Misc. – Page 20 – astroengine.com

Scientists Create Synthetic Life… Now What?

You talk about synthetic life like it's a bad thing - Tricia Helfer in BSG — *You talk about synthetic life like it's a bad thing* - Tricia Helfer in BSG

Say if you’re in space, searching for life, what do you look for? That’s simple. You look for something that resembles life on Earth; whether that be single-celled amoeba or a Star Trek-style humanoid with a lumpy head and webbed feet.

That’s life we know and understand (with some sci-fi comedy thrown in). What if there are some other unimaginable creatures that may not fit into our understanding of How Things Work™? This is a very real problem NASA has been faced with ever since the agency started sending probes to Mars and spacecraft beyond the Solar System itself. Deep space missions (like the Voyager and Pioneer probes) have intelligent life forms in mind (i.e. ones that can read, hear and interpret the Leonardo da Vinci Vitruvian Man; so it would be nice if ET also has an appreciation for fine art), but our intrepid Mars rovers and landers that have been pestering the Red Planet since the 1960s are looking for the basic building blocks of life, plus evidence of past or present life. So far, there’s been a lot of rocks turned over, yet no sign of extraterrestrial life.

Therefore, scientists at a very early stage defined “life” as a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution so we can focus on finding life we know and understand. To boost this understanding a little further, wouldn’t it be great if we could create our own evolving soup of chemicals?

Now, it seems, this has become a reality. Scientists in a Florida lab have created a beaker filled with synthetic life…
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Astroengine Live Show #12: Life on Europa?

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In today’s Astroengine Live (WPRT Radio at 7pm EST), I’ll be discussing some of the exciting stuff that has been going on in space (and in the space blogosphere) over the past seven days. Also, I am very excited that today will air Astroengine Live’s first interview that was recorded last Friday. In the short discussion with Dr Greenberg (author of “Unmasking Europa”), I gained an insight to his excitement about Jupiter’s fourth largest Moon, Europa, and what implications this icy world holds for the search for extraterrestrial life.

All going well, this week should be free of technical hitches (if you listened to Show #11, it was a feast of the worst live radio could throw at me), but the thunder clouds are building outside…

Get Involved!

Have any articles or stories you want to contribute? Have an opinion on anything in the world of space? Email me on astro@wprtradio.com and I’ll be sure to give it a mention. Eventually, I hope to have telephone call-ins, but for now, email will do.

Listen to Astroengine Live using the Paranormal Radio player. Or, pick up the podcast feed to activate your favourite audio software.

Mosquito Survives in Space for 18 Months

According to results from a Russian biology experiment on the International Space Station (ISS), a mosquito has survived the rigours of space for 18 months. However, this little winged insect didn’t do it inside the comfort of the ISS, he did it outside, in a small can.

The experiment was carried out by the same Russian-Japanese collaboration that brought us Space Beer from space-grown barley (I think you know my feelings about that endeavour), to study the effects of microgravity on various organisms and plants. However, in this case, our little mosquito drew the short straw and was attached to the outside of the station.

The mosquito study is intended to see how the insect copes with being exposed to damaging cosmic rays and the extreme variations in temperature, in the build-up to a possible Russian manned mission to Mars. According to a Russian media source, the future Mars cosmonauts are already training for the mission in a forest outside Moscow…
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Astroengine Interview with Dr Richard Greenberg: “Unmasking Europa”

A future mission to the Jovian moon Europa could incorporate a life-searching robotic submersible under the icy crust (NASA)

On Wednesday (Feb. 18th), NASA and ESA decided to “prioritize” a mission to Jupiter. Set to be launched in 2020 (for a 2026 arrival in the Jovian system), NASA will work on a spacecraft called the Jupiter-Europa mission and ESA will work on the Jupiter-Ganymede mission. Both probes will be launched at the same time to carry out this unprecedented planetary mission. However, this doesn’t mean a mission to Saturn will be off the cards; NASA hinted that a return trip to the ringed gas giant will also be planned in tandem (following in the footsteps of the Cassini Equinox Mission). But Jupiter comes first.

In an enlightening interview earlier today, Dr Richard Greenberg, an eminent Europa scientist, discussed this recent NASA/ESA announcement with Astroengine Live and his excitement that there will be a return mission to the Jovian system. He is an expert in celestial mechanics and worked on several NASA projects at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Dr Greenberg has also published a book called “Unmasking Europa” (of which I am very excited to receive a copy soon), detailing the science under the icy crust of the moon, where there is a tantalizing possibility life may thrive in tidally-heated sub-surface oceans.

But that’s not the best part. Dr Greenberg provides an exciting narrative about what form this Europa (European?) life may take… It’s not just microbial extraterrestrials that could survive in these environments…

Be sure to listen in to my radio show, Astroengine Live on Wednesday, February 25th to hear the full recording of my conversation with Dr. Richard Greenberg.

Another Satellite Collision Simulation

50 minutes after collision, over the South Pole (University of Southampton)

On February 10th, Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 became the first ever satellites to collide in orbit. The event was unprecedented. Quickly, visualization companies (such as AGI) created stunning 3D animations of the event unfolding, modelling the resultant debris. Now, there’s another animation available, this time from the University of Southampton Astronautics Research Group.

Watch the University of Southampton simulation »

I really like this version, as a) it is modelled by software called “DAMAGE”, b) you get a real sense of orbital speed vs. the vanishingly tiny chance that two satellites, of that size, could possibly collide, and c) you can almost hear the *BOOM* when contact is made (it is a fanciful *BOOM*, because in space no one can hear a satellite scream).

Let’s just hope those hundreds of pieces of debris don’t amplify the space junk problem up there…

Source: Flightglobal/Hyperbola

Astroengine Live Show #11 – Is There Anything That Didn’t Happen?

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It’s not only been a busy week in space, it’s been a busy two weeks in space… yes, I’m going to attempt to cram two weeks of space news into two hours in Wednesday’s Astroengine Live! Apologies for the break in service last week, but all going well I’ll make up for it this time ’round.

So where do I begin? We’ve had satellites colliding, “liquid water” discovered on Mars, fireballs over Texas, stimulus packages investing cash in science (yes, really), possible space tourism from Hawaii… and loads, loads more. I’ll try to fit as much in as possible, so it sould be a good one. Plus there will be plenty of superb tunes from my favourite artists…

Get Involved!

Listen to Astroengine Live using the Paranormal Radio player. Or, pick up the podcast feed to activate your favourite audio software.

Grab Your Mai Tai and Helmet, We’re Flying into Space… from Hawaii!

Coming to a tropical island near you (NASA, edited by Ian O'Neill)

Hawaii state officials are seriously considering applying to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a spaceport licence. According to local media, Hawaii has been approached by four space tourism companies wanting to launch their spaceplanes from the Pacific islands. I’m assuming that includes Rocketship Global (as their promo video was being used in the report), XCOR (as their Lynx would be more than capable of using existing runways) and possibly Virgin Galactic? Richard Branson is making moves to launch passengers through the Aurora Borealis from the Swedish town of Kiruna, why not launch passengers from a tropical location too? Makes perfect sense.

At first, I was a little sceptical about this possibility, after all who really wants spaceplanes blasting into suborbital space from one of the most beautiful locations on the planet? I’ve visited Maui and Oahu, and I would hate to see any (more) damage done to the place. However, these commercial spaceplanes aren’t exactly huge polluters (no more than your average airliner that lands at Honolulu International in any case) and the launches would be a great source of revenue for the islands in the form of taxes (as will be the case in New Mexico) and tourism. And then there’s the possibility of accessing Hawaii via suborbital flightpaths from California and Japan. Flight-time from Hawaii to mainland US will be slashed from five hours to 90 minutes. If that means I can leave my house and be on Waikiki in about two hours… who am I to stand in the way of progress?

Unfortunately a lot of misplaced hope and optimism is placed on commercial spaceflight, so we’ll have to see how the Hawaii Spaceport idea develops before we go getting too excited…

For more, check out Space Tourist Suborbital Flight from Hawaii?…

Sci-Fi Romance and the Carnival of Space Love

WALL-E, the best animated-sci-fi-robot-romantic-comedy of all time (yep, I teared up at the end) — WALL-E, the best animated-sci-fi-robot-romantic-comedy-adventure of all time (yep, I even teared up at the end).

I couldn’t resist. As it is the day of romance, love and *pinging* cash registers, I thought I’d post a special Astroengine commentary of Valentines Day. Everyone is doing it; the Google logo is loved up, the news websites are buzzing about it, even the blogs seem to be obsessed with relating their craft with the desire for some romance (even this week’s Carnival of Space over at 21st Century Waves is “doing it”), so here’s some random Valentine’s Day paraphernalia for your reading pleasure…
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