CMC'S NEWS' REVIEW (III)

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Crashes in New Setback for Commercial Spaceflight

The New York Times                                                                                                             31/10/14

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/01/science/virgin-galactics-spaceshiptwo-crashes-during-test-flight.html?ref=science

SCIENTIFIC SHIELD: Society and technology

SUMMARY:

SpaceShipTwo, a rocket plane that was meant to carry well-heeled tourists on short if expensive rides to space, crashed in the Mojave Desert on Friday during a test flight, killing one of the two pilots. The other pilot was taken to the hospital with major injuries. 

The cause of the accident is thought to be the change of the fuel to another one. 

SpaceShipTwo is a prototype commercial spaceship by Virgin Galactic. Like its smaller predecessor, SpaceShipOne, the craft is designed to be lifted aloft by a carrier plane, then released. It fires a rocket engine to reach the upper atmosphere, then glides to a landing.

It was the second major accident in a week for the commercial space industry, which has been widely promoted in recent years as an alternative to costly government programs.

A second SpaceShipTwo plane is currently under construction.

This video shows us a flight of the Space Ship Two:

CRITICAL APPRAISAL:

Although those accidents I think that the space flights could be a way for travelling faster and further than using a conventional plane.

The unic drawback is the money because a seat in the Space Ship Two cost 250.000 $.

Nowadays only rich people and goverments use this tipe of transport but maybe with time we would say that we take our space ship to go to the moon.

The picture shows the ship during the flight:

GLOSSARY:

Space Ship: A manned spacecraft.

Spacecraft: A vehicle for travel beyond the earth's atmosphere.

CMC'S NEWS' REVIEW (III), by Marina Dorca

CMC'S NEWS' REVIEW (I)

News' title: Teen studies living flash lights of the deep.


Date of publication: October the 27th, 2014.


Source of information: Student Society for Science:

https://student.societyforscience.org/article/teen-studies-living-flashlights-deep


Scientific field: Biology (veterinary).


Extract:

This article explains the discovery that a thirteen year-old girl has found out. She's called Caroline and she's spent 3 years studying the giant flash light fish (Anomalops katoptron), in the Aquarium of the Pacific, as a volunteer.
This fish presents a small glow-in-the-dark patch in a pocket of tissue under each eye. Caroline has discovered that this phenomenon is due to the  symbiosis between a  bioluminescent bacteria. To “flash” its light, the fish rotates the bacteria-filled pocket toward the outside of its body, and when it wants to hide its light, it swivels the pocket back toward the inside.
Caroline carries on studying this specie and has already presented her results to the  Broadcom MASTERS' contest.






Critical appraisal:

I'm really impressed by the discoveries of this teenager, not because they are of great importance, but because of the effort and dedication she's put in her research. Her example makes clear that you don't have to be an adult to investigate or to make a research on something that intrigues you. You just need to have interest and constancy.
It's great t know that there are teenagers like her in the world, because the future of this planet lies in our hands.

Glossary:

bacterium (plural bacteria) A single-celled organism. These dwell nearly everywhere on Earth, from the bottom of the sea to inside animals.
bioluminescence The light emitted by certain animals —such as fireflies, squid and deep-sea fishes — and by some shallow-water algae.
crustaceans Hard-shelled water-dwelling animals including lobsters, crabs and shrimp.
denizens inhabitants
prey Animal species eaten by others.
shallow superficial
symbiosis A relationship between two species that live in close contact.