Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 24, 2008 in Science
From Brave New World to Blade Runner artificial life has always been a staple of science fiction, so it’s interesting to see the first baby steps in that direction:
“An important step has been taken in the quest to create a synthetic lifeform. A US team reports in Science magazine how it replicated the entire DNA code from a common bacterium in the laboratory. The group hopes eventually to use engineered genomes to make organisms that can produce clean fuels and take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 24, 2008 in Science
Up until this point you’ve need to be a software millionaire to travel into outer space, I can’t imagine that this will be cheap but this fanboy hopes that the cost will keep coming down:
“Burt Rutan took the cloak off of his new spacecraft on Wednesday. “Mr. Rutan, the creator of SpaceShipOne, the first privately-financed craft to carry a human into space, traveled to New York to show detailed models of the bigger SpaceShipTwo and its carrier airplane, WhiteKnightTwo.
“2008 will really be the year of the spaceship,” said Sir Richard Branson, the British serial entrepreneur, at the heavily attended press conference at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Sir Richard, who founded a company, Virgin Galactic, that promises to take tourists on brief trips to the edge of space, was there to show off the sleek pod of a spacecraft and its spidery carrier plane.”
…below are two images from the Virgin Galactic website, click on them to see them at their full size:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 22, 2008 in Science
Pictured above is a November 22, 1964 photo of William Sponsler (click on the image to see it at full size), a designer of the Lunar Surface Vehicle at Northrop Space Laboratories. In the photo he’s checking the mechanism of a one-sixth scale model as it moves over a rubbled replica of moon surface. Over five years later on July 31, 1971 the first lunar rover would make it debut during the Apollo 15 mission.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 21, 2008 in Science
It’s been a long time dream of fanboys like myself to travel faster than the speed of light, because once you’re able to do that hopping around the the galaxy becomes easy (ala Star Trek or Star Wars). Shown above on the left is a table top polarization synchrotron which allows radio signals to travel faster than the speed of light. I don’t expect interstellar travel to become a reality any time soon, but this is a pretty neat start:
“Scientist John Singleton insists that Albert Einstein wouldn’t be mad at him, even though at first blush Singleton appears to have twisted the famous physicist’s theories about light into a pretzel. Most people think Einstein said that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, but that’s not really the case, Singleton said.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 17, 2008 in Science
Shown above is the latest photograph of the surface of Mercury taken by the Messenger probe, it’s the first time we’ve looked at the planet since the 70s (click on the image to see it at full size):
“As NASA’s Messenger spacecraft approached Mercury on January 14, 2008, it captured this view of the planet’s rugged, cratered landscape illuminated obliquely by the sun. This image was taken from a distance of approximately 11,000 miles, about 56 minutes before the spacecraft’s closest encounter with Mercury. It shows a region 300 miles across including craters less than a mile wide. The large, shadow-filled, double ringed crater to the upper right was glimpsed by Mariner 10 more than three decades ago and named Vivaldi, after the Italian composer.”
The first thing about the above video that’s amazing to me is that Isaac Asimov is talking about global warming as a threat to humanity back in 1989. Keep in mind that this was before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. At that point in time the main concern with most folks was nuclear war, for example Carl Sagan talked about this in his epic TV series Cosmos.
I recently enjoyed myself spending much time exploring the website GRIN: Great Images in NASA, which has an amazing collection of over a thousand images which any fanboy would love! Below are some of my finds, make sure to click on each photo to see a larger image:
Saturn V, S-II Stage is Lifted into Test Stand: The S-II stage of the Saturn V rocket is hoisted onto the A-2 test stand in 1967 at the Mississippi Test Facility, now the Stennis Space Center. This was the second stage of the 364-foot tall Moon rocket. The second stage was powered by five J-2 engines.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 29, 2007 in Science
Shown above is an ad for Tang from a November 1971 issue of Parents’ Magazine. Here’s some teaser copy that only a fanboy could love:
“Imagine a spacecraft that carries 12 passengers and lands as easily as an airplane. It will be ferrying back and forth to space by the late 1970’s. And if the future is like the present, Tang will be in its galley.”
Sadly the space shuttle didn’t look quite as cool as the concept art in the ad, although to credit the copy the shuttle did indeed take off ten years later in 1981 (which wasn’t too long after the late 70’s). The illustration of the ad was created by H. K. Wimmer. A second ad in the series can be seen here.
“The world’s best known scientist, Prof Stephen Hawking, has added his name to a petition signed by thousands of physicists who are outraged by Government cuts. The recently established Science and Technology Facilities Council, STFC has abandoned involvement in an international atom smasher and a telescope amid a range of budget slashing that has triggered vitriolic attacks on the Government by the scientific establishment of an intensity not seen since cuts were made under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. The Council, which funds public research in particle physics and astronomy, has to save £80 million over the next three years because of lack of Government funding.”
“The moon was formed from fragments of Earth after a collision with a giant asteroid relatively late in our planet’s formation, new tests of moon rocks show. The finding upends many of the prior theories for how the moon came to be, researchers say.
Scientists have long believed that the moon was formed by a collision between our planet and a Mars-size object. Computer models have shown that in this scenario 80 percent of the moon’s material should have come from the asteroid, with only 20 percent from Earth. But the new study of moon rocks collected three decades ago by Apollo astronauts, however, found that Earth and the rocks were too similar for that to be the case.”
“NASA has given University of Maryland scientists the green light to fly the Deep Impact probe to Comet Hartley 2. The spacecraft will pass Earth on New Year’s Eve at the beginning of a more than two-and-a-half-year journey to Hartley 2. During the first six months of the journey to Hartley 2, they will use the larger of the two telescopes on Deep Impact to search for Earth-sized planets around five stars selected as likely candidates for such planets. Upon arriving at the comet, Deep Impact will conduct an extended flyby of Hartley 2 using all three of the spacecraft’s instruments — two telescopes with digital color cameras and an infrared spectrometer.”
“A powerful jet of particles from a “supermassive” black hole has been seen blasting a nearby galaxy, according to findings from the US space agency. Galaxies have been seen colliding before, but it is the first time this form of galactic violence has been witnessed by astronomers. This could have a profound effect on any planets in the jet’s path and could also trigger a burst of star formation.”
“Have you ever wondered when we will be able to travel to distant stars as easily as in science fiction stories? NASA Glenn’s Marc Millis, who has taken a break from Project Management for NASA’s Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) Project to return to conducting research, offers this assessment of the prospects for achieving the propulsion breakthroughs that would enable such far-future visions of interstellar travel.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 14, 2007 in Science
There’s a great article at Popular Science on the global race to create scramjet engines which could revolutionize the field of aviation:
The Hypersonic Age is Near Recent breakthroughs in scramjet engines could mean two-hour flights from New York to Tokyo. They could also mean missiles capable of striking any continent in a moment’s notice. No wonder the race to develop them is as fierce as ever.
“The X-1 scramjet engine, which will eventually power the X-51A aircraft, is the most advanced scramjet engine ever built. To put things in context, the world’s fastest jet, the Air Force’s SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, set a speed record of Mach 3.3 in 1990 when it flew from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in just over an hour. That’s about the limit for jet engines; the fastest fighter planes barely crack Mach 1.6. Scramjets, on the other hand, can theoretically fly as fast as Mach 15—nearly 10,000 mph.
This could mean two-hour flights from New York to Sydney. It could also mean missiles capable of hitting targets on another continent at a moment’s notice, and when you put it that way, it’s not surprising that militaries around the world—the U.S., Australia, China and perhaps others—are trying to build them. After decades on the drawing board, it seems scramjet technology is finally about to arrive.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 13, 2007 in Science
According to this BBC article it seems scientists are rethinking the rings of Saturn as being the result of an ongoing process that will last for billions of years:
“Saturn’s iconic rings may be much older than we thought, scientists say. New data from the Cassini probe shows these thin bands of orbiting particles were probably there billions years ago, and are likely to be very long-lived. It means we are not in some special time – the giant planet has most likely always provided a stunning view.”
“Scientists are assessing the possibility of embarking on a space engineering project that would eclipse the effort to construct the International Space Station. Researchers from Europe, Japan and the US are considering the viability of building giant solar panels in a low earth orbit that would supply cheap, inexhaustible energy to industry and homes. Building a huge array outside the Earth’s atmosphere would have the advantage of having no clouds to interrupt the flow of solar energy to the arrays.”
“US and Russian astronauts have had sex in space for separate research programmes on how human beings might survive years in orbit, according to a book published yesterday. Pierre Kohler, a respected French scientific writer, says in The Final Mission: Mir, The Human Adventure that the subject is taboo both at Nasa and at mission control in Moscow, but that cosmic couplings have taken place.
“The issue of sex in space is a serious one,” he says. “The experiments carried out so far relate to missions planned for married couples on the future International Space Station, the successor to Mir. Scientists need to know how far sexual relations are possible without gravity.” He cites a confidential Nasa report on a space shuttle mission in 1996. A project codenamed STS-XX was to explore sexual positions possible in a weightless atmosphere.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 28, 2007 in Science
The good news is that this sounds like a serious proposal to go to Mars, the bad news is this is planned for the year 2031. You know I think the genius of JFK wasn’t so much announcing a moon mission, but the idea of doing it within the same decade:
“A 400,000kg (880,000lb) Marship would be assembled in orbit using the Ares V cargo launch vehicle for a 900-day mission to the red planet, according to details that have emerged about NASA’s new Constellation programme’s manned Mars mission. The spacecraft would take a “minimal crew” to Mars in six to seven months, with the crew spending up to 550 days on the surface, according to the programme’s design reference architecture 5.0, currently in development.
Each of the three to four Ares V rockets used to launch the Marship elements into low Earth orbit would need a 125,000kg payload capacity and use a 10m (32.7ft) fairing. Crews would be sent every 26 months, will need up to 50,000kg of cargo, use an aerodynamic and powered descent method and the 40min communications delay between Earth and Mars would require autonomy or at least asynchronous operation with mission control.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 26, 2007 in Science
Shown above is a photo that shows a part of the Moon’s surface from a camera aboard China’s Chang’e One lunar orbiter. I hope the Chinese keep it up because the best thing for NASA would be another space race:
“China’s leaders celebrated the first images sent from the country’s first lunar satellite on Monday, saying they showed their nation had thrust itself into the front ranks of global technological powers. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, visiting the scientists who have guided the lunar probe Chang’e 1 into space and around the moon, proclaimed the mission a success after it began to send back images, according to Xinhua news agency.
“The full success of our country’s first lunar exploration mission is helping to turn the Chinese nation’s 1,000-year old dream of reaching the moon a reality,” Wen said. The picture on the Xinhua Web site showed a patch of grey moon surface splotched with craters.”
“Giant-sized telescopes such as Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra offer unprecedented views of the cosmos, but astronomers are eager to put more powerful tools into orbit around the Earth. Without the extra help, said Rachel Somerville, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, it may be impossible to resolve some of the universe’s greatest mysteries.
“We need better observations to make our models better,” Somerville said, noting her search to understand galaxy formation and mysterious quasars. “… If you just put theorists in a room for the next 15 years with the biggest supercomputer you can find, it will never happen”.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 21, 2007 in Science
This is a very interesting article from Scientific American on the idea that there may already be aliens living on earth, although as a fanboy you may be let down that E.T. is the size of bacteria:
Are Aliens Among Us? In pursuit of evidence that life arose on Earth more than once, scientists are searching for microbes that are radically different from all known organisms
“No planet is more Earth-like than Earth itself, so if life does emerge readily under terrestrial conditions, then perhaps it formed many times on our home planet. To pursue this tantalizing possibility, scientists have begun searching deserts, lakes and caverns for evidence of “alien” life-forms—organisms that would differ fundamentally from all known living creatures because they arose independently. Most likely, such organisms would be microscopic, so researchers are devising tests to identify exotic microbes that could be living among us.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 12, 2007 in Science
As a fanboy I love the futuristic look of the industrial design of the PIVO 2 Concept Car by Nissan. The design of this three seat electric-powered commuter car features a robotic agent and the ability to rotate 360 degrees:
“Astronomers have announced the discovery of a fifth planet circling 55 Cancri, a star beyond our solar system. The star now holds the record for number of confirmed extrasolar planets orbiting in a planetary system.
55 Cancri is located 41 light-years away in the constellation Cancer and has nearly the same mass and age as our sun. It is easily visible with binoculars. Researchers discovered the fifth planet using the Doppler technique, in which a planet’s gravitational tug is detected by the wobble it produces in the parent star. NASA and the National Science Foundation funded the research.”
![From Popular Science: Courtesy Dr. Godfrey Louis- E.T. Under the Microscope: Scientists have yet to identify the unusual particles [above, magnified 500 times] isolated from India’s mysterious red rainwater.](http://www.fanboy.com/archive-images/alien-bacteria.jpg)
