Newton Kid's News on Science and Technology Find more news at Newton Kid's Blog Pages. New Scientist Video Updates: Jan. 2, 2008: New Scientist's top 5 tech videos of 2007 >>> Dec. 21, 2007: a new technique could sharpen up your digital photos, watch a galaxy collide with a particle beam, see the world through the eyes of an owl >>> Dec. 14, 2007: Desert rodent called a long-eared jerboa, see how Asimo the robot is becoming even more human.
New "Super-Earth" Found in Space Two British astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface. 
The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra. Scientists made the discovery using the Eso 3.6m telescope in Chile. They say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and the raises the chances it could also harbour life.
"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this 'super-Earth' (with a radius only 50% larger than the Earth) lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid," explained
Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory, lead author of the scientific paper reporting the result.
"Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or covered with oceans." Xavier Delfosse, a member of the team from Grenoble University, added: "Liquid water is critical to life as we know it." For more info, read at BBC's website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6589157.stm
 French TGV (High-Speed Train) just broke a new record on speed on April 3, 2007: 574.8 kilometer per hour (kmh) or 357.2 miles per hour (mph). In this photo jointly released on Tuesday, April 3, 2007 by the French railway company SNCF, Alstom Transport and the Reseau Ferre de France (RFF), or French Railway Infrastructure, the high-speed French train, with a souped-up engine and wheels, speeds under a bridge filled with reporters and onlookers, breaking the world speed record near Grigny, eastern rance, Tuesday, April 3, 2007, reaching 574.8 kph (357.2 mph). The black and chrome train with three double-decker cars, named the V150, bettered the previous record of 515.3 (320.2 mph), set in 1990 by the French fast train. However, it fell short of the ultimate record set by Japan's non-conventional magnetically levitated train, which sped to 581 kph (361 mph) in 2003. The photos and video clips are available at http://www.record2007.com/site/index_en.php
The Next X-Prize: Race to the Moon To win the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a team must successfully land a privately funded craft on the lunar surface and survive long enough to complete the mission goals of roaming about the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending a defined data package, called a “Mooncast”, back to Earth.
PRIZES: The total purse of the Google Lunar X PRIZE is $30 million (USD). 
Your Chance to Go to Mars
June 21, 2007: European Space Agency (ESA) is looking for volunteers (ages from 25 yo 50) for a simulated mission to go to Mars in 2008/2009. This is the closest you can get to travel in space and land on this red planet - maybe even meet a few Martians. For your luck, the travel time is 520 days (only 17 months), but you need to fill your application forms by September 30, 2007.
For more information, please visit ESA's website and more:
Tell us your travel stories (to Europe) when you come back. Good Luck! Bon Voyage! 一路平安!
_ NASA Plans to Set Up Camp on Lunar Pole Dec. 4, 2006 (AP): WASHINGTON - NASA may be going to the same old moon with a ship that looks a lot like a 1960s Apollo capsule, but the space agency said Monday that it's going to do something dramatically different this time: Stay there.
Unveiling the agency's bold plan for a return to the moon, NASA said it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon's poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts land there.
It is a sweeping departure from the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and represents a new phase of space exploration after space shuttles are retired in 2010.
NASA chose a "lunar outpost" over the short expeditions of the '60s. Apollo flights were all around the middle area of the moon, but NASA decided to go to the moon's poles because they are best for longer-term settlements. And this time NASA is welcoming other nations on its journey.
The more likely of the two lunar destinations is the moon's south pole because it's sunlit for three-quarters of the time. That offers a better locale for solar power, plus the site has possible resources to mine nearby, said associate deputy administrator Doug Cooke.
"This is not your father's Apollo," said John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. "I think it's the only way to sustain something like this over decades. This is not a flag-and-footprints. This is the idea of starting an outward movement that includes long stays on the moon."
To get to the moon, NASA will use two vehicles — the Orion exploration vehicle and an attached all-purpose lunar lander that could touch down anywhere and be the beginnings a base camp, said exploration chief Scott Horowitz.
He likens the lander to a pickup truck.
"You can put whatever you want in the back. You can take it to wherever you want. So you can deliver cargo, crew, do it robotically, do it with humans on board. These are the types of things we're looking for in this system," Horowitz said at a news conference in Houston.
In 2004, the year after the shuttle Columbia accident that killed seven astronauts, President Bush announced a plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020, and a later mission to Mars. The 16-year-long venture to the moon will take twice as long as NASA's first trip there took in planning.
Last year, NASA said it would cost $104 billion just to get back to the moon for its first trip, but on Monday NASA officials declined to estimate the larger costs of a permanent lunar program. They just said it would stay within NASA's budget.
The estimated time frame for NASA's lunar plans are:
2009 — a first test of one of the lunar spaceships.
2014 — the first manned test flight of the Orion crew exploration vehicle, but no moon landing.
2020 — the first flight of the four-astronaut crew to the moon.
For four years, the lunar base won't be built up enough for long visits, so astronauts will only spend a week at a time. But after that, NASA envisions people living on the moon for six-month stints.
NASA also hopes that hydrogen, oxygen and other moon resources can be used as supplies for the lunar outpost. Eventually, getting oxygen there may be simple enough that it could be turned over to a commercial supplier, Horowitz said.
NASA's vision for the moon is more than just American astronauts — it includes space travelers from other countries and even commercial interests, if possible.
Having other countries sign onto the project would save NASA money, although the United States will design the moon vehicles, NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale said. And while NASA welcomed its current partners on the international space station — Russia, Europe and Japan — the agency was cagey about its most enigmatic space rival, China, which has made noises about going to the moon.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin was dispatched to China earlier this year, but so far discussions with China are only about earth science and space junk, Dale said. She said including China in lunar plans is "not one of our charges."
The key decision for NASA in its planning was whether to have a permanent settlement, and that drove other decisions, Dale said. Going with a permanent base was an outcome of NASA asking itself and more than 1,000 experts from 14 nations the questions: "Why are we returning to the moon and what we plan to do when we get there?"
Two key themes, according to NASA, were to prepare for future exploration, with Mars the next stop, and expansion of human civilization. Both NASA's science and engineering communities agreed on a permanent outpost, an agreement rare for two conflicting sides of the agency, Horowitz said.
The lunar plan calls for a commitment of money over the next three presidential terms, raising questions about future funding. But University of Texas aerospace engineering professor Hans Mark, a former NASA deputy administrator, gives the new plan an 80 percent chance of getting the money to put people on the moon by 2020.
While a more permanent base on the moon makes sense, American University public policy professor Howard McCurdy, who has written several books about NASA, fears the space program may stop there and not continue with President Bush's plans to continue to Mars.
His concern is based on cost and technology, McCurdy said. NASA doesn't plan to get additional money for its lunar program and will simply use money that had gone to the space shuttle program; much of the technology is based on expensive Apollo hardware, he said. So NASA has vowed to be creative with spending and technology, he said.
"The tooth fairy is not going to drop $500 to $800 billion on NASA," McCurdy said. "Being creative on the moon can sometimes get you confined to the moon."
Related Websites: NASA Kids Club at http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html.
Silent Aircraft Initiative (SAI) The Cambridge-MIT Institute's 'Silent' Aircraft Initiative was launched in November 2003 with a bold aim: to discover ways to reduce aircraft noise dramatically, to the point where it would be virtually unnoticeable to people outside the airport perimeter.
The initiative aims to improve competitiveness in the UK aerospace sector by changing the way research is undertaken, through extensive collaboration with a wide franchise of stakeholders . By embracing this larger community, the Silent Aircraft Initiative seeks to produce a truly optimised concept design that contributes to the prosperity of the UK in an environmentally sustainable way.
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Geothermal Energy - The Future of Heat Mining?
Jan. 21, 2007 (Cambridge, MA): There are a lot of heats under us, underground - inside of the Earth. United States is the world's largest resource for geothermal energy. MIT calls to ramp up the development of technology for heat mining. An 18-member panel led by MIT prepared the 400-plus page study, titled "The Future of Geothermal Energy" (PDF, 14.1 MB). Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, it is the first study in some 30 years to take a new look at geothermal, an energy resource that has been largely ignored.
Dig only 4-6 kms down and put some pipes down. Pure water down and get the steams out. See more details at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/23/0014214
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/geothermal.html
http://www.geothermal.ch/bilder/egs.jpg
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