A Space Odyssey: Facts and figures.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" said Neil Armstrong at 11:56 pm on July 20, 1969 as he became the first man to set foot on Moon.There are countless articles present on internet emphasising the significance of this historic moment but not many on the thought which must have crossed Neil's mind when he stood there gazing towards the distant earth: What did it cost to put me on Moon?

 

                                                        Source: NTDTV

Politics in this grand accomplishment became the blessing in disguise as Russia initiated the space race in 1961 by sending the first human being in space, Yuri Gagarin. In response the United States,determined to gain the lost ground, accelerated its space programme and President Kennedy proposed the Apollo Program on May 25, 1961 stating the goal of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth". The preparations which followed baffle the human mind due to their sheer scale, cost and complexity.Embrace yourself for some serious number crunching people!

The preliminary cost estimate quoted was $7 billion which was later changed to $20 billion before forwarding the bill to Vice President Johnson.At its peak, Apollo program employed 400,000 people and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities(Source:NASA Langley research centre's contribution to the Apollo program).In 1969 NASA prepared an itemised estimate which came to $23.9 billion.The details are as follow:

Apollo space craft:  $7,945.0 million
Saturn 1 launch vehicles: $767.1 million
Saturn IB launch vehicles: $1,131.2 million
Saturn V launch vehicles: $6,871.1 million
Launch vehicle engine development: $854.2 million
Mission support:  $1,432.3 million
Tracking and data acquisition:  $664.1 million
Ground facilities:  $1,830.3 million
Operation of Installations:  $2,420.6 million

The final cost as reported to Congress in 1973 was a whopping $25.4 billion. All of above figures which I gave so far in this article are relative to value of dollars in 1969.According to the estimate given by Space Review in 2010, the cost of Apollo comes to $109 billion in 2010 dollars!!

Now let us go through some "non technical" facts of this amazing journey.

Neil Armstrong overtook his companion in imprinting the lunar surface with human foot prints but Buzz Aldrin, by peeing in a tube fitted in his space suit, won the race to become the first human to urinate on moon(Armstrong 0   Buzz 1).

After the Eagle landed,Aldrin,a Presbyterian, recited from the Bible and took the wine and a small water from a home communion kit given to him by his pastor.

The mineral, armalcolite, discovered during the first Moon landing and later found at various locations on Earth, was named after the three Apollo astronauts, Neil ARMstrong, Buzz ALdrin and Michael COLins.

After returning to the landing module, Aldrin accidentally broke the switch used to activate the ascent engine. After initial concern they managed to activate the switch using a ball-point pen.

An estimated 600 million people watched the Apollo 11 landing live on television, a world record until 750 million people watched the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. (Source: Guinness World Records)

One of the President Nixon's speech writers had prepared an address entitled: "In Event of Moon Disaster". It began: "Fate has ordained the the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay to rest in peace." If the launch from the moon had failed, Houston was to close down communications and leave Armstrong and Aldrin to their death.

There will undoubtedly be numerous lunar landings in the future.Battle lines will be drawn,Billions will be spent and perhaps one day colonies will spring on different parts of the Moon. On that day if anyone comes across this article by any remote possibility, he or she should not forget the three astronauts who risked everything to venture in to the unknown world, the three explorers who traded their safety and lives for the chance to expand mankind's reach in this infinite galaxy.

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Body Clock Demystified

Its 00:02 right now and I came across a good research article which prompted me to write this post.Quite conveniently we can define our time in 24 hours intervals in a day,Right?We are insanely dependent on the clocks around us which dictate our lives from dawn to dusk.Well according to a new research done across the Atlantic by the brainiacs at MIT, there too is a clock inside all of us (certainly not the one we see on our walls) which governs different functions of our body.

Image: Jupitar

Circadian clock is controlled by a gene called SIRT 1, previously shown to protect against diseases of ageing. In experiments conducted on mice,a decrease in protein SIRT 1 is observed with ageing which opens up new possibilities for research and further understanding of this subject.According to Leonard Guarente, Novartis professor of Biology at MIT, "If we could keep SIRT 1 as active as possible as we get older, then we'd be able to retard ageing in the central clock in the brain, and health benefits would radiate from that". Knowing the detailed work mechanism of circadian clock will allow scientists to create novel solutions for ageing in contrast to the temporary physical solutions such as ageing regression creams and facial uplift procedures.Imagine of being revitalised to former state of physical well being with just an injection of SIRT 1? 

Forgive me if anyone considers me to be guilty of raising the hope of my audience unreasonably with such an optimistic possibility of rejuvenation but efforts are already under way to actualise the essence of this study.Roman Kondratov, an associate professor of biology at Cleveland State University says," The importance of this study is that it has both basic and potentially translational applications, taking in to account the fact that pharmacological modulators of SIRT 1 are currently under active study". 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post.Comment below to predict which gender,Male or Female, will most likely cause a shortage of the anti-ageing injections?(question posed out of sincere curiosity)


Full article is available at:

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/the-link-between-circadian-rhythms-and-aging-0620.html

Biomimicry.

Man's inherent desire for progress and knowledge has led him to stumble upon discoveries like black gold(petroleum) and invention of complex machines like supersonic aircraft and space crafts.Saying that these incremental inventions have been made by chance and void of any significant inspiration will be quite illogical and unjust.So the question which arises is what led to the momentous progress materialising itself around our surroundings?A simple answer,justified by observation of few examples to follow,will be Biomimicry: science of observing nature to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems.

With their wings stretched and streamlined bodies ready to fly away in the unending sky,Birds provided the early aviators with valuable flight principles and inspiration to build practical planes.In fact the first inventors of world's successful air plane,the Wright brothers, spent a great deal of time studying the flight of birds.They noticed that birds soared in to the wind and that the air flowing over the curved surface of their wings created lift.Birds change the shape of their wings to turn and manoeuvre.

1903 Flyer tutorial.

A bird in flight.

 Nature not only inspired this phenomenal invention but also is helping             to innovate it constantly.One such example of innovation is NASA and Boeing's work on Morphing wing concept: a wing which could change its shape while flying.(1)The central aim of this project is to reduce drag and   increase fuel efficiency by bending wings to achieve flight control as effortlessly as birds do.

A side by side comparison of concept and its inspiration.

Another area where Biomimicry is being employed extensively is that of Robotics.Researchers at University of Leeds are using the feet of tree frogs as a model for a tiny robot which will assist surgeons during keyhole surgery.According to lead professor Anne Neville, Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies at the University of Leeds, "Tree frogs have hexagonal patterned channels on their feet that when in contact with a wet surface build capillary bridges, and hence an adhesive force.It is the same kind of idea as a beer glass sticking to a beer mat, but the patterns build a large number of adhesion points that allow our robot to move around on a very slippery surface when it is upside down"(2)

 Nature is a reliable framework which allows us to reflect back to the      simple living units of this complex world and learn from their activity lessons of great significance.In words of Richard P.  Feynman" Nature uses only long threads to weave her patterns, so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organisation of the entire tapestry".So the next time anyone of you come across a weird-shaped mosquito,give it a thorough look and think of its potential applications(that is if you have abundant free time like I have these days).

Feel free to add your feedback.Hope you enjoyed reading this article.

       



References:
1. NASA.NASA's twist-wing jet Explores a radical future.Published 06.14.03.Available at: http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/twist_wing.html

2.University of Leeds."Frog-like robots will help surgeons".Published on 11/04/2013.Available at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/3388/frog-like_robot_will_help_surgeons

Nokia 3210: A tale of a forgotten giant.

Somewhere in the dusty warehouses of Amazon and Ebay rests the most enviable mobile phone of the late last century(1999). Breaking away with the common tradition of brick sized handheld cell phones with never ending antenna popping from top end and weighing at least a tonne(an apt exaggeration) was Nokia's 3210,a radical step forward in the world of wireless communication.Weighing less than 160 grams and packing an unbelievable battery time of several days,this phone enjoyed a phenomenal success with over 160 million units shipped, making it the second most popular cellphone of all time.

Nokia 3210

                                                                   
Fast forward ten years in time and we have capacitive high resolution touch screens,slick OS from the likes of Apple,Android and Microsoft which put the power of desktop in our hands.Increasingly mobile phone makers are luring customers with their ostentatiously constructed phones of glass and aluminium bodies which play an important role in decision of any potential cell phone buyer.Navigational and social networking applications from Google,Facebook and Twitter are seamlessly integrated in our "smart" phones which make everything from visiting a friend in an unknown locality to updating a status about our new possession easier than ever.

So why am I even bothered about Nokia's outdated device?A question which is quite well timed if you have read this post this long.Although it is true that my old pal has nothing to offer in order to compete with the versatility and functionality of the new phones but it excels where every good mobile phone should:making good quality phone calls without worrying about battery life.This is one golden lesson which our new phone designers could learn from Nokia 3210 when they take their ideas to the drawing table as very few of us have smartphones which last over a day.

Sometimes Innovation is not defined by creation of an unorthodox product but by refinement of an already successful one as seen in case of Nokia and more recently in form of early Iphones(I don't own any apple products so calling me an apple fan boy would be unfair=p ).

(Thanks to everyone who read my first post and your comments will be much appreciated.Do subscribe if you like it.)