Last flight of the Space Shuttle: a 30-year retrospective

Last flight of the Space Shuttle: a 30-year retrospective

 

 

The United States has been a space-faring nation for just over 50 years, ever since Alan Shepard's suborbital pop shot aboard Freedom 7 on May 5, 1961. In the following eight years the US, and mankind, went from being earthbound to making the first lunar landing.

Projects Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were followed by the longest lull in America's manned space program to date, but starting in 1981 with the maiden flight of Columbia, the space shuttle program became the stalwart backbone of America's manned space flight program. With the final planned shuttle mission only hours from its scheduled launch, we take a moment to look back at over 30 years of history, achievements, and tragic failures.

More info:http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/07/30-years-of-manned-space-flight-the-last-flight-of-the-space-shuttle.ars

Human Sacrifice Found in Maya City Sinkhole

 

Maya Underworld

 

Photograph courtesy Tamara Thomsen

The bones of six humans—including two children—jade beads, shells, and stone tools are among the Maya "treasures" recently found in a water-filled cave off a sinkhole at the famous archaeological site of Chichén Itzá (picture) in Mexico, archaeologists say.
The ancient objects are most likely related to a ritual human sacrifice during a time when water levels were lower, sometime between A.D. 850 and 1250, the researchers say.
It's "very improbable" that the remains and artifacts were "just tossed" into the sinkhole, known as a cenote, expedition leader Guillermo Anda told National Geographic News in an email. Rather, he said, they were likely placed there during a ceremony to appease the Maya rain god, Chaak.
Extending from what is now southern Mexico through Guatemala and into northern Belize, the Maya Empire is noted for having the only known written language in Mesoamerica, as well as for its elaborate works of art and architecture. Chichén Itzá was one of the greatest Maya cities on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. (See an interactive map of key Maya sites.)
The discovery of a human sacrifice deep in one the region's cenotes supports the idea that, for the Maya, the sinkholes "represented thresholds of communication with the spiritual and sacred world that lay under the surface of the Earth," said Anda, a professor at the Autonomous University of Yucatán.

More info: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/07/pictures/110706-human-sacrifice-bones-maya-chichen-itza-ancient-science-mexico-cenote/

New Comet Found; May Be Visible From Earth in 2013

 There's a newfound comet closing in on the sun, and when it gets here in 2013, you may be able to see it with your naked eye.

Astronomers stumbled upon the icy interloper on June 5 while searching for potentially hazardous asteroids.
Equipped with the world's largest digital camera—1,400 megapixels—the University of Hawaii's Pan-STARRS team snagged a faint image of the odd object while it was more than 700 million miles (1.1 billion kilometers) away, between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. (Explore an interactive solar system.)
"Almost everything we find is an asteroid, but this object was suspicious," said Richard Wainscoat, co-discoverer of the comet and an astronomer at the University of Hawaii.
"Unlike asteroids, which appear point-like in images, the telltale sign that gave it away was its fuzzy appearance."
(Related: "Weird Asteroid Really a Crusty Old Comet?")
By March 2013 the comet, named C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), is expected to come within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of the sun—closer even than the innermost planet, Mercury.
When the comet makes its closest approach to the sun, more of its ices will vaporize, adding to its hazy envelope of gas and dust and producing the familiar tail.
This denser envelope, or coma, should boost the comet to peak brightness, making it potentially visible to the naked eye low in the western horizon just after sunset.
Comet a Runaway From the South
While there is no danger of collision with Earth, preliminary calculations of the comet's orbit show that this may be its first and final trip through the solar system.
"It may be coming around the sun for the first and only time, only to be ejected from the solar system, never to return," Wainscoat said.
"Since we don't have a lot of data on it, we really don't know the orbit well enough right now, and it will take up to two months of observations to find out."
Astronomers believe C/2011 L4 may be a runaway from the Oort cloud, a reservoir of billions of hibernating comets that orbits about 100,000 times farther than the distance between Earth and the sun.
"The current path of the comet is typical of those thought to be originating from the Oort cloud, showing it coming up from the south—underneath the Earth—going up the back side of the sun and into the north sky, very nearly perpendicular to the plane of the solar system," Wainscoat said.
The fact that it's going around the back of the sun from our point of view may ultimately affect the comet's visibility, but a lot will depend on how close the body actually gets to the sun.

More info: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/06/110622-new-comet-found-2013-visible-space-science/

World's first 'live' video feed of Earth from space

(PhysOrg.com) -- The world's first high definition streaming video camera to be installed on the International Space Station (ISS) has been announced by David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science at the UK Space Conference on 4 July. The project is a joint venture between Canada, Russia and the UK.

The high resolution camera will offer a video image with a resolution that is comparable to much of Google Earth. This will give users the unique opportunity to see man-made objects and groups of people and to search for videos of particular locations. It will be possible to zoom in and out, virtually steer the camera from side to side, rewind and fast forward as they investigate areas of interest on Earth. The web platform also gives users the capability to constantly track the location of the ISS anticipating the exact time when it will pass over a particular geographic location.
Canadian company UrtheCast (pronounced 'Earth cast') will supply video data and imagery of Earth, collected by two high definition cameras on the Russian module of the ISS. The two cameras, one medium resolution and one high resolution, will be designed, built and tested by STFC's RAL Space, at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The data and imagery collected from the cameras will be down-linked to ground stations around the world and then displayed in near real time on the UrtheCast web platform.
President of UrtheCast, Scott Larson said "UrtheCast is excited to be working with RAL Space on this project. We feel that the ability to show people what earth looks like from space, in a near-real time environment, will provide for a significant educational opportunity. At the same time, showing people how close we are all connected and responsible for earth, is obviously something that we continually need to be reminded about".

More info: http://www.physorg.com

Space exploration priority

Space exploration priority, NASA chief says

 

WASHINGTON — The United States will continue to lead in space exploration despite the end of the space shuttle program, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said Friday during an appearance at the National Press Club.

The space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch for the last time July 8. After that U.S. astronauts will ride to and from the International Space Station in the Russian's Soyuz capsule. Commercial space companies will deliver supplies to the space station on unmanned rockets.

The United States needs to cede its low-earth orbit missions, such as the space shuttle, to the private sector so it can free up resources to explore deep space, Bolden said. President Obama has directed NASA to work toward sending manned spacecraft to an asteroid and to Mars.

"American leadership in space will continue for at least the next half-century because we have laid the foundation for success," Bolden said. "We are not ending human spaceflight. We are recommitting ourselves to it and taking the necessary and difficult steps today to ensure America's pre-eminence in human spaceflight for years to come."

For the next decade, as new programs come on line, the space station will serve as a "centerpiece" for scientific research and as a base to explore deep space, he said.

"It's really an exciting time for science on the space station," said astronaut Mark Kelly, who commanded the Endeavour mission to the space station in May and joined Bolden for the speech. He helped install a spectrometer he says will "revolutionize particle physics."

 

More info: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2011-07-01-NASA-shuttle-space_n.htm

 

The man that killed 2 alien greys

The man that killed 2 alien greys

 Philip Schneider claimed to be an ex-government structural engineer who was involved in building underground military bases around the United States , and to be one of only three people to survive an incident that occurred in 1979 between Grey aliens and U.S. military forces at the Dulce underground base .
For the last two years of his life, Schneider gave lectures about government cover-ups, black budgets, and UFOs. Schneider was never able or willing to prove his allegations (e.g. showing the entrance to Dulce Base). His claims received little mainstream notice, but caused quite a buzz in UFO enthusiast circles.

Woman’s skeleton found at Sedgeford dig sheds light on Norfolk 4,000 years ago

 Woman’s skeleton found at Sedgeford dig sheds light on Norfolk 4,000 years ago

     Archaeologists confirmed the significance of the discovery yesterday as work got under way for the summer season at Sedgeford, near Heacham.

 The 4,000-year-old woman's skeleton found by the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP) last year.

Martin Hatton, curator of human remains at the site, was staking out an area of chalk down close to where the find was made last summer, ready for this year’s eagerly-awaited dig to begin.
“It was a total surprise to us,” he said. “You don’t bury people anywhere other than near where they live, so what we can say is that people were farming the land here 4,000 years ago.”
Fifteen years ago, a community dig began to uncover the secrets of the village’s Saxon graveyard. Since then, each summer has shed more light on the past.

"You don’t bury people anywhere other than near where they live, so what we can say is that people were farming the land here 4,000 years ago."

 

More info : http://www.edp24.co.uk

Mexican Archaeologists Find Probable Prehispanic Maya Cemetery

Mexican Archaeologists Find Probable Prehispanic Maya Cemetery in State of Tabasco

 MEXICO CITY.- In the surroundings of Comalcalco Archaeological Zone, Tabasco, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found 116 burials that are more than 1,000 years old; 66 of them were deposited in funerary urns while the other 50 were placed around them. The finding represents the greatest skeleton sample found in this Maya region, suggesting it could be a Prehispanic Maya cemetery.

Funerary deposits were located under 3 soil monticules worn out by agricultural activities. “It is possible that skeletons found in the urns, 66, correspond to members of the Maya elite, while the other 50, placed in different positions around the pots, were their companions”, commented archaeologist Ricardo Armijo, coordinator of archaeological salvage at Comalcalco, Tabasco.

Associated with the burials, ceramic whistles and rattles representing animals and splendidly attired men and women; dozens of flint and obsidian knives and their debris; multiple metate (grinder) fragments, as well as more than 70,000 ceramic fragments were also found.

“Preliminary analysis of material suggests burials to be between 1,161 and 1,200 years old, corresponding to the Late Classic period (750-850 AD); still, we need to perform exhaustive studies to confirm it”, declared archaeologist Armijo.

The INAH researcher manifested that due to the considerable amount of human bone remains found in a single deposit, it is supposed that monticules served funerary purposes as a Prehispanic burial ground.

This is the largest skeleton sample recovered in the northwestern Maya area until now, if we consider that other burials have been found isolated.

Read more: http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=48684