A live broadcast scheduled to show the US’ new Mars landing next week has drawn what the Taipei Astronomical Museum described yesterday as a “huge response” from the public, with numerous questions about the Red Planet.
More than 60 percent of the 300 seats available for the screening, which will show the landing of the space vehicle Curiosity, were snapped up, the museum said, referring to the NASA rover that has been designed to detect evidence of past and present habitable environments on Mars.
The museum said the 1.5-hour screening, which will comprise a series of lectures, celebratory activities and finally screen the seven-minute touchdown process, would be a new experience for local people.
Part of the reason for this, says project organizer Lin Chi-feng (林琦峰), is that the audience will be able to interact with NASA scientists during the mission.
The museum screened similar live broadcasts during the NASA landing of its twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity in 2003, Lin said, but the format was much simpler.
Lin said that even though Taiwan is not a major player in the field of space research, it is important that the public have the opportunity to take part and celebrate an exciting moment in human history.
The craft, which weighs only 899kg, will have to survive “seven minutes of terror” before it lands.
According to NASA, Curiosity must enter Martian atmosphere at the right angle, endure extreme heat and then lock itself in place precisely after deploying its parachute.
Environmental variables, including dust storms, loose sand and wind gusts could all make the landing even more nail-biting, NASA said.
The US$2.5 billion unmanned project has raised worldwide public curiosity and Taiwan is proving no exception.
The museum said that one week after it announced the live broadcast, it had received more than 100 questions, most of which focused on the similarities between Mars and Earth.
“Some of the questions are very realistic, while others are more a result of people’s fantasies about Mars,” he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai