GRAIL moon mission in final preparations for September launch

NASA’s Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission to study the moon is in final launch preparations for a scheduled Sept. 8 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

GRAIL’s twin spacecraft are tasked for a nine-month mission to explore Earth’s nearest neighbor in unprecedented detail. They will determine the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core and advance our understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon.

“Yesterday’s final encapsulation of the spacecraft is an important mission milestone,” said David Lehman, GRAIL project manager for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Our two spacecraft are now sitting comfortably inside the payload fairing which will protect them during ascent. Next time the GRAIL twins will see the light of day, they will be about 95 miles up and accelerating.”

The spacecraft twins, GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B, will fly aboard a Delta II rocket launched from Florida. The twins’ circuitous route to lunar orbit will take 3.5 months and cover approximately 2.6 million miles (4.2 million kilometers) for GRAIL-A, and 2.7 million miles (4.3 million kilometers) for GRAIL-B.

In lunar orbit, the spacecraft will transmit radio signals precisely defining the distance between them. Regional gravitational differences on the moon are expected to expand and contract that distance.

GRAIL scientists will use these accurate measurements to define the moon’s gravity field. The data will allow mission scientists to understand what goes on below the surface of our natural satellite.

“GRAIL will unlock lunar mysteries and help us understand how the moon, Earth and other rocky planets evolved as well,” said Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

GRAIL’s launch period opens Sept. 8 and extends through Oct. 19. On each day, there are two separate launch opportunities separated by approximately 39 minutes. On Sept. 8, the first launch opportunity is 8:37 a.m. EDT (5:37 a.m. PDT); the second is 9:16 a.m. EDT (6:16 a.m. PDT).

via GRAIL moon mission in final preparations for September launch.

Greenhouse effect could extend habitable zone

…Planets near their suns reap the benefits of light and heat, while those farther away must endure colder temperatures. But the new research indicates that planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres could contain liquid at their surface even out to fifteen times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

With a hydrogen atmosphere, the greenhouse effect these planets could experience would be sufficient to allow for liquid water on their surfaces, despite their distant orbits.

The area around a star in which water can be liquid rather than ice is known as the habitable zone. Sometimes called the “Goldilocks zone,” it’s just right – not too hot (so the water doesn’t evaporate) and not too cold (so it won’t freeze).

Typically, the distance calculated takes into account a rocky body having an atmosphere made up of water and carbon dioxide, the same greenhouse gases found on Earth.

… The size of a solar system’s habitable zone varies, however, depending on the properties of the star. For hotter, brighter stars, the region stretches farther out into space, while its inner edge cannot be too close to the star.

The habitable zone for a G-type star such as the Sun, for instance, lies between 0.95 and 1.4 AUs (one AU, or astronomical unit, is the distance from the Earth to the Sun). The Earth, quite obviously, falls within that region. For a smaller, dimmer M-type star, the habitable zone is closer, between 0.08 and 0.12 AUs.

But according to Pierrehumbert’s research, , a rocky planet with a hydrogen atmosphere could have a habitable zone extending as far as 1.5 AUs for M-stars and 15 AUs for G-stars.

This means that for stars similar to the Sun, rocky planets beyond the reach of Saturn could contain oceans of water.

Travis Barman of Lowell Observatory notes that there might be many similar scenarios of planets that don’t mimic Earth but are still habitable. …

via Greenhouse effect could extend habitable zone.

China ‘set to launch rival to International Space Station’

The unmanned Tiangong-1 – or ‘Heavenly Palace’ – test module is in the final stages of preparation at China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China, according to a report in the Wuhan Evening News.

The 8.5-ton module, whose launch has been long-awaited as a badge of China’s ascendant national and technological ambitions, will form the test-bed for a larger 60-ton space station which is China wants to have in orbit by the early 2020s.

Citing sources at the launch centre, the paper said the launch of Tiangong-1 spacelab could take place “in the first 10 days of September”, earlier than previously anticipated and ahead of China’s National Day celebrations on October 1.

There had been fears the launch might be delayed after a Chinese Long March II – C rocket malfunctioned last week during the launch of an experimental orbiter.

That launch was the third in just a week for China’s space programme, however the official Xinhua news agency said the accident would not delay Tiangong-1′s launch since it uses a different Long March II-F rocket. …

via China ‘set to launch rival to International Space Station’ – Telegraph.

 

Great, but I hope this is not secretly a space based nuclear missile launch platform they are sending up.

A case of spontaneous Cadillac combustion?

A father rescued his five children from his car this afternoon as it burned out of control next to a gas pump, officials say.

The fire took place about 3:15 p.m. at the Mapco Mart at 8100 Standifer Gap Road, said Amy Maxwell, spokeswoman for the Hamilton County Emergency Services.

A man carrying his children home from school noticed that his 1994 Cadillac was smoking and pulled into the Mapco, Maxwell said. When he opened the hood, fire poured out and quickly spread to the rest of the car, she said.

The man got his five children safely out of the car as the fire spread to the nearby gas pump.

An employee inside the store hit the “emergency stop” button, which cut off the supply of gas and electricity to the pump and then called 911, Maxwell said.

Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department responded and extinguished the fire within 5 minutes.

The cause of the fire is undetermined, she said.

via Car burns next to gas pump, 5 children get out safely | timesfreepress.com.

Psychologists: we’ve been underestimating the unconscious mind

medicalxpress.com – What does consciousness do? Theories vary, but most neurologists and cognitive psychologists agree that we need awareness for integration. That is, unconscious processing can take in one object or word at a time. But when it comes to pulling together disparate stimuli into a coherent, complex scene, consciousness gets to work. …

Now, new research by four Israeli psychologists—Liad Mudrik and Dominique Lamy of Tel Aviv University, and Assaf Breska and Leon Y. Deouell of Hebrew University of Jerusalem—suggests that scientists have been underestimating the abilities of the unconscious mind. “Integration can happen even when we’re unaware of the stimulus,” says Mudrik. “Unconscious processes are much more sophisticated and deeper than was previously believed.”

The findings will be published in the June issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

To test this idea, the researchers put their subjects—18 men and women with normal vision—before a stereoscope, which allows stimuli to be introduced to each eye separately. In one eye, “Mondrians”—changing patterns of color blocks—continuously flashed, suppressing perception of other objects. In the other eye the subjects saw images of people interacting with objects. Some scenes were “congruent”: a woman putting food in an oven; a player handling a basketball. Others were “incongruent”: the woman putting a chessboard in the oven; the player holding a watermelon. The pictures were present during the entire viewing, but increased in contrast over several seconds, as the Mondrians grew fuzzier in the background.

The participants were instructed to press one of two buttons as soon as they detected the hemi field, or side of the one eye’s vision, in which the picture appeared. The experimenters compared the time participants took to respond to congruent versus incongruent scenes.

The incongruent scenes broke through the visual noise and came into awareness significantly faster than the congruent ones.

Why? “During unconscious processing, subjects are able to integrate object and background without the need for awareness,” Mudrik explains. “When the integration of the incongruent scene happens, though, it doesn’t make sense.” That’s not a cookie sheet. It’s a chessboard! “Then consciousness is recruited to make sense of an integration that does not come out properly.”

The research, says Mudrik, is rich with potential. In terms of theory, it “opens the gate” to a new understanding of the complex functioning of awareness. …

via Psychologists discover we’ve been underestimating the unconscious mind.

Meteorite in Peru leaves forest fires in its wake in Cusco

Blazing with the fury of a mini-sun this amazing video shows the moment a suspected meteor streaked across the sky over the city of Cusco in Peru.

It was captured blasting through the upper levels of the atmosphere at 2pm yesterday afternoon, leaving an irredescent trail in its wake.

Astonished residents watched as the impressive natural phenomenon eventually disappeared over the horizon.

Experts believe it may have caused forest fires to the south of the city, which have been ravaged by drought.

Local officials and the National Police are currently trying to determine where the meteorite may have landed and are speaking to farmers south of the city.

The meteorite fell in the south of the Imperial City, between the districts of San Sebastian and San Geronimo.

Cusco is the gateway to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu. The Inca trail attracts tens of thousands of tourists every year, with entry restricted to 200 new travelers each day.

Peru last saw a meteorite fall in September 2007 near the border with Bolivia.

The basketball-sized meteorite left an impressive crater that was 44ft in diameter. Fragments of rock tested positive for iron, nickel and cobalt with traces of iridium.

It was dated as about 4.5billion years old and formed around the same time as our Solar System. …

via Meteorite in Peru leaves forest fires in its wake in Cusco | Mail Online.

Will the Space Station be Abandoned?

Ian O’Neill – In the wake of the Russian Progress vehicle crash shortly after launch on Aug. 24, a chain of events has been set into motion that could result in the decision not to fly astronauts into orbit. If this happens, the ISS will be temporarily mothballed before the end of the year to avoid landing astronauts during the harsh Kazakh winter.

SEE ALSO: Cargo Ship Loss Will Impact ISS Operations

Investigations are under way as to why the motor of the third stage of the Soyuz-U rocket switched off early, preventing Progress M-12M from reaching orbit. The unmanned cargo vehicle crashed minutes later in Siberia, 1,000 miles east of the launch site in Kazakhstan. Fortunately, there were no reported casualties on the ground.

So why are there concerns about getting astronauts into orbit when the failure happened to the rocket carrying an unmanned vehicle?

Well, the Soyuz-U rocket’s third stage is almost identical to equipment used on the Soyuz-FG booster used to propel manned Soyuz vehicles to the ISS. Yes, those are the same taxi rides NASA now depends on to get U.S. astronauts to the orbiting outpost.

In fact, since the retirement of the shuttle fleet, it is currently the only human-rated ride into space on the planet.

According to Spaceflight Now, the Russian space agency Roscosmos is carrying out an inquiry into the agency’s plans for their manned spaceflight program, space manufacturing quality and a board has been set up to recommend corrective actions.

Naturally, the Progress failure has spooked NASA.

via Will the Space Station be Abandoned? : Discovery News.

President Eisenhower was told aliens are on earth

EX US President Eisenhower was briefed about the presence of extraterrestrial intelligent beings on Earth and was invited to meet alien visitors.
Henry W. McElroy, Jr, retiring State Representative to New Hampshire, declared this week that former US President Eisenhower was briefed about the presence of extraterrestrial intelligent beings on Earth.

McElroy also said that the document he viewed while at the State Legislature made referrence to the opportunity for Eisenhower to meet the alien visitors.

The Daily Telegraph May 25, 2010

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/wacky/president-told-aliens-are-on-eart…

Interesting. I hadn’t seen this. The brief said that a meeting between the aliens and the president could be arranged, if desired. They were in no way causing any harm or had no intention of causing any harm or disruption then or in the future. Unfortunately, in the video above, McElroy  cites Philip J. Corso, who was chief of the US Counter Intelligence Corps in Rome.  Corso was on the staff of President Eisenhower‘s National Security Council for four years (1953–1957) according to wikipedia.

I heard Corso tell late night talk show host Art Bell that fiber optic technology resulted from reverse engineering of items recovered from the Roswell crash. After looking at the history of fiber optic technology development, I do not believe his claim. The Roswell crash was July 1947, but…

1880: William Wheeler invents system of light pipes to illuminate homes from an electric arc lamp in basement, Concord, Mass. – link

In the 1920s, John Logie Baird patented the idea of using arrays of transparent rods to transmit images for television and Clarence W. Hansell did the same for facsimiles. Heinrich Lamm, however, was the first person to transmit an image through a bundle of optical fibers in 1930. It was an image of a light bulb filament. His intent was to look inside inaccessible parts of the body

In 1952, physicist Narinder Singh Kapany conducted experiments that led to the invention of optical fiber. Modern optical fibers, where the glass fiber is coated with a transparent cladding to offer a more suitable refractive index, appeared later in the decade.^[2] – link Kapany is considered as one of the founders of fiber optics. His research and inventions have encompassed fiber-optics communications, lasers, biomedical instrumentation, solar energy and pollution monitoring.

Casting doubt on Corso, Drewsillac; a member of AboveTopSecret.com on the message thread, The INTEL Truth about Apollo and the Moon… (http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread266992/pg1#pid2946723  posted on 11-2-2007 @ 01:46 PM said the following:

Well here are some things to consider:

Fiber Optics
en.wikipedia.org…

So, if Corso is being truthful that means that Narinder Singh Kapany (who performed the experiements leading to the invention) is party of the Alien Conspiracy

Micro Processors
en.wikipedia.org…
Again, if Corso is being truthful that means that Intel, TI, and Garrett (who all three had completed microprocessors) are a part of the Alien Conspiracey, and more specific people such as Federico Faggin and Marcian Hoff (Intel) and Gary Boone (TI) were partt of the Alien Conspiracy to some extent.

Velcro:
en.wikipedia.org…

Once again I must ask, if Corso is being completely truthful, that means that in 1941, Georges de Mestral, who wasn’t even in the US, is a part of the Alien Conspiracy 6 years before Roswell.

Night vision:
news.nationalgeographic.com…

Development and deployment of Night Vision started in WWII which again was a few years before Roswell.

Lasers
en.wikipedia.org…:_Einstein

Well it appears that Einstein and many other people helped with the proof of these beams, etc, etc…..

I honestly believe that most of us “Earthlings” are smart enough to even come up with these concepts ourselves. …

Based on the above and upon my belief that it is the job of Counter Intelligence to lie, I’m not particularly excited by the statements Henry W. McElroy, Jr makes in this video, but still… friendly aliens talking to our president is a fun story.

Strange happening: Dyatlov Pass

Think fast: Speed of thought and perception limited by unified neocortical gateway

… researchers at Vanderbilt University used time-resolved functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) – where both the topography and temporal sequence of cortical activation across brain regions is examined – to identify a unified attentional bottleneck – a network of regions that apparently limits the speeds at which perceptual encoding and decision-making can occur. …

The research, conducted by a team of researchers led by Michael N. Tombu at Vanderbilt University’s Marois Lab, found that the inferior frontal junction, superior medial frontal cortex, and bilateral insula are directly involved in capacity limited processing. …

This has implications for theory and also leads very naturally to future work that will better define exactly how the brain deals with the problem of limited resources in a world of unlimited possibilities. In the longer term, this may have implications for how computers are designed to deal with exactly the same problem. As we speak, IBM is already developing chips that behave more like neurons in the brain, capable of learning through processes akin to synaptic connections, to develop what the company calls cognitive computing. If we can establish how the brain deals with problems of limited capacity, these principles may also be applied to cognitive computing as well.”

Regarding potential medical applications, Tombu notes that numerous disorders relate to attentional deficiencies. “Our research speaks directly to the neural mechanisms responsible for the deployment of attention in a range of situations including encoding and response selection. Isolating such a network may help focus research on the potential neural correlates of these disorders.” …

via Think fast: Speed of thought and perception limited by unified neocortical gateway.