President Obama Visits Kennedy Space Center

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President Barack Obama waves hello as he exits of Air Force One along with Senator Bill Nelson after landing at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Thursday, April 15, 2010. Obama visited Kennedy to deliver remarks on the bold new course the administration is charting to maintain U.S. leadership in human space flight.

During a speech at the center, President Obama said, "As president, I believe space exploration is not a luxury, not an afterthought, an essential part of the quest."

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NASA’S Terra Satellite Captures Ash Plume of Icelandic Volcano

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satellite image of Iceland and ash plume from Eyjafjallajokull Volcano
The MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite captured an Ash plume from Eyjafjallajokull Volcano over the North Atlantic at 11:35 UTC (7:35 a.m. EDT) on April 15, 2010. Credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team › Larger image

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland erupted Wednesday, April 14, for the second time this month. The volcano is still spewing ash into the air and the ash clouds are impacting air travel in Northern Europe.

NASA's Terra satellite flew over the volcano the following day at 11:35 UTC (7:35 a.m. EDT) on April 15, 2010, and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS instrument onboard Terra captured a visible image of the ash plume from Eyjafjallajokull Volcano.

The MODIS Rapid Response System was developed to provide daily satellite images of the Earth's landmasses in near real time. True-color, photo-like imagery and false-color imagery are available within a few hours of being collected, making the system a valuable resource. The MODIS Rapid Response Team that generates the images is located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

NASA works with other agencies on using satellite observations to aid in the detection and monitoring of aviation hazards caused by volcanic ash. For more on this NASA program, visit: http://science.larc.nasa.gov/asap/research-ash.html.

For more information and a real-time MODIS image gallery, visit: http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

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NASA to Launch Human-Like Robot to Join Space Station Crew

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Robonaut2 – or R2 for short – is the next generation dexterous robot, developed through a Space Act Agreement by NASA and General MotorsNASA will launch the first human-like robot to space later this year to become a permanent resident of the International Space Station. Robonaut 2, or R2, was developed jointly by NASA and General Motors under a cooperative agreement to develop a robotic assistant that can work alongside humans, whether they are astronauts in space or workers at GM manufacturing plants on Earth.

The 300-pound R2 consists of a head and a torso with two arms and two hands. R2 will launch on space shuttle Discovery as part of the STS-133 mission planned for September. Once aboard the station, engineers will monitor how the robot operates in weightlessness.

R2 will be confined to operations in the station's Destiny laboratory. However, future enhancements and modifications may allow it to move more freely around the station's interior or outside the complex.

"This project exemplifies the promise that a future generation of robots can have both in space and on Earth, not as replacements for humans but as companions that can carry out key supporting roles," said John Olson, director of NASA's Exploration Systems Integration Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The combined potential of humans and robots is a perfect example of the sum equaling more than the parts. It will allow us to go farther and achieve more than we can probably even imagine today."

The dexterous robot not only looks like a human but also is designed to work like one. With human-like hands and arms, R2 is able to use the same tools station crew members use. In the future, the greatest benefits of humanoid robots in space may be as assistants or stand-in for astronauts during spacewalks or for tasks too difficult or dangerous for humans. For now, R2 is still a prototype and does not have adequate protection needed to exist outside the space station in the extreme temperatures of space.

Testing the robot inside the station will provide an important intermediate environment. R2 will be tested in microgravity and subjected to the station's radiation and electromagnetic interference environments. The interior operations will provide performance data about how a robot may work side-by-side with astronauts. As development activities progress on the ground, station crews may be provided hardware and software to update R2 to enable it to do new tasks.

R2 is undergoing extensive testing in preparation for its flight. Vibration, vacuum and radiation testing along with other procedures being conducted on R2 also benefit the team at GM. The automaker plans to use technologies from R2 in future advanced vehicle safety systems and manufacturing plant applications.

"The extreme levels of testing R2 has undergone as it prepares to venture to the International Space Station are on par with the validation our vehicles and components go through on the path to production," said Alan Taub, vice president of GM's global research and development. "The work done by GM and NASA engineers also will help us validate manufacturing technologies that will improve the health and safety of our GM team members at our manufacturing plants throughout the world. Partnerships between organizations such as GM and NASA help ensure space exploration, road travel and manufacturing can become even safer in the future."

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Through the Lens: A Snapshot of Mumbai

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Culture Clash

On The Streets Of Mumbai

There’s a street just around the corner and down the footpath from the Churchgate train station. I couldn’t tell you the address of this place, but I could describe it as bordering one of Mumbai’s several maidens, or grass malls, and housing a line of cheap clothing stalls. It doesn’t much matter the address, as Mumbaikers generally describe locations based on what they’re across from or next to. A result of being a city in two languages, I imagine. And I’m certain the families who live on this street – who’ve lived on this street, up against the surrounding fences and in the nearby gullies for the past 40 years – don’t have any need for an actual address.

It doesn’t much matter the address, as Mumbaikers generally describe locations based on what they’re across from or next to. A result of being a city in two languages, I imagine.

The streets of Bombay smell of warm piss and cooling feces. This isn’t surprising given that over 14 million Indians call the city home. With more people per square kilometer than any other city in the world, Bombay (re-named Mumbai in 2006) is over 14 times more populous than New York City. And Americans wonder why Asians have a different sense of personal space.

Artist in the Making

It’s impossible to step foot out of a Mumbai house (and often even inside one) without tripping over some form of humanity. There are hapless businessmen dressed in slacks and long-sleeve Oxford shirts, unaware that other parts of the world practice a thing called short sleeves in this kind of heat. There are hordes of schoolchildren: girls with thick, shiny, black plaited hair and boys with varying levels of pre-pubescent acne. There are beggars who wheel themselves on small wooden boards, reminiscent of the yellow plastic scooters I played with as a child in elementary school physical education. There are hawkers – half of them children – who’ve ascertained my need for a coloring book or to have my shoes polished (He ends up polishing my sandal and half of my foot) and are relentless in convincing me of this fact. I search and search but the dogs asleep on the pavement and the rats dead in the gutters outnumber any other white person I see. And I see lots of people.

The Encounter

Hands that Speak Volumes

“How old are you?” I ask in slow English, crouched down on my haunches as if I were an Indian myself. She wobbles her head like Indians do, the whites of her eyes large in the glow of the stall lights. The Indian head wobble can mean any of a thousand things, but in this case it indicates shyness and her lack of understanding. “You”, I articulate again, touching my finger to her tiny chest. Four? Five? I hold up my fingers, clean and white.

My guide translates my question into Hindi and the little girl holds up six fingers. “She says she’s six”, my guide reiterates, “but I think she’s five”, and I wonder if anyone at all knows this little girl’s actual date of birth.

Smile

I pull my camera from my backpack and, in the international language of I Don’t Speak Yours, state my request to take the little girl’s photo. With the aid of technology, shyness melts into the heat of the evening, and little hands clamber up my sides, groping for the glow of a screen that has captured her image. Her fingers are dry and grimy and she smells of dust and petrol fumes. Her hair is slightly matted and her teeth gleam white against her dark skin. She continues to play my body like a jungle gym until, at last, she flops down onto a pile of plastic bags and begins unwrapping a tinfoil ball, which, I find, contains the Indian bread, roti. I don’t know the address of where I am in the dark heat of Mumbai, but I know now why I’ve come.

Editors notes:
Hannah Barth is currently in India volunteering for Hamara Footpath. This grassroots organization combines education with playtime activities and is designed around the city’s street children. Their goal: Give a child the tools to reclaim their childhood. (Hannah will be on the move again in the near future.)
All photos are courtesy of the author: Hannah Barth

© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. |
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