02 The MoonWalk April 2009

Incredibly True...
Wanna become longer? Move into Space!
Everybody knows space is dangerous. Some of the
perils are obvious: hard vacuum, extreme cold, and
unpredictable blasts of radiation from the Sun. Other
perils are less conspicuous.
Among them, one goes here.The astronauts are up to
2 inches taller while they're in space. Astonished!!!
The spine of human beings elongates by up to three
percent while travelling in space. Spine is compatible
to a giant spring; applying pressure keeps it coiled and
releasing the pressure stretches it out. Less gravity in
space helps the discs between each vertebra to hold
more spinal fluid, making them larger and putting
more space between each vertebra. No major effect on
other areas of the body, such as the legs or arms are
seen since those bones are not compressible like the
discs in the spine. The natural curve of the spine is
straightened. Without the usual force of gravity
pushing down on it, the spine is freer to relax,
stretching out upto 7.6 cms.
Want some proof? Try measuring your own height at
the beginning and end of the day and you'll notice that
you'll lose some height during the day.Its due to the
fact that gravity compresses your spine during the day
and the compression is reversed itself until you get up
the next day. The effects of weightlessness further
eliminate the compression of the spine.
Is this height gain from weightlessness
permanent? No! Just like your own spine elongates
after lying down for a number of hours, an
astronaut will eventually return to their normal
height within days of their return. So those of you
who dream of being astronauts can take assurance
in one fact: you won't have to make a permanent
change to your wardrobe after each mission!
A Word From THE Team
“….the stars are too far away for experiments, so you have to sit
passively and watch what's happening; it's really like watching a
magic show. Astronomy is about trying to solve the puzzle of the
cosmic magic show."
- says Proff. John C Brown with a bird skull
on his desk; a photo of Einstein on the wall behind; an ancient computer
topped with a bust of Homer Simpson and a battered model of the Hubble
telescope dangling from the ceiling.
Such are astronomers and such are the elements of astronomy…
inspiring, conspiring but also pure, naïve and spiritual.
And the year of 2009 surely brought most of them together during the 100
hours of Astronomy from April 2, 2009 to April 5, 2009. This was a
cornerstone project and a worldwide celebration of the International
Year of Astronomy, 2009. It was all about four starry days!, and shimmer
nights, when people with all over the world came to see the marvels of that
unveiled cosmos; and roamed 'around the world in 80 telescopes' which
took viewers to every continent including Antarctica.
This issue of Moonwalk surely wishes to touch upon that one nerve which
makes us dream and fascinate about the sky above and roaming around its
faculties. We hence, dedicated this issue to mostly space travel, ranging
from moving there within gravity bound tunnels, without fuel or travelling
through black holes and white entrances!!
Myth or reality? Well, we leave these questions to be answered with time
and prefer being lost in the 'magic of the cosmos' as Sir Brown quotes it.

HEAVENS AT A GAME OF QUIDDITCH

Remember those super heroes on
Television trying to save our earth from an
asteroid collision. Well what would
happen if an asteroid were to strike our
earth some day?
Seems like all we would be needing is a
tractor!!! Not just any kind of tractor, it's
called an Asteroid Tractor.
Now, two NASA astronauts have
presented a plan for an "asteroid tractor"-
-an unmanned, 20-
ton spacecraft that
uses the invisible
bond of gravity to
gently pull an
asteroid into a new,
non-threatening
orbit.
"You can think of it
like a big elastic
band between the
two pulling them
together," said
Edward Lu, who
presents the concept
for the spacecraft
w i t h f e l l o w
astronaut Stanley Love in the Nov. 10
issue of the journal Nature.
The tractor would hover above the
surface of the asteroid, without touching
it, and use gravity as a towline. If the
spacecraft maintains a consistent
distance between it and the asteroid, and
always tows in the same direction, this
method won't disturb the asteroid's
rotation or composition.
Despite the urge to give the asteroid a
hardy tug, the key to moving an asteroid
with gravity is to be gentle. An asteroid is
likely to be loosely packed material, so
tugging on it too hard could break it into
unmanageable pieces. Or, the force from
the spacecraft's thrusters could break up
the asteroid or stir up unwanted dust if MIP
fired too vigorously. The 35kg Moon Impact Probe was one
To make sure the thrusters couldn't
of the 11 payloads onboard the
break up the asteroid--or hinder the net
towing force by pushing the asteroid
India’s most exciting space mission:
Chandrayaan-1. It separated from
away--Lu and Love angled the thrusters
slightly away from the body of the the satellite orbiting at the height of
spacecraft.
100km from lunar surface, and
"The jets fire off to
the side, not quite impacted on the moon surface
as efficient as covering the 100km vertical distance
firing straight in just 25min. But even at such an
down. It's like
rowing forward by enormous speed, it gave a very high
pushing off to the quality picture of the lunar terrain.
sides--it keeps
you moving
How is it possible?
forward, but very Well,the technique used here was to
slowly," Lu said. change the focus of the lens
"It takes less than
a pound of force-- periodically. But doesn't that happens
about what you in good cameras, you would ask? Yes it
need to hold up a does. But the period with which the
cup of coffee."
focus was changed in these cameras
In 2029, the
1,000-foot (320 meters) asteroid 99942 was 20 micro seconds!!!
Apophis(2004 MN4) will whiz by Earth at
a distance of about 18,600 miles (30,000
kilometers). That's about as close as
many geosynchronous satellites. It will
swing by the Earth again in either 2035
or 2036, and scientists predict it has a
small chance of hitting the planet on this
pass.
"The kind of spacecraft we've talked
about could move an asteroid 650 feet
(200 meters) across provided we have
decades of advanced warning," Lu said.
"That's not out of line with what you'd
expect - we can predict the orbit of an
asteroid decades in advance."