NASA's new rover on its way to Mars

11/27/2011 08:02:00 PM Curiosity, Curiosity Rover, Mars, Mars Rover, Mars Rover Landing System, Rover, Space No Comments

New Rover on its way to Mars

(Don't miss the animated video at the end of this article)

Atlas V rockets carrying Curiosity

NASA's new Mars rover system named Curiosity, launched and left earth on Saturday, November 26, 2011. The new Mars rover system was packed and blasted in rocket(Atlas V). This Rover system(Curiosity) carries NASA's bigger and more capable new rover. This lengthy journey is 570-million-kilometer far and it takes around 9 months to reach MARS also known as The RED Planet.

This new rover will have to overcome lot of challenges in space during these 9 month journey. One of these challenges is probably most exciting and that is the innovative way Curiosity(Rover) will be landing on the surface of the Red Planet.

New Curiosity vs Previous ones

Previous MARS rover missions known as 'Spirit' and 'Opportunity', which were of the size of golf carts, were landed on "air bags" dropped from an air craft.(Previous Rover's landing)







This new ROVER is much more biggher and heavier this time. -- it is almost the size of a small car, and weighs 900 kg, interestingly it is equipped with a nuclear power supply (O yeah !)  and 10 scientific instruments

Rover's Parts

Landing Pattern

NASA team this time will lower the rover on cables known as the -- "skycrane maneuver." in which it will be descended just like commandos descend from helicopter during war.i.e. through rappelling. 

skycrane maneuver

NASA has prepared a computer animation which you can see below to understand it completely.

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Snake Like Robot can climb up trees

11/16/2011 06:09:00 PM gadgets, nature, robot, snake 1 Comment

Snake Like Robot can climb up trees


Scientists have always been trying to create robots that can mimic the movements of animals. The research in this field is now gone vast enough that scientists have been able to create a robot that moves just like a snake and is even able to climb up the trees.

The creators(Carnegie Mellon) of this Snake robots have named it as "Uncle Sam". Uncle Sam has the ability to crawl, roll and it can move sideways. But the best thing thing that it does to impress you is that it can wrap it self around any pole or a tree and can climb up too.

The robot is composed of segments, and each segment has the ability to move on its own and creates its own movement intelligent enoughly to move forward on ground and upwards on poles and trees.

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Worlds Most Expensive IPad (dinosaurs bones + gold) Costs 5 million pounds

11/04/2011 05:07:00 PM Tech News 2 Comments

A customized iPad made from gold, diamonds and shavings of Tyrannosaurus rex bone(a dinosaur type) has been billed as the world's most expensive gadget.

The £5m device is being promoted by British luxury goods specialist Stuart Hughes.

The iPad 2 is encrusted with 12.5-carat diamonds and has 53 separate gems forming the iconic Apple logo.

The back section has been formed in 24-carat gold and weighs two kilogrammes.

But the most expensive part is actually the main front frame which is made from the oldest rock the world has to offer - Ammolite.

Sourced from Canada, the stone is more than 75 million years old.

Just to cap off the unique design, part of a T-rex thigh bone dating back 65 million years is claimed to have been shaved into the stone.

The final touch is a single-cut 8.5-carat flawless diamond inlaid in platinum surrounded by 12 satellite gems.

Despite the hefty price tag, Hughes told Sky News one of the devices has already been sold to an anonymous buyer.

He claims they were actually finished earlier this year and says the dinosaur bone was sourced from Arizona.

The designer is known for creating "ultra-luxury" goods, including a £219,995 Macbook Air and a diamond and platinum iPhone costing £20,995.

It was claimed earlier this year he had built a super yacht encased in gold worth £3bn but he has since admitted this was not real.

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Genetically grown Dengue mosquito kills its own species.

11/02/2011 01:56:00 PM biotechnology, dengue, dengue fever, dengue virus, genetic modification, genetics, Research No Comments

Genetically grown Dengue mosquito will kill its own species


Gone are the days of those science fiction movies where it was fantasized as a story line that in a lab, genetically malfunction human converted into a monster and start killing human species.

 So to call it a good luck for dengue affected countries, but a marvalous breakthrough in the field of biotechnology. A british biotech lab has devised a way and created a species of dengue mosquitoes that kills its own larva. just imagine a mosquito giving eggs and the other one killing those larvae - and yet both belong to the same breed.

A lab grown species of dengue mosquito has been already released in Florida whose one and only deadliest trait is to kill their own offspring. Yup that means that a kid won;t be able to reach the adulthood because of the genetically introduced disease their parents gave them.

About Dengue: Dengue mosquito is re known for deadly Dengue fever also known as breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles. In a small proportion of cases the disease develops into the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs

Dengue Fever around the world(2005)

Though this technique of genetically modifying insects already exsist decades age, but this is the first time it has been used successfully for mosquitoes. we hope that this technique won't kill the whole insect species of mosquitoes and also it is not sure what impact it will make on the environment.

via  NYtimes

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