Sunday, February 16, 2020

Back to our place(Someplace of my memory) Essay

Back to our place(Someplace of my memory) - Essay Example In America, I suppose it would be a Vehicle Testing Station. As I remember, there were hundreds of taxies, so it might even have been a cab company, like Yellow Cab. In the mornings, it used to be a little crowded, with neighborhood people complaining about the waste oil flowing downhill from the top, to the housing area. This is the only bad memory that comes to mind about that place. However, residents did nothing more, other than to murmur sulkily to express displeasure about that oil. Around midday on Sundays, after having a light lunch, my family would take four badminton rackets, a few shuttlecocks, and some water to drink, and would step inside the 400 square yards area of that big car park up the hill. With a light heart, we would pass by the black written sign "Car Inspecting Office of Eastern Part", as if the sign did not exist. A few neighbors would already be there, playing side by side, as everyone had fun, and enjoyed their games. It seemed as though nobody cared about original purpose of the place. Instead, It played the role of a little camping spot and family play area. For my family, the white lines for car parking became the perfect place to play badminton, the markings were just right. We would start for home at dusk, cooled by a fresh breeze, smelling the sweet scent of sweat that wafted skywards on that gentle wind, tired but happy. On weekdays, around the... If we put those lines, that looked like a chessboard, together as a set of twelve, it became a great soccer field, or the place for dodge ball played on a group of lines, in exactly the same way. We would never go back home until darkness fell, making us afraid. The only exception that would stop our play for a time was when we heard our mother's voices. They would call us loudly for dinner, sounding very far away in the darkness. Those friends, and sound of my mother's voice, filled with alarm, have been a pattern and part of my life throughout my entire childhood and beyond. The scenes from those times remain unforgettable to me, for all my life. But sometimes things did not always happen that way, and the happy scene would be disturbed. We would hear another voice coming toward us, not the loving concern heard in our mother's calls. There were two sides to this place, a different aspect that stays in my memory. The office would never be totally empty, even though we hoped it would be. After 5.00 PM, when the workers went home, a few people would always be on duty there. Though they did not often confront us, there was a sort of competition, as they did not want to let the balance of power between neighborhood and workers, pass to our side, making us the winners. To assert their position of being 'in charge', sometimes, the person on duty would make us leave, and we had a lot of fun hiding from them and watching carefully for a chance to get back inside the car park again. But in my memory, I can see that they were only human too, the same as we were, and we saw that side of them often. When they became bored sitting in the office, they would come out and play with our soccer

Sunday, February 2, 2020

The Moons of Mars Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Moons of Mars - Term Paper Example They are not only being speculated as the next best targets for space colonization, but also as gateways for further cost-effective investigations on Mars. This is largely because lifting off and landing of spaceships on Phobos and Deimos would take up lesser fuel than similar missions on Mars or the Moon, owing to their lesser gravity (about 1/1000th that of the Earth), and low atmospheric resistance. Since manned missions to the Martian moons are much more feasible, it would be possible for humans to investigate and explore the Red Planet further, from remote observatories located on its moons. This would be more productive than using robots and probes for scientific investigation. As Siegfried Fred Singer describes it, in The Scientific American: The basic advantage of astronauts is that they can explore Mars in real time, free of communications delays and capable of following up interesting results with new experiments. Robots, even after decades of research to make them complete ly autonomous, cannot manage without people in the loop. But the question arises: Where should the astronauts be? The obvious answer--on the surface of Mars--is not necessarily the most efficient. At the first "Case for Mars" conference in 1981, one of the more provocative conclusions was that the Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, could serve as comparatively inexpensive beachheads. (1) This brings out the practicality and possibility of colonizing the Martian moons, and how it will be helpful for development of novel strategies for cheaper, fuel efficient and realistic research on Mars. The two Moons of Mars Phobos and Deimos were both discovered by Asaph Hall, using the 206-inch refractor of U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington D. C. Phobos (Greek for 'fear'), the larger of the two, is 27 kilometers long. Its distance from Mars is just 5700 kilometers and it completes an orbit in about 8 hours. The large Stickney crater on its left is perhaps its most prominent feature. Deimos (Gree k for 'Panic') is 14.5 kilometers long and completes an orbit in 30 hours. Its distance from Mars is 23,460 kilometers. Studies carried out by scientists in 1997 revealed that both the moons are about 2 billion years old and their composition is similar to meteorites, Type 1 or 2 carbonaceous chondrites, found in the Asteroid Ceres as well as in the asteroid belt. This led to conclusions that the two moons are actually captured asteroids, and didn't actually originate from the planet itself. Two probes, Phobos 1 and Phobos 2, launched by the Soviet Union to study the two moons failed, ending the mission in 1989. The Mars Global Surveyor and the European Mars Express have carried out further observations on the Martian moons. The Mars Reconnaissance Mission is also carrying out studies on the spectral properties of the moons as part of the Mars exploration mission. The moons look like tiny dots from the surface of Mars, according to information obtained from Mars Exploration Rovers- Spirit and Opportunity. Other missions solely for the study of the moons are currently under plans. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Texas Practicality of using the Martian moons as a base for Mars exploration By using Phobos and Deimos as research bases, scientists will be able to "observe the Red Planet and launch robots to its surface, while shielded by miles of rock from cosmic rays and