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Idemo na Mars, idemo na Mars!

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crippled_avenger:
The world's leading centre in Medical Primatology
    is in the Georgian breakaway republic of
    Abkhazia. Sadly, this post-Soviet, post-
    conflict Research Institute of Experimental
    Pathology is now little more than a run-down
    zoo, housing 286 inbred, traumatised monkeys.
    The institute was started by an eminent Soviet
    biologist, Ilya Ivanov. In its heyday it
    provided the monkeys that went up into space.

    Ivanov pioneered the science of artificial
    insemination to create inter-species hybrids,
    like the Zeedonk (zebra/donkey). He was
    really attempting to create a human-ape hybrid.
    In the 1920s Ivanov inseminated two female
    chimps with human sperm. It didn't work. He
    moved to Guinea to get human females pregnant
    by chimp sperm, but was stopped by the French
    authorities. He started the Institute in Georgia
    to carry on his work but eventually fell out of
    favour, and died in a prison camp.

crippled_avenger:
Scientists seek ways to ward off killer asteroids
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Digg Facebook Newsvine del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By Robert S. Boyd, McClatchy Newspapers Robert S. Boyd, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Wed Dec 17, 11:55 am ET AFP/NASA-HO/File – Artist's rendition released by NASA shows an asteroid belt in orbit around a star. Between 500 and … WASHINGTON — A blue-ribbon panel of scientists is trying to determine the best way to detect and ward off any wandering space rocks that might be on a collision course with Earth.

``We're looking for the killer asteroid,'' James Heasley , of the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy , last week told the committee that the National Academy of Sciences created at Congress' request.

Congress asked the academy to conduct the study after astronomers were unable to eliminate an extremely slight chance that an asteroid called Apophis will slam into Earth with devastating effect in 2036.

Apophis was discovered in 2004 about 17 million miles from Earth on a course that would overlap our planet's orbit in 2029 and return seven years later. Observers said that the asteroid — a massive boulder left over from the birth of the solar system — is about 1,000 feet wide and weighs at least 50 million tons.

After further observations, astronomers reported that the asteroid would skim by Earth harmlessly in 2029, but it has a one in 44,000 probability of slamming into our planet on Easter Sunday , April 13, 2036 .

Small changes in Apophis' path that could make the difference between a hit or a miss are possible, according to Jon Giorgini , a planetary analyst in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

``We have not eliminated the threat in 2036,'' Lindley Johnson , the manager of NASA's asteroid detection program, told the committee.

The academy panel is headed by Irwin Shapiro , a former director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. It has a two-part assignment from Congress : Detect and deflect asteroids that might hit earth.

First, the Shapiro committee is supposed to propose the best way to detect and analyze 90 percent of the so-called ``near Earth objects'' orbiting between Mars and Venus that are wider than 460 feet by 2020.

About 20 percent of these are identified as potentially hazardous objects because they might pass within 5 million miles of Earth (20 times the distance to the Moon).

More than 5,000 near Earth objects, including 789 potentially hazardous objects, have been identified so far. Johnson predicted that future surveys will find at least 66,000 near Earth objects and 18,000 potentially hazardous objects.

A collision with one or more of these many objects littering the solar system is inevitable, Johnson said. ``Once every hundred years there might be something to worry about, but it could happen tomorrow.''

For example, astronomers had only 24 hours' notice of a small asteroid that blew up over northern Africa on Oct. 7 . A larger, more dangerous object presumably would be spotted years or decades ahead, giving humans time to change its course before it hit.

The Shapiro panel's second task is to review various methods that have been proposed to deflect or destroy an incoming asteroid and recommend the best options. They include a nuclear bomb, conventional explosives or a spacecraft that would push or pull the asteroid off its course.

Offbeat ideas are painting the surface of the asteroid so that the sun's rays would heat it differently and alter its direction, and a ``gravity tractor, ''a satellite that would fly close to the asteroid, gently nudging it aside.

The earlier that a dangerous asteroid is found, and the farther it is from Earth, the easier it will be to change its trajectory, panel members were told. A relatively small force would be enough while the object is millions of miles away.

The year 2029 could be crucial. When Apophis makes its first pass by Earth, its track can be more precisely determined. That will enable astronomers to judge whether Earth will escape with a near miss or will have to take swift action to avoid a blow that could devastate a region as large as Europe or the Eastern United States .

To deflect an asteroid, scientists need to know its shape, weight and composition. A ball of loose rubble would be handled differently from a solid metallic rock.

``Finding them is one thing, but you have to know your enemy,'' said James Green , the director of NASA's Planetary Science Division.

So far, NASA has spent $41 million on asteroid detection and deflection, but the Near Earth Object Program is running out of money.

``It's just barely hanging on,'' Shapiro said.

Two expensive telescopes to focus on dangerous asteroids have been proposed, but Congress and the incoming Obama administration must be persuaded to approve the money.

``Without new telescopes, we'd never get to 90 percent (detection),'' Johnson said.

After a lot of original skepticism, Congress now looks favorably on the asteroid project, according to Richard Obermann , the staff director of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics.

``There used to be a high giggle factor among members,'' Obermann said. ``But it's now a very respectable area of investigation.''

Johnson told the Shapiro committee that the search for killer asteroids must have a high priority.

``The space program could provide humanity few greater legacies than to know the time and place of any cosmic destruction to allow ample time to prepare our response to that inevitable event,'' he said.

scallop:

--- Quote from: "crippled_avenger" ---A collision with one or more of these many objects littering the solar system is inevitable, Johnson said. "Once every hundred years there might be something to worry about, but it could happen tomorrow.''
--- End quote ---


Izvini, ali ne mogu da se uzdržim. Tako je postalo dosadno na glavnom delu foruma.

Citiranoj budali (on računa sa Tunguskom eksplozijom) treba reći da je veća verovatnoća recesije u SAD nego takav sudar.

Jesi li primetio kolika masa ljudi živi od toga da nas plaši? Zar ti to nije sumnjivo? Ono, pas laje, a karavani...

Koliko lopuža na svetu kaže sebi: "Što da ne ukradem, opljačkam, uzmem mito..." ako Johnson kaže da ćemo sutra u katastrofu?

Meho Krljic:
  Mysterious Planet X May Really Lurk Undiscovered in Our Solar System




--- Quote --- "Planet X" might actually exist — and so might "Planet Y."
 At least two planets larger than Earth likely lurk in the dark depths of space far beyond Pluto, just waiting to be discovered, a new analysis of the orbits of "extreme trans-Neptunian objects" (ETNOs) suggests.
Researchers studied 13 ETNOs — frigid bodies such as the dwarf planet Sedna that cruise around the sun at great distances in elliptical paths.

 Theory predicts a certain set of details for ETNO orbits, study team members said. For example, they should have a semi-major axis, or average distance from the sun, of about 150 astronomical units (AU). (1 AU is the distance from Earth to the sun — roughly 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers.) These orbits should also have an inclination, relative to the plane of the solar system, of almost 0 degrees, among other characteristics.
 But the actual orbits of the 13 ETNOs are quite different, with semi-major axes ranging from 150 to 525 AU and average inclinations of about 20 degrees.
 "This excess of objects with unexpected orbital parameters makes us believe that some invisible forces are altering the distribution of the orbital elements of the ETNOs, and we consider that the most probable explanation is that other unknown planets exist beyond Neptune and Pluto," lead author Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, of the Complutense University of Madrid, said in a statement.
 "The exact number is uncertain, given that the data that we have is limited, but our calculations suggest that there are at least two planets, and probably more, within the confines of our solar system," he added.
 The potential undiscovered worlds would be more massive than Earth, researchers said, and would lie about 200 AU or more from the sun — so far away that they'd be very difficult, if not impossible, to spot with current instruments.


 The new results — detailed in two papers in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters — aren't the first to lend credence to the possible existence of a so-called Planet X.
 In March 2014, Chadwick Trujillo and Scott Sheppard announced the discovery of 2012 VP113, an ETNO that never gets closer to the sun than 80 AU. 2012 VP113 thus joined Sedna as the two known denizens of the "inner Oort Cloud," a far-flung and largely unexplored region of space beyond the Kuiper Belt (where Pluto lies).
 Trujillo and Sheppard suggested that the orbits of 2012 VP113 and Sedna are consistent with the continued presence of a big "perturber" — perhaps a planet 10 times more massive than Earth that lies 250 AU from the sun.
 However, the pair also stressed that other explanations are possible as well. For example, Sedna and 2012 VP113 may have been pushed out to their present positions by long-ago interactions with other stars in the sun's birth cluster. The objects may also have been nabbed from another solar system during a stellar close encounter.
 De la Fuente Marcos and his colleagues acknowledge the possibility of such alternative scenarios as well. The picture should get clearer as researchers study the orbits of more and more distant, icy objects, he said.
 "If it is confirmed, our results may be truly revolutionary for astronomy," de la Fuente Marcos said.

--- End quote ---

Ghoul:
znam da ovo nije baš tako bitno i jako da ustalasa mase kao trejler za neki novi film ili trućanje o tome dal je bolji sf ili horor žanr, ali ipak, nek se nađe i ovo ovde - u neka davna vremena bilo bi prikladno za ovaj forum:


NASA: Na Marsu pronađena tečna voda

Nakon dugogodišnjih nagađanja i glasina, NASA je danas zvanično objavila da je na Crvenoj planeti otkrivena voda u tečnom stanju.
 
IZVOR:  PONEDELJAK, 28.09.2015.
| 17:05
 
Kao što su mnogi i pretpostaljali kada su čuli vest da NASA danas organizuje konferenciju za medije na kojoj će saopštiti važno otkriće u vezi sa Marsom, na Crvenoj planeti je otkrivena voda u tečnom stanju.
 
 Naučnici su otkrili da na Marsu postoje kanjoni i zidovi kratera po kojima tokom letnjih meseci teče voda. To znači da su šanse da pronađemo neki oblik života na ovoj planeti mnogo veće nego pre.
 
Oni su uočili dugačak taman trag koji voda ostavlja na planinama na Marsu, a to je potkrepljeno i satelitskim snimkom koji možete videti ispod.
 
 Na njemu je uočljivo kako je gornji deo planine tamniji od donjeg, a naučnici su ustanovili da je to zato što se voda tokom letnjih meseci sliva niz planinu, dok su tokom jeseni i zime strane planine suve. Razlika u tamnoj i svetloj boji na dnu planine u stvari označava mesto do kog je voda tekla.
Neki stručnjaci već godinama iznose teorije prema kojima su tamne crte koje se javljaju na padinama Marsovih brežuljaka i planina tokom toplijih godišnjih doba (a nestaju tokom hladnijih) potvrda da tu ima vode.
 
 Voda koju je Nasina letelica MRO otkrila na Marsu mogla bi da nastaje otapanjem podzemnih santi leda koje nastaju u procesu u kom soli izvlače vlagu iz Marsove atmosfere ili iz podzemnih "rezervoara" vode.
 
 NASA je početkom godine objavila da je Mars u davnoj prošlosti verovatno imao veliko more slično Atlantskom okeanu, ali je vremenom 87 odsto te vode isparilo u svemir.
 
 Ako znamo da je život na Zemlji nastao u vodi, odnosno da je voda savršeno mesto za nastanak života, sve ovo povećava šanse da će naučnici na Crvenoj planeti možda konačno otkriti da je život tamo postojao ili da još postoji.
 
 U svakom slučaju, ovo je veliki dan za istoriju nauke.
 
http://www.b92.net/zivot/vesti.php?yyyy=2015&mm=09&dd=28&nav_id=1044863
 

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