This is the smallest planet discovered outside our solar system so far

 

NASA telescopes have discovered that, so far, is the smallest planet discovered outside our solar system, being part of something like a miniature planetary system. The planet is located in a system 210 light years from Earth and has been named Kepler-37b. As you can see in the image below comparative, the little planet is approximately equal to the size of the Moon, which indicates to what extent they are able to refine the systems current planet detection.

The project of the NASA Kepler is designed to find extrasolar planets located in the habitable orbit of a star, ie, in an area not too close or too far away to be found that life as we know it and liquid water. As technology advances can discover even more distant planets and smaller as the Kepler-37b, although in this case it appears that the surface temperature of the planet is not very conducive for life to exist: more than 400 degrees Celsius because it is closer to its star than Mercury is to our Sun

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The new NASA space suit

 

There are already official pictures of what the new spacesuit that NASA has recently finished testing, and it is likely that it is inspired by the character Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story movies. The suit is called Z-1 and its prototype testing ended earlier this month.
The main objective of this new space suit is to give the astronauts more mobility and continue providing the same (or maybe better) protection provided spacesuits we all know.
In the video below we see two staff members talking about the space agency one of the prototypes of the Z-1.

What do you think about the new spacesuit that NASA developed for astronauts?

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What does NASA on December 21?

Several days ago, as you know, we were talking about a current issue: on December 21, 2012. For many it is a mere delusion, for others it is a reality. But obviously to say that the end of the world or a similar catastrophe will happen next Friday, we need evidence. Does scientific evidence that will happen X phenomenon that affect our planet? No, there is no such evidence, or at least that's what NASA says, the U.S. space agency known. Through its website, and for as many days, NASA has responded to the most common questions people often ask about this famous date looming and growing rumors about the end of time, the 3 days of darkness, etc..
What NASA responded to the million dollar question? Like we said, the answer was no, the world does not "end" this December 21. The Earth has been around for 4,000 million years and will continue to exist for a few more no doubt. The end of the world, if mankind does not destroy itself first, will result in about 5,000 million years when the sun becomes a red giant, rampaging with Mercury, Venus and probably the Earth in the process, and to save our world, anyway be an uninhabitable planet then.
If anyone is wondering about Nibiru, also called Planet X, for even their existence is proven, so the world does not come to an end due to the course of this fictional planet rapprochement which reportedly had to have come to Earth in 2003, but as nothing happened, someone took the trouble to relate it to the end of the Long Count calendar of the Maya, which we know ends after tomorrow.
Regarding the blackout and the 3 days of darkness, the scientists and engineers at NASA do not seem more than stories. Nor is there any kind of evidence that we have to live 72 hours in the dark. It also rules out a supposed universal planet alignment since no alignments laid up in a couple of decades.
What about the reversal of Earth's magnetic field? Many websites claim that the Earth's field is affected by the rotation of the same phenomenon that supposedly occurs irregularly. Scientists say that this does not happen for a few thousand years, and if happen, would not affect life on Earth.
Of course, no shortage of meteorites. Often, small rocks enter the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate there, while some few make it to the surface. The last big impact was that Earth suffered more than 60 million years, and because of that today we can not have dinosaurs as pets. For 2012 there are no major anticipated impacts will have to see what happens next year or in a couple of centuries.
Many say that solar storms could affect the planet. Solar activity is regular and has its peak every 11 years or so. During these peaks, the solar wind can cause disruptions in communications satellites, but engineers are already using the technology to handle this. There is no risk that a solar flare will destroy the Earth as seen in the movie Knowing (Signs of the Future / Countdown). The peak of solar activity for this cycle will be approximately between 2013 and 2014, but it will not be unusual compared to previous peaks.
The situation is more than clear. There is no proof or scientific evidence to prove that any of the mentioned phenomena will exist. For the space agency, are nothing but baseless theories circulating on the Internet, on TV, in books, etc..
If you want to see the NASA site with questions and more details can follow the link that says "Source" at the bottom.
What do you think? Do you think that NASA tells the truth about December 21 or that he is cheating?

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What will happen on December 21, 2012?

For several years it has been circulating the belief that something important will happen this coming December 21, 2012 at 11:12 (UTC), which coincides with the December solstice.
Where does this date? From a Mayan calendar known as the "long count calendar" which lasts for 5125 years.
The big question here is: what will happen on December 21, 2012?
Obviously there are various theories. Many say that the human race will experience a positive transformation at the physical or spiritual level and with this transformation will come a new era of welfare. Of course that never fail those who believe that the coming end of the world (again) or a major catastrophe will happen, either that Earth will be swallowed by a black hole, a meteorite will collide with the planet, we destroy a Solar storm, etc.
According to some of the current Mayan leaders, nothing bad will happen on this date. In fact it was discovered also a Mayan calendar latest about 12 centuries ago that lasts 7,000 years.
In short: the contradictions abound.
What is the purpose of this post? Focusing on December 21 from the side of the technology .
Today, what is one of the most technology institutions in the world? NASA of course. What they say about it? As seen by the network in recent days, in a statement released by the space agency has denied all rumors about global catastrophes, end of the world and any similar tragedy could happen.
In recent years, the level of people who believe in this kind of tragedies and events has dropped considerably, but still having a large impact on the world of Internet, especially on sites like social networks, video portals, etc..
Astronomers have rejected the apocalyptic events repeatedly, always saying that they have no real scientific basis protect them. NASA itself has said that the fear of 2012 is similar to the fear of doomsday in 1999.
Two of the phenomena that seem to get much are the terrestrial geomagnetic reversal and an alien invasion. For the first case, there is no scientific evidence that points to magnetic field reversal of the Earth will occur in 2012, but this phenomenon is estimated it could be seen in about 5,000 years. Regarding the arrival of beings from another world, is something that has been very popular in the general culture for decades. There are many series and films that predict the end or the conquest of land by beings from other planets, but so far governments and major companies say they have no clues about it and continues to deny the existence of beings from other worlds Earth, but a few days ago Russian Prime Minister made ​​a statement that caught the attention of the media.
In short: we have no evidence that anything will happen on 21 December, so that everyone, of course, is free to believe in whatever they want.
And you, do you think something will happen this December 21? If so, which one phenomenon will witness mankind?

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The next Mars Curiosity depart in 2020

The 2012 has been a busy year for NASA. Curiosity, the rover sent to Mars, has proved very successful. So successful in fact that NASA has plans to send a new Curiosity to Mars in 2020.
The 2020 mission to Mars will have the same objectives as the current-testing of samples of Martian soil. Obviously the difference between the current and future Curiosity is 8 years of technological advancement, which will develop more advanced tools. Of course we also continue the search for life on Mars, and this time seems to focus a little more on this topic.
The project has been awarded $ 1,500 million as funds, which is $ 1 billion less than it had the original project, but not surprising since much of the project's Curiosity current can be reused, which obviously reduces costs.
After that the next step is to send humans in 2030.

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NASA announced the findings of Curiosity

Today Monday, authorities and NASA researchers will give a press conference to announce the findings of Curiosity and give a general update on what the little robot on Mars has been doing in recent months.
While rumors suggest otherwise, the conference will not talk about anything really extraordinary as it was believed at the time .
Representatives from NASA's JPL rumors say that it has become a very important discovery on Mars early in the mission are not true.
According to several reports, Curiosity, or rather, one of his tools, called SAM, would have detected signs of life in a soil sample from the planet, but the JPL states that no evidence has been found of the existence of Martian organisms yet.
What do you think will be announced at noon today at the conference in San Francisco?

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Curiosity has found something big on Mars

Curiosity, the famous robot probe that was sent to explore Mars a couple of months ago, seems to have stumbled upon something very interesting on the red planet. It appears that some of the instruments of our little friend space are analyzing a soil sample that has attracted much attention of the team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA. If confirmed what they believe, this is a finding to enter the history books.
The Curiosity analysis tools, known as SAM, allow the robot to identify the different compounds that form a sample. John Grotzinger, the mission's principal investigator, has yet to comment on what you think you have found on Mars by Curiosity simply because they can not yet confirm the nature of the find.
Obviously what many believe is that Curiosity has evidence that life exists beyond Earth, but also those who believe that it is something much fatter. We will have to wait and see.

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NASA even steal their laptops

Anyone you can steal your notebook. To you, to me, a relative, a friend, a neighbor, even NASA. So, even the famous space agency saved from theft.
It seems that a number of NASA employees are at risk after the theft of unencrypted laptop and other important documents from an agency vehicle. The thief has forced them to change some rules to security level.
Charles Bolden Jr., the NASA administrator, is very unhappy with the situation and now has been given a high priority to all tasks that will respect the security and are conducting all investigations were possible. Recall that last year the agency suffered a major data loss involving all the codes and information on employees.
From now on, all laptops of employees should be encrypted before next December 21. In addition, the agency shall prohibit its employees store important information on devices like tablets and smartphones.
The agency's technology edge that once led us to the moon (if it was) must make some major changes.

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NASA wants to have a base on the moon

In many science fiction movies can be viewed human bases built on other planets. Obviously, they are movies, but one of NASA's plans to have a base outside the Earth could become a reality. The space agency has known his own plans for moon base.
Obviously this is not the first time someone has these plans. The space agencies of Russia and Japan have had similar ideas in the past, but never carried out.
NASA plans do not involve actually building a base in the natural satellite of our planet, but it really is planned is to put some kind of spacecraft in lunar orbit. Within this kind of vehicle / station astronauts will live and some will be the launching point for future space missions to Mars.
The position of the ship would be adapted so that the gravitational effect is minimal and would save a lot of fuel. NASA hopes to launch in 2017 or so.

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Angry Birds Red Planet Space

 

What did you find after arrival Curiosity to Mars? Rovio has teamed up with NASA to launch a special episode of Angry Birds Space to be titled Red Planet, and will be based on the arrival of the Curiosity rover to Mars .
This episode will feature a total of 20 different scenarios developed on Mars.

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INTERACTIVE: See Mars in 360°

 

This is the last picture of Mars released by NASA in July 2012. It was assembled from images taken between December 2011 and May 2012, while Opportunity was parked at an outcrop informally named 'Greeley Haven'. in a segment of the rim of the old crater Endeavour.

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Curiosity seek traces of extraterrestrial life: "We put wheels on Mars, my God!"

 

The Curiosity robot landed on Mars on Monday to make an ambitious mission to detect any traces of extraterrestrial life, said the U.S. Space Agency (NASA) in Pasadena (California).

"Arrival confirmed," said the 05H31 GMT a member of mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA, triggering a burst of celebrations.

"We put wheels on Mars. My God, "he added, after receiving the first signals that the vehicle, 900 kilos, had reached the red planet after a complex operation.

A second burst of joy came shortly after when the robot sent his first picture of startling clarity, which portrays his own shadow in the martian soil.

President Barack Obama hailed the performance of a "technological feat unprecedented."

The expedition was a risky bet, which required an investment of 2,500 million dollars.

The vehicle-robot ("rover") was released on November 26, 2011 on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral 541 (Florida). In his eight months and a half flight covered 570 million kilometers.

Among its objectives, the mission includes the search for traces of past life on the fourth planet from the sun, the closest to Earth.

Some scientists wore amulets and other invoked the spirits of the nation, as a team member who dyed her hair flying in the colors of the American flag.

In fact, less than half of the attempts made by space agencies worldwide to reach Mars have been successful since 1960.

"It's a great day for the nation (U.S.), a great day for all our partners who have material (in vehicle) and a great day for the American people," said NASA administrator, Charles Bolden.

Scientists have discovered evidence of water on Mars, indicating that some form of microbial life could have developed in the past on this planet now has a thin atmosphere, extreme winter and dust storms.

The site chosen for the decline is the Gale Crater, near Mount Sharp (5,000 m). It is one of the lowest places on Mars and convergence point of several rivers that are believed flowed from upland areas, which may contain valuable information about the past in its sedimentary layers.

Curiority, equipped with six wheels and ten-space instruments including 17 cameras, a laser capable of destroying rocks and a series of laboratory tools to analyze its composition, will also seek to collect data to prepare a future manned mission.

Its operation will be secured by a nuclear generator.

Curiosity will give "a huge step in planetary exploration," said Jon Holdren, science adviser to Obama.

The decline in the Martian soil was a complex operation, because we had to reduce the momentum of 21,243 kilometers per hour, only 2.74 kilometers per hour, through the deployment of a large parachute and spatial activation of a crane to deposit slowly the robot.

Curiosity thus joins the list of successful missions in NASA Mars as Viking 1 and 2 (1976), Pathfinder (1997), Marz Exploration Rovers (2004) and Phoenix (2008).

 

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Curiosity will send data from the first moment after undergoing evaluation

 

After the explosion of joy experienced by the success of the descent of Curiosity Mars, begins checking all systems in the browser, which from the outset will begin sending data daily from the red planet.
"You take things with a lot of patience because you have to be completely sure that the environment is suitable and there is no risk to the rover. Start checking after the first data taking, "said Felipe Gomez, one of Spanish scientists involved in the project.
Gomez, who is in the Propulsion Laboratory of the U.S. space agency in Pasadena (California, USA) where he stayed three months, described the landing of Curiosity "very exciting" and "surprising" by the smoothness with which the rover has landed on Mars Gale Crater.
"The deployment is fulfilled step by step, has been a resounding success," said the scientist, the Spanish Center for Astrobiology (CAB).
Spanish technology is present in the environment at the station Curiosity (REMS) which will measure daily soil temperature, air pressure, humidity, wind and ultraviolet radiation on Mars.
The station environment is one of ten high-tech instruments are there in the mobile robot. Downloading data from the Curiosity will occur once a day and then processed and interpreted the information to plan the following day.

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The second day of Curiosity Mars goes perfectly

The second day on Mars went smoothly for Curiosity, vehicle NASA's robotic Mars arrived on Monday, said Wednesday the space agency, adding that all antennas, communication channels and the electric generator work well.

"We now have confirmation that all antennas and communication channels of the robot work perfectly," said Jennifer Trosper, one of the managers of the mission, in a press conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena (California, West USA)

"We are confident in the fact that we now have a great capacity for transmission of data across all channels, which was one of the main objectives of this first part of the mission," he added.

The mast of Curiosity, equipped with two cameras (Mastcam) that act as two large eyes, and has been deployed, said Trosper. Thus, we can obtain high definition panoramic images of 360 degrees from Thursday, the third day of the mission of the robot.

The team was also able to solve the anomaly that prevented the proper functioning of meteorological instruments.

And another good news is that nuclear electricity generator works very well and "we have more power than expected, allowing us to operate the robot longer," said Jennifer Trosper.

The thermal data show that temperatures encountered by Curiosity are less cold than they expected, without offering specifics.

The U.S. space agency has released new images of the shadow of the robot and another robot itself, taken by the mast.

A third image partially black and white panoramic north of the crater shows a vast plain covered with sediment rather low mountains in the distance.

"What most surprised to see this picture is that, to some extent, the first impression we have is that it looks like a landscape on Earth," said John Gotzinger, one of the mission scientists.

"What we can confirm by looking at the horizon is that all these materials found in this area come from the erosion of mountains by the circulating water," he said.

Curiosity is a focal point for probably formed by debris alluvial sediments transported by water, had told NASA.

"These images also indicate that the thrust of the thrusters of the ship, a sort of wheel-crane deposited the Curiosity have dug a trench two feet to reveal the bedrock," said Götzinger.

NASA has released images of the spectacular arrival of Curiosity and the aerial photos and a video of last minutes of the precipitous decline of this rover of 900 kilos, the heaviest and most sophisticated ever sent to another planet.

Curiosity is located 12 kilometers from the slopes of Sharp Mountain, 5,000 meters high, which is situated inside the huge crater Gale.

The rover must determine, over the next two years if the Martian environment was conducive to microbial life in the past.

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Astronomers find huge crack in the surface of the Sun

U.S. astronomers have discovered a huge crack in the sun's surface that has never before been observed, according to NASA.

The crack, photographed by U.S. astronauts, has a length of approximately 800 000 kilometers. NASA scientists perform appropriate studies to determine their origin.
According to scientists, it is possible that the accumulation case of cold, dense gas and is held on the surface of the star by the magnetic field. The formation of gas has a dark color because its temperature is considerably lower than the temperature of the sun

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NASA and the Pentagon try a craft six times faster than sound

The unmanned aircraft X-51A WaveRider experimental, a hypersonic aircraft capable of flying over the Pacific Ocean some 5,793 kilometers per hour, was tested by the Pentagon today on a flight "key" development of its technology, a source confirmed to Efe Department of Defense.
From a hangar at Edwards Air Force U.S. in the Mojave Desert (California), a team of aerospace engineers tuned the device, which could cover the distance between New York and London in less than an hour.
The project, developed by the U.S. Space Agency (NASA) and the Research Projects Agency Defense Advanced U.S. (DARPA), was tested by anchoring the X-51A WaveRider the wing of an old B-52 bomber.
The X-51A WaveRider should have flown at hypersonic speed for 300 seconds to dive later in the Pacific Ocean.

Although the same sources gave no information on the results, it was successful, the ship should have been destroyed during testing, making it impossible to recover, but engineers could use all the data recorded during the flight for technology development hypersonic military uses.
The test flight X-51A was the third experiment a program that began in 2004.
WaveRider's first, built by Boeing, was tested in May 2010 to 3500 kilometers per hour for 143 seconds before a glitch put an end to the test before time, and the second, who was executed in June 2011 and ended earlier than expected but it did create facts.
The Air Force plans to develop and use technology to move hypersonic missiles or aircraft anywhere in the world in minutes instead of hours, in order not to let the enemy reaction time.
In addition to speed, hypersonic aircraft will fly at high altitudes out of reach of enemy fire or a missile.
NASA and the Pentagon is funding three national centers in the country to study hypersonic flight.
The WaveRider program will cost $140 million as estimated by the site specialized in military development, Globalsecurity.com.

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Morpheus explodes, vehicle NASA's experimental

 

I remember several days ago we saw one of the test sessions Morpheus, vehicle NASA has a new landing system that works using methane. The system is effective as long as the head land vehicle, as has happened a few days, after which has been exploited and has been totally unusable.
You can see in the video below.

 

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5 projects that NASA has in mind

As part of a new program, NASA announced that it has about 28 projects in hand, and apparently now we will detail these 5 are the most interested.
 
1) New system for water reuse

  

Being in space is not easy to dispose of human waste, but the research center of NASA proposes a solution. It involves the installation of a system that filters the water can be reused by osmosis. Thus, you can return to reuse the water that was dirty.
 
2) Exploration of icy planets

 

 A kind of underwater part of this project, during which seeks to explore the moon Europa, a moon of Jupiter. This moon has a frozen ocean that awaits us. What will be under the icy surface?
 
3) Landing on Venus

 

Not exactly a landing as this ship will not reach the planet's surface, but is responsible for exploring much of its atmosphere.
 
4) The suit V2

 

 

This is a suit that creates a sense of gravity when we took office. It is created to avoid possible negative effects of zero gravity, which involves problems in the muscles and bones.
 
5) The fusion rocket propulsion

 

 

This project investigates the use of energy function to drive the rocket, thus neglecting the use of conventional fuel. With this technology, it is estimated that you can get to Mars in 30 days, while the current takes 210 days.

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NASA Morpheus is demonstrating its new landing system

 

While the arrival of Mars Curiosity is what else has been busy this month NASA, the agency has also been busy doing other things such as trying to Morpheus, the new landing system.
Morpheus is equipped with two key technologies for successful landings: a system that detects obstacles and a proponent of methane, which could not only be used during landings, but also during space travel, and also obtain methane appears to be a problem through fields of ice on the moon so much as on Mars. It is also estimated that every year, the International Space Station and discarded much methane produced to fill the tank of Morpheus.
The obstacle detection system is used to find a safe spot to land, without large rocks or cracks or anything like that.

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