The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) is an international project, in which the UK has a leading role. This site includes the latest news from the project, accessible explanations of how the LHC works, how it is funded, who works there and what benefits it brings us. You can access a wide range of resources for the public, journalists and teachers and students, there are also many links to other sources of information.
the Large Hadron Collider ( LHC )
Phoenix Mars Lander Delivers Soil Sample To Microscope
This photograph shows the Robotic Arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander carrying a scoop of Martian soil bound for the spacecraft's microscope. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)Mars Lander Saturday beamed back images showing that Phoenix’s Robotic Arm successfully sprinkled soil onto the delivery port of the lander's Optical Microscope.
Mission scientists said enough of the fine-grained soil sample remains in the scoop of the lander's Robotic Arm for delivery to either the Wet Chemistry Lab or Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer. Both the Wet Chemistry Lab and the Optical Microscope are part of the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, instrument.
"We want to deliver similar soil samples to all three instruments," said Ray Arvidson, the mission's lead scientist for digging activities, from Washington University in St. Louis.
The lander's Robotic Arm has been commanded to remain in an "up" position to hold the collected soil in the scoop until it can be delivered to the other instruments.
The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, located in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
NASA Probe Lands on Mars to Search for Signs of Life
An artist's concept illustration depicts NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, released to the media May 25, 2008. Source: NASA/JPL-Calech/University of Arizona News
May 26 -- NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander touched down safely today on the Red Planet, where the probe will sift through the icy soil for any signs that it once harbored life.
`We've passed the hardest part and we're breathing again,'' Mars Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein said, according to NASA. The Red Planet's rocky terrain and equipment problems have led to the failure of more than half of all Mars missions, including a Phoenix predecessor destroyed in 1999.
Phoenix sent a signal confirming it landed safely in the northern polar region of Mars, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on its Web site. The message took 15 minutes to travel to Earth from Mars at the speed of light.
The probe is part of NASA's current theme in Mars exploration: follow the water. Ice is plentiful beneath the red soil and the space agency wants to know whether liquids also exist underground. ``Where there tends to be water on Earth, there tends to be life,'' Lynn Craig of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in an interview. ``So it's potentially a place where life could have existed.'
After its landing, Phoenix relayed pictures from the planet showing the plain and horizon, a foot of the craft on the soil and its solar panels extended so that it will be able to generate power, according to NASA.
Landing Risk
The riskiest segment of the Phoenix's 420-million-mile (676-million-kilometer), 9-month journey was the end. The Phoenix had only seven minutes to slow in the thin Martian atmosphere from almost twice the speed of sound to the pace of an escalator. Parachutes and braking rockets accomplished the task, each step initiated by onboard computers.
`Landing is easy; doing it softly is the hard part,'' said Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University and co-investigator on the NASA project.
The previous ``soft landing'' on a planet was three decades ago, with NASA's Viking probes. Recent crafts sent to Mars, such as NASA's wheeled rovers, weighed less and relied on air bags to cushion the final impact.
Now on the surface, the Phoenix must work quickly. Martian winter begins in three months. The sun will drop below the horizon, and a thick ice of water and carbon dioxide will coat the lander's solar panels, ending its life.
Digging Process
The golf cart-size probe will use an 8-foot robotic arm, as well as a drill, to penetrate several feet of soil at the landing spot, near Mars's northern polar ice cap.
The flexible arm will scoop dirt and ice into ovens about the size of a matchbox. They will heat samples to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (980 degrees Celsius).
The probe will then test the burned soil for organic chemicals and minerals crucial to life. Much of the information can be analyzed on the spot and radioed back to Earth.
NASA's Viking probes also examined Martian soil in the 1970s, when the primary concern was locating safe landing spots. Dirt samples at those sites lacked much water.
The Phoenix, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., will be NASA's third probe active on the planet, along with the wheeled rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
Like Phoenix, they were given three months to live after touchdown. To NASA's surprise, the vehicles are still working four years later.
Self-assembling Method Could Lead To Inexpensive Diamond-like Crystals For Technology
Researchers at Purdue have developed a "self-assembling" technique to create a "nearly perfect two-dimensional colloidal crystal," or a precisely ordered layer of particles, a critical step toward growing three-dimensional crystals for use in optical communications and other technologies. The method works by positioning tiny particles onto a silicon template containing precisely spaced holes that are about one-hundredth the width of a human hair. This photograph, taken with a scanning electron microscopy, shows a side-by-side comparison between Purdue's structure (right) and a structure that results when a template is not used. (Credit: You-Yeon Won and Jaehyun Hur, Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering)Chemical engineers have developed a "self-assembling" method that could lead to an inexpensive way of making diamondlike crystals to improve optical communications and other technologies.
The method, developed at Purdue University, works by positioning tiny particles onto a silicon template containing precisely spaced holes that are about one-hundredth the width of a human hair. The template is immersed in water on top of which particles are floating, and the particles automatically fill in the holes as the template is lifted.
The researchers have used the technique to create a "nearly perfect two-dimensional colloidal crystal," or a precisely ordered layer of particles. This is a critical step toward growing three-dimensional crystals for use in optical technologies, said You-Yeon Won, an assistant professor of chemical engineering.
Gigantic Antarctic Ice Chunk Collapses
March 25, 2008 -- A chunk of Antarctic ice about seven times the size of Manhattan suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday.Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started Feb. 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf and has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years.
This is the result of global warming, said British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan.
Because scientists noticed satellite images within hours, they diverted satellite cameras and even flew an airplane over the ongoing collapse for rare pictures and video.
"It's an event we don't get to see very often," said Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. "The cracks fill with water and slice off and topple... That gets to be a runaway situation."
While icebergs naturally break away from the mainland, collapses like this are unusual but are happening more frequently in recent decades, Vaughan said. The collapse is similar to what happens to hardened glass when it is smashed with a hammer, he said.
The rest of the Wilkins ice shelf, which is about the size of Connecticut, is holding on by a narrow beam of thin ice. Scientists worry that it too may collapse. Larger, more dramatic ice collapses occurred in 2002 and 1995.
Vaughan had predicted the Wilkins shelf would collapse about 15 years from now.
Scientists said they are not concerned about a rise in sea level from the latest event, but say it's a sign of worsening global warming.
Such occurrences are "more indicative of a tipping point or trigger in the climate system," said Sarah Das, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
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