Meteorite explosion over Russia injures hundreds

Around 400 people reported injured by glass from explosion as meteorite flared in the sky and broke up over Ural mountains

A meteorite has flared spectacularly in the sky and exploded over the
Russian region of Chelyabinsk, reportedly injuring around 400 people.

Fragments of the meteor fell in a thinly populated area of the region, the emergencies ministry said in a statement.

Interior ministry spokesman Vadim Kolesnikov said 102 people had
called for medical assistance following the incident, mostly for
treatment of injuries from glass broken by the explosions.

Kolesnikov also said about 600 sq metres (6,500 sq ft) of a roof at a zinc factory had collapsed.

Reports conflicted on what exactly happened in the clear skies. Emergencies ministry spokeswoman Irina Rossius told Associated Press that there was a meteor shower, but another ministry spokeswoman, Elena Smirnikh, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying it was a single meteorite.

"It was definitely not a plane," an emergency official told Reuters. "We are gathering the bits of information and have no data on the casualties so far."

A witness in Chelyabinsk reported hearing a huge blast early in the morning and feeling a shockwave in a 19-storey building in the town centre.

The sounds of car alarms and breaking windows could be heard in the area, the witness said, and mobile phones were working intermittently. "Preliminary indications are that it was a meteorite rain," an emergency official told RIA-Novosti. "We have information about a blast at 10,000-metre altitude. It is being verified."

"I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as
bright as if it was day," said Viktor Prokofiev, a 36-year-old resident of
Yekaterinburg in the Urals mountains.

"I felt like I was blinded by headlights," he told Reuters.

No deaths were reported but President Vladimir Putin, who was due
to host finance ministry officials from the G20 nations in Moscow, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were quickly informed.

Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object
speeding across the sky (video) about 9:20 am local time (0320 GMT), leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.

The emergencies ministry described Friday's events as a "meteor shower
in the form of fireballs" and said background radiation levels were
normal. It urged residents not to panic.

Chelyabinsk city authorities urged people to stay indoors unless they
needed to pick up their children from schools and kindergartens. They
said a blast had been heard at an altitude of 10,000 metres (32,800
feet), apparently signalling it occurred when the meteorite entered
Earth's atmosphere.

In 1908 a meteorite is thought to have devastated an area of more than
2,000sq km (1,250 miles) in Siberia in what became known as the
Tunguska event.

How do astronauts wash their hands in space?

Whenever I think about traveling into space I focus on the cool aspects like being able to float about in zero gravity, getting to see the Earth from a new perspective, and experiencing that heart pounding lift off and re-entry when it’s finally time to head home.

But the video above reminds us of the mundane tasks that are much more complicated in space. Also, someone has to think about how to solve these problems before the astronauts board the shuttle.

In this case, a kid asks International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield about hygiene, and how exactly the astronauts go about washing their hands.

It turns out they have special pouches called No Rinse Body Bath that require the addition of 2 ounces of cold water and 6 ounces of hot water. That creates a “slightly soapy” water solution in the bag, which can then be squeezed out into a ball of cleaning liquid and worked into each hand.

The reason it’s only slightly soapy is because water is a very valuable and limited resource on the ISS, so you don’t want to have to rinse your hands with more water afterwards to get rid of the soap. Instead, you just wipe them dry with a towel.

What’s most surprising to me about this video is the droplets of water that just fly off as he washes his hands. I thought they’d have to be more careful about where the liquid travels as you don’t want it getting on any instruments and causing an issue.

Why NASA Finding Organics on Mars Is Nothing to Get Excited About

The internet is awash with news that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has detected carbon compounds on Mars. Some people may have you believe that the news suggests there's life on Mars—but don't get too excited just yet.

Carbon compounds...

One of Curiosity's main goals is to hunt out organics on Mars. These are carbon-based molecules that we take for granted on Earth, but which are the fundamental blocks from which carbon-based life forms are built. Finding them could suggest that life exits—or did exist—on Mars.

The news from NASA shows that, when soil was tested using Curiosity's onboard chemistry set, carbon, hydrogen and chorine were present and capable of reacting with each other to form organic compounds. Tantalizing. Does that mean, then, that there's life on the planet?

...but no signs of life

Hold on a minute, though. An important point in this story is that the samples were tested in the onboard equipment of Curiosity. In fact, they're heated up in something akin to a miniature oven—and it's not clear whether the carbon found in the samples was actually from the surface of Mars, or simply residue in the device from back here on Earth.

Even, thinking positively for a moment, if the carbon was from the surface of Mars, it's not enough to suggest there was life on the planet, because the element could be present in inorganic sources, too, like carbonate rocks. If you need it from a more official source, then senior NASA scientist Paul Mahaffy spells it out quite clearly:

"We have no definitive detection of Martian organics at this point."

So, sure, organics are present on Mars. But that could be because NASA took them there, or because they were created from inorganic sources or maybe—and it's a very big maybe—they're a hangover from Martian life. Either way, NASA has no way of telling, so you shouldn't get too excited about it either. [NASA, New Scientist]

Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

How NASA is Making Rockets By Welding Metal Powder with Lasers

Normally, rockets are made of a whole bunch of small parts that are intricately attached to each other to form the body that can actually fly into space. If you could build complex geometrical parts out of a single piece of material, however, things would get much easier. That's where metal powder and lasers come in.

The process is called selective laser melting, and for all intents and purposes, it's like a more badass version of typical 3D printing. Instead of putting down layers of plastic, the system works with a pile of metal powder which is then welded into the appropriate form by being shot by lasers. When you brush the excess metal away, you've got exactly the piece you need all in one part.

In addition to reducing the places where a rocket could critically fail, the process of selective laser melting also makes it easy to churn out custom-built pieces way faster than any competing method. Some selective laser melted parts are due to be tested in hot-fire tests of a J-2X engine later this year. The hope is they can be tested in actual test flight by 2017. No matter how those tests may turn out, you can't deny the method is pretty righteous. [NASA via Engadget]