My definition of the space elevator: What, like in the Jetsons?

Wikipedia's ( www.wikipedia.com ) definition of the space elevator: A space elevator is a proposed structure designed to transport material from a planet's surface into space. Many different types of space elevators have been suggested. They all share the goal of replacing rocket propulsion with the traversal of a fixed structure via a mechanism not unlike an elevator in order to move material into or beyond orbit. Space elevators have also sometimes been referred to as beanstalks, spacebridges, space lifts, space ladders or orbital towers.

---

If the polar ice caps on Mars were to melt, the water would cover the entire surface of the planet to a depth of eleven metres. That's the conclusion drawn from data sent back by the Mars Express probe, which over the course of 300 orbits mapped the glaciers at Mars' south pole and found them to be composed of nearly pure water. Parts of Mars are believed to have been covered by liquid water in the past, and learning what happened to that water could hold the key to finding out if Mars may have at one time supported life.

Source: Paul Rincon, Polar water 'would blanket Mars.' BBC News, March 16. Photo of Mars' north pole by NASA.

---

Grade schools across the country and around the world have taught their students that Pluto is the last and smallest planet. That is, until 2006, when the International Astronomical Union decided to take the traditional planet’s name down to a non-planet form.

The community of astronomers has been in a fit of disagreement over this conclusion since that time. And now another debate has been added to the controversy. A name has been given to tiny planets like Pluto. The public may now refer to all tiny planets that rotate around the sun on the edge of our solar system as “plutoids”.

---

Fishing trawlers drag giant nets behind them, destroying everything on the sea bottom and clouding the water with tons of churned-up mud. Researchers at Duke University and the University of British Columbia have found that the muddy wakes of the boats can be seen from space, and they have dubbed the wakes "mudtrails."  They hope that the images will help educate the public about the damage caused by trawling.

Source: Cornelia Dean, Satellites Show Harvest of Mud That Trawlers Leave Behind.  New York Times, May 15. Image by Kyle Van Houtan, © DigitalGlobe. See also: excerpt from The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat by Charles Clover.

---

Accidental contamination of space flights with infectious germs could lead to the development of especially nasty strains, according to research done on the space shuttle Atlantis. After 12 days in orbit, experimental samples of Salmonella bacteria were three times as deadly to mice back home as their ground-based cousins. The effects of low gravity on the fluid the critters live in appear to be responsible, and scientists have been able to duplicate the situation back in the lab. They hope that the findings will help them understand bacterial adaptation and design new therapies against disease.

Source: Phil Berardelli. Space germs could yield earthly cures. ScienceNOW Daily News, September 24, 2007. NASA Photo of the space shuttle Atlantis docked to the space station Mir.

---

Those of us who live here know the Earth's surface is teeming with life. But if an outsider dropped a probe at random and scooped up a few handfuls of dirt -- and their probe happened to land in the Chilean desert -- they might conclude that the Blue Planet is a lifeless rock. Now a group of Mexican scientists say this is what we Earthlings may have done with Mars.

---

It is believed that Titan, Saturn's moon may have an underground ocean of water, as well as ammonia. This was reported by the Cassini spacecraft of NASA. This was found by radar measurements which were carried of Titan's rotation.

Evidence points and leads us to believe that Titan is the nearest to our earth like surface, in the entire solar system. This was mainly due it's lakes, mountains, organic dunes etc. The Cassini has observed how Titan rotates and has been recording its changes, this provides us with an insight into what's lays beneath of Titan's surface.

---

Most of us, at some point in our lives, have wondered what it’s like to be an astronaut. Here is a talk that Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut, gave at the Ontario Science Centre about one aspect of living in outer space: what to do when nature calls? Toilets as we know them on Earth just don’t work without gravity. So, in space, they substitute rushing air, which creates a vacuum (as well as a breeze). This vacuum ensures that there’s nothing floating around in the spacecraft’s recycled air that is going to make the astronauts sick— that’s something that we can’t afford on any space mission, especially a long one.

---

They are eerie sensations, more common than one might think: A man describes feeling a shadowy figure standing behind him, then turning around to find no one there. A woman feels herself leaving her body and floating in space, looking down on her corporeal self.

Such experiences are often attributed by those who have them to paranormal forces.

But according to recent work by neuroscientists, they can be induced by delivering mild electric current to specific spots in the brain.

Read Full Article

---

A research team from the University of Illinois, Chicago, has given birth to a robotic probe that is tailored to explore under-ice environment. Though the probe has been designed to roam on Europa, the moon of Jupiter, for the moment it runs through a trial in earthly environment.

The first test of the trial starts from the icy waters of Lake Mendota close to the campus of Wisconsin University in the second week of February this year. The probe has a pet name. Peter Doran, team leader and associate professor of earth and environmental sciences from Illinois calls it as ENDURANCE. Its full name is Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic Antarctic Explorer.

---