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Space

Submission + - Soyuz Breaks Speed Record to ISS (gizmag.com)

Zothecula writes: A manned Soyuz spacecraft set a record for traveling to the International Space Station (ISS), arriving six hours after launch instead of the usual two days. Soyuz 34 lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, March 28 at 4:43 p.m. EDT (08:43 GMT) and docked with the ISS at 10: 28 PM EDT (03:28 GMT). It was able to catch up and match trajectories with the ISS in only four orbits using new techniques previously tested in ISS rendezvouses with Russian unmanned Progress cargo ships.

Comment yet another conversion error (Score 3, Informative) 198

Juno's mass is listed as 3625kg, or almost 8000 pounds, not almost 8 metric tons.

As for the energy obtained from "falling several hundred million miles": that would be exactly the same energy it took to get that far "up" in the first place (not saying that there's no energy to steal from Jupiter, but it's a pretty hair-brained plan, imho, not in the least because such a trajectory would probably take the better part of a decade to complete).

Comment Re:SImpler; just what sailboats do (Score 1) 315

The Blackbird craft has a ratchet in its drive system which categorically prevents the propellor from ever powering the wheels, whether by air interaction or by discharging built-up/stored rotational momentum. Its presence (and verification of functionality) was mandated by the organisation refereeing the record attempt (NALSA).

Comment Re:Floating Mountains explained (Score 1) 275

Earnshaw's Theorem doesn't apply to diamagnetic materials (e.g. superconductors). For such materials Earshaw's formulas dictate the exact opposite they do for dipoles and paramagnetic materials: diamagnetic materials can be stable in all directions at once, but not unstable in all directions at once (both can be stable in some directions and unstable in others at once, though).

Comment Nearest sextuplet (Score 5, Informative) 88

In case anyone was wondering (and since TFA doesn't mention it), the nearest sextuplet star, is, of course, Alpha Geminorum, a.k.a. Castor, the second-brightest star in the zodiac sign of Gemini, a.k.a. the Twins. It's some 50-odd lightyears away.

Note that Beta Geminorum, a.k.a. Pollux, is actually the brightest star in Gemini (whether Johann Bayer labelled Castor as the alpha star because it rises first in the night's sky, or because mythologically, the twins are always labelled "Castor and Pollux", is unknown). Pollux is a single star, with one confirmed exoplanet, Polydeuces orbitting it.

Comment Re:Some perspective please... (Score 1) 173

You can (somewhat) blame the Japanese for holding up the start of the project; It wasn't until they were bought off with a separate research facility that they dropped their claim on the reactor location.

Oh, and by the way, ITER is not just an EU project. It's about as international as the International Space Station (minus Canada, plus China).

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