Dark side of the moon

Around 7:30 a.m. this morning, NASA launched two pieces of equipment into a crater within a permanent shadow on the moon's southern surface.

The first, a rocket, was expected to hit the moon with enough force to kick up more than 250 metric tons of dust.

The second, a satellite packed with spectrometers, near-infrared cameras, a visible camera and a visible radiometer, followed the rocket collecting data on the debris it passed through.

NASA hopes the data collected today will show whether or not H20 still exists in or on the moon.

The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)   cost the American taxpayers around $79 million.  But given the scientific implications of discovering water on the moon is well worth this space bargain.

Click here for the RSS feed on mission updates

Related Articles:
NASA's strike on moon worked, mission official says
NASA probes give moon a double smack

It's a Bird! It's a Plane!...NO!...It's a retired Swiss figher pilot with wings!

As Yves Rossy let go of a small airplane 6,600 feet up, a slew of reporters, photographers, and general spectators sat and stood in a cascade of relative silence.

You see, Rossy has no ordinary parachute controlling his "fall"

He also has a wing-shaped jet-pack strapped to his back ,with four turbines designed by a German company, JetCat, allowing Rossy the unique man-airborne ability to propel himself up.

Just over a year ago, Rossy propelled himself with a single device across the English channel.  Rossy jetted across the 22 mile burn in 9 minutes and 32 seconds.  At the time it was his longest flight.

For those of you that remember the 1990s film the Rocketeer, you can picture just what Rossy can do up there.

However, control and stability are not as simple as the movie may have portrayed.  As a man born for the skies, Rossy has flown aircraft for decades, as well as being an avid sky diver.  His natural instinct in the air is derived from his sky diving, as he controls his flight path with delicate and precise movement and coordination of his hands and feet.

Check out this video of the Swiss "Jet Man."

His wing is made out of fiberglass, which aside from low weight also allows for flexibility against fluctuation in air pressure.  This gives the wing a more feasible stability during flight, allowing Rossy to focus more on his physical movements.

The four turbines at full capacity push out 194 pounds of thrust, which is a calculation that relates 1 pound of matter being held up against the constant force of gravity.

Armed with 3.5 gallons of fuel, the 121 pound fully geared pack only gives Rossy a few minutes of gravitational rebellion

But with bigger jets, come bigger problems.

Each jet is sheathed in Kevlar in case of an explosion.

Rossy has also developed a cutaway harness made out of seatbelts.  This allows him to easily drop the wing (which has a parachute of its own) in case of a spin, which has happened to Rossy dozens of times.

His suit is flame-retardant, his boots have incredibly reinforced heels, and his helmet is equipped with an audible altimeter.

Although this wing has allowed Rossy lift, he plans to develop a larger delta shaped pack with larger thrusters, which would look something like this...

 

Imagination Land Succeeds!..again

So I'm up in the newsroom.  Discussing the latest additions to the 09 AP Style Guide with members of the Daily Titan staff.

As you may have learned in class, or about journalism in general, a vigorous battle between writer and copy editor occurs every time an article goes to print.

As the writer portrays the story and its' players, the copy editor "corrects" the faults in AP style.

Guide in hand, bible as its referred, this brave tactician of AP commitment peruses each character of the article guaranteeing a flawless product, as best they can.

For even the best of copy editors miss a few.

As we lamented on the tediousness and attention that must be taken to produce such a perfection, epiphany struck!...and hard.

Behold!  The latest creation of a faux brilliant mind!  I give you the AP style error scanning pen, coming to a media near you...maybe, hopefully, eventually?