresh spawn was found at the site from April 6 until the last big after-tremor.

Five days before the 6.3-magnitude earthquake

in L'Aquila in central Italy, toad numbers

suddenly dropped.

Credit: Wikimedia

Unusual behaviour

Grant says the toads' comportment is a "dramatic change" for the species. Once male toads hole up at a breeding site, they usually never leave until the annual spawning season is over, she notes.

Eager to answer the riddle, Grant obtained Russian measurements of electrical activity in the ionosphere, the uppermost electromagnetic layer in the atmosphere, which were picked up by very low frequency (VLF) radio receivers.

The toads' two periods of exodus both coincided with bursts of VLF disruption.

Previous research has attributed perturbations in the ionosphere to releases of radon, a radioactive gas generated underground, or to gravity waves prior to a quake, although much about this phenomenon is unclear.

Pre-seismic clues: gases and charged particles

In the quest to find an earthquake predictor, elephants, horses, wolves, snakes and fish have all been variously put forward.
This study, though, is exceptional. It puts the flesh of data and first-hand observation on the bones of anecdotal evidence, even if there is no confirmed explanation as to why the toads bolted as they did.
"Our study is one of the first to document animal behaviour before, during and after an earthquake," says Grant.
"Our findings suggest that toads are able to detect pre-seismic cues such as the release of gases and charged particles, and use these as a form of early warning system."


Agence France-Presse

Spring is Fireball Season

What are the signs of spring? They are as familiar as a blooming Daffodil, a songbird at dawn, a surprising shaft of warmth from the afternoon sun. And, oh yes, don't forget the meteors.

"Spring is fireball season," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Center. "For reasons we don't fully understand, the rate of bright meteors climbs during the weeks around the vernal equinox."


A spring fireball recorded by a NASA all-sky camera located at the Marshall Space Flight Center on March 16, 2009. [movie]



 In other seasons, a person willing to watch the sky from dusk to dawn could expect to see around 10 random or "sporadic" fireballs. A fireball is a meteor brighter than the planet Venus. Earth is bombarded by them as our planet plows through the jetsam and flotsam of space--i.e., fragments of broken asteroids and decaying comets that litter the inner solar system.

In spring, fireballs are more abundant. Their nightly rate mysteriously climbs 10% to 30%.
"We've known about this phenomenon for more than 30 years," says Cooke. "It's not only fireballs that are affected. Meteorite falls--space rocks that actually hit the ground--are more common in spring as well¹."



A NASA fireball camera at the Marshall Space Flight Center. [more]



Researchers who study Earth's meteoroid environment have never come up with a satisfactory explanation for the extra fireballs. In fact, the more they think about it, the stranger it gets.

Consider the following:

There is a point in the heavens called the "apex of Earth's way." It is, simply, the direction our planet is traveling. As Earth circles the sun, the apex circles the heavens, completing one trip through the Zodiac every year.

The apex is significant because it is where sporadic meteors are supposed to come from. If Earth were a car, the apex would be the front windshield. When a car drives down a country road, insects accumulate on the glass up front. Ditto for meteoroids swept up by Earth.

Every autumn, the apex climbs to its highest point in the night sky. At that time, sporadic meteors of ordinary brightness are seen in abundance, sometimes dozens per night.

Read that again: Every autumn.

"Autumn is the season for sporadic meteors," says Cooke. "So why are the sporadic fireballs peaking in spring? That is the mystery."
Meteoroid expert Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario notes that "some researchers think there might be an intrinsic variation in the meteoroid population along Earth's orbit, with a peak in big fireball-producing debris around spring and early summer. We probably won't know the answer until we learn more about their orbits²."

To solve this and other puzzles, Cooke is setting up a network of smart meteor cameras around the country to photograph fireballs and triangulate their orbits. As explained in the Science@NASA story What's Hitting Earth?, he's looking for places to put his cameras; educators are encouraged to get involved. Networked observations of spring fireballs could ultimately reveal their origin.

"It might take a few years to collect enough data," he cautions.
Until then, it's a beautiful mystery. Go out and enjoy the night sky. It is spring, after all.

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

Will Elenin Comet Hit us?

 

Comet Elenin (C/2010 X1) appears as a tiny, faint smudge in this stack of four 300-second exposures taken on December 11, 2010, with the 1.5-m reflector at Maidanak Observatory. The quadrupled stars are due to the comet's motion between exposures.

Aleksei Sergeyev / Artyom Novichonok

The intruder from deep space, called comet Elenin, crosses Earth's orbit on its inbound leg and again on its outbound swing around the sun later this year.

Recentlly discovered by russian astronomer Leonid Elenin   at International Scientific Optical Network's robotic observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico,
will be visible to the naked eye as a dim "fuzzy star" with a tail,  by late August.

Leonid Elenin, estimates that the comet is 3-4 km in diameter.

Additional Notes: the orbits shown in the applet are color coded. The planets are white lines, and the asteroid/comet is a blue line. The bright white line indicates the portion of the orbit that is above the ecliptic plane, and the darker portion is below the ecliptic plane. Likewise for the asteroid/comet orbit, the light blue indicates the portion above the ecliptic plane, and the dark blue the portion below the ecliptic plane.
Orbit Viewer applet originally written and kindly provided by Osamu Ajiki (AstroArts), and further modified by Ron Baalke (JPL).

Elenin closest approach to the Sun will be on 10 September 2011 at a distance of 0.4824 AU.On 16 October 2011, the comet will pass within about 0.23 AU (34,000,000 km; 21,000,000 mi) of the Earth.

What's gotten hearts beating a little faster since the discovery is that Comet Elenin is still more than 4 astronomical units (375 million miles) from the Sun and headed inbound.

It's still early, and the calculated orbit is certain to change in the weeks ahead as more position measurements are made, but right now it appears that the comet's perihelion will occur well inside Earth's orbit, about 0.45 a.u. (42 million miles) from the Sun, next September 5th.

So the answer to the question «Will Elenin Comet Hit us?» is NO...

Sorry for all the people in the internet saying that there is a conspiracy
and the comet is going to hit earth.

But there's a chance its dust tail might "light up" (via forward-scattered light) due to the large Sun-comet-Earth angle and put on a really good show.

see more here

by: Sérgio Sousa dailycosmicnews
email: mailto:dailycosmicnews@gmail.com

Discovery Wake up call from William Shatner

Discovery final crew woke up to a special greeting from William Shatner, the actor best known for his role as Captain Kirk on "Star Trek." This is what the Shatner had to say:

“Space, the final frontier. These have been the voyages of the Space Shuttle Discovery. Her 30-year mission: To seek out new science. To build new outposts. To bring nations together on the final frontier. To boldly go, and do, what no spacecraft has done before.”


Here's a quick video of the wake up call in case you (like me) haven't heard it before.