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Monday, August 25, 2008 

Current mood:  indescribable
IN THE DEAD OF SPACE NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM.

WHEN A MORTAL MAN TRIES TO BATTLE SUCH A FORCE AS THE VACUUM SEVERAL THINGS HAPPEN...

THE BLOOD WILL BOIL BUT THE AIR WILL SURGE OUT OF YOUR LUNGS
AT THIS POINT YOU ARE WONDERING WHETHER IT REALLY WAS THE EGG THAT CAME FIRST.
THE SCREAM WILL BE A WHIMPER OF YOUR LAST ABILITY TO NEED YOUR VOCAL CHORDS AS THERE IS NO LONGER AIR FOR YOU TO FORM INTO VERBAL WHISTLES AND SOUNDS THAT ARE METAPHORS FOR FEELING AND OTHER EARTHLY THINGS.

A DERELICT IN SPACE - A VESSEL OF MISUNDERSTOOD DREAMSTATES - A WISH TO COMMAND A PERSONAL STAR VOYAGE THAT CAN NEVER HAPPEN.
A FOOT ON JUPITER WOULD LAST FOR ENDLESS MILES INTO A GRAVITY DRIVEN VORTEX OF GASES AND MOLECULAR BATTERING RAMS OF UNKNOWN ORIGINS.
THIS DIALOGUE HERE IS MERELY TO REINSTATE THE FACTS OF ATMOSPHERIC NECESSITY.

WITHOUT AIR THERE IS NO MUSIC. THE SPEAKERS WILL NOT BE MOVING ANYTHING AS THE SOUNDWAVES TRY TO JUMP FROM THE CONE BUT FAIL TO TRAVEL BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF AN ATMOSPHERIC CONDUIT.
SPACESUIT YOU SAY? OBVIOUS - WITH AN iPOD UNIT BUILT RIGHT IN.
THIS IS THE REALITY, OF COURSE, BECAUSE THE CONCEPT OF OUR DISCUSSION AIRS A LEVEL OF MOOT DISCOURSE AS A HUMAN COULD NOT EXIST IN A VACUUM SO THE FIELD IS NARROWED TO ONE OF POTENTIAL AND POSSIBILITY INSTEAD OF PROBABILITY.

THE ANALOG VERSION OF MUSIC IN SPACE IS NON-EXISTENT - SO THE DIGITAL REALM OF TRANSMISSION (WE CAN EVEN THROW IN THE GOOD OLD RADIOWAVE METAPHOR) ALLOWS THE BREACH OF THE SOUND VOID.

ONLY THING IS A RECIEVER MUST BE USED TO DECODE THIS DEFIANCE OF AN ANALOG CAPABILITY.

IF I WERE AN ALIEN I WOULD BE A GIANT SUPER-PLANET SIZED NITROGEN/OXYGEN CLOUD LIKE IN THE FIRST STAR TREK MOVIE - AND I WOULD TRANSMIT MY MUSIC THROUGH THIS VESSEL AS I CONSUME OTHER SMALLER PLANETS IN MY SMOKEY VORTEX OF ETHEREAL TRANSMISSIONS - UNITING ALL INTO THE UNIVERSAL PEACE ACCORD BY WAY OF THE 8TH DIMENSION AND THE FATHER NOTE OF THE PRIME DIRECTIVE.



THIS HAS BEEN A SIR ALFRED DARKNIGHT MESSAGE. STAY TUNED OR BE SENT TO THE VOID OF NO SCREAMS INTO THE OUTER LIMITS...
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 
ARTHUR C. CLARKE : 12.16.1917 - 3.19.08
________________________________________________________
Sci-fi guru Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90 years of a full visionary age.
Known for '2001 : A Space Odyssey' where he teamed with late visionary director Stanley Kubrick to produce the greatest science fiction epic of all time, and tech predictions; passed away after suffering breathing problems.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Even in death, Arthur C. Clarke would not compromise his vision.

The famed science fiction writer, who once denigrated religion as "a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species," left written instructions that his funeral be completely secular, according to his aides.
"Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral," he wrote.
Clarke died early Wednesday at age 90 and was to be buried in a private funeral this weekend in his adopted home of Sri Lanka. Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome for years, suffered breathing problems in recent days, aide Rohan De Silva said.

The visionary author won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future. The famous 1968 story "2001: A Space Odyssey" — written simultaneously as a novel and screenplay with director Stanley Kubrick — was a frightening prophecy of artificial intelligence run amok. It created one of the greatest anatgonist characters of film who was not even human! Computer vs. Man in a battle that still has merit with its implications about Artificial Intelligence and the newly proposed Singularity Event that some feel has already taken place!

One year after it made Clarke a household name in fiction, the scientist entered the homes of millions of Americans alongside Walter Cronkite anchoring television coverage of the Apollo mission to the moon.

Clarke also was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. He became known as the "godfather" of the satellite revolution. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.

Fiction vs. nonfiction
His nonfiction volumes on space travel and his explorations of the Great Barrier Reef and Indian Ocean earned him respect in the world of science, and in 1976 he became an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. But it was his writing that shot him to his greatest fame and that gave him the greatest fulfillment.
"Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered," Clarke said recently. "I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these, I would like to be remembered as a writer."
From 1950, he began a prolific output of both fiction and nonfiction, sometimes publishing three books in a year.
A statement from Clarke's office said he had recently reviewed the final manuscript of his latest novel. "The Last Theorem," co-written with Frederik Pohl, will be published later this year, it said.

Arthur C. Clarke wishes that E.T. would call
Cosmic Log: Space elevator scriptures
Some of his best-known books are "Childhood's End," 1953; "The City and The Stars," 1956; "The Nine Billion Names of God," 1967; "Rendezvous with Rama," 1973; "Imperial Earth," 1975; and "The Songs of Distant Earth," 1986.

When Clarke and Kubrick got together to develop a movie about space, they looked for inspiration to several of Clarke's shorter pieces. As work progressed on the screenplay, Clarke also wrote a novel of the story. He followed it up with "2010," "2061," and "3001: The Final Odyssey."
"2010" was made into a film sequel, and Clarke's legacy in the movies may well continue after his death: A film adaptation of "Rendezvous With Rama" has been in development for years, with actor Morgan Freeman as producer and star (or will the rumoured Sam Jackson take the role?).

How Clarke inspired space exploration
Clarke's fiction inspired real-life space exploration. After the first moon landing in 1969 — an event Clarke predicted decades earlier — NASA Administrator Tom Paine said in an inscription to the writer that he "provided the essential intellectual drive that led us to the moon."
Clarke's 1979 novel, "The Fountains of Paradise," helped spark the real-world efforts to build a space elevator from Earth to orbit. The idea is still being pursued, even though its realization may still be decades away.
In the wake of Clarke's death, NASA said countless young people were inspired by "his hopeful vision of how spaceflight would transform societies, economies and humankind itself."

"Although his personal odyssey here on Earth is now over, his vision lives on through his writing; he will be sorely missed," Alan Stern, the space agency's associate administrator for science, said in a written statement.
Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin struck a similar tone: "Sir Arthur's positive vision of the future excited generations about space exploration, and inspired millions to pursue scientific careers," he said.

Planetary scientist Torrence Johnson agreed that Clarke's work was a major influence on many in the field. Johnson, who has been exploring the solar system through the Voyager, Galileo and Cassini missions in his 35 years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, recalled a meeting of planetary scientists and rocket engineers where talk turned to the author.
"All of us around the table said we read Arthur C. Clarke," Johnson said. "That was the thing that got us there."

His legacy in space and on Earth
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clarke said he did not regret having never traveled to space himself, though he arranged to have DNA from his hair sent into orbit.
"One day, some super civilization may encounter this relic from the vanished species and I may exist in another time," he said. "Move over, Stephen King."
Along with his DNA sample, Clarke enclosed a handwritten note that read "Fare well, my clone."
Clarke, a British citizen, won a host of science fiction awards, and was named a Commander of the British Empire in 1989. Clarke was officially given a knighthood in 1998, but he delayed accepting it for two years after a London tabloid accused him wrongly.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa lauded Clarke for his passion for his adopted home and his efforts to aid its progress.
"We were all proud to have this celebrated author, visionary and promoter of space exploration, prophet of satellite communications, great humanist and lover of animals in our midst," he said in a statement.

Son of a farmer
Born in Minehead, western England, on Dec. 16, 1917, the son of a farmer, Arthur Charles Clark became addicted to science fiction after buying his first copies of the pulp magazine "Amazing Stories" at Woolworth's. He read English writers H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon and began writing for his school magazine in his teens.
Clarke went to work as a clerk in Her Majesty's Exchequer and Audit Department in London, where he joined the British Interplanetary Society and wrote his first short stories and scientific articles on space travel.
It was not until after World War II that Clarke received a bachelor of science degree in physics and mathematics from King's College in London.

Serving in the wartime Royal Air Force, he wrote a 1945 memo about the possibility of using satellites to revolutionize communications. Clarke later sent it to a publication called Wireless World, which almost rejected it as too far-fetched.
He moved to Sri Lanka in 1956.

In recent years, Clarke was linked by his computer with friends and fans around the world, spending each morning answering e-mails and browsing the Internet.
On the occasion of his 90th birthday last December, Clarke delivered a speech to a small gathering during which he passed along three wishes: for ethnically divided Sri Lanka to find a lasting peace, for the world to embrace cleaner energy resources, and for extraterrestrial beings to "call us or give us a sign."

Clarke married in 1953, and was divorced in 1964. He had no children. He is survived by his brother, Fred, and sister, Mary. His body is to be brought to his home in Colombo so friends and fans can pay their respects before his burial.


_______________________________________________________________________
THIS HAS BEEN A HYPERNETJACK COURTESY OF S.A.D. VIA THE FIBERS OF THE VERY NET YOU SERVE. THE FUTURE IS UPON YOU THE SECOND THE PAST MOVES AWAY IN AN INFINITE CYCLE LEADING TOWARDS ALL OU ROWN PERSONAL TRANSITIONS TO THE NEXT PHASE OF REALITY BASED ON THE SOUL MODULE THAT OPERATES THESE BODIES.
ARTHUR MAY YOU TRAVEL WELL AND DEEP INTO THE FAR REAQCHES OF SPACE AS YOU EAT DARK ENERGY AND CONSUME THE KNOWLEDGE YOU WANTED TO HAVE PROOF OF IN YOUR MORTAL LIFE, BUT NOW HAVE THE TACTILE EXPERIENCE OF NOW IN YOUR AFTERLIFE.
SPACE IS NOW YOUR PLACE, AND IT IS OUR PLACE TO CONTINUE TO SPREAD YOUR WORD ON THIS WORLD.
VISIONS BECOME THE IGNITION POINT FOR CHANGE. IMPLEMENTATION IS THE KEY TO PROFOUND SUCCESS AT THIS - SO LET US GET THIS MACHINE INTO GEAR ON OUR OWN PERSONAL JOURNEYS TO THE OUTER RINGS AND BEYOND!
R.I.P

-SIR ALFRED DARKNIGHT
Monday, December 10, 2007 
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It sounds like the plot for a scary B-movie: Germs go into orbit on a spaceship and come back stronger and deadlier than ever.

But it really happened.

The germ: Salmonella, best known as a culprit in food poisoning.

The trip: Space shuttle mission STS-115, September 2006.

The reason: Scientists wanted to see how space travel affects germs, so they took some along -- carefully wrapped -- for the ride.

The result: Mice that were fed the space germs were three times more likely to get sick, and died more quickly, than mice fed identical germs that had remained behind on Earth.

"Wherever humans go, microbes go -- you can't sterilize humans. Wherever we go, under the oceans or orbiting the earth, the microbes go with us, and it's important that we understand ... how they're going to change," explained Cheryl Nickerson, an associate professor at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University.

Nickerson added, in a telephone interview, that learning more about changes in germs has the potential to lead to novel new countermeasures for infectious disease.

She reports the results of the salmonella study in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers placed identical strains of salmonella in containers and sent one into space aboard the shuttle, while the second was kept on Earth, under similar temperature conditions to the one in space.

After the shuttle returned, mice were given varying oral doses of the salmonella and then were watched.

After 25 days, 40 percent of the mice given the earthbound salmonella were still alive, compared with just 10 percent of those dosed with the germs from space. And the researchers found the amount of bacteria it took to kill half the mice was three times larger for the normal salmonella than for the space germs.

The researchers found 167 genes had changed in the salmonella that went to space.

Why?

"That's the 64 million dollar question," Nickerson said. "We do not know with 100 percent certainty what the mechanism is of space flight that's inducing these changes."
Monday, September 17, 2007 
COMPETITION GUIDELINES: To win the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a team must successfully land a privately funded craft on the lunar surface and survive long enough to complete the mission goals of roaming about the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending a defined data package, called a "Mooncast", back to Earth.

PRIZES: The total purse of the Google Lunar X PRIZE is $30 million (USD).
• GRAND PRIZE: A $20 million Grand Prize will be awarded to the team that can soft land a craft on the Moon that roams for at least 500 meters and transmits a Mooncast back to Earth. The Grand Prize is $20M until December 31st 2012; thereafter it will drop to $15M until December 31st 2014 at which point the competition will be terminated unless extended by Google and the X PRIZE Foundation
• SECOND PRIZE: A $5 million Second Prize will be offered as well, providing an extra incentive for teams to continue to compete, and increasing the possibility that multiple teams will succeed. Second place will be available until December 31st 2014 at which point the competition will be terminated unless extended by Google and the X PRIZE Foundation
• BONUSES: An additional $5 million in bonus prizes can be won by successfully completing additional mission tasks such as roving longer distances (> 5,000 meters), imaging man made artifacts (e.g. Apollo hardware), discovering water ice, and/or surviving through a frigid lunar night (approximately 14.5 Earth days). The competing lunar spacecraft will be equipped with high-definition video and still cameras, and will send images and data to Earth, which the public will be able to view on the Google Lunar X PRIZE website.

MOONCAST: The Mooncast consists of digital data that must be collected and transmitted to the Earth composed of the following:
• High resolution 360º panoramic photographs taken on the surface of the Moon;
• Self portraits of the rover taken on the surface of the Moon;
• Near-real time videos showing the craft's journey along the lunar surface;
• High Definition (HD) video;
• Transmission of a cached set of data, loaded on the craft before launch (e.g. first email from the Moon).
Teams will be required to send a Mooncast detailing their arrival on the lunar surface, and a second Mooncast that provides imagery and video of their journey roaming the lunar surface. All told, the Mooncasts will represent approximately a Gigabyte of stunning content returned to the Earth.
The complete Google Lunar X PRIZE Competition Guidelines are available in English, the official language of the prize, on the Google Lunar X PRIZE homepage.

Monday, September 17, 2007 

OPPORTUNITY FOR THE USE OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION BY U.S. NON-GOVERNMENT ENTITIES FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AND INDUSTRIAL PROCESSING PURPOSES


Synopsis - Aug 14, 2007
Announcement of Opportunity - Posted on Aug 14, 2007

General Information
..> ..>
Solicitation Number: N/A
Reference Number: NNH07ZSO002O
Posted Date: Aug 14, 2007
FedBizOpps Posted Date: Aug 14, 2007
Original Response Date: Sep 28, 2007
Current Response Date: Sep 28, 2007
Classification Code: A -- Research and Development
NAICS Code: 541710 - Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences

Contracting Office Address
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code 210.H, Greenbelt, MD 20771

Description
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to operate a share of U.S. accommodations on the International Space Station (ISS) as a national laboratory in accordance with the NASA Authorization Act of 2005. As a national laboratory, access to the ISS can be made available to other US government agencies, US private firms and academic institutions for research and development (R&D), and industrial processing purposes. This program is intended to commence following completion of ISS assembly in late FY 2010.

In preparation for the ISS post-assembly phase, NASA is announcing limited opportunities for U.S. non-government entities to conduct R&D activities on the ISS. Under this arrangement, NASA may enter into Space Act Agreements with such entities to allow access to NASA facilities, personnel and technical information as the need and situation warrants, however, there will be no provision of funds. Respondents will be responsible for financing their own activities.

Proposed activities should involve R&D, including, but not limited to, life sciences, sensors, communication equipment, and spacecraft design and testing, and should demonstrate potential benefit to the public, such as development of future products and services contributing to US industrial capacity and economic growth. This opportunity is not exclusive; NASA, at its discretion may negotiate with other parties for access to ISS for R&D purposes.

NASA intends to update and reissue this notice on a recurring basis, possibly biannually with 45-day closure periods.

This Announcement is open through September 28, 2007.

NASA will not issue paper copies of this announcement. NASA reserves the right to select for Space Act Agreement negotiations all, some, or none of the proposals submitted in response to this announcement. NASA provides no funding for reimbursement of proposal development costs. Material submitted in response to this Announcement will not be returned. It is the policy of NASA to safeguard all proposals as confidential and privileged information, as provided by law. NASA will not, without permission of the Offeror, use the proposal contents for other than evaluation purposes.

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

Agency Name: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

Opportunity Title: Opportunity for the use of the International Space Station by U.S. Non-Government Entities for Research and Development and Industrial Processing Purposes

Response Date: Electronic Proposals must be received by September 28, 2007 at 4:30 P.M. EST via email to jacob.keaton@nasa.gov

Points of Contact: If you have any questions concerning this opportunity please contact:

Jacob Keaton Jason Crusan Telephone: 202-358-1507 202-358-0635 Email: jacob.keaton@nasa.gov jason.crusan@nasa.gov

Instrument Type(s): It is anticipated that awards under this Opportunity will be in the form of Space Act Agreements, executed under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 2473(c)(5) and (6).

Evaluation Panel: Government personnel from NASA, other Federal agencies, and NASA contractors may participate in the evaluation of proposals. All contractor personnel participating in the evaluation will be bound by conflict of interest provisions and appropriate non-disclosure requirements to protect proprietary information.

Award Date: Selection is anticipated by November 16, 2007.

Submission Instructions: All Proposals under this Announcement must be emailed to jacob.keaton@nasa.gov. Paper submissions will not be reviewed. Proposals may be submitted at any time before the response date. You are encouraged to submit as early as practicable during this time period. Proposals received by the Government after the response date and time will not be accepted. If Offeror is concerned about information security during transmission NASA has the ability to accept secure transmission. Contact the Point of Contact for secure transmission requirements. Files can be submitted in MS Word, PDF, or RTF.

II. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. Eligible Applicants

All categories of U.S. non-government entities are eligible to submit proposals in response to this Announcement.

2. Foreign Participation

NASA is not accepting proposals from foreign entities.

III. EVALUATION INFORMATION

1. Basis for Award

Best overall considering the specified evaluation criteria and weighting. NASA reserves the right to suggest collaboration between Offerors where it will enhance the effort, in which case an Offeror will be given the opportunity to accept or decline participation with other Offerors prior to award.

2. Evaluation Criteria

The first step of the evaluation process will be an initial screening of proposals based upon the "Proposal Abstract" (as defined below). The Government will evaluate the Abstracts assessing the overall capability of the Offeror to meet the requirements and goals in the announcement.

Proposals favorably evaluated in the initial screening will move forward to a detailed evaluation, which will involve an evaluation of the entire proposal submitted. All information provided in the proposal will be evaluated. In addition, NASA reserves the right to assess information outside the proposal. The evaluation factors below are of equal weighting during detailed evaluation.

Factor 1: Approach to Proposed Effort:

The overall merit, rationale, feasibility, and suitability of the proposed effort or concept and its relevance to research, development, or processing that access to the ISS provides. Highest priority will be placed on an approach or concept that will create substantial increases in the current state-of-the-art. Describe how the Offeror proposes to receive resulting data and/or samples from orbit.

Factor 2: Level of Benefit to the Public: The proposed effort or concept's anticipated benefit to the public in terms, such as development of future products and services contributing to U.S. industrial capacity and/or economic growth. Factor 3: Level of Financial Commitment and Business Plan:

The description of the level of financial commitments under the proposed efforts, including any third party financing required. Include a brief business plan for the proposed efforts or how the proposed efforts contribute to existing business plans. A non-U.S. Government market is defined and is of sufficient size. The proposed space activity is essential to product research, development, or processing, and is targeted to an addressable market. A roadmap exists; it includes the essential activities to bring the product to market beyond the development space activities. In addition, describe all cargo to be transported between Earth and the ISS that your proposed efforts require and how your Business Plan addresses meeting those requirements including any sample return and disposition of the on-orbit equipment/payloads.

The Government will notify those Offerors whose proposals are not selected for further negotiation after the completion of the evaluation and will begin negotiations with those Offerors selected. The purpose of the negotiations is to define the terms and conditions of the Space Act Agreement (SAA) for each Offeror whose proposal is selected. The Selection Authority will make the final selection of those approved for this opportunity after the completion of negotiations, depending on the outcome of the negotiations. All work will commence after the parties execute the Space Act Agreement.

IV. PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

Page Limitations:

Title Total Pages Proposal Cover Page 1 Proposal Title Page 1 Points of Contact 1 Proposal Abstract 750 words Proposal Detail 10

Pages in excess of the page limitations for each section will not be evaluated. A page is defined as one (1) sheet 8 ½ x 11 inches using a minimum of 12-point font size for text and 8-point for graphs.

The proposal must include the following sections, in this order:

Proposal Cover Page: Solicited Proposal Application – Title of Announcement and Proposal Contact Information

Proposal Title Page, with Notice of Restriction on Use and Disclosure of Proposal Information, if any.

Points of Contact: List contact information for Sponsorship Point of Contact and Technical Point of Contact. Provide:

a. Name b. Title c. Address d. Phone and Fax e. Email

Proposal Abstract: Executive summary describing the prominent and distinguishing features of the proposal including business, technical, financial, related experience, and key personnel.

Proposal Detail: The proposal shall contain sufficient information to enable reviewers to make informed judgments about the overall merit of the proposed effort and about the probability that the Offeror will accomplish it's proposed effort in terms of the three evaluation factors listed above.

1. Approach to Proposed Effort. 2. Level of Benefit to the Public. 3. Level of Financial Commitment and Business Plan.


Point of Contact
..> ..>
Name: Jason C Crusan
Title: IR&D and Technology Development Investment Analyst
Phone: 202-358-0635
Fax: 202-358-3530
Email: jason.c.crusan@nasa.gov
Wednesday, July 18, 2007 
The sound power level PWL, LW, or LPac of a source is expressed in decibels (dB) and is equal to 10 times the logarithm to the base 10 of the ratio of the sound power of the source to a reference sound power. It is thus a logarithmic measure.

The reference sound power in air is normally taken to be 10-12 watt = 0 dB SWL.

Sound power is neither room dependent nor distance dependent, like it is with sound pressure or sound intensity. Sound power belongs strictly to the sound source. There is no decrease of power with distance.


Table: Sound power and sound power level of some sound sources

Situation and sound source
Pac watts sound power
level Lw
dB re 10-12 W

Rocket engine 1,000,000 W 180 dB
Turbojet engine 10,000 W 160 dB
Siren 1,000 W 150 dB
Heavy truck engine
rock concert 100 W 140 dB
Machine gun 10 W 130 dB
Jackhammer 1 W 120 dB
Excavator, trumpet 0.3 W 115 dB
Chain saw 0.1 W 110 dB
Helicopter 0.01 W 100 dB
Loud speech,
vivid children 0.001 W 90 dB
Usual talking,
Typewriter 10-5 W 70 dB
Refrigerator 10-7 W 50 dB
(Auditory threshold) 10-12 W 0 dB

Usable music sound (trumpet) and noise sound (excavator) both have the same sound power of 0.3 watts, but will be judged psychoacoustically to be different levels.
Friday, April 27, 2007 
Found 20 light years away: the New Earth
By MICHAEL HANLON


It's got the same climate as Earth, plus water and gravity. A newly discovered planet is the most stunning evidence that life - just like us - might be out there.

Above a calm, dark ocean, a huge, bloated red sun rises in the sky - a full ten times the size of our Sun as seen from Earth. Small waves lap at a sandy shore and on the beach, something stirs...

This is the scene - or may be the scene - on what is possibly the most extraordinary world to have been discovered by astronomers: the first truly Earth-like planet to have been found outside our Solar System.

The discovery was announced today by a team of European astronomers, using a telescope in La Silla in the Chilean Andes.

The Earth-like planet that could be covered in oceans and may support life is 20.5 light years away, and has the right temperature to allow liquid water on its surface.

This remarkable discovery appears to confirm the suspicions of most astronomers that the universe is swarming with Earth-like worlds.

We don't yet know much about this planet, but scientists believe that it may be the best candidate so far for supporting extraterrestrial life.

The new planet, which orbits a small, red star called Gliese 581, is about one-and-a-half times the diameter of the Earth.

It probably has a substantial atmosphere and may be covered with large amounts of water - necessary for life to evolve - and, most importantly, temperatures are very similar to those on our world.

It is the first exoplanet (a planet orbiting a star other than our own Sun) that is anything like our Earth.

Of the 220 or so exoplanets found to date, most have either been too big, made of gas rather than solid material, far too hot, or far too cold for life to survive.

"On the treasure map of the Universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X," says Xavier Delfosse, one of the scientists who discovered the planet.

"Because of its temperature and relative proximity, this planet will most probably be a very important target of the future space missions dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life."

Gliese 581 is among the closest stars to us, just 20.5 light years away (about 120 trillion miles) in the constellation Libra. It is so dim it can be seen only with a good telescope.

Because all planets are relatively so small and the light they give off so faint compared to their sun, finding exoplanets is extremely difficult unless they are huge.

Those that have so far been detected have mostly been massive, Jupiter-like balls of gas that almost certainly cannot be home to life.

This new planet - known for the time being as Gliese 581c - is a midget in comparison, being about 12,000 miles across (Earth is a little under 8,000 pole-to-pole).

It has a mass five times that of Earth, probably made of the same sort of rock as makes up our world and with enough gravity to hold a substantial atmosphere.

Astrobiologists - scientists who study the possibility of alien life - refer to a climate known as the Goldilocks Zone, where it is not so cold that water freezes and not so hot that it boils, but where it can lie on the planet's surface as a liquid.

In our solar system, only one planet - Earth -lies in the Goldilocks Zone. Venus is far too hot and Mars is just too cold. This new planet lies bang in the middle of the zone, with average surface temperatures estimated to be between zero and 40c (32-102f). Lakes, rivers and even oceans are possible.

It is not clear what this planet is made of. If it is rock, like the Earth, then its surface may be land, or a combination of land and ocean.

Another possibility is that Gliese 581c was formed mostly from ice far from the star (ice is a very common substance in the Universe), and moved to the close orbit it inhabits today.

In which case its entire surface will have melted to form a giant, planet-wide ocean with no land, save perhaps a few rocky islands or icebergs.

The surface gravity is probably around twice that of the Earth and the atmosphere could be similar to ours.

Although the new planet is in itself very Earth-like, its solar system is about as alien as could be imagined. The star at the centre - Gliese 581 - is small and dim, only about a third the size of our Sun and about 50 times cooler.

The two other planets are huge, Neptune-sized worlds called Gliese 581b and d (there is no "a", to avoid confusion with the star itself).

The Earth-like planet orbits its sun at a distance of only six million miles or so (our Sun is 93 million miles away), travelling so fast that its "year" only lasts 13 of our days.

The parent star would dominate the view from the surface - a huge red ball of fire that must be a spectacular sight.

It is difficult to speculate what - if any - life there is on the planet. If there is life there it would have to cope with the higher gravity and solar radiation from its sun.

Just because Gliese 581c is habitable does not mean that it is inhabited, but we do know its sun is an ancient star - in fact, it is one of the oldest stars in the galaxy, and extremely stable. If there is life, it has had many billions of years to evolve.

This makes this planet a prime target in the search for life. According to Seth Shostak, of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute in California, the Gliese system is now a prime target for a radio search. 'We had actually looked at this system before but only for a few minutes. We heard nothing, but now we must look again.'

By 2020 at least one space telescope should be in orbit, with the capability of detecting signs of life on planets orbiting nearby stars. If oxygen or methane (tell-tale biological gases) are found in Gliese 581c's atmosphere, this would be good circumstantial evidence for life.

Dr Malcolm Fridlund, a European Space Agency scientist, said the discovery of Gliese 581c was "an important step" on the road to finding life.

"If this is a rocky planet, it's very likely it will have liquid water on its surface, which means there may also be life."

The real importance is not so much the discovery of this planet itself, but the fact that it shows that Earth-like planets are probably extremely common in the Universe.

There are 200 billion stars in our galaxy alone and many astronomers believe most of these stars have planets.

The fact that almost as soon as we have built a telescope capable of detecting small, earth-like worlds, one turns up right on our cosmic doorstep, shows that statistically, there are probably billions of earths out there.

As Seth Shostak says: "We've never found one close to being like the Earth until now. We are finding that Earth is not such an unusual puppy in the litter of planets."

But are these alien Earths home to life? No one knows. We don't understand how life began on our world, let alone how it could arise anywhere else. There may be an awful lot of bugs and bacteria out there, and only a few worlds with what we would recognise as plants and animals. Or, of course, there may be nothing.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute uses radio telescopes to try to pick up messages sent by alien civilisations.

Interestingly, Gliese 581c is so close to the Earth that if its putative inhabitants only had our level of technology, they could - just about - pick up some of our radio signals, such as the most powerful military transmitters. Quite what would happen if we for our part did receive a signal is unclear.

"There is a protocol, buried away in the United Nations," says Dr Shostak. "The President would be told first, after the signal was confirmed by other observatories. But we couldn't keep such a discovery secret."

It may be some time before we detect any such signals, but it is just possible that today we are closer than ever to finding life in the stars.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007 

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