Ben Gilliland's blog

Brits in spaaaaace! Part one

Sun, 09/02/2012 - 11:55 — Ben Gilliland

In 1962, Britain became the third space-faring nation with the launch of Ariel-1 – the first satellite to be developed and operated by the UK.
Fifty years on and you’d be forgiven for thinking that our space-faring days are long behind us, but you couldn’t be more wrong.

Although we don’t blow our space trumpet as loudly as some nations, Britain is a world leader in space science and technology.
To rectify this, we have teamed up with the UK Space Agency and, over the next three weeks, they’ll be helping us blow the trumpet for the British space industry.

[Click graphics to enlargenificate]

Weapons of Mars Exploration

Sun, 08/19/2012 - 17:15 — Ben Gilliland

[Above: The Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) is the size of a small car, but future Martian explorers could be considerably smaller]

When it comes to exploring our blue planet's red-hued neighbour, you could be forgiven for thinking bigger is better.

Two weeks ago, Mars Science Laboratory, the largest rover yet placed on another world, made a successful landing on the Red Planet. The vehicle, known as Curiosity, is five times heavier than its predecessors, Spirit and Opportunity. And they were 17 times heavier than their predecessor, Sojourner. Spot the trend yet?

However, not everyone agrees that ever-larger robot craft are the future of planetary exploration. Some say nano is the way to go.

The hunt for the mirror galaxy

Sun, 08/05/2012 - 16:39 — Ben Gilliland

A little over a year ago, the largest and most complex experiment ever launched into space was installed on the International Space Station. Its mission: to seek out antimatter – the mirror image of the matter that makes up the universe as we know it.

Weighing in at seven tonnes, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) took 16 years and the efforts of 16 countries and some 600 physicists to build.

AMS-02 is the space equivalent of the massive particle detectors used by physicists at the Large Hadron Collider. But, instead of studying particles whooshed to colossal speeds by a man-made magnetic ring, AMS-02 looks for cosmic rays –particles accelerated by energetic events deep in the universe itself.

Curiosity won't kill this cat... but the landing might

Sun, 07/29/2012 - 16:25 — Ben Gilliland

They say that it’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the bottom – it is one life’s constants: fall a great distance at high speed and, unless you can slow down before you hit the ground, you will be at least partially disassembled into your component parts.

This is a fate that engineers and scientists at Nasa will be hoping to avoid when, in a week’s time, they attempt to land the largest and most complicated robotic rover yet built safely on the surface of Mars.

The Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, is almost at the end of its eight month journey to the Red Planet and, at 6.31am (BST) on August 6th, it will begin its perilous decent to the Martian surface.

The science of zombies (well, sort of)

Sun, 07/22/2012 - 16:54 — Ben Gilliland

It’s a classic story. You get on the Tube and pick up a copy of Metro. As usual, you start reading from the back page – you love your sports! You notice the Tube is strangely quiet for half eight on a Monday morning... in fact, it’s eerily quiet. Oh well, at least you can digest your Metro in peace.

As you read, you become aware of a unpleasant odour – a cloying, sweet smell with undertones of rotten dog food.

You glance toward the source of the olfactory assault expecting to see that tramp with the drippy nose. Instead, your eyes are greeted by the vacant (yet lustful) stare of an unusually animated corpse.

You try to run, but the creature’s ludicrously slow, shuffling gait is too much to overcome and, before you know it, you have stumbled on a discarded eye ball.

Before you have the chance to question the presence of a loose eyeball on the Underground, the zombie is upon you. His rotten hands claw at your clothing, pulling you closer into his decomposing embrace.

Harnessing the true power of the atom

Sun, 07/15/2012 - 16:45 — Ben Gilliland

Above: The Sun (seen here in ultraviolet) is the ultimate nuclear fusion reactor, but can we harness this power on Earth?

Last week, we compared the human and environmental cost of nuclear power and fossil fuels and nuclear came out as the clear winner. But nuclear power’s current means of extracting the power of the atom – nuclear fission – is still far from perfect.

To truly harness the energy locked away within the atom we need to look to the Sun.

The Sun is essentially a massive nuclear furnace but, instead of tearing atoms apart – as nuclear fission reactors do – our local star uses its massive gravitational power and million-degree heat to fuse atoms together. Fusion reactions can unleash many times more energy than nuclear fission and, instead of a mess of radioactive particles, the only byproduct is a harmless helium atom. When it comes to liberating energy, nuclear fusion makes fission look down-right clumsy.