lunes, 26 de mayo de 2008

NASA's Phoenix Spacecraft Reports Good Health After Mars Landing


Instruments on Phoenix Mars Lander

This is a false-color image taken by the Phoenix spacecraft on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Calech/University of Arizona
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PASADENA, Calif. -- A NASA spacecraft today sent pictures showing itself in good condition after making the first successful landing in a polar region of Mars.

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The images from NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander also provided a glimpse of the flat valley floor expected to have water-rich permafrost within reach of the lander's robotic arm. The landing ends a 422-million-mile journey from Earth and begins a three-month mission that will use instruments to taste and sniff the northern polar site's soil and ice.

"We see the lack of rocks that we expected, we see the polygons that we saw from space, we don't see ice on the surface, but we think we will see it beneath the surface. It looks great to me," said Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, principal investigator for the Phoenix mission.

Radio signals received at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53:44 p.m. Eastern Time) confirmed that the Phoenix Mars Lander had survived its difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier. In the intervening time, those signals crossed the distance from Mars to Earth at the speed of light. The confirmation ignited cheers by mission team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver; and the University of Arizona.

As planned, Phoenix stopped transmitting one minute after landing and focused its limited battery power on opening its solar arrays, and other critical activities. About two hours after touchdown, it sent more good news. The first pictures confirmed that the solar arrays needed for the mission's energy supply had unfolded properly, and masts for the stereo camera and weather station had swung into vertical position.

Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein and Principal Investigator Peter Smith await data in JPL's mission control during the Phoenix landing on Mars

Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein and Principal Investigator Peter Smith await data in JPL's mission control during the Phoenix landing on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Calech
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"Seeing these images after a successful landing reaffirmed the thorough work over the past five years by a great team," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of JPL. A key milestone still ahead is the first use of the lander's 7.7-foot-long robotic arm, not planned before Tuesday.

"Only five of our planet's 11 previous attempts to land on the Red Planet have succeeded. In exploring the universe, we accept some risk in exchange for the potential of great scientific rewards," said Ed Weiler, NASA associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Phoenix carries science instruments to assess whether ice just below the surface ever thaws and whether some chemical ingredients of life are preserved in the icy soil. These are key questions in evaluating whether the environment has ever been favorable for microbial life. Phoenix will also study other aspects of the soil and atmosphere with instrument capabilities never before used on Mars. Canada supplied the lander's weather station.

Transmissions from Phoenix have reported results after a check of several components and systems on the spacecraft. "Phoenix is an amazing machine, and it was built and flown by an amazing team. Through the entire entry, descent and landing phase, it performed flawlessly," said Ed Sedivy, Phoenix program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. "The spacecraft stayed in contact with Earth during that critical period, and we received a lot of data about its health and performance. I'm happy to report it's in great shape."

Phoenix uses hardware from a spacecraft built for a 2001 launch that was canceled in response to the loss of a similar Mars spacecraft during a 1999 landing attempt. Researchers who proposed the Phoenix mission in 2002 saw the unused spacecraft as a resource for pursuing a new science opportunity. A few months earlier, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter discovered that plentiful water ice lies just beneath the surface throughout much of high-latitude Mars. NASA chose the Phoenix proposal over 24 other proposals to become the first endeavor in the Mars Scout program of competitively selected missions.

The signal confirming that Phoenix had survived touchdown and the transmission of the first pictures were relayed via Mars Odyssey and received on Earth at the Goldstone, Calif., antenna station of NASA's Deep Space Network.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For more about Phoenix, visit http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix.

Instruments on Phoenix Mars Lander
08.02.07
Instruments on Phoenix Mars Lander
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA/Lockheed Martin

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander uses its Meteorological Station and its Robotic Arm at the same time in this artist's concept of the spacecraft on the surface of Mars.

The other instruments in the spacecraft's science payload are the Surface Stereoscopic Imager; the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer; the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer; the Mars Descent Imager; and the Robotic Arm Camera.

The dark "wings" to either side of the lander's main body are solar panels for providing electric power.

The Phoenix mission is led by Principal Investigator Peter H. Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, with project management at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and development partnership with Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. International contributions for Phoenix are provided by the Canadian Space Agency, the University of Neuchatel (Switzerland), the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), the Max Planck Institute (Germany) and the Finnish Meteorological institute. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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martes, 13 de mayo de 2008

Multado por ponerle el cintur�n a su cerveza y no pon�rselo a un ni�o de cinco a�os

  • Un conductor australiano tendr� que pagar 460 euros por llevar al ni�o sin cintur�n y por conducir un coche sin seguro y sin registrar.
  • Un paquete de 30 latas de cerveza llevaba el cintur�n en el asiento trasero del veh�culo.
  • En el coche viajaban cuatro adultos.

Un conductor australiano ha sido multado por ponerle el cintur�n de seguridad a una cerveza y dejar sin �l a un ni�o de cinco a�os, seg�n publica la BBC.

La Polic�a asegura que se sinti� "horrorizada" cuando pararon el coche al sur de Alice Springs, al norte de Australia, y comprobaron que un paquete de 30 cervezas llevaba puesto el cintur�n de seguridad en la parte de atr�s, colocado entre dos adultos, mientras que un ni�o de cinco a�os estaba en el suelo.

El conductor ha sido condenado a pagar una multa de 460 euros, tanto por llevar al ni�o sin cintur�n como por conducir un veh�culo no registrado y sin seguro.

"Hab�a cuatro adultos en el coche, dos en los asientos delanteros y dos en el trasero", explica un portavoz policial, que tilda la situaci�n de "espantosa".



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jueves, 8 de mayo de 2008

Support Spain!! Eurocopa 2008



Inglaterra no jugar� la Eurocopa, pero para evitar el sopor, la cadena SkySports propone a los brit�nicos que animen a la selecci�n espa�ola. De manera jocosa y con algo de ignorancia sobre nuestra cultura (utilizan maracas para bailar sevillanas) promueven el apoyo a 'La Roja' de una manera, cuando menos, original. (V�deo: SkySports)

Fuente: www.elmundo.es

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viernes, 2 de mayo de 2008

Pabell�n puente, Zaragoza Expo 2008 / Zaha Hadid

El pabell�n puente dise�ado por Zaha Hadid para la Expo 2008 de Zaragoza es una construcci�n tumbada sobre el Ebro, a modo de puente, que act�a como tal, adem�s de como puenta de entrada al recinto de la Expo y como espacio de contenidos.

El edificio, cuya planta simula la silueta de un gladiolo, est� organizado en 4 secciones aproximadamente en lo que ser�an 4 vainas de la flor.

La secci�n del edificio tiene forma de diamante, como forma racional de distribuir fuerzas a lo largo de la superficie. Esto genera un �rea de secci�n triangular bajo la planta principal del puente, cuyo uso se propone para fines de almacenaje e instalaciones.

La piel del edificio est� formada por una malla romboidal a modo de tela met�lica que se ci�e a la forma del edificio, cubierta a su vez de vidrio, y que permite la visi�n del rio Ebro. En la zona baja del puente el recubrimiento est� compuesto de paneles opacos.

Estas fotos nos muestras algunos aspectos de la construcci�n:


















El pabell�n-puente abrir� sus puertas el pr�ximo 13 de Junio.




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jueves, 1 de mayo de 2008

DE LA EXPO A LAS OLIMPIADAS en bicicleta


Aqui os pongo una historia de un aragones, Diego Ballesteros Cucurull, que va a ir de Zaragoza a Pekin en bicicleta.


Os pongo unos estractos de su blog : http://delaexpoalasolimpiadas.blogspot.com y que os animo a que visiteis para seguir su viaje.

OBJETIVO

Es recorrer 12.000 km en bicicleta, partiendo de Zaragoza y llegando a Pek�n en cuatro meses, siguiendo una variante de "La ruta de la Seda" del famoso Marco Polo, uniendo as� los dos acontecimientos m�s importantes del 2008, La Expo con las Olimpiadas.

ITINERARIO

* Salida 1 de Mayo de 2008
* 100 etapas
* 120 Km/d�a
* 23 d�as de descanso e imprevistos
* LLegada 24 de Agosto de 2008
* 4 meses
* 750 Km semanales

16 PAISES

Espa�a, Francia, Monaco, Italia, Eslovenia, Croacia, Serbia, Bulgaria
Grecia, Turqu�a, Ir�n, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan,
China


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Votame !!