Showing posts with label In the news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label In the news. Show all posts
2 August 2018
3 February 2018
10 June 2017
The ISS: the International Space Station
The ISS
The French astronaut Thomas Pesquet returned recently from his six-month
mission in low Earth orbit aboard the ISS, the International Space Station. Here
is a quick overview of its history, features, and mission.
What is the ISS?
The ISS is
the only international space station. The station moves around the Earth in low
orbit at an altitude of between 360 and 400 kilometers and travels around our
planet in ninety minutes.
Sixteen times
a day, it spends 45 minutes in the dark and the following 45 minutes exposed to
the sun.
The habitable
volume of the station is 388 cubic meters. The station is 109 meters long, 73
meters wide, and weighs 419 tons. It’s the most complex and massive object
assembled in space. It is also the most expensive ever manufactured by man. It
is estimated that it cost $150 billion.
What is the ISS used for?
The ISS is
mainly a large scientific laboratory where hundreds of experiments are carried
out.
The Frenchman
Thomas Pesquet, who is the tenth Frenchman to have spent time in space, carried
out a hundred different experiments during the six months of his stay aboard
the station.
His
experiments were mainly to do with health and medicine.
Who pays for the ISS?
The station
is co-managed by five space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia),
ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan) and CSA (Canada) and financed by sixteen countries:
the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil and eleven European countries,
including France.
These 16
countries signed an intergovernmental cooperation agreement on 29th January
1998. Most of the costs are met by NASA.
How many people are permanently in the ISS?
The ISS
permanently hosts 6 people.
Each group of
three astronauts spends six months in the station.
How do I travel to the ISS?
Up to 2011, journeys
to the ISS were by the US Space Shuttle, launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida,
or by the Soyuz vessel from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.
Since 2011, the
only way to reach the ISS is with the Russian Soyuz.
Is there a procedure to get the astronauts back in case something goes
wrong?
In case of
problems, two Russian Soyuz vessels are permanently attached to the
International Space Station. One arrives with the astronauts, the other is used
to return to Earth.
Both vessels
can be used to evacuate the station in the event of a major malfunction.
What will become of the station?
The
International Space Station will remain operational until at least 2024; the
various partners have pledged to finance the program until this date.
With the
advent of private partners such as SpaceX, NASA will be able to progressively
reorient its budget to finance ambitious mid-term projects, such as returning to
the Moon or manned missions to Mars.
To replace
the current International Space Station, the agencies are considering the construction
of a station in a cistern orbit, that is, an orbit around Earth-Moon.
Article by Hugo Abelard
2 April 2017
Is 3D printing a revolution?
A 3D home...
Everyone has heard of 3D printing. But are 3D
printers just a trend or are they really a technological revolution? How does 3D
printing work, and will 3D printers be available in our everyday lives?
The most common 3D printers are of simple
design, made up of very few components. The most important part of the machine
is called the extruder head. It is a kind of nozzle which warms up the filament
of plastic that you want to print with, and drop it by tiny layers (0,1 to 0,4
mm) on the printing bed, which is also warm to prevent the plastic from cooling
down too fast and crinkling. The extruder head moves on the x and y axis (the
horizontal axis) and the bed moves on the y axis (the vertical axis). This
allows the happy owner of a 3D printer to print any small object with a special
plastic and lot of patience because it is really hard to have accurate printing
for beginners. It sometimes takes a few hours to print even small stuff but
patience is the first quality of a good handyman.
Nowadays it is quite easy to get a 3D printer.
The ready-to-print models sell for as low as $1000, but you can buy a kit for
$300 even though they are quite hard to build and really tough to calibrate, so
that option is only for advanced DIY enthusiasts.
3D printers are one of the most amazing
revolutions of the 21st century but we haven’t seen anything yet. Some of these
3D printers are being developed to build buildings and houses on a huge scale…
Amazing isn’t it? If building construction by 3D printing has long been a
fantasy, the high-speed development of this technology will make this dream a
reality. Many companies are looking into this project and a Russian firm has
even managed to print a 37 m² house! There will be legal constraints however;
respecting building regulations will be a much greater challenge than the
technical aspect itself. Also, many jobs will disappear in the building sector…
Meanwhile, 3D construction companies are looking for partners to support them
in their projects; so, engineers, investors and developers, if you want to be
part of the revolution, contact them without further delay!
Article by Jean Plassart, Nicolas Barbarin & Nicolas Moyne from Massillon (Clermont-Fd)
Article by Jean Plassart, Nicolas Barbarin & Nicolas Moyne from Massillon (Clermont-Fd)
23 November 2014
22 November 2014
29 August 2014
3 January 2014
30 March 2013
The icemen cometh...
In February 2012, after
more than two decades of drilling, Russian scientists finally reached the surface of the sub-glacial lake of Vostok, in Antarctica.
They were able to take some fragments in the lake and the scientists returned in the next weeks in order to bring up more study samples. The
water of this lake has not been in contact with the outside world for several
million years! The researchers think they have discovered unknown life forms...
There are other research
projects in the subsoil under the Antarctic ice: an American team
is exploring Whillans Ice Stream, where the Antarctic ice joins the Southern
Ocean, and a British team has been searching Lake Ellsworth, also located under the ice.
Article by Antoine Jourdet
29 March 2013
The science behind the Vatican’s smoke signal explained!
Habemus Papam!
Traditionally, the Vatican produced the different colours by burning wet straw for white and tarry pitch for black smoke. But why did the Vatican stop using this method? Mostly because it was noxious, as burning wet straw is full of sooty carbon particles that can overload the lungs and that are potentially carcinogenic. The decision to use a more reliable method based on chemical products was made during the last conclave in 2005. The Vatican has now revealed what these are. For black, it uses a mixture of potassium, perchlorate, anthracene and sulphur; white comes from potassium chlorate, lactose and the conifer resin called rosin, which is often rubbed on violin bows to increase friction.
Article by Mathilde & Pierre-Henri
23 March 2013
6 February 2013
3 November 2012
18 August 2012
28 July 2012
26 July 2012
All agog at Google goggles! By Benjamin
Recently, researchers
from the famous Google company presented Project Glass: spectacles
equipped with the Android system. Using Google glasses, you can
easily consult your SMS, your mails, your music, and you can also
take photos and surf on the Web!
It seems to be totally
crazy and unrealistic but Google says that these glasses, which are
still a prototype, could be marketed soon.
With this new invention
Google is trying to meet the challenge of Apple's iphone,
and it is also a way to show the world its ambition to become the
hightech number 1. The question is, is it just a publicity stunt or
a real invention?
In my opinion, it would
be such fun to watch a video on your glasses when someone you don’t
find interesting speaks to you, or to call your friends and play
video games at the same time… In few months, if you see lots of
people tripping over in the street, you will know why!
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