Suspending Particles in 3D With Nothing But Sound!

Remember these words....Acoustic Levitation.

From the Hack A Day blog:

• Using a series of standing ultrasound waves, it is possible to suspend small particles at the sound pressure nodes. The acoustic axis of the ultrasound beam is parallel to gravity, which also allows the objects to be manipulated along the fixed axis by varying the phase or frequencies of the sound. By adding a second ultrasound beam perpendicular to the first it is possible to localize the pressure node, or focal point, and levitate small objects around a 2D plane.

Here is the Youtube video that will blow your mind!




And here is the url for the Hack A Day article HERE

Russia Wants to do a Mission to Ganymede

 

Russia has allocated 1.5 million dollars for the development of a technical proposal to land a probe on the surface of  Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon.

Ganymede would be an excellent choice.  It is the largest moon in the solar system, 8% larger than Mercury but has only 45% of Mercury's  mass.

The Russian mission will be called Laplas-P1, would consist of two spacecraft launched by separate heavy lift  launch vehicles. The trip to Jupiter would take upwards of nine years. 

 In all likelihood a prototype would not be available until 2017, with a launch date of 2023 the arrival could not take place any earlier that 2030.

For more check out the IO9 article HERE

NASA Snaps Pic of Yuto

From 93 miles overhead, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's camera has captured the landing site of the Chang'e 3 lander.   Both the lander and the Yuto rover.   The remarkable thing about the photo containing the pair is the rover itself is less than 5 feet across!

 

 

If you go to the IO9 site you will see a before and after pic to make the craft easier to spot.

 

Check out the site HERE

Space Crud Still Getting Worse!

So the movie Gravity didn't scare the crap right out of ya?  Well then check out yet another map of just how much junk is in orbit.  Every one of these dots is a potential accident just waiting to happen. 

This nightmarish obstacle course has NASA more than a bit worried (you have got to see the humor in that statement) in a recent report NASA suggested that models suggest that space debris has reached a critical level.  

Not everyone agrees with the assessment of the problem.  Hugh Lewis of Southampton University, UK has gone on record saying that Earth's belt of space waste has yet to pose a serious threat..... I think we can be a bit more upbeat, certainly if we are contemplating removing objects.

As the IO9 article points out that these technologies have yet to be fleshed out beyond the speculation period and will be decades before we see implementation. 

The first method should be reducing and eliminating any further increases in debris.   That and of itself is a difficult proposition at best.  But if something isn't started now then it is very likely in the very near future, space exploration may become almost impossible due to not being able to leave our own orbit because of space debris.

From the IO9 article:

• You can read more about the future of our relationship with space debris over at BBC News
• The USNRC Report, "Limiting Future Collision Risk to Spacecraft: An Assessment of NASA's
• Meteoroid and Orbital Debris Programs" is available here

Spectacular Skydiving short....Is this how a space jump might look like?

You have to check out this short film by Simon Hammond. I have to put up the "making of" just to prove it is not fake. I won't even bother to explain it, other than to say that the photography is insanely spectacular

Sony-BTS A7R from Cutting Edge on Vimeo.