Clipmarks | Manned missions Clips

Intelligent Robots will Explore Milky Way by 2020

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:45:48 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: If we will succeed to create intelligent robots to explore space, will we consider them as our emissaries or just information relaying machines?

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Before the year 2020, scientists are expected to launch intelligent space robots that will venture out to explore the universe for us.

"Robotic exploration probably will always be the trail blazer for human exploration of far space," said Wolfgang Fink, physicist and researcher at Caltech. "We haven't yet landed a human being on Mars but we have a robot there now.

While Fink is encouraged by the progress made by missions such as Phoenix and its robotic arm, he emphasizes that the link between human and robot needs to be eliminated, allowing robots to make their own decisions on what science needs to be carried out.

The physicist said he envisions a time when humans send out intelligent probes to explore the far reaches of the universe and send information back to Earth - without having to send people on excruciatingly long and dangerous space missions.

The main question is will robotic missions trump our basic human desire to explore space via manned missions?

Tags: space exploration, robotics

By 2020, Droids Could Explore Space For Us

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:50:12 GMT

clipped by: duck-e

Clip Source: www.universetoday.com

Wolfgang Fink, physicist and researcher at Caltech, believes robotic exploration of space will always take the lead, and even reverse the need for manned missions. "Robotic exploration probably will always be the trail blazer for human exploration of far space," he says in an interview with Sharon Gaudin. "We haven't yet landed a human being on Mars but we have a robot there now. In that sense, it's much easier to send a robotic explorer. When you can take the human out of the loop, that is becoming very exciting."

While Fink is encouraged by the progress made by missions such as Phoenix and its robotic arm, he is keen to emphasize that the link between human and robot needs to be removed, thus allowing robots to make their own decisions on what science needs to be carried out.

The key attribute robots need to possess is the ability to recognize something of interest, such as a rock or crater, something that a human mind would see as a scientific opportunity.

Tags: robots

spaceship unveiled

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:53:17 GMT

clipped by: wiganfootie

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Manned spaceship design unveiled

The first official image of a Russian-European manned spacecraft has been unveiled.

It is designed to replace the Soyuz vehicle currently in use by Russia and will allow Europe to participate directly in crew transportation.

The reusable ship was conceived to carry four people towards the Moon, rivalling the US Ares/Orion system.

Unlike previous crewed vehicles, it will use thrusters to make a soft landing when it returns to Earth.

Russian aerospace writer and graphic designer Anatoly Zak has produced artist's renderings of the new craft based on a design released by Russian manufacturer RKK Energia at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK last week.

In some respects, the capsule resembles America's next-generation spacecraft Orion. The 18-to-20-tonne Russian-European vehicle is designed to carry six crew into low-Earth orbit and four on missions to lunar orbit.

test

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:58:45 GMT

clipped by: dduke
clipper's remarks: testing the clip

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

The Apollo program was a human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA during the years 1961 – 1975 with the goal of conducting manned moon landing missions. President John F. Kennedy announced this goal in 1961, and it was accomplished on July 20, 1969 by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 mission. Five other Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last one in 1972. These six Apollo spaceflights are the only times humans have landed on another celestial body. The Apollo program, specifically the lunar landings, are often cited as the greatest achievement in human history.^[1]^[2]

Many objects and artifacts from the program are on display at various locations throughout the world, notably at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museums.

How Interplanetary Internet Will Work

Sat, 10 May 2008 11:01:12 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Wiring the Solar System
Take a look at the the 1997 Mars Pathfinder rover mission and you will understand space explorers need an interplanetary Internet for deep space communications. Data from the Pathfinder trickled back at an average rate of about 300 bits per second during its mission. Most likely, your computer can transfer data at least 200 times faster than that. An Internet between Mars and Earth would likely yield a data transfer rate of 11,000 bits per second. That is still much slower than your computer's transfer rate, but it would be enough to send back more detailed images of the Mars surface. Mars Network researchers think that the transfer rate could eventually go to about 1 Megabyte (8,288,608 bits) per second and allow anyone to take a virtual trip to Mars.

Clip Source: computer.howstuffworks.com

The next phase of the Internet will take us to far reaches of our solar system, and lay the groundwork for a communications system for a manned missions to Mars and planets beyond.

If we ever want to find out more about other planets, we will need a better communication system for future space missions.

As you move farther out into space, however, there is a delay of minutes or hours because light has to travel millions of miles, instead of thousands of miles, between transmitter and receiver.

Line of sight obstruction -- Anything that blocks the space between the signal transmitter and receiver can interrupt communication.

Scientists, engineers and programmers are already working to develop an interplanetary Internet that will connect us to probes and human space travelers, and allow more information to be sent back to Earth.

Introduction to How an Interplanetary Internet Will Work

Wiring the Solar System

Astronomical Challenges

Tags: internet, interplanetary system, mars, manned missions

Apollo 11

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 03:13:07 GMT

clipped by: alam58
clipper's remarks: Apollo 11- The first time man walked on the moon

Clip Source: www.nasm.si.edu

Apollo 11 (AS-506)

Lunar Landing Mission

Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. The first steps by humans on another planetary body were taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969. The astronauts also returned to Earth the first samples from another planetary body. Apollo 11 achieved its primary mission - to perform a manned lunar landing and return the mission safely to Earth - and paved the way for the Apollo lunar landing missions to follow.

Tags: apollo 11, nasa

Viva La Robotic Revolution!

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 06:59:43 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: a giant leap for machinekind?

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

On Saturday, when Carnegie Mellon's robotic Chevy Tahoe, known as "Boss," rolled across the finish line of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge in Victorville, Calif., after 60 miles of urban driving, no driver stepped out to be showered with champagne and photographs. In fact, Boss had flawlessly accomplished the 19 missions given to the 11 finalist robots in the competition--parking at precise locations, negotiating a mix of onroad and offroad driving, and avoiding the other robotic and manned cars that roamed the streets of an abandoned airforce base--all without a human behind the wheel.

"This is a wonderful day in the history of robotics," Carnegie Mellon team leader Red Whittaker said after the race. "It's as good as it gets."

Call it a giant leap for machinekind.

Tags: robotics, boss, carnegie melon, darpa, technology

Remote-controlled aircraft would patrol Arctic: military

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:43:45 GMT

clipped by: jetcloud
clipper's remarks: "The military hopes to acquire the new aircraft within five years, but does not yet know how many it will buy or where it will buy them from.

There is no estimate yet on how much the aircraft will cost, though Williams said the drones are typically less expensive than the Aurora patrol aircraft the military currently uses when it flies surveillance missions.

UAVs are more affordable because they are generally smaller, lighter and cheaper to build than Auroras, and they use less fuel, need less maintenance and require fewer crew members with less training."

Clip Source: www.cbc.ca

The Canadian military plans to buy a fleet of remote-controlled aircraft to patrol the Arctic, an official told CBC News.

The General Atomics Predator shown here is capable of both reconnaissance and armed attack. The Canadian Forces have not yet decided on the type of drone it will purchase for northern surveillance.
(Courtesy of General Atomics)

Lt.-Col. Wade Williams said the drones, known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, will be equipped with cameras, radar, radios, electronic sensors and possibly even weapons.

They will fly day-long surveillance flights over water, land and ice while being piloted by an air crew stationed on the ground at a control station that could be thousands of kilometres away.

"I think UAVs will go a long way to alleviating the requirement to have constant manned aircraft in the air," said Williams, who is with the military's UAV program.

"They can do a lot of the eyes and ears missions that are being done today with manned aircraft."

Tags: aircraft, canada, military, weapons, arctic, canadian forces

NASA photo, video collection to be digitized

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:26:25 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight
clipper's remarks: It's working with the Internet Archive to organize its immense image collection

Clip Source: www.computerworld.com

August 24, 2007 (Computerworld) -- With a 50-year collection of photos, videos, films and other material, NASA's archives from manned and unmanned space missions is almost as vast as outer space.

And now, NASA is undertaking a project to put all of that material into a central archive that can be searched by space flight aficionados.

In an announcement Thursday, NASA said it has reached a deal with the nonprofit, San Francisco-based Internet Archive to scan, archive and manage the agency's vast collection. The effort will be paid for solely through grants, foundations and individual contributions received by the Internet Archive.

NASA already has much of its collection online, but the material is divided up into more than 20 different imagery categories, making it hard to find specific images or archives unless a user knows exactly where it is, said spokesman Bob Jacobs.

Tags: technology

NASA looks to private sector to help it go lunar.

Sun, 27 May 2007 20:36:57 GMT

clipped by: BitDrifter
clipper's remarks: Great News, very exciting.

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

NASA is in the market for commercial relationships and private capital as it gears up for its next manned missions to the moon.

"That would make our life a lot easier," said Neil Woodward, acting director of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.

The U.S. space agency is hoping to return to the moon in 2019 or 2020 and has longer range plans to send humans to Mars after that.

NASA's lunar plans envision the building of an outpost on the moon which would be continuously manned like the International Space Station is now.

"Maybe at that point there will be commercial exploitation and we won't be sending missions there but some of the commercial companies here will start sending people there,

Tags: nasa, space, moon, lunar, exploration, mars, base, station, 2019, 2020, business, competition, free market

Space race heats up in Asia

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:07:11 GMT

clipped by: dorine

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

TOKYO - Japan is set to launch its first lunar orbiter this summer, but exploring the moon is just part of the mission.

The other goal is to catch up with China, the new leader in Asia's space race.

Japan's space agency JAXA announced last week that the much-delayed SELENE probe will be launched in August aboard an H-2A rocket, the mainstay of Japan's space program.

JAXA says the SELENE project is the largest lunar mission since the U.S. Apollo program. It involves placing a main satellite in orbit at an altitude of about 60 miles and deploying two smaller satellites in polar orbits. Researchers will use data gathered by the probes to study the moon's origin and evolution.

"This mission will involve observation of the whole moon, not just parts of it," said JAXA spokesman Satoki Kurokawa. "It is a very ambitious project."

The mission is a stepping stone in Japan's plan to more aggressively pursue space objectives — including a lunar landing and, possibly, manned missions in space.

Tags: space, japan, china, asia, science, moon, lunar, mission

Latest food-fad -- 'space potatoes'

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 02:30:43 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Now - do we wait for people to become aliens from this or perhaps find out people are sybiotic hosts?

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Latest food-fad -- 'space potatoes'

Story Highlights

• Purple Orchid Three 'space potato' is sweet, purple in color
• Restaurants are serving it fried, in salads, as desserts or drinks
• China has reportedly produced other mutated fruits and vegetables
• Seeds exposed to space radiation, capsule pressure and weightlessness

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Having boldly gone where no spud has before, Chinese space potatoes are now the latest culinary fad to hit the country's ultra-trendy commercial hub of Shanghai.

Slightly sweet and purple in color, the potatoes, named Purple Orchid Three, are bred from seeds that mutated while being carried aboard a Chinese spacecraft, the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported Monday.

Grower Haikou Purple Orchid Co. Ltd. is promoting them as a unique food option, and restaurants in the city are offering them for Valentine's Day dinners, served crispy fried, or in salads, desserts and even iced drinks, the newspaper said.

China's space program claims to have produced numerous mutated fruits and vegetables by exposing seeds to space radiation, capsule pressure and weightlessness.

Chinese agricultural experts say plants grown from such seeds can be hardier, more nutritious and produce higher yields, although many scientists say similar effects could be achieved in ordinary laboratories.

The space program, which has successfully completed two manned missions, is a source of massive national pride for China, and companies marketing everything from milk to magazines have bought the rights to be endorsed by it.

Tags: space, chine, radiated food

A Peek Inside DARPA

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:24:08 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: This is probably the only place in government where people with true intelligence and skills exist.

Clip Source: www.computerworld.com

A Peek Inside DARPA

Researchers at the defense agency invented the precursor to the Internet. So, what’s next? A fault-tolerant wireless network and the next generation of supercomputers.

January 22, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Save for a single manned police car that has sat in front of the building since 9/11, there is nothing about this particular office tower to distinguish it from hundreds of others in Arlington, Va. But inside 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, more than 100 computer scientists, biologists, materials specialists, microsystems experts, mathematicians and engineers are hatching ideas around a staggering variety of new technologies.

It’s the headquarters of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the subjects being studied there include software that can translate and analyze Arabic TV broadcasts, insects with microcontrollers inside their bodies and the next generation of supercomputers.

DARPA’s philosophical underpinnings have changed several times over the years (see “Shifting Missions,” page 26), but its mission remains the same. In 1958, in the aftershock of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik launch, President Eisenhower formed what was then known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency. Two years ago, DARPA Director Tony Tether told a congressional subcommittee, “Our mission is still to prevent technological surprise, but also to create technological surprise for our adversaries.”

Tags: darpa, government, advanced research

Britain Shoots for the Moon?

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:10:20 GMT

clipped by: gingembre
clipper's remarks: Proposal for a British space program, independent of European Space Agency or NASA. The prospect of future economic benefits is apparently too enticing to ignore...

Clip Source: www.space.com

Report: England Eyes Solo Moon-bound Missions

By The Associated Press

posted: 10 January 2006
6:25 p.m. ET

LONDON (AP) – Britain could launch a program to send probes to the Moon by 2010 without the backing of Europe's space agency, according to a funding body report, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported Tuesday.

The BBC said the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council had produced outline plans for two solo moon missions, claiming the falling costs of technology make the proposals viable.

Britain has carried out all previous space exploration – including the ill-fated attempt to land the Beagle 2 probe on Mars in December 2003 – in conjunction with the European Space Agency or NASA.

Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, chief executive of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. which conducted research on behalf of the council, told the British Broadcasting Corp. he believed the proposals were credible.

“Current small missions to the moon cost around euro500 million (US$650 million). With advances in small satellites, we could probably cut the cost by at least a fifth,'' he told the broadcaster.

He said a British space program would allow businesses to “get a foothold in what could turn out to be an economically important area for a relatively low cost.''

A first proposed mission – named Moonlight – could be launched by 2010, with four suitcase-sized instruments to be shot into craters on the moon's surface from an orbiting probe, the BBC reported.

The instruments would relay information about the composition of the moon's core and allow work to be conducted on the possibility of earthquake-style moonquakes.

A later mission – named Moonraker – would land a spacecraft on the lunar surface and search for suitable sites for future manned bases, the BBC reported without clarifying if the second mission would be manned.

Tags: united kingdom, britain, space, technology, moon, exploration, business, science, astronomy, nasa

10 Appaling Lies

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 19:31:39 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: Bears repeating.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

LIE #1: "The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program ... Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons."

LIE #2: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." -- President Bush, Jan.28, 2003, in the State of the Union address.

LIE #3: "We believe [Saddam] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." -- Vice President Cheney on March 16, 2003 on "Meet the Press."

LIE #4: "[The CIA possesses] solid reporting of senior-level contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda going back a decade." -- CIA Director George Tenet in a written statement released Oct. 7, 2002 and echoed in that evening's speech by President Bush.

LIE #5: "We've learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases ... Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints." -- President Bush, Oct. 7.

LIE #6: "We have also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We are concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] for missions targeting the United States."

LIE #7: "We have seen intelligence over many months that they have chemical and biological weapons, and that they have dispersed them and that they're weaponized and that, in one case at least, the command and control arrangements have been established." -- President Bush, Feb. 8, 2003, in a national radio address.

LIE #8: "Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets." -- Secretary of State Colin Powell, Feb. 5 2003, in remarks to the UN Security Council.

Tags: war, iraq, lies