Safe Landing For Space Shuttle Endeavour

After a mission that spread over 15 days on NASA’s International Space Station (ISS), space shuttle Endeavour landed safely in California on Sunday.

Although it had been previously scheduled to touch down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:18 p.m. EST, due to stormy weather Endeavour had to reroute and thus landed at Edwards Air Force Base at 4:25 p.m. EST.

The shuttle’s crew comprising seven astronauts led by commander Christopher Ferguson performed repairs on the ISS and upgraded its living quarters so that it would be capable of hosting a number of six residents instead of three. Consequently, Endeavour delivered to the space station a new bathroom, a kitchenette, an exercise machine, two sleeping quarters, a refrigerator and a recycling system that turns astronauts’ urine and sweat intro drinking water.

Moreover, last Monday, astronauts Stephen Bowen and Robert "Shane" Kimbrough performed Endeavour’s forth and final spacewalk, aimed at unjamming a massive joint that was supposed to render the power-generating solar wings on the space station's right side to face the sun. The faulty joint had resulted in limiting the amount of energy the wings produced, since it prevented them from rotating towards the sun.

Astronauts also fixed and lubricated a similar joint on the ISS’s left solar wings.
Unjamming the joint on the right solar wings had been attempted by astronauts during the third spacewalk, but the lube job was left unfinished at that time, because after lead spacewalker Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper dropped a $100,000 tool kit, the astronauts had to work with only one pair of grease guns.

The Endeavour crew also installed a video camera, a spacewalk handrail and a GPS antenna during the last mission on the ISS this year.
In addition, the space shuttle brought a new resident to the ISS to replace crew member Greg Chamitoff, a 46-year-old aeronautical engineer who spent six months on the ISS.

Sandra Magnus, a 44-year-old expert in material science and engineering, experienced her first flight into the outer space and joined station commander Mike Finke and Russian flight engineer Yuri Lonchakov on the space station.

Endeavour left its docking port on the ISS at 9:48 a.m. EST on Friday and two days later, it landed smoothly on the temporary runway at Edwards Air Force Base, since the permanent one was undergoing renovations.

The temporary runway is 12,000 feet long and 200 feet wide, which makes it approximately 3,000 feet shorter and 100 feet narrower than the permanent strip.

The rerouting delayed both reunions between astronauts and their families and the return of Endeavour to its home base. The crew is set to meet with their families Monday afternoon in Houston, while the space shuttle is set to be transported to Florida on a jumbo jet within a week, which will cost $1.8 million.

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sweet chakra
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GPS Navigation Reviews

Garmin released the Nuvi 750 recently and unfortunately, it's not much different than their previous 4.3" GPS navigation unit. However there are still key features that makes the Nuvi 750 one of the best, if not the best on the market.

Let's get a few things straight with this particular unit. Forget about any Bluetooth feature on any portable GPS navigation devices. The current technology and quality of Bluetooth connectivity with GPS units is still very early and very poor. Wait a few more years until wireless communication, especially through Bluetooth comes through.Fortunately, you won't have to spend extra money on this unit since it doesn't feature a Bluetooth interface, saving you frustrations with the technology and almost 200 dollars from a similar, Bluetooth-equipped unit. As always with Nuvi units, the screen is quite clear and crisp, easily visible in any light condition on its 4.3" LCD touchscreen.

It does have text-to-speech technology, allowing it to actually announce every street name instead of just "Turn left in 50 yards". Though this is great technology, keep in mind that most text-to-speech technology is featured in virtually every GPS navigation unit being released the second half of 2008.
Some of the key feature of this unit is the FM transmitter and an audio line output, allowing the unit to put out audio such as directions and alerts through your car's audio system. Another key feature of the unit is its built in MP3 player, audio book, as well as an image viewer. This will allow you to turn your Garmin Nuvi 750 itno a versatile media unit, capable of playing your favorite songs. There is even an MSN Direct expandability option, which will allow you to receive information regarding movie times, weather, and more about your nearest major US city. In addition there is also an option for users to expand the unit to be able to receive traffic.

The Garmin Nuvi 750 does not have XM NavTraffic, but who needs that anyway when you have FM-based traffic receiver. However, let's not forget Garmin's signature "Where Am I?" feature which allows a driver to find the nearest hospitals and other emergency facilities.According to a plethora of user reviews, this unit stands as one of the best in reliability, performance, and ease-of-use. And we would agree with all of them. Test it out for yourself!

by sweet
chakra

Amazing facts of Human Brain

Read out loud the text inside the triangle below.

More than likely you said, "A bird in the bush," and.........

if this IS what YOU said, then you failed to see that the word THE is repeated twice!

Sorry, look again.

Next, let's play with some words.

What do you see?

In black you can read the word GOOD, in white the word EVIL (inside each black letter is a white letter). It's all very physiological too, because it visualizes the concept that good can't exist without evil (or the absence of good is evil).

Now, what do you see?

You may not see it at first, but the white spaces read the word optical, the blue landscape reads the word illusion. Look again! Can you see why this painting is called an optical illusion?

What do you see here?

This one is quite tricky!

The word TEACH reflects as LEARN.

Last one.

What do you see?

You probably read the word ME in brown, but....... when you look through ME you will see YOU!

Do you need to look again?

Test Your Brain

This is really cool. The second one is amazing so please read all the way though.

ALZHEIMERS' EYE TEST

Count every " F " in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH

THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...

HOW MANY ?

WRONG, THERE ARE 6 -- no joke.

READ IT AGAIN !

Really, go back and try to find the 6 F's before you scroll down.

The reasoning behind is further down.

The brain cannot process "OF".

Incredible or what? Go back and look again!! Anyone who sees all six the first time is a genius!

Three is normal, four is quite rare.

Send this to your friends.

It will drive them crazy, and keep them occupied for several minutes!

Now Gre8 Brain Stuff . . . From Cambridge University .

Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The

phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,

it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

thank u

by
sweet chakra

pls post ur comment......

iPods, Chicken Wire and the Future of Memory

It seems that every few months, companies come up with ways to cram more memory into flash drives -- the memory technology that makes things like iPods tick. In a few years, however, flash drive memory development as we know it will hit a brick wall and new techniques will be needed to increase capacity.

Many consumers take it for granted that the next generation of iPod, cell phone or flash drive will contain ever more memory to store music, photos and videos.

That's because scientists and engineers have continually devised ways to shrink the components on flash memory chips to cram more data into small devices.

But eventually -- within a couple of years, perhaps, and almost certainly within a decade -- flash memory will run into fundamental limits on how small its circuitry can be built.

That has led a number of research groups and companies to begin searching for alternatives.

Very Thin, Very Tough

Jim Tour leads one of these groups in Houston. But the Rice University chemist said he and his laboratory didn't set out to tackle the memory problem when they began working with graphene.

A single layer of graphite, which is used in the common pencil, graphene is composed of carbon atoms and looks like tiny chicken wire. In this configuration, it is an exceptionally strong material that efficiently conducts electricity.

While working with graphene in his lab, Tour realized that bits of it could be designed to store a charge, the underlying basis of memory.

As he began testing graphene as a memory device, Tour found that it worked better than silicon-based flash memory in a number of respects: It leaked less current, it generated very little heat and it operated in temperatures from minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit to nearly 400 degrees.

'A Long Way to Go'

Its circuitry can also be built at much smaller sizes -- less than 10 nanometers compared with the current 34-nanometer circuitry of the smallest flash memory devices. And perhaps most importantly, graphene memory can be stacked in three dimensions rather than arrayed in two, allowing for considerably more memory to be crammed into a single chip.

Tour said his lab is working with industry to determine if graphene-based memory can be commercialized.

"There's a long way to go, and it will take quite a bit of money to bring this technology along," Tour said. "But it does have some advantages over today's flash memory."

Thank u

by chakra

Amazing - Technology Beyond Your Imagination!

This is from sweet chakra

Amazing technology from Japan . . . . but can you guess what it is?

Look closely and guess what they could be...

Are they pens with cameras?

Any wild guesses? No clue yet?


Ladies and gentlemen... congratulations!
You've just looked into the future... yep that's right!

You've just seen something that will replace your PC in the near future.

Here is how it works:

In the revolution of miniature computers, scientists have made great developments with bluetooth technology...

This is the forthcoming computers you can carry within your pockets.

This "pen sort of instrument" produces both the monitor as well as the keyboard on any flat surfaces from where you can carry out functions you would normally do on your desktop computer.

Can anyone say, "Good-bye laptops!"
Thank u
by
chakra

NASA Set to Launch Kepler Planet Hunter

The weather in Florida looks good for NASA's Kepler spacecraft launch, scheduled for Friday night. Kepler will orbit the sun behind Earth. Its optical equipment will gaze constantly at distant stars in an attempt to spot planets with conditions resembling those on Earth.

NASA will soon be on the lookout for possible Earths in one faraway corner of the galaxy.

A planet-hunting spacecraft, named "Kepler" after the German 17th-century astrophysicist, is scheduled to rocket away from Cape Canaveral, Fla., late Friday night. Excellent launch weather is forecast.

The telescope will spend 3 1/2 years staring at roughly 100,000 stars, measuring their brightness and any winks in the light that might signify orbiting planets.

"We certainly won't find E.T., but we might find E.T.'s home by looking at all of these stars," Bill Boruki, Kepler's principal scientist, said Thursday.

Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for science, said Kepler is not just another science mission.

"It very possibly could tell us that Earths are very, very common, that we have lots of neighbors out there, or it could tell us that Earths are really, really, really rare," Weiler said at a press conference.

"Perhaps we're the only Earth. I think that would be a very bad answer because I, for one, don't want to live in an empty universe where we're the best there is. That's a scary thought to many of us."

Theon Sensors S.A. - Night Vision Sights and Night Driver’s Viewers

Theon Sensors S.A. is an ISO 9001 designer, developer, integrator and manufacturer of electro-optical sensor systems for defence applications. Design tools include the CODE V for optical design and the ProEngineer for mechanical design. The assembly facility includes class 100,000 clean room area class 1,000 flow boxes, advanced MTF measuring equipment and environmental chambers. Products include:

• Night driver's viewers
• Night vision weapon sights
• Clip-on night weapon sights
• Night observation sights
• Day sights

DRIVER'S NIGHT VISION VIEWERS FOR ARMOURED VEHICLES

Theon Sensors has developed an extensive family of night driver's night vision viewers for several types of armoured vehicles. This is a biocular display viewer with an integrated Gen 2 or Gen 3, 25mm image intensifier tube that provides the driver with passive driving capability during the night.

With special-to-the-vehicle mounting bracket assemblies, the basic design can be fitted to almost any type of vehicle. The mounting assembly allows the viewers to rotate left and right with respect to a central detent position for surveillance when the vehicle is stopped, offering the driver an increased field of regard.

The driver's night vision viewers are powered either from the vehicle through a specific-to-the-vehicle power cable or from a 3V lithium battery. The battery needs not be removed while on vehicle supply with instantaneous switch-on of the lithium battery where the vehicle supply fails (eg. power supply cable failure).

NIGHT VISION WEAPON SIGHTS

Theon Sensors has developed a family of night vision weapon sights models NS-467C and NS-685C with 4x and 6x magnification respectively. Both night vision weapon sights are compact, lightweight, military standard, suitable for short, medium and long range surveillance and target engagement.

The Model NX-145A is a passive night driver’s viewer which fits into the centre M17 day vision block in the armoured vehicle.

The night vision weapon sights incorporate a red illuminated reticle that can be easily changed in the field without tools, thus allowing the use of the sights with different weapons in a fraction of time. After replacing the reticle, the sights retain their sealing and there is no need for nitrogen purging.

The night vision weapon sights incorporate an ELCAN Gen-4 mounting bracket assembly, that allows direct mounting on (MIL-STD-1913) picatinny rails, precise adjustment in elevation and azimuth and retention of bore-sighting under adverse military conditions.

CLIP-ON AFOCAL NIGHT VISION SIGHT

Theon Sensors has developed the NX-135B clip-on afocal night vision attachment for mounting on top of optical day sights and Laser Range Finders (LRFs) to provide night vision capability. It provides observation, target acquisition and aiming capabilities during night time or low light conditions by intensifying the available light of the nocturne sky.

The NS-467C night vision weapon sight with 4x magnification is fitted on the M4 carbine using the Elcan Gen-4 mounting bracket.

The NX-135B clip-on afocal is an add-on unit to optical day sights specifically designed for snipers and offering 24-hour operational capability.

The afocal night vision sight is mounted on top of the day sight via a dovetail mounting bracket interface. Due to its exact factory set 1X magnification, the sight mounts on Laser Range Finders (LRFs) and day sights without affecting their boresight settings. The user continues to operate the day sights as usually. Reticle readings, eye relief distances and shooting/observation practices remain the same as in day time.

The sight features the largest focal length objective lens in this class of instruments, thus providing increased recognition and identification ranges and a field of view which is a better match to the field of view of most LRFs and large magnification day sights.

Theon Sensors provides a range of products and services in optics design, IR assemblies, night vision, reflex and rifle sights.

Thank u ..,

sweet chakra

AT Electronic and Communication International - Tactical Transceivers and Rugged C3I Systems

AT Electronic and Communication International is a global wholesale distributor of communication equipment, including:

• Military HF transceiver
  
• Military VHF tactical radios
• Digital microwave radios
• VSAT transceivers
• VSAT BUC
• VSAT SSPAs
• HF encryption
• VHF encryption
• VPN encryption
• GSM encryption
• Encrypted phones
• Encryption products
• Satellite monitoring systems
• Jammers
  
  
  
  The Codan 2110M HF man-pack military tactical transceiver is an all-purpose, rapidly-deployable, fully self-contained man-pack radio designed to meet your long-distance and remote-communications needs while on the move.

LOW-BAND VHF MILITARY TACTICAL TRANSCEIVER

The Q-MAC VHF-90M low-band VHF military tactical transceiver is a state-of-the-art, compact and lightweight unit for multi-role tactical military and security applications in demanding, mission-critical conditions.

VHF-90M MANPACK MILITARY RADIO

The MX9714 VHF-90M man-pack package is a military grade portable communication set specifically designed for tactical applications. It is designed to withstand complete immersion, vibration, drops, and temperature extremes to Mil-Std 801F.

The main components of the VHF military man-pack MX9714 system are:

• VHF-90M low-band VHF military tactical transceiver
• VDB-25M VHF dock and 25W booster
• 8.8Ah, 14.4V Lithium Ion (LiON) battery pack
• 1m tape whip antenna
• 3m, six-section whip antenna
• Telephone handset
• Framed backpack
• 
  
  The HF-90M military HF tactical transceiver.

The HF-90M is a rugged all-purpose HF SSB transceiver, designed for man-pack, mobile and base station applications.

The core of the MX9714 system is the compact and lightweight VHF-90M transceiver, which features only essential controls to ensure ease of operation in combat situations. The VHF-90M is available with a secure, jam-resistant ECCM frequency hopping and digital-encryption option which can be field-upgraded after the initial deployment.

The VHF-90M transceiver is plug-and-play compatible with vehicular, base station and man-pack docking systems, allowing deployment in multi-role environments. The key user benefits include minimised inventory and simplified operator training. Auxiliary connectors are provided for data terminals, combat workstations, speakers and remote control facilities.

System features include:

• 30MHz to 88MHz low-band FM coverage
• 25W output power
• Advanced DSP voice and data signal processing
• ECCM frequency-hopping with digital voice and data encryption
• Selective and group calling
• Free channel search
• Compatibility with PRC-77 and equivalents in legacy mode
• PC and field programmable
• Emergency erase function
• Channel scan function
• Cloning functions
• Small size
• US / NATO VHF whip antenna

The VHF-90M military transceiver is a state-of-the-art communication device specifically designed for tactical military applications.

Optional accessories include:

• Secure modes (hopping and encryption)
• Numeric handset for selective calling and field programming
• Data waveforms
• Tactical headset
• Serial programming / data cable
• Cloning cable
• Replacement spare modules
• Replacement spare antenna
• Battery charger

ARMOURED VEHICLE INTEGRATED HF RADIO SYSTEM

We also supply a higher power, heavy-duty variant of the HF-90M radio system for application on armoured (tracked and wheeled) fighting vehicles, comprising:

• The combat-proven 50W HF-90M frequency hopping transceiver
• A newly-designed military-build standard HF-150M 150W booster amplifier
• A newly-designed military-build standard TA-91M antenna tuning unit
• A new NATO / US standard 4.2m vertical whip antenna with heavy-duty base

The system offers a linear 150W output across the whole 2MHz to 30MHz HF band and maintains full compatibility with the highly secure frequency-hopping option, thereby maintaining a high degree of communication security. Furthermore, in appreciation of real-world operating conditions, the 150W amplifier features 'off tune' and 'missing antenna' protection, and in the event of the amplifier failing for any reason the system can revert to bypass mode.

We also supply an HF and VHF radio system with interconnect for applications on armoured (tracked and wheeled) fighting vehicles

SATELLITE MONITORING AND INTERCEPT SYSTEM

Our SEU 8800 satellite monitoring and intercept system features:

• Automatic satellite tracking
• Tracking of all known satellites by 'mouse-click'
• Automatic set-up for each satellite to be tracked
• Frequency range 100MHz to 14,000MHz in bands or per specification
• Multi-mode broadband receivers
• Provision for multi-satellite operation
• Remote control via TCP / IP, encrypted VPN
• Remote upgrade of satellite list
• Various outputs for signal analysis
• Demodulation, decoding and decryption

ROBUST AND SECURE VOICE / DATA TERMINAL

The RI-5000 robust and secure voice / data terminal can be fitted to any type of analogue or digital transceivers with its advanced technologies such as unique data error correction, spread spectrum, powerful synchronisation and newly developed VLBRVC technology.

ENCRYPTOR FOR TACTICAL RADIO COMMUNICATIONS SEU-8210

The SEU-8210 is an advanced, high security, state-of-the-art voice and data ciphering unit. The SEU- 8210 effectively secures voice / data communications from unauthorised monitoring.

MILITARY AND TACTICAL RADIOS

Our military and tactical radios include:

• VHF tactical handheld radio
• 25W man-pack military radio
• Military tactical VHF base radios
• VHF military tactical vehicle packages
• HF / VHF / UHF multiband digital transceiver
• HF VHF man-pack digital transceiver
• VHF military tactical radio repeater and remote control

COMMUNICATIONS JAMMERS

Our range of jammers includes:

• Broadband jammers
• GSM jammers
• VHF jammers
• Mobile phone jammers
• Miniature jammers
• Communication jammers