Monthly Archives: April 2011

Mars Rover’s ‘Gagarin’ Moment Applauded Exploration

Posted on by

A flat, light-toned rock on Mars visited by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover in 2005 informally bears the name of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, who rode into orbit in the Soviet Union's Vostok-1 spacecraft on April 12, 1961.

The team using Opportunity to explore the Meridiani Planum region of Mars since 2004 chose "Gagarin" for what they would call the rock that the rover examined beside "Vostok" crater. A target for close-up examination on Gagarin is called "Yuri."

To commemorate Gagarin's flight, a color image of the rock on Mars has been posted, here. The image combines frames taken through three different filters by Opportunity's panoramic camera.

Early accomplishments in the Space Age inspired many of the researchers exploring other planets robotically today, who hope their work can, in turn, help inspire the next generation.

"The 50th anniversary of mankind's first fledgling foray into the cosmos should serve as an important reminder of the spirit of adventure and exploration that has propelled mankind throughout history," said Mars rover science team member James Rice of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "We are a species of explorers; it is encoded into our very DNA."

Rice continued, "Half a century ago Yuri Gagarin was lofted into a totally unknown, remote and hostile environment and in doing so opened up a new limitless frontier of possibilities for mankind. A mere 23 days later another brave human, Alan Shepard, climbed aboard a rocket and ventured into the starry abyss. Their courage and vision continue to inspire and lead us into the unknown. Hopefully, one day in the not too distant future it will lead humanity on a voyage to Mars."

Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, completed their three-month prime missions on Mars in April 2004. Both rovers continued in years of bonus, extended missions. Both have made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life. Spirit has not communicated with Earth since March 2010. Opportunity remains active. This month, it has passed both the 27-kilometer and 17-mile marks in its total driving distance on Mars.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer20110411.html

WISE Mission Spots ‘Horseshoe’ Asteroid

Posted on by

An asteroid recently discovered by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) may be a bit of an oddball. Most near-Earth asteroids -- NEAs for short -- have eccentric, or egg-shaped, orbits that take the asteroids right through the inner solar system. The new object, designated 2010 SO16, is different. Its orbit is almost circular such that it cannot come close to any other planet in the solar system except Earth.

However, even though the asteroid rides around with Earth, it never gets that close.

"It keeps well away from Earth," said Apostolos "Tolis" Christou, who, together with David Asher of the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, analyzed the orbit of the body after it was discovered in infrared images taken by WISE. "So well, in fact, that it has likely been in this orbit for several hundred thousand years, never coming closer to our planet than 50 times the distance to the moon."

The asteroid is one of a few that trace out a horseshoe shape relative to Earth. As the asteroid approaches Earth, the planet's gravity causes the object to shift back into a larger orbit that takes longer to go around the sun than Earth. Alternately, as Earth catches up with the asteroid, the planet's gravity causes it to fall into a closer orbit that takes less time to go around the sun than Earth. The asteroid therefore never completely passes our planet. This slingshot-like effect results in a horseshoe-shaped path as seen from Earth, in which 2010 SO16 takes 175 years to get from one end of the horseshoe to the other.

"The origins of this object could prove to be very interesting," said Amy Mainzer of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., the principal investigator of NEOWISE, which is the asteroid- and comet-hunting portion of the WISE survey mission. "We are really excited that the astronomy community is already finding treasures in the NEOWISE data that have been released so far."

NEOWISE finished its one complete sweep of the solar system in early February of this year. Data on the orbits of asteroids and comets detected by the project, including near-Earth objects, are catalogued at the NASA-funded International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass.

A full story from the Armagh Observatory, including animations, is online at http://www.arm.ac.uk/press/2011/aac_horseshoe_orbit.html.

JPL manages and operates the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was competitively selected under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/news/wise20110408.html

Futurismo e Futuristi a Firenze

Posted on by

Futurismo e Futuristi a Firenze

April 15 – May 15, 2011
*opening April 15th at 6pm
Studio laboratorio N.A.J.S (No Art Just Sign)

C’era anche l’assessore all’università e politiche giovanili Cristina Giachi stamani alla presentazione alla stampa della mostra “Futurismo e futurismi a Firenze”, che aprirà domani nello studio laboratorio N.A.J.S (No Art Just Sign) in via Romana 30/r, un nuovo ed inedito spazio dell’Oltrarno fiorentino. Il Futurismo dunque torna a Firenze dopo molti anni, con una esposizione che presenta opere firmate dai più grandi autori del movimento e dai loro seguaci, in una sintesi antologica che documenta la loro attività in tutta Italia, da Roma a Milano alla Sicilia, con una particolare attenzione per Firenze.

“Non poteva mancare il sostegno dell’Amministrazione Comunale a un’iniziativa come questa – ha dichiarato l’assessore Giachi -. Un’associazione di ‘folli’, anzi, due, la Micro e la Najs, aprono un nuovo spazio culturale privato e lo festeggiano offrendo generosamente alla città una mostra che potrebbe benissimo trovarsi in un museo. Una follia culturale, che è pura vita per la nostra città e realizza quella cultura diffusa che può restituire energia a Firenze. Il futurismo, al di là di tutte le valutazioni, può ben raccontare oggi questa energia. Firenze ha uno straordinario bisogno di scoprire disseminati nel cuore della sua bellezza questi salutari semi di follia”.

La mostra, patrocinata da Comune di Firenze, Provincia di Firenze e Confindustria Firenze, è organizzata dall’associazione culturale M.I.C.RO e curata da Maurizio Scudiero e Anna Maria Ruta; il Comitato Scientifico è formato da Maurizio Scudiero, Anna Maria Ruta, Francesca Barbi Marinetti, Elena Gigli, e Giancarlo Carpi; è realizzata in collaborazione con Futur-Ism Roma.

Il catalogo è edito dalla casa editrice D’Anna ed è introdotto dagli assessori Giuliano da Empoli e Cristina Giachi.

La mostra resterà aperta dal 15 aprile al 15 maggio. Info: http://www.futur-ism.it

Share

This Schoolhouse Looks Like Bowser’s Carbon Fiber Castle [Architecture]

Posted on by

Except instead of seeming menacing, it actually comes across as neat. This is the newly erected schoolhouse for boys at the Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School in Victoria, Australia. The structure was created by architects McBride Charles Ryan, and is blocked out in black brickwork—accounting for that polished, "carbon fiber" look. (No, unfortunately the facade isn't made of real carbon fiber.) Sitting on a normal, residential street, this thing looks ridiculously cool next to those downright ordinary houses beside it:

More »