Comet landing: Where next for Philae mission?

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30082878

Rincon, Paul. "Paul Rincon: Where next for Philae Mission?" BBC News. N.p., 17 Nov. 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.

The article describes a mission to a comet to study the makeup of the comet which in turn may help us further understand the origin of the universe. Although tlander named “Philae” lost a power because it landed in the shadows and could not employ its solar panels, it was successful in carrying out a number of experiments which have returned much data. One thing that was learned was that the comet is made up of a very hard interior. It had always been thought that the comet was made mostly of ice. This comet is made up of more hard rocky material. has already dispelled some ideas. The article does say that as the comet nears the sun “Philae” may be able to recharge and hopefully carry out more experiments.

The mission is significant for all of us because it helps us to understand the origin of our universe and how we fit into this universe. In addition, and more importantly, the people of earth have always sought to explore the unknown. This is a continuation of this exploration. No doubt that it will bring us more questions than answers.

The article gives us an overview of the mission, it’s objectives, and some general results. But the article is not very specific in terms of what data was gathered and how the information will be used. The article seems hopeful that the mission will continue but there is no guarantee that the Philae will be able to get more information.

Mysterious visitor, Clad in Fur, Puts Paris on Edge

Liam Bishop D-Even Core Chem CE 6

     
        Summary: 
       
        I am Reviewing the article, “Mysterious Visitor, Clad in Fur, Puts Paris on Edge.” Throughout the weekend, French Authorities have received many reports of what French residents are calling a tiger roaming through the town of Montévrain, a town not far from Paris. However, after beginning the search, authorities think that this may in fact not be a tiger, but an obese domestic cat. Even with this possibility, the French have still taken precautions so that no citizen gets attacked. On Friday, the French sent out a hunting squadron that included officers with tranquilizing darts and a helicopter with thermal sensors. Oliver Rimmel says that “Every 2 days, a new bogus issue keeps surfacing, this time, its a tiger going to eat all the children in town.” This shows that the tiger surfacing through the media have has sidelined the fact that France is a unrelaxing political and economic state. In the article, the author also talks about how there have been 14 illegal drone flights over the nuclear power plants in France. This is very concerning to the citizens because they fear the security watching the power plant is not enough to stop a possible attack on the country’s main source of electricity.

        Relevance:

        As the reports of the tiger surfaced on Thursday, France turned into a widespread panic as everyone thought that they would be attacked. The tiger forced police to stop what they were doing, call animal agencies, create a hunting team, and send the hunting team out to attempt to catch it. However, when the hunting team (Including a Helicopter) was unable to apprehend the tiger, reports came out that it was not a tiger, but in fact an overweight/large domestic cat such as the lynx.

        Critique:

        I thought the author did a good job with the article and thought it was very interesting how one tiger could create that much panic throughout Paris and Montévrain. Also,I thought it was interesting how the tiger could have gotten there since tigers are not domestic to France, but was disappointed when there was no theory or explanation behind it. Also, I thought it was completely irrelevant to include that Political/Economic state of France and the 14 illegal Drone flights over the Nuclear Power Plants. However, I still felt that I should’ve included the topics in my summary because they did occupy a decent chunk of the article and needed to be addressed in the review

Spacecraft on Comet Drills for Data as Its Power Fades

Spacecraft on Comet Drills for Data as Its Power Fades

This article was about the European lander Philae and scientists desperate attempts to save the battery on the lander. Scientists were forced to reposition the lander following its landing in a position that scientists think only allowed sun to reach one of Philae’s solar panels. The lander was successfully rotated and drilling was able to begin. The lander drilled 10 inches into the surface of the comet but scientists fear that the lander may not have had the power needed to analyze and deliver any information on it. Despite the lander losing power the mothership Rosetta will continue to observe and collect data on the comet for the next few months. In the end scientists hope the $1.6 billion project will help them understand more about the origins of the universe and life on earth.

This accomplishment of landing a probe on a comet has unlocked endless possibilities. The probe could return samples with a cure for cancer in some unknown new element or it could bring us a new lightweight metal ore that can be used for space travel. The comet could hold other secrets as well as are we the only living life forms in the universe or did we originally come from another planet and we were brought here for some unknown reason. The comet may be a key into our past and our future if we look in the right places.

After reading the article i felt that the author presented the information very well and having chunks of information spread into different paragraphs. I also liked that the author included exact numbers instead of estimating or rounding up to the closest thing like going from “signals taking more than 28 minutes to travel between Earth and Rosetta” to signals take about half an hour to reach Rosetta from earth. Despite this the author did not include any background information on the topic. I was forced to do my own research to understand what probe he was talking about and it would have greatly improved the article if it had had some background information.

Comet Landing Bumpier Than Initially Thought

Comet Landing Bumpier Than Initially Thought

The landing that occurred on Wednesday will be known as the historic landing of the spacecraft, Philae. Philae is known to be the first spacecraft to land on a comet. This landing was not one landing but ended up being three due to several malfunctions. Because of the thruster that was supposed to make the spacecraft press against the comet after touching down, it made the spacecraft come up more than half a mile before falling to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimentko. At the second attempt, the Philae spacecraft then went up again, not as high this time, and resulted with only two out of the three legs on the surface of the comet that was settled on a boulder. Finally on the third try, it worked. The solar panels that were on the Philae spacecraft were exposing less power than what was originally planned and may not be able to recharge. Without being affected by the bumpy landing the Philae Spacecraft was able to stay in contact with the Rosetta orbiter and complete the set of observations that they had to do for example photographs of a cliff above the spacecraft. This will give scientists the ability to investigate what is left to know about the formation of the solar systems. Joel W. Parker, a planetary scientists at Southwest Research Institute said, “They may have enough data to sift through from the various instruments to do a ‘C.S.I’ Philae’ and piece it all together.” Even though people believe that the landing was a failure, people shouldn’t forget about all of the important data that has been collected and how it is going in the right direction.

Organizing and doing all of these space missions will really impact humanity and science in the future. Space, our galaxy, and everything that made the Earth is the reason why we are here today. Without the Earth we wouldn’t be here and without all of these space missions and scientist’s theories, we wouldn’t know how the Earth became the reason why it is today as well as why the solar system is the way it is. The Philae, like stated in the article, will help us find out and know more about what is not yet known about Space and our solar system. Knowing more about the solar system will allow our knowledge on our galaxy, the other planets, and everything outside of it to grow. When there are technological incidents in space, it may either end really badly or there are ways to prevent it from ending the lives of the people in the space craft. In this case, they were able to prevent it. Through this incident, the astronauts, astronomers, and the builders of this machine should be able to learn and fix the problem for the next time a possible space mission like this one comes around so it will hopefully not happen again.

I really enjoyed reading this article. I like reading about astronomy and earth science because I enjoy learning about where we live and what is around us. Kenneth Chang did a good job writing this article. It was clean, not confusing, and straight to the point. He did not use too many difficult scientific words which can make an article confusing for a teenager who isn’t an expert on astronomy. He definitely made the article intriguing by not making it too long. I liked how he explained what happened at each landing until it finally landed correctly and at the right spot. The way he incorporated the quotes in his article really made us feel like we were, in a way, part of the situation and gave a more clear understanding of what really happened out there on the comet. Overall, I think that this article was very well written and I really liked it. I wonder what is going to happen when the spacecraft comes back to earth.

Chang, Kenneth. "Comet Landing Bumpier Than Initially Thought." The New York Times. The  New York Times, 13 Nov. 2014. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/science/space/philae-rosetta-spacecraft-bounced-at-landing.html?ref=space

With Persistence and Phone Calls, Defending Against Ebola in New York

The article I read With Persistence and Phone Calls, Defending Against Ebola in New York, by Anemona Hartocollis, talked about the methods involved in tracking down patients who enter the United States   that may develop Ebola.  These people may develop Ebola because they have come to the United States from a country that has Ebola or they have been in direct contact with someone who has been diagnosed with Ebola in this country or another country.  These disease detectives work in a call center in New York City.  They contact the patients on the phone every day for 21 days checking their temperature.  If their temperature goes above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 37.8 degrees Celsius the patient goes into quarantine.  “Operators speak French and at least five dialects of West African languages like Mandingo and Pulaar”.  I found this interesting because it shows how many groups of people have found a way to get to America. 

This article is important to all Americans because if we did not have these disease detectives we would probably have had more than just two Ebola patients in New York State.  The reason I chose this article was because I wanted to know how many more people are being watched for Ebola in New York.  The number that came up shocked me.  It is only around 300.  That number seems high to me.  This shows how cautious New York is.  I hope the rest of the world is as cautious so there will be fewer Ebola outbreaks.

I thought this article was well written and gives very clear facts about how the call center works.  This article could be improved if they gave the dates of when they started making the calls. 

Hartocollis, Anemona. "With Persistence and Phone Calls, Defending Against Ebola in New York." The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

By Drew Judkins

A Tricky Transition From Fossil Fuel

Gillis, Justin. "A Tricky Transition From Fossil Fuel." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

“A Tricky Transition From Fossil Fuel”-By Justin Gillis

The articles “A Tricky Transition From Fossil Fuel”- By Justin Gillis writes that Denmark, a small country in Northern Europe, is planning to be 100% free of burning fossil fuels by 2050. This is an incredibly ambitious goal, as the Danes do not just want to rid of burning fossil fuels to produce electricity, but also to no longer burn fossil fuels in transportation. The Danes invented the modern industry of wind energy, and now have 40% of their electric grid on wind power. By 2020, they plan to increase to 50% of their electric grid to wind energy.

This article also compares the progress of Denmark to other European countries such as Germany. The passage states,”Their policy is similar to that of neighboring Germany, which has spent tens of billions pursuing wind and solar power, and is likely to hit 30 percent renewable power... The 5.6 million Danes have pushed harder than the Germans.”(Gillis Paragraph Four). The Danes are making progress to their ambitious, more progress than other countries.

This article also discusses how the change toward wind and solar energy is affecting the power plants. Although the fossil fuels will be needed when the “wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining”(Gillis Paragraph Seven). However, these power plants are losing value and no longer seem profitable to run. This is an issue, as the power plants are needed as a backup but the prices are dropping because after the wind turbines are built, it costs nothing to produce wind energy.

This is quite relevant to not only Danes but all people of the world, as this movement could inspire other pushes to go “green” and change from fossil fuels to wind and solar energy. In the United States of America, there is growing emphasis on electric cars and renewable energy, but nothing like the plan of Denmark. It would be much harder for the USA to model this plan, especially to rid of fossil fuels in transportation. However, this ambitious idea of the Danes may influence other countries and how they change their electric grid to be more environment-friendly. I believe this is very important to stopping the drastic climate change that is so clearly happening on our planet, and also to keep the planet much cleaner for the civilizations who succeed us.

This was a well written articles by Justin Gillis. He explained the goal of Denmark impressively, and also gave statistics and percentages to show their progress in their plan. Also, I enjoyed the fact that he compared the success of Denmark to that of other countries such as Germany. In addition, he gave the pros and cons of changing of eliminating fossil fuels, saying that it is much safer for the environment but the power plants become much less profitable. One aspect he could of improved is that Mr. Gillis talked about transportation in the beginning, but did not refer to that idea again until the last few paragraphs. There would be better flow if he weaved that component into the article better. Overall, this was a well-written article by Justin Gillis on the plan for Denmark to be free of fossil fuels by 2050.

Link to Article

First Outbreak Quashed, Ebola Reappears in Mali

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/health/mali-reports-a-second-larger-ebola-outbreak.html?rref=science&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article

Mcneil, Donald. "First Outbreak Quashed, Ebola Reappears in Mali." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/health/mali-reports-a-second-larger-ebola-outbreak.html?rref=science&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=N.Y. /

The article I read was how a second outbreak of Ebola happened in Mali. This outbreak, which was significantly larger than the first, happened when as it states in the article,” … a 70 year old religious figure, a grand imam, who fell ill in Guinea and traveled to

Mali for better treatment at a major private clinic in Bamako, Mali’s capital.” The doctor arrived at the clinic, but the doctors did not test him for Ebola, so no precautionary measures were taken causing him to infect a nurse and his family. Once doctors figured out he had Ebola, they quickly raced to quarantine anyone the man had contacted. Due to the fact that Mali is located so close to countries infected with Ebola, many have argued that Mali should shut down its borders with these countries. However, the Malian government has declined to do this, do to the fact that there is so much land to cover and may Malians have family in Guinea.

The outbreak of Ebola in Mali has a very significant effect society. This is because the outbreak in Mali is one of the first uncontrolled outbreak in any country beside the 3 heavily infected ones, Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. If Ebola keep spreading to different countries in Africa, it will become more and more hard to contain, and also much harder to help the victims. While Ebola isn’t airborne, it can be spread through bodily fluids, and because of its high death rate, if Ebola isn’t contained it could become a global epidemic.

There were several thing  the author did that I both liked and disliked. One thing I liked was the author included quotes from people involved in the Ebola battle, like experts from the World Health Organization, so the article seemed to have a certain level of credibility it wouldn’t have been able to have without the quotes. Another thing I liked was how the author describe the travel Ebola, because it gave the reader an idea of how quickly Ebola spreads.

One thing I disliked about the article was how the author didn’t provide much background about Ebola and just expected the reader to know what it was. This could be improved just by adding in another short paragraph giving a quick summary on Ebola. Another thing the author could improve upon was making the idea that Ebola is very deadly clear. They could do this by simply including some survival statistics for Ebola or give an example of how the disease caused a person to suffer before they died.