NASA rover Curiosity grabs first Martian rock sample

In a hunt for discovering life on Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover has beamed back pictures confirming the first ever sample collected from the interiors of a rock on another planet.

No rover has ever drilled into a rock on any other planet and collected a sample from its interior, NASA said. Transfer of the powdered-rock sample into an open scoop was visible for the first time in images received yesterday at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “Seeing the powder from the drill in the scoop allows us to verify for the first time the drill collected a sample as it bore into the rock,” said JPL’s Scott McCloskey, drill systems engineer for Curiosity.

“Many of us have been working toward this day for years. Getting final confirmation of successful drilling is incredibly gratifying,” McCloskey said in a statement. The drill on Curiosity’s robotic arm took in the powder as it bored a 2.5-inch hole into a target on flat Martian bedrock on February 8. The rover team plans to have Curiosity sieve the sample and deliver portions of it to analytical instruments inside the rover. The scoop now holding the precious sample is part of Curiosity’s Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA) device.

During the next steps of processing, the powder will be enclosed inside CHIMRA and shaken once or twice over a sieve that screens out particles larger than 0.006 inch (150 microns) across. Small portions of the sieved sample later will be delivered through inlet ports on top of the rover deck into the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument and Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument.

The sample comes from a fine-grained, veiny sedimentary rock called “John Klein,” named in memory of a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011. The rock was selected for the first sample drilling because it may hold evidence of wet environmental conditions long ago. The rover’s laboratory analysis of the powder may provide information about those conditions.

NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Project is using the Curiosity rover with its 10 science instruments to investigate whether an area within Mars’ Gale Crater ever has offered an environment favourable for microbial life.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nasa-rover-curiosity-grabs-first-martian-rock-sample/1077627/0

“Meteorite rush” begins as Russian scientists find fragments

A meteor that exploded over Russia’s Ural mountains and sent fireballs blazing to earth has set off a rush to find fragments of the space rock which hunters hope could fetch thousands of dollars a piece. Friday’s blast and ensuing shockwave shattered windows, injured almost 1,200 people and caused about $33 million worth of damage, said local authorities. It also started a ” meteor ite rush” around the industrial city of Chelyabinsk, 1,500 km (950 miles) east of Moscow, where groups of people have started combing through the snow and ice. One amateur space enthusiast estimated chunks could be worth anything up to 66,000 roubles ($2,200) per gramme – more than 40 times the current cost of gold.

“The price is hard to say yet … The fewer meteor ites that are recovered, the higher their price,” said Dmitry Kachkalin, a member of the Russian Society of Amateur Meteor ite Lovers. Meteor ites are parts of a meteor that have fallen to earth. Scientists at the Urals Federal University were the first to announce a significant find – 53 small, stony, black objects around Lake Chebarkul, near Chelyabinsk, which tests confirmed were small meteor ites. The fragments were only 0.5 to 1 cm (0.2 to 0.4 inches) across but the scientists said larger pieces may have crashed into the lake, where a crater in the ice about eight metres (26 feet) wide opened up after Friday’s explosion.

“We just completed tests and confirm that the pieces of matter found by our experts around Lake Chebarkul are really meteor ites,” said Viktor Grokhovsky, a scientist with the Urals Federal University and the Russian Academy of Sciences. “These are classified as ordinary chondrites, or stony meteor ites, with an iron content of about 10 percent,” he told RIA news agency. He did not say whether the fragments had told his team anything about the origins of the meteor , which the U.S. space agency NASA estimated was 55 feet (17 metres) across before entering Earth’s atmosphere and weighed about 10,000 tons. The main fireball streaked across the sky at a speed of about 30 km (19 miles) per second, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos, before crashing into the snowy wastes.

Treasure Hunters

More than 20,000 people took part in search and clean-up operations at the weekend in and around Chelyabinsk, which is in the heart of a region packed with industrial military plants. Many other people were in the area just hoping to find a meteor ite after what was described by scientists as a once-in-a-century event.

Residents of a village near Chelyabinsk searched the snowy streets, collecting stones they hoped would prove to be the real thing. But not all were ready to sell. “I will keep it. Why sell it? I didn’t have a rich lifestyle before, so why start now?” a woman in a pink woollen hat and winter jacket, clutching a small black pebble, told state television Rossiya-24.

The Internet filled quickly with advertisements from eager hunters hoping to sell what they said were meteor ites – some for as little as 1,000 roubles ($33.18). The authenticity of the items was hard to ascertain. One seller of a large, silver-hued rock wrote in an advertisement on the portal Avito.ru: “Selling an unusual rock. It may be a piece of meteor ite, it may be a bit of a UFO, it may be a piece of a rocket!”

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/meteorite-rush-begins-as-russian-scientists-find-fragments/1075932/0

Meteor shower hits Russia, 500 injured by blasts

A meteor streaked across the sky above Russia’s Ural Mountains today morning, causing sharp explosions and injuring more than 400 people, many of them hurt by broken glass. “There was panic. People had no idea what was happening. Everyone was going around to people’s houses to check if they were OK,” said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers east of Moscow, the biggest city in the affected region.

“We saw a big burst of light then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud thundering sound,” he said. Fragments of the meteor fell in a thinly populated area of the Chelyabinsk region, the Emergency Ministry said in a statement. Interior Ministry spokesman Vadim Kolesnikov said more than 400 people had sought medical treatment after the blasts, and at least three had been hospitalized in serious condition.

Many of the injuries were from glass broken by the explosions. Kolsenikov also said about 600 square meters of a roof at a zinc factory had collapsed. Reports conflicted on what exactly happened in the clear skies. A spokeswoman for the Emergency Ministry, Irina Rossius, told The Associated Press that there was a meteor shower, but another ministry spokeswoman, Elena Smirnikh, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying it was a single meteorite.

Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object speeding across the sky about 9:20 am local time (0320 GMT), leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash. Russian news reports noted that the meteor hit less than a day before the asteroid 2012 DA14 is to make the closest recorded pass of an asteroid — about 28,000 kilometers. There was no immediate demonstrable connection.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/meteor-shower-hits-russia-500-injured-by-blasts/1074796/

Asteroid, large enough to destroy a city, to whiz past Earth today

Over 700 people, including 159 children, were injured on Friday in a freak incident when a meteor weighing about 10 tonnes streaked across the sky above Russia’s Ural Mountains, creating panic as shockwaves blasted windows and rocked buildings.

According to officials, 725 people have sought medical attention in the disaster area, 112 of whom have been hospitalised. Among the injured there are 159 children.

Most of those hurt suffered minor cuts and bruises but some received head injuries, Russian officials said.

Gas supplies were cut off to hundreds of homes in the Chelyabinsk region as a safety precaution and some 3,000 buildings were reported to have been damaged, a media report said.

A fireball was seen streaking through the clear morning sky above the city of Yekaterinburg, followed by loud bangs, but much of the impact was felt in the city of Chelyabinsk, some 200 km south of Yekaterinburg.

President Vladimir Putin said he thanked God no big fragments had fallen in populated areas.

Putin also promised “immediate” aid for people affected, saying kindergartens and schools had been damaged, and work disrupted at industrial enterprises.

Russian space agency Roskosmos has confirmed the object that crashed in the Chelyabinsk region is a meteorite. They said in a statement, “According to preliminary estimates, this space object is of non-technogenic origin and qualifies as a meteorite. It was moving at a low trajectory with a speed of about 30 km/second.”

Asteroids are small bodies that orbit the Sun as the Earth does. Larger asteroids are called planetoids or minor planets and smaller ones are called meteoroids.

The Russian Academy of Sciences estimates that the meteor weighed about 10 tonnes and entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 kmph.

It would have shattered about 30-50 km above ground, with most of the meteor burning up.

Russian Army units found three meteorite debris impact sites, two of which are in an area near Chebarkul Lake, west of Chelyabinsk. The third site was found some 80 km further to the northwest, near the town of Zlatoust.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/asteroid-large-enough-to-destroy-a-city-to-whiz-past-earth-today/1074841/0

Over 700 people, including 159 children, were injured on Friday in a freak incident when a meteor weighing about 10 tonnes streaked across the sky above Russia’s Ural Mountains, creating panic as shockwaves blasted windows and rocked buildings.

According to officials, 725 people have sought medical attention in the disaster area, 112 of whom have been hospitalised. Among the injured there are 159 children.

Most of those hurt suffered minor cuts and bruises but some received head injuries, Russian officials said.

Gas supplies were cut off to hundreds of homes in the Chelyabinsk region as a safety precaution and some 3,000 buildings were reported to have been damaged, a media report said.

A fireball was seen streaking through the clear morning sky above the city of Yekaterinburg, followed by loud bangs, but much of the impact was felt in the city of Chelyabinsk, some 200 km south of Yekaterinburg.

President Vladimir Putin said he thanked God no big fragments had fallen in populated areas.

Putin also promised “immediate” aid for people affected, saying kindergartens and schools had been damaged, and work disrupted at industrial enterprises.

Russian space agency Roskosmos has confirmed the object that crashed in the Chelyabinsk region is a meteorite. They said in a statement, “According to preliminary estimates, this space object is of non-technogenic origin and qualifies as a meteorite. It was moving at a low trajectory with a speed of about 30 km/second.”

Asteroids are small bodies that orbit the Sun as the Earth does. Larger asteroids are called planetoids or minor planets and smaller ones are called meteoroids.

The Russian Academy of Sciences estimates that the meteor weighed about 10 tonnes and entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 kmph.

It would have shattered about 30-50 km above ground, with most of the meteor burning up.

Russian Army units found three meteorite debris impact sites, two of which are in an area near Chebarkul Lake, west of Chelyabinsk. The third site was found some 80 km further to the northwest, near the town of Zlatoust.

Now, jumping robot to facilitate search and rescue

Scientists have designed a soft jumping robot that can leap as much as a foot in the air, a technique that will help it avoid obstacles during search and rescue operations.

“Initially, our soft robot systems used pneumatic pressure to actuate,” said Robert Shepherd, first author of the study, and former postdoctoral researcher in the Whitesides Research Group at Harvard.

“While that system worked, it was rather slow – it took on the order of a second. Using combustion, however, allows us to actuate the robots very fast. We were able to measure the speed of the robot’s jump at 4 meters per second,” Shepherd said in a statement.

Just as with other soft robots, the three-legged jumping system begins life as a mold created by a 3-D printer. The robots are molded using soft silicone that allows them to stretch and flex.

But where pneumatic robots are connected to tubing that pumps air, the jumping robots are connected to tubes that deliver a precisely controlled mix of methane and oxygen, according to the study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

Using high-voltage wires embedded in each leg of the robot, researchers deliver a spark to ignite the gases, causing a small explosion that sends the robot into the air.

Among the key design innovations that allowed the combustion system to work, Shepherd said, was the incorporation of a simple valve into each leg of the robot.

“We flow fuel and oxygen into the channels, and ignite it. The heat expands the gas, causing the flap to close, pressurising the channel and causing it to actuate.

“As the gas cools, the flap opens and we push the exhaust out by flowing more gas in. So we don’t need to use complex valve systems, all because we chose to mold a soft flap into the robot from the beginning,” Shepherd said.

“It’s a lot more powerful, but the question we had to answer was whether it was compatible – were the temperatures compatible – with this system,” Shepherd said.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/now-jumping-robot-to-facilitate-search-and-rescue/1074164/0

Asteroid to whizz past Earth tomorrow night

An asteroid, about half the size of a football field, will pass in close proximity to Earth, closer than the orbits of some geosynchronous satellites, tomorrow night.

The asteroid called “2012 DA14” will flyby earth at a distance of 27,700 km on February 16 at 00:10 AM, Secretary and Director of Planetary Society of India N Sri Raghunandan Kumar said.

The 45-metre wide space rock is moving at a speed of 7.8 km/sec. This is the closest approach by any asteroid in recorded history to buzz past our planet, NASA scientists have said. This asteroid was discovered on February 23, 2012 in Spain.

It will pass within the moon’s distance from Earth and closer than the orbits of some geosynchronous satellites, which provide weather data and telecommunications. However, the space rock poses no danger of impacting the Earth.

The next time it will have closest approach to Earth on February 15, 2019 when it be at 6,91,64,078 km. The last time it came close was on 16th February 2012 and was at 26,06,840 km. On the day of its closest approach, it will shine at 8 Magnitude. The space rock is not visible to the naked eye but can be spotted with the help of telescopes.

The best viewing location for the closest approach will be Indonesia. Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia are also well situated to see the asteroid, he said. Meanwhile, another space rock called “Asteroid 1999 YK5” will flyby Earth at distance of 1,88,87,632 km on February 15 at 3.48 PM. Its travelling at the rate of 20 km/sec.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/asteroid-to-whizz-past-earth-tomorrow-night/1074181/

Space laser could help detect counterfeit food post life on Mars

The European Space Agency (ESA) has revealed that a laser device developed to measure carbon on Mars could soon be used here on Earth to detect counterfeit food.

Today’s equipment is large, bulky and stationary. Samples of, say, polluted soil must be collected in the field, put in a flask and brought to the lab for testing – clearly unsuitable for space testing. But the new laser ‘isotope ratio-meter’ from RAL Space could change that.

Thanks to its small, lightweight, robust, highly accurate lasers, the device could be sent into space to look for trace amounts of gas in very small samples. “You take a laser, whose optical frequency or ‘colour’ can be continuously adjusted, beam it at a gas sample, and detect the level passing through the gas,” explained Dr Damien Weidmann, Laser Spectroscopy Team Leader at RAL Space.

As the laser colour changes, the light passes straight through the sample until it reaches a particular frequency, specific to the isotopic gas, that is partially blocked. “Each molecule, and each of its isotopic forms, has a unique fingerprint spectrum. If, on the other hand, you know what you are looking for, you can simply set the laser to the appropriate frequency.”

Through an ESA program, Weidmann and his colleagues have been able to demonstrate that the laser can quickly root out counterfeit food. Fake honey made using sugar, for example, would be detected by the laser by scanning the carbon dioxide released from burning only a few milligrams of the product. Likewise, counterfeit olive oil and chocolate could also be detected.

Though Weidmann said it was important for his project to attract interest from industry, sending the laser to Mars is his real goal. “I wanted to develop this to help gather evidence as to whether or not there was life on Mars,” said Weidmann.

Weidmann stated that using the laser to measure carbon isotopic ratios in methane on Mars could help determine where the hydrocarbon came from. “If it’s bacterial in origin, it would mean a form of life occurred on Mars,” he added.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/space-laser-could-help-detect-counterfeit-food-post-life-on-mars/1073539/0

Now, charge your phone powered by a hot cup of coffee or a cold beer

Researchers have developed a mobile phone charger that can be powered by either a cold beer or a hot coffee.

The Epiphany One Puck, which doubles as a drinks coaster, connects to a phone with a USB cable. It has two sides, one red, one blue, the Daily Mail reported.

Owners use the red side as a drinks coaster to place a hot drink on it, and the blue side as for a cooling drink such as a beer.

It uses something called a Stirling engine to turn heat into energy.

US company Epiphany Labs, based in New Castle, Pennsylvania, has built a working prototype and hopes to have it on the market early in 2014.

The company is still vague on just how long it takes for the device to charge up a phone because there are a lot of variables at play, including how hot or cold the source is.

Any source of heat that can fit on the Puck will work.

It works best with something that’s very warm like a steaming cup of tea or coffee, or very cold like a well chilled beer or soft drink.

Epiphany is aiming to raise 63,000 pounds on fund raising website Kickstarter to turn the prototype into a gadget that can be mass-manufactured.

By Feb 8, more than 25,000 pounds had been raised, and early birds can still get in for a 62-pound pledge price.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/now-charge-your-phone-powered-by-a-hot-cup-of-coffee-or-a-cold-beer/1073078/

MapmyIndia launches Lx340 Navigator at Rs 8,990

Digital maps and GPS provider MapmyIndia has added another product — Lx340 Navigator – to its navigation devices portfolio. Lx340 Navigator has a 4.3-inch display for seamless navigation.

MapmyIndia says Lx340 Navigator has comprehensive and detailed pre-installed maps which provide for door-to-door navigation in 39 cities and connectivity 5,79,000 towns and villages across India. Built-in maps mean no more recurring charges and no dependence on internet or mobile network for navigation.

The device’s Don’t Panic software features instant route calculation and re-routing to help users find routes available to reach their destination. It has visual and audible alerts for lane guidance, over-speeding and road signs.

Shivalik Prasad, Executive Director, MapmyIndia, says, “With Lx340, we’re making available to all car owners in India, a powerful and premium GPS navigation and entertainment experience, at a very affordable and attractive price point. We’re excited to further accelerate the strong proliferation of in-car GPS navigation systems in India and power every car in India with a MapmyIndia product in the coming time, and will continue to innovate and invent new products and technologies to deliver the best navigation and driving experience to Indians.”

Specs:

*SiRF V GPS chipset with Windows CE 6.0 OS

*Matte-black finish,

*Dimensions: 118x82x12.5mm, Net weight: 124 g

*In-built 2GB storage with expandable SD card slot up to 8GB (for movies, music, photos)

*950mAH battery

*4.3-inch (10.9 cm) LCD touchscreen display with 480 x 272 pixels resolution

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mapmyindia-launches-lx340-navigator-at-rs-8990/1072634/

Is China’s Incoming Prez Relying On Microblogging Over State Media ?

Beijing: News coverage of China’s leaders has long been the exclusive domain of official media but the country’s incoming president Xi Jinping is changing all that relying more on the popular microblog to strike rapport with people leaving state media flustered.

The state media, which enjoyed absolute monopoly since Communist Party came to power in 1949 appeared peeved as a new account called ” Xuexifensituan” (Learning From Xi Fan Club) in Sina Weibo, akin to Chinese Twitter, is getting all firsthand information and pictures of Xi’s tours in the country.

Though the anonymous female blogger claimed she was only an admirer of Xi, the candid coverage raised eyebrows with people wondering whether Xi himself made a proxy debut to take advantage of the new microblog media whose numbers have crossed 300 million, overtaking official media in substance and content and in credibility.

The blog post has “raised eyebrows with its candid coverage”, state-run Xinhua news agency said in a report today.

“What’s going on? Why is it quicker and closer than we are?” read a post written by national broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) on Sina Weibo.

The posts are exclusive and always come ahead of reports from official media, the report said, an apparent attempt to popularize the blog.

The microblogger refers to Xi as ‘Xi Dada’, a term that translates as ‘Uncle Xi’ in some parts of China. ‘Pingping’, a dual-syllable nickname often used by intimate friends or relatives, is also used to describe China’s top leader.

The blog has attracted nearly five lakh followers since going online in November 2012. Although the information contained in the blog has interested the public, netizens are also curious about the real identity of the blog’s owner.

“The blog does not feature a ‘V’ emblem, a mark which indicates that the blog owner’s identity has been verified by Sina Weibo. The only clues are profile details stating that the blog’s owner is a female from northwest China’s Shaanxi province,” the report said.

Source: http://www.siliconindia.com/news/technology/Is-Chinas-Incoming-Prez-Relying-On-Microblogging-Over-State-Media–nid-140587-cid-2.html