Apr 19 1995
From The Space Library
The Chicago Fire Department has signed a Space Act agreement to explore ways space technology can be used to enhance emergency services. Candidate activities include: locating firefighters within a 2,400 foot area; monitoring the vibration signature of a burning structure to determine when the firefighters must be evacuated; checking into the feasibility of using liquid oxygen in a new breathing apparatus; identifying the location of an emergency 911 call made from a cellular phone; and warning hearing impaired drivers of an approaching emergency vehicle. (NASA Releases 95-51 & 116; Space News, Apr 24/95; C Trib, Apr 20/95)
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images of the asteroid, Vesta, indicate that this 325 mile diameter object has such features as ancient lava flows, impact craters, and an exposed mantle. This suggests that Vesta has survived essentially intact since the formation of the planets and could be the "sixth" terrestrial planet. (NASA Release 95-52)
HST has discovered a new great dark spot in the Neptune's northern hemisphere. Only last June, Hubble images revealed that a great dark spot in the southern hemisphere discovered by Voyager 2 in 1989 had disappeared. (In contrast, Jupiter's Great Red Spot has remained stable for 300 years.) While the energy from the Sun drives the Earth's weather system, the mechanism on Neptune must be very different because the planet radiates two times more energy than it receives from the Sun. (NASA Release 95-53; W Post, Apr 20/95; Fla Today, Jan 22/95; AV Wk, Apr 24/95; Science, Jun 23/95)
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