Planning an unmanned spacecraft to the solar system’s outer fringes has always been a cumbersome job for the astronauts - be it money, time or labor. What if the scientists are given a welcome break for these extensive planning, without failing with their target date and mission?
No, it is no just providing hopes to the space explorers. But, it’s MIT’s real engineering venture — it’s an efficient and highly sophisticated mathematical algorithm! Implemented as software, the algorithm can help chalk out the most efficient path a spacecraft can make for journeying from one point to its destination!
Back in the day, the North American Space Agency(NASA) launched a spacecraft for it’s Deep Impact mission. At that time the goal was to study a comet. The same spacecraftstill has plenty of juice left in it. So, the NASA officials are going to put the spacecraft from Deep Impact to yet another mission. This time the goal would be to study the comet Boethin.
However, there’s one problem: the comet is missing. Experts believe that the subject of study has broken up into several pieces at some point. But, NASA staff is not going to give up this easy. They are hot on the trail of the comet. They are going to send a spacecraft in the trajectory of the comet. I hope that they can come up with something.Deep Impact, an ongoing NASA space mission has been given the green signal to continue its mission to research Comet Hartley 2. Already the mission has got much publicity with it ejected material from a comet surface. And now this has given a much needed pat in the back for the scientists from the University of Maryland. This would help the scientists learn better about how the solar system evolves and a research can be made on whether any other planet like earth exists. The mission takes a low cost budget of $40 million by taking advantage of the existing space craft. This two and a half year journey to Comet Hartley 2 will consist of two missions Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh) and Deep Impact extended Investigation (DIXI). This visit to a never before visited comet has raised expectations among scientists all over the world. Everyone is expecting more rewards to come by at the end of the journey as they explore into an unknown world
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – American unmanned planes fired two missiles at a house in a Pakistani tribal region close to the Afghan border on Thursday, killing seven alleged militants, the latest in a barrage of such attacks, intelligence officials said.
The strike in North Waziristan was the third attack there in the past 24 hours.
The region is home to hundreds of Pakistan and foreign Islamist militants, many belonging to or allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban. It is also the base of a powerful insurgent group that U.S. officials say is behind many of the attacks just across the border in Afghanistan.
Thursday’s strike in the Datta Khel area killed five unidentified “foreign” and two local militants, three intelligence officials said. They did not give their names in line with the policy of the agency they work for.
It is all but impossible to independently verify the accounts of intelligence officials. The region is too dangerous for outsiders to visit the scene of the attacks and U.S. officials do not acknowledge firing the missiles, much less discuss who they are targeting.
Two other attacks Wednesday killed seven suspected militants.
There have now been at least 20 suspected U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan this month, many of them in North Waziristan. There were 21 such attacks in September, nearly double the previous monthly record.
Washington is under pressure to beat back the insurgency in Afghanistan and bring its troops there back home.
Many of the missile strikes are reported to hit at militants focused on fighting in Afghanistan and using North Waziristan as a safe haven. The Pakistan army has so far resisted U.S. pressure to launch an offensive in the region, as it has in other border areas.
Pakistani officials often publicly criticize the strikes, but the surge over the last two months has not led to increased protests, suggesting the army does not object to them. The silence over the drones contrast with the outcry over incursions into Pakistani territory by NATO helicopters earlier this month that led to Islamabad blocking a key supply route for U.S. and allied force.
The army is widely believed to provide intelligence information for the drone attacks and even allows drones to take off from a base inside Pakistan. Human rights groups have raised concerns of civilian casualties and questioned the legality of what they sometimes term “extrajudicial killings.”
Thislatest science inventionis a spray-on invisible thin glass coating that sterilizes, protects and strengthens surfaces.
The coating also repels water, dirt, stains, mildew, fungus, bacteria and viruses.
A liquid coating invented at the Saarbrücken Institute for New Materials in Turkey and patented by Nanopool GmbH of Germany, is a flexible and breathable spray-on glass film approximately 100 nanometres thick (500 times thinner than a human hair) that has multiple applications and uses in numerous fields.
The coating is environmentally friendly (Winner of the Green Apple Award).
It can be applied within seconds to make any surface very easy to clean and safe from anti-microbes (Winner of the NHS Smart Solutions Award).
The special glass coating known as "SiO2 ultra-thin layering" protects practically any surface against water, uv radiation, dirt, heat, acid, stains, mildew, fungus. bacteria and viruses.
Trials by food processing plants in Germany have concluded that surfaces coated with liquid glass only need hot water for cleaning. In fact, the coating provided higher levels of sterility than surfaces cleaned with bleach or other chemicals.
A year long trial at a British hospital in Southport, Lancashire is to be published soon with very promising results for a wide range of coating applications used on medical equipment, implants, catheters, sutures and bandages.
Trials for in-vivo applications are confidential, but Neil McClelland, the UK Project Manager for Nanopool GmbH, describes the results as "stunning".
"Items such as stents can be coated, and this will create anti sticking features. Catheters and sutures which are a source of infection, will also cease to be problematic," he says.
Colin Humphreys, a professor of materials science at Cambridge University, commented that liquid glass appears to have a wide range of applications and that the product 'looks impressive'.
The applications for this latest science invention seem endless - buildings, vehicles, appliances, clothing etc. can have dirt and germ free surfaces without using toxic coatings or chemicals.
Building Human Organs
Oganovo is a company based in San Diego, California.
Their latest science invention is a technology (novogen) which allows living tissue cells to be assembled into patterns and complex structures, such as organs.
Organovo has partnered with Invetech. a company based in Australia, to develop a bio-printer.
The device prints (places) human cells in a three-dimensional matrix to construct human tissue.
"Building human organs cell-by-cell was considered science fiction not that long ago," says Fred Davis of Invetech.
Currently, the bio-printer can grow blood vessels.
It is anticipated that within five years the device will construct arteries and by 2020 sophisticated organs will be built by the de
Glass Nanobots Absorb Toxins
A nanobot particle made from glass is being developed that can absorb pollutants from contaminated water.
The glass particles act like sponges by attracting and binding contaminants to themselves and expanding eight times in size during the process.
But unlike a sponge, these nanobots are hydrophobic, meaning they don't absorb water.
Scientists claim this new technology could be used to clean petroleum spills or other hazardous chemicals from our waterways. After the particles are dropped into the water, they collect pollutants and then rise to the surface when fully expanded. The particles are then skimmed from the surface, cleaned and placed back into the water to repeat the process.
Water Drop Lens
Physicist and inventor, Bruno Berge, has created a liquid optical lens.
Using a process known as electro-wetting, a water drop is deposited on a metal substrate and covered by a thin insulating layer. When a voltage is applied to the metal, it modifies the angle of the liquid drop.
The liquid lens is comprised of two liquids, water and oil, one is a conductor while the other is an insulator. A variation in the voltage causes a change to the curvature of the liquid to liquid interface, which changes the focal length of the lens.
The use of liquids allows for low cost construction. There are no moving parts and electrical consumption is extremely low. The lens has a large inverse focal length range, quick response, high optical quality and can operate in a wide temperature range.
See Also: Glass Lenses and Contact Lenses
Batteries That Operate With Any Liquid Chungpin Liao, a professor at the Graduate School of Electro-Optic and Material Science of National Formosa University in Taiwan has invented an organic battery that creates electricity when wet.
The "organic" battery generates a charge within 10 seconds and will last anywhere from two days to a week depending on the liquid. It works with water, beverages or even urine.
Although it will only produce half the strength of traditional batteries, the organic battery has a storage capacity greater than water-powered fuel cells and is very cheap to manufacture.
"Plus it contains no toxic substances and does not pose an environmental hazard" says Chungpin.
Liao received his degree in nuclear engineering from National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan. He earned his Masters and Ph.D degrees in plasma science and fusion technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, United States.
Back in the day, the North American Space Agency(NASA) launched a spacecraft for it’s Deep Impact mission. At that time the goal was to study a comet. The same spacecraftstill has plenty of juice left in it. So, the NASA officials are going to put the spacecraft from Deep Impact to yet another mission. This time the goal would be to study the comet Boethin.
However, there’s one problem: the comet is missing. Experts believe that the subject of study has broken up into several pieces at some point. But, NASA staff is not going to give up this easy. They are hot on the trail of the comet. They are going to send a spacecraft in the trajectory of the comet. I hope that they can come up with something.Deep Impact, an ongoing NASA space mission has been given the green signal to continue its mission to research Comet Hartley 2. Already the mission has got much publicity with it ejected material from a comet surface. And now this has given a much needed pat in the back for the scientists from the University of Maryland. This would help the scientists learn better about how the solar system evolves and a research can be made on whether any other planet like earth exists. The mission takes a low cost budget of $40 million by taking advantage of the existing space craft. This two and a half year journey to Comet Hartley 2 will consist of two missions Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh) and Deep Impact extended Investigation (DIXI). This visit to a never before visited comet has raised expectations among scientists all over the world. Everyone is expecting more rewards to come by at the end of the journey as they explore into an unknown world
Oganovo is a company based in San Diego, California.
A nanobot particle made from glass is being developed that can absorb pollutants from contaminated water.
Physicist and inventor, Bruno Berge, has created a liquid optical lens.
Chungpin Liao, a professor at the Graduate School of Electro-Optic and Material Science of National Formosa University in Taiwan has invented an organic battery that creates electricity when wet.