Norway's Tande sets ski jump record, leads team to win

February 22, 2016

KUOPIO, Finland (AP) — Daniel Andre Tande eclipsed the 1998 record for a ski jump on Puijo hill in eastern Finland and spearheaded Norway to only its second World Cup team victory in 11 years on Monday.

Tande landed after 136 meters as the second jumper of four. He maintained the high standard with 132 meters in the second jump. The previous record, 135.5 meters, was set by Japan's Masahiko Harada in 1998.

Norway amassed 1,057.2 points with the team of Kenneth Gangnes, Tande, Anders Fannemel, and Johann Andre Forfang. Germany was second at 1,002.8 points, and Japan third on 935.4. All eight of Norway's jumps were high class. Tande's 136-meter record jump was scored low in style, but the second of 132 meters was rewarded for its style. After his first jump, the starting gates were lowered and the chances of another record were diminished.

Tande scored 276.4, Forfang 267.1, Fannemel 262.7, and Gangnes 251.0. Gangnes was third overall in the ski jumping, Forfang fifth, Tande seventh, and Fannemel 10th. Germany, which won the first two of the season's team events, was second with Andreas Wank, Richard Freitag, Andreas Wellinger and Severin Freund.

Japan clinched its podium finish when 43-year-old Noriaki Kasai jumped 125 meters on the team's last attempts to hold off Austria by 3.3 points. Japan's starting man, Taku Takeuchi, led in the second round with 132.5 meters. He has lived for long spells in Finland, and in Kuopio, and speaks Finnish fluently. Unlike most jumpers, who dislike the Puijo hill for the shape of its takeoff zone, Takeuchi speaks well of it.

"I like this hill very much, and it is my home hill," he said. The event on Monday was moved on short notice from Lahti, where it was cancelled on Saturday. On Tuesday, Puijo hosts an individual competition, where the favorite will be World Cup leader Peter Prevc of Slovenia. He jumped 133.5 and 129.5 meters, and his 139.5 and 139.4 points were the best among all last jumpers on the nine teams.

Tourists could soon benefit from direct flights to Baikonur Space Center

Moscow (Sputnik)
Feb 22, 2016

The Center for Operation of Space Ground-Based Infrastructure of Russian space agency Roscosmos has announced a tender for air carriers interested in conducting regular flights to the Baikonur space center, the Russian Izvestia newspaper reports.

The newspaper said that the tender was announced after the modernization of the Krayniy Airport in Baikonur. Five airlines, including Kazakhstan's SCAT carrier, have expressed their interest in the tender.

Currently, there are no direct flights to Baikonur, apart from special flights that serve the needs of the space industry.

According to Izvestia, launching regular flights to Baikonur will contribute to the inflow of tourists and will also benefit staff working at the space center.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome is an international facility in Kazakhstan for operating Russian and multinational space programs. Russia has leased the Baikonur space center until 2050.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Tourists_could_soon_benefit_from_direct_flights_to_Baikonur_Space_Center_999.html.

Footprints of a martian flood

Paris (ESA)
Feb 22, 2016

Water has left its mark in a variety of ways in this martian scene captured by ESA's Mars Express. The region lies on the western rim of an ancient large impact basin, as seen in the context map. The image shows the western part of the Arda Valles, a dendritic drainage system 260 km north of Holden Crater and close to Ladon Valles.

Vast volumes of water once flowed from the southern highlands, carving Ladon Valles and ponding in the large Ladon Basin seen in this image.

The plan views show the striking dendritic drainage pattern of the valleys (left). Many contributing streams merge into tributaries of the main channels before flowing down into the smooth-floored impact basin towards the right.

In the upper center of the main image - also clearly identified in the topography and anaglyph images - a large mound is seen with an 8.5 km-wide impact crater at its foot. The mound is possibly the remnant of an older impact basin but may also have been influenced by sediments transported by the surrounding streams, building up a fan deposit.

In the center right of the image, a large 25 km-wide impact crater has also been filled by thick muddy sediments that later collapsed into the chaotic terrain seen in the crater floor. The jumbled nodules in the crater rim probably indicate the former level of the infilling sediments.

To the top right of the scene, the surface has also broken up into a number of giant polygons, likely linked to the loss of underground ice and the slow evaporation of water that was once ubiquitous in this area.

The more concentric fracture-like features seen within the smooth floor of the large basin are likely also related to stresses in the surface resulting from the compaction of the vast amount of sediments that infill the basin.

Some of the fractures seem to join the central crater to the smoother basin floor, particularly evident in the perspective view. They could be a later manifestation of stresses due to subsidence or compaction of surface materials.

Finally, in the lower center of the image, just above the crater at the bottom of the scene and towards the end of the dendritic channels, light-toned and layered deposits have been identified. These are clay minerals, known to be formed in the presence of water.

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Footprints_of_a_martian_flood_999.html.

Alpha Centauri: Our First Target for Interstellar Probes

by Tomasz Nowakowski for Astro Watch
Los Angeles CA (SPX)
Feb 22, 2016

With the completion of New Horizons' primary mission of Pluto fly-by, should we now set our sights even much higher, ambitiously taking aim at other star systems? If so, Alpha Centauri would be probably considered as the best target for an interstellar spacecraft due to its "proximity" to Earth.

This system, consisting of three stars and possible planetary companions, is the nearest to solar system, located "only" about 4.3 light years from us. The problem is, getting there in our lifetime is still a mission impossible, or maybe not?

The neighboring system hosts a pair of stars named Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. Alpha Centauri C, also known as Proxima Centauri is a small and faint "red dwarf" - a small and relatively cool star - and may be gravitationally bound to the duo.

However, what still baffles astronomers is the existence of exoplanets in this system. In 2012, the discovery of a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B was announced, but three years later a new research debunked this theory calling the previous finding a "ghost in the time series". Moreover, in 2015, another study proposed the existence of other alien world accompanying the "B" star.

What is interesting, the two hypothetical exoplanets would be Earth-like if they really exist. This could be another motivator to send our spacecraft there. But before any mission concepts are prepared, a deeper look into the system could be very helpful. Now the trick is that we currently don't even have a telescope that could directly image a planet in this system.

"This would have to be done from space - even then, it would be hard. We don't have a space telescope that can do this right now, especially for small planets. There are no gas giant planets there, if there were any, we would have detected them," Debra Fischer, astronomer and exoplanet hunter at the Yale University, told Astrowatch.net.

4.3 light-years equals 25 trillion miles, so knowing at least some basic information about this destination is quite essential before embarking on such a demanding trip. With current technology, a robotic probe send from Earth would require some 40,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri, making the mission totally useless for us.

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft which is the fastest-moving spacecraft ever launched from Earth, currently travels at about 36,400 mph. If the probe was aimed at the Alpha Centauri system, it would reach it 78,000 years after launch!

A huge technology advancement is required to make interstellar journeys feasible. Unless new propulsion system would be developed, every concept of mission to other stars could be doomed to fail.

"Once we have the ability to accelerate a probe to 10 percent the speed of light, that is the first place we'll go! It's the closest star system and therefore a great target," Fischer said.

In the past, there were projects that included sending unmanned interstellar spacecraft with a velocity of 4.5 or even 7.1 percent the speed of light. Between 1973 and 1978 a study was conducted by the British Interplanetary Society to send a probe using a fusion rocket that would reach Barnard's Star located 5.9 light years away.

The study, named "Project Daedalus" aimed to develop a spacecraft capable of reaching up to 7.1 percent the speed of light, thus the whole journey would take only 50 years.

Similar study, the "Project Longshot" was developed by the U.S. Naval Academy and NASA, from 1987 to 1988. The project would use a spacecraft powered by nuclear pulse propulsion to reach an average velocity of approximately 30 million mph (4.5 percent the speed of light). That would allow the mission to arrive at Alpha Centauri some 100 years after launch.

There is really a long list of concepts and projects tasked with designing a propulsion system of the future that would allow interstellar travel. In contrary to the ideas based on conventional propulsion, many concepts include using antimatter rockets, warp drive or wormholes.

A laser-powered interstellar sail ship is a very original concept that seems feasible in the near future. It was presented by Geoffrey A. Landis of NASA's Glenn Research Center in 2002. Landis described a starship with a diamond sail, a few nanometers thick, powered by solar energy, which could achieve 10 per cent of the speed of light.

Using this type of propulsion, it would take 43 years to reach Alpha Centauri, if it passed through the system. However, slowing down to stop at our neighboring system could increase the trip up to 100 years. Thus it would be more appropriate for a fly-by performed by an unmanned probe.

When will we be able to develop such a propulsion allowing us to travel at least at a speed of 10 percent the speed of light? That remains disputable.

"We have to have the probe travel faster than 10 percent the speed of light and we need high gain antenna in the outer solar system to pick up the signal that the probe sends back. This is a technology horizon that currently seems far away. 50 years? 100 years? Hard to say!" Fischer concluded.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Alpha_Centauri_Our_First_Target_for_Interstellar_Probes_999.html.

Deadly north India protests lead to New Delhi water shortage

February 21, 2016

NEW DELHI (AP) — As thousands of members of an underprivileged community in northern India continue to protest to demand government benefits, the more than 16 million people in India's capital are facing a water shortage as a result of the violent demonstrations, which have left at least 10 dead.

The protesters have damaged equipment that brings water from Munak canal in Haryana state to New Delhi, depleting the capital's water supply. New Delhi gets about 60 percent of its water from the neighboring state.

Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi's chief minister, announced Sunday that schools in the capital would be closed Monday due to the water shortage. He also ordered the rationing of water to people's homes. At least 10 people have been killed in firing on protesters by Indian security forces since the weeklong protests turned violent on Friday, Yashpal Singhal, the state's top police officer, told reporters on Sunday. Another 150 protesters have been injured in clashes in various parts of Haryana.

Sporadic violence was reported in Haryana on Sunday, with protesters setting a bank ATM and bank records on fire. Singhal said no major incidents of violence were reported in the state. He also said paramilitary forces and irrigation engineers were trying to restore the water flow from Munak canal to New Delhi.

The protesters, members of the lower-caste Jat agricultural community, are demanding benefits both at the federal and state levels, including guaranteed government jobs or university spots. Talks Friday between community leaders and state government representatives failed to lead to an agreement.

The protesters are demanding 27 percent government job quotas or university spots for their community. India's constitution includes a system of affirmative action for people in the lowest castes to help them overcome discrimination. The government has expanded the number of groups, including the Jat, qualifying for quotas.

Saudi Arabia to supply Syrian opposition with SAMs

Saturday, 20 February 2016

Saudi Arabia announced on Friday that it is planning to supply the moderate Syrian opposition with surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), AlKhaleej.com has reported. Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir made the announcement during an interview with the Germany weekly Der Spiegel; his comments were then reported widely by other media outlets.

“We believe that introducing surface-to-air missiles in Syria is going to change the balance of power on the ground,” he told Der Spiegel. “It will allow the moderate opposition groups to neutralize the helicopters and aircraft that are dropping chemicals and have been carpet-bombing them.” He noted that something similar happened previously in Afghanistan.

Al-Jubeir repeated his calls for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad “to step down in order to enable a political solution to the five-year-long war.” He suggested that Russian interference does not help the Assad regime in the long term.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/24046-saudi-arabia-to-supply-syrian-opposition-with-sams.

Spain Agrees to Purchase Predator Drone System With Four Planes

Moscow (Sputnik)
Feb 19, 2016

The Spanish military decided to purchase a Predator B drone system consisting of four planes and two ground control stations with satellite links, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) said in a press release on Wednesday.

The Predator B is capable of remaining in the air for 27 hours at a maximum altitude of 50,000 feet. The system can be used to monitor borders, help direct rescue efforts following natural disasters and support Spain's military missions worldwide, the release noted.

"GA-ASI is proud to partner with the Spanish Armed Forces to offer our operationally proven Predator B RPA [remotely piloted aircraft] to fulfill Spain's emerging multi-mission requirements," Chief Executive Officer Linden Blue said in the release.

SENER, a leading engineering company in Spain, will provide technical support for the project, according to the release.

"Reaper will contribute significantly to strengthen our country's Defense and Security system and will provide increased protection to our forces," SENER Vice President Andres Sendagorta said in the release.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Spain_Agrees_to_Purchase_Predator_Drone_System_With_Four_Planes_999.html.