The solar wind is swirly

Using ESA’s Cluster quartet of satellites as a space plasma microscope, scientists have zoomed in on the solar wind to reveal the finest detail yet, finding tiny turbulent swirls that could play a big role in heating it. Turbulence is highly complex and all around us, evident in water flowing from a tap, around an aircraft wing, in experimental fusion reactors on Earth, and also in space.

In the stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun – the solar wind – turbulence is thought to play a key part in maintaining its heat as it streams away and races across the Solar System. As the solar wind expands, it cools down, but to a much smaller extent than would be expected if the flow were smooth.

Turbulence arises from irregularities in the flow of particles and magnetic field lines, but understanding how this energy is transferred from the large scales where it originates, to the small scales where it is dissipated, is like trying to trace energy as it is transferred from the smooth, laminar flow of a river down to the small turbulent eddies formed at the bottom of a waterfall.

In a new study, two of the four Cluster satellites have made extremely detailed observations of plasma turbulence in the solar wind. They were separated by just 20 km along the direction of the plasma flow and operated in ‘burst mode’ to take 450 measurements per second. By comparing the results with computer simulations, scientists confirmed the existence of sheets of electric current just 20 km across, on the borders of turbulent swirls.

“This shows for the first time that the solar wind plasma is extremely structured at this high resolution,” says Silvia Perri of the Universita della Calabria, Italy, and lead author of the paper reporting the result. Cluster previously detected current sheets on much larger scales of 100 km in the magnetosheath, the region sandwiched between Earth’s magnetic bubble – the magnetosphere – and the bow shock that is created as it meets the solar wind.

At the borders of these turbulent eddies the process of ‘magnetic reconnection’ was detected, whereby oppositely directed field lines spontaneously break and reconnect with other nearby field lines, thus releasing their energy.“Although we haven’t yet detected reconnection occurring at these new smaller scales, it is clear that we are seeing a cascade of energy which may contribute to the overall heating of the solar wind,” said Dr Perri.  

Future missions such as ESA’s Solar Orbiter and NASA’s Solar Probe Plus will be able to determine whether similar processes are also in play closer to the Sun, while NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission will specifically probe the small-scale regions where reconnection can occur.“This Cluster result demonstrates the mission’s unique capability to probe universal physical phenomena, in this case pushing the mission’s instrument measurement capabilities to their limit to unlock features at small scales,” comments Matt Taylor, ESA’s Cluster Project Scientist.

“Future multi-spacecraft missions will make very detailed studies of these small-scale plasma phenomena and provide further context to our Cluster measurements.”

For further information visit: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/The_solar_wind_is_swirly/(print)

Ariane 5 completes seven launches in 2012

 This evening, an Ariane 5 launcher lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on its mission to place two telecom satellites, Skynet-5D and Mexsat Bicentenario, into their planned transfer orbits. Liftoff of flight VA211, the 67th Ariane 5 mission, came at 21:49 GMT (22:49 CET; 18:49 French Guiana). The target injection orbit had a perigee altitude of 249.7 km, an apogee altitude at injection of 35 977 km and an inclination of 2°. 

Skynet-5D and Mexsat Bicentenario were accurately injected into their orbits at 24 and 36 minutes after launch, respectively.Skynet-5D will be positioned in geostationary above the equator at 25°E. Built by Astrium satellites for the operator Astrium Services, it provides secure telecommunications services to the British Ministry of Defence, NATO and countries that already use the Skynet family of military communications satellites. 

Mexsat Bicentenario is the fifth Mexican satellite to be launched by Ariane. It will provide telecommunications services for Mexico and neighbouring countries. The payload mass for this launch was 8637 kg, including the mass of auxiliary payload adaptors. Flight VA211 was Ariane 5’s 53rd successful launch in a row since December 2002.

For further information visit: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Launchers/Ariane_5_completes_seven_launches_in_2012/(print)

Curiosity Rover Takes Detailed Self-Portrait on Mars

A series of photos taken by NASA's Curiosity and combined into a single composite picture offer a rare, detailed glimpse of the rover patrolling the surface of Mars on a rocky terrain with its target destination-Mount Sharp-in the background.

The full-color picture - which shows Curiosity in a desert-like environment surrounded by its own tire tracks - is actually a mosaic of dozens of high-resolution images taken by a camera located on the rover's robotic arm, called the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI).

"Self-portraits like this one document the state of the rover and allow mission engineers to track changes over time, such as dust accumulation and wheelwear," NASA stated on its website, where the picture was featured as its image of the day on Thursday.

The pictures, captured on October 31 and November 1, show Curiosity at "Rocknest," an area where the rover took its first sampling of the Martian planet. In November, NASA released another portrait of Curiosity that was created out of 55 pictures but said it doesn't provide the expansive view of Mount Sharp that this latest mosaic does.

Curiosity landed safely on the Red Planet on August 6.NASA's goal for the rover's mission is to determine if life exists now or has in the past, to characterize the climate and geology, and prepare for future human exploration on Mars.

For further information visit: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Curiosity_Rover_Takes_Detailed_Self_Portrait_on_Mars_999.html

Russia to build new heavy ICBM by 2018 - Karakayev

Russia will have built a new heavy liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile by late 2018, a missile that will prove largely superior to all of its predecessors, including the world's most powerful strategic missile Voyevoda, (NATO reporting name SS-18 Satan), in terms of combat effectiveness and the ability to penetrate the US missile defence system.

This came in a statement for journalists by the Commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces Sergei Karakayev. He pointed out that it is the deployment of the US global missile defence system, a system that grows more powerful each year that prompted Russia to think of counteraction.

US to intercept Russian ICBMs in Europe - Karakayev

The missile defence system that the United States plans to deploy in Europe will be able to intercept Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, deployed in European Russia. This came in a statement at a news briefing in Moscow last week by the Commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces Sergei Karakayev.

The US claims that the European antimissile system will counter Iran's missile threat. But it is only Russia that has ICBMs in Europe. In this context, we understand that the US antimissile system will target Russia, since ICBMs and submarine-based ballistic missiles are the backbone of Russia's nuclear containment force.

Russian missiles capable to resist any anti missile defense system

Moscow (Voice of Russia) Dec 16 - Under any possible scenario the Russian Strategic Missile Forces will be capable to withstand the potential of any missile defense system and to ensure fulfillment of tasks, Sergei Karakayev, Commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, has told today. According to Colonel-General Karakaev, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces has six types of missile launches, both stationary and mobile, including the fifth generation Yars and Topol-M launchers, in arsenal.

Karakaev noted that effectiveness of any strike force suggests a sustainable resistance to any outer impact, including a nuclear one.

Besides, an effective strike force should be capable to cause unacceptable damage, even under the threat from an anti-missile defense system.

For further information visit: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Russia_to_build_new_heavy_ICBM_by_2018_Karakayev_999.html

Russian rocket launch rescheduled

A postponed Russian rocket launch has been rescheduled for Jan. 15, the Russian Space Forces said. The rocket launch was originally Dec. 8, but was postponed to fix malfunctions in the Briz-KM booster, RIA Novosti reported."A state commission resolved at a session on Friday that the launch of the light-class Rokot rocket will be held on Jan. 15," Russian Space Forces spokesman Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said Saturday.

The rocket is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 ballistic missile and uses two original lower stages of the missile along with a Breeze-KM upper-stage for commercial payloads.

Russia has launched 16 Rokots since May 16, 2000. Rokot launches were suspended for about 18 months when a rocket failed to put the Geo-IK-2 military satellite into the designated orbit on Feb. 1, 2011.

For further information visit: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russian_rocket_launch_rescheduled_999.html

New LandSat Satellite Scheduled for Launch

Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), or LandSat 8, during Observatory Electromagnetic Interference/Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMI/EMC) testing at Orbital Science Corporation's Gilbert, Ariz., location. August, 2012.

The newest LandSat satellite, LandSat 8, has been scheduled for a February 2013 launch. The spacecraft designed, built and tested by Orbital Sciences Corporation will continue the work of NASA and USGS Earth observation programs, extending a 40-year-old legacy in the country.

The satellite weights slightly more than 6,600 pounds and is approximately 20 feet tall with a 9-foot diameter at its widest point. It has four solar panels that will stretch out 32 feet from the satellite.

Once LandSat 8 is operational in its final orbit, Landsat 5, a 28-year-old spacecraft will be decommissioned and taken out of orbit. Its creators expect LandSat 8 to last between five and 10 years, serving different industries such as emergency response and disaster relief, regional planning, education, agriculture, mapping, geology and forestry.

LandSat 8 will more than double the amount of images produced by its predecessor LandSat 7, and feature two new spectral bands that will allow it to detect clouds on coastal zones

For further information visit: http://www.satellitetoday.com/curatedcontent/40264.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=2583683&hq_l=34&hq_v=19744a885d

Expected Sun Storm Threats Satellite Communications

The new generation of satellites will face a hot test next year. Intense solar storms are expected, which means that the number of sunspots will increase massively, causing changes in our planet’s ionosphere – the shell of plasma at the top of our atmosphere.

During these solar events, the star’s irradiance output increases by approximately 0.1 percent. Thus, more heat will be expelled from the sun, which causes the ionosphere to become thicker during the day and cooler during the night. This could in itself cause turbulence that affect radio systems.

This would be the first “solar maximum” for current-generation satellite navigation technology. Scientists are considering the possibility that the changes in the ionosphere could cause problems such as signal delay with GPS and other communication from space.

The European Space Agency is installing monitoring stations all over the globe to keep track of the solar maximum’s effects and consequences for satellite navigation and communications. They will measure variations in GPS signals with more accuracy than existing systems.

For further information visit: http://www.satellitetoday.com/curatedcontent/40253.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=2583683&hq_l=38&hq_v=19744a885d

Expected Sun Storm Threats Satellite Communications

The new generation of satellites will face a hot test next year. Intense solar storms are expected, which means that the number of sunspots will increase massively, causing changes in our planet’s ionosphere – the shell of plasma at the top of our atmosphere.

During these solar events, the star’s irradiance output increases by approximately 0.1 percent. Thus, more heat will be expelled from the sun, which causes the ionosphere to become thicker during the day and cooler during the night. This could in itself cause turbulence that affect radio systems.

This would be the first “solar maximum” for current-generation satellite navigation technology. Scientists are considering the possibility that the changes in the ionosphere could cause problems such as signal delay with GPS and other communication from space.

The European Space Agency is installing monitoring stations all over the globe to keep track of the solar maximum’s effects and consequences for satellite navigation and communications. They will measure variations in GPS signals with more accuracy than existing systems.

For further information visit: http://www.satellitetoday.com/curatedcontent/40253.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=2583683&hq_l=38&hq_v=19744a885d

China eyes greater market share for its GPS rival

China has invested billions of yuan into the development of the BDS and provisions for its services in the Asia-Pacific region. 

China's domestically-produced navigation system aims to take 70 to 80 percent of the now GPS-dominated domestic market by 2020, a spokesman for the system said Thursday. We hope industries based on the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) will hold 15 to 20 percent of the market share by 2015, BDS spokesman Ran Chengqi, also director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, said at a press conference on the official launch of the system.

Ran announced that the BDS began providing positioning, navigation, timing and short message services to civilian users in China and surrounding areas in the Asia-Pacific region on Thursday. Ran said the general functionality and performance of the BDS is "comparable" to the GPS system, but cheaper.He further explained that the BDS open service is currently available and features positioning accuracy of 10 meters, velocity accuracy of 0.2 meters per second and one-way timing accuracy of 50 nanoseconds. The BDS offers more conveniences for navigation system users with equipment that is compatible with multiple navigation systems, as they will no longer have to rely on a single service, said Ran.

A 2011 report said 95 percent of satellite navigation equipment in China relied on GPS services, while industrial statistics show that the total output of China's navigation service sector will top 120 billion yuan (19.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2012.China has invested billions of yuan into the development of the BDS and provisions for its services in the Asia-Pacific region. This investment is lower than that of the system's counterparts, Ran said. With an eye on the global market in the next ten years, China plans to allocate more than 40 billion yuan for the development of the BDS, a total higher than previous investment, Ran added.

Also on Thursday, the China Satellite Navigation Office issued an Interface Control Document (ICD) for Open Service Signal B1I in both Chinese and English. The beta version of the document was released last year, prior to the system's completion, showing the Chinese government's open attitude toward the worldwide application of the BDS, Ran said.

The beta version also attracted enterprises and experts from both home and abroad to develop the system's core techniques and modules, Ran added."No satellite will be launched in 2013, but starting from 2014, a batch of satellites will be in space," Ran said, adding that around 40 other satellites are expected to be launched when the global system is established in ten years.

BeiDou is the Chinese name for the seven-star cluster known in English as the Big Dipper. China launched the first satellite for the BDS in 2000, and a preliminary version of the system has been used in traffic control, weather forecasting and disaster relief work on a trial basis since 2003.

For further information visit: http://www.gpsdaily.com/reports/China_eyes_greater_market_share_for_its_GPS_rival_999.html

Researchers told to ward off navigation system interference

In 1994, the BDS project was approved as one of the country's strategic targets, and a timetable composed of three stages for the development of the BDS took shape. 

A high-ranking military official on Friday urged researchers to properly maintain China's home-grown navigation system so it can provide steady and reliable services for the country's economic development and military combat preparations.

Fan Changlong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, required researchers to beef up the security measures of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and increase its capacity to ward off interference. The BDS began providing services to civilian users in China and surrounding areas in the Asia-Pacific region on Thursday. The general functionality and performance of the BDS is "comparable" to the GPS system, but cheaper, a spokesman for the system said at a press conference on Thursday. Fan said the system has broken China's reliance on foreign navigation systems and carries great significance in safeguarding national security and promoting economic development.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission on Friday jointly issued a letter congratulating relevant parties on the launch of the BDS.The letter hailed the system's launch as a "milestone" in the cause of the informationization of the country and its military. The success also marks China's great progress in building its own independent navigation system, it said. In the letter, authorities paid respect and extended greetings to the scientists, army officers and staff members involved in the research, production, management and maintenance of the system.

The success of the BDS was gained through the country's efforts in independent innovation, cooperation among different units and the spirit to conquer difficulties and pursue excellence, the letter said. China started its initial research on the system in 1985, and the project is named after the seven-star cluster known in English as the Big Dipper.

It initially encountered some skepticism, as people doubted its necessity, thinking it would be difficult to rival the U.S.-based GPS system. In 1994, the BDS project was approved as one of the country's strategic targets, and a timetable composed of three stages for the development of the BDS took shape. China launched the first satellite for the BDS in 2000, and a preliminary version of the system has been used in traffic control, weather forecasting and disaster relief work on a trial basis since 2003.

At present, the system has over 130,000 military and civilian users, including those in the financial, power, fishery and fire-fighting sectors, and it served as an important means of communication during the relief work following the devastating 8.0-magnitude earthquake in May 2008 in Sichuan's Wenchuan County. Ran Chengqi, a spokesman for the system, on Thursday said the system aims to take 70 to 80 percent of the now GPS-dominated domestic market by 2020.

For further information visit: http://www.gpsdaily.com/reports/Researchers_told_to_ward_off_navigation_system_interference_999.html

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Researchers Use Data from Traffic App to Identify Safety Issues and High Frequency Accident Locations

-- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers reveal that data culled from geosocial networks like the GPS traffic app Waze can help prevent traffic incidents with better deployment of police resources at the most accident prone areas. 

“Only now are we beginning to discover the potential in the huge amount of data collected daily,” explains BGU researcher and Ph.D. student Michael Fire. “Studies of this kind, which monitor events such as traffic accidents over time, can help the police identify dangerous sections of roads in real time, or alternatively, locations where few police are needed.” 

The paper, “Data Mining Opportunities in Geosocial Networks for Improving Road Safety,” was presented at the IEEE 27th Convention of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Israel. Waze records location data and enables users to upload and share comments on any detail, including traffic alerts, accidents or police presence. According to its Web site, Waze has 30 million worldwide users and describes itself as “a community-based traffic and navigation app whose users share real-time traffic and road info, saving time and gas money.”

Using Waze data and Google Earth, the BGU researchers determined that three-quarters (75 percent) of the locations in Israel with the highest number of accidents were intersections.  They then analyzed references to a police presence to determine if the police were present at the spots that had the worst traffic accidents.

“There were numerous instances where the police were manning quieter intersections, while busier intersections went unmonitored,” Fire explains.  “According to the data, police response time varied from 20 minutes to 40 minutes in some situations.”  

Using Waze, data from May and June 2012 was collected and analyzed on accident reports, police presence, traffic jams, and speed traps.  BGU researchers identified 579 different locations in Israel that had at least five reoccurring accidents during this time where 5,156 reported accidents occurred.  Police were reported at least 15 times at more than 3,500 locations. 

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision, creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. With some 20,000 students on campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sede Boqer and Eilat in Israel’s southern desert, BGU is a university with a conscience, where the highest academic standards are integrated with community involvement, committed to sustainable development of the Negev.  AABGU is headquartered in Manhattan and has nine regional offices throughout the U.S. For more information, please visit www.aabgu.org.

For further information visit: http://www10.giscafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?section=CorpNews&articleid=1149480&printerfriendly=1

Top Geospatial Predictions for 2013

On this first day of the Winter Solstice, it is a time of reflection and quiet, noticing how remarkable it is that the planets are all aligned with the sun. It is also a good time to look at what we might find important geospatial topics for 2013.

1. Climate Change. Although climate change has been around for quite some time, it is a problem that is not going away and in fact showing itself in more urgent ways. The change in climate affects our weather, seas, coastlines, food supplies, natural resources, health, housing, to name a few areas of survival. The increase in natural disasters can be attributed in large part due to climate change. As federal and global agencies spend more funding on disaster recovery and restoration, they will have to pay attention to the longer-range outlook of recovering the global ecology.

The most popular article on GISCafe Today this past year was the following article:

Climage Change Affects Coastlines at Greater Rate than other Places on the Planet

2. Satellite imagery. In July, Herndon-based GeoEye announced plans to combine with competitor DigitalGlobe in a deal worth $900 million, following the federal government’s move to reduce funding for their most lucrative contract. Prior to this GeoEye had tried a hostile takeover of DigitalGlobe, which the Denver-based company refused. This merger was finalized in November.

The companies have been direct competitors for many years, offering photo capture and other imagery from satellites that orbit the Earth that they then sell them to federal agencies, the military and others who benefit from a bird’s-eye view of the planet. It is hoped that the merger will save both companies money in the production of their satellites.

This merger signals a shift, not only in the one-stop shopping offering of one American satellite imagery for all, but also makes a telling statement about the federal government’s cuts in geospatial spending. At this point the extent of the cuts is unknown nor do we know what aspects of the industry will be affected.

3. Cloud. The cloud appears to be here to stay, and although it is somewhat old news, it is new news in the way it will be deployed going forward. According to Esri president Jack Dangermond, “With the dawning of the cloud web world pattern for GIS, we’re seeing how we can share this knowledge and create better understanding. GIS drives understanding.” More Autodesk products are being moved to the cloud to facilitate ease in sharing and ability to store more data. Autodesk CEO Carl Bass says,  “Cloud architecture is the biggest thing to happen to computing since the PC.”

4. Geospatial in Infrastructure. In response to the critical need for infrastructure repair and retrofit in the U.S., geospatial visualization, geolocation and integration has found its way into the world of architecture and construction. There is $53 billion worth of infrastructure that must be repaired or replaced in the U.S. Globally, there is a greater investment in infrastructure. Creating an intelligent infrastructure requires the use of geospatial, for site planning, indoor mapping, weather and soil analysis and many other uses. This increases the urgency for geospatial in the creation of new cities or revamping existing ones.

The industry area that has enjoyed a huge uptake in recent years is Civil. Both Autodesk and Bentley Systems have 3D civil engineering products that are fully integrated with geospatial solutions that can be used with Esri software. The latest trend according to IMAGINiT, an Autodesk consultancy, is that the customer base that was reluctant to adopt Civil 3D now must have it. GIS customers are gravitating toward their Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler.

“Everything is Geospatial” – Report from Autodesk University 2012

Bentley Geospatial and Utilities Update

5. Mobile.  Although mobile is not new, it is changing dramatically. More tablet devices are being used in the developed world, bringing more information to more people, and this usage is extending to the developing world. Mobile devices in developing countries are used for banking and healthcare and are in general used for more tasks. This is a market to tap into, making GIS available to more people who might otherwise not have access to it, and thereby giving them a voice which can then influence land ownership, health, analysis of soils and weather, all topics that can make a profound difference to their lives.

6. Security. Teresa Payton, Former White House CIO, Cybersecurity Authority and Identity Theft Expert, made some surprising announcements about security:“51% of CIOS cite security as their greatest concern regarding current or planned moves to cloud computing.”“According to the FBI, there are two types of companies right now. Those that have been hacked and those that don’t realize they’ve been hacked.”

One thing she said concerns CIOs and CEOs is intellectual property theft. She gave an example: a big company was hacked of their intellectual property. They had hired some kids from China for the summer, and when they left, so did 20 years of research. “Whoever stole it probably knows what to do with it,” Payton said. “If they had had a vendor partner this might not have been so devastating.”

“I believe with the right best practices and the right conversations with your vendor, you can actually be safer in the cloud.”Most outsourcing contracts fail to cover security effectively, according to Gartner.

By 2013 the enterprise will turn to hybrid clouds for services, and will look to private clouds for B2B interaction management and governance strategies. By 2014 the cloud will be the primary operating model for enterprise IT organizations. By 2015 economies of scale and cloud security assurances will drive more enterprises to adopt cloud services. Personal computers and devices will get replaced more and more by the cloud.

“There’s a new role emerging – global executive of cloud services,” said Peyton. Peyton recommended getting a pre-nup agreement for signing with a cloud services provider. If they go bankrupt or you split up, how are your digital assets protected? Right now the courts are confused about data when it is the topic of a subpoena. “If your data had been still in house when it was stolen, you have obligations to your clients to protect their data,” said Peyton. “You need to make sure there is clarity about whose data it is.”

For further information visit: http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2012/12/31/top-geospatial-predictions-for-2012-2/

NTU's ground-breaking study warns of more great quakes in the Himalayas

Massive earthquakes are not unknown in the Himalayas, as quakes in 1897, 1905, 1934 and 1950 all had magnitudes between 7.8 and 8.9, each causing tremendous damage. But they were previously thought not to have broken the earth's surface - classified as blind quakes - which are much more difficult to track. 

A research team led by scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has discovered that massive earthquakes in the range of 8 to 8.5 magnitudes on the Richter scale have left clear ground scars in the central Himalayas.

This ground-breaking discovery has huge implications for the area along the front of the Himalayan Mountains, given that the region has a population density similar to that of New York City.NTU Professor Paul Tapponnier, who is recognised as a leading scientist in the field of neotectonics, said that the existence of such devastating quakes in the past means that quakes of the same magnitude could happen again in the region in future, especially in areas which have yet to have their surface broken by a temblor.

Published recently in Nature Geosciences, a prestigious scientific journal, the study by NTU's Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) and colleagues in Nepal and France showed that in 1255 and 1934, two great earthquakes ruptured the surface of the earth in the Himalayas. This runs contrary to what scientists have previously thought.

Massive earthquakes are not unknown in the Himalayas, as quakes in 1897, 1905, 1934 and 1950 all had magnitudes between 7.8 and 8.9, each causing tremendous damage. But they were previously thought not to have broken the earth's surface - classified as blind quakes - which are much more difficult to track. However, Prof Tapponnier said that by combining new high resolution imagery and state of the art dating techniques, they could show that the 1934 earthquake did indeed rupture the surface, breaking the ground over a length of more than 150 kilometres, essentially south of the part of the range that harbours Mt Everest. This break formed along the main fault in Nepal that currently marks the boundary between the Indian and Asian tectonic plates - also known as the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT) fault.

Using radiocarbon dating of offset river sediments and collapsed hill-slope deposits, the research team managed to separate several episodes of tectonic movement on this major fault and pin the dates of the two quakes, about 7 centuries apart.

"The significance of this finding is that earthquakes of magnitude 8 to 8.5 may return at most twice per millennium on this stretch of the fault, which allows for a better assessment of the risk they pose to the surrounding communities," said Prof Tapponnier.Prof Tapponnier warns that the long interval between the two recently discovered earthquake ruptures does not mean people should be complacent, thinking that there is still time before the next major earthquake happens in the region.

"This does not imply that the next mega-earthquake in the Himalayas will occur many centuries from now because we still do not know enough about adjacent segments of the MFT Mega-thrust," Prof Tapponier explains."But it does suggest that areas west or east of the 1934 Nepal ground rupture are now at greater risk of a major earthquake, since there are little or no records of when last earth shattering temblor happened in those two areas."The next step for Prof Tapponnier and his EOS scientists is to uncover the full extent of such fault ruptures, which will then allow them to build a more comprehensive model of earthquake hazard along the Himalayan front.

About the NTU's Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS)

EOS is a premier research institute at NTU which conducts fundamental research on earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunami and climate change in and around Southeast Asia, towards safer and more sustainable societies.

For further information visit: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/NTUs_ground_breaking_study_warns_of_more_great_quakes_in_the_Himalayas_999.html

An Image Gallery Gift from NASA's Swift

The Crab Nebula is the wreckage of an exploded star, or supernova, observed in the year 1054. The expanding cloud of gas is located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. This composite of three Swift UVOT ultraviolet images highlights the luminous hot gas in the supernova remnant. The image is constructed from exposures using these filters: uvw1, centered at 2,600 angstroms (shown as red); uvm2, centered at 2,246 angstroms (green); and uvw2, centered at 1,928 angstroms (blue). Credit: NASA/Swift/E. Hoversten, PSU. For a larger version of this image please go here. 

Of the three telescopes carried by NASA's Swift satellite, only one captures cosmic light at energies similar to those seen by the human eye. Although small by the standards of ground-based observatories, Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) plays a critical role in rapidly pinpointing the locations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the brightest explosions in the cosmos.

But as the proxy to the human eye aboard Swift, the UVOT takes some amazing pictures. The Swift team is celebrating eight years of UVOT operations by collecting more than 100 of the instrument's best snapshots in a web-based photo gallery. The images also can be viewed with the free Swift Explorer Mission iPhone app developed by the Swift Mission Operations Center (MOC), which is located in State College, Pa., and operated by Penn State.

Swift has detected an average of about 90 GRBs a year since its launch in 2004. "When we aren't studying GRBs, we use the satellite's unique capabilities to engage in other scientific investigations, some of which produce beautiful images from the UVOT that we're delighted to be able to share with the public," said Michael Siegel, the lead scientist on the UVOT and a research associate in astronomy and astrophysics at the MOC.

The targets range from comets and star clusters to supernova remnants, nearby galaxies and active galaxies powered by super massive black holes."One of our more challenging projects in the past was completing an ultraviolet mosaic of M31, the famous Andromeda galaxy," said Stefan Immler, a member of the Swift team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Because the galaxy is so much larger than the UVOT field of view, we had to take dozens of pictures and blend them together to show the whole object."

An ongoing mosaic project targets the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two small satellite galaxies orbiting our own, and makes the Andromeda effort look like child's play. Although the galaxies are much smaller than M31, they are both much closer to us and extend over much larger areas of the sky. The task involves acquiring and aligning hundreds of images and is far from complete.

With the UVOT's wavelength range of 1,700 to 6,000 angstroms, Swift remains one of few missions that study ultraviolet light, much of which is blocked by Earth's atmosphere. The 6.5-foot-long (2 meter) UVOT is centered on an 11.8-inch (30 cm) primary mirror. Designed and built by the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey, England, the telescope module includes the primary and secondary mirrors, an external baffle to reduce scattered light, two redundant detectors - only one has been used to date - and a power supply.

Because most ultraviolet light never reaches the ground, Swift's UVOT provides a unique perspective on the cosmos. For example, it can measure the amount of water produced in passing comets by detecting the ultraviolet emission of hydroxyl (OH), one of the molecular fragments created when ultraviolet sunlight breaks up water molecules.

Other types of UVOT science include exploring emissions from the centers of active galaxies, studying regions undergoing star formation, and identifying some of the rarest and most exotic stars known. Toward the end of its energy-producing life, a star like the sun will blow away its outer layers as its core transforms into a compact, Earth-sized remnant known as a white dwarf.

This chapter of stellar evolution, known to astronomers as the post-asymptotic giant branch phase, lasts only about 100,000 years - just an eye-blink in comparison to the star's total lifetime. To better understand the process, astronomers need to study large numbers of these unusual stars."The UVOT's capabilities give us a great tool for surveying stellar populations and cataloguing rare types of ultraviolet-bright stars," Siegel explained.

One of the first targets for the stellar survey was the giant cluster Omega Centauri, which hosts millions of stars and may be the remains of a small galaxy. Thanks to Swift's UVOT, astronomers at Goddard and Penn State have catalogued hundreds of rare stellar types in the cluster and are now comparing their properties and numbers to predictions from theoretical models describing how stars evolve.

For further information visit: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/An_Image_Gallery_Gift_from_NASAs_Swift_999.html

An Image Gallery Gift from NASA's Swift

The Crab Nebula is the wreckage of an exploded star, or supernova, observed in the year 1054. The expanding cloud of gas is located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. This composite of three Swift UVOT ultraviolet images highlights the luminous hot gas in the supernova remnant. The image is constructed from exposures using these filters: uvw1, centered at 2,600 angstroms (shown as red); uvm2, centered at 2,246 angstroms (green); and uvw2, centered at 1,928 angstroms (blue). Credit: NASA/Swift/E. Hoversten, PSU. For a larger version of this image please go here. 

Of the three telescopes carried by NASA's Swift satellite, only one captures cosmic light at energies similar to those seen by the human eye. Although small by the standards of ground-based observatories, Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) plays a critical role in rapidly pinpointing the locations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the brightest explosions in the cosmos.

But as the proxy to the human eye aboard Swift, the UVOT takes some amazing pictures. The Swift team is celebrating eight years of UVOT operations by collecting more than 100 of the instrument's best snapshots in a web-based photo gallery. The images also can be viewed with the free Swift Explorer Mission iPhone app developed by the Swift Mission Operations Center (MOC), which is located in State College, Pa., and operated by Penn State.

Swift has detected an average of about 90 GRBs a year since its launch in 2004. "When we aren't studying GRBs, we use the satellite's unique capabilities to engage in other scientific investigations, some of which produce beautiful images from the UVOT that we're delighted to be able to share with the public," said Michael Siegel, the lead scientist on the UVOT and a research associate in astronomy and astrophysics at the MOC.

The targets range from comets and star clusters to supernova remnants, nearby galaxies and active galaxies powered by super massive black holes."One of our more challenging projects in the past was completing an ultraviolet mosaic of M31, the famous Andromeda galaxy," said Stefan Immler, a member of the Swift team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Because the galaxy is so much larger than the UVOT field of view, we had to take dozens of pictures and blend them together to show the whole object."

An ongoing mosaic project targets the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two small satellite galaxies orbiting our own, and makes the Andromeda effort look like child's play. Although the galaxies are much smaller than M31, they are both much closer to us and extend over much larger areas of the sky. The task involves acquiring and aligning hundreds of images and is far from complete.

With the UVOT's wavelength range of 1,700 to 6,000 angstroms, Swift remains one of few missions that study ultraviolet light, much of which is blocked by Earth's atmosphere. The 6.5-foot-long (2 meter) UVOT is centered on an 11.8-inch (30 cm) primary mirror. Designed and built by the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey, England, the telescope module includes the primary and secondary mirrors, an external baffle to reduce scattered light, two redundant detectors - only one has been used to date - and a power supply.

Because most ultraviolet light never reaches the ground, Swift's UVOT provides a unique perspective on the cosmos. For example, it can measure the amount of water produced in passing comets by detecting the ultraviolet emission of hydroxyl (OH), one of the molecular fragments created when ultraviolet sunlight breaks up water molecules.

Other types of UVOT science include exploring emissions from the centers of active galaxies, studying regions undergoing star formation, and identifying some of the rarest and most exotic stars known. Toward the end of its energy-producing life, a star like the sun will blow away its outer layers as its core transforms into a compact, Earth-sized remnant known as a white dwarf.

This chapter of stellar evolution, known to astronomers as the post-asymptotic giant branch phase, lasts only about 100,000 years - just an eye-blink in comparison to the star's total lifetime. To better understand the process, astronomers need to study large numbers of these unusual stars."The UVOT's capabilities give us a great tool for surveying stellar populations and cataloguing rare types of ultraviolet-bright stars," Siegel explained.

One of the first targets for the stellar survey was the giant cluster Omega Centauri, which hosts millions of stars and may be the remains of a small galaxy. Thanks to Swift's UVOT, astronomers at Goddard and Penn State have catalogued hundreds of rare stellar types in the cluster and are now comparing their properties and numbers to predictions from theoretical models describing how stars evolve.

For further information visit: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/An_Image_Gallery_Gift_from_NASAs_Swift_999.html

NASA probes crash into the moon

Two NASA probes crashed into the moon on Monday after spending months gathering data by orbiting miles above the lunar surface, the US space agency said. The site where the tiny probes, dubbed Ebb and Flow, crashed will be named after astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.

Ride, who died earlier this year, had led the GRAIL mission's MoonKam project for students from around the world to choose targets for the probes' cameras."Sally was all about getting the job done, whether it be in exploring space, inspiring the next generation, or helping make the GRAIL mission the resounding success it is today," GRAIL principal investigator Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge said in a statement.

"As we complete our lunar mission, we are proud we can honor Sally Ride's contributions by naming this corner of the moon after her." Ebb and Flow slammed into the lunar surface as planned at 22:28 GMT and 22:29 GMT at a whopping 3,760 miles per hour (1.7 kilometers per second). The Sally K. Ride Impact Site is on the southern surface of a mountain near a crater named Goldschmidt.

There was no image of the crash because the area was in the dark at the time, NASA said. The probes were destroyed after running low on fuel and sinking too low in orbit to conduct any more missions, the space agency said. During their work life the probes took more than 115,000 images of the lunar surface, generating the highest resolution gravity map ever gathered from a celestial body.

The map will help provide a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed and evolved, according to scientists."We will miss our lunar twins, but the scientists tell me it will take years to analyze all the great data they got, and that is why we came to the moon in the first place," said GRAIL project manager David Lehman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"So long, Ebb and Flow, and we thank you."Launched in September 2011, Ebb and Flow had been orbiting the moon since January 1. At some points, they were flying just a few miles above the moon's tallest mountains.

Ebb and Flow fired their main engines until the tanks were empty, allowing NASA to determine precisely how much fuel is left and help improve predictions of fuel needs for future missions.

The $500 million GRAIL mission was the 110th moon exploration mission. Those missions include the six manned Apollo flights from 1969 to 1972 that saw 12 Americans land on the lunar surface.

For further information visit: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/NASA_probes_crash_into_the_moon_999.html