Mars •

Doom Is Exactly What the Fans Were Expecting

May 17, 2016 By Chen Lai Leave a Comment

Doom 4 met all the expectations of the fans.

It seems that the latest 2016 version of Doom is exactly what the fans were expecting, and then some. While early testers of the FPS were disappointed in Bethesda’s latest shooter, the final version of the game is extraordinary in its 90’s simplicity and gory action.

Doom has always appealed for the fact that the rules in the game’s universe are pretty simple, you shoot yourself towards escaping from the alternate universe demons and monsters that are trying to rip you to pieces.

The FPS gathered a wide fan base throughout time because it mimicked reality better than the creators planned. Players want to emerge themselves in a shooter game. They want to think that their own skills are put to the test and that the monsters they are targeted are really out to get them.

You don’t need a comprehensive back story to make that happen, as in real life most people that are being chased by out of this world creatures won’t stop to read pamphlets or browse scientific experiment reports. They’ll try to make a run for it and engage in the “shoot first ask later” behavior.

And Doom creators used that to their advantage. They focused on creating a scary Mars setting, nightmarish demons that are crawling all over the Red Planet, and a constant feeling that such a creature could jump from a corner at any moment.

The 2016 Doom is exactly what the fans were expecting, and more. The fourth installment of the game brings as much joy to the fans of the franchise as the original installment brought in the 90’s. The first Doom was the FPS that kept you up at night but rendered you unable to shut the lights.

The graphics weren’t much, but the whole setting sent chills down your spine more than the original Exorcist. Now, the energy, speed, and overall levels of fear-inducing moments are more similar to the original game than those of the prior installations.

The game performs magnificently, the graphics and designs are nightmare-inducing good, and the backstory is just enough to immerse you into the universe without providing too many details that will shift your focus from the primary goal.

Doom is exactly what the fans were expecting, shooting demons on an alien planet in a game that keeps you glued to your chair while all of the light in the house are on.

Image source: YouTube

What Will Happen to Humans When Earth Becomes Uninhabitable?

May 17, 2016 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

In the case in which Earth becomes uninhabitable, humankind will seek refuge on Jupiter’s moons.

Life on our planet depends on the intensity of the Sun. However, astronomers have studied numerous stars throughout all of their life stages, and it seems that in a couple billion years, things will get pretty heated in our solar system. When the temperatures will rise the oceans will boil, and all life will disappear. Or will it? What do scientists think will happen to humans when Earth becomes uninhabitable?

According to Lisa Kaltenegger and Ramses Ramirez, humankind will be able to survive on more distant grounds. Mars isn’t the only possible new home for humans. Jupiter’s moons Enceladus and Europa are both perfect for hosting life in the event in which the Sun starts shining brighter.

Scientists have discovered that Enceladus and Europa both have warm, dense cores that will generate just the right amount of gravity. Furthermore, Enceladus even has massive frozen water deposits that, in the case of a warm up, will turn into an ocean that will take over the entire satellite. Just imagine Bora Bora, only on the whole moon.

The most exciting part of this scenario is the fact that the heat wave could bring back to life all of the organisms that are currently under the ice on Enceladus and all other planets that have not seen a warm ray of sun in millions of years.

However, if Earth becomes uninhabitable in a couple billions of years, humans may not be limited just to the planets and satellites within our solar system. NASA is already planning to send a manned mission to Mars in 14 years; Stephen Hawking is working on an array of minuscule probes that will explore outer systems, searching for additional signs of life.

It’s not impossible for them to find uninhabited Earth-like planets where humankind will be able to move once our Sun starts to turn our world into an uninhabitable wasteland.

Currently, astronomers have discovered 23 red giant stars that are only 100 light-years away from our solar systems. In a couple of billions of years, researchers will certainly find thousands upon thousands of systems capable of harboring human life.

Moreover, at the rate in which technology is advancing, humans might just build their own planets by the time Earth becomes uninhabitable.

Image source: Pixabay

The Planets Are Aligned This Week And It’s A Must-See

February 3, 2016 By Deborah Nielsen Leave a Comment

The cosmic display lights up night sky.

News flash, transmitting live from under the clear pre-dawn sky: the planets are aligned this week and it’s a must-see!

I think we all are familiar to the expression the planets aligned, which we often equate with good luck. Well, imagine the luck that must be attributed to the skies overhead in this rare celestial moment.

But let’s get back to the event itself.

Six planets in our solar system (including Earth, of course) are clustered together this week, in the same neighbourhood of time and space, all of them visible to the naked eye. Jane Platt of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory informs us:

From now until about Feb. 20, early risers will stand a good chance of seeing Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter simultaneously in the pre-dawn sky.

Jane also suggested that the ones that will use binoculars or telescopes would get an even better view, as some moons and ring systems were also in view using those aids.

What should the curious watchers look for in the sky and how can they tell which planet is which?

The experts tell us that we should start by looking for Jupiter in the southwestern sky, which will be shining bright white, brighter than any star in that part of the sky.

The next step is searching for the dimmer, but still very bright yellow Saturn in the south southeast, not far from the bright red star Antares. In order to find Mars, we should draw an imaginary line from Jupiter to Saturn — the dimmer but very red Mars will be found along this line, a little closer to Saturn than to Jupiter.

Afterwards, we have to extend that line eastward beyond Saturn to find the brilliant bright white Venus very low above the southeastern horizon. The least but not the last, if we will have a very low horizon in that direction we might also be able to see Mercury shining brightly below and to the left of Venus.

Now, we should try to see the bigger picture. Take a step back and let the eye embrace the whole view.

What is there left to see? Nothing but all the five planets that are roughly aligned along that imaginary line in the sky.

We have to extend that imaginary line from horizon to horizon and beyond, and imagine that line as a huge loop around the sky with us at the center of the loop, and with half of it hidden by the Earth below us. This imaginary line is called ecliptic by the astronomers and it represents the plane of our solar system.

When thinking about it, you should feel suddenly very little. That’s the effect of the beautiful cosmic display that is right in front of you.

One can only drink a coffee in the early morning and enjoy the celestial show.

Image Source: telegraph.co.uk

The 5 Roman Gods That Are Aligning In our Sky

January 29, 2016 By Deborah Nielsen Leave a Comment

"Statue of Hermes, son of Zeus, the greek god that served as messenger to his fellow gods"

Mercury, or Hermes, was the son of Jupiter and a Pleiades, and the messenger of the gods.

It’s been eleven years since the last planetary alignment and people are anxious to see the rare astronomical phenomenon once again. The 5 roman gods that are aligning in our sky for a week will be visible to the naked eye just before dawn.

The alignment will take place gradually, Jupiter being visible at around 9:30 in the evening and Mercury will arrive rather late to the party, somewhere around 6:30 in the morning. That will give a window of approximately 45 minutes in which all of the five roman gods that are aligning in our sky will be visible to the naked eye.

According to astronomers, the order in which the planets appear is Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus and, finally, Mercury, who will reach the highest point of visibility between the 4^th and 7^th of February. People will be able to study the planetary alignment until the 20^th of February.

Guy Worthey, an astronomer at the State University of Washington points out that these are the only five planets that were visible to the ancient civilizations. They are also the only ones that were named in the times of yore.

The five celestial bodies were not perceived as planets by the ancient civilizations, but rather as a proof of the presence of their gods in the sky. That is why all the planets bear the names of ancient roman gods.

Mercury was the messenger of the gods. Which is why it is actually pretty funny that it is the last planet to be visible in the sky. He was known as Hermes in both religions until the Romans separated themselves from the Greek belief system. They kept the gods, but changed the names and called it another religion. This seems rather familiar coming from the people of Nero and Caligula.

Mars, the red planet, is the god of war. The embodiment of wrath, deception, strategic planning and brute force. He was known as Ares in the Greek belief system.

Venus, the closest planet to Earth and the brightest in the sky, was named after the roman goddess of love. Venus is the equivalent of the Greek Aphrodite, the beautiful maiden that was forced to marry the ugly Hephaistos and who cheated on him with the god of war.

There is a difference in opinion in what concerns Saturn. As with Kronos, Saturn was both the god of agriculture and time. But since ancient civilizations depended on their crops for their lives, it’s only logical that they attributed the two to the same powerful supernatural being.

And last, but not least, Jupiter. He was the Zeus of Roman mythology, the god of thunder and the sky, ruler of all other gods, the gas giant in our solar system.

This is the brief story of the 5 roman gods that are aligning in our sky, and that will be visible on the 20^th of February.

Image source: www.flickr.com

SpaceX Knocked Down another Record with Crew Dragon

January 23, 2016 By Chen Lai 1 Comment

The spacecraft succesfully landed on an airstrip in McGregor, using its SuperDraco hover engine.

It would seem like the space race has begun to produce results. This time, the term of “space race” doesn’t refer to a contest between space-ready countries, but between civilian agencies. SpaceX knocked down another record with Crew Dragon, Musk’s latest gadget.

To show the public that SpaceX means business, the space company just released the footage of their newest spacecraft, the Crew Dragon. According to the ship’s specs, the new prototype of spacecraft is capable of landing almost anywhere thanks to its SuperDraco hovering engine.

Yes, you heard it right! Now the astronauts can put the bird down almost anywhere, with the precision of a military helicopter. According to NASA’s and SpaceX’s estimates, the new type of spacecraft might be employed in manned space missions at the beginning of 2017.

The spacecraft will be mounted on top of the Falcon 9, SpaceX’s newest rocket engine. The goal of the mission is to bring a full complement of astronauts safe and sound aboard the International Space Station.

The first test of the novel spacecraft was conducted in McGregor back in November. Although no human crew was involved in the first phases of the test, SpaceX is confident that the results will show that the craft can safely transport astronauts.

According to SpaceX, when the craft will be launched into space, it will not make use of its SuperDraco hover engine. Instead, the spacecraft will rely on giant parachutes for landing procedures. The engine needs further research before it can be put to use.

NASA also stated that the engine will come in handy for the upcoming Mars mission. Parachutes and inflatable cushions (Boeing CST-100) are great when it comes to controlled landings on patches of water, but the hover engine is far superior when it comes to landing on planets with no waters, like Mars.

Crew Dragon, along with its novel SuperDraco hover engine will be able to transport up to seven people into space, and it is the second ship prototype designed and constructed entirely by a civilian agency.

The program has its roots back in 2010, when NASA began to exploit the possibility of civilian companies to be involved in the construction of feasible spacecraft. Although many companies applied for the contract, only two companies were selected to participate in the space program. SpaceX was among one of them, followed by Boeing, which is currently testing the CST-100, a spacecraft which is able to perform a safe landing using inflatable cushions.

SpaceX knocked down another record with Crew Dragon, a new spacecraft that is able to hover, thanks to its engine called the SuperDraco.

Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org

Scientists Reveal the Secret of Titan’s Hundred Feet High Sand Dunes

December 10, 2014 By Germaine Hicks Leave a Comment

A new research discovered that Titan has really strong winds which form hydrocarbon dunes on the surface of the Moon.

Earlier, scientists believed that winds of Titan are merely 40% strong. However, the new report dismissed all the previous researches. It states that wind of Titan is stronger than this proportion.

Titan is considered as the largest moon of Saturn. It has a comparatively dense atmosphere than the rest of the moons and planets. The atmosphere of titan is around 1.5 times dense than the current atmosphere of the Earth.

It is the only body that has liquid on its surface. However, these lakes composed of natural gases like methane and ethane rather than water.

A recent report reveals that scientists found strange sand dunes on Titan. These dunes are nearly hundred feet tall. However, these dunes are pretty different from the dunes of Mars and Earth.

The research published in Journal Nature reveals that the dunes of Titans are created with hydrocarbon. Researchers carefully examined the data accumulated from the Cassini orbiter. The orbiter has been analyzing Saturn from more than a decade. The spacecraft captured numerous images of the Titan.

The images show seas which are made up of liquid hydrocarbons. However, a few scientists believe that Titan really contains an ocean of liquid water. These oceans are likely to be situated below the frozen surface of Titan.

Devon Burr, a professor of University of Tennessee demonstrates that winds of Titan move faster than the previous supposition of scientists. The findings also describe the entire process of the formation of dune.

Everything About the New Horizons’s Pluto Mission

December 9, 2014 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

NASA’s New Horizon robotic probe woke up from hibernation on Saturday. The probe is all set to start its unique encounter with the Pluto.

The space probe finished a long journey of nine years and went in hibernation mode. The probe has covered approximately 3 billion miles in the space. Later on, scientists turned it in a hibernation mode to preserve its energy for the next mission.

The team of John Hopkins Applied Physics laboratory was the first one to receive message from the spacecraft. Shortly after the message scientists started re-planning and managing the Pluto mission.

Pluto is situated at Kuiper belt which incorporates numerous icy bodies. The belt starts far from the orbit of the Neptune. It is pretty different from the moon of Mars. It is composed of thick layers of nitrogen ice. However, a few researchers claim that these layers are soft. The surface of Pluto is unable to form craters like the rest of the planet.

Alan Stern, the principal investigator of Southwest Research Institute informed that there is a possibility that Pluto contains an underground ocean.

On the other hand, if everything goes according to the plan then New Horizon will start investigating the Pluto till the middle of the January 2015. Apart from investigation, the main aim of the spacecraft is to capture images of the Pluto. The scientists have added an advance infrared and ultraviolent spectrometer, a high resolution camera, a compact multi color and a space dust detector for this purpose.

Enigmatic Landform Spotted on the Surface of Mars

December 8, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee 2 Comments

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of NASA captured the images of “wart” present on the surface of the Mars. The image is pretty similar to a distorted waffle. The government space agency named this image as the “enigmatic landform”

The object was found from the center of the Mars’s youngest lava flows. It is a region which contains most of the youngest lava flows on the planet. Scientists believe that this particular location is around 500-100 million years old. The entire area is wrapped with numerous rings and cones created from the steam of lava flow.

Hence, researchers of NASA suppose that the strange texture on the “wart” is formed through some natural processes such as lava flowing.

On the other hand, a few scientists suggest that a special kind of sand worms is responsible to shape the surface of the “wart” like this.

There are several other features similar to the “wart” in that region. The discovery of a wide collection of features perplexes researchers to a great extent. However, scientists hope that close examination of the images will reveal some significant clues about the origin of these things.

Earlier, a rock shaped object similar to jelly doughnut was discovered from the Mars. The object that had an appearance of human femur gave birth to lots of questions in the minds of scientists. Later on, researchers realized that it was merely a pareidolia. After a few years of this discovery, NASA’s Curiosity Rover located a ball from the outer layer of the Mars.

Scientists of NASA utilized the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment for this purpose. It is the largest telescope which researchers used specifically in deep space missions.

Orion Safely Accomplished its First Test Flight

December 6, 2014 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

NASA’s new Orion space vehicle successfully completed its first dramatic test flight on Friday.

Several rocket engineers cried as the spacecraft finished its journey. Rob Navias, Mission Controller shouted with happiness “There is your new spacecraft, America”.

It was the second hot return after the Apollo’s moon flight. The space vehicle travels with an even faster than the Apollo’s moon program. It accomplished its first test flight in a short time period of four and half hours. This four hour long voyage of Orion definitely paved the way for numerous space exploration programs.

The government agency send Orion at this high altitude to prepare the crew module up for a 20,000-mph, 4,000 degree. It was surely the most difficult part of the test flight. The agency has also designed a special heat shield to protect the spacecraft from any damage

NASA intends to send astronauts to Mars and the Moon through the Orion spacecraft. After the test flight the government agency announced that the next Orion flight will launch after four years. However, the flight which takes astronauts out of the Earth is nearly seven years away. The budget issues are the main reason behind the long gap between the second flight and the crew flight.

Mike Sarafin, the main flight director stated that they will try hard to continue this space exploration journey. Although it was an unmanned mission but it felt like everyone was on board.

Comet passing by Mars surface creates a huge Dust Storm, Orbiters kept at far side of Mars for safety

November 9, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee 1 Comment

Comet Siding Spring closely flew by Mars surface last month. As a result of which it dumped several tons of primordial dust into the thin Martian atmosphere creating a brief but a spectacular meteor shower with thousands of shooting stars per hour if by any chance astronauts were present there to witness it.

The comet dust also posed a much more serious threat than expected to an international fleet of spacecraft in orbit around the red planet and roving about its surface. While engineers did not think the comet posed a major hazard, the orbiters were maneuvered to put them on the far side of Mars during close approach. This was done to avoid any unprecedented event and it turned out to be a very wise decision in the end.

“After observing the effects on Mars and how the comet dust slammed into the upper atmosphere, it makes me very happy that we decided to put our spacecraft on the other side of Mars at the peak of the dust tail passage and out of harm’s way,” Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA headquarters, told reporters during a teleconference. “I really believe that hiding them like that really saved them, and it gave us a fabulous opportunity to make these observations.”

Siding Spring originated during the birth of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago and come from far beyond the orbit of Pluto, halfway to the next nearest star. This was Siding Spring’s first journey to the inner solar system which began almost a million or so years ago.

The comet passed within 87,000 miles from the Mars surface at a relative velocity of about 35 miles per second on October 19.

“We believe this type of event occurs once every eight million years or so,” Green said. “So it is indeed a rare opportunity for us to observe this.”

Three NASA orbiters i.e. the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Mars Odyssey and the newly arrived Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) along with the European Space Agency’s Mars Express and India’s Mars Orbiter Mission all trained their cameras and instruments on the comet or the Martian atmosphere to study the possible effects of Siding Spring’s passage.

By analyzing photos taken at different distances, and given the comet’s trajectory and sun’s illumination, Siding Spring could be larger than a mile across or just a few hundred yards.

MAVEN’s Ultraviolet Spectrograph instrument detected major changes as dust from the comet slammed into atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, high-energy collisions that caused the thin air to glow. The spacecraft’s Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer detected clear signs of eight ionized metals which are sodium, magnesium, potassium, chromium, manganese, iron, nickel and zinc that spiked immediately following the comet’s flyby and then faded away.

The amount of dust and its effects on the atmosphere were a surprise. Green said initial modeling indicated Mars would just skirt the edge of Siding Spring’s dust tail. More recent photos taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, however, showed the comet’s trajectory was slightly different than expected. And the dust tail was larger than initially believed.

“The analysis seemed to indicate Mars would miss the dust tail in a significant way,” Green said. “In other words, as the comet flies by the dust tail is following the trajectory…. it still would not have reached Mars to any significant amount. The surprise was indeed the dust tail seemed to be larger. The other surprise, the comet wasn’t quite in the same position we thought it was.”

Most of the particles were very small, tiny fractions of an inch across. But given their extreme velocity, they had a noticeable effect. And it would have destroyed the spacecrafts within no time so it was a wise decision to keep the spacecrafts on the far side of Mars.

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