Why Is It So Hard to Travel to Mars?

The Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters were perhaps two of the most prominent reminders of how crucial it is that everything work just right for a spacecraft to travel to space and successfully return back to Earth. Whether it was the failure of the seal used to stop hot gases from seeping through, or a piece of foam insulation that damaged the thermal protection system, scientists and engineers must make thousands of predictions of all the things that could go wrong during flight.

NASA's human Mars mission presents even more challenges of sending humans safely to a farther distance and to a more dangerous environment. Designing an aircraft that can safely enter and exit Mars' unpredictable atmosphere is a big challenge. "Each time we fly to Mars, we learn a little more and get a little smarter," said Walter Engelund of NASA's Langley Research Center. "One thing we have learned is that the Mars atmosphere is certainly a big variable. It is much more dynamic than our own Earth's atmosphere." For missions that require entry and re-entry into an atmosphere, the design of the spacecraft is typically guided by its EDL system.

Engelund, along with several other NASA colleagues, published a review of the EDL systems currently being proposed for a future manned mission to Mars in a recent book titled "The Human Mission to Mars. Colonizing the Red Planet." The book is a compilation of studies written by a team of more than 70 scientists, including four astronauts (two who walked on the moon), offering a detailed guide of how to successfully accomplish a human mission to Mars. Engelund is the lead author of the EDL study.

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Company planning biggest rocket since man on moon

A high-tech entrepreneur unveiled plans Tuesday to launch the world's most powerful rocket since man went to the moon. Space Exploration Technology has already sent the first private rocket and capsule into Earth's orbit as a commercial venture. It is now planning a rocket that could lift twice as much cargo into orbit as the soon-to-be-retired space shuttle. The first launch is slotted for 2013 from California with follow-up launches from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Space X's new rocket called Falcon Heavy is big enough to send cargo or even people out of Earth's orbit to the moon, an asteroid or Mars. Only the long retired Saturn V rocket that sent men to the moon was bigger. "This is a rocket of truly huge scale," said Space X president Elon Musk, who also founded PayPal and manufactures electric sports cars. The Falcon Heavy could put 117,000 pounds into the same orbit as the International Space Station. The space shuttle hauls about 54,000 pounds into orbit. The old Saturn V could carry more than 400,000 pounds of cargo.

NASA preparing Mars rover for launch

NASA engineers are putting the finishing touches on a mega-rover to Mars before shipping it off to Florida for launch later this year. A small army of technicians dressed in protective bunny suits has been working around the clock inside a clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles assembling the craft, called Curiosity, and testing its science instruments. The $2.5 billion mission was supposed to launch in 2009, but problems during construction forced a two-year delay.

With launch scheduled for late November, engineers have been busy testing the spacecraft's various systems — all the while making sure that contamination from Earth doesn't accidentally hitch a ride to Mars. The nuclear-powered Curiosity — the size of a small SUV — will probe rocks and soil to determine whether the red planet ever had the right environment to support primitive life. It will carry the most high-tech instruments to the Martian surface including a laser that can zap boulders from afar. To the dismay of some space fans, Curiosity won't carry a high-resolution 3-D camera that "Avatar" director James Cameron was helping to build. NASA recently nixed it because there wasn't enough time to fully test the zoom lens before launch.

Scientists expect Curiosity to build on the discoveries of the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which have uncovered geologic evidence of ancient water and the Phoenix lander, which found ice at its Martian north pole landing site. Curiosity's road to the launch pad has been bumpy. Engineers had to redesign the rover's heat shield and fix problems with the parachute. NASA also faced delivery delays from subcontractors that affected the launch timetable and raised the mission price tag.

Scans of Discovery's External Tank Progressing Well

Technicians in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are making good progress with X-ray type image scans of space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank.

By Tuesday evening, they'll be more than half way done with the computed radiography scans of all 108 support beams, called stringers, on the outside of the external tank’s intertank section.

Engineers at various other NASA locations already are analyzing the new image scans, which began Sunday. The new data, along with previous testing and analysis, will help engineers and managers determine what caused small cracks on the tops of two stringers during Discovery’s launch countdown on Nov. 5.‬

‪‬Technicians expect to complete their scans by Thursday (Dec. 30) when Space Shuttle Program managers are set to decide whether testing and analysis indicate modifications are needed on some of the stringers.

Colorado's Reservoir Road Fire from Space

Colorado's "Reservoir Road Fire" from Space

NASA's Aqua satellite flies around the Earth twice a day and captures visible and infrared imagery. On Sept. 12 at 19:20 UTC (3:20 p.m. EDT), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on Aqua captured a visible image of the "Reservoir Road Fire" that is currently raging in the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests / Pawnee National Grassland.

According to the National Forest Incident report on September 13, the Reservoir Road Fire near Loveland, Colorado, has burned 600 acres, and firefighting continues. Loveland is the second most populous city in Larimer County, Colo. Loveland is located 46 miles north of Denver.

Science and Maintenance for Station Crew

As part of the ongoing Russian Seiner experiment, Expedition 24 Commander Alexander Skvortsov photographed and documented developments and conditions in the Earth’s oceans Wednesday. His unique perspective of the oceans provides scientists on the ground with current position coordinates of bioproductive water areas.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko worked with the PILOT-M experiment. PILOT-M is an ongoing experiment that examines the effects of long-duration space flight and stress on the ability of crew members to complete manual spacecraft control tasks.

Flight Engineer Shannon Walker set up the Space Linear Acceleration Mass Measurement Device (SLAMMD) experiment and performed body mass measurements. SLAMMD follows Newton's Second Law of Motion by having two springs generate a known force against a crew member mounted on an extension arm, the resulting acceleration being used to calculate the subject's mass, in effect weighing the individuals.

Using the Fluid Servicing System, Walker also refilled the Columbus laboratory’s Internal Active Thermal Control System with a water-based coolant.

space shuttle orbiter

A jet engine noise reduction device called a chevron, now in use on commercial airliners, is a good example of a NASA-developed technology that climbed the TRL scale to success, said Fay Collier, manager of NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project.

Chevrons are the saw-tooth pattern that can be seen on the trailing edges of some jet engine nozzles. As hot air from the engine core mixes with cooler air blowing through the engine fan, the jagged edges serve to smooth the mixing, which reduces turbulence that creates noise.

The new Boeing 787 is among the most modern jets relying on chevrons to reduce engine noise levels, sporting chevrons on the nacelles, or fan housings. The Boeing 747-8 has chevrons on both the nacelles and inner core engine nozzles.

Post-E3, Sony lay and Nintendo claim to each other's audience

It's post-E3 and for the most part, gaming companies are feeling pretty confident about their work and their future. None seem more confident than Nintendo's president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime and PlayStation Europe's president Andrew House.

Fils-Aime and House spoke to CNET News and Edge Online, respectively about future and standing within the gaming industry.

"Nintendo's in a very fortunate place." Said Fils-Aime, "The industry through April is down about 4 percent, but we're up about 19 percent. So consumers are voting for us with their wallets, which is a great place to be, especially when so much of our best content will be coming in the second half of the year."

When asked about E3, House responded,

"I think we struck the right balance between being very future-facing - new motion controller technology, certainly a lot of good information about the network and how that is going to evolve. We balanced that with very solid tangible game lineup information. If the audience there was anything to go by, it caused a tremendously positive reaction and I think it positions us extremely well."

In an interesting kind of reversal, each seemed to be making up for their setbacks, as Nintendo seems to be interested in trying to grab the attention of more hardcore games, while PlayStation is trying to broaden it's appeal to more casual gamers.

"We think we can win over the Halo audience" said Fils-Aime, "with something like The Conduit, a multi-player, online, shooting experience, or Dead Space Extraction. And you know what? Once those people buy into Wii, they'll go buy Mario Kart or Wii Fit Plus. We're not going to be satisfied just picking up that existing gamer. We have to reach beyond and get that consumer who doesn't game. That's the only way we'll be able to continue growing as a company and as an industry."

While Fils-Aime seems confident that hardcore gamers will eventually find an entry point into the Wii, House noted that the Wii may be just the first step for casual gamers that will eventually lead to their system.

"If you look back at previous lifecycles, like PS2 versus N64 [sic], we have lots of data that suggests that lots of people bought into N64 as their entry level gaming device, and were happy to upgrade to a more powerful machine later in the life cycle when the price point was right for them. I think we're going to see this later on PS3, and the fact that it's a Blu-ray player as well and that there's a [greater] wealth of network based experiences than are perhaps available on the device they already have will add to the proposition.

Also, when asked about Sony and Microsoft's upcoming motion control projects, Fils-Aime didn't seem too worried.

"The only thing I'll say is a rhetorical question. Is it fun? If it's fun, then I tip my hat and say, "Well done." But what's happening sounds to me a lot like, "Who's got the prettiest picture. Who's got high-definition. Who has the best processing power?" It sounds like technology, when the consumer wants to be entertained. Our focus is how do we take active play and make it entertainment. And that's what we're going to continue to focus on."

In the end, whether one is holding the market for casual or hardcore gamers, both companies are pushing the envelope in terms of gameplay and technological achievements, and this may be the year in which both companies begin to blur the lines between casual and hardcore. Whether or not gamers will find a home on the Wii, PS3, or Xbox 360, it's clear from this year's E3 that the industry has changed, and it has changed in a big way, for better or for worse.

source: http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/210762/post-e3-nintendo-and-sony-lay-claim-to-each-others-audience/

United Plans massive Plane Order

The news on June 4 that United Airlines (UAUA) plans to place a massive order for as many as 150 new jets was seen by some observers as the latest example of how some companies are shrewdly exploiting the economic downturn in hopes of landing a bargain. Indeed, by soliciting bids at a time when aircraft makers are already reeling from widespread cancellations, United may be able to extract major concessions from Boeing (BA) and Airbus, a possibility that isn't lost on United CEO Glenn Tilton.

"Our timing is opportune, as this is a competitive environment for manufacturers," Tilton said in a June 4 memo to employees disclosing the potential order, which some analysts estimate could be worth as much as $10 billion over the next couple of decades.
CEO Tilton: On His Own

But the plan, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, is perhaps more an indication that Tilton has given up hope, at least for now, that he can make good on his hopes to package the Chicago-based carrier for sale to another airline. Industry insiders say United's plans for a large aircraft order is a tacit admission by Tilton that a merger isn't likely, and that he has no choice but to operate United as an independent company.

"I think he had to accept that there just aren't any buyers for United out there right now," says Scott Hamilton, managing director of Leeham Co., an Issaquah (Wash.)-based industry consulting firm.

While Tilton has publicly argued for the need for further industry consolidation, he has also rejected any suggestions that he was managing the airline for a quick sale. Still, from the time the former oil company executive joined United in 2002 as CEO, Tilton has seemed to be on a mission to oversee a sale of the airline. Tilton's best qualification for the job seemed to be that as CEO of Texaco he had engineered the sale of that company to Chevron (CVX), negotiating a sale price in 2000 that was 25% higher than Texaco's market value at the time. And ever since the board of United's parent, UAL, recruited Tilton to take the troubled airline through its bankruptcy, it seems he has been looking for a merger partner.

United hadn't placed a single order for new aircraft in the seven years since Tilton came aboard, a move that some observers took as an indication of a possible sale, since acquirers would prefer not to inherit any orders for aircraft that are incompatible with their own fleets.
Rebuffed by Potential Partners

According to industry sources, Tilton, 61, tried to negotiate a sale to both Continental Airlines (CAL) and to Delta Air Lines (DAL) in recent years. And his public lobbying for the government to lower barriers that prevent foreign airlines from taking more than a passive, 24.9% stake in U.S. carriers was widely viewed within the industry as an effort to open United for sale to one of its European partners, such as Lufthansa (DLAKY).

But Congress has shown no desire to give foreign acquirers the 100% ownership they desire, at least not for now. And Delta and Continental eventually turned down United's overtures, mainly due to their concerns about the carrier's poisoned relationship with its unions and its operational inefficiencies.

Indeed, when United executives were shopping the carrier in 2007 they held out those operational inefficiencies, which analysts figure result in $1 billion in excess costs per year, as a potential source of profits for any acquirer that could bring a new rigor to United's operations. (In the end, Continental did agree to a marketing joint venture with United in which the two airlines would fly certain connecting legs for each other.)

Tilton's plan for a big order doesn't appear to be so much for expansion, but to fill the looming holes in United's fleet as it begins to retire its aging aircraft. In the June 4 memo, Tilton said the carrier would be looking for "a potentially significant number of aircraft that could ultimately replace our widebody fleet" and would "also be assessing appropriate replacement of our Boeing 757 fleet."
Where Will United Get the Money?

But it isn't clear how United will pay for such a massive order. The airline has reported losses for six straight quarters, and despite raising nearly $500 million in cash through various financings and asset sales, United is sitting on an unrestricted cash balance of just $2.5 billion, as compared with the $4.4 billion cash hoard held by Delta and the $3.3 billion at American Airlines (AMR).

That's still well above the $1 billion or so that analysts say an airline the size of United needs to function on a week-to-week basis. But analysts expect United to lose another $335 million over the rest of the year, and losses could rise even more if the economy remains in its current funk for longer than that. "I don't quite see how they can afford this," notes Robert Mann, an airline industry consultant in Port Washington, N.Y. "Their balance sheet is still strained."

If the economy remains soft, Mann believes United's best hope to raise cash for the initial plane purchases would come from selling the rights to future income from its frequent-flier miles to hotels, rental-car companies, and the myriad other companies that offer them to their own customers as incentives.
A Bidding War Is Unlikely

Despite the common perception that aircraft makers like Boeing and Airbus are suffering from order cutbacks, Hamilton notes that as a result of the long lead times in manufacturing, both companies are still scheduled to deliver about 480 aircraft this year, or roughly the same number as in 2008. Which means that while both Boeing and Airbus would salivate at the prospect of landing a $10 billion order, Hamilton thinks it's unlikely that either will be willing to offer the kind of fire-sale prices that Tilton may be anticipating. "The perception that the workers at Boeing and Airbus are just sitting on their hands is incorrect," he says.

And as much as United might want to reap the biggest discounts by staging a "winner-take-all" competition, Hamilton believes it will be hard for either of the two manufacturers to create a portfolio of aircraft that fits United's myriad needs. While the carrier has come to rely on Airbus for the narrow-body jets that it flies on its domestic routes, Hamilton notes that United is still likely to turn to Boeing for the long-haul aircraft it uses on its international routes.

"I just don't see that any one manufacturer, at this point in time, has the lineup that fits all of their specific needs," Hamilton says.

source: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2009/db2009064_857013.htm

Opera Web browser offers more new tab options

NEW YORK (AP) - Norway's Opera Software has a new Web browser that lets you work more easily with multiple tabs in a single window.

Opera 10 is now out, in a "beta" test mode.

A resizable tab bar lets you stretch the row of tabs at the top so that mini, "thumbnail" versions of open pages appear inside. That way, you can choose the tab based on the appearance of the Web page, not just its name.

Of course, thumbnails are not new to browsers. Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer offers them, as does previous versions of Opera.

But Opera 10 lets you see those thumbnails up top while you continue to browse normally in the larger space below.

It is not clear, though, whether that will do much to increase Opera's tiny market share.

source: http://www.komonews.com/news/tech/46846527.html