Current Event - Solar Storm ! 1/25/2012 7th period Souce : Wiki® :)
If the raging solar storm was true, the sun is ramping up its activity and scientists will be ready for it. By meticulously studying our planet's star, they are able to predict these potentially dangerous space weather events better than ever before.
A huge solar flare erupted triggering the biggest and the strongest solar storm NASA and other scientists seen since 2005 . A wave of charged particles, called a "coronal mass ejection" , might hit Earth. The bombardment is over now, but some minor disruptions to spacecraft and power grids were reported. Scientists forecast for the arrival of the disruptive wave was off by only 13 minutes, far more accurate than in the past. And with much of the world's networks interconnected and populations increasingly reliant on technology, the ability to predict and track potentially harmful space weather events will become ever more crucial. Solar flares and CME's are expected to increase in frequency as the sun emerges from the dormant phase of its 11year activity. Military might provide safe airplanes if the solar storm hits Earth. Since the earth has a special protection shield, we will be less likely to be hit by the solar storm.
NASA's newest Mars rover blasted off November 26th from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Standing seven feet tall and weighing in at 2000 pounds, Curiosity dwarfs NASA's previous rovers in both size and scientific prowess.It's powered by a plutonium fuel source and packs a laser that can vaporize rocks from several feet away to measure their composition. It also carries several high-tech instruments to pick up samples and make definitive identifications of minerals on the Martian surface.The rover is scheduled to land inside Mars's Gale Crater in August 2012. It will spend nearly two years exploring the sedimentary layers inside Gale Crater, which are thought to preserve an extensive geologic history of Mars. This flight to Mars cost an estimated $2.5 billion dollars ! The reason why NASA is on this mission is because they're trying to find that if there was life on Mars, by doing that they had to find water, or puddle shaped land. They're are also trying to gather information about whether Mars was ever "hospitable" to life. Instead of driving on Mars they will make a sky crane and operate it on Mars, besides who wants to drive a 2000 pound car on Mars; they sky crane is an average of 500 pounds making it much easier to gather information. NASA brang laser camera's for the best picture catches on Mars if they see anything unusual or worth seeing. This mission to Mars will take an average of 8 months to get there and 16-20 months for the whole trip to Mars, then going back to Earth. The mission is called , " The Hindu ". It's NASA's first land to Mars in 4 years and its martian mission in 8 years. 13000 people
watched NASA's newest Mars rover take liftoff very swiftly and made a safe liftoff too.
Current Event – Presidential Election Kevin :) 12/14/11 7th period
Date on event : 12/11/11
In Moscow a Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov said he planned to challenge Vladimir Putin in the March presidential elections, a long-shot bid that opposition leaders denounced as a Kremlin-inspired effort to drain support from a wave of antigovernment demonstrations, just because he is a billionaire doesn’t mean he can be president.
Mr. Prokhorov bid could tap into growing dissatisfaction with the Kremlin, which arose after reports of massive fraud in the December 4th parliamentary election and have grown into the most serious challenge to Mr. Putin's control in his 12year rule.Many believe that Mr.Prokhorov may have a slight chance of winning the election;so it’s getting more competitive.Many protestors on the streets of Moscow are protesting about antigovernment, one of the largest in more than a decade But by giving protestors a political outlet for their discontent without actually presenting a threat to his re-election, observers said his campaign could help Mr. Putin."Prokhorov's task is to accumulate protest voters and help Putin get elected," Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader and Prokhorov friend, told the Interfax news agency. Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, who also is running for president, echoed that view,there is a lot of competition in this election like any other would be.One of the reasons why Mr.Prokhorav is a billionaire is because he was a young oligarch in the 1990’s at the age of 46 then became very famous and now he has a chance to run for president.what Mr.prokharov said in a news conference was,"My base is the middle class". "But that's not just businessmen." He accused existing political parties of engaging in "cheap populism" and said he would release his platform in a few weeks.
His immediate challenge will be to collect the two million signatures he needs to get on the ballot by mid-January.Mr. Prokhorov said he and his supporters have already built the infrastructure to collect those signatures.Despite the recent protests, Mr. Putin, who faces a familiar group of mostly communist, socialist and nationalist candidates, appears virtually certain to win the March 4 election. Mr. Putin, who is prime minister, retains high approval ratings and controls the political system and major media.
My summary is that Mr.Prokahrov might get the vote to be president despite what he has done in his life, but he still has 2 more competetors to look too, so this one is going to be a tough one.