Following is a summary of current science news briefs.
History littered with failed Mars probes
PASADENA, California (Reuters) - NASA's Mars Climate
Orbiter was about a week away from wrapping up an 11-month
journey to the Red Planet in 1999 when engineers noticed a
problem - the spacecraft, designed to study Mars' environment,
was not where it was supposed to be. The gap grew alarmingly
over the next few days. On September 23, Climate Orbiter began
the brake to enter Mars' orbit as planned, but disappeared
behind the planet 49 seconds early, severing radio contact with
Earth. It was never heard from again.
Study projects growing demand for commercial spaceflights
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Commercial suborbital
spaceflights should bring in between $600 million and $1.6
billion in revenue in their first decade of operations,
according to a study commissioned by the U.S. and Florida
governments and released on Wednesday. Tourism drives about 80
percent of the demand for suborbital flights, which reach about
63 miles above the planet's surface before plunging back
through the atmosphere.
Scientists skeptical as athletes get all taped up
LONDON (Reuters) - German beach volleyball player Ilka
Semmler wears it on her buttocks - in pink. Swedish handball
player Johanna Wiberg prefers it in blue from her knee to her
groin. British sprinter Dwain Chambers has even worn it with a
Union Jack design. Athletic tape made in every color under the
sun seems to be the latest must-have sports injury treatment at
London 2012, where athletes may have been influenced by other
big name tape fans such as Serena Williams and David Beckham.
NASA rover closing in on Mars to hunt for life clues
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's Mars rover was
on its final approach to the red planet on Sunday, heading
toward a mountain that may hold clues about whether life has
ever existed on Mars, officials said. The rover, also known as
Curiosity, has been careening toward Mars since its launch in
November. The nuclear-powered rover the size of a compact car
is expected to end its 352-million-mile (567-million-km)
journey on August 6 at 1:31 a.m. EDT.
China aims to land probe on moon next year
BEIJING (Reuters) - China aims to land its first probe on
the moon in the second half of next year, state media reported
on Monday, the next step in an ambitious space progam which
includes building a space station. In 2007, China launched its
first moon orbiter, the Chang'e One orbiter, named after a
lunar goddess, which took images of the surface and analyzed
the distribution of elements.
Pop music too loud and all sounds the same: official
LONDON (Reuters) - Comforting news for anyone over the age
of 35, scientists have worked out that modern pop music really
is louder and does all sound the same. Researchers in Spain
used a huge archive known as the Million Song Dataset, which
breaks down audio and lyrical content into data that can be
crunched, to study pop songs from 1955 to 2010.
Russian unmanned spacecraft docks on second try
MOSCOW (Reuters) - An upgraded Russian unmanned spacecraft
successfully linked up with the International Space Station on
Sunday on its second attempt to test a new docking system,
Russia's space agency said. The docking set aside doubts over
the new Kurs-NA rendezvous system that will deliver astronauts
and future cargoes to the orbital station after a botched first
test when the equipment malfunctioned due to low temperatures
earlier this week.
Scientists unlock ocean CO2 secrets key to climate: study
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - From giant whirlpools to currents
1,000 km wide, scientists said on Monday they have uncovered
how vast amounts of carbon are locked away in the depths of the
Southern Ocean, boosting researchers ability to detect the
impact of climate change. Oceans curb the pace of climate
change by absorbing carbon dioxide emissions from burning
fossil fuels. The Southern Ocean is the largest of these ocean
carbon sinks, soaking up about 40 percent of mankind's CO2
absorbed by the seas.
Analysis: Evidence for climate extremes, costs, gets more
local
OSLO (Reuters) - Scientists are finding evidence that
man-made climate change has raised the risks of individual
weather events, such as floods or heatwaves, marking a big step
towards pinpointing local costs and ways to adapt to freak
conditions. "We're seeing a great deal of progress in
attributing a human fingerprint to the probability of
particular events or series of events," said Christopher Field,
co-chairman of a U.N. report due in 2014 about the impacts of
climate change.
Danish mission to amass data for North Pole claim
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark will dispatch a scientific
expedition to the Arctic Ocean at the end of the month to
gather data before it submits a formal claim to a vast tract
north of Greenland that includes the North Pole. Such a claim
would be made under the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea (UNCLOS), setting up a possible clash of interests with
fellow Arctic coastal states Russia and Canada that are making
their own claims.