Nasa explains its Mars voyage strategies

Nasa has detailed how a hypothetical manned mission to Mars would work. But while that’s a dream, the agency is funding attempts to use private firms to cut the costs of space travel.

The Mars mission is outlined in an interview with Imaginova (the firm behind Space.com) which has been syndicated to sites such as Fox News. It details how there are two main options being explored.

The first is to use a nuclear reactor to heat a gas to temperatures high enough to produce enough thrust to complete the journey. The second option is based on current space shuttle technology: a chemical engine using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. With both techniques, the return journey would be powered by on-board methane and liquid oxygen taken from Mars’ atmosphere.

However the astronauts got there, there would be plenty of preparation work. The plan would be to get as much equipment in place as possible through unmanned vehicles. This could involve using equipment to produce oxygen and even water from Mars’ natural resources so that it was ready for the astronauts when they arrived.

With the astronauts expected to spend as long as 500 days on Mars, they’d have to be completely self-sufficient, particularly given a 40 minute delay in communications with Earth. There are even plans to have equipment on board the manned shuttle to grow fresh vegetables.

While visiting Mars is still merely an idea, Nasa is already exploring new ways of funding journeys closer to home. It’s paying $500 million to private companies which want to run commercial space flights. The firms have been given until the end of next year to conclusively demonstrate they can get private vehicles to the International Space Station and back.

If they meet this target, they will get contracts worth $1.6 billion for 12 supply mission to the statement, approximately one third of the amount it currently costs Nasa to carry out such operations. Using private firms is seen as a way of solving the shortfall in public funding without having to rely on foreign governments.


PC Repairmen Cannot be Trusted!

Well, I’m not saying ALL PC Repairmen are evil bastards, but after looking at the following video, it certainly looks so! Fortunately, I know of several computer technicians who are very honest, so if you need your computer fixed, don’t lose hope! I, for instance, have been doing computer service for the past 10 years on evenings and during the weekends and have never done something like this.

One Trillion Dollars Visualized

It’s official, trillion is the new billion. No longer is government spending talked about in terms of a mere ten digits. With the recent flurry of government spending, we are going to need another three zeros to make sense of it all. One trillion dollars is a number that few people can comprehend, let alone your standard nine digit calculator. So what does one trillion dollars look like?

[Via Mint]

Google Wave to come ashore in September

Google has announced it will launch its integrated communication tool Wave at the end of September. It appears to be a service that is only as good as the way people choose to use it, though the Google brand name will give it a much stronger chance of acceptance.

The firm has announced that the tool, currently open only to 25,000 developers, will be released to 100,000 members of the public on 30 September, then opened to everyone around a month later.

So what is Google Wave? Well, perhaps the best way to describe it is to imagine the grandchild of Gmail, Google Docs, MSN and Wikipedia.

The system brings together multiple communications technologies into a single window, allowing users to share information from a variety of sources in real-time. Each conversation or collaboration is known as a Wave (taken from a phrase in the TV series Firefly), which is in reality an XML document that allows users to reply and edit the contents. This screenshot shows the system in action.

Of course, that’s all just a concept; what matters is how it is used. The possibilities suggested so far range from the extremely simple (instant messaging in which the person you are communicating with can see your reply as you type rather than waiting for the send key), to the more complex (dragging a Twitter feed directly into a conversation rather than having to send a link) to the mindboggling (bloggers writing their posts live on their website with readers making comments as they go).

The biggest problem with promoting a service such as this is that it’s easiest explained by examples, but each example will only be of interest to some people. Andy Ithnako of the Chicago Sun Times likens it to demonstrating electricity with a lightbulb, leaving the audience concentrating on one effect (illumination) rather than the concept itself.

Still, Google’s strong reputation may persuade more people to try out the tool than if virtually any other company had a similar idea.

[GAS] Explains: What is Metaprogramming?

By Sterling “Chip” Camden
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

In recent years, the Greek root meta has perhaps become overused.  Originally, it was just a lowly preposition meaning “after”, “beyond”, or simply “with” – but especially since the writings of Douglas Hofstadter it has taken on the meaning of a higher level of abstraction, especially a self-referential abstraction.  That’s the sense in which it is used in the term metaprogramming – modifying programs programmatically, or modifying the programming language itself.

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Record-breaking Solar Eclipse in Asia

People in parts of India, China, and Japan enjoyed the longest total solar eclipse of this century earlier today. Maximum totality duration was six minute and 39 seconds. Folks in parts of India got to see a totality sunrise, with the sun appearing as a black hole.

Seconds before the Sun was fully blocked by the lunar disc, a brilliant ‘diamond ring’ formed in the sky. Moments later, brightness dropped dramatically as totality began, a phase technically called second contact that began at 10 seconds past 6.24am . A roar went up at the ghats as people gasped and screamed in awe. Some stared in stunned silence while others shook hands with total strangers in fits of joy. The city was suddenly clothed in a surreal glow of faint light that was eerie, exhilarating and nothing like most had ever seen before.

NASA has photos and statistics of the event. Xinhua has pictures of the eclipse taken in India and China.

The Shweeb: Pure Pedal-Powered Fun!

The Shweeb is a pedal-powered capsule that runs suspended under a monorail track. Apart from going a lot faster than a regular bike (this thing goes up to 90kph/56mph!), devices like these could, in theory, be a good eco-friendly way to move around cities, provided that a rail infrastructure would be built to accomodate them. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, the attraction is currently only available in New Zealand and will set you back about $30US for a 3-lap ride.

[Shweeb | Via OhGizmo]

Backyard telescope spots effects of Jupiter collision

An amateur astronomer using a home-made backyard telescope has discovered an Earth-sized smudge in Jupiter’s surface.

Anthony Wesley of Murrumbateman, Australia was viewing Jupiter at around 1am local time yesterday when he spotted the damage. He told SPACE.com that he saw a dark spot rotating near the planet’s south pole; his records showed the same area two days earlier had been clear. He realized it was too solidly black to be a polar storm, and moving too slowly to be a moon. An image produced by Wesley (right) shows the black spot just below the top of the picture.

Wesley then e-mailed Nasa scientists in California who used a remotely controlled infrared telescope atop a mountain in Hawaii to explore the finding. They believe it is from the impact of a comet, but are not yet sure. Another theory is that it was caused by a falling block of ice.

The discovery came on both the 40th anniversary of the initial human moon landing, and the 15th anniversary of Jupiter being hit by a comet. On that occasion the impact had been widely anticipated and it was the first time such a collision had ever been seen as it occurred.

Nasa says it was only through fortunate timing that the damage became visible on earth as it occurred at both the right hour and on the right side of Jupiter for optimal viewing. That said, it was hardly a coincidence that Wesley should spot the scar: he spends up to 20 hours a week viewing Jupiter. ScienceNOW notes that he uses a 37 cm diameter telescope (pictured), whereas professional astronomer use at least a 1000 centimeter model.

Because Jupiter is a gaseous planet, the spot will likely soon be torn apart by winds, meaning scientists will have to be fast to catch it. That rush will spark emergency applications for access to some of the world’s leading telescopes, including the space-based Hubble.

[GAS] Explains: Music Royalties for Dummies

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Considering how much “education” about music and copyright is out there (“downloading music is stealing!” ads and the like), most people have no idea how it actually works in terms of who owns what and who should get money from what kind of use. And lately, with issues like confusion over Pandora royalties, songwriters trying to collect royalties from blogs that post YouTube videos, and even arguments that video games may constitute a public performance of music, it’s just been getting increasingly complicated. What follows is a brief, (hopefully) understandable run-down of how music royalties work, particularly with respect to the Internet. Does this clear up the confusion of the above issues? Not a chance. Heck, if the Copyright Office can’t figure it out, we can’t be expected to. But this should at least shed some light on why the problems exist.

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