NASA: Water, water everywhere on Mars

Instead, the current Martian surface -- a cold, dusty and overwhelmingly dry place -- may have been the norm for much of the planet's history, scientists said during a briefing at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Since NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey satellite arrived in orbit around the planet, it has turned up evidence that there is lots of ice mixed in its soil, buried as little as 18 inches from the surface, said William Boynton, of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Spread across the planet, the amount of water is not huge by Earth standards. In places, however, ice makes up 70 percent of the soil by volume, a significant concentration. Previously, scientists speculated that large amounts of water once moved about Mars, falling as precipitation to the surface, where it flowed in rivers and streams to pool in lakes, perhaps even oceans. Odyssey and the Global Surveyor have been remotely prospecting for the telltale traces of minerals that might have formed in such environments. Surveyor has found significant deposits of one such mineral, called hematite, at a location NASA may visit next year with a pair of rovers it intends to launch. But Odyssey has yet to find other such minerals and has turned up minerals present in volcanic rocks that, on Earth at least, are quickly weathered by water. That suggests the water on Mars has largely stayed put. Even if it did flow on the surface of Mars, carving the river channels visible to this day, it probably only did so for brief periods of time.

- Courtesy : The Science Journal

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Close up on sunspots

They have been described as a breakthrough in observational solar physics. The images show new solar features and hitherto unknown details in sunspots.
A striking feature in the images of sunspots is the existence of dark cores within bright filaments. This is an unexpected discovery and astronomers are uncertain what it signifies. The new observations realise a long-stated goal for solar observers to see the solar surface at a resolution better than 100 kilometres. It is believed that fundamental processes in the Sun's atmosphere take place on such scales.
To obtain the detailed view, the telescope's tube is evacuated and a mirror in the beam adjusts its shape a thousand times a second to counteract atmospheric blurring. Sunspots are regions with strong magnetic fields. A sufficiently large sunspot consists of a dark umbra, which is the coolest part of a sunspot, surrounded by a brighter penumbra. The penumbra appears to consist of thin, long filaments that have remained unresolved by solar telescopes until now.

- Courtesy : journal Nature.

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Big screen display at MTC bus terminals

Television screens to serve as electronic display units for announcing the arrival and departure timings of Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses are being installed at 10 prominent terminals in the city.

The Transport Corporation has awarded the project to a private company on a build-own-operate basis. The company will install the televisions and connect them to a computer at the terminal, which in turn gets information about the timings through a dedicated web site.

The system will be in operation at the bus terminals in Saidapet, T. Nagar, Velachery, Thiruvanmiyur, Vadapalani, Toll Gate, Mint, Perambur, Ayanavaram and Anna Nagar West.

-Thanks Hindu

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The 2007 edition of the high profile Northeast Asia Hi-Tech Fair concluded in Shenyang.

The India IT Software Exhibition and Mission to China from 18-24 September was a great success in that 9 Cooperation Agreements and MoUs were signed on 21 September at the conclusion of the 1 st ever Seminar on Sino Indian Cooperation in the IT Software Sector in Shenyang, Liaoning Province,

China jointly organised by India China Alliance Centre (ICAC) and Shenyang Information Industry Bureau (SIIB).

The Cooperation Agreement between EAPT Solutions India Private Limited and GE-SOFT (Global Envoy Software Limited) envisages collaboration in the area of e-Learning. Another Chennai based Company – Sakshi Automaton Solution (Private) Limited signed a Cooperation Agreement with GE-SOFT in the area of e-Learning. EAPT Solutions India Private Limited also signed an important Cooperation Agreement with Neusoft Group Limited (one of the most prominent Chinese companies in Northeastern China). The Cooperation Agreement relates to e-Learning. Sakshi Automation Solution (Private) Limited also signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Neusoft Group in the area of e-Learning.

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