The Enlightening Science Thread

Stanford develops a radio the size of an ant, draws power from electromagnetic waves

What is this? A radio for ants? Not so much for ants, but it’s certainly the size of an ant. Stanford engineer Amin Arbabian has managed to create a wireless radio just a few millimeters across that is so energy efficient that it doesn’t need a battery. Instead, it harvests power from the incoming electromagnetic waves. The extremely low cost and small size of this technology means you could soon be surrounded by tiny radio chips in an interconnected mesh network.

The Stanford radio chip is designed to compute, execute, and relay signals. What sets this technology apart is that it all happens on a single chip that doesn’t rely on any exotic materials or theoretical principles. Arbabian sees this chip as the possible missing link in the so-called Internet of Things. If you want your lightbulbs to be connected to your other devices, you don’t need a high-power wireless radio–this one would do just fine. It uses so little power a single AAA battery could power it for more than 100 years.

Source

A Guy

Space in Images - 2014 - 09 - Rosetta mission selfie at comet

Rosetta’s comet landing site chosen, harpoons will deploy November 11

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the precise location on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko that its Philae lander aboard the Rosetta probe will attempt to touch down. The team says site J on the comet’s “head” region won out because it’s scientifically interesting and less risky than the alternatives. The action is currently scheduled to begin on November 11th. Yes, they sent Rosetta to P67 to do more than take amazing selfies.

Source

A Guy

The little-known Soviet mission to rescue a dead space station

The following story happened in 1985 but subsequently vanished into obscurity. Over the years, many details have been twisted, others created. Even the original storytellers got some things just plain wrong. After extensive research, writer Nickolai Belakovski is able to present, for the first time to an English-speaking audience, the complete story of Soyuz T-13’s mission to save Salyut 7, a fascinating piece of in-space repair history.

Source

A Guy

Fascinating article Bill, especially the transcripts between the rescue crew and TsUP.

Okay, a couple of items here.

First up.
Good ol' Spaceship Earth will be celebrating the Fall Equinox on Monday, September 22, at 10:29 PM EDT. For our Southern Hemisphere members that means Spring is coming, ah, the fragrance of the Golden Wattle.
That 10:29 is my time, you could use your own time zone converters or this: Time Zone Converter | Time Difference Calculator

Which reminds me, from past experience, Australia has a different Seasonal calendar and they have already started Spring on the 1st of September due to the different climatic zones they experience "Down Under", see: Australian weather and seasons | a variety of climates | australia.gov.au

I've found though, no matter how hard you try, you can't fool Mother Nature, and the Sun will cross the celestial equator at 10:29 PM EDT (my time); Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 12:29:00 PM, (in Sidney).

More:
When are the Four Seasons in Australia?

And, on October 8th:

On Wednesday morning, Oct. 8th, not long before sunrise, the bright full Moon over North America will turn a lovely shade of celestial red. It's a lunar eclipse—visible from all parts of the USA.

"It promises to be a stunning sight, even from the most light polluted cities," says NASA's longtime eclipse expert Fred Espenak. "I encourage everyone, especially families with curious children, to go out and enjoy the event."

There is a visibility map here at the source: Colorful Lunar Eclipse - NASA Science

What a picture!

http://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/i...ll_image_2.jpg

Golden said:

Space in Images - 2014 - 09 - Rosetta mission selfie at comet

Yes mate I like the images in this link from that Space in Images - Directorates - Space Science even shows the spoy on Jupiter is shrinking??

India’s MOM Spacecraft Enters Mars Orbit

India's unmanned, shoestring-budget Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft entered Mars orbit on Wednesday, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) reported.

The MOM orbiter, also known as Mangalyaan or "Mars craft" in Hindi, is the first spacecraft sent by an Asian nation to travel to Mars. The probe joins a handful of other spacecraft currently orbiting Mars, including NASA's recently arrived MAVEN and the European Space Agency's Mars Express, as well as NASA's Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, which are operating on the planet's surface.

Source

A Guy

First Mars image taken by Mangalyaan


Source: ISRO - Image Gallery

ISRO: Mars Orbiter Insertion Simulation Video

Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) from ISTRAC, Bangalore: Webcast