redOrbit Tours NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center – Part 1: Orion Heat Shield – Video


redOrbit Tours NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center - Part 1: Orion Heat Shield
On a tour of NASA #39;s Marshall Space Flight Center, redOrbit was given the opportunity to view the recently returned heat shield from the Orion spacecraft. Built to send humans farther than...

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redOrbit Tours NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center - Part 1: Orion Heat Shield - Video

Rocket Bound for Space Station Rolls Out in the Kazakh Steppes

TIME Science space Rocket Bound for Space Station Rolls Out in the Kazakh Steppes The Russian Soyuz that will carry Scott Kelly to space for a year has its coming-out party in the frigid pre-dawn

All activity stops in the vicinity of a Soyuz rocket after the dog walks. The dog will walk on a lot of occasions, but especially the day the rocket rolls out to the pad. The two kilometer (1.25 mi.) trip takes more than two hours to complete, with the rocket lying on a flat-bed rail car and the train chugging no faster than 5 km/h, (3 mph) making multiple stops along the way.

MORE: Watch the Trailer for TIMEs Unprecedented New Series: A Year In Space

At one point en route, the rail line crosses a road, and even on the locked-down, sealed-off grounds of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, that calls for special securitya bomb-sniffing dog to check the crossing when the train is still at least half a kilometer away. If youre on the wrong side of the track after that, youre out of luck. Nothing at all moves until the rocket crawls past, making its exceedingly slow way to the padpreparatory to making its exceedingly fast way to space a couple of days later.

Like everything else in the Russian space program, the rollout proceeds according to ritualdetermined by the needs of both the very breakable machines and the very superstitious people who build and fly them. Before dawn on March 25, the Soyuz set to carry astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonauts Gennady Pedalka and Mikhail Kornienko to the International Space Stationwith Kelly and Kornienko scheduled to spend a year aloftemerged slowly from its hangar.

Factoring in the wind chill, it was 18 F (-8 C) in the Kazakh steppe, with the engine pulling the Soyuz the only thing anywhere emitting any heatand not much at that. The Soyuz emerges business end first, which is to say bottom end first, and thats a good way to meet it. It takes 20 engines bundled in five clusters to produce the thrust the rocket will need to muscle itself off the ground. The top of the rocket where the crew rides ride is the prettier endpainted white and decorated with a Russian flag and the Roscosmos logobut the men will never get to space in the first place without the fire the engines provide.

The route to the launch pad is lined by technicians, security officers and other personnel, including a Russian Orthodox priest, who will bless the rocket and the crew the following day. Amiko Kauderer, Kellys significant other, is here as well and while shes plenty inured to the idea of space flightthis will be Kellys fourth time aloftshe is as struck by the sheer physicality of the rocket as anyone else.

Isnt it gorgeous? she says. My guys got a hot ride.

The most prominent people not in attendance are the crewmen themselves, and thats not only because theyre in pre-flight medical quarantine. Its T-minus 64 hours, says astronaut Mike Fincke, who has himself launched twice from Baikonur and today is serving the traditional role of astronaut escort to a fellow astronauts familyin this case Kauderer and Kellys two daughters, Samantha, 20, and Charlotte, 11. The crew has a lot of other things to do, but its also part of the tradition and superstition for them to stay away. Its like not seeing the bride before the wedding.

When the Soyuz reaches the pad, it still must be stood upright, a process that was once called its erection, until everyone just got tired of the jokesespecially after the Americans began flying out of the old Soviet space port. Now the term is verticalizing.

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Rocket Bound for Space Station Rolls Out in the Kazakh Steppes

Red Riding Hood heads to Ffwrnes, Llanelli

IT will be magic, music and fun for all the family when Red Riding Hood heads to Llanelli next month.

Magic Light Productions will be bringing the traditional tale to Llanelli on Saturday, April 4.

The cast, including husband and wife team Jayne and Stuart Loughland, will be appearing on the Ffwrnes stage for the modern adaptation.

The couple decided to hit the road with their magic and illusions after working with national favourites the Chuckle Brothers for 13 years.

The story sees Granny Hood (Stuart Loughland), who lives in a cottage in the woods, visit Red Riding Hood (Libby Edwards) and unknowingly delivers her a Magic Red Cloak created by the Good Fairy of the forest.

Meanwhile, in another part of the wood, a suave and sophisticated wolf is looking for something appetising to eat.

There is only one person who can save the day Little Red Riding Hood, but she is not alone.

She is accompanied on her adventure by her best friends Muddles (Steve Bloor) and Russell Sprout.

Jayne, who will play Fairy Blossom, said: "We are very much looking forward to coming to Llanelli.

"We are based in north Wales and a lot of our shows will be in theatres across Wales.

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Red Riding Hood heads to Ffwrnes, Llanelli

After Being Cut by Buccaneers, Brandon Magee Heads to Red Sox Camp

By Jeff Pini

Boston.com Staff | 03.25.15 | 7:59 PM

The next Bo Jackson? Probably not, but Brandon Magee may try to make it in MLB after previously suiting up in the NFL.

The linebacker and outfielder out of Arizona State was waived by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday, but wasted no time in reporting to Fort Myers to take part in Red Sox spring training, Magee told the Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday.

Magee, played both football and baseball in college, appearing in 27 baseball games and hitting .103. He was drafted three times by MLB teams: the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, the Oakland As in 2011, and the Red Sox in 2012. After the Sox took him in the 23rd round of the 2012 draft, Magee signed a multi-year deal with the team, but has yet to make his pro debut. He worked out with the Red Sox during spring training in 2014 before signing with the Bucs during the summer.

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Pursuing a career in the NFL, Magee went undrafted in 2013, but signed as a free agent with the Dallas Cowboys. He notched 16 tackles in the preseason and was released before the start of the 2013 season.

Magee was claimed by the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 1, 2013 and saw time in eight games that season, recording five tackles. He was then waived by the Browns after the season and later joined the Bucs, where he spent the 2014 season playing mostly on special teams and registering seven tackles.

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After Being Cut by Buccaneers, Brandon Magee Heads to Red Sox Camp

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo unlikely to get race-winning engine this season, says Renault boss

Joe Armao/Fairfax Australia

NEEDING SPEED: Daniel Ricciardo taking his Red Bull out for a spin before the Australian GP in Melbourne.

Renault's Formula One boss says Daniel Ricciardo isn't likely to get a race-winning engine this season.

The French manufacturer supplies power units to Red Bull Racing and sister outfit Toro Rosso, but have struggled since the move to V6 turbo hybrids in 2014.

Drivers from both teams complained of poor driveability over the Australian Grand Prix weekend in Melbourne, with two cars - including Ricciardo's - suffering engine failure.

Renault says it has worked hard in the off-season to try narrow the gap to last year's runaway championship winners Mercedes, but to no avail.

"A race-winning engine on merit is not something that is going to happen this year, we know that," Cyril Abiteboul, who heads up Renault Sport's F1 programme, told Autosport.

"But to win races, it is not just the engine but also the car and the drivers."

In another interview with French magazine AUTOhebdo, Abiteboul reportedly accused Red Bull's technical boss Adrian Newey of lying by blaming the RB11's problems on the power unit.

He said there were also issues with the car's chassis.

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Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo unlikely to get race-winning engine this season, says Renault boss

N.A.S.A. – "Hands Up, Don’t Shoot! feat. Sean Paul and Lizzo" (Official Music Video) – Video


N.A.S.A. - "Hands Up, Don #39;t Shoot! feat. Sean Paul and Lizzo" (Official Music Video)
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N.A.S.A. - "Hands Up, Don't Shoot! feat. Sean Paul and Lizzo" (Official Music Video) - Video

NASA opts to grab a boulder, not the whole asteroid

In this computer graphic, NASA's proposed ARM -- Asteroid Redirect Mission -- spacecraft settles to the surface of an asteroid and locks onto a boulder targeted for return to the vicinity of the moon for hands-on analysis by spacewalking astronauts. NASA

After an extended review, NASA has opted to forego capturing a small asteroid as an interim step on the road to sending astronauts to Mars. Instead, the agency will focus on robotically plucking a sizable boulder from the surface of an asteroid and returning it to the vicinity of the moon for analysis by spacewalking astronauts in the mid 2020s, officials said Wednesday.

Agency managers said the mission will serve as a testbed for technologies needed for eventual deep space missions, give NASA astronauts experience interacting with another body, provide new insights into the birth and evolution of the solar system and shed light on what might be needed to someday divert an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.

"When you think about what we're trying to do with this Asteroid Redirect Mission, it's bringing together the best of NASA's human exploration, its science portfolio, technology portfolio and really gives us an opportunity to demonstrate capabilities we're going to need for future human missions beyond low-Earth orbit and then ultimately, to Mars," said Robert Lightfoot, the NASA manager overseeing the project.

The Asteroid Redirect Mission, or ARM, is the centerpiece of the Obama administration's post-shuttle, post-space station plan to send astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit, bypassing the moon in favor of one or more piloted flights to get hands-on experience with a nearby asteroid in the mid 2020s. NASA's long-range goal is a flight to orbit or land on Mars in the 2030s.

The ARM project has drawn fire from many space advocates and scientists who argue it is not necessary and that NASA's time and money would be better spent on a return to the moon to perfect the technologies needed for eventual Mars missions.

In any case, NASA managers and engineers have been studying two basic ARM options. In one, an entire asteroid would be captured and hauled back to the vicinity of the moon for detailed study by astronauts using NASA's new Orion crew capsule. The other option calls for collecting a large boulder as a more manageable, representative sample.

NASA managers met Tuesday and selected Option B, deciding it offered the best chance for success and a better fit with the agency's long-range plans.

"At the end of the day, we selected the option (where) we're going to go to an asteroid and take a boulder off of it," Lightfoot told reporters during an afternoon teleconference. "Let's get on with it, so we can get this next key step in our journey to Mars moving on."

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NASA opts to grab a boulder, not the whole asteroid

NASAs Plan to Give the Moon a Moon

It sounds almost like a late 90s sci-fi flick: NASA sends a spacecraft to an asteroid, plucks a boulder off its surface with a robotic claw, and brings it back in orbit around the moon. Then, brave astronaut heroes go and study the space rock up closeand bring samples back to Earth.

Except its not a movie: Thats the real-life idea for the Asteroid Redirect Mission, which NASA announced today. Other than simply being an awesome space version of the claw arcade game (you know you really wanted that stuffed Pikachu), the mission will let NASA test technology and practice techniques needed for going to Mars.

The mission, which will cost up to$1.25 billion, is slated to launch in December 2020. It will take about two years to reach the asteroid(the most likely candidate is aquarter-mile-wide rock called 2008 EV5). The spacecraft will spend up to 400 days there, looking for a good boulder. After picking onemaybe around 13 feet in diameterit will bring the rockover to the moon.In 2025, astronauts will fly NASAs still-to-be-built Orion to dock with the asteroid-carrying spacecraft and study the rock up close.

Although the mission would certainly give scientists an up-close opportunity to look at an asteroid, itsmain purpose is as a testing ground for a Mars mission. The spacecraft will test a solar electronic propulsion system, which uses the power from solar panels to pump out charged particles to provide thrust. Its slower than conventional rockets, but a lot more efficient. You cant lug a lot of rocket fuel to Mars.

Overall, the mission gives NASA a chance at practicing precise navigation and maneuvering techniques that theyll need to master for a Mars mission. Such a trip will also require a lot more cargo, so grabbing and maneuvering a big space rock is good practice. Entering lunar orbit and docking with another spacecraft would also be helpful, as the orbit might be a place for a deep-space habitat, a rendezvous point for astronauts to pick up cargo or stop on their way to Mars.

Andyou knew this part was coming, Armageddonfansthe mission might teach NASA something about preventing an asteroid from striking Earth. After grabbing the boulder, the spacecraft will orbit the asteroid. With the added heft from the rock, the spacecraftsextra gravity would nudge the asteroid, creating a slight change in trajectory that NASA could measure from Earth. Were not talking about a large deflection here, says Robert Lightfoot, an associate administrator at NASA. But the idea is that a similar technique could push a threatening asteroid off a collision course with Earth.

NASA chose this mission concept over one that wouldve bagged an entire asteroid. In that plan, the spacecraft wouldve captured the space rockby enclosing it in a giant, flexible container. The claw concept won out because its rendezvous and soft-landing on the asteroid will allow NASA to test and practice more capabilities in preparation for a Mars mission, Lightfoot says. The claw wouldve also given more chances at grabbing a space rock, whereas it was all or nothing with the bag idea. Its a one-shot deal, he says. It is what it is when we get there. But the claw concept offers some choices. Ive got three to five opportunities to pull one of the boulders off, he says. Not bad odds. Better than winning that Pikachu.

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NASAs Plan to Give the Moon a Moon

Are nanoparticles the answer to cancer?

Story highlights Scientists in the U.S. are applying nanotechnology research to the battle against cancer and Ebola Man-made nanostructures would attach themselves to viruses or cancerous cells, nullifying them Nanostructured surfaces are already in use for medical conditions and implants, reducing the risk of infection

From targeted remedies such as monoclonal antibodies to surgery, cancer has still managed to elude a treatment that discretely and separately attacks it alone.

Nanotechnologies, however - the manipulation of matter at a molecular and even atomic scale to penetrate living cells -- are holding out the promise of opening a new front against deadly conditions from cancer to Ebola.

According to Dr Thomas Webster, the chair of chemical engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, research into medical nanotechnology is gaining pace and the medical establishment is starting to sit up and pay attention.

At the core of the technology is the ability to attach drugs, and in some cases metals and minerals, to nanoparticles that would then bind themselves to life threatening cancer cells or viruses.

In one study, Dr Webster's team is developing methods to attach gold nanoparticles to cancer cells.

Infrared light would then heat up the nanoparticles, killing the cancer cells with heat but leaving the healthy cells alive to do their job.

"This technology has been studied for the better part of a decade, but we're looking at ways of making it better," Dr Webster told CNN. "One that we've created in the lab we've called 'nanostars.'

"A star shape has a lot more surface area, so they can kill cancer cells faster than a nanosphere because they heat up faster.

"Even if it's carrying a drug, a star has a lot more surface area on which to attach it -- it's got a different morphology."

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Are nanoparticles the answer to cancer?

Nanotech offers hope fighting cancer

Story highlights Scientists in the U.S. are applying nanotechnology research to the battle against cancer and Ebola Man-made nanostructures would attach themselves to viruses or cancerous cells, nullifying them Nanostructured surfaces are already in use for medical conditions and implants, reducing the risk of infection

From targeted remedies such as monoclonal antibodies to surgery, cancer has still managed to elude a treatment that discretely and separately attacks it alone.

Nanotechnologies, however - the manipulation of matter at a molecular and even atomic scale to penetrate living cells -- are holding out the promise of opening a new front against deadly conditions from cancer to Ebola.

According to Dr Thomas Webster, the chair of chemical engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, research into medical nanotechnology is gaining pace and the medical establishment is starting to sit up and pay attention.

At the core of the technology is the ability to attach drugs, and in some cases metals and minerals, to nanoparticles that would then bind themselves to life threatening cancer cells or viruses.

In one study, Dr Webster's team is developing methods to attach gold nanoparticles to cancer cells.

Infrared light would then heat up the nanoparticles, killing the cancer cells with heat but leaving the healthy cells alive to do their job.

"This technology has been studied for the better part of a decade, but we're looking at ways of making it better," Dr Webster told CNN. "One that we've created in the lab we've called 'nanostars.'

"A star shape has a lot more surface area, so they can kill cancer cells faster than a nanosphere because they heat up faster.

"Even if it's carrying a drug, a star has a lot more surface area on which to attach it -- it's got a different morphology."

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Nanotech offers hope fighting cancer

Czech Republic has potential to become world leader in nanotechnology, says deputy PM

The Czech Republic has the potential to become a world leader in nanotechnology, Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Blobrdek said on Tuesday, referring to the countrys long-term commitment in research and development in the field. A patent dating back to 2004 proved a game changer and a number of firms have since added to the initial success.

Ji Fusek, photo: archive of Ji Fusek I spoke to nanotechnology sector specialist Ji Fusek of CzechInvest, asking him if he agreed the Czech Republic could be a bigger player in the field.

I think so and it was great to hear the deputy prime minister speaking in those terms, showing that support for Czech nanotechnology internationally as a priority. Nanotechnology is still a young field but now I would say that we are reaching a more mature stage of development, which is also easier for companies or investors to approach.

2004 is cited as a milestone year why that year?

It is largely thanks to the patent registered on advanced electro-spinning, which was invented at the Technical University in Liberec by Professor Jirsk. The same year Elmarco began the commercialization of the patent and was successful, now with branches in the US and Japan. Because of this patent, the Czech Republic gained international recognition and new companies were able to develop final applications using Nano fibres.

Other companies have been involved in creating veterinary applications and now are moving in the field of human medicine or in the creation of electron microscopes. The company Tescan, which has some 1,600 installations all over the world and cover one-third of the market in Korea one of the most advanced countries in the world in this field.

Photo: Filip Jandourek A new nanotechnology industry association was formed in the Czech Republic last year: how important a step was it?

I think it was definitely important and it has worked quite well. It would also be great to become a part of European and international structures to promote Czech nanotechnology there. We are grateful that a conference held on the subject on Tuesday was attended by the ECs Christos Tokamanis and he promised to help the association become a part of European projects which would clearly be a big help.

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Czech Republic has potential to become world leader in nanotechnology, says deputy PM