Macgregor cranes

NASA shared an image showing moments after 'sky crane' intentionally crashed into Mars after it safely delivered the Perseverance rover to the Red Planet. The sky crane lowered the car-sized rover to Martian surface with long mechanical bridles and flew off to a safe distance where it crashed into the surface - and Perseverance captured the scene. The NASA Perseverance twitter page shared an image of the fateful event that shows a plume of smoke in the distance following sky crane's impact. 'A moment of respect for the descent stage. Within two minutes of safely delivering me to the surface of Mars, I caught the smoke plume on one of my Hazcams from its intentional surface impact — an act that protected me and the scientific integrity of my landing site,' reads the tweet shared with the black-and-white photo. Scroll down for video NASA shared an image of its 'sky crane' sacrificing itself by intentionally crashing into Mars after it safely delivered the … [Read more...] about NASA’s Perseverance transmits photo of the crashed ‘sky crane’ after it safely delivered the rover to the Red Planet

J ack Leach, Somerset’s left-arm spinner and the outstanding bowler on England Lions tour of the West Indies, has been called up for the Test squad to replace Mason Crane , Hampshire’s 21 year-old legspinner, who has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back which is likely to keep him out for about 10 weeks. On arriving in New Zealand Crane had two scans on his back which had troubled him during the Lions tour of the West Indies, and was ruled out of the two-Test series which starts in Auckland on Thursday. Leach, 26, is due to arrive in time but England are unlikely to need a second spinner under lights with a pink ball jagging around for the pace bowlers. Leach took 18 wickets in the three-Test A series in the West Indies on turning pitches but could not prevent England losing 3-0, with his West Indian slow left-arm counterpart Jomel Warrican the regular match-winner. Crane made his Test debut in Sydney amid high hopes that he could take re-create his … [Read more...] about England call up Jack Leach to replace injured Mason Crane

The next few weeks in February will bring nail-biting moments of truth for three countries — indeed, the world — as three separate Mars missions approach the Red Planet. The United Arab Emirates, China and the United States each launched separate missions to Mars in July 2020, and they are all about to arrive. The first two, within days of each other.  Of the three missions, America's Mars 2020 mission comes with the most experience and confidence. It is also the most innovative. Its cargo includes Earth's first-ever Martian helicopter, Ingenuity. It will be the first to test flight on another planet, in an atmosphere that's thinner than the Earth's, and may help our understanding of future human spaceflight beyond the moon. Mars 2020 rover Perseverance stands by the first ever Martian helicopter, Ingenuity But, as any engineer will tell you, space is never easy. So, the folks at NASA will be just as tense as their colleagues in the UAE and China. That said, the … [Read more...] about Three Mars missions arriving in February 2021

Canterbury Cathedral has won praise for resisting calls to remove statues with historic links to slavery despite calls by Justin Welby to look at them 'very carefully.' The Archbishop of Canterbury last year suggested the monuments should be reviewed to see if they 'should all be there.' He made the comments last June, when monuments of controversial figures came under the microscope amid the wave of Black Lives Matter protests. But following a review, the cathedral has decided that statues connected with 'slavery, colonialism, or contentious figures' will be displayed, 'with clear objective interpretations.' Left, Richard Hooker acted as the mentor for the Anglican clergy of the first English slaveholding colonies. Right, George Stanhope viewed Native Americans as ‘heathens’ Canterbury Cathedral (pictured) has won praise for resisting calls to remove statues with historic links to slavery despite calls by Justin Welby to look at them 'very carefully' Former Dean … [Read more...] about ‘Good history is not about judging’: Historian praises Canterbury Cathedral ‘for keeping statues with slavery links’ despite suggestion from Archbishop Justin Welby that some may be torn down

China and the US are in a race to Mars - with both nations due to land a rover on the Red Planet this month, and plans for future missions already in development. This new 'space race', unlike the battle to the Moon between the US and Soviet Union, is likely to be a much more crowded field, including private firms and smaller nations - such as the United Arab Emirates who have a probe en-route to Mars now. SpaceX founder Elon Musk reiterated in a recent interview that his aim is to land the first humans on Mars by 2026 - that is seven years earlier than NASA 's earliest goal. The US, China, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency have loftier goals for exploring Mars - including missions to bring samples of Martian rock back to the Earth by the end of this decade - with humans landing on the planet by 2040. Before then, the first humans on Mars may fly there on the massive SpaceX Starship - currently in the testing phase - with a recent 'explosive' end to a recent … [Read more...] about The ‘new space race’: China and US lead the charge for Mars, with SpaceX and smaller nations fighting for the Moon and low Earth orbit