SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: October 2007
home > space
& science news > space & science news: October 2007: 1
| 2 | 3 | 4
Simplest 'universal computer' wins student
$25,000
(Oct 25, 2007)
A 20-year-old computer science undergraduate has claimed a prestigious
$25,000 mathematics prize by proving that a simple mathematical calculator
can be used as a "universal
computing machine". The proof involves a kind of mathematical
calculator known as a Turing
machine, a concept originally studied by mathematician Alan Turing
in the 1930s.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
China launches first Moon orbiter
(Oct 24, 2007)
China has launched its first lunar orbiter, on a planned year-long
exploration mission to the Moon.
The satellite, named Chang'e 1, took off from the Xichang
Centre in south-west China's Sichuan province at 1800 local time
(1000 GMT). It is expected to send back 3D images of the Moon's surface.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Life from Mars theory put to test
(Oct 24, 2007)
A rock quarried on Orkney was blasted into space to find out if meteorites
could carry primitive life from one planet to another. One theory
being tested is whether life could have arrived on Earth from Mars.
University of Aberdeen experts had the rock attached to an unmanned
Russian craft and found life would probably only survive in a large
meteorite.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Shuttle heads for space station
(Oct 23, 2007)
Space Shuttle Discovery
has begun a 14-day mission to the International
Space Station (ISS), after a successful launch from the Kennedy
Space Center. Despite earlier concerns about poor weather, the shuttle
blasted off at 11:38 local time (16:38 BST). Its seven-strong crew
will install the "Harmony" node to the space station.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Magnetic cocoons power energetic cosmic
rays
(Oct 23, 2007)
Vast magnetic cocoons associated with galaxies whose black
holes have stopped eating may be responsible for accelerating
charged particles called cosmic
rays to within a whisker of the speed of light. It could explain
one of the great mysteries of astrophysics – how enormously
energetic cosmic rays make it to Earth, when common sense says they
should long ago have run out of steam.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Crashed spacecraft yields data
(Oct 21, 2007)
An ill-fated spacecraft that unintentionally crashed into the deserts
of Utah in 2004 is yielding results to the scientists who carefully
picked up the pieces. Researchers have been able to salvage usable
material from the Genesis
mission, whose aim was to collect samples from the solar wind and
bring them safely back to Earth.
Read
more. Source: Nature |
Europe floats future space ideas
(Oct 20, 2007)
A mission could be launched before the end of the next decade to put
a balloon on Titan,
the hazy Saturnian moon. The balloon is one of several ideas being
considered by the European Space Agency as it sketches out where its
science should be focussed in future. Other proposals include an X-ray
telescope that flies in two parts; and a sample-return mission to
an asteroid.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
NASA cuts funding to private spaceship
developer
(Oct 19, 2007)
NASA has terminated an agreement with Rocketplane
Kistler, one of two private companies that had won agency funding
to develop supply ships for the International
Space Station. Now, it plans to use the money it had set aside
for RpK to fund competing proposals.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Star Trek film names Kirk actor
(Oct 18, 2007)
Little-known actor Chris Pine has been chosen to play the young Captain
Kirk in the new Star
Trek movie. Pine had to turn down a role opposite George Clooney
in the film White Jazz in order to play Kirk because of a clash of
filming schedules. Lord of the Rings actor Karl Urban will play Leonard
"Bones" McCoy, the Starship
Enterprise's medical officer.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Heavyweight black hole is a record breaker
(Oct 18, 2007)
A black hole as
heavy as almost 16 Suns has set a new weight record for black holes
that form from collapsing stars. Its discovery suggests that there
may be even heavier ones lurking out there, spawned in the death throes
of the universe's most massive stars.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
1 | 2 | 3
| 4
BACK TO TOP
|
You
are here:
Home
> Space & Science news
> October 2007:
1 | 2 | 3
| 4
Other news sections
Latest science news
Archeo news
Eco news
Health news
Living world news
Paleo news
Strange news
Tech news
Also on this site:
Encyclopedia of Science
Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy
and Sustainable Living
News archive
Bookshop
Contact
|
