<![CDATA[Thais Russomano               space doctor<br /> - Blog]]>Mon, 14 May 2012 06:40:26 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Soundwaves in Space rock to ZZ Top . . . . ]]>Tue, 08 May 2012 12:24:48 -0800http://www.thaisrussomano.com/2/post/2012/05/soundwaves-in-space-rock-to-zz-top.htmlEver wanted to ‘see’ sound waves?

Then take a look at this video clip created by science officer Don Pettit on board the International Space Station, demonstrating water oscillations in microgravity. The simple experiment sees Pettit use a basic speaker with the cover removed so the tweeter and woofer 20mm cones are on show. A droplet of
water is then placed on each and let the music and the show begin!

“I’m amazed at how much fun you can with something as simple as a set of speakers from your laptop
computer and a splash of water,” said Pettit who added that he wanted to see how sound waves would affect water droplets“without the complications of gravity.”

Keep watching till the end to rock with ZZ Top and see the variations between the low frequencies of
the woofer and the high frequencies of the tweeter and how they affect the water drops.
]]><![CDATA[Giant steps are what you take - walking on the Moon - or not??!!]]>Fri, 04 May 2012 10:21:28 -0800http://www.thaisrussomano.com/2/post/2012/05/giant-steps-are-what-you-take-walking-on-the-moon-or-not.htmlPicture
You think that walking on the Moon, which has only one-sixth of Earth's gravity, is easy?
 
Check out the video below - it shows the contrary!!
 
However, the clothes that astronauts used on lunar missions were heavy and bulky - even taking into account the reduced gravity of
the moon. The astronaut's space suits had to be pressurized, making them rigid and meaning that movement was even more difficult. But the strangest thing was the size of the boots worn by the astronauts from the Apollo program - they were always much
larger than the astronaut's actual foot size so they could fit over existing footwear - and became known as "moon-boots".

Check out Vida de Astronauta on Facebook to see more astronaut facts - & please hit the 'Like' button!


]]><![CDATA[Asteroid mining to be a reality?]]>Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:59:30 -0800http://www.thaisrussomano.com/2/post/2012/04/asteroid-mining-to-be-a-reality.htmlPicture
All eyes will be on the Museum of Flight in Seattle, USA on Tuesday this week for the official launch of a new start-up mining resources company. Nothing very newsworthy in that you might think, and you would probably be right if it were not for the fact that the new  company, called ‘Planetary Resources’ is backed by a group of billionaire entrepreneurs with very large pockets stashed with cash to spend! The backers include Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Microsoft’s Charles Simonyi, and none other than film director James Cameron of Avatar and Titanic fame, recently returned from his one-man submarine adventure to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

With planet Earth rapidly becoming short of natural resources, the new venture will look to the possibilities of extracting raw material from asteroids in Space. A recent study has identified there being 7,500 suitable rocks out there potentially packed with valuable minerals. For example, just one single asteroid called 16 Psyche is believed to contain 10 million, billion tonnes of nickel-iron, which could supply world demand for this mineral for several million years! The rewards truly could be ‘out of this world’,however, let us not forget that a huge gulf in current technology still exists before space rockets can go chasing asteroids and land on them, before returning home again with storage rooms filled with the precious cargo. 

Never say never – technology evolves at an ever increasing rate – but I think the CGI world of Avatar is the closest Mr. Cameron will get in his lifetime to mineral mining on Pandora’s Moon.

     
]]><![CDATA[Finest malt whisky or rocket fuel?!]]>Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:22:38 -0800http://www.thaisrussomano.com/2/post/2012/04/finest-malt-whisky-or-rocket-fuel.htmlPicture
Boldly going where no whisky has gone before - Scottish whisky distillers Ardbeg have launched its malt into orbit above the Earth. 

A team from the distillery company based on the Scottish Isle of Islay has joined forces with experts from US space research company NanoRacks, to test the interaction between the molecules from a sample of unmatured malt whisky with particles of charred oak, used in the kegs that normally store the liquor.

The experiment was launched in October last year to the International Space Station where it will stay for 2 years in the microgravity environment. Details were only released yesterday at the Edinburgh International Science Festival.

Sadly, for the astronauts currently floating onboard the ISS it is a case of look but don’t touch. No ‘out of this world’ wee dram of whisky for them to toast with – though as all whisky-lovers will know, it takes many years to mature a good malt so the ISS supply would probably taste more like rocket fuel than Ardbeg’s finest bottle of whisky!

More details on the BBC news site.
]]><![CDATA[ESTUDE COM ASTRONAUTAS POR UMA SEMANA!!!]]>Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:00:47 -0800http://www.thaisrussomano.com/2/post/2012/03/estude-com-astronautas-por-uma-semana.htmlPicture
Já pensou em trabalhar com astronautas e cientistas da NASA? Que tal participar de uma missão para ter um projeto construído e enviado para pesquisa na Estação
Espacial Internacional?

A Mission Discovery abre essa possibilidade para brasileiros, a partir de 15 anos de idade, que estejam interessados em ciência, pesquisa espacial e também em aprimorar seu inglês através do contato com estudantes e professores de outros países.

Além disso, você estará no King’s College London, uma das mais renomadas universidades do mundo, e em contato direto com astronautas da NASA e cientistas
espaciais.

Vamos Nessa?
Dia 01: Formação dos grupos de trabalho e palestras sobre pesquisa espacial
     - Por que estudar como o corpo humano se comporta no espaço?
     - Formação dos grupos de trabalho

Dia 02: O ambiente espacial e as missões da Space Shuttle
     - Como é viver em um ambiente de microgravidade?
     - Trabalhando com pesquisa espacial
     - Primeiras atividades dos grupos de trabalho

Dia 03: Apresentação da missão espacial
     - A Estação Espacial Internacional como um ambiente para a pesquisa biomédica
     - Fisiologia humana na microgravidade
     - Detalhamento da missão espacial e dos projetos dos grupos de trabalho

Dia 04: Melhorando a vida na Terra
     - Como a pesquisa espacial pode melhorar a vida na Terra?
     - O impacto das descobertas advindas da ciência espacial na medicina terrestre
     - Finalização dos projetos dos grupos de trabalho

Dia 05: Seleção da missão
     - Apresentação das missões elaboradas pelos grupos
     - Seleção do projeto a ser enviado para a Estação Espacial Internacional

Horário das atividades: 9.30h-16.30h 

Clique para DESCOBRIR MAIS!
 
]]><![CDATA[Virgin Galactic signs up its 500th 'space customer' . . . .]]>Tue, 20 Mar 2012 07:42:00 -0800http://www.thaisrussomano.com/2/post/2012/03/virgin-galactic-signs-up-its-500th-space-customer.htmlPicture
Blogging Mr. Richard Branson announced
yesterday that Virgin Galactic has just signed up its 500th“astronaut customer” to fly into space – none other than studd muffin actor, Ashton Kutcher.

 "I gave Ashton a quick call to congratulate and welcome him. He is as thrilled as we are at the prospect of being among the first to cross the final frontier (and back!) with us and to experience the magic of space for himself," Branson wrote on his blog.

With a flight costing $200,000, with an up-front deposit of $20,000 required, it is a luxury then most mere mortals will not be including on their shopping list this week. However, when your daytime job pays you $700,000 per episode for starring in the hit comedy show Two and a Half Men (reportedly $15.4 million for the season), I guess the price for 6 minutes of weightlessness is irrelevant! 

The date and time of the space flights have not yet been announced.
]]><![CDATA[The Northern Lights as seen from the ISS . . . . ]]>Sun, 18 Mar 2012 18:16:45 -0800http://www.thaisrussomano.com/2/post/2012/03/the-northern-lights-as-seen-from-the-iss.htmlUnfortunately, I have never yet been lucky enough to witness the Northern Lights for myself, but I live in hope that one day I will be in the right place at the right time in the northern hemisphere.

In the meantime, I will have to be happy with watching the display on video, such as this one just released by NASA and showing images captured from the International Space Station (ISS).

Hit the play button and watch some footage taken from the cockpit of the ISS showing the lights
(scientifically termed the aurora borealis) against the curvature of the Earth.

The video was created by the Crew Earth Observations team at Johnson Space Centre, Houston, Texas and made from a series of still images captured by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the space station earlier in the year.

 Enjoy!
]]><![CDATA[Russia plans to send man to the Moon by 2030.]]>Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:35:20 -0800http://www.thaisrussomano.com/2/post/2012/03/russia-plans-to-send-man-to-the-moon-by-2030.htmlAccording to the Russian online news site, Kommersant, the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) is setting out its aims for the next 18 years, and these will include the deployment of research stations on Mars, as well as a first Russian manned mission to the Moon.

The space agency has seen some hard times recently with satellites failing to reach orbit and a high-profile Mars mission, the Fobos Grunt, suffering a rocket failure and crashing back down to Earth in 2011.

However, undeterred, Russia’s new plans are focusing the highest priority on technological development and modernization, and will probably see new purchases of rocket technology from abroad in order to achieve its goal.

By 2030, Russia should be able "to conduct a manned circum-lunar test flight with the subsequent landing of cosmonauts on its surface and their return to Earth," the Roscosmos plan is quoted as saying.

The agency also hopes to join other nations in deploying a network of long-term research stations on Mars that could be used a stepping stone for an eventual colonization of the Red Planet.

]]><![CDATA[When science and fun combine . . . . . . . ]]>Sat, 10 Mar 2012 03:09:28 -0800http://www.thaisrussomano.com/2/post/2012/03/when-science-and-fun-combine.htmlStand in front of a group of students and announce that today we will be having a science lesson, and at that point half of them will audibly groan, slump over their desks, and they will give more attention to what they are planning to do that night than to you at the front of the room! This is the negative power that the 'S' word - Science - can have on some people.

However, take a little science theory and add it to one of the latest games crazes and you have a guaranteed way to hold the attention of many, and to teach the public about a core concept of space exploration - i.e gravity - without them even realising it.

At least, I think that is the theory behind NASA's latest collaboration with entertainment media company Rovio, creators of the globally successful Angry Birds franchise.

Due for release later this month, Angry Birds Space, must be the first games release to be announced from the International Space Station, and provided NASA astronaut Don Pettit with a great opportunity to explain about gravity, including a demonstration of using a catapult in space, fully loaded with an Angry Bird! Find out more by viewing the video below.
    
]]><![CDATA[Back to blogging . . . . . . . . . ]]>Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:12:39 -0800http://www.thaisrussomano.com/2/post/2012/03/back-to-blogging.htmlPicture
Ok - so let the blogging begin once again!

My apologies for a lack of updates but I have been away on my travels and as ever, up to my eye-balls in work work work!

Back in sunny Brazil once more after
leaving behind a cold and dark London, as well as taking part in very interesting visits to snowy Sweden and Finland. New and exciting connections to be built with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and Aalto University in Helsinki.

Much accomplished at King's College, London - my usual haunt - and had the pleasure of meeting NASA astronaut Ron Garan whilst there this time.

I look forward to later this year returning to King's to be involved in the Mission Discovery Summer School - a week long program for students interested in sciences, medicine and technology, but with a Space theme. Any young Brazilians fancy working alongside a team from NASA (including astronaut Ken Ham), and a team of scientists from King's College, London - including my good self? 

Then watch this space for more news!
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