December 8

In recent years scientists have been nailing shut the case that shifty little particles called neutrinos have mass. Friday, the nails seemed have been driven home.

Neutrinos are products of the Sun and other stars. They are detected in underground setups on Earth where other particles cannot penetrate. Neutrinos were once thought to be massless. Problem was, theorists said the Sun should make lots of them, and yet scientists could not detect the proper quantities. Researchers have therefore learned that neutrinos must have mass, a requirement for their being able to change into unknown forms, explaining those that go undetected.

The latest research was done in an old mine in Japan. Neutrinos from the country's nuclear reactors were sought, and fewer were found than expected, proving that some changed from in transit. Because nuclear plants emit precisely known quantities of neutrinos, the results provided firm confirmation of previous detections of reduced numbers of solar neutrinos, experts said.

"This is really a clear demonstration of neutrino disappearance," said Caltech particle physicist Robert McKeown. More about Neutrinos

-- Robert Roy Britt

December 6

Report - Chinese Experiment on the International Space Station

The multi-nation International Space Station (ISS) program will add another nation's participation next year. China is sending up some two-pounds (1-kilogram) of rice seed grain to see how they are affected by conditions in space.

China's People's Daily reported December 4 that the experiment will be that country's first experiment flown on the ISS. Harbin Polytechnical University in China's northernmost Heilongjiang province will carry out the research project in seed cultivation.

Purpose of the experiment is to monitor possible changes in the seeds in outer space once exposed to the space environment. University scientists hope to gather data that helps upgrade rice varieties, the People's Daily said.

China has flown space experiments in the past that study rice, maize, and flowers, but only on short-duration exposure flights. Seeds aboard the ISS will fly in space for a much longer time period.

"The European Union, Japan and Canada have all hinted to China their wish to rent ISS room to Chinese scientific institutions," the People's Daily reported, "which would help recover some of the huge investment" in the mega-project.

-- Leonard David

December 5

December 4

Israel Space Agency to Search for Threatening Asteroids

The Israel Space Agency has decided to join in the search for potentially dangerous asteroids, according to a letter sent to the president of the Spaceguard Foundation, an international umbrella organization for asteroid hunting.

The letter, from Noah Brosch, director of Wise Observatory in Tel Aviv, said the center will initiate new observational studies of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) "using existing and soon-to-be-acquired equipment, to perform follow-up observations of NEOs discovered elsewhere, to promote educational activities concerning NEO," among other things.

Leaders of the asteroid search worldwide have for years sought to involve more groups and more telescopes to find asteroids that might one day hit Earth. NASA funds the bulk of this work and some nations have been accused of being slow to help. Presently, no space rocks are known to be on a collision course with the planet. More Asteroid News

December 3

A total eclipse of the Sun in Africa and Australia will be visible Wednesday from the International Space Station. The crew will be looking down on the event.

From above, the ISS crew will see a huge dark spot on planet Earth. The shadow will zoom across five African countries in just a half-hour, gliding across the surface at 1,240 mph (2,000 kilometers per hour).

The station's new science officer, Don Pettit, is an amateur astronomer and an avid astrophotographer. "He'll try to photograph the shadow and maybe even capture it on video," said Rob Suggs, leader of the Space Environments Team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

• From the Ground: Details of the Eclipse
• From Above: What the ISS Crew Will See

-- Rob Britt

Interstellar Spacecraft design on the RISE

Engineers at the Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland are conceptualizing a Realistic Interstellar Explorer - or RISE for short. This highly autonomous craft would travel far beyond our solar system to collect scientific data.

The RISE is envisioned as having a range up to 1,000 Astronomical Units (AU)-1,000 times the distance from the Earth to the sun, or 93 billion miles. But beaming back information over that distance to Earth calls for an extremely accurate laser link.

Enter the folks at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

A recent NIST invention is tagged like something out of Star Trek: a Parallel Cantilever Bi-axial Micro-Positioner.

The prototype NIST device acts as a mechanical filter that generates very straight lines by screening out all other motions - a promising high-tech way to meet the demanding range, mass and power requirements for the RISE. In its interstellar role, the micro-positioner would be used to position a lens that steers a laser beam communication link toward Earth.

One catch, however: the current range of the NIST micro-positioner would have to be improved by a factor of nearly 10, something that appears feasible with a little focused work.

-- Leonard David

December 2

Beagle-2 to Carry A Work of Art

The British-built Beagle 2, slated to plop down on Mars on Christmas Eve in December 2003, carries the handiwork of Damien Hirst, the British contemporary artist. Last Thursday, the artwork was unveiled in a special press event in London.

Once down on the red planet, several of the probe's instruments must be calibrated. To help do this, Hirst has specially rendered a color chart at the request of project leader, Colin Pillinger.

The palm-sized calibration target consists of an aluminum plate incorporating nine synthetic Mars iron oxides of different shades of yellow, red, orange, etc. These will allow scientists to match accurately the color of the Martian landscape. Other pigments are use to help calibrate other devices carried on the Mars lander. The target is mounted on one of the ribs of the lander structure.

Beagle 2 is to be toted to Mars onboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express. It will be launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan atop a Soyuz-Fregat rocket in May 2003.

Beagle 2 also will transmit a call sign that notifies Earth the craft has touched down on Mars. Musicians of the rock band, Blur, composed that call sign.

"I'm sure there'll be a great demand for my work out there," said Hirst. "They'll love me!"

-- Leonard David

Solar Cell Breakthrough

A material that allows creation of "full spectrum" solar cells has been accidentally uncovered. The unexpected discovery could have major implications for Earth and space solar power.

A team of Lawrence Berkeley and Cornell University researchers, along with scientists at Japan's Ritsumeikan University, report finding a powerful friend in a semiconductor comprised of indium nitride.

A single system of alloys incorporating indium, gallium, and nitrogen can covert virtually the full spectrum of sunlight -- from the near infrared to the far ultraviolet -- to electrical current. If solar cells can be made with this alloy, they promise to be rugged, relatively inexpensive - and the most efficient ever created. The research find came while looking into how semiconductors use electricity to emit light.

Indium gallium nitride not only has tremendous heat capacity, but is also extremely resistant to radiation - properties ideal for solar arrays that power communications satellites and other spacecraft.

-- Leonard David

Missed something from last week? Astronotes