Showing posts with label astronomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label astronomy. Show all posts
Turning Urine Into Water - NASA's New Water Recovery System
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Transporting a pint of water aboard the space shuttle cost about $15,000. Therefore, astronauts on the International Space Station have to retake every possible drop. That includes water vaporized from showers, shaving, tooth brushing and hand washing, plus perspiration and water vapor that collects within the astronauts' space suits. They even transfer water from the fuel cells that furnish electric power to the space shuttle.Until now, however, NASA has not tried to tap one major potential source of water: urine. That will soon alter with the deployment of the new Water Recovery System. It sets forth Friday, Nov. 14, from the Kennedy Space Center on the Space Shuttle Endeavor.
The Water Recovery System, made possible in part by researchers at Michigan Technological University, can transmute ordinary pee into water so pure it rivals the cleanest on Earth.
Under the new system, urine goes through an initial distillation process and then joins the rest of the recovered fluids in the water processor. The processor separates out solids such as hair and lint and then sends the waste water through a series of multi-filtration beds, in which contaminations are removed through adsorption and ion exchange.
Using mathematical models, the Tech researchers helped better the overall design of the multi-filtration beds. The redesigned beds have 30 percent more capacity, which means that NASA doesn't have to send about 60 pounds of extra supplies up to the space station annually. That will save NASA $600,000 every year. Click here to read more...
Posted byParvez Ahmed at 1:59 AM 7 comments
Labels: astronomy, offbeat, science
First Direct Images of a New Solar System Like Ours
Friday, November 14, 2008
Gemini Observatory discovery image using the Altair adaptive optics system on the Gemini North telescope with the Near-Infrared Imager (NIRI). Image shows two of the three confirmed planets indicated as "b" and "c" on the image. "b" is the ~7 Jupiter-mass planet orbiting at about 70 AU, "c" is the ~10 Jupiter-mass planet orbiting the star at about 40 AU. Due to the brightness of the central star, it has been blocked and appears blank in this image to increase visibility of the planets. (Credit: Gemini Observatory)
Astronomers using the Gemini North telescope and W.M. Keck Observatory on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea have received the first-ever direct images identifying a multi-planet system around a normal star.
The Gemini pictures allowed the international team to make the initial discovery of two of the planets in the confirmed planetary system with data obtained on October 17, 2007. Then, on October 25, 2007, and in the summer of 2008, the squad, led by Christian Marois of the National Research Council of Canada’s Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (Victoria B.C., Canada) and members from the U.S. and U.K., confirmed this discovery and found a third planet orbiting even closer to the star with images received at the Keck II telescope. In both cases, adaptive optics technology was used to correct in real-time for atmospheric turbulence to obtain these historical infrared pictures of an extra-solar multiple-planet system.
According Dr. Marois, this find is the first time we have directly imaged a family of planets around a normal star outside of our solar system. Team member Bruce Macintosh of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories says, “Until now, when astronomers discover new planets around a star, all we see are sinuous lines on a graph of the star's velocity or brightness. Now we have an real picture showing the planets themselves, and that makes things very interesting.” The discovery article is printed in the November 13, 2008, issue of Science Express, an international weekly science journal. Click here to read more...
Posted byParvez Ahmed at 3:40 AM 0 comments
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