Jun 23 2005
From The Space Library
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences released “United States Space Policy: Challenges and Opportunities,” a research paper highly critical of the Vision for Space Exploration. In the paper, former Director of NASA's JSC George W. S. Abbey and former White House science advisor Neal F. Lane stated that the Vision for Space Exploration does not address major obstacles to the United States' progress in space exploration and science. Those problems include predicted shortfalls in the U.S. engineering and science workforce and declining international cooperation on existing and planned space missions. Abbey and Lane also stated that the United States would be unlikely to realize the Vision's objectives because of the diminishing U.S. commitment to the country's commercial space industry and the declining role of basic science in the U.S. space program and in the national economy. NASA officials did not comment on the paper, stating that they had not yet seen it. (John Schwartz, “Report Says Space Program Is Lacking Money and Focus,” New York Times, 23 June 2005; George W. S. Abbey and Neal F. Lane, “United States Space Policy: Challenges and Opportunities” (Occasional Paper, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA, 2005), 1-2.)
NASA-funded physicists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that they had created the first superfluid, a form of matter that flows without internal mechanical resistance or viscosity. The scientists had created the superfluid by cooling a gas of lithium atoms to nearly absolute zero (approximately -459°F), applying a magnetic field, to get the atoms of the gas to form pairs without creating molecules, and then using a laser to stir the gas. The last step produced vortexes~or microscopic whirlpools~throughout the resulting fluid. The vortexes provided conclusive evidence of superfluidity because, whereas rotating a container of normal fluid causes the fluid to spin, rotating a container of superfluid does not cause the frictionless superfluid to spin but, instead, produces vortexes in the superfluid that continue to spin as long as the fluid remains a superfluid. Experts described the research as a major breakthrough in physics. The findings could lead to the development of products such as room-temperature superconductors, which could help in other applications, such as transporting energy and assisting in medical diagnostics. (NASA, “Whirling Atoms Dance into Physics Textbooks,” news release 05-163, 24 June 2005; M. W. Zwierlein et al., “Vortices and Superfluidity in a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas,” Nature 435, no. 7045 (23 June 2005): 1047- 1051.)
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