Space Science

Final Construction Starts for Europe?s 2016 Methane Sniffing Mars Mission #space

DETROIT (AP) — In one of the biggest-ever showdowns between an automaker and the government, Chrysler on Tuesday is expected to file papers explaining its refusal to recall 2.7 million older Jeep SUVs that are at risk of catching fire in rear-end collisions.

BOSTON (AP) — Tuukka Rask shut out the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals on Monday night and got enough help from the Bruins' offense to do it without another exhausting overtime.

President Barack Obama promised in an interview broadcast late Monday that his decision to arm Syrian rebels does not mean the United States is “taking sides in a religious war.” Obama, speaking to PBS’s Charlie Rose, also played down the “ruckus” over the NSA’s controversial surveillance programs. “If you're a U.S. person, then NSA is [...]

The European/Russian ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will launch in 2016 and sniff the Martian atmosphere for signs of methane which could originate by either biological or geological mechanisms. Credit: ESA Has life ever existed on Mars? Or anywhere beyond Earth? Answering that question is one of the most profound scientific inquiries of our time. Europe and Russia have teamed up for a bold venture named ExoMars that’s set to blast off in search of life in about two and a half years. Determining if life ever originated on the Red Planet is the primary goal of the audacious two pronged ExoMars missions set to launch in 2016 & 2018 in a partnership between the European and Russian space agencies, ESA and Roscosmos.(...)Read the rest of Final Construction Starts for Europe’s 2016 Methane Sniffing Mars Mission (460 words) © Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: esa, Ex, exomars, ExoMars rover, Mars, Mars Rovers, Roscosmos, Search for Life, TGO, Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Federal agents revived the hunt for the remains of Jimmy Hoffa on Monday, digging around in a suburban Detroit field where a reputed Mafia captain says the Teamsters boss' body was buried.

While what exactly goes on within the event horizon of a black hole is still well within the realm of theoretical physics (and it’s said that at the very heart of a black hole physics as we know it gets a serious kick in the pants) researchers are learning more and more about what happens in the immediate vicinity around a black hole, within the flattened disk of superheated material falling inexorably in toward the center. Using supercomputers, scientists can model the behavior of black holes’ accretion disks and see how gas behaves as it gets accelerated and drawn inward, heated to millions and even billions of degrees. Here, an animation shows the activity around an active, non-rotating stellar-mass black hole. Taking 27 days to complete on a supercomputer at UT Austin, it shows “a turbulent froth orbiting the black hole” at relativistic speeds — that is, very close to the speed of light. Using this data, scientists are able to see how a black hole heats gas and emits different kids of x-rays… it’s the next best thing to being there! (Actually, it’s probably a much better thing than being there.) (...)Read the rest of What Happens Around a Hungry Black Hole? (478 words) © Jason Major for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: animation, black hole, Johns Hopkins, model, Physics, supercomputer, UT Austin, x-rays Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

BOSTON (AP) — Goals by Daniel Paille and Patrice Bergeron after a scoreless first period gave the Boston Bruins a 2-0 lead over the Chicago Blackhawks through two periods in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals Monday night.

As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets.

BOSTON (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks suffered a key loss moments before a scoreless first period of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals when Marian Hossa was scratched from the lineup after being hit by a puck during warm-ups on Monday night.