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Comment Interesting Mission Concepts (Score 5, Informative) 183

by volcanopele (#26809355) Attached to: Fly Me To Which Moon?
Both the Europa and Titan mission would be very exciting missions. The Titan mission is a bit more ambitious though, with a NASA-built Titan orbiter that would map the surface at 50 meters per pixel (so not quite Google Earth resolution, but enough to define the major geologic processes that take place on Titan) and an Europe-built hot-air balloon and lander. The latter would land in the largest expanse of open liquid (methane instead of water) known outside of Earth.

The Europa mission is a bit more tame by comparison, but has a lot more technological development to back it up (which would help it come in somewhere close to its original budget). There are two orbiters. The NASA-built orbiter would explore the inner two large moons of Jupiter: Io and Europa; while the ESA-built orbiter would explore the outer two large satellites: Ganymede and Callisto. Unlike the Titan mission, no landers are planned with this mission, but the instruments on-board both spacecraft would allow it to provide more detailed global mapping of Europa and Ganymede than the Titan mission, which as mentioned before would only provide 50-m per pixel global mapping with selected areas at higher resolution imaged by the balloon (which would be limited to a relatively narrow latitude band since Titan's winds are mostly east-west).

The NASA-JPL website has a page with more detailed documents outlining the mission plans for each moon: http://opfm.jpl.nasa.gov/library/
Space

Submission + - Cassini Finds Hydrocarbon Playas on Titan (ciclops.org)

Submitted by
volcanopele
volcanopele writes: "Cassini imaging scientists announced today the discovery of changes at some of the hydrocarbon lakes on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. For the last four years, the imaging team has mapped bright and dark features on Titan's surface in the near-infrared. Dark features in Titan's polar regions, some at least 1000 kilometers across, are thought to be lakes filled with liquid hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane. The discovery announced today, represents the first time major surface changes, likely the result of flooding methane rains, have been observed at these polar lakes. Cassini scientists also released graphics comparing views of Titan's south polar region from 2004 and 2005 showing a playa that may have been filled due to hydrocarbon rainfall during the 11-month gap in observations."
Biotech

Submission + - Cows with Names Produce More Milk

Submitted by
Ponca City, We love you
Ponca City, We love you writes: "In a study involving 516 dairy farmers, Dr Catherine Douglas and Dr Peter Rowlinson of Newcastle University found that farmers who call their cows by name got 2,105 gallons out of their cows compared with 2,029 gallons for unnamed cows, over the 10-month lactation cycle. "Placing more importance on knowing the individual animals and calling them by name can — at no extra cost to the farmer - ... significantly increase milk production," said Douglas. The reason for the link is unclear, but there may be a soothing effect on cows, which tend to fear people and get nervous when led into the milking parlor. "If cows are slightly fearful of humans, they could produce [the hormone] cortisol, which suppresses milk production," Douglas says. Farmers who have named their cows "probably have a better relationship with them. They're less fearful, more relaxed and less stressed, so that could have an effect on milk yield." Sixty percent of the farmers surveyed said they "knew all the cows in the herd" and 48 per cent agreed that positive human contact was more likely to produce cows with a good milking temperament. "Just as people respond better to the personal touch, cows also feel happier and more relaxed if they are given a bit more one-to-one attention," said Douglas. ""Maybe people can be less self conscious and not worry about chatting to their cows.""
Communications

Submission + - Scientist "teleport" information one meter (time.com)

Submitted by
the4thdimension
the4thdimension writes: "While we may not be beaming up to the Enterprise anytime soon, a team of scientists from the University of Maryland and the University of Michigan have managed to teleport information between two atoms up to a meter apart. Until this point, only very tiny distances were able to be traveled. However, using a complicated system of photons, ions, lasers, and electromagnetics, scientists have managed to "teleport" information contained on one atom to another atom that is in a separate sealed container. This can lead to a wide range of developments in computing and communications."

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