Mars Orbiter Shows Angled View of Martian Crater

TUCSON, Ariz. - The high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned a dramatic oblique view of the Martian crater that a rover explored for two years.

This image of Victoria Crater in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter at more of a sideways angle than earlier orbital images of this crater. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

The new view of Victoria Crater shows layers on steep crater walls, difficult to see from straight overhead, plus wheel tracks left by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity between September 2006 and August 2008. The orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera shot it at an angle comparable to looking at landscape from an airplane window. Some of the camera's earlier, less angled images of Victoria Crater aided the rover team in choosing safe routes for Opportunity and contributed to joint scientific studies.

This telescopic view from orbit around Mars catches a Martian dust devil in action in the planet's southern hemisphere. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

The new Victoria Crater image is available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/mro20091012a.html and as a sub-image of the full-frame image at: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_013954_1780 .

Another new image from the same camera catches an active dust devil leaving a trail and casting a shadow. These whirlwinds have been a subject of investigation by Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit.

The new dust devil image is available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/mro20091012b.html and as a sub-image of the full-frame image at: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_013545_1110 .

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been studying Mars with an advanced set of instruments since 2006. It has returned more data about the planet than all other past and current missions to Mars combined. For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Lori Stiles 520-626-4402
University of Arizona, Tucson
lstiles@u.arizona.edu

For more information visit nasa.gov

Meteorite Found on Mars Yields Clues About Planet's Past

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is investigating a metallic meteorite the size of a large watermelon that is providing researchers more details about the Red Planet's environmental history.

The rock, dubbed "Block Island," is larger than any other known meteorite on Mars. Scientists calculate it is too massive to have hit the ground without disintegrating unless Mars had a much thicker atmosphere than it has now when the rock fell. An atmosphere slows the descent of meteorites. Additional studies also may provide clues about how weathering has affected the rock since it fell.

Two weeks ago, Opportunity had driven approximately 180 meters (600 feet) past the rock in a Mars region called Meridiani Planum. An image the rover had taken a few days earlier and stored was then transmitted back to Earth. The image showed the rock is approximately 60 centimeters (2 feet) in length, half that in height, and has a bluish tint that distinguishes it from other rocks in the area. The rover team decided to have Opportunity backtrack for a closer look, eventually touching Block Island with its robotic arm.

This view of a rock called "Block Island," the largest meteorite yet found on Mars, comes from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.

"There's no question that it is an iron-nickel meteorite," said Ralf Gellert of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Gellert is the lead scientist for the rover's alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, an instrument on the arm used for identifying key elements in an object. "We already investigated several spots that showed elemental variations on the surface. This might tell us if and how the metal was altered since it landed on Mars."

The microscopic imager on the arm revealed a distinctive triangular pattern in Block Island's surface texture, matching a pattern common in iron-nickel meteorites found on Earth.

"Normally this pattern is exposed when the meteorite is cut, polished and etched with acid," said Tim McCoy, a rover team member from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. "Sometimes it shows up on the surface of meteorites that have been eroded by windblown sand in deserts, and that appears to be what we see with Block Island."

This iron-nickel meteorite found near Fort Stockton, Texas, in 1952 shows a surface texture similar to some portions of the surface of an iron-nickel meteorite that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity found on Mars in July 2009.

Opportunity found a smaller iron-nickel meteorite, called "Heat Shield Rock," in late 2004. At about a half ton or more, Block Island is roughly 10 times as massive as Heat Shield Rock and several times too big to have landed intact without more braking than today's Martian atmosphere could provide.

"Consideration of existing model results indicates a meteorite this size requires a thicker atmosphere," said rover team member Matt Golombek of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Either Mars has hidden reserves of carbon-dioxide ice that can supply large amounts of carbon-dioxide gas into the atmosphere during warm periods of more recent climate cycles, or Block Island fell billions of years ago."

Spectrometer observations have already identified variations in the composition of Block Island at different points on the rock's surface. The differences could result from interaction of the rock with the Martian environment, where the metal becomes more rusted from weathering with longer exposures to water vapor or liquid.

"We have lots of iron-nickel meteorites on Earth. We're using this meteorite as a way to study Mars," said Albert Yen, a rover team member at JPL. "Before we drive away from Block Island, we intend to examine more targets on this rock where the images show variations in color and texture. We're looking to see how extensively the rock surface has been altered, which helps us understand the history of the Martian climate since it fell."

When the investigation of Block Island concludes, the team plans to resume driving Opportunity on a route from Victoria Crater, which the rover explored for two years, toward the much larger Endeavour Crater. Opportunity has covered about one-fifth of the 19-kilometer (12-mile) route plotted for safe travel to Endeavour since the rover left Victoria nearly a year ago.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its microscopic imager to get this view of the surface of a rock called "Block Island" during the 1,963rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Aug. 1, 2009).

Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit, landed on Mars in January 2004 for missions originally planned to last for three months. Both rovers show signs of aging but are still very able to continue to explore and study Mars.

To see the image and obtain more information about the rovers, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers .

NASA'S JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rovers Opportunity and Spirit for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

For more information visit nasa.gov

Completing Kibo: STS-127 Marks New Era for Science

For the multinational crew of seven astronauts aboard space shuttle Endeavour, the STS-127 mission to the International Space Station was a resounding success. Lasting nearly 16 days, the flight was one of the longest of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. The team's main goals -- completing assembly of Japan's Kibo laboratory complex and delivering spare station parts for future use -- called for five spacewalks and intricate robotics work by the shuttle and station crews.

Image above: Smoke and steam infuse with the fiery light from Endeavour's launch. Image credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph-Kevin O'Connell

But the first challenge was getting off the ground. A gaseous hydrogen leak halted two launch countdowns -- and once the leak was repaired, weather problems halted more attempts. Finally, Endeavour and crew enjoyed a picture-perfect launch at 6:03 p.m. EDT on July 15, rocketing away from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida just one day before the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, humanity's first visit to the moon.

Commanded by veteran astronaut Mark Polansky, the STS-127 crew also comprised Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Julie Payette of the Canadian Space Agency, Tom Marshburn and Tim Kopra. Upon Endeavour's arrival at the station, Kopra replaced the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Koichi Wakata as the Expedition 20 flight engineer.

After a day in orbit spent checking out the shuttle's heat shield, Polansky guided Endeavour to a link-up with the International Space Station at 1:47 p.m. July 17 as the two vehicles glided 220 miles above the north coast of Australia. Once the hatches were opened, Wakata and Kopra swapped seat liners, officially making Kopra a member of the Expedition 20 crew.

The combined crews of Endeavour and station added up to 13 people -- the most humans ever in orbit at the same place at the same time.

With both spacecraft and astronaut teams together in space, it was time to get to work.

The mission's main objective was to install the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility, the final piece of the Kibo laboratory. The Exposed Facility will serve as a permanent "porch" aboard the station, allowing experiments to be exposed to the space environment. On Flight Day 4, spacewalkers Wolf and Kopra spent five-and-a-half hours outside the orbiting outpost, preparing the attach points on both the Kibo hardware already in place and the new component to be installed. The porch then was installed by Polansky and Payette at the controls of Endeavour's robotic arm, and Hurley and Wakata controlling the station's robotic arm. Additionally, Kibo's robotic arm provided a view of the installation.

Image above: With Earth below, astronaut Christopher Cassidy participates in the mission's third spacewalk. Image credit: NASA

Endeavour also brought up the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section, a payload carrier that temporarily attached to the Exposed Facility. Three days after the astronauts installed the facility, the carrier was robotically plucked from Endeavour's payload bay and handed off to the station arm, which repositioned it near the Kibo complex. During another spacewalk, Wolf and Cassidy readied the carrier and the facility for attachment. On Flight Day 9, the Kibo robotic arm made its operational debut with Wakata at the controls as he moved three experiments from the carrier to the facility. The carrier was returned to the shuttle's payload bay three days later.

Spacewalkers Marshburn and Cassidy also installed video cameras on the Exposed Facility, which will help provide a view of the H-II Transfer Vehicle, or HTV, scheduled to arrive at the station this fall.

In addition to the astronauts' hard work to complete Kibo, they also needed to install several space station components for future use. As with their Kibo efforts, this process took several days, multiple spacewalks and plenty of robotics work to accomplish.

Image above: The Japanese Experiment Module Kibo laboratory and newly installed Exposed Facility are viewed from inside the station. Image credit: NASA

During the mission's third spacewalk, Wolf and Cassidy began the task of replacing six batteries that power the station's P6 truss in the absence of sunlight. They swapped out two batteries before a potential problem arose with the carbon dioxide scrubber in Cassidy's spacesuit. Although Cassidy was never in danger, mission rules called for an early end to their excursion. The remaining four batteries were replaced by Cassidy and Marshburn two days later.

Other spares transferred to the station for long-term storage were a pump module, space-to-ground antenna and a linear drive unit.

With several days of intense work and accomplishments behind them, the shuttle and station crews said their farewells, and Endeavour pulled away from the station July 28 after 11 days of docked operations.

Before coming home, the crew of Endeavour deployed two pairs of satellites: the Dual RT Astrodynamic GPS Orbital Navigator Satellite, or DRAGONSat, and the Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment-2, or ANDE-2. DRAGONSat's two satellites will test the ability of two spacecraft to rendezvous based on data provided by the Global Positioning System, and ANDE-2 will study the atmosphere at an Earth altitude of 200 miles.

Image above: The drogue chute unfurls behind Endeavour on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center. Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Landing day dawned bright and sunny at Kennedy Space Center. After 248 orbits and more than 6.5 million miles, Endeavour and crew touched down on Runway 15 at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility at 10:48 a.m., landing right on time at the first opportunity and bringing Wakata home to Earth after 138 days in space.

STS-127 Spacewalks:

First Spacewalk: Wolf and Kopra prepared the Kibo laboratory and the Exposed Facility for installation and deployed a cargo carrier attachment system on the P3 truss that failed to unfurl in March. Spacewalk time: five hours, 32 minutes.

Second Spacewalk: Wolf and Marshburn installed the space-to-ground antenna, pump module and linear drive unit to a stowage platform on the P3 truss. Spacewalk time: six hours, 53 minutes.

Third Spacewalk: Wolf and Cassidy prepared the Exposed Section payloads for transfer to the Exposed Facility and replaced two station batteries before ending the spacewalk early due to a problem with Cassidy's suit. Spacewalk time: five hours, 59 minutes.

Fourth Spacewalk: Cassidy and Marshburn replaced the remaining four station batteries. Spacewalk time: seven hours, 12 minutes.

Fifth Spacewalk: Cassidy and Marshburn installed video cameras on the Exposed Facility and completed other miscellaneous tasks around the station. Spacewalk time: four hours, 54 minutes.

For more information visit nasa.gov

Rocket to Launch Inflatable Spacecraft Shell

Inflatable aircraft are not a new idea. Hot air balloons have been around for more than two centuries and blimps are a common sight over many sports stadiums. But it's hard to imagine an inflatable spacecraft.

Researchers from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., are working to develop a new kind of lightweight inflatable spacecraft outer shell to slow and protect reentry vehicles as they blaze through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

NASA engineers check out the Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) in the lab. Credit: NASA/Sean Smith

They will test a technology demonstrator from a small sounding rocket to be launched at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va. The launch is scheduled for Aug. 17.

The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment, or IRVE, looks like a giant mushroom when it's inflated. For the test, the silicon-coated Kevlar aeroshell is vacuum-packed inside a 16-inch (40.6 cm) diameter cylinder, but once it unfurls and is pumped full of nitrogen it is almost 10 feet (3 m) wide.

Engineers say the concept could help land bigger objects on Mars. "We'd like to be able to land more mass on Mars," said Neil Cheatwood, IRVE's principal investigator and chief scientist of the Hypersonics Project within NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program. "To land more mass you have to have more drag. We need to maximize the drag area of the entry system. We want to make it as big as we can, but the limitation has been the launch vehicle diameter."

According to Cheatwood, the idea of inflatable decelerators has been around for 40 years, but there were technical issues, including concerns about whether materials could withstand the heat of re-entry. Since then materials have advanced and because of numerous Mars missions, including rovers, landers and orbiters, there's more understanding of the Martian atmosphere.

That means researchers can now test a subscale model of a compact inflatable heat shield with the help of a small two-stage rocket. The vehicle is a 50-foot Black Brant 9 that will lift IRVE outside the atmosphere to an altitude of about 130 miles (209 km). Engineers want to find out what the re-entry vehicle will do on the way down.

A Black Brant 9 rocket similar to the one that will lift the Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) to an altitude of about 130 miles (209 km) above the Earth. Credit: NASA

"The whole flight will be over in less than 20 minutes," said Mary Beth Wusk, IRVE project manager. "We separate from the rocket 90 seconds after launch and we begin inflation about three-and-a-half-minutes after that. Our critical data period after it inflates and re-enters through the atmosphere is only about 30 seconds long."

Cameras and sensors on board will document the inflation and high-speed free fall and send information to researchers on the ground.

After its brief flight IRVE will fall into the Atlantic Ocean about 90 miles down range from Wallops. No efforts will be made to retrieve the experiment or the sounding rocket.

The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment is an example of how NASA is using its aeronautics expertise to support the development of future spacecraft. NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington funded the flight experiment as part of its hypersonics research effort.

On the day of the launch the Wallops Flight facility plans to use the Internet to update the countdown status at:

› http://twitter.com/NASA_Wallops


A webcast the event will be featured at:

› http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/events/index.html

For more information visit nasa.gov

The Perseids are Coming

Splat! There goes another bug on the windshield.

Anyone who's ever driven down a country lane has seen it happen. A fast moving car, a cloud of multiplying insects, and a big disgusting mess.

The next time that happens to you, instead of feeling grossed out, try thinking of the experience as an astronomy lesson. Your car is Earth. The bugs are tiny flakes of comet dust. The carnage on your windshield ... it's a meteor shower!

Earth, like a speeding car, races around the Sun sweeping up everything in its path. There are no insects in space, but there are plenty of meteoroids, little flakes of dust from comets and asteroids. They hit Earth's atmosphere and splat! they disintegrate as fiery streaks of light called meteors.

A "side window" Perseid Earthgrazer. Image Credit: S. Kohle & B. Koch (Astron. I., U. Bonn).

This week lots of meteors will appear over Earth's northern hemisphere when our planet plows through a swarm of dust shed by periodic comet Swift-Tuttle. It's the annual Perseid meteor shower, which peaks on August 11th and 12th.

Just as bugs tend to accumulate on the front windshield of a car, Perseids accumulate on the front windshield of Earth.

Earth has a windshield? It's the atmosphere, which protects us from solar wind and comet dust much as a car's windshield protects passengers from wind, rain and bugs. Earth's front windshield is the early morning sky. Earth circles the Sun dawn-side first, scooping up whatever lies on that side of the planet. That's why it's usually best to look for Perseids just before dawn.

A good time to see Perseids this year is before dawn on Wednesday morning, August 12th, when Earth's front windshield is overhead.

Side windows, the ones to the left and right of passengers in cars, are good, too. Zooming down a bug-infested lane, side windows don't intercept many insects, but the ones they do gather are worth examining. Bugs that strike side windows do so at a shallow angle, leaving long and colorful streaks.

This also happens to meteors. When the constellation Perseus (the source of the Perseids) hangs low near the horizon, meteors streaming from Perseus will skim the the top of Earth's atmosphere, much like a bug skimming the side window of an automobile. Astronomers call these meteors "Earthgrazers." They tend to be long and colorful.

Look for Perseid Earthgrazers on Tuesday night, Aug. 11th, between 9:00 and 11:00 p.m. local time.

This year, evening Earthgrazers on August 11th could be the best part of the show, because the Moon and its interfering glare will be below the horizon in early evening. Dark skies = good meteor watching. Later, when Earth's "front windshield" rises, the Moon will rise with it, reducing the number of Perseids you'll be able to see before sunrise on August 12th.

Earthgrazers don't come in large numbers. The special geometry required to produce them keeps counts low, but even one or two is enough. A breathtaking Earthgrazer is the sort of meteor you're likely to remember for years.

Best of all, there's no gooey residue.

Dr. Tony Phillips
Science@NASA

For more information visit nasa.gov

Planet Smash-Up Sends Vaporized Rock, Hot Lava Flying

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found evidence of a high-speed collision between two burgeoning planets around a young star.

Astronomers say that two rocky bodies, one as least as big as our moon and the other at least as big as Mercury, slammed into each other within the last few thousand years or so - not long ago by cosmic standards. The impact destroyed the smaller body, vaporizing huge amounts of rock and flinging massive plumes of hot lava into space. An artist's animation of the event is at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/spitzer-20090810.html .

Spitzer's infrared detectors were able to pick up the signatures of the vaporized rock, along with pieces of refrozen lava, called tektites.

"This collision had to be huge and incredibly high-speed for rock to have been vaporized and melted," said Carey M. Lisse of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., lead author of a new paper describing the findings in the Aug. 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal. "This is a really rare and short-lived event, critical in the formation of Earth-like planets and moons. We're lucky to have witnessed one not long after it happened."

This artist's concept shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body the size of Mercury.

Lisse and his colleagues say the cosmic crash is similar to the one that formed our moon more than 4 billion years ago, when a body the size of Mars rammed into Earth.

"The collision that formed our moon would have been tremendous, enough to melt the surface of Earth," said co-author Geoff Bryden of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Debris from the collision most likely settled into a disk around Earth that eventually coalesced to make the moon. This is about the same scale of impact we're seeing with Spitzer -- we don't know if a moon will form or not, but we know a large rocky body's surface was red hot, warped and melted."

Our solar system's early history is rich with similar tales of destruction. Giant impacts are thought to have stripped Mercury of its outer crust, tipped Uranus on its side and spun Venus backward, to name a few examples. Such violence is a routine aspect of planet building. Rocky planets form and grow in size by colliding and sticking together, merging their cores and shedding some of their surfaces. Though things have settled down in our solar system today, impacts still occur, as was observed last month after a small space object crashed into Jupiter.

Lisse and his team observed a star called HD 172555, which is about 12 million years old and located about 100 light-years away in the far southern constellation Pavo, or the Peacock (for comparison, our solar system is 4.5 billion years old). The astronomers used an instrument on Spitzer, called a spectrograph, to break apart the star's light and look for fingerprints of chemicals, in what is called a spectrum. What they found was very strange. "I had never seen anything like this before," said Lisse. "The spectrum was very unusual."

After careful analysis, the researchers identified lots of amorphous silica, or essentially melted glass. Silica can be found on Earth in obsidian rocks and tektites. Obsidian is black, shiny volcanic glass. Tektites are hardened chunks of lava that are thought to form when meteorites hit Earth.

Large quantities of orbiting silicon monoxide gas were also detected, created when much of the rock was vaporized. In addition, the astronomers found rocky rubble that was probably flung out from the planetary wreck.

The mass of the dust and gas observed suggests the combined mass of the two charging bodies was more than twice that of our moon.

Their speed must have been tremendous as well - the two bodies would have to have been traveling at a velocity relative to each other of at least 10 kilometers per second (about 22,400 miles per hour) before the collision.

Spitzer has witnessed the dusty aftermath of large asteroidal impacts before, but did not find evidence for the same type of violence - melted and vaporized rock sprayed everywhere. Instead, large amounts of dust, gravel, and boulder-sized rubble were observed, indicating the collisions might have been slower-paced. "Almost all large impacts are like stately, slow-moving Titanic-versus-the-iceberg collisions, whereas this one must have been a huge fiery blast, over in the blink of an eye and full of fury," said Lisse.

Other authors include C.H. Chen of the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.; M.C. Wyatt of the University of Cambridge, England; A. Morlok of the Open University, London, England; I. Song of The University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.; and P. Sheehan of the University of Rochester, N.Y.

JPL manages the Spitzer mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Spitzer's infrared spectrograph, which made the observations in 2004 before the telescope began its "warm" mission, was built by Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. Its development was led by Jim Houck of Cornell.

For more information about Spitzer, visit http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer . More information about NASA's planet-finding program is at http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov .

Media contact: Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
whitney.b.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

J.D. Harrington 202-358-5241
Headquarters, Washington
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

For more information visit nasa.gov

'Block Island' Meteorite on Mars, Sol 1961

Composition measurements by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity confirm that this rock on the Martian surface is an iron-nickel meteorite.

The rover's panoramic camera took this image during the 1,961st Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's mission on Mars (July 31), after approaching close enough to touch the rock with tools on the rover's robotic arm.

Researchers have informally named the rock "Block Island." With a width of about two-thirds of a meter (2 feet), it is the largest meteorite yet found on Mars. Opportunity found a smaller iron-nickel meteorite, called "Heat Shield Rock" in late 2004.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University

For more information and images visit nasa.gov

Saturn to Pull Celestial Houdini on August 11

Since Saturn's axis is tilted as it orbits the sun, Saturn has seasons, like those of planet Earth -- but each of Saturn's seasons last for over seven years. The Hubble Space Telescope took the above sequence of images about a year apart. Starting on the left in 1996 and ending on the right in 2000. Image credit: NASA/Hubble

For more information and images visit nasa.gov

Shadows in the F ring

Cassini spies a shadow cast by a vertically extended structure or object in the F ring in this image taken as Saturn approaches its August 2009 equinox.

The structure can be seen as a bulge near the bright core of the ring on the right of the image. Imaging scientists are working to understand the origin of structures such as this one, but they think this image shows the shadow of what appears to be a vertically extended object in the core of the F ring.

The second (bottom) version of the image has been brightened to enhance the visibility of the ring and shadow. Background stars appear elongated in the image because of the camera's exposure time.

For more information and images visit nasa.gov

Shadow Reaches the A Ring

A vertically extended structure or object in Saturn's F ring casts a shadow long enough to reach the A ring in this Cassini image taken just days before planet's August 2009 equinox.

The structure can be seen as a bulge within the bright core of the F ring on the left of the image. The structure rises far enough above the ring plane for the shadow to be cast across the Roche Division and onto the A ring. The shadow is barely visible stretching across the top right quadrant of the image. The shadow appears very faint here because this view looks toward the unlit side of the rings.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

For more information and images visit nasa.gov

A Small Find Near Equinox

The Cassini spacecraft captured this image of a small object in the outer portion of Saturn's B ring casting a shadow on the rings as Saturn approaches its August 2009 equinox.

This new moonlet, situated about 300 miles (480 kilometers), inward from the outer edge of the B ring, was found by detection of its shadow which stretches 25 miles, or 41 kilometers, across the rings. The shadow length implies the moonlet is protruding about 660 feet, or 200 meters, above the ring plane. If the moonlet is orbiting in the same plane as the ring material surrounding it, which is likely, it must be about 1,300 feet, or 400 meters, across.

This object is not attended by a propeller feature, unlike the band of moonlets discovered in Saturn's A ring earlier by Cassini. The A ring moonlets, which have not been directly imaged, were found because of the propeller-like narrow gaps on either side of them that they create as they orbit within the rings. The lack of a propeller feature surrounding the new moonlet is likely because the B ring is dense, and the ring material in a dense ring would be expected to fill in any gaps around the moonlet more quickly than in a less dense region like the mid-A ring. Also, it may simply be harder in the first place for a moonlet to create propeller-like gaps in a dense ring.

Straw-like patterns of clumping ring material are also visible along the edge of the outer B ring near the right of this image.

This image and others like it are only possible around the time of Saturn's equinox which occurs every half-Saturn-year (equivalent to about 15 Earth years). The illumination geometry that accompanies equinox lowers the sun's angle to the ring plane and causes out-of-plane structures to cast long shadows across the rings.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 42 degrees below the ring plane. Background stars are visible on the right of the image. They appear elongated by the camera's exposure time.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 26, 2009. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 296,000 kilometers (184,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 120 degrees. Image scale is 1 kilometer (4,680 feet) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org .

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

For more information and images visit nasa.gov

NASA Goes Inside a Volcano, Monitors Activity

A sensor like this is being placed inside and around the mouth of Mount St. Helens. One day it may be used to respond rapidly to an impending eruption.

For more information and images visit nasa.gov

"Robots on the Road" Demonstrates Mars Rovers’ Work is Children’s Play

An artist's concept of the Mars rover Spirit Image credit: NASA

For more images and information visit nasa.gov

Hometown Heroes 2009: Grunsfeld Takes the Windy City by Storm

NASA astronaut Dr. John Grunsfeld talks with broadcaster Ed Farmer at the White Sox game during the 2009 Hometown Heroes campaign in Chicago. Photo Credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Dr. John Grunsfeld presents a photo of Chicago from space to management at the White Sox game during the 2009 Hometown Heroes campaign in Chicago. Photo Credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Dr. John Grunsfeld signs autographs at the White Sox game during the 2009 Hometown Heroes campaign in Chicago. Photo Credit: NASA

For more information and images visit nasa.gov

A Moon Rock on the International Space Station

ISS020-E-14200 (FOR RELEASE 21 JULY 2009) --- A moon rock brought to Earth by Apollo 11, humans’ first landing on the moon in July 1969, is shown as it floats aboard the International Space Station. Part of Earth can be seen through the window. The 3.6 billion year-old lunar sample was flown to the station aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-119 in April 2009 in honor of the July 2009 40th anniversary of the historic first moon landing. The rock, lunar sample 10072, was flown to the station to serve as a symbol of the nation’s resolve to continue the exploration of space. It will be returned on shuttle mission STS-128 to be publicly displayed.

ISS020-E-007383 (FOR RELEASE 21 JULY 2009) --- A moon rock brought to Earth by Apollo 11, humans’ first landing on the moon in July 1969, is shown as it floats aboard the International Space Station. Part of Earth and a section of a station solar panel can be seen through the window. The 3.6 billion year-old lunar sample was flown to the station aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-119 in April 2009 in honor of the July 2009 40th anniversary of the historic first moon landing. The rock, lunar sample 10072, was flown to the station to serve as a symbol of the nation’s resolve to continue the exploration of space. It will be returned on shuttle mission STS-128 to be publicly displayed.

ISS020-E-014193 (FOR RELEASE 21 JULY 2009) --- A moon rock brought to Earth by Apollo 11, humans’ first landing on the moon in July 1969, is shown as it floats aboard the International Space Station. Part of Earth can be seen through the window. The 3.6 billion year-old lunar sample was flown to the station aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-119 in April 2009 in honor of the July 2009 40th anniversary of the historic first moon landing. The rock, lunar sample 10072, was flown to the station to serve as a symbol of the nation’s resolve to continue the exploration of space. It will be returned on shuttle mission STS-128 to be publicly displayed.

ISS020-E-14196 (FOR RELEASE 21 JULY 2009) --- A moon rock brought to Earth by Apollo 11, humans’ first landing on the moon in July 1969, is shown as it floats aboard the International Space Station. Part of Earth can be seen through the window. The 3.6 billion year-old lunar sample was flown to the station aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-119 in April 2009 in honor of the July 2009 40th anniversary of the historic first moon landing. The rock, lunar sample 10072, was flown to the station to serve as a symbol of the nation’s resolve to continue the exploration of space. It will be returned on shuttle mission STS-128 to be publicly displayed.

JSC2009-E-145988 (FOR RELEASE 21 JULY 2009) --- --- A moon rock brought to Earth by Apollo 11, humans’ first landing on the moon in July 1969, is shown on Earth prior to being placed in April 2009 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery for transporting it to the International Space Station. In honor of the July 2009 40th anniversary of the historic first moon landing, the rock, lunar sample 10072, was flown to the station to serve as a symbol of the nation’s resolve to continue the exploration of space. It will be returned on shuttle mission STS-128 to be publicly displayed.

For more information visit nasa.gov

Summer Heat

A white-hot flame surrounded by red hot exhaust shoots from a recent test of the J-2X engine 'workhorse' gas generator at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. The workhorse gas generator simulates the flow path inside the actual J-2X gas generator that powers the engine's turbo machinery. Testing to ensure stable combustion and uniform gas temperature in this component translates into a safer, more durable J-2X engine, which will power the second stage of the new Ares I rocket.

For more information about Ares, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ares

Image Credit: NASA/MSFC

Globally Threatened Indian Fauna:

India has a rich and varied heritage of biodiversity, encompassing a wide spectrum of habitats from tropical rainforests in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to alpine vegetation and dry alpine scrub high in the Himalayas and from temperate forests to coastal wetlands. Between the two extremes, the country has semi-evergreen rain forests, deciduous monsoon forests, thorn forests, and subtropical pine forests in the lower montane zone and temperate montane forests. Since the Indian sub-continent lies at the confluence of African, European and Indo-Malayan realms the biota, therefore, includes African, European, and Eurasian and Mediterranean elements.

India contributes significantly to this latitudinal biodiversity trend. India is a one of the twelve mega biodiversity countries of the world. With a mere 2.4% of the world's area, India 18 accounts for 7.25 % of the total global fauna (12, 21,315) ( with a count of 89,451 species (Alfred, 1998).

The present paper deals with the conservation status of globally threatened Indian fauna that has been red listed by IUCN. The tables providede also incorporates the red listed species that have been included in the various schedules of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, appendices of the Conventions on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and fauna (CITES) and appendices of Convention of Migratory Species (CMS).

India contains 648 species of animals listed as “Globally Threatened” by IUCN (2004) which is approximately 8.91%; of the world's total number of threatened faunal species (7266 species} The 648 Globally Threatened Indian species includes 213 Species of Mammals,149 Birds, 33 Reptiles, 148 Amphibians, 75 Pisces and 30 Invertebrate species. Of the 648 Threatened Indian Species 183 species are endemic It significantly makes 29.01% of the threatened Indian fauna, which is a very high ratio and the threats to the endemic species are a cause of concern. While there are tremendous efforts to conserve the threatened fauna world over there has been remarkable decline in the population trends as evident from the Table 6. Out of the 648 threatened Indian species we have the trends available for 447 species only, of which 218 species are showing downward trend while 217 species are indeterminate. Only eleven species have the stable population while, to speak towards upward trend we have only one species of mammals namely, Megaptera novaeangliae- a Bunch which is under vulnerable category.

Marine Ecotoxicology

Marine ecotoxicology is the study of the harmful effects of chemical pollutants on marine organisms and ecosystems such as corals, fish, oysters, mangroves and microalgae.

Significant proportions of pollutants from the Great Barrier Reef’s catchment reach the in-shore waters of the GBR during the intense flooding events that dominate north Queensland rainfall and river flows. Nitrogen levels in flood plumes are between 10 to 100 times higher than normal marine concentrations.

Coastal waters are also at risk from pollution derived from normal ship operations (such as waste disposal, vessel sewage, introduction of marine pests through ballast water and hull fouling, toxic compounds released from anti-fouling paints) and pollution caused by shipping accidents (such as vessel groundings and oil spills).

Apart from directly killing marine organisms, pollutants have the potential to cause sub-lethal effects such as disrupting symbioses and interfering with chemical cues responsible for key biological processes, including reproduction and recruitment.

Systematics

Biological systematics is considered to be the study of the diversity of life on the planet earth, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Systematics, is used to understand the evolutionary history of life on earth.

Systematics is often used synonymously with "taxonomy" and scientific classification." However, taxonomy is the describing, identifying, classifying, and naming of organisms. Classification is focused on categorizing organisms within specific groups that show their relationships to other organisms.

Systematics uses taxonomy as a means to understand organisms, as nothing about an organism's relationships with other living things can be understood without it first being properly studied and described in sufficient detail to identify and classify it correctly. Scientific classifications are aids in recording and reporting information to other scientists and to laymen.

A scientist who specializes in systematics is called a systematist. A systematist must be able to use existing classification systems to insure proper identification and classification of species.

William sisters in final

WIMBLEDON— Venus and Serena Williams won in distinct fashion.
Two time winner Serena saved a match point and overcame Elena Dementieva 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6 in 2 hours, 49 minutes this is the longest women's semifinal at Wimbledon in last 40 years. Five time winner Venus, meanwhile, took only 51 minutes to knock down Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 and reach her eighth Wimbledon final.

"Oh my God, this is my eighth final, and it's a dream come to true to be here again and have the opportunity to hold the plate up," Venus said.The sisters, who hold 17 Grand Slam titles between them, will face each other Saturday on the Fourth of July in the finals.If Venus wins the title she will become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1991-93 to win Wimbledon three years in a row.

"The more we play, the better it gets," Serena said. "When we play our match on Saturday, you know, it's for everything. This is what we dreamed of when we were growing up in Compton (California) 20-something years ago. This is what we worked for, and this is what we want. Like I wanted her to win today and she wanted me to win today. It's all come down to this."

Serena's father Richard Williams, who watched the match on Thursday, was the happiest man.

Saina Nehwal may be the next world champion in badminton

Saina Nehwal started her badminton training under the appropriate direction of S M Arif, who was a Dronacharya Awardee. The Gopi Chand Academy of Hyderabad is the place where Saina Nehwal is currently training. The Gopi Chand Academy at present is building plans to train Saina Nehwal in a more enhanced way by sending her to Holland and Denmark.

Being born to such parents as Harvir Singh, who is a scientist at Directorate of Oilseeds Research, and Usha Rani, who is a former Haryana state champion, Saina Nehwal has always received the support of her family members.

From her early years in the courts, Saina Nehwal had been considered as full of prospective. Being a National Junior champion, Saina Nehwal has performed very well in all the tournaments in which she has participated. Not only national but also in international tournaments Saina Nehwal has made a mark of her own.

The Junior Czech Open, which took place in the year 2003, was a major break in the career of Saina Nehwal as she went on to wins the tournament. Saina Nehwal also gave her finest in the Commonwealth Games of 2004 but could not win a medal. Saina Nehwal also took part in the Junior Asian Championship of 2004. At present, Saina is placed above shielding world champion Zhu Lin (No.8) and former World No.1 and world champion Xi Xingfang (No.9).

Drug War 'Testing US Mexico Ties'

Rising drug-related violence is testing relations between the US and Mexico, the US secretary of state has said, describing the situation along the border between the two countries as "intolerable".

Hillary Clinton who wrapped up a two-day visit to Mexico City on Thursday said both countries shared blame for the violence and reiterated the US commitment to stand by Mexico in its war on drugs and related violence.

She has promised an additional $80m to help Mexico's police buy advanced US-made Blackhawk helicopters for its fight against the drug cartels.

"We will stand shoulder to shoulder with you," Clinton said, accusing "criminals and kingpins spreading violence" of corroding the relationship between the two sides.

The drug war has left more than 1,000 people dead in Mexico so far this year, with violence spilling over the border into the US.

On Thursday Clinton toured the Mexican federal police's state-of-the-art headquarters, the key command centre in the country's bloody war on drugs.

Garcia Luna, Mexico's federal police chief, said Mexico was building, with US support, a modern police force capable of taking on organised crime.

Mexico has long complained its police force is often outgunned by drug dealers armed with firearms purchased in the US and smuggled into the country.

It is illegal to export guns to Mexico but US authorities rarely check vehicles or trains travelling across the joint border into Mexico.

ForMoreInfo:http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/20093271333227728.html

Children Being Killed: SRI LANKA

The conflict in Sri Lanka has killed hundreds of children and left many more injured, United Nations' children's agency, Unicef, has said.

Moreover, thousands of children are at risk because of "a critical lack of food, water and medicines", the agency says.

Intense fighting is going on between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in north-eastern Sri Lanka.

The Tigers have been driven from most of the territory they held by the army.

They are now cornered in a small patch of jungle and coastal area in the Mullaitivu district.

Medical Volunteers Kidnapped In Sudan

Days after Sudan's president derided international humanitarian workers here as "spies" and "thieves," three volunteers with Doctors Without Borders were kidnapped from their Darfur compound.

The abductions late Wednesday appeared to be part of the ongoing backlash in Sudan over an arrest warrant issued against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir last week by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Seven gunmen scaled the walls of the medical relief group's facility in Saraf Umra, 125 miles west of El Fasher, and seized the aid workers along with two Sudanese guards who later were released.

Although foreign aid workers in western Sudan have been robbed, carjacked, beaten and raped, the attack is believed to mark the first time international staffers have been kidnapped.

"This is something new," said Noureddine Mezni, spokesman for the UN mission in Darfur. "We deplore this act."

Doctors Without Borders said Thursday that it is withdrawing most of its international staff as a result of the attack, forcing the closings of several clinics and medical facilities that the agency operates in Darfur.

The identity of the kidnappers was unclear, officials said, but negotiations are under way to secure the workers' release. The victims are a Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French administrator.

Sudanese government officials said they were assisting the talks.

The kidnappings come just a week after Doctors Without Borders found itself on a list of 13 international aid groups ordered to halt work in Darfur and leave the country. The expulsions came shortly after the International Criminal Court charged Bashir with seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from the government's counterinsurgency campaign in Darfur.

Two of the five Doctors Without Borders international divisions, from France and the Netherlands, were ordered out of the country. The Belgian unit was operating the clinic that was attacked Wednesday night.

King Of Pop Michael Jackson

Stepping through the red curtains at the O2 arena in London to the hysterical screams of his loyal fans, the King of Pop almost seemed like his old self once more.

There were broad smiles, sparkling silver and jewels adorning his black jacket, and waves and peace signs for his army of followers.

There was no mask over the face, no trace of the supposed "flesh-eating bug" and no sign of the Michael Jackson who looked frail while shuffling into court in his pyjamas during his child abuse trial and deluded as he danced on a car.

His appearance to announce 10 dates at the O2 in the summer was a day that some thought would never come.

Given his past behaviour, there was a suspicion that he might fly into London, feel a bit funny and get straight back on the next plane home.

Or that if he did arrive at the O2 announcement at all, that he would hover in the background for 20 seconds, mumble something incoherent and then disappear again.

In the end, his appearance lasted less than five minutes, and his speech was filled with hesitant pauses.

But that can be put down to the fact that he was too busy grinning as he surveyed his fans, listening to their screams of support and making various gestures in response.

"I love you. I really do," he told them. "You have to know that. I love you so much. Really. From the bottom of my heart."

It was a far cry from a two-hour stage show, but it was a start.

He did not break into song, but he looked fit enough to persuade most fans to want to part with their cash.

There may have been fewer fans queuing up here than there would have been 10 years ago, but the hardcore are still as fervent as ever.

For them, seeing the King of Pop is a quasi-religious experience, and they went into rapture when he appeared.

Indian Mobile User

India mobile users in larger cities and the biggest states will be able to retain their mobile number even if they switch operator from September, the telecoms minister said on Thursday.

Andimuthu Raja told parliament the government would announce on March 5 the successful bidders which will operate the mobile number portability (MNP) system and award letters of intent.

"MNP is to be implemented in all 'Metro' and Category 'A' service areas within six months of the award of the licence and in rest of the service areas within one year of the award of the licence," the minister said in a written statement. (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy)

Researchers for HIV work

Even as Connecticut considers reducing funding for AIDS programs, state public health researchers are winning accolades for their work with those living with HIV.

A program developed at the University of Connecticut's Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention is among a group of eight intervention programs commended recently by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under the program, known as "Options," clinicians are trained to counsel HIV-positive patients during routine medical appointments to avoid risky behavior, such as unprotected sex and drug use, developing a list of behavioral prescriptions for patients to follow as they live with the virus.

"Most interventions focus on people not infected with HIV and not likely to become infected," said Jeffrey D. Fisher, a social psychology professor at UConn and director of the intervention center. "But we also need to help people who have HIV to practice safer sex and drug use."

Such precautions are necessary not just to protect the health of those living with HIV or AIDS, which make patients substantially more susceptible to infection and disease, but also to ensure that continued risky behavior doesn't spread HIV to those with whom diagnosed people share needles or have sex.

Fisher developed the program in the late 1990s with his brother, Bill Fisher, a professor at the University of Western Ontario, and three other researchers from CHIP and Yale University.

The Options program was developed from current behavioral theory and a process of collaboration with those struggling with HIV diagnosis and problems with substance abuse or risky sex, Fisher said. The intervention plan asks clinical workers to work with patients to develop strategies for reducing risk, and to evaluate each patient's willingness to change.

The program was included this year in "The 2008 Compendium of Evidence-based HIV Prevention Interventions," which is compiled annually by the CDC, and recognizes programs that have proven successful at reducing HIV infection and behavior that can increase the chance of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

The CDC estimates that 46,000 people were infected with HIV in the U.S. in 2006, the most recent year for which data was available.

Source: theday.com/re.aspx?re=76b88ed9-71a3-4510-a675-6361d367da02

Subject Verb Object

In linguistic typology, subject-verb-object (SVO) is a sentence structure where the subject comes first, the verb second, and the object third. Languages may be classified according to the dominant sequence of these elements. Together with the SOV order, SVO is one of the two most common orders, accounting for more than 75% of the world's languages between them. It is also the most common order developed in Creole languages, suggesting that it may be somehow more initially 'obvious' to human psychology.

Arabic, Finnish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Modern Hebrew, Khmer, Luganda, Russian, Bulgarian, Swahili, Hausa, English, Yoruba, Quiche, Guaraní, Javanese, Malay, Latvian, Rotuman and Indonesian are examples of languages that can follow an SVO pattern. The Romance languages also follow SVO construction, except for certain constructions in many of them in which a pronoun functions as the object. All of the Scandinavian languages follow this order also but change to VSO when asking a question. Some of these languages, such as English, can also use an OSV structure in certain literary styles, such as poetry.

Cameraphones

Mobile phones started to incorporate digital cameras from 2001 when first introduced in Japan by J-Phone. The most rapidly spread technology of all time, these cameraphones reached a billion devices sold in only five years. By 2007 more than half of the installed base of all mobile phones was of the cameraphone type. In 2003 more cameraphones were sold than all stand-alone digital cameras and in 2006 more cameraphones sold than all film-based cameras and digital cameras combined.

Cameraphones tend to be at the very lowest end of the scale of digital cameras in technical specificiations, such as low resolution cameras, poor quality optics, and limited abilities to use accessories. With the rapid development of digital technologies, however, the gap between mainstream digital cameras and cameraphones is closing and high-end cameraphones are competitive with low end stand-alone digital cameras of the same generation.

Aerial-seeding

Aerial seeding is a technique of sowing seeds by spraying them through aerial mechanical means such as an aircraft. This technique is one of the several broadcast seeding techniques. This technique is usually used to grow grasses, legumes or other suitable soil binding plants. The process is applied to increase vegetative cover over barren lands like ravines or burnt sites, where large geographical area is involved. The purpose of the technique is soil conservation by reducing soil erosion in extremely large area within lesser period. It is typically used where soil erosion hazards are high and native plant seed bank is destroyed by temperature or washed away by water resulting into complete denudation of top soil. This is the most effective technique for geographically inaccessible areas. Seed is dropped from fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter directly on the soil from a reasonable altitude.

Alpaca

The Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in superficial appearance.

Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of Ecuador, southern Peru, northern Bolivia, and northern Chile at an altitude of 3,500 m (11,483 ft) to 5,000 m (16,404 ft) meters above sea-level, throughout the year.[citation needed] Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas, and unlike llamas, alpacas are not used as beasts of burden but are valued only for their fiber. Alpaca fiber is used for making knitted and woven items, much as sheep's wool is. These items include blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, a wide variety of textiles and ponchos in South America, and sweaters, socks, coats and bedding in other parts of the world. The fiber comes in more than 52 natural colors as classified in Peru, 12 as classified in Australia and 16 as classified in the United States. Alpacas and llamas differ in that alpacas have straight ears and llamas have banana-shaped ears. Aside from these differences, llamas are on average 1-2 feet taller and proportionally bigger than alpacas.

In the textile industry, "alpaca" primarily refers to the hair of Peruvian alpacas, but more broadly it refers to a style of fabric originally made from alpaca hair but now often made from similar fibers, such as mohair, Icelandic sheep wool, or even high-quality English wool.[citation needed] In trade, distinctions are made between alpacas and the several styles of mohair and luster.

Indian Ocean

• Andaman Sea
• Arabian Sea
• Bay of Bengal
• Gulf of Aden
• Gulf of Oman
• Mozambique Channel
• Persian Gulf
• Red Sea
• Timor Sea

Ramie

Ramie (Boehmeria nivea) is a flowering plant in the nettle family Urticaceae, native to eastern Asia. It is a herbaceous perennial growing to 1 - 2.5 m tall; the leaves are heart-shaped, 7-15 cm long and 6-12 cm broad, and white on the underside with dense small hairs - this gives it a silvery appearance; unlike nettles, the hairs do not sting. The true ramie or China Grass also called Chinese plant or white ramie is the Chinese cultivated plant. A second type, is known as green ramie or rhea and is believed to have originated in the Malay Peninsula. This type has smaller leaves which are green on the underside, and it appears to be better suited to tropical conditions.

Popigai crater

The Popigai crater in Siberia, Russia is tied with Manicouagan Reservoir as the 4th largest verified impact crater on Earth. A large bolide impact created the 100-kilometer diameter crater 35.7 ± 0.2 (2σ) million years ago during the late Eocene (Priabonian stage). The crater is just north of the Siberian city Norilsk, or 1 1/2 hours (by helicopter) from the outpost of Khatanga. It is designated by UNESCO as a Geopark, a site of special geological heritage.

For decades the Popigai crater has fascinated paleontologists and geologists, but the entire area was completely off limits because of the diamonds and the mines constructed by gulag prisoners under Stalin; however, a major investigatory expedition was undertaken in 1997 (IPEX 1997) which greatly advanced understanding of the enigmatic structure. The impactor in this event has been identified as either an eight-kilometer diameter chondrite asteroid, or a five-kilometer diameter stony asteroid.

The shock pressures from the impact instantaneously transformed graphite in the ground into diamonds within a 13.6 kilometer radius of the impact point. Diamonds are usually 0.5 to 2 millimeters in diameter; a few exceptional specimens are 10 millimeters in size. The diamonds not only inherit the tabular shape of the original graphite grains but they additionally preserve the original crystal's delicate striations.

Popigai is the best example yet of the formation of a crater of this type. Three other craters are larger, but they are either buried (Chicxulub), strongly deformed (Sudbury), or deformed and severely eroded (Vredefort).

There is a small possibility that Popigai impact crater formed simultaneous with the c. 35 million year old Chesapeake Bay and Toms Canyon impact craters.

Constructed languages

Some individuals and groups have constructed their own artificial languages, for practical, experimental, personal, or ideological reasons. International auxiliary languages are generally constructed languages that strive to be easier to learn than natural languages; other constructed languages strive to be more logical ("loglangs") than natural languages; a prominent example of this is Lojban.

Some writers, such as J. R. R. Tolkien, have created fantasy languages, for literary, artistic or personal reasons. The fantasy language of the Klingon race has in recent years been developed by fans of the Star Trek series, including a vocabulary and grammar.

Constructed languages are not necessarily restricted to the properties shared by natural languages.

This part of ISO 639 also includes identifiers that denote constructed (or artificial) languages. In order to qualify for inclusion the language must have a literature and it must be designed for the purpose of human communication. Specifically excluded are reconstructed languages and computer programming languages.

Heredity

Heredity is the passing of traits to offspring (from its parent or ancestors). This is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to the characteristics of its parent cell or organism. Through heredity, variations exhibited by individuals can accumulate and cause a species to evolve. The study of heredity in biology is called genetics, which includes the field of epigenetics.

Almond milk

Almond milk is a milky drink made from ground almonds. Unlike animal milk, almond milk contains no cholesterol or lactose and can be used as a substitute for animal milk in many recipes. Almond milk is also completely vegan. Commercial almond milk products come in plain, vanilla, or chocolate flavors. They are often enriched with vitamins. It can also be made at home by combining ground almonds with water in a blender. Vanilla flavoring and sweeteners are often added. However, users should be cautious not to use bitter almonds, since the combination of bitter almonds and water releases cyanide.

Water Quality

The Environment Agency is responsible for maintaining or improving the quality of fresh, marine, surface and underground water in England and Wales.Many human activities and their by-products have the potential to pollute water. Large and small industrial enterprises, the water industry, the urban infrastructure, agriculture, horticulture, transport, discharges from abandoned mines, and deliberate or accidental pollution incidents all affect water quality.

Pollution may arise as point sources, such as discharges through pipes, or may be more diffuse, such as from run off from streets and buildings, or agricultural nutrients lost from fields.We aim to prevent or reduce the risk of water pollution wherever possible, and to ensure that it gets cleaned up if pollution occurs that might lead to effects on ecosystems or people.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has overall interests for the quality of water in our taps, and local responsibility rests with the local authority environmental health departments.

Turgor pressure

Turgor pressure' or turgidity is the main pressure of the cell contents against the cell wall in plant cells and bacteria cells, determined by the water content of the vacuole, resulting from osmotic pressure, i.e. the hydrostatic pressure produced by a solution in a space divided by a semipermeable membrane due to a differential in the concentration of solute. Turgid plant cells contain more water than flaccid cells and exert a greater osmotic pressure on its cell walls.

Turgor is a force exerted outward on a plant cell wall by the H2O contained in the cell. This force gives the plant rigidity, and may help to keep it erect. Turgor may also result in the bursting of a cell.

Inner planets Earth

Earth (1 AU) is the largest and densest of the inner planets, the only one known to have current geological activity, and the only planet known to have life. Its liquid hydrosphere is unique among the terrestrial planets, and it is also the only planet where plate tectonics has been observed. Earth's atmosphere is radically different from those of the other planets, having been altered by the presence of life to contain 21% free oxygen. It has one natural satellite, the Moon (Latin: Luna), the only large satellite of a terrestrial planet in the Solar System.

OpenGL 3.0

The newest revision of the OpenGL API is OpenGL 3.0, released August 11, 2008 and is backward compatible with all prior OpenGL versions, though a deprecation mechanism has been introduced to simplify the API in future revisions.

• OpenGL Shading Language revision 1.30 (GLSL)

• Array Objects

• More flexible Framebuffer Objects

• 32-bit (single precision) floating-point textures and render buffers

• 16-bit (half precision) floating-point vertex and pixel data

• Ability to render vertex transformations into a buffer

• Texture arrays

• 32-bit (single precision) floating point depth buffer support

Full use of OpenGL 3.0 requires the same level of hardware as is required for DirectX 10 support. Unlike DirectX 10, OpenGL 3.0 does not require Windows Vista and can be used on any OS for which the appropriate drivers are provided.

Ontology

On an individual being level, these questions are studied by the separate fields above, but are also more integrated into cognitive ontology of various kinds. This challenges the older linguistically dependent views of ontology, wherein one could debate being, perceiving, and doing, with no cognizance of innate human limits, varying human lifeways, and loyalties that may let a being "know" something (see qualia) that for others remains very much in doubt.

On the level of an individual mind, an emergent behavior might be the formation of a new concept, 'bubbling up' from below the conscious level of the mind. A simple way of stating this is that beings preserve their own attention and are at every level concerned with avoiding interruption and distraction. Such cognitive specialization can be observed in particular in language, with adults markedly less able to hear or say distinctions made in languages to which they were not exposed in youth.

Small Arms Protective Insert

The Small Arms Protective Insert (SAPI) is a ceramic plate first used in the Interceptor body armor, a bulletproof vest. It is now also used in the Improved Outer Tactical Vest as well as the Modular Tactical Vest, in addition to commercially available "plate carriers". The kevlar Interceptor vest itself is designed to stop projectiles up to and including 9mm submachine gun rounds, in addition to fragmentation. To protect against higher velocity rifle rounds, SAPI plates are needed.

Personal identification number

A personal identification number (PIN) is a secret numeric password shared between a user and a system that can be used to authenticate the user to the system. Typically, the user is required to provide a non-confidential user identifier or token (such as a banking card) and a confidential PIN to gain access to the system. Upon receiving the User ID and PIN, the system looks up the PIN based upon the User ID and compares the looked-up PIN with the received PIN. The user is granted access only when the number entered matches with the number stored in the system.

PINs are most often used for ATMs but are increasingly used at the Point of sale, especially for debit cards. Throughout Europe the traditional in-store credit card signing process is being replaced with a system where the customer is asked to enter their PIN instead of signing. In the UK and Ireland this goes under the term 'Chip and PIN', since PINs were introduced at the same time as EMV chips on the cards. In other parts of the world, PINs have been used before the introduction of EMV. Apart from financial uses, GSM mobile phones usually allow the user to enter PIN between 4 and 8 digits length. The PIN is recorded in the SIM card.

Bluetooth 2.0

This version of the Bluetooth specification was released on November 10, 2004. It is backward-compatible with the previous version 1.1. The main difference is the introduction of an Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) for faster data transfer. The nominal rate of EDR is about 3 megabits per second, although the practical data transfer rate is 2.1 megabits per second.[8] The additional throughput is obtained by using a different radio technology for transmission of the data. Standard, or Basic Rate, transmission uses Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying (GFSK) modulation of the radio signal; EDR uses a combination of GFSK and Phase Shift Keying (PSK) modulation.

GEE

The British GEE system was developed during World War II. GEE used a series of transmitters sending out precisely timed signals, and the aircraft using GEE, RAF Bomber Command's heavy bombers, examined the time of arrival on an oscilloscope at the navigator's station. If the signal from two stations arrived at the same time, the aircraft must be an equal distance from both transmitters, allowing the navigator to determine a line of position on his chart of all the positions at that distance from both stations. By making similar measurements with other stations, additional lines of position can be produced, leading to a fix. GEE was accurate to about 165 yards (150 m) at short ranges, and up to a mile (1.6km) at longer ranges over Germany. Used after WWII as late as the 1960s in the RAF (approx freq was by then 68MHZ).

Hearing

Hearing or audition is the sense of sound perception. Since sound is vibrations propagating through a medium such as air, the detection of these vibrations, that is the sense of the hearing, is a mechanical sense akin to a sense of touch, albeit a very specialized one. In humans, this perception is executed by tiny hair fibres in the inner ear which detect the motion of a membrane which vibrates in response to changes in the pressure exerted by atmospheric particles within a range of 20 to 22000 Hz, with substantial variation between individuals. Sound can also be detected as vibrations conducted through the body by tactition. Lower and higher frequencies than that can be heard are detected this way only. The inability to hear is called deafness.

Prehistoric life

Prehistoric life are the diverse organisms that have inhabited Earth from the origin of life about 3.8 billion years ago (b.y.a.) to the Historic period (about 3500 BC) when humans began to keep written records.

During the course of evolution, new forms of life developed and many other forms, such as the dinosaurs, became extinct. (See Timeline of evolution).

Prehistoric life evolved over this vast timespan from simple bacteria-like cells in the oceans to algae and protozoa, and ultimately to complex multicellular forms such as fungi, land plants, worms, molluscs, crustaceans, insects, and vertebrates.

In geologic terms, humans evolved very recently, only about 2.5 million years ago (mya). (See Geologic time scale, Human evolution).

Very few species of prehistoric life (such as the coelacanth) still exist today unchanged, tens of millions of years later, thereby making them living fossils. Yet other creatures, like sharks, have changed but a little over millions of years.

However, most life forms -- over 99 percent -- have become extinct, and so the only record of them ever existing that remains today are rock imprints, casts or other fossils.

Social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder is also known as social phobia. Individuals with this disorder experience intense fear of being negatively evaluated by others or of being publicly embarrassed because of impulsive acts. Almost everyone experiences "stage fright" when speaking or performing in front of a group. Since occasionally there are artists or performers with social anxiety disorder who are able to perform publicly without significant anxiety, their love of performing and practicing their art may be diminishing their anxiety. Although some high-functioning phobics such as Glenn Gould are able to perform despite anxiety, most people with social phobias become so anxious that performance is out of the question. In fact, their fear of public scrutiny and potential humiliation becomes so pervasive that normal life can become impossible (den Boer 2000; Margolis & Swartz, 2001). Another social phobia is fear of intimacy, or "love-shyness", which most adversely affects certain men. Those afflicted find themselves unable to initiate intimate adult relationships (Gilmartin 1987).