Tag: challenging (page 2 of 5)

The Mission to land robot on comet to take final step







Excerpt from  theglobeandmail.com
By Ivan Semeniuk

Half a billion kilometres from Earth and 10 years into its remarkable journey, a small robot is about to plunge into space history.

Pending a final green light from mission controllers on Tuesday night, the robot – nicknamed Philae (fee-lay) – will detach from its mother ship and try to hook itself onto one of the most challenging and mysterious objects in the solar system.



It’s a high-risk manoeuvre with plenty of unknowns. But if it works, then the probe will be able to show us what no one has ever experienced: what it’s like to stand on the surface of a comet.

“Comets are new territory,” said Ralf Gellert, a professor of physics at the University of Guelph. “There could be some big surprises.”

Prof. Gellert should know. Fifteen years ago, he helped build one of the instruments on the dishwasher-size lander that will reveal the comet’s composition. No such direct measurement has been made before. Even designing how the instrument should work was fraught with challenges since there was so little known about what kind of surface the lander might find itself on.

“Is it an ice ball with rock and trace metals, or a rock ball with ice on it … or ice below the surface? We didn’t know,” he said.
And scientists still don’t.

When the European Space Agency launched the Rosetta mission in 2004, the mission’s target – Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko – was little more than a fuzzy blip in astronomers’ telescopes. But Rosetta just arrived in August and it’s been in orbit around the comet since then.

What was assumed to be a single, homogeneous lump of ice and rock has turned out to be a bizarre-looking object in two parts, arranged a bit like the head and body of a rubber duck. By October, scientists had zeroed in on the head portion, which is four kilometres across at its widest point, and settled on a landing site.

Remote sensing data from Rosetta suggest that the comet is quite porous, with a surface that is as black as coal and somewhat warmer than expected. In other words, Philae will probably not be landing on skating-rink-hard ice. Yet, whether the surface will be crusty like a roadside snowbank, fluffy like cigarette ash, or something else entirely is anyone’s guess.

And while scientists and engineers say they’ve done everything they can think of to maximize the lander’s chance of success, they acknowledge it’s entirely possible that Philae will encounter something it can’t handle and smash to bits or sink into oblivion.


Yet the landing is more than a daring jaunt to see what has never been seen before. Comets are also among the most primitive bodies in the solar system. Each one is an amalgam of ice and rock that has been around since Earth and its sister planets formed billions of years ago. In a sense, comets are the leftovers of that process – primordial fossils from the birth of the solar system.

The instrument Prof. Gellert worked on, known as the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS), will help illuminate this early period by making precise measurements of the comet’s elemental ingredients.

It is carried on a robot arm that will place a radioactive source near the comet’s surface. The particles and X-rays the comet material gives off as a result of this exposure will provide detailed information about what chemical elements the comet contains. This will be augmented by another experiment designed to drill and extract a comet sample for analysis inside the lander.

Prof. Gellert, who has also been closely involved in NASA’s Mars rover missions, said Rosetta’s long timeline and the many unknowns related to the comet makes this week’s landing a trickier proposition than landing on Mars – but also a tremendously exciting one.

“I think it’s a matter of hope for the best and see what happens.”

View Article Here Read More

NASA: Water Vapor Found on Neptune-size Alien Planet



space.com

By Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor 

A Neptune-size planet beyond the solar system has telltale traces of water vapor in its atmosphere, making it the smallest exoplanet known to have the wet stuff yet, scientists say.

Several massive Jupiter-size giants have had the components of their atmosphere examined, but until now, the atmospheres of smaller planets have proved more elusive. In this new study, scientists discovered traces of water on the alien planet HAT-P-11b, which orbits a star 124 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

"Water is the most cosmically abundant molecule that we can directly observe in exoplanets, and we expect it to be prevalent in the upper atmospheres of planets at these temperatures," lead author Jonathan Fraine said in an email interview. Fraine, a graduate student at the University of Maryland, worked with a team lead by Drake Deming, also of the University of Maryland. 

"Detecting it is both a confirmation of our theories and revealing for the bulk of the spectrum that we can observe," Fraine told Space.com.

This artist’s illustration depicts the alien planet HAT-P-11b, which shows signs of water in its atmosphere, as the exoplanet crosses in front of its parent star.
This artist’s illustration depicts the alien planet HAT-P-11b, which shows signs of water in its atmosphere, as the exoplanet crosses in front of its parent star. As starlight passes through the puffed-up atmosphere surrounding the planet, shown here in orange, scientists can detect its composition.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Detecting alien planet atmospheres

This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the star HAT-P-11 (center), which has a Neptune-size planet that is the smallest yet known to have water in its atmosphere. The planet, HAT-P-11b, is not visible in this image. The other bright object seen here is another star.
Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Fraine

As a planet passes, or transits, between Earth and its sun, it blocks light from the star. The dip in light is how many exoplanets are first found. But these transits also allow astronomers to study the atmospheres of exoplanets. By observing the spectrum of light that passes through an exoplanet’s atmosphere, scientists can determine what it is made up of.


For HAT-P-11b, a planet roughly four times the radius of Earth, that makeup is 90 percent hydrogen, with traces of water vapor. The Neptune-size planet orbits its sun every five days, at a distance that is only one-twentieth of the Earth-sun distance (which is 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers). As a result, the temperature climbs higher on HAT P-11b than it does on gas giants in the solar system, reaching a sizzling 1,120 degrees Fahrenheit (605 degrees Celsius).

Scientists have been studying the atmospheres of Jupiter-like planets for years, but smaller planets produce a smaller signal that is more challenging to observe. For the new study, researchers examined the atmospheres of four other smaller exoplanets — two roughly the size of Neptune and two smaller super-Earths — but the results were disappointingly featureless.

"We do indeed have the technology — the resolution — to observe Neptune-size exoplanets, and even super-Earths," Fraine said.

But the chemical compositions of the other four planets were blocked by a familiar phenomenon — clouds.

"We've just been seeing a whole lot of nothing," Eliza Kempton, of Grinnell College in Iowa. Kempton models planetary atmospheres but was not involved in the research.

This artist's illustration shows what the skies may look like on different alien planets. On the left is a cloudy planet, while on the right is a planet with clear skies that may resemble the sky of exoplanet HAT-P-11b, a Neptune-size world thought to hav
This artist's illustration shows what the skies may look like on different alien planets. On the left is a cloudy planet, while on the right is a planet with clear skies that may resemble the sky of exoplanet HAT-P-11b, a Neptune-size world thought to have water in its atmosphere.
Credit: NASA



Kempton added that the flat, featureless signals observed for the other planets were attributed to clouds or hazes in the upper atmosphere. The high clouds blocked light from the star, keeping it from penetrating through to the observers' side of the planet and leaving scientists unable to characterize the chemicals in the atmosphere.

"It's not crazy to think that there should be clouds in these exoplanet atmospheres, because we see clouds in all the planetary atmospheres in our solar system," Kempton said.

Although the hot, Neptune-size planet lives in a different environment from the icy giants in the solar system, it is similar to one of the four smaller planets whose atmosphere had already been studied. Those planets are known as GJ436b, GJ1214b, HD97658b and GJ3470b.

HAT-P-11b is only slightly larger and warmer than the alien planet GJ436b, making them good to compare to one another because one has clouds and one does not, Fraine said.

"I like to consider them the bigger version of the Earth-Venus twin pair," Fraine said of the planets HAT-P-11b and GJ436b.

"They are basically the same mass, radius and temperature, but small changes in the formation, or even these bulk properties, may be causing vast changes in the atmospheric composition."

The research is detailed in the Sept. 25 issue of the journal Nature, along with a commentary article by Kempton.

A planet's upper atmosphere results from what happens both above and below it. The balancing act involves irradiation from its star and from cosmic rays on the outside, as well as the chemical and dynamical systems lower in the atmosphere, Fraine explained.

"If we know the input from above — the host star — and the upper atmosphere from our observations, then the missing piece of the puzzle is the interior composition," he said.
Although the interior of a planet is complex, Fraine called the newly characterized atmosphere "a great step forward in solving the puzzle."

The composition of the small planet's atmosphere also supports the core accretion model of planetary formation, where smaller particles combine to create larger and larger particles, eventually reaching planet-size proportions.

"Core accretion predicts that planets are built from the inside out," Fraine said.

"Measuring that HAT P-11b likely has a relatively hydrogen-poor atmosphere implies that it was formed from rocky material that later acquired a thick atmosphere above it, which is what the core-accretion model predicts."

Had the planet formed along the lines of the competing gravitational instability model, its composition and that of its atmosphere should bear a stronger similarity to its star than what was measured by scientists.

Because of its crucial role in the balancing act, the water vapor detected in the exoplanet's atmosphere played an important part in modeling its formation and evolution.

"In the long run, if we can detect water, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, etc., in dozens to hundreds of exoplanet atmospheres of various bulk properties, then we will be able to paint a much clearer picture of how planets form, and, likewise, how Earth formed," Fraine said.

"This was just one of the beginning brush strokes to painting the full picture of how planets, as well as ourselves, were formed."

View Article Here Read More

Archangel Uriel May-20-2013

Archangel Uriel: Everything Supports Your Journey — Channeled by Jennifer Hoffman — May 20, 2013
Thanks to Franheal: http://franheal.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/archangel-uriel-everything-supports-your-journey-channeled-by-jennifer-hoffman-may-20-2013/

View Article Here Read More

Galactic Federation of Light High Council of Orion May-10-2013

High Council of Orion — Disclosure Karen Doonan
With Permission

Dear ones we are here with you as you digest our words and process them through your heart space, for

View Article Here Read More

Galactic Federation of Light The Pleiadians May-06-2013

The Pleiadians ~ We come to assist and to help you ~ As channeled by Méline Lafont
http://lafontmeline.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/the-pleiadians-we-come-to-assist-and-to-help-you-as-channeled-by-meline-lafont/#more-657

While the moment of the solar eclipse is approaching, it will

View Article Here Read More

Big Eureka – The Energy Machine of Joseph Newman

{mainvote}

A must see! Especially the video below. Please watch the WHOLE video. One of the most important free energy devices that is deliberately suppressed!

EagleEyes

This compilation from 2010 shows old and new footage reg...

View Article Here Read More

Cosmic Awareness Newsletter 2012-01

{mainvote}

7 March 2012

Channeler: Will Berlinghof

Well...Anasazi1 just made me realize that there was no Cosmic Awareness message posted here recently,so here's the most recent one avaiable right one,as the CAC newsletter is for mem...

View Article Here Read More

Weekly LightBlast: Emotional Healing

{mainvote}

a message from Jamye Price

Thursday, 22 September, 2011

We are preparing for a massive opening with the 11/11/11. Neptune is nurturing the salty disappointments, fears, misperceptions and abuses that have separated us from ou...

View Article Here Read More

Eckhart Talks About Presence in Conversation

a message from Eckhart Tolle

Monday, 9 August, 2010 

Question:  How do I maintain a sense of presence when I’m in the company of another person?  How do I bring presence into conversat...

View Article Here Read More

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
by Patricia Diane Cota-Robles
http://eraofpeace.org

There are a lot of challenging things taking place on the planet at this time, but on July 17th and 18th, 2010, hundreds of thousands, and most likely millions, of people around the world participated in various activities of Light that were dedicated to cocreating a template for Unity Consciousness.  The Company of Heaven has assured us that our unified efforts were God Victorious, and now there is a template for Unity Conscious pulsating in, through, and around every particle and wave of Life on this planet.
So where do we go from here? Well, our responsibility now is to focus on the Light and to continually empower our thoughts, words, feelings, and actions with Divine Love and Reverence for ALL Life. Today I would like to share some information with you that is being given to us by the Beings of Light in the Realms of Illumined Truth. The intent of this information is to help us see the bigger picture, so we can navigate through these wondrous but very confusing times.
As the Light of God increases on Earth, it pushes everything that conflicts with that Light to the surface to be healed and transmuted into its original perfection. We have just experienced a tremendous influx of Light through the global activities involving the cocreation of the template for Unity Consciousness. Now everything that conflicts with Unity Consciousness is being pushed to the surface to be healed. This includes the obsolete fear-based patterns of separation and duality.
This phenomenon can make it appear as though the accelerated influx of God’s Light is making things worse, but nothing could be further from the Truth. That is an illusion. The Beings of Light have given us the following information because it is very important that we clearly understand what happens when we invoke the Light of God. They do not want us to become discouraged. They want us to "keep on keeping on," even in the face of apparent adversity.
Once again, it is vital that we remember we are all One. There is no separation. In order for us to move forward in the Light, we must first transmute the human miscreations we created in the past. That means that anything that conflicts with the Light of God must come to the surface to be healed and transmuted back into its original perfection. This is what is meant by the statement "All that is hidden must now be revealed."
Regardless of how deplorable our human miscreations are, the energy that comprises those gross mutations was originally pure Light from the Heart of God. You and I and every other person responsible for creating those miscreations must transmute that energy back into pure Light. This is true for every single human miscreation. Anything that is not reflecting the harmony and balance of the patterns of perfection in the Causal Body of God is a human miscreation. This includes poverty, disease, hatred, prejudice, corruption, greed, violence, war, religious fanaticism, abuse of power, and every other physical manifestation that is less than the perfection of Heaven on Earth.
When we invoke the Light of God through our prayers, meditations, invocations, decrees, affirmations, or any other way, our Father-Mother God respond and the Light of God increases on Earth. This frequency of God’s Infinite Perfection floods the planet and enters the core of purity in every atomic and subatomic particle and wave of Life.
Regardless of how dark or contaminated our human miscreations are, the energy within the core of that miscreation still pulsates with its original Divine Potential. That is true for every person, place, condition, or thing existing on this planet. For instance, in the core of every expression of poverty still pulsates the Divine Potential for God’s Infinite Abundance. Within the core of every facet of disease still pulsates the Divine Potential of vibrant health. Within every manifestation of war is the Divine Potential of peace. Within every electron of hatred is the Divine Potential of love. This is true for people as well. No matter how far a person has fallen or how depraved or degenerate he or she may seem, that person still has the full Divine Potential of a Beloved Child of God blazing in their Heart Flame. 
The reason it sometimes appears as though things are getting worse after we invoke the Light of God is because of what happens when the Light enters the core of purity. When the Light of God enters the core of purity, it activates the original Divine Potential that is still encoded within that particle of Life. Everything that conflicts with that potential is then pushed to the surface to be healed and transmuted back into Light. This is a necessary part of the process that has to be successfully accomplished in order to clear the way for the tangible manifestation of the Divine Potential.
What this means very practically is that when we invoke prosperity, the Light of God enters the core of purity in every electron of energy in our lives that conflicts with prosperity. This Light activates the Divine Potential in that energy, which is God’s Infinite Abundance. Then the vibration of God’s Abundance pushes to the surface every thought, word, action, or feeling that is responsible for manifesting our poverty. As the patterns that created our poverty surface to be healed, it often looks like things are getting worse, but that is never the case.
This illusion is caused by the fact that we can easily see the patterns associated with our poverty that are being pushed to the surface to be healed. What we cannot see as easily, is the powerful Light of God that is pushing those distorted patterns to the surface in order to clear the way for our prosperity. With the limited perception of our fearful human egos, we end up focusing our attention on the surfacing patterns of poverty instead of the patterns for God’s Infinite Abundance.
Now with the influx of Unity Consciousness that is flooding the Earth, the patterns that conflict with that wondrous Light are being pushed to the surface. Those are the obsolete patterns of our fear-based separation and duality. We must be cognizant of this fact and pay close attention to what we are empowering with our thoughts, words, feelings, and actions.
It is critical for us to remember that we create our Earthly experiences through our thoughts and feelings. If we focus on fear, separation, and duality, that is what we empower and sustain in our lives. It is just that simple. Through our lack of understanding, we have created a vicious circle for ourselves. That is why these "end times" have been referred to in many teachings as "The time of screaming and the gnashing of teeth."
It is time for us to learn how to transmute the surfacing negativity in a more effective way, while staying focused on the positive things we are invoking. The Company of Heaven has given us guidance and wonderful tools that will help us to do just that. One of those tools is the Violet Flame of God’s Infinite Perfection.
In the Earth’s natural orbital process known as the Precession of the Equinox, we have moved into the forcefield of Aquarius. This constellation resonates with the Violet Flame of God’s Infinite Perfection. This will be the predominant activity of Light on the Earth for the next 2,000 years.
The Violet Flame is comprised of the Sapphire Blue Ray of our Father God’s Divine Will, Power and Authority, and the Crystalline Pink Ray of our Mother God’s Transfiguring Divine Love, Adoration and Reverence for Life. This Sacred Fire reflects the perfect balance of our Father-Mother God.
The Violet Flame is a tool more powerful than our finite minds can conceive. When used consistently, it will transmute every electron of precious life energy we have ever misqualified at any time, in any existence, both known and unknown. It works as an atomic accelerator. It raises the frequency of all discordant energy into vibrations of healing and harmony. When we invoke the Violet Flame and empower it with feelings of forgiveness for our own mistakes and those of others, it works miracles.  
You do not have to fully comprehend every facet of the Violet Flame in order to use it effectively. All you have to do is ask your I AM Presence to take command, and then invoke this wondrous gift from the Heart of our Father-Mother God.
Let’s join together in Unity Consciousness and invoke the Violet Flame of God’s Infinite Perfection on behalf of ourselves and every, man, woman, and child on Earth. I have stated this activity of Light in the first person, so that you will experience this individually and personally, but KNOW that you are also serving as a surrogate on behalf of every person evolving on this planet

View Article Here Read More

HAVE I GOT GREAT NEWS FOR YOU!

7 July 2010 - 1:57pm

Channeler: Maureen Moss

Wow! What a time to be alive on Planet Earth. It's daunting and exciting all at the same time isn't it? On some days it feels like a liberating free fall into the ...

View Article Here Read More

A Divine Turning Point

a message from Emmanuel Dagher

Monday, 5 July, 2010 

Hi my extraordinary friend, How amazingly intense where the few weeks leading up to the June 21st Solstice and June 26th lunar eclipse? Af...

View Article Here Read More

It’s July! Here are the Keys to Your New Porsche

a message from Archangel Michael channeled by Meredith Murphy

Thursday, 1 July, 2010  (posted 4 July, 2010)

Clearing away anything which does not fit with your “future” incarnation...

View Article Here Read More
Older posts Newer posts

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License
.
unless otherwise marked.

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy



Up ↑