The Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft is now back in operation after a malfunction, reported a few months ago.
The instrument had been successfully investigating the chemical composition of the Martian atmosphere since the beginning of 2004, when Mars Express began orbiting the Red Planet. PFS is a very sensitive instrument, capable of measuring the distribution of the major gaseous components of the atmosphere, the vertical distribution
The Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft is now back in operation after a malfunction, reported a few months ago.
The instrument had been successfully investigating the chemical composition of the Martian atmosphere since the beginning of 2004, when Mars Express began orbiting the Red Planet.
PFS is a very sensitive instrument, capable of measuring the distribution of the major gaseous components of the atmosphere, the vertical distr
Veteran CU-Boulder scientist on camera team
University of Colorado at Boulder planetary scientist Larry Esposito, a member of the European Space Agency’s Venus Express science team, believes the upcoming mission to Earth’s “evil twin” planet should be full of surprises.
While its 875-degree F. surface is hot enough to make rocks glow and its atmosphere is filled with noxious carbon dioxide gases and acid rain, Venus actually is more Earth-like than Mars, said Esposito,
Bringing the study of lightning research into the laboratory
Lightning, a high-voltage discharge that strikes quickly and sometimes fatally, is very difficult to study. A new and surprising finding by Florida Institute of Technology’s Dr. Joseph Dwyer and his team brings the study of lightning research into the laboratory.
Already noted for his discoveries related to x-ray emission from natural and triggered lightning, Dwyer, an associate professor of physics and space sciences
Laboratory experiments at UCR demonstrate interactions between two atoms containing antimatter
What happens when two atoms, each made up of an electron and its antimatter counterpart, called the positron, collide with each other? UC Riverside physicists are able to see for the first time in the laboratory that these atoms, which are called positronium atoms and are unstable by nature, become even more unstable after the collision. The positronium atoms are seen to destroy one a
John Federici, PhD, professor, department of physics, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and other physicists at NJIT recently received a U.S. Patent for a Teraherz imaging system and method. Since 1995, Terahertz imaging has grown in importance as new and sophisticated devices and equipment have empowered scientists to understand its potential.
“I see the Terahertz spectrum as one of the critical technologies for defense against suicide bombers and other terrorist activit
Results from experiments conducted at the University of California, Santa Barbara may lead to profound changes in optical communications. The discovery is reported in the October 28th edition of the journal Science.
Physicist Mark Sherwin at UCSB explained that as information technology advances, scientists are intent on transmitting information much more quickly. “We are working toward sending information 100 times faster than it can be sent now,” he said. His research group h
A physicist and a medical researcher at the University of Leicester have received a grant of £100,000 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to look at possible toxic damage from inhaled nanoparticles used for a range of everyday purposes.
The small size of nanoparticles in the size range 5-100 nm gives many novel and useful properties and they are used in applications as diverse as face creams, plastics, medical imaging, novel drug therapies and magnetic r
New findings from members of the Cassini imaging team show that certain prominent features in Saturn’s narrow and contorted F ring can be understood in terms of a simple gravitational interaction with the small moon Prometheus. The results are published in today’s issue of the journal “Nature.”
The F ring is notorious for exhibiting unusual structures, like “knots,” “kinks,” and “clumps” that continue to puzzle astronomers. Cassini images have shown that the gravitati
Discovery could lead to room temperature quantum computing
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have potentially opened up a new avenue toward room temperature quantum information processing. By demonstrating the ability to image and control single isolated electron spins in diamond, they unexpectedly discovered a new channel for transferring information to other surrounding spins — an initial step towards spin-based information processing.
Quantum information processing us
Tension is mounting among students involved in the SSETI Programme as only two days now remain to the launch, by a Kosmos 3M rocket from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, of the student-built satellite – SSETI Express.
The last few weeks particularly have been an emotional roller coaster ride for the 15 teams of university students involved, particularly for the campaign team at Plesetsk in Russia, as they prepare SSETI Express for launch.
On 8 September the team arrived in Russia
Following the announcement of the Venus Express launch delay due to particulate contamination found in the launcher fairing where the spacecraft was installed, ESA staff and industry teams have started an inspection of the spacecraft. This recovery ‘investigation procedure’ has so far revealed a spacecraft in good status.
Having been removed from the Soyuz rocket, the upper composite, consisting of the Venus Express spacecraft attached to the Fregat upper stage and all housed
An international team of astronomers shows that even brown dwarfs start to form planets
Thus, the process of building planets is more universal and robust than had previously been assumed (Science Express, October 20, 2005).
Brown dwarfs, like more massive normal stars, are formed when interstellar gas and dust clouds collapse. When this happens, a central, dense area builds up, embedded in a rotating disc made of gas and dust. These circumstellar discs produce infrared
Nanorobot fabrication makes ultrasmall sensors possible
How do you build an infrared (IR) camera that is small enough to fit on a mini-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) without cryogenic cooling? Call in the nanobots.
Researchers working with the Office of Naval Research (ONR) have developed a way to build extremely small sensors using nanorobot fabrication. This new process, created by Harold Szu and James Buss of ONR and implemented by Xi Ning of Michigan State University, a
An innovative tent, developed with the use of space concepts, is now on display at the ’SAFE: Design On Risk’ exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Designed for desert use, it exploits the inhospitable environment to improve life in the desert.
Called Desert Seal, the tent is a prototype for a one-person inflatable tent for use in desert conditions. It is light, easy to transport and simple to set-up. Best of all, it takes advantage of the extreme desert tem
Take an LED that produces intense, blue light. Coat it with a thin layer of special microscopic beads called quantum dots. And you have what could become the successor to the venerable light bulb.
The resulting hybrid LED gives off a warm white light with a slightly yellow cast, similar to that of the incandescent lamp.
Until now quantum dots have been known primarily for their ability to produce a dozen different distinct colors of light simply by varying the size of th
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