Saturday, 8 March 2008
3/08/2008 10:17:00 pm
Now this is part 2 of my storytelling...
8 March 2007
In the early of the morning, at around 7 am, we went for morning exercise. We jogged, We jumped and lots more. So we do until 8 am. We then have our breakfast. There's nothing much for breakfast actually, only bread and Tuna. So after this, We have a game. We were given a map of Pulau Ubin. we were then given strips of paper, telling us what and where to go. And so, according to it, we went to the first hut and we sketched out the hut. This would prove that we have been to that place. And so this went on until 1 pm, and we started on 9 am, 4 Hours..
Then later we went to have our lunch and then went for a lesson. We learnt how to care for the axe and also, we learnt how to chop thick branches. An hour later, we pack our bags and hike off to the jetty to go back to Singapore. Done!
My scout camp!
3/08/2008 09:11:00 pm
Hello everyone!
glitter-graphics.com
Today just came back from my scout camp.. Very tired. BUT!!! It's very worth it. Got to see loads of things which can't be seen in this well-lighted city. Alright.. Now I shall start on my journey. I mean storytelling time..
glitter-graphics.com
7 March 2008
After school at around 2 pm, we set of to changi point Jetty. Got onto a boat after 1 min. A while later we arrived in Pulau Ubin and started hiking off to our camp site-Mamam Beach.
The hike took us around 30 minutes and it was very tiring..With our bags heavy with camping equipments. So, as soon as when we reach the camp site, we pitch our tent and got on with our activities. Saw wasp there..
First, we went into the dense forest to collect fire woods that is needed for our camp fire and cooking. Enough with the firewoods, we burnt the woods and cooked our canned food-Sardines, Baked beans, Tuna, Hotdogs. Soon, wala! lunch time!!!
lastly, We followed our leader to the forest for exploration. And guess what, After 25 minutes of hike, the sky turned dark. But wait, there's more.. We saw, Among the trees, a glowing mushroom. Some of us pick it. Then we carried on and more amazing it is, We saw FIREFLIES!! They are so gorgeous with their back glowing. Very nice. And so, we arrived in a less dense forest. Our leader now wants us to go through this forest alone without any torch light. So my turn soon came and I go through the forest. I remember there's a time when I can't see anything, very dark and the ground was filled with leaves and so it was very very dark. But I make it by going straight on the main road. Tell you what... When I go throught that forest, I happened to saw a figure! I went very near to it and actually, I found out "it" was our seniors. They were to guide us if we go wrong way. Everyone make it and so we have our campfire. We did a skid and played some games. There goes the day.
Saturday, 1 March 2008
Interesting!
3/01/2008 02:30:00 pm
NASA Baffled by Unexplained Force Acting on Space Probes
By Charles Q. Choi
Special to SPACE.com
posted: 29 February 2008
11:17 am ET
Mysteriously, five spacecraft that flew past the Earth have each displayed unexpected anomalies in their motions.
These newfound enigmas join the so-called "Pioneer anomaly" as hints that unexplained forces may appear to act on spacecraft.
A decade ago, after rigorous analyses, anomalies were seen with the identical Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft as they hurtled out of the solar system. Both seemed to experience a tiny but unexplained constant acceleration toward the sun.
A host of explanations have been bandied about for the Pioneer anomaly. At times these are rooted in conventional science — perhaps leaks from the spacecraft have affected their trajectories. At times these are rooted in more speculative physics — maybe the law of gravity itself needs to be modified.
Now Jet Propulsion Laboratory astronomer John Anderson and his colleagues — who originally helped uncover the Pioneer anomaly — have discovered that five spacecraft each raced either a tiny bit faster or slower than expected when they flew past the Earth en route to other parts of the solar system.
'Humble and perplexed'
The researchers looked at six deep-space probes — Galileo I and II to Jupiter, the NEAR mission to the asteroid Eros, the Rosetta probe to a comet, Cassini to Saturn, and the MESSENGER craft to Mercury. Each spacecraft flew past the our planet to either gain or lose orbital energy in their quests to reach their eventual targets.
In five of the six flybys, the scientists have confirmed anomalies.
"I am feeling both humble and perplexed by this," said Anderson, who is now working as a retiree. "There is something very strange going on with spacecraft motions. We have no convincing explanation for either the Pioneer anomaly or the flyby anomaly."
In the one probe the researchers did not confirm a noticeable anomaly with, MESSENGER, the spacecraft approached the Earth at about latitude 31 degrees north and receded from the Earth at about latitude 32 degrees south. "This near-perfect symmetry about the equator seemed to result in a very small velocity change, in contrast to the five other flybys," Anderson explained — so small no anomaly could be confirmed.
The five other flybys involved flights whose incoming and outgoing trajectories were asymmetrical with each other in terms of their orientation with Earth's equator.
For instance, the NEAR mission approached Earth at about latitude 20 south and receded from the planet at about latitude 72 south. The spacecraft then seemed to fly 13 millimeters per second faster than expected. While this is just one-millionth of that probe's total velocity, the precision of the velocity measurements was 0.1 millimeters per second, carried out as they were using radio waves bounced off the craft. This suggests the anomaly seen is real — and one needing an explanation.
The fact this effect seems most evident with flybys most asymmetrical with respect to Earth's equator "suggests that the anomaly is related to Earth's rotation," Anderson said.
As to whether these new anomalies are linked with the Pioneer anomaly, "I would be very surprised if we have discovered two independent spacecraft anomalies," Anderson told SPACE.com. "I suspect they are connected, but I really do not know."
Unbound idea
These anomalies might be effects we see with an object possessing a spacecraft's mass, between 660 and 2,200 lbs. (300 and 1,000 kg), Anderson speculated.
"Another thing in common between the Pioneer and these flybys is what you would call an unbound orbit around a central body," Anderson said. "For instance, the Pioneers are flying out of the solar system — they're not bound to their central body, the sun. For the other flybys, the Earth is the central body. These kinds of orbits just don't occur very often in nature — it could be when you get into an unbound orbit around a central body, something goes on that's not in our standard models."
The researchers are now collaborating with German colleagues to search for possible anomalies in the Rosetta probe's second flyby of the Earth on November 13.
"We should continue to monitor spacecraft during Earth flybys. We should look carefully at newly recovered Pioneer data for more evidence of the Pioneer anomaly," Anderson added. "We should think about launching a dedicated mission on an escape trajectory from the solar system, just to look for anomalies in its motion."
Montana State University physicist Ronald Hellings, who did not participate in this study, said, "There's definitely something going on. Whether that's because of new physics or some problem with the model we have is yet to be worked out, as far as I know. A lot of people are trying to look into this."
Anderson and his colleagues will detail their latest findings in an upcoming issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.
