Twice as Fast at Half the Price
SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Apple® today introduced the new iPhone™ 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.** iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US—on July 11.
“Just one year after launching the iPhone, we’re launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “ iPhone 3G supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync right out of the box, runs the incredible third party apps created with the iPhone SDK, and will be available in more than 70 countries around the world this year.”
iPhone 3G gives users ever faster access to the Internet and email over their cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA for voice and data connectivity around the world. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. The new iPhone 3G also makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications, so with iPhone 3G you can browse the web, get map directions, or check your email while you are on a call.
iPhone 3G includes the new iPhone 2.0 software with both the iPhone SDK and key enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide over-the-air push email, contact and calendar syncing as well as remote wipe and Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to corporate networks. The iPhone SDK allows developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone’s groundbreaking Multi-Touch™ user interface, animation technology, accelerometer and GPS technology on the world’s most advanced mobile platform.
iPhone 3G includes the new App Store, providing iPhone users with native applications in a variety of categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The App Store on iPhone works over cellular networks and Wi-Fi, which means it is accessible from just about anywhere, so you can purchase and download applications wirelessly and start using them instantly. Some applications are even free and the App Store notifies you when application updates are available. The App Store will be available in 62 countries at launch.
Additional features available with the iPhone 2.0 software include the ability to do real-time mapping and track your progress with GPS technology, mass move and delete multiple email messages, search for contacts, access a new scientific calculator, turn on parental control restrictions for specified content, save images directly from a web page or email them to your iPhone and easily transfer them back to your photo library on your Mac® or PC. iPhone 3G delivers an amazing 10 hours of talk time on 2G networks and 5 hours using 3G, with up to 5 to 6 hours of web browsing, up to 7 hours for video playback and up to 24 hours for audio playback.
iPhone 3G takes advantage of MobileMe™, a new Internet service that pushes email, contacts, and calendars from an online “cloud” to native applications on iPhone, iPod® touch, Macs and PCs. With MobileMe email, messages are pushed instantly to iPhone, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads, and push keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically updated on other devices. With iPhone, you can even snap a photo and post it directly to a MobileMe Gallery to share with friends and family.
iPhone 3G will be available in the US on July 11 for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 8GB model and $299 (US) for the 16GB model in both Apple and AT&T’s retail stores and requires a new two year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers. iPhone 2.0 software will be available on July 11 as a free software update via iTunes® 7.7 or later for all iPhone customers. For further information about iPhone 3G pricing and availability in the US and internationally, visit www.apple.com/iphone.
*Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.
**Based on iPhone 3G (8GB) and first generation iPhone (8GB) purchases. Requires new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.
On December 21st, 2012 A.D. the ancient Mayan Long Count Calendar comes to an abrupt end.
There are many scientific theories and historic prophecies that claim this will be the end of times.
What is really going to happen at the end of the Mayan calendar? Only time will tell.
Picture it -- a sail boat floating across the starry sky. Well, it's not exactly what you'll see, but it is the idea behind NASA's newest experimental mission.
Later this summer NASA will attempt to deploy and operate the first spacecraft in low Earth orbit propelled only by the power of sunlight. Solar sail propulsion uses sunlight to propel vehicles through space, much the way the wind pushes a sailboat through water. The technology requires intercepting the constantly streaming solar energy, called photons, with giant, reflective sails of lightweight material. Over time, the continuous pressure of the sun's light provides sufficient thrust for a small spacecraft to travel in space and alter its orbit.
Sounds easy, right? On Earth, solar cells have been turning sunlight into electricity for centuries, so why hasn't the space community succeeded in using solar power for in-space transportation?
Although the idea of "sailing" through space has been around since the 17th century, it's never quite come together. Both visionary astronomer Johannes Kepler and Russian space pioneer Friederich Tsander proposed the concept of sailing though space using only the force provided by the energy in sunlight. But at the time, materials strong, thin and durable enough to withstand the harsh radiation environment of space didn’t exist.
Solar sail propulsion continued to captivate engineers in modern space history, and in recent years, several advances have been made toward testing and deploying solar sails on Earth and in low-Earth orbit by the space agencies of the U.S., Germany and Japan. In 2005, the nonprofit space advocacy organization The Planetary Society, launched Cosmos-1 into space on a Russian Volna rocket, but unfortunately the first stage of the launch vehicle never completed its scheduled burn, and never had a chance to deploy and demonstrate solar sail propulsion technology.
Still, a solar sail has yet to be successfully deployed in space.
Through an innovative partnership between NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.; Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.; and several industry and academic partners, NASA will endeavor to propel a small robotic craft through space without fuel. In fact, the only power required to run the "brains" of this satellite consists of a few batteries to run a simple radio and computer. The mission, called NanoSail-D, is one of two technology development payloads from NASA that will ride into space on the upcoming flight of the new Falcon 1 launch vehicle, developed by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif.
"The main objective of this mission is to gain experience in quickly developing a low-cost nanosatellite project, but we're hopeful we’ll do one better and successfully deploy a solar sail," said Edward "Sandy" Montgomery, NanoSail-D payload manager at the Marshall Center. "Ames recently conducted a rapid mission for an astrobiology payload, but this is the first time NASA has created a solar sail for nanosatellites. This was quite a challenge and many innovative solutions were needed, as previous solar sail demonstrators were designed for large satellites. We're thrilled to have this unique opportunity to combine heritage solar sail experience and technology in a new way of doing business." NanoSail-D is a very small satellite, just a bit longer than a loaf of bread and weighs in at around 9 pounds. Developed and built in about six months time, the engineering team built on Ames' small satellite development experience and Marshall's expertise in solar sails and advanced propulsion systems. Packed up inside the satellite is an ultra-thin 100 square foot sail that, if all goes as planned, will be ejected from the launch vehicle shortly after it reaches orbit. Three days later, a timer in the spacecraft computer will command four hinged doors to open allowing the square sail to deploy. The sail material is a very light gossamer fabric thinner than a piece of paper, coated with a thin layer of aluminum to enhance its thrust-producing properties.
The spacecraft bus is adapted by Ames from their standard bus architecture used on previous missions, GeneSat and another mission planned for later this year, PharmaSat. Marshall provided the remainder of the spacecraft and the solar sail payload, harvesting the sail material from an earlier Marshall solar sail propulsion mission tested at Glenn's Plum Brook facility in 2005. The NanoSail-D team also includes academic and industry partners who provided economical commercial-off-the-shelf components that were quickly configured and integrated to create the satellite.
"The cost to build and deploy spacecraft systems is directly related to size and mass, and rocket fuel is heavy," said Dean Alhorn, NanoSail-D lead engineer. "That's what makes a solar sail nanosatellite so attractive."
Experimenting with solar sail propulsion and nanosatellite technology improves NASA's ability to rapidly develop and launch innovative technologies into space. This mission also provided an excellent collaborative opportunity between NASA, industry partners and academics to test an experimental solar sail in space at a manageable scale.
"Solar sail propulsion, if it achieves its full promise, would enable fundamentally different space missions not feasible or even possible with conventional propellants," said Mark Whorton, NanoSail-D principal investigator at Marshall. "For example, solar sails could provide a steady thrust for a small spacecraft to perform certain maneuvers, such as hovering at a fixed point above the earth’s surface. We could place a spacecraft at a set point between the Earth and sun, closer than what is possible today, that would provide faster warning for approaching solar storms."
From launch to de-orbit, the NanoSail-D flight is anticipated to last under two weeks.
"If the deployment is successful, the sail will deploy and we’ll be able to pick up slight changes in NanoSail's orbit a few days into the mission," said Montgomery. "This is an exciting, highly experimental mission, but we're hopeful our little ship will enjoy a successful voyage to the stars."
To track the progress of the NanoSail-D mission, visit:
http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm
For more information about NanoSail-D and NASA's small spacecraft initiatives please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/index.html
For humans in the path of destructive hurricanes and tsunamis, an accurate warning of the pending event is critical for damage control and survival. Such warnings, however, require a solid base of scientific observations, and a new satellite is ready for the job.
The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason 2 adds to the number of eyes in the sky measuring sea surface and wave heights across Earth's oceans. The increased coverage will help researchers improve current models for practical use in predicting hurricane intensity, while providing valuable data that can be used to improve tsunami warning models.
"When it comes to predicting hurricane intensity, the curve in the last 40 years has been somewhat flat, with little advance in how to reduce error in predicted intensity," said Gustavo Goni, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Miami. Maps of sea surface height created from satellites, however, could help change the curve.
Satellites that measure sea surface height have been running operationally nonstop since November 1992. But more than one is needed to fly at the same time in order to identify all the features that could be responsible for intensification of tropical cyclones all over Earth. The OSTM/Jason 2 mission will help make the additional coverage possible.
NASA, university and NOAA investigators, including Goni, work to transform sea surface height information obtained from satellites, such as OSTM/Jason 2, into maps of ocean heat content. Forecasters can use the maps to develop models to predict how hurricanes will strengthen.
Determining heat content from sea surface height is possible because warm water is less dense and hence sits higher than cooler water. In some regions, such as inside and outside the Gulf Stream current, the temperature differences result in more than a one-meter (three-foot) difference in sea surface height. Goni and colleagues use this established concept to estimate from sea level variations how much heat is stored in the upper ocean in areas where hurricanes typically develop and intensify.
While sea surface height may not necessarily be the most significant parameter for hurricane intensity forecasts, researchers now know that if sea surface height is accounted for in current forecast models, errors in forecasts for the most intense storms are reduced. For weak storms, the reduction in error is not very significant. However, for storms in the strongest category 5 range, the heat content in the upper ocean derived from sea surface height becomes increasingly important. "This is a good thing, because these are the storms that produce the most damage," Goni said.
"OSTM/Jason 2 will help us to keep the necessary coverage that we need to identify ocean features that can be linked to tropical cyclone intensification, because with only one satellite we may miss some of them," Goni said.
Upper ocean heat content derived from sea surface height is now used in operational and experimental forecast models in all seven ocean basins where tropical cyclones exist.
In December 2004, two satellites happened to be in the right place at the right time, capturing the first space-based look at a major tsunami in the open ocean. Within two hours of a magnitude 9 earthquake in the Indian Ocean southwest of Sumatra, the Jason 1 and Topex/Poseidon satellites fortuitously passed over the path of the resulting tsunami as it traveled across the ocean. It measured the leading wave, traveling hundreds of miles per hour in the open ocean, at about 0.5 meters (1.6 feet) tall.
Wave height measurements like those of the Indian Ocean tsunami do not provide an early warning because the information is not relayed to ground stations in real time. That's the job of early warning systems operated by NOAA and other global organizations that currently employ a network of open-ocean buoys and coastal tide gauges. Sea surface height measurements of tsunamis can, however, help scientists test and improve ground-based models used for early warning. One such system developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., and undergoing tests at NOAA's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Ewa Beach, Hawaii, could become operational within about three years.
Most tsunamis are caused by undersea earthquakes. Using the JPL-developed system, when seismometers first identify and locate a large earthquake, scientists can use GPS measurements to search around the earthquake's source to see if land has shifted, potentially spurring a tsunami. Scientists can then immediately compile the earthquake's size, location, and land movement into a computer program that generates a model tsunami to determine the risk of a dangerous wave. After the wave passes, scientists can search through wave height data from satellites and verify what the model predicted.
"Satellite data play the crucial role of verifying tsunami models by testing real tsunami events," said JPL research scientist Tony Song. "If an earthquake generates a tsunami, does the satellite data match observations on the ground and model predictions?"
"One of the unique pieces of satellite observations is the large-scale perspective," said JPL research scientist Philip Callahan. Tsunamis can have waves more than 161 kilometers (100 miles) long. Such a wave would likely go unnoticed by an observer in a boat on the ocean's surface. But satellite altimeters like OSTM/Jason 2 can see this very long wave and measure its height to an accuracy of about 2.5 centimeters (one inch).
Scientists' ability to test tsunami warning models will be aided by OSTM/Jason 2. With the Topex/Poseidon mission now ended, the currently orbiting Jason 1 has now been joined by and will eventually be replaced by OSTM/Jason 2. This will help ensure that future tsunamis will also be observed by satellites as well as by buoys and tide gauges.
"The biggest value in satellite measurements of sea surface height is not in direct warning capability, but in improving models so when an earthquake is detected, you can make reliable predictions and reduce damage to property and people," Callahan said.
For more information on OSTM/Jason 2, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ostm .
For more information on JPL's climate change research programs, visit: http://climate.jpl.nasa.gov .
PASADENA, Calif. -- New analysis of Mars' terrain using NASA spacecraft observations reveals what appears to be by far the largest impact crater ever found in the solar system.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Global Surveyor have provided detailed information about the elevations and gravity of the Red Planet's northern and southern hemispheres. A new study using this information may solve one of the biggest remaining mysteries in the solar system: why does Mars have two strikingly different kinds of terrain in its northern and southern hemispheres? The huge crater is creating intense scientific interest.
The mystery of the two-faced nature of Mars has perplexed scientists since the first comprehensive images of the surface were beamed home by NASA spacecraft in the 1970s. The main hypotheses have been an ancient impact or some internal process related to the planet's molten subsurface layers. The impact idea, proposed in 1984, fell into disfavor because the basin's shape didn't seem to fit the expected round shape for a crater. The newer data is convincing some experts who doubted the impact scenario.
"We haven't proved the giant-impact hypothesis, but I think we've shifted the tide," said Jeffrey Andrews-Hanna, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
A giant northern basin that covers about 40 percent of Mars' surface, sometimes called the Borealis basin, is the remains of a colossal impact early in the solar system's formation, the new analysis suggests. At 5,300 miles across, it is about four times wider than the next-biggest impact basin known, the Hellas basin on southern Mars. An accompanying report calculates that the impacting object that produced the Borealis basin must have been about 1,200 miles across. That's larger than Pluto.
"This is an impressive result that has implications not only for the evolution of early Mars, but also for early Earth's formation," said Michael Meyer, the Mars chief scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
This northern-hemisphere basin on Mars is one of the smoothest surfaces found in the solar system. The southern hemisphere is high, rough, heavily cratered terrain, which ranges from 2.5 to 5 miles higher in elevation than the basin floor.
Other giant impact basins have been discovered that are elliptical rather than circular. But it took a complex analysis of the Martian surface from NASA's two Mars orbiters to reveal the clear elliptical shape of Borealis basin, which is consistent with being an impact crater.
One complicating factor in revealing the elliptical shape of the basin was that after the time of the impact, which must have been at least 3.9 billion years ago, giant volcanoes formed along one part of the basin rim and created a huge region of high, rough terrain that obscures the basin's outlines. It took a combination of gravity data, which tend to reveal underlying structure, with data on current surface elevations to reconstruct a map of Mars elevations as they existed before the volcanoes erupted.
JPL manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more information about the mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mro
New observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that the crust and upper mantle of Mars are stiffer and colder than previously thought.
The findings suggest any liquid water that might exist below the planet's surface, and any possible organisms living in that water, would be located deeper than scientists had suspected.
"We found that the rocky surface of Mars is not bending under the load of the north polar ice cap," said Roger Phillips of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. Phillips is the lead author of a new report appearing in this week's online version of Science. "This implies that the planet's interior is more rigid, and thus colder, than we thought before."
The discovery was made using the Shallow Radar instrument on the spacecraft, which has provided the most detailed pictures to date of the interior layers of ice, sand and dust that make up the north polar cap on Mars. The radar images reveal long, continuous layers stretching up to 600 miles (1,000 kilometers), or about one-fifth the length of the United States.
"In our first glimpses inside the polar ice using the radar on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, we can clearly see stacks of icy material that trace the history of Mars' climate," said Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Plaut is a science team member and a co-author of the paper. "Radar has opened up a new avenue for studying Mars' past."
NASA Spacecraft Shows Diverse, Wet Environments on Ancient Mars
Labels: NASA, Science and technology
WASHINGTON -- Two studies based on data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed that the Red Planet once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life.
One study, published in the July 17 issue of Nature, shows that vast regions of the ancient highlands of Mars, which cover about half the planet, contain clay minerals, which can form only in the presence of water. Volcanic lavas buried the clay-rich regions during subsequent, drier periods of the planet's history, but impact craters later exposed them at thousands of locations across Mars. The data for the study derives from images taken by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, or CRISM, and other instruments on the orbiter.
"The big surprise from these new results is how pervasive and long-lasting Mars' water was, and how diverse the wet environments were," said Scott Murchie, CRISM principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
The clay-like minerals, called phyllosilicates, preserve a record of the interaction of water with rocks dating back to what is called the Noachian period of Mars' history, approximately 4.6 billion to 3.8 billion years ago. This period corresponds to the earliest years of the solar system, when Earth, the moon and Mars sustained a cosmic bombardment by comets and asteroids. Rocks of this age have largely been destroyed on Earth by plate tectonics. They are preserved on the moon, but were never exposed to liquid water. The phyllosilicate-containing rocks on Mars preserve a unique record of liquid water environments possibly suitable for life in the early solar system.
"The minerals present in Mars' ancient crust show a variety of wet environments," said John Mustard, a member of the CRISM team from Brown University, and lead author of the Nature study. "In most locations the rocks are lightly altered by liquid water, but in a few locations they have been so altered that a great deal of water must have flushed though the rocks and soil. This is really exciting because we're finding dozens of sites where future missions can land to understand if Mars was ever habitable and if so, to look for signs of past life."
For more information on the new studies, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mro
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