Let’s Play Alien : Isolation – Episode 1 – Gameplay Walkthrough – Video

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Let #39;s Play Alien : Isolation - Episode 1 - Gameplay Walkthrough
Let #39;s Play Alien : Isolation, shall we? Welcome to my walkthrough of Alien : Isolation, a game in which we will work our way through a derelict space station while avoiding becoming the xenomorph #39;s...

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Let's Play Alien : Isolation - Episode 1 - Gameplay Walkthrough - Video

Image: Interact Robot Centaur designed for remote operation aboard the International Space Station

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1 hour ago Credit: ESA S. Ferret Aymerich

Visitors to the ESA Technical Centre's Open Day came face to face with a centaur as they toured the telerobotics laboratory.

Equipped with 4x4 wheels and a pair of fully mobile robot arms, each fitted with grippers and a camera, this still-to-be-finished Interact Robot Centaur is designed for remote operation by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

It will be put to use in the 'Interact' demonstration next year. The aim is to simulate the way a Mars rover might one day be remotely controlled by a crew orbiting the Red Planet.

Mars is much too far for direct remote control from Earth, but flying astronauts around the planet would overcome the problem of time delay, extending human intelligence and intuition to planetary exploration without the danger and expense of landing.

The outdoor test campaign is due to take place next year, using a control system already aboard the Station for the lab's Haptics-1experiment to assess the use of force-feedback in weightlessness.

A wearable control exoskeleton can also be seen on the right side of the picture.

Established in 2009 at ESA's technical heart in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, ESA's Telerobotics & Haptics Lab is developing technologies for advanced human-machine interaction, extending the human sense of touch to space and planetary environments.

Explore further: Image: ESA's telerobotic robot hand

(Phys.org) As engineer Manuel Aiple moves his gauntleted hand, the robotic hand a few metres away in ESA's telerobotics laboratory follows in sync.

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Image: Interact Robot Centaur designed for remote operation aboard the International Space Station

Space shuttle Endeavour inches closer to completion of final exhibit

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As if they were performing delicate surgery, a crew inside the California Science Center museum hoisted a 3,000-pound portable space lab and storage pod inside the space shuttle Endeavour's huge cargo bay Thursday, reuniting the retired orbiter with a piece of equipment it used on some missions over its two decades of flight.

It was just one small step that, along with the installation of a replica robotic arm, airlock and docking system, moves the last shuttle ever built closer to becoming the nation's most complete iteration of the grounded aircraft on exhibit.

None of the other shuttles on display have equipment in the cargo bay. Endeavour's final pose will also be unique: It will be the only one of the three retired shuttles that orbited the Earth Endeavour, Atlantis and Discovery to be posed with its nose pointing to the stars, just like when it flew into space.

The final exhibit is still four years away from being complete. But the installation of equipment, which will continue in the coming days at the temporary exhibit site, will offer the public a rare, brief chance to see Endeavour with both cargo bay doors open before they are closed after Oct. 21.

The cargo bay is so enormous a school bus can fit in it a scale most people have not been able to appreciate because the cargo bay doors were almost always closed when in public view on Earth. At its technologically awesome heart, the shuttle was a workhorse.

"That's what this thing is about bringing stuff to and from space," said California Science Center president Jeffrey Rudolph. "So that's why we really wanted to be able install a payload and put it up, and let people understand the function of the space shuttle a lot better."

When the final exhibit at the yet-to-be built Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is unveiled, visitors will get to see two views of the shuttle.

The plan is for people to first watch a movie about Endeavour before the screen rises, allowing guests to see the shuttle vertically.

"Just like it's ready to launch," Rudolph said. Walking to the other side, people will be able to peek inside the craft.

"That payload bay door will be open, and you'll be able to look inside," he said, and get a view of the laboratory and storage pod, named Spacehab. Visitors will be able to walk underneath the massive engines.

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Space shuttle Endeavour inches closer to completion of final exhibit

NASA releases video preview of Orions December test flight

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NASA has enlisted the engineering expertise of private industry to begin sending humans into space from the US once again, but thats only part of NASAs manned space flight plans. The Orion program is NASAs version of a next generation launch system for missions to deep space, and its going to get its first real world test late this year.

NASA has been so kind as to put together a seven minute video detailing Orions first mission. It wont carry and people when it lifts off December 4, but this is a huge step for the Orion program, which was almost scrapped several times. Orion is vastly different vehicle than the Space Shuttle, which was monstrously complex. It has more in common with the old Apollo missions, but its trip will start at the top of a Delta IV heavy rocket.

As soon as Orion has reached orbit, it will jettison the launch abort system. This is a small rocket pod on the noseof the crew capsule designed to carry its occupants to safety in the event of a launch failure. The main thrusters will carry Orion into a standard low-Earth orbit so the sensors inside the craft can acquire data on its performance. The next phase is the beginning of Orions specialized mission.

The engines will fire again and take Orion to an orbital altitude of 3600 miles 15 times higher than the International Space Station. This will send the craft through the Van Allen radiation belts, which surround much of the Earth and pose a danger to human astronauts. NASA will carefully evaluate how the Orion module holds up in the presence of this punishing radiation.

When bringing Orion home, its going to hit the atmosphere going nearly 20,000 mph. As it compresses and forces its way through the thickening atmosphere, the air will heat up 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The pod will slow to about 300 mph, but the parachutes deployed over the ocean will take that down to a mere 20 mph before splashdown. The entire mission is expected to last just 4.5 hours, but the data gathered will be invaluable in planning a future manned flight in Orion to asteroids or even Mars.

Now read:You cant go to Mars, but NASA will send your name there

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NASA releases video preview of Orions December test flight

Tropical Cyclone Hudhud heads for India; red alert issued

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NEW DELHI, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System has issued a red alert for India as Tropical Cyclone Hudhud approaches.

The alert, issued Wednesday, is in effect until Friday. With landfall expected over the weekend, a new alert will likely be issued.

India's port city of Visakhapatnam, home to two million people, is in the direct line of Tropical Cyclone Hudhud.

District officials along the Bay of Bengal in Andhra Pradesh are bracing for the storm, and have issued a high alert for residents.

"Open relief camps wherever needed and move people from vulnerable areas to safety. Keep essential commodities ready for the evacuees," Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao directed officials in a video-conference Thursday.

As residents prepare for the storm, the Times of India reports "the prices of vegetables have increased by 40 percent since Monday" and "some items like candles have vanished from shops."

According to GDACS, the cyclone has a maximum wind speed of 185 km/hour and could impact 9.4 million people in its path. "Tropical Cyclone Hudhud-14 can have a high humanitarian impact based on the maximum sustained wind speed and the affected population and their vulnerability."

The Weather Channel reported Thursday the cyclone, also known by its alphanumeric designation 03B, "is strengthening as it churns over the Bay of Bengal in the northern Indian Ocean basin."

Once it makes landfall possibly early Sunday, the U.S. Naval Observatory's Joint Typhoon Warning Center expects Hudhud to dissipate and become the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.

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Tropical Cyclone Hudhud heads for India; red alert issued

London Markets: FTSE 100 heads for one-year low after tumultuous week

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LONDON (MarketWatch) Most U.K. stocks were mired in the red on Friday, setting the FTSE 100 index on track for a third straight week of losses.

The benchmark index UKX, -1.20% slumped 0.6% to 6,392.65. If it closes around this level, it would mark the lowest close in a year.

Stocks across Europe have taken a hard beating this week, after a raft on lackluster data from German spurred concerns the regions largest economy is heading for a recession.

This line about Germany slipping into recession is simply layering on another level of angst to a market that is already wary of the threat posed by the likes of Ebola in West Africa and Islamic State in the Middle East, said Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct, in a note Friday.

Mining firms posted some of the biggest losses on Friday, a reversal from Thursdays upbeat mood when a weaker dollar helped boost commodity prices. Shares of Anglo American PLC AAL, -2.43% lost 2.3% on Friday, Randgold Resources Ltd. RRS, -2.47% declined 1.9%, Rio Tinto PLC RIO, -2.83% RIO, -2.45% RIO, -3.00% fell 1.7%, and BHP Billiton PLC BLT, -3.15% BHP, -2.55% BHP, -2.74% lost 1.3%.

Shares of British American Tobacco PLC BATS, -1.18% BTI, -1.39% dropped 0.8% after Goldman Sachs cut the company to sell from neutral, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

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London Markets: FTSE 100 heads for one-year low after tumultuous week

Hubble Maps the Temperature and Water Vapor on an Exoplanet

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Newswise A team of scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has made the most detailed global map yet of the glow from a planet orbiting another star, revealing secrets of air temperatures and water.

The map provides information about temperatures at different layers of the world's atmosphere and traces the amount and distribution of water vapor on the planet. The findings have ramifications for the understanding of atmospheric dynamics and the formation of giant planets like Jupiter.

"These measurements have opened the door for a new kind of comparative planetology," said team leader Jacob Bean of the University of Chicago.

"Our observations are the first of their kind in terms of providing a two-dimensional map of the planet's thermal structure that can be used to constrain atmospheric circulation and dynamical models for hot exoplanets," said team member Kevin Stevenson of the University of Chicago.

The Hubble observations show that the planet, called WASP-43b, is no place to call home. It's a world of extremes, where seething winds howl at the speed of sound from a 3,000-degree-Fahrenheit day side that is hot enough to melt steel to a pitch-black night side that sees temperatures plunge below a relatively cool 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

As a hot ball of predominantly hydrogen gas, there are no surface features on the planet, such as oceans or continents that can be used to track its rotation. Only the severe temperature difference between the day and night sides can be used by a remote observer to mark the passage of a day on this world.

WASP-43b is located 260 light-years away and was first discovered in 2011. WASP-43b is too distant to be photographed, but because its orbit is observed edge-on to Earth, astronomers detected it by observing regular dips in the light of its parent star as the planet passes in front of it.

The planet is about the same size as Jupiter, but is nearly twice as massive. The planet is so close to its orange dwarf host star that it completes an orbit in just 19 hours. The planet is also gravitationally locked so that it keeps one hemisphere facing the star, just as our moon keeps one face toward Earth.

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Hubble Maps the Temperature and Water Vapor on an Exoplanet

Hubble project maps temperature, water vapor on wild exoplanet

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A team of scientists including a University of Colorado Boulder professor used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to make the most detailed global map yet of the glow from a giant, oddball planet orbiting another star, an object twice as massive as Jupiter and hot enough to melt steel.

The Hubble observations show that the planet, called WASP-43b, is no place to call home. It's a world of extremes, where winds howl at the speed of sound from a 3,000-degree-Fahrenheit dayside to a pitch-black nightside when temperatures plunge to a relatively cool 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, still hot enough to melt silver.

The map provides information about temperatures at different layers of the planet's atmosphere and traces the amount and distribution of water present. The findings have ramifications for understanding the atmospheric dynamics and the formation of giant planets like Jupiter, said team leader Jacob Bean of the University of Chicago. "These measurements have opened the door for a new kind of comparative planetology."

A paper on the subject was published online in Science Express.

As a ball of predominately hot hydrogen gas, there are no surface features on WASP-43b like oceans or continents that can be used to track its rotation, said CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Jean-Michel Desert, second author on the new study. Only the drastic temperature difference between the dayside and nightside can be used by remote observers to mark the passage of a day on the strange, gaseous planet, he said.

"WASP-43b is extreme in many ways," said Desert. "It's the size of Jupiter with twice its mass. Its orbit around its host star, called an orange dwarf, takes only about 19 hours - the blink of an eye compared to the 365 days it takes Earth to orbit the sun."

Desert said the study is compelling to those trying to understand planetary formation. "Basically it is like taking a planet like Jupiter into a giant laboratory, then warming it at such a high temperature that all of the atoms and molecules comprising its atmosphere are in a gas phase."

Another bizarre thing about WASP-43b is its orbit. It orbits so close to its host star it always "shows" the same hemisphere, a phenomena similar to the orbit of the moon around Earth that is known as known as "tidal locking."

Discovered in 2011, WASP-43b is 260 light-years away -- too distant to be photographed. But because its orbit is observed "edge-on" to Earth, astronomers detected it by observing regular dips in the light of its parent star as the planet passed in front of it, said Desert of CU-Boulder's Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences.

"These observations allow us to determine the abundance of water in the planet's atmosphere, which is a major element involved in planetary formation," said Desert.

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Hubble project maps temperature, water vapor on wild exoplanet

Team Technik / HQ Autosport BMW Spec E46 NASA Enduro Buttonwillow 10-4-2014 – Video

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Team Technik / HQ Autosport BMW Spec E46 NASA Enduro Buttonwillow 10-4-2014
This is in-car camera footage of Team Technik / HQ Autosport BMW Spec E46 NASA Enduro at Buttonwillow running 13CW configuration on Saturday 10-4-2014. We qualified 6th overall and finished...

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Team Technik / HQ Autosport BMW Spec E46 NASA Enduro Buttonwillow 10-4-2014 - Video

Dr. Josh Alwood – To the Bone: Spaceflight and the Skeletal System – Video

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Dr. Josh Alwood - To the Bone: Spaceflight and the Skeletal System
NASA Ames Research Director #39;s Colloquium, August 5, 2014. During spaceflight, astronauts experience weightlessness and are exposed to novel types of radiation. These environmental conditions...

By: NASA Ames Research Center

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Dr. Josh Alwood - To the Bone: Spaceflight and the Skeletal System - Video