Mar 1, 2014
Name a Martian crater for just $5 bucks
Foxnews.com - Naming landmarks on Mars isn't just for scientists and rover drivers anymore.
Starting Wednesday, anybody with an Internet connection and a few dollars to spare can give a moniker to one of the Red Planet's 500,000 or so unnamed craters, as part of a mapping project run by the space-funding company Uwingu.
"This is the first people's map of Mars, where anybody can play," said Uwingu CEO Alan Stern, a former NASA science chief who also heads the space agency's New Horizons mission to Pluto. "It's a very social thing."
Putting your stamp on Mars isn't free. Naming the smallest craters will set you back $5, with prices going up as crater size increases. Uwingu will use the money raised by the project — which could be more than $10 million, if people name every available Martian crater — to fund grants in space exploration, research and education, which is the company's stated chief purpose.
"We're developing this grant fund — the Uwingu fund — for people who've been hit by sequestration," Stern told Space.com. "There's nothing like it right now. They have no place to go; it's either NASA, NSF [the National Science Foundation] or you're out of luck."
Stern hopes the effort will succeed in naming all of Mars' cataloged craters by the end of 2014, helping to fill in a lot of gaps in Red Planet cartography. (The company aims to solicit names for other Red Planet features, such as canyons and mountains, in the future.)
The project could also provide a sort of cultural snapshot, revealing what people are thinking about and what's important to them at this moment, he added.
"It's like taking a picture of ourselves," Stern said. "What will people put? Will there be a lot of craters named for politicians? For artists, for relatives, for places on Earth? Sports teams?"
The crater-naming project is not a contest, working instead on a first-come, first-served basis. Names will be accepted immediately and will remain approved unless Uwingu officials later determine them to be profane or otherwise offensive.
Stern stressed that Uwingu (whose name means "sky" in Swahili) is not trying to supplant other Mars maps, such as the one generated by the United States Geological Survey. The 15,000 Red Planet features whose names have already been approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) will be grandfathered into Uwingu's base map, officials said.
The Uwingu project also will not seek approval from the IAU, which has traditionally authorized "official" names for celestial bodies and their features. Rather, the crater monikers will be informal or popular names, Stern said. (Unofficial names can still come into wide usage: "The Milky Way," for example, is not IAU-sanctioned.)
This is not Uwingu's first foray into celestial-object naming. The company has also raised funds by asking the public to choose monikers for the thousands of exoplanets and exoplanet candidates being discovered around the galaxy, including Alpha Centauri Bb, the closest alien world to Earth.
IAU officials expressed disapproval of these previous projects, asserting last year that the exoplanet-naming efforts misled people into thinking they were helping select officially recognized names. But Stern fought back hard against this claim at the time, saying that Uwingu has always made clear that the projects sought only to choose "people's choice" monikers.
To learn more about the Mars map project, and to buy a crater name of your own, click here.
"This is the first people's map of Mars, where anybody can play," said Uwingu CEO Alan Stern, a former NASA science chief who also heads the space agency's New Horizons mission to Pluto. "It's a very social thing."
Putting your stamp on Mars isn't free. Naming the smallest craters will set you back $5, with prices going up as crater size increases. Uwingu will use the money raised by the project — which could be more than $10 million, if people name every available Martian crater — to fund grants in space exploration, research and education, which is the company's stated chief purpose.
"We're developing this grant fund — the Uwingu fund — for people who've been hit by sequestration," Stern told Space.com. "There's nothing like it right now. They have no place to go; it's either NASA, NSF [the National Science Foundation] or you're out of luck."
Stern hopes the effort will succeed in naming all of Mars' cataloged craters by the end of 2014, helping to fill in a lot of gaps in Red Planet cartography. (The company aims to solicit names for other Red Planet features, such as canyons and mountains, in the future.)
The project could also provide a sort of cultural snapshot, revealing what people are thinking about and what's important to them at this moment, he added.
"It's like taking a picture of ourselves," Stern said. "What will people put? Will there be a lot of craters named for politicians? For artists, for relatives, for places on Earth? Sports teams?"
The crater-naming project is not a contest, working instead on a first-come, first-served basis. Names will be accepted immediately and will remain approved unless Uwingu officials later determine them to be profane or otherwise offensive.
Stern stressed that Uwingu (whose name means "sky" in Swahili) is not trying to supplant other Mars maps, such as the one generated by the United States Geological Survey. The 15,000 Red Planet features whose names have already been approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) will be grandfathered into Uwingu's base map, officials said.
The Uwingu project also will not seek approval from the IAU, which has traditionally authorized "official" names for celestial bodies and their features. Rather, the crater monikers will be informal or popular names, Stern said. (Unofficial names can still come into wide usage: "The Milky Way," for example, is not IAU-sanctioned.)
This is not Uwingu's first foray into celestial-object naming. The company has also raised funds by asking the public to choose monikers for the thousands of exoplanets and exoplanet candidates being discovered around the galaxy, including Alpha Centauri Bb, the closest alien world to Earth.
IAU officials expressed disapproval of these previous projects, asserting last year that the exoplanet-naming efforts misled people into thinking they were helping select officially recognized names. But Stern fought back hard against this claim at the time, saying that Uwingu has always made clear that the projects sought only to choose "people's choice" monikers.
To learn more about the Mars map project, and to buy a crater name of your own, click here.
WhatsApp Who? AT&T Adds Free Text Messaging to Other Countries
Cnn.com - AT&T has apparently realized that customers have little need to pay for international text messages when there are plenty of free services such as WhatsApp that perform the same function.
As such, the carrier is sweetening the deal for shared data plan subscribers, with free international text messaging from the United States. Subscribers can now send unlimited text messages to 190 countries, and unlimited picture and video messages to 120 countries.
Keep in mind that this offer is only for subscribers on AT&T’s Mobile Share plans, which already include unlimited domestic text messaging. If you’re on an older plan, such as a grandfathered plan with unlimited data, you’re out of luck.
Verizon made the exact same move earlier this month, adding free international text messaging to its “More Everything” plans. T-Mobile and Sprint both chart $10 extra per month for texting to other countries, but T-Mobile also includes mobile-to-landline calling to 70 countries.
While carriers have traditionally charged higher rates for international messages, apps such as WhatsApp, Viber, Line and Skype provide a workaround. As long as both users have these apps, they can exchange messages for free. The idea has clearly caught on, with WhatsApp touting more than 450 million active users as it prepares to be acquired by Facebook, and the company is coming after voice calls next.
As such, the carrier is sweetening the deal for shared data plan subscribers, with free international text messaging from the United States. Subscribers can now send unlimited text messages to 190 countries, and unlimited picture and video messages to 120 countries.
Keep in mind that this offer is only for subscribers on AT&T’s Mobile Share plans, which already include unlimited domestic text messaging. If you’re on an older plan, such as a grandfathered plan with unlimited data, you’re out of luck.
Verizon made the exact same move earlier this month, adding free international text messaging to its “More Everything” plans. T-Mobile and Sprint both chart $10 extra per month for texting to other countries, but T-Mobile also includes mobile-to-landline calling to 70 countries.
While carriers have traditionally charged higher rates for international messages, apps such as WhatsApp, Viber, Line and Skype provide a workaround. As long as both users have these apps, they can exchange messages for free. The idea has clearly caught on, with WhatsApp touting more than 450 million active users as it prepares to be acquired by Facebook, and the company is coming after voice calls next.
Jumbo jets to join the Navy: $2.4 billion in Poseidon aircraft ordered from Boeing
Foxnews.com - Looks like your average jumbo jet. Acts like a state-of-the-art war machine.
The U.S. Navy has ordered $2.4 billion worth of a new reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft that resembles the plane you might fly on to Cancun for a spring break. On Wednesday, Boeing announced it will produce 16 P-8A Poseidon aircraft for this order.
Ultimately, the Navy plans to purchase 117 of the aircraft, which will replace its P-3C fleet.
The P-3C Orion is a four-engine, anti-submarine/surveillance aircraft that has acted as a maritime patrol plane for about half a century. It has advanced submarine detection sensors, such as directional frequency and ranging sonobuoys and magnetic anomaly detection equipment.
But the Poseidon will boost maritime patrol capabilities even more. It will serve the military as a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.
Poseidon’s power
Maritime patrol aircraft act as the eyes of the fleet; the Poseidon will fly farther and cover greater distances, scouring the world’s oceans for any potential threat and able to respond very quickly if spotted.
Based on Boeing's 737-800 commercial airplane, the P-8A Poseidon holds a crew of nine and can operate as an armed platform to take on targets while getting critical data to everyone on the network at the same time.
It can communicate with unmanned aircraft and will leverage enhanced technology with even more capable weapons and sensors, all of which will contribute to a single fused tactical situation display that can be shared over both military standard and civilian Internet data links.
From jumbo jet to armed warrior
Ever flown in a 737? The P-8A is a derivative of this aircraft. It marks the first time Boeing has taken a commercial aircraft and modified it for war.
Ultimately, the Navy plans to purchase 117 of the aircraft, which will replace its P-3C fleet.
The P-3C Orion is a four-engine, anti-submarine/surveillance aircraft that has acted as a maritime patrol plane for about half a century. It has advanced submarine detection sensors, such as directional frequency and ranging sonobuoys and magnetic anomaly detection equipment.
But the Poseidon will boost maritime patrol capabilities even more. It will serve the military as a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.
Poseidon’s power
Maritime patrol aircraft act as the eyes of the fleet; the Poseidon will fly farther and cover greater distances, scouring the world’s oceans for any potential threat and able to respond very quickly if spotted.
Based on Boeing's 737-800 commercial airplane, the P-8A Poseidon holds a crew of nine and can operate as an armed platform to take on targets while getting critical data to everyone on the network at the same time.
It can communicate with unmanned aircraft and will leverage enhanced technology with even more capable weapons and sensors, all of which will contribute to a single fused tactical situation display that can be shared over both military standard and civilian Internet data links.
From jumbo jet to armed warrior
Ever flown in a 737? The P-8A is a derivative of this aircraft. It marks the first time Boeing has taken a commercial aircraft and modified it for war.
The P-8A has the fuselage of a 737-800 and the wings of a 737-900. Its two engines are made by CFM International and provide about 27,000 pounds of takeoff thrust each.
At 130 feet long and with a wingspan of 124 feet, it can travel 564 miles per hour. The aircraft’s range is greater than 1,200 nautical miles, and it has a flight ceiling of 41,000 feet.
The Poseidon is a team effort from Boeing partners, including Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Spirit AeroSystems, BAE Systems and GE Aviation.
Raytheon provides Poseidon’s MK 54 lightweight torpedo and the AN/APY-10 radar that gives it all-weather, day and night multi-mission surveillance capabilities over land, sea and rivers.
The directional infrared countermeasures, the electronic support systems and data links are all Northrop Grumman contributions. GE Aviation’s electronics provide a control system for integrated weapons.
BAE Systems provides the mission computing and display system, flight deck panels and data diode.
In January 2009, Boeing was selected to provide eight P-8I versions of this aircraft to the Indian navy. Other countries, including Italy and Australia, have also shown interest in the aircraft.
Boeing has already delivered 13 P-8As to the U.S. Navy. In December, the first patrol squadron was deployed to Kadena, Japan, where it has since been conducting operational missions.
At 130 feet long and with a wingspan of 124 feet, it can travel 564 miles per hour. The aircraft’s range is greater than 1,200 nautical miles, and it has a flight ceiling of 41,000 feet.
The Poseidon is a team effort from Boeing partners, including Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Spirit AeroSystems, BAE Systems and GE Aviation.
Raytheon provides Poseidon’s MK 54 lightweight torpedo and the AN/APY-10 radar that gives it all-weather, day and night multi-mission surveillance capabilities over land, sea and rivers.
The directional infrared countermeasures, the electronic support systems and data links are all Northrop Grumman contributions. GE Aviation’s electronics provide a control system for integrated weapons.
BAE Systems provides the mission computing and display system, flight deck panels and data diode.
In January 2009, Boeing was selected to provide eight P-8I versions of this aircraft to the Indian navy. Other countries, including Italy and Australia, have also shown interest in the aircraft.
Boeing has already delivered 13 P-8As to the U.S. Navy. In December, the first patrol squadron was deployed to Kadena, Japan, where it has since been conducting operational missions.
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