Postingan

Examining the Apollo 11 computer technology that successfully landed on the moon

Gambar
 Fifty years ago, humans first landed on the moon. Astronaut Neil Armstrong at that time uttered a quote that has now become famous: "This is one small step for a person, one giant leap for mankind." Today, this incident is still one of the highest achievements of mankind. Despite the rapid technological advances since then, astronauts haven't actually returned to the moon since 1972. This is quite a surprise. Especially if we consider that in our handheld devices we now have more computing power than computers on the Apollo 11 aircraft. Also read: Scientists plan to open a portal to parallel worlds, how do you do it? Apollo 11 used to have one computer called the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC). The computer has 2048 words of memory that can be used to store "temporary results" - data that will be lost when there is no power. This type of memory is known as RAM (Random Access Memory). Each word consists of 16 binary digits (bits), with bits being the

Unraveling the mystery of the moon, why is it filled with craters?

Gambar
Look up at the clear night sky. You can see some circular formations on the surface of our neighboring celestial body, the Moon. These are impact craters, which are circular basins that can be found on the surface of the planets. About a century ago, they were thought to have existed on Earth although their cosmic origin is often suspected and most geologists believe that the crater came from a volcano. Around 1960, the American astrogeologist Gene Shoemaker, one of the founders of planetary science, studied the dynamics of crater formation on Earth and the planet's surface. He investigates why the planets - including our Moon - are so filled with craters. Picture from Apollo In 1970, there were more than 50 craters found on Earth, but the discovery was still considered controversial, until images of the Moon's surface carried by the Apollo missions confirmed that impact craters were a common geological process that took place outside Earth. Unlike Earth's surf

Study Shows Astronaut Brains Experience Long-Term Radiation Damage

Gambar
In space missions, astronauts routinely face varying degrees of danger. Depending on which Hollywood science fiction thriller you watch, the dangers facing astronauts can come from aliens, or damaged computer networks or, the risk of collision with asteroids and other celestial bodies. While these things may happen, on the other hand, the greatest possible danger to astronauts is something that cannot be seen: space radiation. Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field, almost completely protect life on the planet from cosmic radiation. When astronauts exit Earth's atmosphere, energetic particles known as galactic cosmic rays will attack their bodies. Also Read: Revealing the Mystery of the Moon, Why is it Filled with Craters? Galactic cosmic rays are remnants of supernovae that cause space radiation with protons and helium nuclei ejected by the Sun. Our group studied how the emission of this radiation impacts human health. The most worrying thing about the radiation em