To outer space & back
Fifty years after man first went into space, we look back at the highs and lows of cosmic travel
Emma McFarnon
Man has come a long way since Yuri Gagarin first went into space 50 years ago. But as space travel becomes a preserve of the wealthy and the Moon return project is slashed, is the heydey of space exploration over?

Prof Yash Pal

To outer space & back
Fifty years after man first went into space, we look back at the highs and lows of cosmic travel
Emma McFarnon

In this July 15, 1961 picture, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, stands in an open car outside the Russian embassy in London and waves to the crowd. Photo: AP/PTI

Man has come a long way since Yuri Gagarin first went into space 50 years ago. But as space travel becomes a preserve of the wealthy and the Moon return project is slashed, is the heydey of space exploration over?

The Space Race unleashed a proliferation of experiments, from artificial satellites to excursions to the Moon. But while the 1950s and 60s boasted space exploration in abundance, manned voyages in the years that followed were to deplete.

The space agenda began to prioritise analysis and photography from orbit over man exploring the Moon in earnest — Venera 13 analysed Venusian soil from 1982, while the surface of Mars was brought into focus by Phobus 2 in 1989.

Undoubtedly, planetary science has seen a tremendous growth in new knowledge. We have discovered Europa’s ocean could support life, and that liquid methane rain falls on Saturn’s moon, Titan, creating rivers and lakes not unlike those on Earth.

But aren’t the days of astronauts setting foot on the Moon to explore its peaks and crevasses, not as a tourist in exchange for millions of dollars, but for the sake of science, over?

Recent developments might suggest as much. In 2010 Barack Obama announced the end of the Constellation mission back to the Moon, and encouraged NASA to shift its focus in exchange for a $6 billion funding increase.

Meanwhile business tycoon Richard Branson built on his £14 million deal to allow his company, Virgin, to take passengers into space. Yesterday Virgin Galactic announced it is looking for pilot-astronauts for both the carrier vehicle and the craft that will fly into space.

Chris Bergin, Managing Editor of NASASpaceflight.com, a website which publishes space exploration news, acknowledged moon missions are declining.

“While Moon missions may no longer be the main focus of the future plans, staged manned exploration goals of potentially visiting a Near Earth Object (NEO) — such an asteroid — working off the long duration space flight lessons of six month tours on the International Space Station, will lay the path for an eventual manned mission to Mars,” he said.

“Robotic exploration of the outer solar system has always been part of the space program’s focus, and will continue to be so — from a robotic standpoint — not least because manned exploration of those destinations won’t occur in our lifetimes.

“Manned exploration of Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) is technically achievable, but highly costly. While robotic missions are less costly, the balance is to build a viable roadmap for manned BEO missions, given manned missions still cultivate far more inspiration and public interest over robotic missions, and by some margin.”

Bergin also spoke about space tourism: “Space tourism will become part of — as opposed to a dominating element — of the future of space travel, at least from a public interest standpoint, and probably not from a launch frequency standpoint,” he said.

“The big missions will still remain with NASA, and commercial space, such those seen with SpaceX’s plans, who continue to impress with their evolving fleet of vehicles, led by billionaire founder Elon Musk.”

Turning specifically to Richard Branson’s venture, Bergin said: “Virgin Galactic are certainly leading the charge for space tourism, which had previously only been open to a handful of selected multi-millionaires paying to ride on the Russian Soyuz to the International Space Station for around a week.

“Some people who follow the space program have noted that Virgin’s PR machine has been working overtime on selling their flights, noting they are ‘safer than the Space Shuttle’, whilst completely ignoring the Shuttle’s amazing 30 year career in their legacy of flight logo on the side of the vehicle. Let’s be clear, in space flight terms, we’re comparing a new Mini popping to the supermarket, with an 18 wheeler juggernaut carrying a delivery across Europe.

“However, we are witnessing the start of what will eventually be numerous companies offering tickets to ride into space, notably the plans seen for Bigelow Aerospace, who continue to plan a ‘Space Hotel’ via their innovative inflatable module design. It may turn into an exciting future for private passengers, with costs eventually reducing so that non-millionaires will be able to book a flight into space. That can only a good thing. Sir Richard Branson is being rightly praised for opening up these possibilities.”

Fifty years ago the world was full of aspirations that a new age of space exploration was upon them. And according to the Space Odyssey series, trips to the moon should by now be as customary as popping to the supermarket. Instead, space exploration looks set to become the preserve of the mega-rich, while funding for voyages which shape the world as we know it are slashed. To infinity and back to Earth again? — The Independent

This Universe
Prof Yash Pal

Is time travel possible? And if it is possible, will we be in a real world or an imaginary one?

There are many scientific and pseudo-scientific communications about time travel. Many a time they involve regions of space where intense concentration of masses shows up theoretical distortions and entanglements of space-time. In such situations it might be possible to talk of time travel. But for the real world we know and work with, time travel seems impossible in the sense that we cannot have effects precede causes. More lightly, I would say that the best practical method of time travel is to watch a movie wherein the film is being run backwards, Even a better way is to do it with the help of our remarkable imagination — this is better because we have the freedom to edit it the way we want.

Why do we see fog around an ice cube taken out of the freezer of a refrigerator?

This is a perceptive observation. The ice cube taken out of the freezer of a refrigerator can be quite a bit colder than the surrounding air in the room. Indeed, it might be 20 degrees or so colder than the freezing point of water. The air in the room always has some moisture in it. When this air comes in contact with the cold air around the ice cube or the ice cube itself, the moisture will condense and lead to a fog in its neighbourhood. After all, fog is nothing but a collection of tiny droplets of water suspended in air.

With respect to Ohm’s Law, when “V” (potential difference) is directly proportional to “I” (current), why do we take “R” on the side, along with “I”, instead of taking it in multiplication with “V”?

Do not get lost in algebra or arithmetic. Think physically. Supposing you have a tall drum filled with water. The potential of water would be given by the height to which the drum is filled. Now, imagine a hole on the side of the drum close to its bottom. The rate at which the water flow will be like current flowing in an electric circuit and the height of the water in the drum would be akin to electric potential. The size of the hole in the drum will determine the resistance. Then you will have not problem in deciding how to write the equation between potential rate at which the water flows out and the size of the hole. Just do not forget to reason physically.

What would happen to the solar system if the earth lost its magnetic field?

General thinking about the origin of magnetic fields of planets is the following:

First, it is necessary that the planet should be big enough so that its inside melts to become liquid during the heat released in its gravitational contraction. Second, the planet should be rotating reasonably fast. Both these conditions are satisfied for all planets that have significant magnetic fields. Thus, the only way I can make the earth lose its magnetic field is to stop its rotation or to cool down its interior. Both of these will be hard to achieve. I do not think any thing will happen to the rest of the solar system if we are powerful enough to play such games only with our home planet.

Readers wanting to ask Prof Yash Pal a question can e-mail him at palyash.pal@gmail.com

Trends
Iran to build new nuclear research reactors

James Prosek in his New Haven, Connecticut studio, standing next to the life-size painting he has made of a bluefin tuna for a book to be published in 2012 by Rizzolli. Prosek, a renowned naturalist and illustrator of fish, realised while working on a book called Trout: An Illustrated History that traditional nomenclature for living things is increasingly mismatched with scientific knowledge. Today (April 15), a group of academics at Yale University will push for a revolution in the nearly three century old method for giving complicated Latin names to newly discovered species, but not everyone is in favour of the change. Prosek’s bluefin tuna and the life-size swordfish on the floor, then a work-in-progress, are currently on view at the Nouveau Musee National de Monaco as part of an exhibit called Oceanomania Photo: AFP

TEHRAN: Iran plans to build “four to five” nuclear research reactors and will continue to enrich uranium to provide their fuel, a nuclear official said on Monday despite Western pressure on Tehran to curb atomic work. The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Fereydoon Abbasi, said Tehran would build the reactors “in the next few years” to produce medical radioisotopes, according to the students news agency ISNA.

New target for antidepressants seen

LONDON: British scientists using human stem cells say they have found out how antidepressants make new brain cells-a finding that should help drug researchers develop better and more efficient medicines to fight depression. Previous studies have shown that antidepressants such as tricyclics and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) generate new brain cells, but until now scientists had not been clear how they did it.

Soyuz docks 50 years after Gagarin’s voyage

MOSCOW: A Soyuz craft adorned with a portrait of the first man in space docked with the International Space Station Thursday, days before the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering flight. U.S. astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyayev and Andrey Borisenko floated through the hatch to the warm welcome of three crew already aboard the orbital station after the docking, which NASA said took place at 3:09 a.m. Moscow time (2309 GMT Wednesday).

Way to map brain’s complexity found

LONDON: Scientists say they have moved a step closer to developing a computer model of the brain after finding a way to map both the connections and functions of nerve cells in the brain together for the first time. In a study in the journal Nature on Sunday, researchers from Britain’s University College London (UCL) described a technique developed in mice which enabled them to combine information about the function of neurons with details of their connections.

Nitrogen key in feeding world but pollution costly

LONDON: Nitrogen compounds play a vital role in feeding a rising world population but they also pollute air, soil and water, costing each person in Europe up to 740 euros ($1,066) a year, according to a study published on Monday. The study, carried out by 200 experts from 21 countries and 89 organizations, estimated the annual cost of damage caused by nitrogen pollution across Europe was 70 billion to 320 billion euros. — Reuters