Dec 8, 2015 02:42 AM
(This post was last modified: Dec 8, 2015 03:30 AM by C C.)
NASA: Probing Strange New Worlds Beyond Pluto
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/201...pluto.html
EXCERPT: NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft recently took the closest images ever of a distant Kuiper Belt object – demonstrating its ability to observe numerous such bodies over the next several years if NASA approves an extended mission into the Kuiper Belt. NASA selected the next destination for the New Horizons mission to visit after its historic July 14 flyby of the Pluto system. The destination is a small Kuiper Belt object (KBO) known as 2014 MU69 that orbits nearly a billion miles beyond Pluto.
This remote KBO was one of two identified as potential destinations and the one recommended to NASA by the New Horizons team. Although NASA has selected 2014 MU69 as the target, as part of its normal review process the agency will conduct a detailed assessment before officially approving the mission extension to conduct additional science.....
The Mysterious Aging Of Astronuats
http://hplusmagazine.com/2015/12/07/the-...stronauts/
EXCERPT: When I took Physics courses in college, I learned about how astronauts should age a tiny bit slower than us. Of course, they would be exposed to a lot more radiation so they might develop more cancers. But all in all, I would have been excited about the prospect of living in space. Then the astronauts came back and we saw them being barely able to walk. Yet these were young men selected among thousands for their physical fitness. That was explained away by saying that the lack of gravity meant a lack of exercise. All these astronauts needed was a good workout. And future astronauts would have a “space gym” so it would all be alright.
But then more results started coming back. Not only do astronauts come back with weak muscles and frail bones… But they also suffer from skin thinning, atherosclerosis (stiffer arteries), resistance to insulin and they suffer from loss of vision due to cataracts many years earlier than expected given their chronological age. These symptoms look a lot like skin aging, cardiovascular aging, age-related diabetes and so forth. In fact, it is pretty accurate to say that astronauts age at an accelerated rate. This is despite the fact that the current generation of astronauts follows a rigorous exercise program. They are also followed medically more closely than just about anyone on Earth: they don’t indulge in regular fast food....
The Space Elevator and The Bruntouchables
http://sciencevshollywood.com/the-space-...toucables/
EXCERPT: [...] Like many episodes before, the show manages to get the science right as the space elevator has some basis in fact. The space elevator is space transportation system designed to lift a vehicle, usually along a cable, from the planetary surface into orbit without the need for rockets. There are reasons why this is desirable. It costs NASA more than $10,000 per kilogram to send payload into low Earth orbit, altitudes of about 200-2,000 km. A space elevator will do this cheaper, safer, and more efficiently. So what did the show get right, and what did they get wrong. We separate science fact from fiction.
The space elevator idea is not new. First described by Russian rocket scientist, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, in 1895 in his manuscript, "Speculations about Earth and Sky and on Vesta" after becoming inspired by the newly constructed Eiffel Tower in Paris. Tsiolkovsky considered a tower that would be built from the ground up to an altitude of 35,790 kilometers (22,239 miles), the height of geostationary orbit. Any objects would attain a horizontal velocity as it rides up the tower, and when released at the top, would have enough speed to remain in orbit at a fixed position in the sky....
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/201...pluto.html
EXCERPT: NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft recently took the closest images ever of a distant Kuiper Belt object – demonstrating its ability to observe numerous such bodies over the next several years if NASA approves an extended mission into the Kuiper Belt. NASA selected the next destination for the New Horizons mission to visit after its historic July 14 flyby of the Pluto system. The destination is a small Kuiper Belt object (KBO) known as 2014 MU69 that orbits nearly a billion miles beyond Pluto.
This remote KBO was one of two identified as potential destinations and the one recommended to NASA by the New Horizons team. Although NASA has selected 2014 MU69 as the target, as part of its normal review process the agency will conduct a detailed assessment before officially approving the mission extension to conduct additional science.....
The Mysterious Aging Of Astronuats
http://hplusmagazine.com/2015/12/07/the-...stronauts/
EXCERPT: When I took Physics courses in college, I learned about how astronauts should age a tiny bit slower than us. Of course, they would be exposed to a lot more radiation so they might develop more cancers. But all in all, I would have been excited about the prospect of living in space. Then the astronauts came back and we saw them being barely able to walk. Yet these were young men selected among thousands for their physical fitness. That was explained away by saying that the lack of gravity meant a lack of exercise. All these astronauts needed was a good workout. And future astronauts would have a “space gym” so it would all be alright.
But then more results started coming back. Not only do astronauts come back with weak muscles and frail bones… But they also suffer from skin thinning, atherosclerosis (stiffer arteries), resistance to insulin and they suffer from loss of vision due to cataracts many years earlier than expected given their chronological age. These symptoms look a lot like skin aging, cardiovascular aging, age-related diabetes and so forth. In fact, it is pretty accurate to say that astronauts age at an accelerated rate. This is despite the fact that the current generation of astronauts follows a rigorous exercise program. They are also followed medically more closely than just about anyone on Earth: they don’t indulge in regular fast food....
The Space Elevator and The Bruntouchables
http://sciencevshollywood.com/the-space-...toucables/
EXCERPT: [...] Like many episodes before, the show manages to get the science right as the space elevator has some basis in fact. The space elevator is space transportation system designed to lift a vehicle, usually along a cable, from the planetary surface into orbit without the need for rockets. There are reasons why this is desirable. It costs NASA more than $10,000 per kilogram to send payload into low Earth orbit, altitudes of about 200-2,000 km. A space elevator will do this cheaper, safer, and more efficiently. So what did the show get right, and what did they get wrong. We separate science fact from fiction.
The space elevator idea is not new. First described by Russian rocket scientist, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, in 1895 in his manuscript, "Speculations about Earth and Sky and on Vesta" after becoming inspired by the newly constructed Eiffel Tower in Paris. Tsiolkovsky considered a tower that would be built from the ground up to an altitude of 35,790 kilometers (22,239 miles), the height of geostationary orbit. Any objects would attain a horizontal velocity as it rides up the tower, and when released at the top, would have enough speed to remain in orbit at a fixed position in the sky....
