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MarsDial
The MarsDial is a sundial that was devised for missions to Mars. It is used to calibrate the Pancam, Pancam cameras of the Mars landers. MarsDials were placed on the ''Spirit (rover), Spirit'' and ''Opportunity (rover), Opportunity'' Mars Exploration Rover, Mars rovers, inscribed with the words "Two worlds, One sun" and the word "Mars" in 22 languages. The MarsDial can function as a gnomon, the stick or other vertical part of a sundial. The length and direction of the shadow cast by the stick allows observers to calculate the time of day. The sundial can also be used to tell which way is North, and to overcome the limitations of a magnetic north different from a true north. The sundial design team included Bill Nye "The Science Guy," space artist Jon Lomberg, and astronomers Woodruff T. Sullivan III, Woodruff Sullivan, Steve Squyres, James F. Bell, III, James Bell and Tyler Nordgren. CAD design and drawings were done by Jason Suchman. The MarsDial was intended to be part science ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jon Lomberg
Jon Lomberg (born 1948) is an American space artist and science journalist. He was Carl Sagan's principal artistic collaborator for more than twenty years on many projects from 1972 through 1996. In 1998, the International Astronomical Union officially named an asteroid ( 6446 Lomberg) in recognition of his achievements in science communication. He was NASA's Design Director for the Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft; the cover he designed is expected to last at least a billion years. Biography Jon Lomberg grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During a visit to Toronto, Ontario, after college, he was invited by science fiction author Judith Merril to display his artwork at a conference she organised for the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Lomberg moved to Toronto later that year and, after assisting Merril in a radio documentary for the CBC Radio One program '' Ideas'', went on to create many documentaries on topics such as NASA's Viking program and Halley's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Nye
William Sanford Nye (; born November 27, 1955) is an American science communicator, television presenter, and former mechanical engineer. He is best known as the host of the science education television show '' Bill Nye the Science Guy'' (1993–1999) and as a science educator in pop culture. Born in Washington, D.C., Nye began his career as a mechanical engineer for Boeing in Seattle, where he invented a hydraulic resonance suppressor tube used on 747 airplanes. In 1986, he left Boeing to pursue comedy, writing and performing for the local sketch television show '' Almost Live!'', where he regularly conducted wacky scientific experiments. Aspiring to become the next Mr. Wizard, Nye successfully pitched the children's television program ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' to Seattle's public television station, KCTS-TV. The show—which proudly proclaimed in its theme song that "science rules!"—ran from 1993 to 1998 in national TV syndication. Known for its "high-energy pres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyler Nordgren
Tyler Eugene Nordgren (November 18, 1969) is an astronomer and professor of physics at the University of Redlands. Education Nordgren earned a B.A. in physics from Reed College and an M.S. and Ph.D. in astronomy from Cornell University. Research Before joining the University of Redlands in 2001, Nordgren was an astronomer at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station and Lowell Observatory. In 2004, with six other astronomers and artists, Nordgren helped develop MarsDials, functioning sundials that NASA's ''Spirit'', ''Opportunity'', and ''Curiosity'' rovers carried with them to Mars. Nordgren also designed the giant sundial that resides on the wall of Appleton Hall at the University of Redlands and is accurate within 10 minutes. For the past five years, Nordgren has been traveling around the U.S. to educate the public about what eclipses are and how the opportunity to see the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 should not be missed. More of Nordgren's research ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gnomon
A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields, typically to measure directions, position, or time. History A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was excavated at the archeological site of Taosi is the oldest gnomon known in China. The gnomon was widely used in ancient China from the second millennium BC onward in order to determine the changes in seasons, orientation, and geographical latitude. The ancient Chinese used shadow measurements for creating calendars that are mentioned in several ancient texts. According to the collection of Zhou Chinese poetic anthologies ''Classic of Poetry'', one of the distant ancestors of King Wen of the Zhou dynasty used to measure gnomon shadow lengths to determine the orientation around the 14th century BC. The ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander (610–546 BC) is credited with introducing this Babylonian instrument to the Ancient Greeks. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pancam
Each Pancam is one of two electronic stereo cameras on Mars Exploration Rovers ''Spirit'' and ''Opportunity''. It has a filter wheel assembly that enables it to view different wavelengths of light and the pair of Pancams are mounted beside two NavCams on the MER camera bar assembly. According to Cornell University it can work with Mini-TES to analyze surroundings. According to a paper about Mars by JPL, the Pancam system can achieve an angular resolution of 300 microradians, which is three times better than the human eye. It can observe 14 spectral bands, and with two side-by side cameras can generate stereoscopic views of Mars, supporting the creation of large Mars panoramas in excess of 10 Gbit uncompressed. ''Spirit'' rover took the highest resolution image ever taken on the surface of another planet up to that time when it landed in 2004. Optics The focal length of the camera is 43 mm with a field of view (FOV) of 16° x 16°. The two cameras are separated by 30& ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voyager Golden Record
The Voyager Golden Records are two identical phonograph records, one of each which were included aboard the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and data to reconstruct raster scan images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form who may find them. The records are a time capsule. Although neither Voyager spacecraft is heading toward any particular star, ''Voyager 1'' will pass within 1.6 light-years' distance of the star Gliese 445, currently in the constellation Camelopardalis, in about Timeline of the far future#Spacecraft and space exploration, 40,000 years. Carl Sagan noted that "The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space, but the launching of this Message in a bottle, 'bottle' into the cosmic 'ocean' says something very hopeful about life on this planet." Background T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenix (spacecraft)
''Phoenix'' was an uncrewed space probe that landed on the surface of Mars on May 25, 2008, and operated until November 2, 2008. ''Phoenix'' was operational on Mars for sols ( days). Its instruments were used to assess the local habitability and to research the history of water on Mars. The mission was part of the Mars Scout Program; its total cost was $420 million, including the cost of launch. The multi-agency program was led by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, with project management by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Academic and industrial partners included universities in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates (MDA) in partnership with Optech Incorporated ( Optech) and other aerospace companies. It was the first NASA mission to Mars led by a public university. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curiosity (rover)
''Curiosity'' is a car-sized Mars rover Space exploration, exploring Gale (crater), Gale crater and Mount Sharp on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. ''Curiosity'' was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Cape Canaveral (CCAFS) on November 26, 2011, at 15:02:00 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC and landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale crater on Mars on August 6, 2012, 05:17:57 UTC. The Bradbury Landing site was less than from the center of the rover's touchdown target after a journey. Mission #Goals and objectives, goals include an investigation of the Martian climate of Mars, climate and geology of Mars, geology, an assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale has ever offered environmental science, environmental conditions favorable for Life on Mars, microbial life (including investigation of the Water on Mars, role of water), and planetary habitability studies in preparation for Human mission to Mars, human exploration. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mars Analemma Time Lapse Opportunity
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmospheric pressure is a few thousandths of Earth's, atmospheric temperature ranges from and cosmic radiation is high. Mars retains some water, in the ground as well as thinly in the atmosphere, forming cirrus clouds, frost, larger polar regions of permafrost and ice caps (with seasonal snow), but no liquid surface water. Its surface gravity is roughly a third of Earth's or double that of the Moon. It is half as wide as Earth or twice the Moon, with a diameter of , and has a surface area the size of all the dry land of Earth. Fine dust is prevalent across the surface and the atmosphere, being picked up and spread at the low Martian gravity even by the weak wind of the tenuous atmosphere. The terrain of Mars roughly follows a north-south divide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mars Exploration Rover Mission
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, ''Spirit (rover), Spirit'' and ''Opportunity (rover), Opportunity'', exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rover (space exploration), rovers to explore the Martian surface and Geology of Mars, geology; both landed on Mars at separate locations in January 2004. Both rovers far outlived their planned missions of 90 Timekeeping on Mars#Sols, Martian solar days: MER-A ''Spirit'' was active until March 22, 2010, while MER-B ''Opportunity'' was active until June 10, 2018. Objectives The mission's scientific objective was to search for and characterize a wide range of rock (geology), rocks and soils that hold clues to past Water on Mars, water activity on Mars. The mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, which includes three previous successful landers: the two Viking program landers in 1976 and Mars Pathfinder probe in 1997. The scientific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Message Artifact
A message is a unit of communication that conveys information from a sender to a receiver. It can be transmitted through various forms, such as spoken or written words, signals, or electronic data, and can range from simple instructions to complex information. The consumption of the message relies on how the recipient interprets the message, there are times where the recipient contradicts the intention of the message which results in a boomerang effect. Message fatigue is another outcome recipients can obtain if a message is conveyed too much by the source. One example of a message is a press release, which may vary from a brief report or statement released by a public agency to commercial publicity material. Another example of a message is how they are portrayed to a consumer via an advertisement. History Roles in human communication In communication between humans, messages can be verbal or nonverbal: * A verbal message is an exchange of information using words. Examp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
