SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: September 2009
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Too much radiation for astronauts to
make it to Mars
(Sep 16, 2009)
Forget the risk of exploding rockets or getting sideswiped by
a wayward bit of space junk. Radiation may be the biggest hurdle
to human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and could put a damper
on a recently proposed mission to Mars
orbit.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Could we create quantum creatures in
the lab?
(Sep 16, 2009)
Quantum weirdness could soon invade the living world, if a scheme
to give a flu virus a strange double life comes off. The method
might work on more complex life forms too. In quantum
theory, a single object can be doing two different things
at once.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Lightning storm on Saturn is longest
in solar system
(Sep 16, 2009)
A lightning storm that has been raging beneath Saturn's
placid exterior for eight months is the longest ever observed
in the solar system. The marathon maelstrom generates lightning
bolts that are about 10,000 times as strong as those on Earth.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Jupiter had brief encounter with icy
companion
(Sep 15, 2009)
The planet Jupiter
seems to be as promiscuous as its Olympian namesake. New calculations
reveal that in the middle of the last century it had a fling with
a wayward comet, which for 12 years joined the gas giant's harem
of moons. The finding helps to explain how comets move from the
outer solar system into inner, sometimes Earth-threatening orbits.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Crunch time for Russia Mars probe
(Sep 14, 2009)
Less than two months before the scheduled launch of Russia's flagship
planetary spacecraft, officials are set to recommend a delay until
2011. The Phobos-Grunt mission aims to land on the Martian moon
Phobos to collect
soil samples and return them to Earth. Sources within the Russian
space industry gave RussianSpaceWeb.com details of the likely
postponement.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Target crater revealed for LCROSS lunar
south pole impacts
(Sep 14, 2009)
NASA has selected a final destination for its Lunar Crater Observation
and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) after a journey of nearly 5.6 million
miles that included several orbits around Earth and the moon.
The mission team announced Wednesday that Cabeus A will be the
target crater for the LCROSS dual impacts scheduled for 7:30 a.m.
EDT on Oct. 9, 2009. It was selected as the optimal location for
LCROSS' evaluation of whether water ice exists at the lunar south
pole.
Read
more. Source: NASA |
US space shuttle returns to Earth
(Sep 12, 2009)
NASA's space shuttle Discovery
has landed at the Edwards air force base in California. Plans
to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida were postponed
due to bad weather. The shuttle missed two landing slots on Thursday,
before landing at 1753 PDT on Friday (0053GMT Saturday).
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Physicists propose 'Schrödinger's
virus' experiment
(Sep 11, 2009)
Suspending a cat between life and death is one of the best-known
thought experiments in quantum
mechanics. Now researchers from Germany and Spain are proposing
a real experiment to probe whether a virus can exist in a superposition
of two quantum states.
Read
more. Source: Nature |
Mighty Mouse takes off – thanks
to magnets
(Sep 11, 2009)
With the aid of a strong magnetic field, mice have been made to
levitate for hours at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in
Pasadena, California. The floating rodents could provide a valuable
insight into how astronauts are affected by extended spells in
zero gravity.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Japan's space freighter in orbit
(Sep 10, 2009)
Japan has successfully launched its new space freighter from the
Tanegashima base in the south of the country. The 16.5-tonne unmanned
H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) is on a mission to re-supply the space
station. Its role is vitally important to the station project,
which is set to lose the servicing capability of the US shuttle
fleet next year.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
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