Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
1. http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-confirms-super-earth-could-hold-life-020348934.html In NASA’s search for other habitable planets in our universe they seem to have finally found one. It is the first habitable found that is outside of our solar system. It was first spotted in 2009 by French astronomists, and just recently the Kepler space Telescope was able to confirm that it is habitable. Astronomists have been able to observe it passing behind its’ star a total of three times since it was first spotted. Signs of life have yet to be spotted on Kepler 22b but the conditions are right for water and atmosphere to exist. Kepler 22b is 600 light years away and is approximately 2.4 times bigger than Earth. Swiss and French astronomers have discovered similar planets but none are as likely to support life because their stars are cooler and smaller than our sun. So far, in the search for other life outside of Earth, there has been forty-eight exoplanets discovered and the Kepler telescope has found 2,326 possibilities. 2. http://www.space.com/13548-mars-rover-curiosity-ready-launch.html NASA is planning to launch their biggest Mars Rover yet. This mini cooper sized rover is their most sophisticated too. The main goal of this rover is to explore Mars and find out if it was ever able to support life. It is scheduled to leave for Mars November 25 and will arrive in August of 2012. The landing of Curiosity is the most complicated yet, it will approach the surface by parachute and then it will hover above the surface and be lowered down by tethers. The scientists selected Gale Crater to be the landing site because it has the most variety of rocks and other materials. I think this is a very big step in astronomic research because it will be able to tell us more information than we could get from previous rovers. However at the same time it is very difficult because there are many variables and so many things have to go right for it to work properly. 3. http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/ufo-aliens-football-games-2149/ Recently there were two sightings of UFOs during football games. Originally no one thought anything of the videos until an expert on UFOs examined the videos and saw that there were flashing lights and they were circular in shape. Some Skeptics are saying that the lights from the video at the Saints game was just a passing insect because light can be elongated by a passing object. As for the lights at the high school football game they were most likely just night time skydivers. I believe that they were not alien spaceships but something else there were too many other options of what they could be and why would astronomers not have reported any activity anywhere in the world if there were flying objects over the world. 4. http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/quirks-quarks-blog/2011/11/another-close-call.html On November 8 something remarkable occurred, a 400 meter wide asteroid passed between the earth and the moon. As it turns out this is actually a common occurrence because there are so many asteroids that orbit around the sun. When it passed by astronomers used radio signals to bounce off its surface to get a picture of what it looks like because the surface is just too dark for visual pictures to capture what is looks like. Studying these asteroids can be very important because they can change the earth if a big enough one hits the Earth and it has happened many times before, although the last big hit was about 65 million years ago. I think it is very cool how close something as giant as an asteroid can fly by earth and most everyone on Earth will never know about it. Also it is a little scary how close they come to Earth because they can have such power and if they aren’t handled correctly it could change every aspect of life on earth. 5. http://news.yahoo.com/newfound-comet-dive-sun-next-week144807344.html;_ylt=AqTudof247ZfBTxI72OvDsiHgsgF;_ylu=X3oDMTRmNTRua21qBG1pdANUb 3BTdG9yeSBTY2llbmNlU0YgU3BhY2VBc3Ryb25vbXlTU0YEcGtnA2RhN2ZkMWFiLTVlYjItMzUwYi1i NTdkLWI0ZTQxYjUyNDJiNgRwb3MDMTgEc2VjA3RvcF9zdG9yeQR2ZXIDNGY5ODU0YzAtMjAxOS0 xMWUxLWI3ZmYtZGFlNDYyNjI4OGRk;_ylg=X3oDMTJkbDM4amVvBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi1 1cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlfHNwYWNlIC0gYXN0cm9ub215BHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zB HRlc3QD;_ylv=3 In mid-December a comet is going to graze the suns photosphere and it will be destroyed by the intense heat of the sun. The comet was first discovered by an amateur astronomer from Australia. When he first found the comet he thought it was just a reflection or something like that, but then a couple nights later he found the same object and that was when he called some more experienced astronomers to take a look at his discovery. At the comets closest point to the sun it will be within 115,000 miles. Astronomers think that all of the star grazing comets originated from the same one that broke apart a long time ago, and now they are all on the same orbit towards the sun. It was once thought that this was a rare event but just recently it has been discovered that a small comet hits our sun about every three days. I would have thought that something like this was more rare, in some ways it is but comets hit the sun all the time. However most of the time they aren’t spotted by an Earth based satellite. 6. http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-starts-off-mission-moon-085838427.html Over the New Years weekend NASA landed two crafts on the moon for the sole purpose of studying its gravity. This trip took far longer than the normal 3 days to get to the moon, this took three and a half months. They landed just 24 hours apart the first on new years eve and the second on new years day. So far Earth has had about 100 missions to the moon and NASA alone has landed 12 astronauts on the moon. And as a result of these missions it is still a mystery despite over 800 pounds of dirt and sand. Along with studying the gravity, astronomers also want to figure out what is below the surface which can tell us how it formed. To help save money they squeezed both crafts into one small rocket and had it take 30 times longer to get there. This mission can greatly help the astronomers to gain more knowledge about the moon and even the universe and its vast history. 7. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/world/asia/china-unveils-ambitious-plan-to-explorespace.html The Chinese government has just recently released a plan that will threaten the United States program. They hope to put a man on the moon and build a space station. The main reason China is catching up to the US is because we have slowed down our efforts because we don’t have the money. China is able to take advantage of our slow time because they have a very good economic situation so they can afford to speed up their program. China hopes to launch a space lab and collect moon samples all by 2016. Chinas plan brings in both military and civilian resources and it will benefit both too. Although China is as far along in space travel as the US was in the 60’s they are moving along at a very consistent pace and meeting every goal they set. I think we should be worried about China exceeding our progress in Space, not anytime in the next few years, but sometime in the future because they are always moving forward. Also they are much more organized than we are which makes it a lot easier to be successful. And while they are making progress some might say we are moving the other way because we just recently shut down our 30 year-long space shuttle program. 8. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/23/us-space-stationidUSTRE7BM12D20111223 Three more people have been sent up to work on the international space station, a Russian, European, and one from NASA. Shortly following this launch the Russians attempted to launch an unmanned satellite into orbit, but as with four others it was a failure. On the Brightside this will have no effect on the international space station construction because the rockets that have failed aren’t the same as the ones used for the construction. However it has left the crew on the space station shorthanded but they are still working and improving it. Also the next launch for cargo and other materials is on January 25. I think Russia needs to get its act together it’s supposed to be the second strongest program in the world and it seems they have no idea what they are doing. If they can’t improve than the construction is going to slow down drastically and that is not a good thing because that means more money. 9. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1997768,00.html Japan has always been known for its achievements in all sorts of technological devices. Once again they wow everyone by creating a space ship that acts a sail boat by using the energy from sunlight to propel it forward. This spaceship left Earth seven years ago and just returned in June of 2010 it brought back the first samples from an asteroid in space. This was seemingly perfect timing because with Japans new government they were going to have to cut funding. They recently requested $19 million and they were only allowed $330,000 but because of the success of this mission the government will continue funding. With the ships great technology they can use the suns power to move to towards it and to the inner planets, like Venus, without using any rocket fuel. Unfortunately a lot could go wrong because of how fragile it is, it is thin than newspaper. The mission that just ended most thought that it was going to be a failure because it lost three of the four engines and it also lost communications for fifty days. The particles that it brought home may not be seen for several days because it is such a risky process because if it gets contaminated in anyway the mission was all for nothing. I think it so cool that this “kite” was able to fly hundreds of millions a miles into space to an asteroid that to me is amazing. This could change the entire way we look a space travel. 10. http://www.nasa.gov/about/whats_next.html A common thought right now is that because the shuttle program has shut down that means NASA will shut down, this is not the case at all. NASA is working toward many goals right now such as man on Mars and also a multi-purpose vehicle. They are even planning a Space Launch System that will help make jobs, improve space travel, and hopefully help us travel farther into space. The International Space Station is always growing and improving because they always have at least six astronauts working and living there all the time. It has been divided up into sections and the US section is a laboratory. The ISS is basically just a huge research facility in space it hopes to find new ways of doing things. Aside from the ISS NASA is also working on making flying safer and more efficient. They also want to help make controlling all of the crafts easier such as creating new ways to handle traffic. And of course they are always looking farther and farther into the universe looking to answers to all of their many questions. I think it is awesome that NASA is still improving and moving forward despite shutting down a very successful part of their program. This just shows how powerful and intelligent we truly are.