Steps into Space - Commercialisation, Occupation, Colonization: 07/14/14

Monday, 14 July 2014

Space Image: ATV shielding after impact test

An exit hole through Kevlar–Nextel fabric after hypervelocity testing of the multilayer shielding for ESA’s ATV space freighter, simulating an impact by space debris. The good news is that testing confirms the spacecraft’s pressure shell would survive such a collision intact. Testing was carried out for ESA’s Space Environment and Effects section at the Fraunhofer Ernst Mach Institut for High-Speed Dynamics in Brühl, Germamy, using a high-performance light-gas gun. A 7.5 mm-diameter aluminium bullet was shot at 7 km/s towards the same ‘stuffed Whipple shield’ design used to protect the ATV and the other International Space Station manned modules. This represents the upper end of the size of debris the shield is designed to cope with. Multiple layers give greater protection than a single thick aluminium layer. The debris begins by piercing a blanket of multilayer insulation, followed by a 1 mm-thick aluminium ‘bumper shield’. This impact makes the solid object break apart into a cloud of fragments and vapour, which becomes easier for the following layers to capture or deflect. Next comes the layer of stuffing seen in this main photo, a weave of lightweight Kevlar and Nextel fabric, which further slows the incoming debris. The stuffing fabric and a surrounding sheet

The post Space Image: ATV shielding after impact test has been published on Technology Org.

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Observatory: Recreating Mars in a Lab, and Finding Water

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An astrobiologist who noticed globules that might have been water on a Mars lander in 2008 demonstrates that small amounts of water may be forming on the planet today.

via New York Times

Greenland melt may have pushed sea level six meters higher in the past

Science Focus

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The edge of the Greenland ice sheet near Kangerlussuaq, with exposed bedrock in the foreground.

Alberto Reyes

Earth’s climate system will respond to the stronger greenhouse effect we’ve produced in various ways. But one key question about its response is how much ice will be lost from the great ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. Push them too far outside their climatic comfort zone, we know, and a large retreat of glacial ice can follow, raising global sea levels.

Given that the innards of these ice sheets are complicated and inaccessible, researchers rely heavily on what we can discover about their pasts. One key point in the past has been the warm interglacial period around 400,000 years ago. The cycles in Earth’s orbit that govern the timing of the ice ages conspired to produce an exceptionally long respite from the cold at this time—twice as long or more than the most recent interglacial period about 120,000 years ago. It may have been warmer, as well, and some estimates put sea level in the vicinity of six to 13 meters higher than it is today.

Did that sea level rise come mostly from a smaller Greenland ice sheet, loss of ice from Antarctica, or some mixture of the two? We don’t know, and it’s difficult to answer since glaciers destroy the evidence of their past retreat when they expand again. A new study led by Alberto Reyes (now at the University of Alberta) and Oregon State’s Anders Carlson sifted sediments off Greenland’s coast to find clues about what the ice sheet was up to at that time.

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» see original post http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/science/~3/arkmgNsr0XI/
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New technique could make sub-wavelength images at radio frequencies

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Imaging and mapping of electric fields at radio frequencies (RF)* currently requires the use of metallic structures such as dipoles, probes and reference antennas. To make such measurements efficiently, the size of these structures needs to be on the order of the wavelength of the RF fields to be mapped. This poses practical limitations on the smallest features that can be measured. Laboratory apparatus for mapping and imaging of radio frequency (RF) electric fields at resolutions below the usual RF wavelength limit. Rubidium atoms are placed in the glass cylinder (on the right), which is illuminated at opposite ends by red and blue laser beams. The cylinder (2.5 by 7.5 centimeters in size) moves left on a track to enable the narrow laser beams to scan its entire width. The antenna (on the left) generates an RF field, which, depending on its frequency, has a certain effect on the spectrum of light absorbed by the atoms. By measuring this effect researchers can calculate and map the RF field strength as a function of position in the cylinder. Credit: Holloway/NIST high resolution image New theoretical and experimental work by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of

The post New technique could make sub-wavelength images at radio frequencies has been published on Technology Org.

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England 'exposed' to climate risks

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England is still not doing enough to tackle the risks from climate change, government advisers say.
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» see original post http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28214685#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Enlarged Region of The Omega Nebula Sticker

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Enlarged Region of The Omega Nebula Sticker

tagged with: stars, galaxies, astronomy, universe, outer space, envelope sealers, eroton, galaxies stars, gas clouds, star forming activity, green hydrogen, omega nebula m17, ultraviolet radiation, young massive stars, red sulpher, blue oxygen

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Like the fury of a raging sea, this bubbly ocean of glowing hydrogen, oxygen, and sulphur gas lies in the extremely massive and luminous molecular nebula Messier 17.
This Hubble photograph captures a small region within Messier 17 (M17), a hotbed of star formation. M17, also known as the Omega or Swan Nebula, is located about 5500 light-years away in the Sagittarius constellation.
Ultraviolet radiation is carving and heating the surfaces of cold hydrogen gas clouds and the warmed surfaces glow orange and red. The intense heat and pressure causes some material to stream away from the surface, creating the glowing veil of even hotter green-coloured gas that masks background structures. The colours in the image represent various gases. Red represents sulphur; green, hydrogen; and blue, oxygen.

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Image credit: NASA, the ACS Science Team

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Auroras over Northern Canada

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Carina Nebula: The Caterpillar Wall Graphics

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Carina Nebula: The Caterpillar Wall Graphics

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"This Hubble Space Telescope view of the central region of the Carina Nebula reveals a violent maelstrom of star birth. The fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the intense pressure of starlight from monster stars and their accompanying star clusters, as well as the hydrodynamics of their stellar winds of charged particles."

(qtd. from the HubbleSite.org NewsCenter release STScI-2007-16)

Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

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Hubble Sees a Cosmic Caterpillar Cover For iPad

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Hubble Sees a Cosmic Caterpillar Cover For iPad

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Aboriginal language groups' use of star maps studied

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Professor Ray Norris of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and colleagues from Macquarie University have researched the use of stars and constellations by certain groups. According to the Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the research was reported in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage.

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Nanoparticles could provide easier route for cell therapy

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UT Arlington physics researchers may have developed a way to use laser technology to deliver drug and gene therapy at the cellular level without damaging surrounding tissue. The method eventually could help patients suffering from genetic conditions, cancers and neurological diseases. In a study published recently by the journal Nature Scientific Reports, the team paired crystalline magnetic carbon nanoparticles and continuous wave near-infrared laser beams for in what is called photothermal delivery. Authors of the new paper are Ali Koymen, a professor of physics; Samarendra Mohanty, an assistant professor of physics; and Ling Gu, a researcher in Mohanty’s lab. The new discovery grew out of previous study where Koymen and Mohanty used a 50 to 100 milliwatt laser and the same carbon nanoparticle, which absorbs the beam, to heat up and destroy cancer cells in the lab. The team used the new photothermal delivery method in lab experiments to introduce impermeable dyes and small DNA molecules into human prostate cancer and fibroblast sarcoma cells. “In this work, Dr. Mohanty used a lower power, 20 to 30 milliwatt, continuous wave near-infrared laser and the nanoparticle to permeate the cell membrane without killing the cells. This method stretches the desired cell membrane

The post Nanoparticles could provide easier route for cell therapy has been published on Technology Org.

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Copernicus in the tower at Frombork Poster

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space

Copernicus in the tower at Frombork Poster

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Copernicus in the tower at Frombork | by Jan Matejko | Art Location: Nicolaus Copernicus Museum, Frombork, Poland | Polish Artist | Image Collection Number: XPH330617

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Researchers discover boron 'buckyball'

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The discovery of buckyballs -- soccer-ball-shaped molecules of carbon -- helped usher in the nanotechnology era. Now, researchers have shown that boron, carbon's neighbor on the periodic table, can form a cage-like molecule similar to the buckyball. Until now, such a boron structure had only been a theoretical speculation. The researchers dubbed their new-found nanostructure 'borospherene.'

via Science Daily

Enlarged Region of The Omega Nebula Rectangle Stickers

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space

Enlarged Region of The Omega Nebula Rectangle Stickers

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Frederick I. Ordway III, a NASA Official Who Helped Shape ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ Dies at 87

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Mr. Ordway spent two years in the 1960s as an adviser to the director Stanley Kubrick, whom he met through his friend, the science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.

via New York Times

South Pillar of Carina Wall Skins

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South Pillar of Carina Wall Skins

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"This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the "South Pillar" region of the star-forming region called the Carina Nebula. Like cracking open a watermelon and finding its seeds, the infrared telescope "busted open" this murky cloud to reveal star embryos (yellow or white) tucked inside finger-like pillars of thick dust (pink). Hot gases are green and foreground stars are blue. Not all of the newfound star embryos can be easily spotted.

"Though the nebula's most famous and massive star, Eta Carinae, is too bright to be observed by infrared telescopes, the downward-streaming rays hint at its presence above the picture frame. Ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from Eta Carinae and its siblings have shredded the cloud to pieces, leaving a mess of tendrils and pillars."

Read more at the JPL/Spitzer website.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/N. Smith (University of Arizona)

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S0 Galaxy NGC 5866 iPad Mini Covers

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S0 Galaxy NGC 5866 iPad Mini Covers

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"This is a unique NASA Hubble Space Telescope view of the disk galaxy NGC 5866 tilted nearly edge-on to our line-of-sight.

Hubble's sharp vision reveals a crisp dust lane dividing the galaxy into two halves. The image highlights the galaxy's structure: a subtle, reddish bulge surrounding a bright nucleus, a blue disk of stars running parallel to the dust lane, and a transparent outer halo."

(qtd. from HubbleSite.org NewsCenter release STScI-2006-24)

Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

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