Showing posts with label Space Technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Space Technology. Show all posts
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[postlink]https://tenderhub.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-did-life-come-on-earth.html[/postlink]

London: Many experts believe that biological raw materials were carried to our planet as lumps of asteroid rock. The molecular structure of amino acids - the building blocks of proteins and living organisms - does provide a clue.
The molecules come in two mirror-image varieties, the left and right-handed. But only left-handed amino acids are found in nature.
Recently, NASA scientists reported finding the amino acid isovaline in samples of meteorites that came from asteroids, the Daily Mail reports. Most of it was in the left-handed form, suggesting that left-handed life may have had a kick-start in space, according to a NASA statement.
Now the same scientists have discovered left-handed isovaline in a much wider variety of carbon-rich asteroids.
NASA's Daniel Glavin said: "This tells us our initial discovery wasn't a fluke, that there really was something going on in the asteroids where these meteorites came from that favours the creation of left-handed amino acids."
The scientists believe that early in its history, the Earth was bombarded with meteorites containing left-handed amino acids. The bias towards left-handedness would have continued as the material was incorporated into emerging life.
Evidence suggests that the presence of liquid water amplifies levels of left-handed isovaline (L-isovaline) in asteroids.

How did life come on Earth?

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[postlink]https://tenderhub.blogspot.com/2011/09/pictures-life-on-mars-unbelievable.html[/postlink]

For years, the tiny red planet Mars has captured the fascination of many around the world. Our neighbouring planet might be devoid of biological life, but the literature surrounding it is rich with conspiracy theories and fantastic tales of extra-terrestrial life forms. 
Scroll down for interesting images from Mars which have led to wild speculations and outlandish theories about the planet.


 

Mars enthusiasts went ecstatic over an image of a 'gorilla' found on the planet. It later turned out to be a bunch of rocks. This picture was among the many taken by Mars rover Spirit.
 
This picture of a crater resembling a “happy face” was acquired on 28 January 2008. (NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems)
 
St. Valentine’s Day special from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This picture of a heart-shaped pit was taken on 26 February 200. (NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems)
 
Viking orbiter images acquired in 1976 showed that various geographical formations on the cratered uplands of Mars looked somewhat like a human face. The feature was subsequently popularized as a potential "alien artifact" in books, tabloids, radio talk shows, television, and even a major motion picture.
 

Another image sent by Mars rover Spirit shows a rock formation which look suspiciously like a woman.

Pictures: Life on Mars? Unbelievable images from the red planet

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[postlink]https://tenderhub.blogspot.com/2011/09/humans-will-discover-aliens-within-next.html[/postlink]

London: With the Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute running out of cash, alien hunters’ search for extraterrestrial life seems to have hit an all-time low. However, Andrei Finkelstein, director, Russian Academy Of Sciences' Applied Astronomy Institute, does not think so.
According to Finkelstein, humans will discover alien life within the next two decades.
"The genesis of life is as inevitable as the formation of atom. Life exists on other planets and we will find it within 20 years," The Sun quoted Finkelstein, as saying.
Finkelstein said life could possibly exist on some of the many planets which revolve around the sun in galaxies.
About 10 per cent of these plants are Earth-like, he said.
Addressing an international forum about the search for extraterrestrial life, Finkelstein expressed the possibility that aliens could look like humans – with limbs and a head. 
However, "they may have different colour skin," he said.
Talking about why spacemen have not been discovered as yet, Finkelstein said alien-hunters have possibly been employing the wrong methods.
Saying that most boffins have been searching the galaxy for aliens’ radio signals, Finkelstein added that the process should be inverted – we should be trying to contact aliens instead of thinking they would contact us.  

‘Humans will discover aliens within the next 20 years’

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[postlink]https://tenderhub.blogspot.com/2011/09/aliens-exist-among-us-says-nasa.html[/postlink]



London: NASA has made a stunning claim of an "astrobiology finding" that could suggest alien life exists - even on Earth.
The discovery could prove the theory of 'shadow' creatures which exist here in hostile environments previously thought uninhabitable.
The 'life as we don't know it' could even survive on hostile planets and develop into intelligent creatures such as humans if and when conditions improve.
Researchers will unveil the discovery of a microbe that can live in an environment previously thought too poisonous for any life-form, reports the Telegraph.
The bacteria has been found at the bottom of Mono Lake in California's Yosemite National Park which is rich in arsenic - usually poisonous to life.
Somehow the creature uses the arsenic as a way of surviving and this ability raises the prospect that similar life could exist on other planets which do not have our benevolent atmosphere.
Lewis Dartnell, astrobiologist at the Centre for Planetary Sciences in London, said: "If these organisms use arsenic in their metabolism, it demonstrates that there are other forms of life than only those we knew of. They're aliens, but aliens that share the same home as us."
The space agency will announce the full extent of the findings at a press conference titled "astrobiology finding which will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life".
Scientists have also estimated that life of some kind exists on hundred billion trillion Earth-like planets in space.
Phot courtesy: Screen grab of X-Files

Aliens exist among us, says NASA

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[postlink]https://tenderhub.blogspot.com/2011/09/nasa-picks-landing-site-for-next-mars.html[/postlink]

Washington: NASA's next Mars rover will land at the foot of a mountain inside the planet's Gale crater, the US space agency has announced.
The car-sized Mars Science Laboratory - or Curiosity - is scheduled to be launched later this year and land in August 2012, Xinhua reported.
The target crater spans 154 km in diameter and holds a mountain rising from the crater floor. The crater is named after Australian astronomer Walter F. Gale.
"Mars is firmly in our sights," said NASA administrator Charles Bolden in a statement.
"Curiosity not only will return a wealth of important science data, but it will serve as a precursor mission for human exploration to the Red Planet," he said.
Curiosity is about twice as long and more than five times as heavy as any previous Mars rover. Its 10 science instruments include two for ingesting and analyzing samples of powdered rock that the rover's robotic arm collects.
"Scientists identified Gale as their top choice to pursue the ambitious goals of this new rover mission," said Jim Green, director for the Planetary Science Division at the NASA headquarters in Washington.
"The site offers a visually dramatic landscape and also great potential for significant science findings," he said.
The rover and other spacecraft components are being assembled and undergoing final testing. The mission is targeted to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida between Nov 25 and Dec 18.

NASA picks landing site for next Mars probe

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[postlink]https://tenderhub.blogspot.com/2011/09/asteroid-to-hit-earth-in-2036-china-to.html[/postlink]

 
Related articles
Beijing: A group of Chinese scientists have proposed a method to prevent the possible collision of Apophis - a 46-million-tonne asteroid - with the Earth in 2036.
The asteroid - which is 270 metres in diameter - will approach Earth at a distance of 37,000-38,000 km in 2029. In 2036, Apophis may come back and collide with Earth on April 13, 2036.
According to scientists, the chance of a collision in 2036 is extremely slim and the asteroid would likely disintegrate into smaller parts and smaller collisions with Earth could occur in the following years. Read: What if an asteroid crashes near you?
However, a group of Chinese astronomers headed by Shengping Gong of Tsinghua University in Beijing have published an article proposing to place a small spacecraft with a solar sail into a retrograde orbit in order to change the asteroid's trajectory.
The retrograde orbit will give the spacecraft an impact velocity of 90 km per second which - if done well enough in advance - will prevent Apophis from returning to Earth. Read: Close Encounter! Asteroid to pass dangerously close to Earth
The project may be difficult to realise as all kinds of variations in the solar wind could send the spacecraft wildly off course, according to Technologyreview.com.
The asteroid, discovered in 2004, is considered the largest threat to our planet, although NASA scientists say the likelihood of a hazardous strike on Earth in 2036 is unlikely.

Asteroid to hit earth in 2036; China to save the world

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