SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: February 2005
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Fledgling 'space federation' fears over-regulation
(Feb 11, 2005)
The growth of the commercial space-flight industry could be stifled
by over-regulating it, space tourism entrepreneurs warned US government
officials on Wednesday. In June 2004, SpaceShipOne
became the first private vehicle to carry a human into space. Then
in December, the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 –
signed into law by President George W Bush – established regulatory
authority over space tourism. As the law stands, the US government
will grant the licences for commercial spacecraft, while the US Federal
Aviation Administration – responsible for civil aviation –
will regulate the industry with respect to the protection of the public
on the ground. But the FAA will not be allowed to issue safety regulations
for passengers and crew for eight years – unless specific features
or practices within the fledgling industry cause a serious or fatal
injury.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Titan winds pummelled Huygens
(Feb 10, 2005)
Huygens
had a rough ride during its descent to Titan
Scientists have successfully measured the wind speeds that pummelled
Huygens during its bumpy descent through the atmosphere of Titan.
Researchers initially feared the information was lost because one
of Cassini's receivers
was faulty. But a network of terrestrial radio telescopes has managed
to salvage the data, to the delight of the team. Measurements reveal
that wind speeds are weak near the surface of Titan, becoming stronger
with altitude.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Did stardust trigger snowball Earth?
(Feb 10, 2005)
Our planet may have frozen over in the past as it drifted though giant
dust clouds in space. The result of the dust-bath would have been
an almost complete overcoat of ice for the world, according to a new
theory. A group of US and Russian researchers argue that interstellar
dust might have accumulated in Earth's atmosphere and cooled the planet,
tipping the climate towards a 'snowball
Earth' event in which ice sheets keep growing until they cover
almost the entire globe.
Read
more. Source: Nature |
Hot shot of Saturn's 'hot spot'
(Feb 10, 2005)
Infrared images of Saturn's
atmosphere, taken by the Keck observatory, show the planet's "hot
spot" at the south pole. The pictures reveal how temperatures on the
planet take a sudden jump, from about 30 degrees south, with another
sharp rise at the very tip of the pole. In Earth's atmosphere, polar
vortices would usually trap cold air. On Saturn, US space agency (NASA)
scientists think vortices may constrain particles warmed by the Sun
in the stratosphere and high troposphere.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
First stellar outcast discovered by astronomers
(Feb 9, 2005)
Using the MMT Observatory in Tucson, AZ, astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics (CfA) are the first to report the discovery
of a star leaving our galaxy, speeding along at over 1.5 million miles
per hour. This incredible speed likely resulted from a close encounter
with the Milky Way's central black
hole, which flung the star outward like a stone from a slingshot.
So strong was the event that the speedy star eventually will be lost
altogether, traveling alone in the blackness of intergalactic space.
"We have never before seen a star moving fast enough to completely
escape the confines of our galaxy," said co-discoverer Warren Brown
(CfA). "We're tempted to call it the outcast star because it was forcefully
tossed from its home."
Read
more. Source: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
Carbon-rich planets may boast diamond
interiors
(Feb 9, 2005)
Bizarre planets with internal layers of diamond many kilometres thick
may form in carbon-rich areas of the galaxy, a new study suggests.
The diamond-rich planets could form from the dusty protoplanetary
discs found around many stars, if they are rich in carbon and poor
in oxygen, says Marc Kuchner at Princeton University, New Jersey.
Composed largely of heat-resistant carbides and graphite – as
well as diamond – these planets could withstand much higher
temperatures than terrestrial planets or gas giants, he says. This
might account for giant non-gas planets found surprisingly close to
other stars. (Artwork: Lynette Cook)
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Astronomers discover beginnings of 'mini'
solar system
(Feb 8, 2005)
Moons circle planets, and planets circle stars. Now, astronomers have
learned that planets may also circle celestial bodies almost as small
as planets. NASA's Spitzer
Space Telescope has spotted a dusty disk of planet-building material
around an extraordinarily low-mass brown
dwarf, or "failed star." The brown dwarf, called OTS 44, is only
15 times the mass of Jupiter. Previously, the smallest brown dwarf
known to host a planet-forming disk was 25 to 30 times more massive
than Jupiter. The finding will ultimately help astronomers better
understand how and where planets – including rocky ones resembling
our own – form.
Read
more. Source: Spitzer Space Telescope |
NASA plans to bring down Hubble
(Feb 8, 2005)
The Hubble Space Telescope
and a mission to explore Jupiter's moons look to be the biggest casualties
in NASA's 2006 budget plans outlined on Monday. Under the proposals,
a mission to service Hubble would be scrapped and the observatory
brought back to earth. NASA's total budget would rise 2.4% over 2005
to about $16.5bn (£9bn), but only $93m would be spent on Hubble. About
$75m (£40m) of that would be used to develop a robot mission to steer
it into the ocean at the end of its life.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Mars Express 'divining rod' to deploy
(Feb 7, 2005)
A "divining rod" to search for underground water on Mars will be deployed
on Europe's Mars Express
spacecraft early this spring, after a year of delays. The new deployment
date for the radar antenna – to be announced within days –
is likely to fall in April 2005. Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface
and Ionosphere Sounding – or MARSIS – consists of wires
strung inside three long fibreglass tubes. These will seek water –
which might provide oases for life – as deep as several kilometres
below the Martian surface. The tubes, currently folded and stored
onboard Mars Express, were originally scheduled for deployment in
April 2004.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Greenhouse gases could breathe life into
Mars
(Feb 6, 2005)
Pumping greenhouse gases into the Martian atmosphere over hundreds
or even thousands of years could warm the frozen planet enough to
sustain life, according to new research. Synthetic fluorine-based
gases could produce global warming on Mars while also creating an
atmosphere conducive to life, say scientists at the NASA Ames Research
Centre, California, US. Conditions on Mars are currently inhospitable
for advanced life. Temperatures on the Red Planet currently dip down
to -120°C at night near the poles. And the atmospheric pressure on
Mars is much less than on Earth as its atmosphere is thinner and its
gravity lower. In order to support life, scientists have proposed
transforming Mars into an Earth-like planet in a process called terraforming.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Life flourishes at crushing depth
(Feb 5, 2005)
Tiny single-celled creatures, many of them previously unknown to science,
have been found at the deepest point in the world's oceans, almost
11km down. The soft-walled foraminifera, a form of plankton, were
recovered by the Japanese remote submersible Kaiko. Yuko Todo and
colleagues report their discovery in Science magazine. They say the
organisms have become adapted to the crushing pressures that exist
in a location of the Marianas Trench known as Challenger Deep.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Underground search for 'God particle'
(Feb 4, 2005)
At the foot of the Jura Mountains, where Switzerland meets France,
is a laboratory so vast it boggles the mind. But take a drive past
the open fields, traditional chalets and petite new apartment blocks
and you will look for it in vain. To find this enormous complex, you
have to travel beneath the surface. One hundred metres below Geneva's
western suburbs is a dimly lit tunnel that runs in a perfect circle
for 27 km (17 miles). The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a powerful
and impossibly complicated machine that will smash particles together
at super-fast speeds in a bid to unlock the secrets of the Universe.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Countdown to shuttle return flight
(Feb 3, 2005)
Step out of the Florida heat into the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building
at Nasa's launch complex at Cape Canaveral and you enter a cool dark
cathedral to spaceflight. It is a structure more than 50 storeys high
that has witnessed the greatest and the worst moments of America's
ventures into the heavens. It was here that the giant Saturn rockets
were pieced together before the Apollo missions to the Moon. The cranes
and catwalks and mobile platforms are now frantically busy once more
as engineers prepare for an event which could prove pivotal for the
future of NASA: getting the space shuttle flying again. NASA only
has three of the spacecraft left so this mission cannot fail. A provisional
launch date has been set for May 12.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Birds rise in intellectual pecking order
(Feb 1, 2005)
The skylark could be going up in the world. The crow has something
to crow about. Scientists could be about to think again about the
little grey cells of the grey goose. From now on, a bird's brain may
no longer be classed as birdbrained. Mammals have complex brains,
including a neocortex for learning tricks and nerve cells called basal
ganglia which control instinctive behaviour. Birds, until now, have
been thought to have only basal ganglia. But the avian nomenclature
consortium – an international team of 29 neuroscientists led
by Erich Jarvis of Duke University medical centre in North Carolina
– argue today in Nature Reviews Neuroscience that it is time
for a change.
Read
more. Source: Guardian |
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