Survey Vehicle Reaches Mercury

A NASA space vehicle, New Messenger, has reached Mercury and is beaming back information to CSIRO's Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. It has taken nearly seven years to get to the hot inner planet. A Mercury day is six Earth months long while its year is only 88 days.

There is no possibility of humans landing on this little planet as the temperature reaches 430 degrees. Its minimum is extreme as well, minus 180 degrees. The sun would look three times bigger than on Earth if you could stand on it surface and look at it that is.

An earlier exploratory vehicle, Marina 10, only gave a cursory look at the innermost planet. The whole planet is to be mapped this time. It will show whether there is ice at the poles. The sun never shines into pole craters. A mystery to be solved is why Mercury is composed mainly of metals.

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Science

Survey Vehicle Reaches Mercury

A NASA space vehicle, New Messenger, has reached Mercury and is beaming back information to CSIRO's Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. It has taken nearly seven years to get to the hot inner planet. A Mercury day is six Earth months long while its year is only 88 days.

There is no possibility of humans landing on this little planet as the temperature reaches 430 degrees. Its minimum is extreme as well, minus 180 degrees. The sun would look three times bigger than on Earth if you could stand on it surface and look at it that is.

An earlier exploratory vehicle, Marina 10, only gave a cursory look at the innermost planet. The whole planet is to be mapped this time. It will show whether there is ice at the poles. The sun never shines into pole craters. A mystery to be solved is why Mercury is composed mainly of metals.

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http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/
http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia
http://www.technorati.com/blogs/
http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Science

Australia Fails Tests to Meet Demands of the Modern World

A majority of Australians lack the minimum reading, writing and problem-solving skills to cope with life in the modern world. Just under half of Australians struggle to understand the meaning of newspaper and magazine articles or documentation such as maps and payslips. Over half failed the minimum numeracy and problem solving tests. The US rated much worse when the tests were applied to Americans. Switzerland and Norway did better. In Australia, women were stronger at understanding written material than men, but males were better at understanding documents such as maps and dealing with problems of numeracy.

The Australian government has not improved the education system over the last decade to meet changes in societal demands. It is an opportunity missed. If you don't make relevant public education interesting, exciting and a way to get into the modern world, you will slip back - and that's what's happening to Australia. We will look back over the last 10 years and realise with some horror how much we overemphasised the value of the individual and overlooked the common denominators in our society.

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http://www.technorati.com/blogs/http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Australia Fails Tests to Meet Demands of the Modern World

A majority of Australians lack the minimum reading, writing and problem-solving skills to cope with life in the modern world. Just under half of Australians struggle to understand the meaning of newspaper and magazine articles or documentation such as maps and payslips. Over half failed the minimum numeracy and problem solving tests. The US rated much worse when the tests were applied to Americans. Switzerland and Norway did better. In Australia, women were stronger at understanding written material than men, but males were better at understanding documents such as maps and dealing with problems of numeracy.

The Australian government has not improved the education system over the last decade to meet changes in societal demands. It is an opportunity missed. If you don't make relevant public education interesting, exciting and a way to get into the modern world, you will slip back - and that's what's happening to Australia. We will look back over the last 10 years and realise with some horror how much we overemphasised the value of the individual and overlooked the common denominators in our society.

http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/
http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/
http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia
http://www.technorati.com/blogs/http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com

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