We won’t be seeing new beautiful images from space, at least not coming from our good old friend the Hubble Space Telescope, until it gets patched up. The module responsible for data transmission, the Side A Science Data Formatter, has failed. While some technical issues can be resolved from Earth, this issue can not. NASA’s planned launch of space shuttle Atlantis will be delayed due to the glitch. The Atlantis crew are scheduled to perform a major overhaul of the Hubble Space Telescope, extending its lifetime by 5 years. The important maintenance mission has already been plagued by delays, including Hurricane Ike. Some are now beginning to question whether it is worth saving the space telescope. Most scientists, however, insist that fixing Hubble is still viable and scientifically important. The Hubble Space Telescope has been in operation since April 1990, outside the Earth’s protective atmosphere.
We have to survive on old images from Hubble:
“Of course it’s worth upgrading Hubble,” said Mario Livio, an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md. “The part that failed even has as redundant side to it. If all goes well, science operations could be up as early as the end of this week. So you shouldn’t worry about that. It’s definitely not the end of the world.”
The now-broken electronics box had been working steadily since the telescope launched in April 1990.
“These things happen. It’s been up there in orbit, outside the protective atmosphere of the Earth for 18 years,” said Heidi Hammel, an astronomer at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Co. “Glitches happen. It’s an incredibly robust instrument. Think about your computers — you don’t still use computers that are 18 years old.”
Full article : Is Hubble Worth Saving?
Tags: hubble, hubble space telescope, mission, NASA, space, telescope
Anyone with half a brain knows that mobile phone operators make huge profits whenever you use mobile internet or text message your friends from abroad. The ridiculous fees they charge when you are out of the country are finally being noticed by the European commission. EU Commissioner Viviane Reding has warned operators that they have to cut their tariffs for mobile internet access and text messaging or risk new regulation that would force them to do so. The commissioner has given the companies until 1 July to comply with her request. In 2007 the EU commission forced operators to cut their roaming fees, which apply to you when you call from outside your home country, by 50%.
Good move if you ask me.
Europe’s mobile phone operators are to be warned to cut the cost of texting and internet access while customers are overseas or face regulation.
A text sent while abroad can cost as much as 49 pence ($0.95) and a study found that transferring 1 megabyte (MB) on average costs £4.11.
Mobile phone companies have begun to cut costs, with O2, Vodafone and 3 lowering some tariffs.
Click here for the article at the BBC.
Over 200 million Chinese citizens are now using the Internet. Which puts them in third place on the global list, after the US with 215 million internet users, and the European Union with 273 million netizens. Although 200 million sounds impressive, internet usage as percentage of China’s population of 1.3 billion people is still low. In 2006 “only” 137 million people used the Internet in China. Music is the most popular way to spend time online according to a poll. China will become the second biggest internet country in a few months, and it will not take long to overtake the European Union and end up on top of the list. The Chinese desire to express themselves using the web has caused problems for the central government, which limits what data is available to its population. Major Western Internet companies have been under fire for cooperating with the Chinese government to restrict freedom of expression and access to information. Which is not surprising as these companies want to keep the government happy, as the Chinese market is too interesting (financially) to ignore.
For the first time the report provided a detailed break down of the classes of Internet users in mainland China. Amongst the Internet population in 2007, the rising trend in Internet users from various social levels is very apparent. Specifically the growth in users aged under 18 and over 30 is bigger than any other age group. Internet users educated at junior high school level and under are also increasing faster than other social groups; more and more low-income earners are starting to get in touch with the Internet.
Click here to read more..
