Monthly Archives: March 2014

NASA wants to lasso an asteroid, but which one?

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NASA scientists have identified a dozen or so space rocks for its asteroid-retrieval mission, which it hopes to accomplish by 2025.

NASA is making progress on one of the most challenging parts of its ambitious asteroid-retrieval mission finding a suitable space rock to shrink-wrap in space.

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Scientists have identified a dozen or so promising targets for NASA'sasteroid-capture mission, which seeks to drag a small rock or a piece of a larger one into a stable orbit around the moon, where it would be visited by astronauts by 2025.

"For either concept that's being looked at right now either the capture of a small asteroid less than 10 meters in size, or going after a boulder, large boulder, on a larger asteroid we have a list of about six or so candidates each," Lindley Johnson, program executive for NASA's Near-Earth Object (NEO) Observations Program, told reporters Friday (March 21). [NASA's Asteroid-Capture Mission in Pictures]

"We continue to look for additional candidates," Johnson said, adding that NEO program scientists "will continue to do that over the next two to three years, until the time comes to actually determine which will be the best object for the mission."

The NEO program's primary purpose is identifying and tracking potentially dangerousasteroids. But good capture candidates are a subset of this larger group, Johnson said, so assessment of their suitability for the redirect mission doesn't take NEO scientists too far afield.

The asteroid-redirect mission would use a robotic probe to move the targeted space rock into Earth-moon space. The asteroid would then be visited, perhaps multiple times, by astronauts using NASA's Orion capsule and Space Launch System rocket, which are slated to fly crews together for the first time in 2021.

NASA wants the first manned visit to the retrieved asteroid to come around 2025, which would mesh well with an exploration timeline laid out by the White House. In 2010, President Barack Obama directed NASA to get astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s.

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NASA wants to lasso an asteroid, but which one?

NASA Asteroid Redirect Mission Offers $6M For New Ideas On Capturing Near-Earth Objects

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Artist's concept of an astronaut retrieving a sample as part of the Asteroid Redirect Mission. NASA

According to NASA, the Asteroid Redirect Mission will pave the way for the manned mission to Mars in the 2030s, the challenge set forth by President Barack Obama in 2010. As part of the mission, after NASA sends a near-Earth Object (NEO) to a safe orbit, the space agency will send astronauts to explore and collect samples of the asteroid, to occur in the 2020s.

NASA is accepting proposals for innovations in asteroid-capture systems, rendezvous sensors and commercial spacecraft modifications, as well as studies for future commercial partnerships.

William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA, said in a statement, To reach Mars, we'll rely on new technologies and advanced capabilities proven through the Asteroid Initiative. We're looking forward to exciting ideas from outside NASA as well to help realize that vision.

The Asteroid Redirect Mission proposal due date is May 5, with the award date scheduled for July 1. NASA says the contract will run through 2014. The call for proposals comes after NASA's announcement of the first Asteroid Grand Challenge Contest. The space agency is putting up $35,000 in reward money, and the first contest involves developing improved asteroid-detecting algorithms.

These missions are part of NASA's Asteroid Initiative which includes the Asteroid Redirect Mission as well as the Grand Challenge to find all potential asteroid threats. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has established the Near Earth Object Program, which tracks asteroids and comets and also assesses potential impact risk.

NASA is not the only one concerned about NEOs, as the United Nations will head a defense plan called the International Asteroid Warning Group. The new technology incorporated in the asteroid mission, such as the Orion Spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket, will be vital for the future mission to Mars. NASA has scheduled an Asteroid Initiative Opportunities Forum for March 26 that will include updates on the mission and the Grand Challenge.

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NASA Asteroid Redirect Mission Offers $6M For New Ideas On Capturing Near-Earth Objects

NanoMalaysia Eyes To Contribute One Per Cent Of GNI For Nanotechnology

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KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (Bernama) -- NanoMalaysia Bhd is looking at jumpstarting nanotechnology development to enable it to contribute one per cent to Malaysia's gross national income (GNI) by 2020, said Chief Executive Officer, Rezal Khairi Ahmad.

"The company would use four sectors -- electronic devices and systems; energy and environment; food and agriculture; and, healthcare, medicine and wellness -- to achieve the target, which would be equivalent to RM15 to RM17 billion then," he said.

Rezal said this at the signing of memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) here Monday.

Also present were Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) Deputy Secretary General (Science), Zulkifli Mohamed Hashim, who represented the minister Datuk Dr Ewon Ebin, and UTP Vice-Chancellor Datuk Dr Abdul Rahim Hashim.

Under the pact, the parties are set to play significant roles in the development and roll-out of thermal management for light-emitting diode industry in Malaysia.

Rezal said the collaboration aimed to exploit UTP's technology know-how by forming general framework for new business development with potential business partners of new invention and/or innovation of nanotechnology product, through various commercialisation processes.

Abdul Rahim said the MOU marked an important milestone for UTP's journey towards becoming an international recognised higher learning institution.

Earlier, Zulkifli Mohamed Hashim said NanoMalaysia-UTP partnership marked an important occasion for both parties and MOSTI, in conjunction with 'MOSTI Commercialisation Year 2014'.

-- BERNAMA

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NanoMalaysia Eyes To Contribute One Per Cent Of GNI For Nanotechnology

Celebrate NanoDays 2014 at Sci-Quest, Hands-on Science Center

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Sci-Quest, Hands-on Science Center will host NanoDays on Saturday, April 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visitors of all ages will explore capillary action and non-Newtonian fluids, investigate new nano products and materials, and imagine what society might be like if we all wore invisibility cloaks. Other activities include using electricity to make a nickel coin look like a penny, and a program about Robots & People.

NanoDays at Sci-Quest is part of a nationwide festival of educational programs about nanoscale science and engineering. NanoDays activities are included with general admission to Sci-Quest. The event will be held at Sci-Quests new location at 1435 Paramount Drive in Huntsville, Alabama.

NanoDays is organized by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net), and takes place nationally from March 29 April 6, 2014. This community-based event is the largest public outreach effort in nanoscale informal science education and involves science museums, research centers, and universities from Puerto Rico to Alaska.

Sci-Quests NanoDays event will combine fun hands-on activities with presentations on current research. A range of exciting NanoDays activities demonstrate the special and unexpected properties found at the nanoscale, examine tools used by nanoscientists, showcase nano materials with spectacular promise, and invite discussion of technology and society.

For here for more information about Nano.

More about Nano and NISE Network

At the nanoscalethe scale of atoms and moleculesmany common materials exhibit unusual properties. Our ability to manipulate matter at this size enables innovations that werent possible before. Nanotechnology is revolutionizing research and development in medicine, computing, new materials, food, energy, and other areas.

Nano will affect our economy, the environment, and our personal lives. Some scientists think that future nanotechnologies and materials could transform our lives as much as cars, the personal computer, or the internet! But the costs, risks, and benefits of this new technology can be difficult to understand, both for experts and for the general public. The NISE Network helps museums, research institutions, and the public learn from each other about this emerging field so that together we can make informed decisions.

The Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net) is a national community of researchers and informal science educators dedicated to fostering public awareness, engagement, and understanding of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. The NISE Network community in the United States is led by 14 organizations, and includes hundreds of museums and universities nationwide. NISE Net was launched in 2005 with funding from the National Science Foundation, and received a five-year renewal in 2010.

Through products like NanoDays, the NISE Network is actively building partnerships between science museums and research centers to increase their capacity to engage the public in learning about nanoscale science and engineering.

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Celebrate NanoDays 2014 at Sci-Quest, Hands-on Science Center

Arbitration with public spectators? Maybe . . .

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The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the public and the press to sit in on arbitration of business disputes in Delaware, when a state judge acts as the arbitrator. That was the result of the Courts denial of an appeal by a group of Delaware judges, seeking to keep those proceedings closed to the public. If business firms do not like having a public audience, that could limit or even kill a four-year-old Delaware experiment.

That was one of several denials of review in significant cases. In addition, the Court agreed to add to its decision docket for next Term a new case on the appeal rights of state prisoners in federal habeas courts. It also sought the U.S. governments views on the deadline for filing a lawsuit claiming that the manager ofa retirement plan made faulty investment decisions, and on the right of an investor to sue over the filing of a defective stock registration statement, when the investor acquired an interest inthe stock before such a statement existed.

The Court offered no explanation, as usual, when it decided against reviewing the Delaware arbitration case, Strine v. Delaware Coalition for Open Government.

Ordinarily, arbitration proceedings are not public events, because they are a way to resolve private legal disputes without the formality of a court trial and without much of the expense of hiring trial lawyers and of paying for pre-trial and trial maneuvering. Delawares legislature wanted to keep arbitration a closed matter when it decided, in 2009, to allow state judges totake on the task of arbitrator in a closed system.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled, however, that this would turnarbitration into something like a civil courtroom trial, so they had to be open to the public and the press under a string of Supreme Court precedents on the right of First Amendment access to court proceedings.

The judges who were allowed to take on the task of business arbitrators were members of the states Court of Chancery the main state court deciding business disputes under Delaware state law. They are generally regarded as experts on commercial law, and thus their participation in arbitration was believed to be welcome by business firms and would encourage them to bring their disputes to Delaware for resolution.

The legislature adopted the experiment because, it said, it was concerned that other nations might be able to attract corporations to organize there by setting up user-friendly, closed systems of business arbitration. The system it created would give the firms involved in a dispute the right to call upon a Chancery Court judge to be the arbitrator. The records of such cases would only become public if the case ultimately led to an appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court developed the concept of a First Amendment right of access to court proceedings primarily for criminal cases. However, lower courts have extended that doctrine to civil trials. That was the basis of the Third Circuits ruling in the Delaware case.

The newly granted habeas case, Jennings v. Stephens, grew out of the killing of a police officer during the robbery of an adult bookstore in Houston in July 1988. The officer was killed by Robert Mitchell Jennings, who confessed to the shooting but claimed that the gun went off when the policeman tried to tackle him in the store.

Jennings was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. After failing with challenges in state court, he pursued in federal habeas court the claim that his defense lawyer did not perform adequately during the sentencing phase, by failing to bring out evidence that could have helped persuade the jury not to vote for a death sentence evidence of brain injury and a seriously deprived childhood, as well as the fact that he was born as a result of the rape of his mother, who told him she did not want him.

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Arbitration with public spectators? Maybe . . .