Click here to view the embedded video.

Good video, hat tip to Don.  Thanks Don.

Source

Artists concept of the Mars Rover Curiosity. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

There was a bit of an “incident” with the newest Mars rover Curiosity.

A crane lift of the hardware caused unexpected mechanical loads on interfaces between the back shell and its ground support equipment. These interfaces are used during ground operations in preparation for launch. A structural assessment of the back shell was performed in the area of these interfaces.

The NASA speak wasn’t too specific but let’s take a shot at it shall we? 

When they say:

A crane lift of the hardware caused unexpected mechanical loads on interfaces between the back shell and its ground support equipment.

They mean:

_______________________________________

Here’s my guess: CRAP! (or something much more colorful LOL) We  dropped it!!!

Fill in the blank, whadda think?

One thing is for sure, I bet they had that “sick feeling” in the pits of their stomachs for a few minutes and since everything is apparently fine we can be a little glib.

The press release from JPL is below and by the way there was little or no damage.

PASADENA, Calif. — During processing of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla., an incident occurred on Friday, May 20, involving the spacecraft’s back shell.

A crane lift of the hardware caused unexpected mechanical loads on interfaces between the back shell and its ground support equipment. These interfaces are used during ground operations in preparation for launch. A structural assessment of the back shell was performed in the area of these interfaces.

Inspections and analyses through Monday, May 23, have not identified any damage. Flight processing is expected to continue this week.

The back shell is used to protect the rover and descent stage during entry in Mars’ upper atmosphere.

Mars Science Laboratory will launch during the period from Nov. 25 to Dec. 18, 2011, taking its rover, Curiosity, to an August 2012 landing. During a two-year mission on Mars, Curiosity will investigate whether a selected area of Mars has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life and for preserving evidence about life.

The spacecraft’s back shell, heat shield and cruise stage were delivered to Kennedy Space Center on May 12. The rover and descent stage will be delivered in June.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. More information about the Mars Science Laboratory is available online at http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ and http://www.nasa.gov/msl.

An artist concept of a binary system. Credit: Nature.com

[Edit]  I forgot to credit the University of Warwick for the following press release, I was being chewed on by Holly and those puppy teeth are sharp.

Researchers at the University of Warwick have found a unique feuding double white dwarf star system where each star appears to have been stripped down to just its helium.

We know of just over 50 close double white dwarfs but this was only the second ever eclipsing close white dwarf pair to be found.  The University of Warwick astronomers Steven Parsons and Professor Tom Marsh were able to use the fact that the stars eclipse each other when seen from Earth to make particularly detailed observations of the system.

These observations revealed that uniquely both the white dwarf stars in this pairing are composed largely of helium. Most white dwarfs tend to have largely inert cores of carbon and oxygen that have formed over the star’s long life when it has used up most of its hydrogen and helium.  Helium white dwarfs are a sure sign that the star has undergone some extreme mass loss at some point. To find two such helium white dwarfs stars is a clear sign to astronomers that both stars have had an exotic and mutually destructive past.

What was originally the most massive star of the pair had once actually began to expand to become a red giant but its outer hydrogen envelope was ripped off by its companion. This meant the star never got an opportunity to start fusing its helium and it was left as a helium white dwarf. When the companion star then began expanded it also had its expanding layer torn off by the first star – but as the first star was already reduced to a white dwarf it could not use that new material. That hydrogen  was therefore simply lost to the star system leaving behind helium white dwarfs.

In just over 1 billion years, the two stars feud will end as they will spiral together and merge, finally igniting each other’s helium to become an object known as a hot subdwarf which should last for 100 million years

The University of Warwick researchers found this star system CSS 41177  (which is over 351 parsecs , or 1140 light years, away – in the constellation Leo) using  a combination of data from the robotic 2m Liverpool Telescope in the Canary Islands and the 8m Gemini Telescope on Hawaii.

The full paper has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal and is entitled A deeply eclipsing detached double helium white dwarf binary Authors: S. G. Parsons, T. R. Marsh, B. T. Gänsicke, A. J. Drake, D. Koester

Artist concept of a Mars Rover. Credit: NASA

We knew it was coming, actually we knew it had happened but still NASA has made it official.  The Mars Rover Spirit has ceased to communicate and the mission for the rover has ended.  What a great mission!  Opportunity is still functioning and that part of the mission is continuing.

Here’s the press release from NASA:

NASA has ended operational planning activities for the Mars rover Spirit and transitioned the Mars Exploration Rover Project to a single-rover operation focused on Spirit’s still-active twin, Opportunity.

This marks the completion of one of the most successful missions of interplanetary exploration ever launched.

Spirit last communicated on March 22, 2010, as Martian winter approached and the rover’s solar-energy supply declined. The rover operated for more than six years after landing in January 2004 for what was planned as a three-month mission. NASA checked frequently in recent months for possible reawakening of Spirit as solar energy available to the rover increased during Martian spring. A series of additional re-contact attempts ended today, designed for various possible combinations of recoverable conditions.

“Our job was to wear these rovers out exploring, to leave no unutilized capability on the surface of Mars, and for Spirit, we have done that,” said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager John Callas of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Spirit drove 4.8 miles (7.73 kilometers), more than 12 times the goal set for the mission. The drives crossed a plain to reach a distant range of hills that appeared as mere bumps on the horizon from the landing site; climbed slopes up to 30 degrees as Spirit became the first robot to summit a hill on another planet; and covered more than half a mile (nearly a kilometer) after Spirit’s right-front wheel became immobile in 2006. The rover returned more than 124,000 images. It ground the surfaces off 15 rock targets and scoured 92 targets with a brush to prepare the targets for inspection with spectrometers and a microscopic imager.

“What’s really important is not only how long Spirit worked or how far Spirit drove, but also how much exploration and scientific discovery Spirit accomplished,” Callas said.

One major finding came, ironically, from dragging the inoperable right-front wheel as the rover was driving backwards in 2007. That wheel plowed up bright white soil. Spirit’s Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer and Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer revealed that the bright material was nearly pure silica.

“Spirit’s unexpected discovery of concentrated silica deposits was one of the most important findings by either rover,” said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for Spirit and Opportunity. “It showed that there were once hot springs or steam vents at the Spirit site, which could have provided favorable conditions for microbial life.”

The silica-rich soil neighbors a low plateau called Home Plate, which was Spirit’s main destination after the historic climb up Husband Hill. “What Spirit showed us at Home Plate was that early Mars could be a violent place, with water and hot rock interacting to make what must have been spectacular volcanic explosions. It was a dramatically different world than the cold, dry Mars of today,” said Squyres.

The trove of data from Spirit could still yield future science revelations. Years of analysis of some 2005 observations by the rover’s Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer and Moessbauer Spectrometer produced a report last year that an outcrop on Husband Hill bears a high concentration of carbonate. This is evidence of a wet, non-acidic ancient environment that may have been favorable for microbial life.

“What’s most remarkable to me about Spirit’s mission is just how extensive her accomplishments became,” said Squyres. “What we initially conceived as a fairly simple geologic experiment on Mars ultimately turned into humanity’s first real overland expedition across another planet. Spirit explored just as we would have, seeing a distant hill, climbing it, and showing us the vista from the summit. And she did it in a way that allowed everyone on Earth to be part of the adventure.”

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rovers Opportunity and Spirit for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more about the rovers, see: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov.

Astronaut Andrew Feustel reenters the ISS. Click to go to the NASA Image of the Day. Credit: NASA

After a long walk in space, 8 hours, it’s probably good to get back inside and kick back a little. Click the image to go to the the NASA Image of the Day where this came from and see a larger image. I always like to take a good look at the reflected image in the visor.

If for some reason (??) you don’t want to go to the NASA site you can click here to see a larger version of the image.

NASA’s caption:

Astronaut Andrew Feustel reenters the space station after completing an 8-hour, 7-minute spacewalk at 10:12 a.m. EDT Sunday, May 22, 2011. He and fellow spacewalker Mike Fincke completed this, the second of the four STS-134 spacewalks, for a mission total of 14 hours 26 minutes. It was the 246th spacewalk conducted by U.S. astronauts, the 116th from space station airlocks, and the 157th in support of space station assembly and maintenance. It was Feustel’s fifth spacewalk and Fincke’s seventh spacewalk.

“Introduction: This study investigated, from a gender perspective, perceptions concerning the word “hymen” among students in a Swedish senior high school. Methods: Students answered an open-ended question: What do you think about when you hear the word hymen? The answers were analyzed by using content analysis. Results: In total, 198 students, aged 17 to 18 years, answered the question. The theme “a fragile biological structure in the female body” described how the vast majority of the girls and 57% of the boys associated the hymen with a thin membrane that breaks during first vaginal intercourse. The theme “a symbol and manifestation of feminine virginity” described the symbolic meanings of having or not having a hymen. The theme “questioning the existence of the hymen” revealed the doubts that some had about its existence. Discussion: Most of the students associated the hymen with a breakable membrane. This is problematic. It may lead to misunderstandings about virginity or about bleeding during sexual intercourse. Changing these views about the hymen is important to correct such misunderstanding but may be a significant challenge. In modern medical discourse, in health care, and in popular speech, there ...

It’s been six months since #arseniclife became one of my favorite hashtags on Twitter. Over at Slate, I look at how the online conversation has changed the way scientists do their work. Check it out.

1) First, a post from the past: Personality variation by region (USA).

2) Weird search query of the week: “why are ligers so big?”

3) Comment of the week, in response to “AIBioTech Sports X Factor is not worth the money”:

As you say, transparency is the key – without that the market has a more difficult job of deciding whether it is valid or not. However they do list the genes and since many of the effects are based on single studies (with small numbers), it is safe to say that it is:

a) valid if you are prepared to live with a high “might be right” factor

b) valid if you think that a single study on men over 70 years old has some relevance for your children

c) not valid if you prefer to have the interpretations actually repeated in separate studies so that they are less likely to be based on chance

They say: GROUNDBREAKING PERFORMANCE Tests based upon the newly developed Reynolds Score

So what is this Reynolds Score exactly. the test is based on it so it must be important, is it worh $180. Would you buy a $180 phone ...

Since before the Great Pyramid of Giza was enumerated as a wonder of the world two millennia ago, people have pored over the mysteries of these vast tombs. Now, modern technology is helping researchers glean new insight into the pyramids, revealing them from far above and exploring them from deep within.

Satellite images have revealed 17 “lost” pyramids and thousands of ancient tombs and settlements in Egypt, according to a BBC News report. Using a new imaging technique, researchers could pick out the outlines of ancient buildings buried under the surface.

Pyramids From Space—How the Heck:

The researchers examined hi-res infrared images taken by satellites orbiting at about 435 miles up.
Ancient Egyptian building materials, mostly mud bricks, are denser than the soil surrounding them. This density difference shows up on infrared images, exposing the location of shallowly buried structures.
The team’s test digs have backed up their imaging findings. So far, they’ve excavated a 3,000-year-old house from the ancient city of Tanis, near today’s San el Hagar in the Nile Delta.

What’s the Context:

Archaeologists have used a variety of remote sensing techniques to get a new view of hidden history, from thermal ...

So today I received an email from regular commenter German Dziebel:

Razib, what’s your relationship with the Discover Magazine? Up until now I thought of your blog as more or less a public forum, rather than a private franchise. Please clarify, so we don’t bicker about ethics in public.

I have no idea what German precisely means by “public forum” or “private franchise,” though I have a general sense. Discover Magazine pays me to blog. I also have an editor who I consult now and then. For example when I discussed traffic patterns to this website I asked if that would be OK, since I know that sort of information is often material sites like to keep somewhat private. When Marnie Dunsmore threatened to sue me for “stealing her ideas” I shot an email to the editor to notify him of her strange accusations. But in general my communication with Discover Magazine is limited to technical issues, as well as some exchanges of ideas and topics to post on (this isn’t formal, the editor knows the kind of stories and papers I dig, and will send me an email or point a tweet my way).

I like it that way. It gives me ...

What’s the News: Your phone can now be a credit card, thanks to Google Wallet, announced yesterday with great fanfare. With this system, when you swipe your phone over a sensor, a near-field communication (NFC) chip gives the merchant your credit card information. You punch in your PIN, and: cha-ching.

Google has partnered with 20,000 companies who will take payments this way, including Macy’s, American Eagle, and Subway.

How the Heck: The NFC chip, which is only available in Sprint’s Nexus S phone at the moment, can only be activated by a merchant’s sensor (which means that no one can extract the information from your phone without one), and it’s only active when the phone’s screen is on, which is intended to prevent you from purchasing a sandwich with your butt when you sit down.

What’s the Context: Other companies aren’t far behind. In fact, one of them says it has bone to pick with Google over this—PayPal has filed a suit against the search giant and two ex-employees who are now heading up the department that produced Wallet: The suit says that the ex-employees disclosed PayPal trade secrets to Google and major retailers.

Not ...

What’s it like to ride up on the Shuttle to space? If you were, say, strapped to the solid rocket boosters?

This.

Pretty cool. I love seeing these views; I’ve watched a bazillion launches on video (and one from 10 km away in 1997), so the stack rocking as the liquid fuel ignites, the sudden leap when the SRBs go off, the roll maneuver a few seconds later — they’re all familiar. Seeing them from the point of view of the Shuttle itself is nifty.

Note what happens 45 seconds into the video: Endeavour blows through the cloud deck. That moment, from the ground, is a lot more dramatic, especially when photographed by Trey Ratcliff. It’s really amazing to tie together what we see from the ground with what’s seen from the rocket.

This is the last flight of Endeavour; it’s scheduled to land in Florida on June 1 at 2:32 a.m. Eastern US time (06:32 UTC). The last Shuttle launch will be Atlantis, scheduled for July 8 at 11:40 a.m. EDT (15:40 UTC).

This is a guest post by Jamie L. Vernon, Ph.D., an HIV research scientist and aspiring policy wonk, who recently moved to D.C. to get a taste of the action

Just a few months ago, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie proclaimed his doubt that climate change is occurring due to human activities. At a town hall meeting held in Tom’s River, NJ, Christie made these comments:

“Mankind, is it responsible for global warming? Well I’ll tell you something. I have seen evidence on both sides of it. I’m skeptical — I’m skeptical. And you know, I think at the at the end of this, I think we’re going to need more science to prove something one way or the other.”

Yesterday, he announced that he has changed his position. I’m not sure what science has been done in the last 6 months to convince Governor Christie to make this change. As far as I know, the science today is exactly the same as the science then. Regardless, Christie recently met with two expert scientists, Ken Miller, a geologist with long experience documenting sea level changes, and atmospheric science Anthony Broccoli, both from Rutgers University. I guess all politics (and now science) is local. After holding these meetings, the Governor has apparently seen the light and has decided to defer to the experts on this controversial issue.

Here is a clip from the press conference at the NJ State House in which he explains how he came to appreciate the role humans play in climate change:

Christie has been touted time and again for his leadership on conservative issues. So, the news of his conversion will surely send shock waves through the Republican Party, many of whom have been carrying the climate skeptics’ flag for some time now.

Is this a sign that the Republican Party may soon be “coming to Jesus” on the climate issue? We can only hope, but Christie needs to look no further than is his own administration to find individuals who are actively undermining climate science.

It’s one thing for a politician to acknowledge an awakening. It’s another thing for him to do something substantive to respond to the threat of climate change. To be honest, he has already made a few decisions. First, he has withdrawn from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a joint cap-and-trade effort by 10 Northeastern states to address the issue of greenhouse gases at the regional level. Although this may appear to be contradictory, Christie argues that “RGGI has not changed behavior and it does not reduce emissions.” He continues, “we’re looking for broader results that benefit all ratepayers and all citizens.” Now, this sounds a lot like Bush’s justifications for pulling out of the Kyoto Treaty, however Christie backs up his words with this bold announcement,

“there will be no new coal permitted in New Jersey. From this day forward, any plans that anyone has regarding any type of coal-based generation of energy is over…. We need to commit in New Jersey to making coal a part of our past.”

Now, I have been a critic of Christie, mainly because of his support of fellow conservative Ken Cuccinelli, despite his attacks on Michael Mann, but I welcome his new voice. For now, he has my attention and I hope Republicans are listening, as well.

*Correction has been made to the final sentence. There is no evidence that Christie supported Cuccinelli’s attacks on Michael Mann.

Today I close out a month-long guest blog over at the University of Chicago Press to mark the publication of my book A Planet of Viruses. I’ve been talking with experts about some of the most thought-provoking areas of virus research–

1. Can viruses control our minds?

2. Should we eliminate smallpox?

3. How can we use viruses to cure disease?

Today I talk with Penny Chisholm of MIT about the viruses that fill the worlds oceans (a billion in every spoonful). They kill off half the bacteria in the ocean every day, dumping out carbon and having enormous ecological effects–and perhaps even effects on the planet’s climate. Chisholm and I speculate on whether we could use viruses to manipulate the planet as a whole. It’s extreme speculation to be sure–but, then again, when it comes to viruses, the truth can sometimes seem too fantastic to be real. Check it out!

Just pour and peel! Also slices and dices.

Put away that Swiffer—when you’ve got a real mess to clean up, turn to this blue goo.

Japanese officials looking to clean up radioactive contamination are applying a product called DeconGel to the problem. The usual method is distressingly Stone Age: soap and water applied by human beings. As you can imagine, there are a number of problems with this, like what to do with all that radioactive water, which has a tendency to leak all over the place, and what to do about radiation exposure of said human beings.

DeconGel, 100 buckets of which were donated to the relief effort by its manufacturer, CBI Polymers, looks to be a handy way to bypass all that. A radiation-mitigation expert working with Japanese officials put them on to it: “I’ve been doing this for 20 years,” he says, “and there’s nothing comparable to DeconGel out there that I know of today.” (via CNNMoney)

If you’ve ever used a lint roller, you’re familiar with the basic mechanics of DeconGel. The viscous blue goop is poured onto the contaminated surface, allowed to dry, and then peeled off like masking tape from a ...

Destruction in L’Aquila, in the seismically active area of Abruzzi.

What’s the News: No one can predict earthquakes. But six seismologists and a government official are being tried for manslaughter in the deaths of more than 300 people in the 2009 tremblor in L’Aquila, Italy. The city’s public prosecutor says the scientists downplayed the possibility of a quake to an extent that townsfolk did not take precautions that could have saved their lives. A judge has just set the trial to begin on September 20.

What’s the Context:

The case, which was brought in 2010, hinges on the statements of Bernardo De Bernardinis of Italy’s Civil Protection Agency at a press conference a week before the quake. His agency had asked the scientists to convene and discuss whether the increasing seismic activity in the area might indicate a risk of a major quake.
At the subsequent press conference, De Bernardinis, who is being tried along with the scientists, told the crowd, “The scientific community tells me there is no danger, because there is an ongoing discharge of energy. The situation looks favorable.” (via Nature News) People say that as a result of this reassurance, they didn’t leave ...

A friend asked me today if I thought that Powell’s would be around a year from now. I had no idea what he was referring to. By that, I don’t mean that I didn’t know he was referring to Powell’s Books of Portland. I mean that I had no idea that Powell’s was in any trouble. I thought of Powell’s as an institution which could weather any shocks, its huge selection and special experience giving it an edge over other independent booksellers (and even over Barnes & Noble and Borders). The main Powell’s store covers a full city block, 1.6 acres. The total inventory of the company is at 4 million books (new, used, etc.). The downtown Portland location can be overwhelming and all consuming. And I have many fond memories of the Powell’s in the Hawthorne District from when I lived in Portland in 2002. In fact, between 2000-2005 I purchased quite a few books at the main location, as well as at Powell’s Technical. Despite not living in Portland for most of that period, I regularly visited, and always made a point to get lost at ...

Bhutan famously espouses “gross national happiness”:

The term “gross national happiness” was coined in 1972 by Bhutan’s former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who has opened Bhutan to the age of modernization, soon after the demise of his father, King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk. He used the phrase to signal his commitment to building an economy that would serve Bhutan’s unique culture based on Buddhist spiritual values….

Apparently the nation has recent switched from absolute to constitutional monarchy:

Bhutan’s political system has developed from an absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy. In 1999, the fourth king of Bhutan created a body called the Lhengye Zhungtshog (Council of Ministers). The Druk Gyalpo (King of Druk Yul) is head of state. Executive power is exercised by the Lhengye Zhungtshog, the council of ministers. Legislative power was vested in both the government and the former Grand National Assembly.

On the 17th of December 2005, the 4th King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, announced to a stunned nation that the first general elections would be held in 2008, and that he would abdicate the throne in favor of his eldest son, the crown prince….

From what I can tell the royal house of Bhutan seems genuinely sincere. More plainly paternalist ...

Scientists studying samples of volcanic glass from the Moon have made a startling discovery: there’s more water in them than was once thought. A lot more water. Not enough to go swimming or anything like that, but certainly enough to have affected the Moon’s geologic history, and potentially profoundly impact (haha — see below) our ideas of how the Moon formed.

The scientists looked at glass created in volcanic fire fountains, eruptions billions of years ago that left tiny (roughly the diameter of a human hair) grains of colored glass on the surface. These lay there for quite some time until 1972, when they were spotted by geologist Harrison Schmitt, who happened to be standing on the Moon at the time as part of Apollo 17. He brought them back to Earth for study.

In the ensuing decades technology improved quite a bit, and figuring out the contents of the glass beads has become a lot more accurate. In this new research, the scientists found (in 2008, actually, but their results are now confirmed) that the beads have a water content of about ...