NASA and Disney have announced a competition for a name for the new Mars

American Aerospace Agency (NASA) and the studio of Walt Disney have announced a competition for a new name for Mars, which is to go to Mars in 2009. Full details are available at the site of the contest, the winner of which will be known in April 2009. 

Name to Mars will be able to offer students of American schools between the ages of 5 to 18 years. Participants should send their name and a short version of the essay, which will explain why Mars should be called so. The deadline for submission of the essay - 25 January 2009. In March 2009, Internet users will be able to vote for the nine selected by a special commission of names. The final choice will also make the Commission in accordance with the wishes of voters. 

The authors of essays published in the finals competition will receive various prizes, one of which will travel at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Jet Propulsion Laboratory - JPL), which is going to Mars. Grand Prix of the competition (aside from the fact that the winning name will be called Mars) - the opportunity to leave your autograph on the board. 

The device, which is called the Mars Science Laboratory, due to be launched to Mars with the help of the launcher Atlas V in autumn 2009. Red Planet Mars will reach the summer of 2010. The unit size of the average SUV-SUV will go on the surface of the planet (including the climb to the hills and down in the lowlands) through a system of six wheels. Planned that it will hold the Red Planet for two years. During this time, Mars, which is a well-equipped mobile laboratory will conduct mineralogical and chemical analysis of Martian soil. One of the objectives of Mars Science Laboratory is the search for organic molecules, which may result from activity of living organisms.

Gas Leak Prevents Space Shuttle Launch Again

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Endeavour's launch plans were thwarted again early Wednesday when a hydrogen gas leak, the same glitch that stopped the spacecraft from lifting off last week, appeared for a second time.

The potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak from a vent pipe on Endeavour's external fuel tank forced NASA to stop fueling the shuttle in preparation for its planned launch at 5:40 a.m. EDT (0940 GMT) Wednesday. 

"We did our standard troubleshooting techniques," NASA launch director Mike Leinbach said. Unfortunately, "it never cleaned up."

Endeavour will now have to wait until July before again trying to blast off from Launch Pad 39A here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on an ambitious construction flight to the International Space Station.

"I'm sure you all know that we postponed again," Endeavour commander Mark Polansky wrote via Twitter. "It's a reminder that spaceflight is NOT routine. We will fly home to Houston this morning."

Gas leak returns

NASA officially called off today's launch attempt at 1:55 a.m. EDT (0555 GMT). The agency was already scrambling to make up for hours of lost time due to stormy weather that delayed the fueling of Endeavour's external tank. The shuttle's seven-astronaut crew had not yet boarded the spacecraft when NASA called off the launch attempt. 

"The team did an outstanding job over these last four days to get to this point," Leinbach said. "It was just a heck of a lot of work that the guys pulled off. I sure wish we could have rewarded them and the astronauts with a launch."

Mission managers had worked furiously earlier this week to swap out the leaky seal between the hydrogen gas vent pipe on Endeavour's external tank in the hopes that it would fix the glitch, which prevented a June 13 launch attempt. The repairs went smoothly, but the persistent leak appeared again today shortly after ground crews began fueling the shuttle's giant orange external tank. 

The leak is about the size of the head of a pen, compared to the 7-inch wide vent pipe, STS-127 shuttle launch director Pete Nickolenko said. "It's really a very small area altogether in which we're trying to chase down a leak," he said

This problem has cropped up before: An almost identical leak halted the launch plans of the space shuttle Discovery's STS-119 mission in March. In that case, the seal swap-out worked, and Discovery was able to launch four days later than planned.

Now mission managers will have to probe more deeply into the root cause of this failure to try to prevent it in the future.

"This business that we're in is not for the faint of heart," NASA deputy shuttle program manager LeRoy Cain said at a post-delay briefing. "There are times when we don't get to go fly and that's fundamentally because it's not easy. Like problems we've had in the past, we'll get past this one as well and move forward."

The glitch appeared after an earlier weather hurdle had finally been cleared. Endeavour's towering orange fuel tank was set to begin filling late Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. EDT (0015 GMT), but NASA had to delay almost three hours because of thunderstorms and lightning near the launch pad that pose a risk of igniting the vehicle's highly flammable liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants.

The weather cleared just in time for the latest possible start, and fueling began shortly after 11:00 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT). NASA teams appeared to be on track to launch as scheduled despite the lost time until the gas leak resurfaced.

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Endeavour will stand down until July 11 to allow a pair of unmanned lunar probes to launch from the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. That launch, which had also been scheduled for Wednesday, was pushed back to give Endeavour a second liftoff opportunity. Now the moon mission will likely try to blast off on Thursday or Friday.

While NASA does expect the delay to cause a ripple down through future flights planned for later this year, the delays should not impact plans to retire the shuttle fleet in 2010 after eight more missions, Cain said. Endeavour's mission is NASA's third of up to five shuttle flights planned for this year.

Endeavour is slated for a busy 16-day mission to the International Space Station to deliver an outdoor research platform for the Japanese Kibo laboratory. Commander Mark Polansky will lead a seven-member crew through five challenging spacewalks and complicated robotic work to install the new lab piece, plus a load of spare supplies for the station. 

The shuttle will also carry a new long-duration crewmember for the space station, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, who is due to replace current station resident Koichi Wakata of Japan as an Expedition 20 flight engineer.

SPACE.com is providing continuous coverage of STS-127 with reporter Clara Moskowitz at Cape Canaveral and senior editor Tariq Malik in New York. Click here for mission updates and SPACE.com's live NASA TV video feed.

A NASA might not be enough money for research

American Space Agency might not be enough money for new research projects, the magazine New Scientist. Such a conclusion has commission the National Research Council of the United States following the analysis of financial condition of the agency. 

According to the council, the main reason for this situation - a large number of costly space projects that are currently under development. For many of them will need to pay more than five billion dollars. 

The main items of expenditure are called projects telescope James Webb "(James Webb) Mars and the Mars Science Laboratory. The first is a successor to the Hubble, which is scheduled for launch in 2013. The telescope will be located at an unprecedented high (almost 1.5 million kilometers) orbit in one of the Libration Points of the Earth-Sun. 

The second project is a new generation of Mars, scheduled for launch in 2009. Mars Science Laboratory will be three times heavier than the Mars Spirit and Opportunity, which are currently on the Red planet. 

The main item of expenditure, however, remains the program Constellation ( "Constellation"). It developed launchers new generation of "Ares", which will be capable of delivering a human into orbit, and on the Moon. In recent times, showing a large number of reports that the development of missiles facing serious technical difficulties. For example, vibration at the start of a future launch vehicle have been dangerous for the equipment and crew on board. To resolve this problem, engineers decided to establish a special spring.

NASA Mars robbed special status

NASA has decided to cease funding priority Martian missions. To change the policy department said the resource Nature News. From now on projects to explore the Red Planet will compete for funding with other endeavors, American space agency, on equal terms. 

A long time to study the Martian was one of the most important activities of the agency. In particular, NASA has developed a series of relatively "modest" missions as the Mars Scout (This can be translated as "Martian scout"). Probe "Phoenix", which, in particular, managed to get water from the Martian soil, was the first project of Mars Scout. 

In the near future, the American space agency plans to announce a competition of research projects Discovery. The winner will receive 425 million dollars. Compete for the receipt of the money will be able to projects aimed at exploring all planets of the solar system. 

The main reason for the refusal of the Martian lines is the lack of funds. In the future, NASA plans to combine its efforts with the European Space Agency (ESA). In 2016, ESA intends to send to the Red Planet Mars ExoMars. The American Office is about to launch into orbit of Mars probe to analyze the gas composition of the atmosphere. According to NASA, the agency plans to lay down their available means to "pull" both projects. 

In early 2009, NASA moved for an indefinite period the date of launch vehicle for Mars exploration Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The project cost is technically very well equipped with the probe increased by $ 60 million, and the agency budget does not allow him to finish the construction and testing of MSL in time.

Asynchronous processor

Few people today know that the first Soviet processor (or rather microprocessor section) K587 worked without a clock generator. He was absent at the stage of ideas, that is, the designers did not want problems with noise, etc. As a result, self-invented taktiruemuyu scheme. Actually now remembered that asynchronous processors are more convenient and practical. 

In the Soviet Union, this area was VI Warsaw, the students actively in demand in the west. At the moment I am interested in his article about asynchronous TRIMOSBUS interface. Can anyone get the original Russian version: 
journal "Automation and Computer Science" Volume 19, No 4, p. 83-90, 1985 
Returning to the processor K587, K588 Modification of CMOS is still used by the military. Civilian products with the processor - this administration machines. 

I have requested to respond to the people who ever worked with a series of K588 and can share information. The sponsors K587 (Dshhunyan, Vasenkov and others) have written at one time a couple of books. I did not find them on the Internet, perhaps someone knows where they are in djvu. 

Last edited Alik Sat Feb 18, 2006 20:36:34, edited 1 time in total.