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nairnr writes:
The booster rocket used in a test flight was badly dented when it fell into the Atlantic because of a deflated parachute, NASA said Thursday.
The new Ares I-X — the precursor to NASA's planned moon rockets — completed a two-minute flight Wednesday. The launch itself went well, officials said, but one of the three parachutes on the booster failed to work properly.
The first-stage booster — similar to what's used for the space shuttles — was found to be dented near the bottom when it was recovered from the ocean. It was expected back on shore Friday.
The Ares I-X is a prototype of what's supposed to replace the space shuttles and ultimately fly to the moon. The White House, though, may nix those plans.
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nairnr writes:
According to The National Post The most famous physicist in the world could be moving to Canada to work at a prestigious institute for pure scientific research in Waterloo.
Dr. Stephen Hawking, the award-winning author of A Brief History of Time, is reportedly considering leaving Britain's Cambridge University, after almost 50 years of groundbreaking work there on theoretical physics, in favour of the Perimeter Institute, founded by the Canadian owners of high-tech firm Research in Motion Ltd.
The Daily Telegraph reports today that the 66-year-old scientist is looking seriously at the offer to move to Canada after attacking the British government for cuts to scientific funding he has called "disastrous."
Colleagues say Dr. Hawking believes British government policy is making the nation the home of "dull science" and Dr. Hawking said publicly last month that the $160-million funding cuts would "cause enormous damage both to British science and to our international reputation."
137565
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nairnr writes:
Canadian scientists and engineers have developed a robot with a keen sense of touch that will let doctors perform microscopic operations on the brain using the most vivid visuals yet, they said on Tuesday.
A melding of brain surgery and rocket science, the neuroArm allows neurosurgeons to do their riskiest work on patients within a magnetic resonance imaging machine, or MRI, giving a clear 3-D picture of even the smallest nerves.
The robot was developed with only plastic & composite parts as you can't have metal within an MRI machine. Clinical trials are set to start soon. The robot was built with the help of the company that built the CanadArm for the Space Shuttles
14295
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nairnr writes:
Windows Vista is set to take a hard line on Piracy. Yahoo is reporting that Vista will start disabling some of its features if it thinks it is a pirated version.
Microsoft said Wednesday that people running a version of Windows Vista that it believes is pirated will initially be denied access to some of the most anticipated Vista features. That includes Windows Aero, an improved graphics technology.
If a legitimate copy is not bought within 30 days, the system will curtail functionality much further by restricting users to just the Web browser for an hour at a time, said Thomas Lindeman, Microsoft senior product manager.
Under that scenario, a person could use the browser to surf the Web, access documents on the hard drive or log onto Web-based e-mail. But the user would not be able to directly open documents from the computer desktop or run other programs such as Outlook e-mail software, Lindeman said.
Microsoft said it won't stop a computer running pirated Vista software from working completely, and it will continue to deliver critical security updates.
