Mars has quite a bit more water than previously thought, according to a new report in the journal Science. NASA said its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted ice at five new Martian craters, likely kicked up by meteor impacts [Reuters]. It’s no surprise that the NASA orbiter found water, it’s the size of the find—twice as much as in Greenland’s ice sheet—that surprised scientists. The ice is just under the surface, so it was only visible after the recent meteor impacts.
The ice was found half way between the north pole and the equator, which is the farthest south ice has been found on Mars. Scientists believe that water once flowed across the planet, but most thought the surface had been largely dry and parched, with planet-wide dust storms, for billions of years. They had long known that water ice and carbon dioxide ice accumulated at the poles in winter, but until now, they had no idea how far from the poles the underground ice sheet extended [Los Angeles Times].
This image shows two craters with blueish ice, which—when exposed to the Martian atmosphere—sublimates over the course of 15 weeks.
Related Content:
Bad Astronomy: Water on (shakes Magic 8 ball) Mars this time
80beats: Solar Protons + Lunar Dust = Lots of Water on the Moon
80beats: The Real Problem With a Human Trip to Mars: Radiation
80beats: Buzz Aldrin Speaks Out: Forget the Moon, Let’s Head to Mars
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
In a move that may give electric cars a literal and figurative boost forward, five battery-recharging stations have been established on California’s Highway 101, which will give certain electric cars enough juice to drive all the way from San Francisco to Los Angeles with one less-than-one-hour stop to recharge. But there’s a catch: At the moment, only Tesla Roadsters can charge at the stations [The New York Times].
One of the biggest concerns regarding all-electric cars is the limited driving range provided by a fully charged battery. The Tesla Roadster, for example, can go about 250 miles before pooping out, inspiring the new term “range anxiety”–the fear of running out of juice far from your home recharging station. This project is meant to demonstrate that ubiquitous availability of fast-charging stations could make that point moot [The New York Times].
(more…)
The presidential panel that recently evaluated the U.S. plan for manned spaceflight declared that “Mars is the ultimate destination for human exploration,” but stressed the financial and technical difficulties that must be overcome before a boot can be planted on that red soil. Now, the New Scientist calls attention to the greatest technical hurdle: protecting astronauts from radiation during their trips to Mars.
The radiation comes in the form of cosmic rays, which are actually speeding protons and heavier atomic nuclei that rain onto our solar system from all directions. They can slice through DNA molecules when they pass through living cells and the resulting damage can lead to cancer [New Scientist]. The residents of Earth and the temporary lodgers at the International Space Station are protected from the rays by the Earth’s magnetic field, but astronauts heading to Mars would have no natural protection. Aluminum or plastic shielding on a spacecraft would have to be impractically thick to safeguard astronauts, and other solutions, like the creation of a miniature magnetic field around the spaceship, are still being developed.
(more…)
The Northrop Grumman Lunar Landing Contest, a competition designed to get private space companies more involved in helping replace NASA’s aging fleet, just began its second phase on Saturday with three teams vying for a $1 million prize.
Scorpius, a 1,900-pound, rocket-powered craft, built by Armadillo Aerospace, ascended 50 meters (164 feet) into the air, flew over to land on a simulated rocky lunar surface 50 meters (164 feet) away, and then rose and flew back to land where it started. The flight included a requirement of at least 180 seconds of flying time [SPACE.com].
The successful landing puts Armadillo in a comfortable position as it waits to see if the other teams can complete the takeoffs and landings. If they can’t, Armadillo will walk home with the cash. The team also won the $350,000 phase 1 competition, a similar mock landing that only required 90 seconds of flight time.
The competition is part of the X Prize Foundation, which funds projects that benefit humanity and has already forked over $10 million to achieve a privately funded manned spaceflight. Peter Diamandis, founder and chairman of the foundation, called Saturday’s flight “a stepping stone toward suborbital tourism, rocket racing and landing on the moon” [Dallas Observer]. The two other teams are scheduled to attempt the phase 2 landing in October.
Related Content:
80beats: Armadillo Aerospace Wins $350,000 in Lunar Landing Contest
80beats: Internet Millionaire’s Privately Funded Rocket Reaches Orbit
80beats: The “NASCAR of the Skies” Sends up Its First Rocket
80beats: Virgin Galactic Unveils Its New Space Tourism Rocket
Image: Armadillo Aerospace
The 28-year-old hacker Albert Gonzalez who stole credit and debit card numbers from millions of people pleaded guilty on Friday to 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Gonzalez, also known by his handles “Soupnazi” and “Segvec,” reached a deal with the federal government on charges brought against him in Massachusetts and New York, where he and his co-conspirators stole more than 40 million card numbers from retailers like T.J. Maxx and Barnes & Noble. Gonzalez and his co-conspirators sold the numbers to others for fraudulent use and engaged in ATM fraud by encoding the data on the magnetic stripes of blank cards and withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars at a time from ATMs [PC World], according to the Department of Justice.
Gonzalez faces a prison sentence of 15 to 25 years in Massachusetts and a maximum sentence of 20 years in New York, but based on the terms of his plea agreements the sentences will be served concurrently. Gonzalez also agreed to pay restitution for the loss suffered by his victims, and to forfeit more than $2.7 million, plus real estate, a 2006 BMW, a Tiffany diamond ring and Rolex watches, the DOJ said. Included in the forfeited currency is more than $1 million in cash, which Gonzalez had buried in a container in his backyard [PC World]. He’ll be sentenced in December for the Massachusetts and New York cases, but that’s far from the end of his legal troubles.
(more…)
In an experiment that might be classified more as a cool party trick than a scientific breakthrough, researchers levitated a mouse using a powerful superconducting magnet. Other scientists have previously levitated frogs and bugs using the same technique, but the floating mouse was the first mammal to have the honor. The trick works because the magnet generates a strong magnetic field, and because the water in the mouse’s body is weakly diamagnetic–it generates a magnetic field of its own that pushes back against the external field. Since the researchers had a strong enough magnet, the repulsive force generated by the water in each mouse cell combined to make its whole body float.
The researchers used a tiny three-week-old mouse that was only as heavy as a stack of four pennies. When the scientists levitated the youngster it appeared agitated and disoriented, seemingly trying to hold on to something. “It actually kicked around and started to spin, and without friction, it could spin faster and faster, and we think that made it even more disoriented,” said researcher Yuanming Liu…. They decided to mildly sedate the next mouse they levitated, which seemed content with floating [LiveScience].
The technique will be a boon for space research, the scientists say. “We’re trying to see what kind of physiological impact is due to prolonged microgravity, and also what kind of countermeasures might work against it for astronauts,” Liu said. “If we can contribute to the future human exploration of space, that would be very exciting” [LiveScience].
Related Content:
80beats: Despite Exercise, Zero-G Makes Astronauts as Wimpy as 80-Year-Olds
DISCOVER: Works in Progress explores solutions to the health effects of living in space
DISCOVER: Floating Frog
Image: Da-Ming Zhu et al.
Engines powered by chemical fuel? How passé. For the spacecraft with truly modern flair, an ion thruster is the only way to go. Such a system might not provide powerful and dramatic bursts of speed, but space agencies around the world are recognizing the benefits of its slow-and-steady approach, which is just what’s needed for cruising between planets.
Ion propulsion works by electrically charging, or ionizing, a gas and accelerating the resulting ions to propel a spacecraft. The concept was conceived more than 50 years ago, and the first spacecraft to use the technology was Deep Space 1 in 1998. Since then … there have only been a few other noncommercial spacecrafts that have used ion propulsion [Technology Review]. However, the technology has a clear advantage over chemical propulsion when it comes to long distance missions, because a very small amount of gas can carry a spacecraft a long way. Astronautics expert Alexander Bruccoleri explains that with chemical propulsion, “You are limited in what you can bring to space because you have to carry a rocket that is mostly fuel” [Technology Review].
Now, a European Space Agency (ESA) probe will use four ion thrusters to scoot all the way to Mercury, the planet nearest to the sun. That mission won’t launch until 2014, but ESA officials say the $37 million propulsion system will be the most efficient yet, and will also be the most ambitious test of the technology to date. The Mercury probe will be launched by a conventional rocket, and will continue to use chemical propulsion until it’s out of Earth orbit. When it begins its six-year cruise to Mercury, though, its ion thrusters will kick in. The system will draw electricity from solar panels; as the xenon ions pass through the electrified grids they accelerate to up to 50km a second (31 miles per second) and shoot from the rear in a parallel beam. On Earth, at sea level, the thrust would be just enough to lift a pound coin. In space, however, the same thrust will create a much much bigger lift [Telegraph].
(more…)
In future military operations, aircraft and submarines may be able to stay in contact by firing up the laser comm. Researchers have devised a new way to communicate with submarines by using high-energy laser beams to create bubbles of steam in the water, which then pop in little explosions that generate a 220-decibel pulse of sound. By controlling the frequency of explosions, researchers could make a kind of underwater Morse code.
According to a press release from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, one of the peculiar effects of high-intensity laser beams is that they can actually focus themselves when passing through some materials, like water. As the laser focuses, it rips electrons off water molecules, which then become superheated and create a powerful “pop”. Because different colours of light travel at markedly different speeds underwater, the precise location where different colours focus together could be manipulated by the suitable design of a many-coloured input pulse [BBC News].
(more…)
The Mount Wilson Observatory has allowed astronomers to gaze at the heavens for more than a century from a peak in the San Gabriel Mountains, just northeast of Los Angeles, but the devastating conflagration known as the Station Fire that ripped through the Angeles National Forest over the past week had stargazers wondering if the historic facility was about to go up in smoke. The flames got so close at one point that firefighters abandoned the facility, but now L.A. County Deputy Fire Chief Jim Powers has assured astronomers that he foresees “another hundred years for Mount Wilson Observatory.” This is the story of how firefighters saved the birthplace of modern astronomy as well as a virtual forest of communication towers that serve the region [AP].
On Monday night, the scene was grim. The observatory had been hastily evacuated that day, and only two-dozen firefighters stood overnight sentry, positioned along the gloomy perimeters of the observatory and towers. A greater number might have been deployed, but there were more pressing priorities in the urban elevations — the protection of hillside homes [Los Angeles Times]. By daybreak, fire chiefs made the call to retreat from the mountaintop, where firefighters could easily be trapped by the oncoming flames. “It’s not worth dying for,” said Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Martin [Los Angeles Times].
(more…)
It may not look a day over 35, but the Internet turned 40 years old today. On September 2, 1969, computer scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, hooked up two computers via a 15-foot cable, allowing them to exchange data. It marked a milestone in the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, or ARPANET, which later gave rise to the Internet.
Still, it wasn’t until October 29 of the same year that the first message was sent between computer nodes; for that reason, some say the Internet was really born at the end of October. In any case, the Internet has come a long way since 1969: The first message was supposed to be “login” but [computer scientist Leonard] Kleinrock was only able to type “lo” before the system crashed [ABC News]. Now, life without the Web seems almost unimaginable (especially to these bloggers!). It’s impossible to get your brain around all that the Internet is and what is has done for us these 40 years. Luckily, the Internet is organized in such a way that we don’t have to [NPR].
Related Content:
80beats: 40 Years Ago Today, the World Saw Its First Personal Computer
80beats: Twitter Security Breach Reveals Confidential Company Documents
80beats: “Interplanetary Internet” Will Soon Bring Twitter to the ISS
80beats: China’s Internet Users Force Government to Back Down on Censorship
Image: flickr /Justin Marty
Every time you go online, your privacy is at stake. As you surf Web sites and enter search terms, large Internet companies and ad networks are collecting data about you, your hobbies, your habits, and your purchases in order to figure out which ads to display for you next. The companies argue that this practice, known as behavioral advertising, produces ads that are far more relevant to users than simply spamming them with whatever is selling that week, but privacy advocates are concerned about the amount of data that is being collected and what might be happening with that data behind the scenes [CNET].
Earlier this year a congressional committee held hearings on the topic, and asked for input from privacy groups. On Tuesday, representatives from a range of privacy and consumer protection groups asked the House Commerce Committee to prohibit online marketers from collecting sensitive data, require them to inform users what the data is being collected for and give individuals the right to see data collected about them [Wired.com]. U.S. Representative Rick Boucher of Virginia is expected to introduce a privacy bill this fall, and privacy advocates are hopeful that he’ll incorporate their ideas.
The off-limits “sensitive data” could include information about an Internet user’s race, political activity, and sexual orientation, as well as medical and financial data. The privacy groups also said in their recommendations (pdf) that data should not be collected from any user under the age of 18, if age could be determined. They also suggest that Web sites and advertisers only retain behavioral data for 24 hours, after which they must receive consent from users or get rid of it [The Wall Street Journal], in what amounts to an “opt-in” system for consumers.
(more…)
Go ahead, let your teenagers play another few minutes of Tetris, that simple-yet-addictive puzzle game; it may well be good for their brain. Researchers have new evidence that playing Tetris makes a developing brain more efficient and thicker in certain regions.
The small study was conducted by neuroscientist Richard Haier, who was one of the first neuroscientists to explore the effects of video games on the brain. Back in 1992, Haier used brain scans to discover that some parts of the brain actually used less glucose as the players became more skilled at the game. The “Tetris effect” illustrated how video-game training could make brains work more efficiently – an idea that eventually led to a whole host of brain-training games [MSNBC]. For the new study, Haier updated his work by using newer, more sophisticated brain scanning technology to look for changes in the brains of adolescent girls after three months of Tetris playing. Adolescent girls were chosen because their brains were still developing, and because they were presumed to have less experience with video games than boys.
(more…)
A petition that seeks a posthumous apology from the British government for its treatment of Alan Turing, a key WWII codebreaker and a father of computer science, has garnished more than 5,500 signatures. Among the signatories are the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and the novelist Ian McEwan.
In 1952, Turing was found guilty of gross indecency after admitting to a sexual relationship with a man (homosexuality was illegal at the time). His sentence? Estrogen injections in an experimental chemical castration treatment, along with the removal of his security clearance, thereby costing him his job for the U.K. Government. Two years later, he ended his life with a poison-laced apple–but not before he had made significant contributions to the world of computer science. In 1936 he established the conceptual and philosophical basis for the rise of computers in a seminal paper called On Computable Numbers, while in 1950 he devised a test to measure the intelligence of a machine. Today it is known as the Turing Test [BBC].
Many say that had Turing’s life not ended prematurely, he could have advanced the worlds of computer science and codebreaking even further. “There is no doubt in my mind that if Turing had lived past age 41 his international impact would have been great and that he likely would have received a knighthood while alive” [CNN], wrote computer scientist John Graham-Cumming, who initiated the petition.
Related Content:
80beats: Attack That Took Down Twitter May’ve Been Aimed at Just One Blogger
80beats: Twitter Security Breach Reveals Confidential Company Documents
80beats: Cyber Attack Hits Government Web Sites; North Korea Is Blamed
Image: flickr / Wikimedia Commons. A statue of Turing at the University of Manchester.
It would be funny if it weren’t so serious: While some skeptics are still ignoring the scientific evidence and insisting that global warming is a hoax, engineers and scientists are already looking for the best “plan B” that can help out humanity in the likely event that the world’s governments can’t agree to cut carbon dioxide emissions fast enough to prevent serious global consequences. Just last week Britain’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers released their picks for the most realistic geoengineering tactics, and now the Royal Society, Britain’s top science academy, has weighed in with its suggestions.
A 12-member working group of scientists, engineers, an economist, a social scientist, and a lawyer spent nearly a year examining technologies, such as fertilizing the oceans to suck down atmospheric carbon dioxide or orbiting giant mirrors to deflect sunlight [ScienceInsider]. The subsequent report (pdf) argues that many of the most-hyped geoengineering ideas are simply too risky, including the proposal to fertilize the ocean to create carbon-absorbing algae blooms. “Most of the things that have gone wrong in the past have happened when we’ve tampered with biological systems” [New Scientist], says John Shepherd, who chaired the report committee.
The report separates geoengineering tactics into two basic approaches: those that reflect sunlight back into space to cool down the planet, and those that remove the heat-trapping gas carbon dioxide from the air. Of the two strategies, the report concluded that those involving the removal of carbon dioxide were preferable, as they effectively return the climate system closer to its pre-industrial state. But the authors found that many of these options were currently too expensive to implement widely. This included “carbon capture and storage” methods, which require CO2 be captured directly from power plants and stored under the Earth’s surface [BBC News]. Yet carbon capture and storage projects have been touted as an important response to global warming by power plants and governments alike.
(more…)
