[meteorite-list] Meteorite Picture of the Day
Today's Meteorite Picture of the Day: NWA 10728 Contributed by: TGMS17 http://www.tucsonmeteorites.com/mpodmain.asp?DD=03/20/2017 __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] AD Nice Bingol and many new meteorites
Hello Meteorite Collectors, I have new meteorites available at my web page collectingmeteorites.com All can be found : http://www.collectingmeteorites.com/meteorites-for-sale/ Any question? illae...@gmail.com I am open on trades All the best Tomasz Jakubowski www.collectingmeteorites.com __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Meteorite Times March 2017 Issue Now Up - Celebrating 15 Years!
Excellent! Congratulations and thanks for a great e-publication. Paul Swartz IMCA 5204 Meteorite Picture of the Day Web Master > The March 2017 issue of Meteorite Times is now ready. > __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Cassini Reveals Strange Shape of Saturn's Moon Pan
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6770 Cassini Reveals Strange Shape of Saturn's Moon Pan Jet Propulsion Laboratory March 9, 2017 [Images] These raw, unprocessed images of Saturn's tiny moon, Pan, were taken on March 7, 2017, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The flyby had a close-approach distance of 24,572 kilometers (15,268 miles). These images are the closest images ever taken of Pan and will help to characterize its shape and geology. Additional raw images from Cassini are available at: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/raw-images The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Cassini imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Caltech in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA. For more information about Cassini, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov News Media Contact Preston Dyches Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-7013 preston.dyc...@jpl.nasa.gov 2017-063 __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Volcano, Earth's Dinosaurs Went Extinct About the Same Time
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6783 Mars Volcano, Earth's Dinosaurs Went Extinct About the Same Time Jet Propulsion Laboratory March 20, 2017 New NASA research reveals that the giant Martian volcano Arsia Mons produced one new lava flow at its summit every 1 to 3 million years during the final peak of activity. The last volcanic activity there ceased about 50 million years ago -- around the time of Earth's Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, when large numbers of our planet's plant and animal species (including dinosaurs) went extinct. Located just south of Mars' equator, Arsia Mons is the southernmost member of a trio of broad, gently sloping shield volcanoes collectively known as Tharsis Montes. Arsia Mons was built up over billions of years, though the details of its lifecycle are still being worked out. The most recent volcanic activity is thought to have taken place in the caldera-the bowl-shaped depression at the top -- where 29 volcanic vents have been identified. Until now, it's been difficult to make a precise estimate of when this volcanic field was active. "We estimate that the peak activity for the volcanic field at the summit of Arsia Mons probably occurred approximately 150 million years ago -- the late Jurassic period on Earth -- and then died out around the same time as Earth's dinosaurs," said Jacob Richardson, a postdoctoral researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "It's possible, though, that the last volcanic vent or two might have been active in the past 50 million years, which is very recent in geological terms." Richardson is presenting the findings on March 20, 2017, at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. The study also is published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Measuring about 68 miles (110 kilometers) across, the caldera is deep enough to hold the entire volume of water in Lake Huron, and then some. Examining the volcanic features within the caldera required high-resolution imaging, which the researchers obtained from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The team mapped the boundaries of the lava flows from each of the 29 volcanic vents and determined the stratigraphy, or layering, of the flows. The researchers also performed a technique called crater counting -- tallying up the number of craters at least 330 feet (100 meters) in diameter -- to estimate the ages of the flows. Using a new computer model developed by Richardson and his colleagues at the University of South Florida, the two types of information were combined to determine the volcanic equivalent of a batting order for Arsia Mons' 29 vents. The oldest flows date back about 200 million years. The youngest flows probably occurred 10 to 90 million years ago -- most likely around 50 million years ago. The modeling also yielded estimates of the volume flux for each lava flow. At their peak about 150 million years ago, the vents in the Arsia Mons' caldera probably collectively produced about 0.25 to 2 cubic miles (1 to 8 cubic kilometers) of magma every million years, slowly adding to the volcano's size. "Think of it like a slow, leaky faucet of magma," said Richardson. "Arsia Mons was creating about one volcanic vent every 1 to 3 million years at the peak, compared to one every 10,000 years or so in similar regions on Earth." A better understanding of when volcanic activity on Mars took place is important because it helps researchers understand the Red Planet's history and interior structure. "A major goal of the Mars volcanology community is to understand the anatomy and lifecycle of the planet's volcanoes. Mars' volcanoes show evidence for activity over a larger time span than those on Earth, but their histories of magma production might be quite different," said Jacob Bleacher, a planetary geologist at Goddard and a co-author on the study. "This study gives us another clue about how activity at Arsia Mons tailed off and the huge volcano became quiet." Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the Context Camera. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more information about NASA missions investigating Mars, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/ News Media Contact Elizabeth Zubritsky Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-614-5438 elizabeth.a.zubrit...@nasa.gov Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 guy.webs...@jpl.nasa.gov Laurie Cantillo / Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1077 / 202-358-1726 laura.l.canti...@nasa.gov / dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov 2017-076 __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentra
[meteorite-list] NASA Mars Orbiter Tracks Back-to-Back Regional Storms (MRO)
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6771 NASA Mars Orbiter Tracks Back-to-Back Regional Storms Jet Propulsion Laboratory March 9, 2017 A regional dust storm currently swelling on Mars follows unusually closely on one that blossomed less than two weeks earlier and is now dissipating, as seen in daily global weather monitoring by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Images from the orbiter's wide-angle Mars Color Imager (MARCI) show each storm growing in the Acidalia area of northern Mars, then blowing southward and exploding to sizes bigger than the United States after reaching the southern hemisphere. That development path is a common pattern for generating regional dust storms during spring and summer in Mars' southern hemisphere, where it is now mid-summer. "What's unusual is we're seeing a second one so soon after the first one," said Mars meteorologist Bruce Cantor of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, which built and operates MARCI. "We've had orbiters watching weather patterns on Mars continuously for nearly two decades now, and many patterns are getting predictable, but just when we think we have Mars figured out, it throws us another surprise." Weekly Martian weather reports including animated sequences of MARCI observations are available at: http://www.msss.com/msss_images/latest_weather.html Weather updates from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter science team provide operators of Mars rovers advance notice both for taking precautions and for planning observations of storms, particularly in case a regional storm grows to encircle the whole planet. A planet-encircling Martian storm last occurred in 2007. The orbiter monitors storms with its Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) instrument as well as with MARCI. MCS measurements of high-altitude atmospheric warming associated with dust storms have revealed an annual pattern in the occurrence of large regional storms, and the first of these back-to-back storms fits into the identified pattern for this time of the Martian year. Researchers have watched effects of the latest storms closely. "We hope for a chance to learn more about how dust storms become global, if that were to happen," said David Kass of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. "Even if it does not become a global storm, the temperature effects due to thin dust hazes will last for several weeks." Cantor reported the second of the current back-to-back regional storms on March 5 to the team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The earlier storm, which had become regional in late February, was dissipating by then but still causing high-altitude haziness and warming. "There's still a chance the second one could become a planet-encircling storm, but it's unlikely because we're getting so late in the season," Cantor said this week. All previously observed planet-encircling dust storms on Mars occurred earlier in the southern summer. Opportunity Project Manager John Callas, at JPL, credits MARCI weather reports with helping his team protect rovers when sudden increases in atmospheric dust decrease sunlight reaching the rover solar arrays. For example, Cantor's warning about a regional storm approaching the rover Spirit in November 2008 prompted JPL to send an emergency weekend command to conserve energy by deleting a planned radio transmission by Spirit. That saved enough charge in Spirit's batteries to prevent "what would likely have been a very serious situation," Callas said. During the most recent global dust storm on Mars, in 2007, both of the rovers then operating on the planet -- Spirit and Opportunity -- were put into a power-saving mode for more than a week with minimal communication. The early-2010 ending of Spirit's mission was not related to a dust storm. The same winds that raise Martian dust into the atmosphere can clear some of the dust that accumulates on the rovers. On Feb. 25, as the first back-to-back was spreading regionally, Opportunity experienced a significant cleaning of its solar panels that increased their energy output by more than 10 percent, adjusted for the clarity of the atmosphere. Dust-removing events typically clean the panels by only one or two percent. The Opportunity operations team has noticed over the years that a large dust-cleaning event often precedes dusty skies. Since Feb. 25, the atmosphere over Opportunity has become dustier, and some of the dust has already fallen back onto the solar panels. "Before the first regional dust storm, the solar panels were cleaner than they were during the last four Martian summers, so the panels generated more energy," said JPL rover-power engineer Jennifer Herman. "It remains to be seen whether the outcome of these storms will be a cleaner or dirtier Opportunity. We have seen both results from dust storms in the past." NASA's Curiosity rover, on Mars since 2012, uses a radioisotope thermoelectric generator f
[meteorite-list] Does Mars Have Rings? Not Right Now, But Maybe One Day
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6781 Does Mars Have Rings? Not Right Now, But Maybe One Day Jet Propulsion Laboratory March 20, 2017 As children, we learned about our solar system's planets by certain characteristics -- Jupiter is the largest, Saturn has rings, Mercury is closest to the sun. Mars is red, but it's possible that one of our closest neighbors also had rings at one point and may have them again someday. That's the theory put forth by NASA-funded scientists at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, whose findings were published in the journal Nature Geoscience. David Minton and Andrew Hesselbrock developed a model that suggests that debris that was pushed into space from an asteroid or other body slamming into Mars around 4.3 billion years ago alternates between becoming a planetary ring and clumping together to form a moon. One theory suggests that Mars' large North Polar Basin or Borealis Basin -- which covers about 40 percent of the planet in its northern hemisphere -- was created by that impact, sending debris into space. "That large impact would have blasted enough material off the surface of Mars to form a ring," Hesselbrock said. Hesselbrock and Minton's model suggests that as the ring formed, and the debris slowly moved away from the Red Planet and spread out, it began to clump and eventually formed a moon. Over time, Mars' gravitational pull would have pulled that moon toward the planet until it reached the Roche limit, the distance within which a planet's tidal forces will break apart a celestial body that is held together only by gravity. Phobos, one of Mars' moons, is getting closer to the planet. According to the model, Phobos will break apart upon reaching the Roche limit, and become a set of rings in roughly 70 million years. Depending on where the Roche limit is, Minton and Hesselbrock believe this cycle may have repeated between three and seven times over billions of years. Each time a moon broke apart and reformed from the resulting ring, its successor moon would be five times smaller than the last, according to the model, and debris would have rained down on the planet, possibly explaining enigmatic sedimentary deposits found near Mars' equator. "You could have had kilometer-thick piles of moon sediment raining down on Mars in the early parts of the planet's history, and there are enigmatic sedimentary deposits on Mars with no explanation as to how they got there," Minton said. "And now it's possible to study that material." Other theories suggest that the impact with Mars that created the North Polar Basin led to the formation of Phobos 4.3 billion years ago, but Minton said it's unlikely the moon could have lasted all that time. Also, Phobos would have had to form far from Mars and would have had to cross through the resonance of Deimos, the outer of Mars' two moons. Resonance occurs when two moons exert gravitational influence on each other in a repeated periodic basis, as major moons of Jupiter do. By passing through its resonance, Phobos would have altered Deimos' orbit. But Deimos' orbit is within one degree of Mars' equator, suggesting Phobos has had no effect on Deimos. "Not much has happened to Deimos' orbit since it formed," Minton said. "Phobos passing through these resonances would have changed that." "This research highlights even more ways that major impacts can affect a planetary body," said Richard Zurek of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. He is the project scientist for NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, whose gravity mapping provided support for the hypothesis that the northern lowlands were formed by a massive impact. Minton and Hesselbrock will now focus their work on either the dynamics of the first set of rings that formed or the materials that have rained down on Mars from disintegration of moons. For more information about NASA missions investigating Mars, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/ News Media Contact Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 guy.webs...@jpl.nasa.gov Laurie Cantillo / Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1077 / 202-358-1726 laura.l.canti...@nasa.gov / dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov Steve Tally / Emil Venere Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. 765-494-9809 / 765-494-4709 st...@purdue.edu / ven...@purdue.edu Writer: Brian Wallheimer 2017-075 __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Dawn Identifies Age of Ceres' Brightest Area
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6766 Dawn Identifies Age of Ceres' Brightest Area Jet Propulsion Laboratory March 8, 2017 The bright central area of Ceres' Occator Crater, known as Cerealia Facula, is approximately 30 million years younger than the crater in which it lies, according to a new study in the Astronomical Journal. Scientists used data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft to analyze Occator's central dome in detail, concluding that this intriguing bright feature on the dwarf planet is only about 4 million years old -- quite recent in terms of geological history. Researchers led by Andreas Nathues at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Gottingen, Germany, analyzed data from two instruments on board NASA's Dawn spacecraft: the framing camera, and the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer. The new study supports earlier interpretations from the Dawn team that this reflective material -- comprising the brightest area on all of Ceres -- is made of carbonate salts, although it did not confirm a particular type of carbonate previously identified. The secondary, smaller bright areas of Occator, called Vinalia Faculae, are comprised of a mixture of carbonates and dark material, the study authors wrote. New evidence also suggests that Occator's bright dome likely rose in a process that took place over a long period of time, rather than forming in a single event. They believe the initial trigger was the impact that dug out the crater itself, causing briny liquid to rise closer to the surface. Water and dissolved gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, came up and created a vent system. These rising gases also could have forced carbonate-rich materials to ascend toward the surface. During this period, the bright material would have erupted through fractures, eventually forming the dome that we see today. Read more from MPS The spacecraft is currently on its way to a high-altitude orbit of 12,400 miles (20,000 kilometers), and to a different orbital plane. In late spring, Dawn will view Ceres in "opposition," with the sun directly behind the spacecraft. By measuring details of the brightness of the salt deposits in this new geometry, scientists may gain even more insights into these captivating bright areas. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of mission participants, visit: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission More information about Dawn is available at the following sites: http://www.nasa.gov/dawn http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov News Media Contact Elizabeth Landau Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6425 elizabeth.lan...@jpl.nasa.gov 2017-059 __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] COBALT Flight Demonstrations Fuse Technologies to Gain Precision Landing Results
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6780 COBALT Flight Demonstrations Fuse Technologies to Gain Precision Landing Results March 17, 2017 Many regions in the solar system beckon for exploration, but they are considered unreachable due to technology gaps in current landing systems. The CoOperative Blending of Autonomous Landing Technologies (COBALT) project, conducted by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) and Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, could change that. Through a flight campaign this month through April, COBALT will mature and demonstrate new guidance, navigation and control (GN&C) technologies to enable precision landing for future exploration missions. "COBALT will allow us to reduce the risk in developing future landing systems and will benefit robotic landers to planetary surfaces by allowing for autonomous precision landing," said LaNetra Tate, STMD's Game Changing Development (GCD) program executive. "This will definitely become a game-changing technology." The campaign will pair and test new landing sensor technologies that promise to yield the highest-precision navigation solution ever tested for NASA space landing applications. The technologies, a Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL), which provides ultra-precise velocity and line-of-sight range measurements, and the Lander Vision System (LVS), which provides terrain relative navigation, will be integrated and flight tested aboard a rocket-powered vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) platform. The platform, named Xodiac, was developed by Masten Space Systems in Mojave, California. "In this first flight campaign, we plan to successfully complete the integration, flight testing and performance analysis of the COBALT payload," explained John M. Carson III, COBALT project manager. "This is considered a passive test, where COBALT will be solely collecting data, while the Xodiac vehicle will rely on its GPS for active navigation."" In a follow-up flight campaign in summer 2017, COBALT will become the active navigation system for Xodiac, and the vehicle will use GPS only as a safety monitor and backup. "The knowledge from these flights will lead into the development of systems for deployment in future NASA landing missions to Mars and the moon," said Carson. So how does it work? The technologies themselves are very different, but together they are a recipe for precision landing. The NDL, developed at NASA's Langley Research Center (LaRC), is an evolution of a prototype flown by the former ALHAT (Autonomous precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology) project on the NASA Morpheus vehicle in 2014. The new NDL is 60 percent smaller, operates at nearly triple the speed and provides longer range measurements. "NDL functionally is similar to the radar systems used in previous Mars landers, Phoenix and Mars Science Laboratory," explained Farzin Amzajerdian, NDL chief scientist at Langley. "The major difference is that the NDL uses a laser instead of a microwave as its transmitter. Operating at almost four orders of magnitude higher frequency makes the measurement a whole lot more accurate. NDL also is much smaller than radar systems, which is a big deal as every ounce counts when sending a lander to Mars or other destinations." LVS, developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is a camera-based navigation system that photographs the terrain beneath a descending spacecraft and matches it with onboard maps to determine vehicle location, explained Carl Seubert, the COBALT project lead at JPL. "This allows the craft to detect its location relative to large landing hazards seen in the onboard maps, such as large boulders and terrain outcroppings," Seubert said. COBALT is one springboard for these technologies, which will find their way into future missions. The NDL design is geared toward infusion onto near-term lunar, Mars or other missions. The LVS was developed for infusion onto the Mars 2020 robotic lander mission, and has application to many other missions. "Both NDL and LVS come from more than a decade of NASA research and development investments across multiple projects within robotic and human exploration programs, and from the hard work and dedication of personnel across the agency," said Carson. "These COBALT technologies give moon and Mars spacecraft the ability to land much more precisely, improving access to interesting sites in complex terrain and to any exploration assets previously deployed to the surface," said Jason Crusan, director of NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems division. "Landings will also be more controlled and gentle, potentially allowing smaller landing legs and propellant reserves, and resulting in lower mission risk, mass and cost." The COBALT team is managed at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, and comprises of engineers from JSC, JPL in Pasadena, California, and LaRC in Hampton, V
[meteorite-list] Origami-inspired Robot Can Hitch a Ride with a Rover
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6782 Origami-inspired Robot Can Hitch a Ride with a Rover Jet Propulsion Laboratory March 20, 2017 The next rovers to explore another planet might bring along a scout. The Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER) in development at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, was inspired by origami. Its lightweight design is capable of flattening itself, tucking in its wheels and crawling into places rovers can't fit. Over the past year and a half, PUFFER has been tested in a range of rugged terrains, from the Mojave Desert in California to the snowy hills of Antarctica. The idea is to explore areas that might be too risky for a full-fledged rover to go, such as steep slopes or behind sand dunes. It's designed to skitter up 45-degree slopes, investigate overhangs and even drop into pits or craters. PUFFER is meant to be the hardy assistant to a larger robot companion: several of the microbots can be flattened like cards and stacked one on top of the other. Then, they can be flicked out, popped up and begin exploring. "They can do parallel science with a rover, so you can increase the amount you're doing in a day," said Jaakko Karras, PUFFER's project manager at JPL. "We can see these being used in hard-to-reach locations -- squeezing under ledges, for example." PUFFER's creators at JPL hope to see the bot rolling across the sands of Mars someday. But they imagine it could be used by scientists right here on Earth, as well. Carolyn Parcheta, a JPL scientist who uses robots to explore volcanoes, offered guidance on PUFFER's science instruments. She said the use of backpack-ready bots has enormous potential for fields like geology. "Having something that's as portable as a compass or a rock hammer means you can do science on the fly," she said. A paper prototype PUFFER's body was originated by Karras, who was experimenting with origami designs. While he was a grad student at UC Berkeley's Biomimetic Millisystem Lab, he worked on developing robotics based on natural forms, like animal and insect movement. The PUFFER team substituted paper with a printed circuit board -- the same thing inside of your smartphone. That allowed them to incorporate more electronics, including control and rudimentary instruments. "The circuit board includes both the electronics and the body, which allows it to be a lot more compact," said Christine Fuller, a JPL mechanical engineer who worked on PUFFER's structure and tested it for reliability. "There are no mounting fasteners or other parts to deal with. Everything is integrated to begin with." JPL's Kalind Carpenter, who specializes in robotic mobility, made four wheels for the folding bot on a 3-D printer. Their first prototype was little more than rolling origami, but it quickly grew more complex. The wheels evolved, going from four to two, and gaining treads that allow it to climb inclines. They can also be folded over the main body, allowing PUFFER to crawl. A tail was added for stabilization. Solar panels on PUFFER's belly allow it to flip over and recharge in the sun. The team partnered with the Biomimetic Millisystems Lab, which developed a "skittering walk" that keeps the bot inching forward, one wheel at a time, without slipping. A company called Distant Focus Corporation, Champaign, Illinois, provided a high-resolution microimager sensitive enough to see objects that are just 10 microns in size -- a fraction of a diameter of a human hair. Before long, PUFFER was ready for a test drive. >From the Mojave to Mars Once they had a functional prototype, the JPL team took PUFFER out for field testing. In Rainbow Basin, California, the bot clambered over sedimentary rock slopes and under overhangs. That terrain serves as an analog to Martian landscapes. On Mars, overhangs could be sheltering organic molecules from harmful radiation. Darkly colored Martian slopes, which are of interest to scientists, are another potential target. On a level dirt path, PUFFER can drive about 2,050 feet (625 meters) on one battery charge. That could fluctuate a bit depending on how much any onboard instruments are used. Besides desert conditions, PUFFER has been outfitted for snow. Carpenter designed bigger wheels and a flat fishtail to help it traverse wintry terrain. So far, it's been tested at a ski resort in Grand Junction, Colorado; Big Bear, California; and on Mt. Erebus, an active volcano in Antarctica. One of PUFFER's more recent field tests wasn't particularly challenging, but can still be counted as a success: the Consumer Electronics Show. On a convention center floor in Las Vegas, it drew crowds of delighted technology fans. PUFFER grows up The next step is making PUFFER a scientist. The JPL team is looking at adding a number of instruments that would allow it to sample water for organic material, or a spectrometer to study the chemical makeup of
[meteorite-list] Meteorite Ocotillo, Lowicz, Boolka, Landes, Isheyevo for sale
Dear List Members, I have several interesting no reserve auctions, please take a look: Meteorite Ocotillo iron coarse octahedrite 14,93g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/172585714233 Meteorite Lowicz polished part slice 7,30g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/172585740921 Meteorite Isheyevo – Rare metal-rich carbonaceous chondrite Bencubbin 20g. (ending 1 day) http://www.ebay.com/itm/172585710037 Meteorite Boolka rare polished part slice 10,05g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/172576172296 Meteorite Maslyanino - Iron fine octahedrite with silicate inclusions 16,44g. (ending 1 day) http://www.ebay.com/itm/172576159105 Meteorite Tenham polished part slice 36,70g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/172585745004 Meteorite Kirishi ultra rare 6,80g. http://www.ebay.com/itm172585725681 Meteorite Landes iron coarse octahedrite 8,45g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/172585700671 More my auctions can be seen here: http://www.ebay.com/usr/moonlight-77 Thank you for looking! Olga eBay moonlight-77 __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
