Space travel, but not as we know it - meet the 'penetrator' probe

[Cidersomerset]

Space travel, but not as we know it - meet the 'penetrator' probe


TbeFUefIJec

Published on 13 Jul 2013


British engineers have successfully tested a new space probe known as the penetrator -
by firing it straight into a massive block of ice.The result was spectacular - and the next
stop is one of Jupiter's ice-covered moons.

[Cidersomerset]

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.48.3/desktop/3.5/img/blq-blocks_grey_alpha.png


British space penetrator passes icy test


UK engineers have tested a projectile technology that they believe could be used to
explore the Solar System.The steel penetrator was fired at a 10-tonne cube of ice
to simulate the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.It hit the block at a speed of 340
m/s and decelerated rapidly, but its structure remained intact, as did its interior
components. Researchers say the penetrator would be a robust and inexpensive
way to land instruments on other worlds.These might be seismometers to study the
interior of Mars, or a miniature organic chemistry laboratory to check for microbial
activity on icy Jovian satellites.Scientists envisage several penetrators being
deployed at once, carrying perhaps a network of sensors to widely separated
locations in the sub-surface.Being able to get just a few metres down is key,
because if life exists anywhere else in the Solar System, it is likely to be buried
away from harsh space radiation.

Read more...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23281423

[Cidersomerset]

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.48.3/desktop/3.5/img/blq-blocks_grey_alpha.png


11 July 2013 Last updated at 16:23



Glass rain may give planet blue hue

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/68678000/jpg/_68678868_68678860.jpg

The turbulent alien world - seen in this artist's impression - lies some 63 light-years
from EarthFor the first time, astronomers have determined the true colour of a
planet orbiting another star.The world, known as HD189733b, has a deep azure
hue - probably the result of silicate (glass) rain in the atmosphere, which scatters
blue light.Details of the discovery, made with the Hubble Space Telescope, are to
appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters.Although it might resemble Earth from a
distance, HD189733b is a huge gas giant which orbits close to its host star.

The temperature of the planet's atmosphere is a scorching 1,000C, and it rains
glass, sideways, in howling 7,000km-per-hour winds.Its atmosphere has been
found to be dramatically changeable and exotic, with hazes and violent bursts of
evaporation.At a distance of 63 light-years from us, this turbulent alien world is one
of the nearest exoplanets to Earth that can be seen crossing the face of its star.
It has been extensively studied by ground- and space-based telescopes. Now,
astronomers have measured its visible colour.


http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/68679000/jpg/_68679407_68679039.jpg

Hubble The team used Hubble's STIS instrument to isolate the planet's light from
the light of its host star "Measuring its colour is a real first - we can actually
imagine what this planet would look like if we were able to look at it directly," said
Prof Frederic Pont, from the University of Exeter.In order to measure what this
planet would look like to our eyes, the astronomers measured how much light was
reflected from its surface - a property known as albedo.

HD 189733b is faint and close to its sun. But as the planet passed behind its host
star, the astronomers were able to measure changes in the spectrum as light
reflected by the planet was temporarily blocked out.

"We saw the brightness of the whole system drop in the blue part of the spectrum
when the planet passed behind its star," explained Tom Evans from the University
of Oxford, first author of the paper.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/68679000/jpg/_68679410_68679408.jpg

HD 189733 The star HD 189733, around which the blue planet orbits, can be seen
in the centre of this star field "From this, we can gather that the planet is blue,
because the signal remained constant at the other colours we measured."
Earth looks blue from space because the oceans absorb red and green wavelengths
more strongly than blue ones, and reflect the blue-ish hue of our sky.
The exoplanet's azure colour does not come from the reflection of an ocean, say the
researchers, but is probably due to the hazy, turbulent atmosphere being laced
with silicate particles - which scatter blue light.

HD 189733b presented a favourable case for these kinds of measurements as it
belongs to a class of planets known as "hot Jupiters". These massive planets are
similar in size to the gas giants in our Solar System, but instead lie very close to
their parent stars.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23275607

[Mercedes]

More like a reconnaissance mission to colonize I believe

[Hazel]

Nice 'penetrator' metaphores..


err thanks guys :eek:

but good will to the science all the same

[Star Tsar]

Penetrator? man that's gotta be the ultimate Osirian reference....

[ghostrider]

track this one, the penetrator will malfunction , jupiter's moon has a colony on it, very ancient, they won't put up with that shyte ...jupiter has four inhabited moons ...