Sunday, August 12, 2012
South Sudanese marathoner without a country makes Olympic debut
Guor Marial made his debut in the London Games on Sunday, a major accomplishment for the South Sudanese marathoner who ran as an independent in the Olympics.
Marial, 28, pounded his way around the 26.2-mile course in 2:19:32. He finished 47th in the race dominated by fellow Africans Steven Kiprotich of Uganda, who won gold, and Abel Kirui and Wilson Kiprotich, both of Kenya, who won silver and bronze, respectively.
But for Marial, completing the race was as good as winning.
The marathoner was born in what is now South Sudan, which split from Sudan last year after years of conflict between the two that left millions dead.
Though he is a permanent resident of the United States, where he fled 11 years ago to escape the bloody conflict, he is not an American citizen and thus cannot compete under its flag.
He does not have a passport for South Sudan, either, and cannot compete for his homeland. And even if he had one, the world's newest nation was not eligible for the Olympics this year because it does not have a Games committee.
Since he qualified for the marathon but could not run for both nations, the International Olympic Committee granted him permission to run as an independent.
He donned a gray and black uniform with IOA -- Independent Olympic Athlete -- printed on it.
"Even if I am not going to carry or wear the flag, I will be the flag of my nation. South Sudan will be in my heart," he said before the race.
Marial left home in 1993. His story of survival from the war has taken him across different countries, including Egypt, where he sought refuge before the United States granted him asylum in 2001.
He attended high school in New Hampshire, where he gave competitive running a try after years of "running away from conflict," he said.
He later went to Iowa State University, where he had an athletic scholarship and was an All-American cross-country runner.
The Olympian has not seen his parents since 1993, when he first fled what is now South Sudan. But on Sunday, they planned to catch a glimpse of their son on television after nearly two decades.
"I'm hoping they will at least see me run in the Olympics," Marial said last month. "They live in a village with no electricity and no televisions. But they planned to walk to the nearest big town about 40 miles away so that they can watch me on television."
Mo Farah gives masterclass in finishing to ensure an Olympic double gold
Mo Farah has joined an illustrious list of athletes who have won 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter Olympic gold medals by beating off a late challenge to win the shorter distance race in front of a roaring home crowd.
The 29 year-old runner stepped up the pace 600 meters from the end, but then faced an impressive chase down from Ethiopian Dejen Gebremeskel and Kenya's Thomas Longosiwa in the home strait. But he held on to cross the line in 13 minutes 41.66 seconds.
"I'm just amazed - two gold medals, who would have thought that? I got a lot of support from a fantastic crowd and that helped me towards the end" Farah told BBC TV after the race.
His wife is set to give birth to twins anytime soon and he dedicated both victories to them, saying "they can have one each".
Day 15: The best photos of the Olympics
Bred for Success?
As is typical in his races, the pace set at the start of the race was fairly slow, with U.S. athlete Lopez Lomong leading with a lap time of 1 min 11 seconds.
The Ethopian duo of Gebremeskel and Yenew Alamirew then lengthened their strides to pick up the pace, but encouragement came from Farah's American training partner Galen Rupp who helped keep Farah in contention by meeting the Ethiopian's pace.
Rupp could not stay with the pack on the final lap and Farah was left to fight his way into the lead and try to hold on, despite tiring heavily in the last couple of meters.
Training to become a Games athlete
The victory comes a week after he took the 10,000m title and the crowd responded to his achievement by chanting his name as he went on a lap of honor which was more pedestrian in pace only because of the number of people that wanted to congratulate him.
He is the first British athlete to win both races at the games and only five other men have managed to do the double, Czech Emil Zatopek, Lasse Viren and Hannes Kolehmainen from Finland and Ethiopians Miruts Yifter and Kenenisa Bekele.
Farah moved to Great Britain as an eight-year-old from war-torn Somalia where he was born. He lives close to the Olympic Stadium in London, but he moved out to the U.S. last year to enhance his preparations for these games by training with Rupp.
The 29 year-old runner stepped up the pace 600 meters from the end, but then faced an impressive chase down from Ethiopian Dejen Gebremeskel and Kenya's Thomas Longosiwa in the home strait. But he held on to cross the line in 13 minutes 41.66 seconds.
"I'm just amazed - two gold medals, who would have thought that? I got a lot of support from a fantastic crowd and that helped me towards the end" Farah told BBC TV after the race.
His wife is set to give birth to twins anytime soon and he dedicated both victories to them, saying "they can have one each".
Day 15: The best photos of the Olympics
Bred for Success?
As is typical in his races, the pace set at the start of the race was fairly slow, with U.S. athlete Lopez Lomong leading with a lap time of 1 min 11 seconds.
The Ethopian duo of Gebremeskel and Yenew Alamirew then lengthened their strides to pick up the pace, but encouragement came from Farah's American training partner Galen Rupp who helped keep Farah in contention by meeting the Ethiopian's pace.
Rupp could not stay with the pack on the final lap and Farah was left to fight his way into the lead and try to hold on, despite tiring heavily in the last couple of meters.
Training to become a Games athlete
The victory comes a week after he took the 10,000m title and the crowd responded to his achievement by chanting his name as he went on a lap of honor which was more pedestrian in pace only because of the number of people that wanted to congratulate him.
He is the first British athlete to win both races at the games and only five other men have managed to do the double, Czech Emil Zatopek, Lasse Viren and Hannes Kolehmainen from Finland and Ethiopians Miruts Yifter and Kenenisa Bekele.
Farah moved to Great Britain as an eight-year-old from war-torn Somalia where he was born. He lives close to the Olympic Stadium in London, but he moved out to the U.S. last year to enhance his preparations for these games by training with Rupp.
Pettigrew, patience and pride: Nigeria's 12-year wait for an Olympic gold
Gold medals are the pinnacle of achievement for the 26 Olympic sports contested at the Games. Athletes get one shot every four years to make history: but time, dedication, guile and application must combine for the opportunity to be seized. Sometimes, however, even this is not enough to be crowned the world's best.
Visualize running the race of your life as part of a four-man relay team, being acknowledged as winners to the world but never receiving the coveted medallion of precious medal. Imagine this happened 12 years ago to a team from a nation that has only ever won two gold medals previously and that, despite the official nature of the result, the wait goes on.
Picture that in the intervening time, between the event and the present day, you have buried one of your teammates, a man who died at the age of 42 without ever touching the gold he rightfully won. This is the story of Nigeria's 4 x 400m runner Jude Monye.
Makhloufi: 'All Algeria happy with this' How Games losers deal with defeat Who is the greatest track Olympian?
Monye was born in Onicha-Ugbo, Delta State, Nigeria and ran the 400m in 45.16 at his prime at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg. His talent was so prodigious as a youth he won a scholarship to train and study in the United States at the University of Mississippi and, after an injury-plagued experience at the Atlanta Games of 1996, then qualified to run for his nation again at Sydney 2000.
And it was in Australia that Monye, running in the Nigerian relay team of Clement Chukwu, Sunday Bada and Enefiok Udo-Obong, reached his zenith of performance on the track.
The greatest
"That relay team was the greatest," Monye, 38, told CNN, at "Nigeria House" a theater close to the Olympic Park in East London, themed in all things west African for the duration of the 2012 Games.
"Previously there had always been a weak member in the relay team, but when myself and Clement joined Sunday, and then Enefiok came into the side, we knew we were strong. We knew something special could happen."
The tale of Nigeria's only gold medal in the 4 x 400m is one as packed with drama as it is delays.
Going into the race, the Nigerians had reason to feel pleased with their performance so far. For a nation that had never won a medal in the 400m -- its two other golds came from football and long jump in 1996 -- the team won their semifinal to book a place in lane four.
In lane five, the outright favorites, Team USA: Antonio Pettigrew, Alvin and Calvin Harrison and anchored by one of America's greatest ever sprinters Michael Johnson, who had already taken gold in the individual 400m.
It was the race of our lives, it's the best 4 x 400m I ever ran, and we still hold the African record
Jude Monye, former Nigerian 400m runner
Monye would race the second leg against Pettigrew.
"On the day of the final, I woke up feeling relaxed and thought 'I feel good, let's see what happens.' All the attention from our sports ministry was on the women's team, they were thought to be the big medal hope, nobody really paid attention to us.
"And we only got the fifth fastest time in the semifinals, remember, but we had trust in ourselves. We knew we could deliver."
Nigeria were in fifth when Monye clasped the baton for the second leg. By the final meter, Udo-Obong had dipped his head into second place with an overall time of 2:58.68.
"It was the race of our lives," Monye told CNN. "It's the best 4 x 400m I ever ran, and we still hold the African record."
While the runners from the most populous nation in Africa beat Jamaica to second, the Americans topped the podium and had gold medals draped around their necks, a crowning glory for the team and Johnson -- a winner in the individual 200m and 400m in Sydney -- in particular.
But the golds would have a restless destiny.
Dope and displaced gold
In 2004 the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ruled that Jerome Young, an American sprinter who ran for the States in the 4 x 400 semifinal, had been ineligible to compete, a decision that would see the medals taken from the quartet and the result erased from the record books.
It was sad we didn't get to hear the Nigerian national anthem during the Olympics, but especially for my friend Sunday. He's not here to get the medal (now)
Jude Monye, former Nigerian 400m runner
Under appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the ruling and allowed the USA to keep their medals, but not for long.
For in May 2008, in the trial of former running coach Trevor Graham, Pettigrew testified he had used performance enhancing drugs (EPO and human growth hormone) under Graham's tutelage during the Sydney Games.
Graham was subsequently sentenced to one-year's house arrest for perjury while Pettigrew suffered a two-year ban from competition.
In the wake of the admission both Pettigrew and Johnson returned their gold medals voluntarily to the IOC in June of that year, before the Olympic Committee confirmed the American abrogation.
Their decision came within a whisker of breaching the "statute limitations" of 8 years, after which there is no legal basis for retrospective change to such results.
"For eight years I could say I was a five-time Olympic gold medalist. Then I had to start saying four-time. It doesn't sound the same," an angry Johnson told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph in July, 2012. Pettigrew committed suicide in 2010.
The golds were no longer in the possession of the USA runners, but they still were far from the Nigerians' grasp.
The long wait ...
Four more years passed -- while the IOC waited to see if any further information would surface from American doping investigations -- before the body's executive board to award the gold medals to the west Africans.
On July 20, 2012 as the IOC convened ahead of the London Games, Nigeria were proclaimed gold medal winners of the Sydney Olympics' 4x400m relay.
Nigeria loves the Olympics especially track and field, it would mean so much for the country. The medal could now be dedicated to Bada
Jude MOnye, former Nigerian 400m runner
Sadly, the decision came too late for Bada, who died suddenly, of a suspected cardiac arrest, in December 2011, after collapsing at the National Stadium in Lagos.
"The day before he died I called him to talk about the medals, so it's sad we've lost him. The IOC should have made this a priority, it's very frustrating," Monye said.
"It was sad we didn't get to hear the Nigerian national anthem during the Olympics, but especially for my friend Sunday. He's not here to get the medal. That in itself is sad."
According to Monye, the three remaining athletes are still unaware of how and when the medals will be given to them.
"I'm disappointed in the IOC and the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC). I spoke to the Nigerian sports minister last week and he said to me 'Congratulations Jude, when are you getting your gold medal?' I said 'Sir, you're asking me?' I've heard nothing since.
"It would have been nice to get our medals in the stadium in London, but I'm not sure this has happened in the Olympics before. This is very rare, so there is no protocol."
In response the IOC told CNN in a statement: "The presentation of the medals falls under the remit of the NOC, we suggest that you contact the Nigeria Olympic Committee directly for further details."
When CNN did, Tunde Popoola -- the Secretary General of the Nigerian Olympic Committee said: "We cannot respond to the questions raised at this time."
Though doubt remains over when Monye, Udo-Obong and Chukwu will receive their coveted prize, the meaning it will have to those involved and a nation of avid athletics fans does not.
"Nigeria loves the Olympics especially track and field, it would mean so much for the country. The medal could now be dedicated to Bada and we're hoping his son could pick up the medal for him instead."
Visualize running the race of your life as part of a four-man relay team, being acknowledged as winners to the world but never receiving the coveted medallion of precious medal. Imagine this happened 12 years ago to a team from a nation that has only ever won two gold medals previously and that, despite the official nature of the result, the wait goes on.
Picture that in the intervening time, between the event and the present day, you have buried one of your teammates, a man who died at the age of 42 without ever touching the gold he rightfully won. This is the story of Nigeria's 4 x 400m runner Jude Monye.
Makhloufi: 'All Algeria happy with this' How Games losers deal with defeat Who is the greatest track Olympian?
Monye was born in Onicha-Ugbo, Delta State, Nigeria and ran the 400m in 45.16 at his prime at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg. His talent was so prodigious as a youth he won a scholarship to train and study in the United States at the University of Mississippi and, after an injury-plagued experience at the Atlanta Games of 1996, then qualified to run for his nation again at Sydney 2000.
And it was in Australia that Monye, running in the Nigerian relay team of Clement Chukwu, Sunday Bada and Enefiok Udo-Obong, reached his zenith of performance on the track.
The greatest
"That relay team was the greatest," Monye, 38, told CNN, at "Nigeria House" a theater close to the Olympic Park in East London, themed in all things west African for the duration of the 2012 Games.
"Previously there had always been a weak member in the relay team, but when myself and Clement joined Sunday, and then Enefiok came into the side, we knew we were strong. We knew something special could happen."
The tale of Nigeria's only gold medal in the 4 x 400m is one as packed with drama as it is delays.
Going into the race, the Nigerians had reason to feel pleased with their performance so far. For a nation that had never won a medal in the 400m -- its two other golds came from football and long jump in 1996 -- the team won their semifinal to book a place in lane four.
In lane five, the outright favorites, Team USA: Antonio Pettigrew, Alvin and Calvin Harrison and anchored by one of America's greatest ever sprinters Michael Johnson, who had already taken gold in the individual 400m.
It was the race of our lives, it's the best 4 x 400m I ever ran, and we still hold the African record
Jude Monye, former Nigerian 400m runner
Monye would race the second leg against Pettigrew.
"On the day of the final, I woke up feeling relaxed and thought 'I feel good, let's see what happens.' All the attention from our sports ministry was on the women's team, they were thought to be the big medal hope, nobody really paid attention to us.
"And we only got the fifth fastest time in the semifinals, remember, but we had trust in ourselves. We knew we could deliver."
Nigeria were in fifth when Monye clasped the baton for the second leg. By the final meter, Udo-Obong had dipped his head into second place with an overall time of 2:58.68.
"It was the race of our lives," Monye told CNN. "It's the best 4 x 400m I ever ran, and we still hold the African record."
While the runners from the most populous nation in Africa beat Jamaica to second, the Americans topped the podium and had gold medals draped around their necks, a crowning glory for the team and Johnson -- a winner in the individual 200m and 400m in Sydney -- in particular.
But the golds would have a restless destiny.
Dope and displaced gold
In 2004 the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ruled that Jerome Young, an American sprinter who ran for the States in the 4 x 400 semifinal, had been ineligible to compete, a decision that would see the medals taken from the quartet and the result erased from the record books.
It was sad we didn't get to hear the Nigerian national anthem during the Olympics, but especially for my friend Sunday. He's not here to get the medal (now)
Jude Monye, former Nigerian 400m runner
Under appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the ruling and allowed the USA to keep their medals, but not for long.
For in May 2008, in the trial of former running coach Trevor Graham, Pettigrew testified he had used performance enhancing drugs (EPO and human growth hormone) under Graham's tutelage during the Sydney Games.
Graham was subsequently sentenced to one-year's house arrest for perjury while Pettigrew suffered a two-year ban from competition.
In the wake of the admission both Pettigrew and Johnson returned their gold medals voluntarily to the IOC in June of that year, before the Olympic Committee confirmed the American abrogation.
Their decision came within a whisker of breaching the "statute limitations" of 8 years, after which there is no legal basis for retrospective change to such results.
"For eight years I could say I was a five-time Olympic gold medalist. Then I had to start saying four-time. It doesn't sound the same," an angry Johnson told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph in July, 2012. Pettigrew committed suicide in 2010.
The golds were no longer in the possession of the USA runners, but they still were far from the Nigerians' grasp.
The long wait ...
Four more years passed -- while the IOC waited to see if any further information would surface from American doping investigations -- before the body's executive board to award the gold medals to the west Africans.
On July 20, 2012 as the IOC convened ahead of the London Games, Nigeria were proclaimed gold medal winners of the Sydney Olympics' 4x400m relay.
Nigeria loves the Olympics especially track and field, it would mean so much for the country. The medal could now be dedicated to Bada
Jude MOnye, former Nigerian 400m runner
Sadly, the decision came too late for Bada, who died suddenly, of a suspected cardiac arrest, in December 2011, after collapsing at the National Stadium in Lagos.
"The day before he died I called him to talk about the medals, so it's sad we've lost him. The IOC should have made this a priority, it's very frustrating," Monye said.
"It was sad we didn't get to hear the Nigerian national anthem during the Olympics, but especially for my friend Sunday. He's not here to get the medal. That in itself is sad."
According to Monye, the three remaining athletes are still unaware of how and when the medals will be given to them.
"I'm disappointed in the IOC and the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC). I spoke to the Nigerian sports minister last week and he said to me 'Congratulations Jude, when are you getting your gold medal?' I said 'Sir, you're asking me?' I've heard nothing since.
"It would have been nice to get our medals in the stadium in London, but I'm not sure this has happened in the Olympics before. This is very rare, so there is no protocol."
In response the IOC told CNN in a statement: "The presentation of the medals falls under the remit of the NOC, we suggest that you contact the Nigeria Olympic Committee directly for further details."
When CNN did, Tunde Popoola -- the Secretary General of the Nigerian Olympic Committee said: "We cannot respond to the questions raised at this time."
Though doubt remains over when Monye, Udo-Obong and Chukwu will receive their coveted prize, the meaning it will have to those involved and a nation of avid athletics fans does not.
"Nigeria loves the Olympics especially track and field, it would mean so much for the country. The medal could now be dedicated to Bada and we're hoping his son could pick up the medal for him instead."
Olympic officials strip American cyclist of gold medal
The International Olympic Committee has stripped American cyclist Tyler Hamilton of his 2004 gold due to doping and ordered him to return the medal that he won in the Athens Olympics.
"Hamilton, 41, who finished first in the men's individual time trial and 18th in the men's road race at Athens 2004, was disqualified from those events after he admitted to having used performance-enhancing drugs in advance of the Games," the IOC said in a press release Friday.
Day 16: The best photos of the Olympics
The IOC also ruled that the riders who finished behind Hamilton in the individual time trial in Athens will now be moved up in placement.
That means Russian Ekimov Viatcheslav Ekimov will now get the gold medal, and American cyclist Bobby Julich will get the silver. Michael Rogers of Australia, who finished fourth, will now get the bronze.
Hamilton made headlines last year when he accused fellow American cyclist Lance Armstrong of doping.
Armstrong, Hamilton's former teammate, has strongly denied those allegations.
"Hamilton, 41, who finished first in the men's individual time trial and 18th in the men's road race at Athens 2004, was disqualified from those events after he admitted to having used performance-enhancing drugs in advance of the Games," the IOC said in a press release Friday.
Day 16: The best photos of the Olympics
The IOC also ruled that the riders who finished behind Hamilton in the individual time trial in Athens will now be moved up in placement.
That means Russian Ekimov Viatcheslav Ekimov will now get the gold medal, and American cyclist Bobby Julich will get the silver. Michael Rogers of Australia, who finished fourth, will now get the bronze.
Hamilton made headlines last year when he accused fellow American cyclist Lance Armstrong of doping.
Armstrong, Hamilton's former teammate, has strongly denied those allegations.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Moon lander prototype blows up in NASA test
An unmanned moon lander under development crashed and blew up during an engine test Thursday afternoon at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the space agency reported.
There were no injuries in the failed test of the lander, dubbed "Morpheus." The craft had gone through several previous exercises in which it was hung from a crane, but Thursday was to have been its first free flight.
Instead, the prototype rose a short distance, rolled over and slammed into the ground. The craft caught fire immediately and exploded about 30 seconds later.
"The vehicle itself is lost," Jon Olansen, the Morpheus project manager, told reporters. "But we are working currently on gathering more data and information to understand what occurred in the test and how we can learn from it and move forward."
Read more about space and science on CNN's Light Years blog
Olansen said operators have recovered memory devices from the wreckage and will be pulling the data off of them for clues to the cause of the accident.
"From early indications, it seems to be within our guidance navigation control system, seems to point toward hardware," Olansen said.
In a written statement, NASA said failure is "part of the development process for any complex spaceflight hardware," and designers will learn from whatever caused Thursday's crash.
The Morpheus lander is designed to carry up to 1,100 pounds of cargo for a future moon mission. Its engines are fueled partly by methane, which the agency says is easier to handle and store than other propellants such as liquid hydrogen or hydrazine.
Olansen said the space agency has spent about $7 million on the project over two and a half years, and the test lander lost Thursday was "in the $500,000 class." Another one is currently under construction at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and may be complete in two to three months.
"We want to make sure that what we learn today gets applied to that next vehicle," he said.
There were no injuries in the failed test of the lander, dubbed "Morpheus." The craft had gone through several previous exercises in which it was hung from a crane, but Thursday was to have been its first free flight.
Instead, the prototype rose a short distance, rolled over and slammed into the ground. The craft caught fire immediately and exploded about 30 seconds later.
"The vehicle itself is lost," Jon Olansen, the Morpheus project manager, told reporters. "But we are working currently on gathering more data and information to understand what occurred in the test and how we can learn from it and move forward."
Read more about space and science on CNN's Light Years blog
Olansen said operators have recovered memory devices from the wreckage and will be pulling the data off of them for clues to the cause of the accident.
"From early indications, it seems to be within our guidance navigation control system, seems to point toward hardware," Olansen said.
In a written statement, NASA said failure is "part of the development process for any complex spaceflight hardware," and designers will learn from whatever caused Thursday's crash.
The Morpheus lander is designed to carry up to 1,100 pounds of cargo for a future moon mission. Its engines are fueled partly by methane, which the agency says is easier to handle and store than other propellants such as liquid hydrogen or hydrazine.
Olansen said the space agency has spent about $7 million on the project over two and a half years, and the test lander lost Thursday was "in the $500,000 class." Another one is currently under construction at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and may be complete in two to three months.
"We want to make sure that what we learn today gets applied to that next vehicle," he said.
Mars panorama shows Curiosity's prime target
Mars rover Curiosity beamed back a sweeping color panorama of the planet's surface Thursday, showing the rocky, reddish desert surrounding it and the mountain it will explore in the coming months.
The 360-degree view captures the landscape of Gale Crater, where Curiosity touched down early Monday, and the foot of Mount Sharp -- the rover's primary scientific target. Mike Malin, whose company built the camera used to shoot the scene, said the shot was "probably not the best pointed," but added, "We hope we'll get many others."
The brightness of the image was boosted to compensate for the dim sunlight of the martian afternoon, but the colors were untouched, NASA said.
360 view of Mars New images from "Curiosity" rover Is the Mars rover vain?
Curiosity went through its paces "flawlessly" on its third full day on the planet, mission manager Michael Watkins said Thursday. The rover's mission is to determine whether Mars ever had an environment capable of supporting life, and its prime target is Mount Sharp, the 18,000-foot (5,500-meter) peak about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) to the south.
Curiosity opening Martian frontier?
Scientists hope the layers of rock that form the mountain will give them a timeline of the history of Mars. Curiosity mission planner Dawn Sumner said photographs like the ones beamed back by the rover, as well as others taken by probes in orbit, will be used to map a path to the mountain's base -- "doing the best science we can along the way, but also keeping our eyes on that beautiful layered rock," she said.
The rover is supposed to run for two years, but a previous rover, Opportunity, has been working on Mars since 2004 -- well beyond the three months NASA planned. Opportunity's sister rover, Spirit, ran from 2004 to 2010.
The 360-degree view captures the landscape of Gale Crater, where Curiosity touched down early Monday, and the foot of Mount Sharp -- the rover's primary scientific target. Mike Malin, whose company built the camera used to shoot the scene, said the shot was "probably not the best pointed," but added, "We hope we'll get many others."
The brightness of the image was boosted to compensate for the dim sunlight of the martian afternoon, but the colors were untouched, NASA said.
360 view of Mars New images from "Curiosity" rover Is the Mars rover vain?
Curiosity went through its paces "flawlessly" on its third full day on the planet, mission manager Michael Watkins said Thursday. The rover's mission is to determine whether Mars ever had an environment capable of supporting life, and its prime target is Mount Sharp, the 18,000-foot (5,500-meter) peak about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) to the south.
Curiosity opening Martian frontier?
Scientists hope the layers of rock that form the mountain will give them a timeline of the history of Mars. Curiosity mission planner Dawn Sumner said photographs like the ones beamed back by the rover, as well as others taken by probes in orbit, will be used to map a path to the mountain's base -- "doing the best science we can along the way, but also keeping our eyes on that beautiful layered rock," she said.
The rover is supposed to run for two years, but a previous rover, Opportunity, has been working on Mars since 2004 -- well beyond the three months NASA planned. Opportunity's sister rover, Spirit, ran from 2004 to 2010.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Tropical Storm Ernesto expected to become a hurricane
The Mexican and Belizean governments issued hurricane warnings Monday for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula as Tropical Storm Ernesto churned toward the area.
The storm is expected to become a hurricane by Monday night.
In Nicaragua, government officials said they were evacuating about 1,500 people in coastal areas and had banned boats from setting sail.
As of Monday afternoon, the storm was about 160 miles (260 kilometers) east of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Nicaraguan-Honduran border, the National Hurricane Center reported. Ernesto was moving west-nothwest at 12 mph with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph.
The storm was expected to pass to the south of the Cayman Islands and near the northern coast of Honduras on Monday night.
Belize also issued a hurricane warning for its east coast. Areas of the Cayman Islands, Honduras and the Yucatan Peninsula are under tropical storm warnings.
Meanwhile, Florence weakened to a post-tropical system.
No coastal watches or warnings were in effect for that storm, which was about 1,515 miles (2,440 kilometers) east of the northern Leeward Islands late Monday morning, the hurricane center said. It was moving west at about 15 mph.
Maximum sustained winds dipped to 35 mph, and further weakening is forecast in the coming days.
The storm is expected to become a hurricane by Monday night.
In Nicaragua, government officials said they were evacuating about 1,500 people in coastal areas and had banned boats from setting sail.
As of Monday afternoon, the storm was about 160 miles (260 kilometers) east of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Nicaraguan-Honduran border, the National Hurricane Center reported. Ernesto was moving west-nothwest at 12 mph with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph.
The storm was expected to pass to the south of the Cayman Islands and near the northern coast of Honduras on Monday night.
Belize also issued a hurricane warning for its east coast. Areas of the Cayman Islands, Honduras and the Yucatan Peninsula are under tropical storm warnings.
Meanwhile, Florence weakened to a post-tropical system.
No coastal watches or warnings were in effect for that storm, which was about 1,515 miles (2,440 kilometers) east of the northern Leeward Islands late Monday morning, the hurricane center said. It was moving west at about 15 mph.
Maximum sustained winds dipped to 35 mph, and further weakening is forecast in the coming days.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Two top Afghan ministers sacked over cross-border shelling
Afghanistan's parliament voted to sack its two top security ministers on Saturday for failing to respond to rocket shelling from Pakistan.
The voting to dismiss Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Gen. Besmillah Mohammadi was aired on national TV.
The men will stay in their posts until replacements are announced. Afghan President Hamid Karzai will decide when he will nominate replacements after meeting with his national security council on Sunday, a Karzai spokesman told CNN.
The Pakistani military has shelled Afghanistan several times this year, actions that have enraged Afghan authorities.
Eight people were killed in eastern Afghanistan in one instance last month when more than 300 rockets were fired by the Pakistan army stationed near the border.
The Pakistani military said the country's troops only engage militants where they attack. There are militant strongholds on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border.
NATO-led forces and Afghan government forces have been battling the Taliban and al Qaeda in the region for years.
The voting to dismiss Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Gen. Besmillah Mohammadi was aired on national TV.
The men will stay in their posts until replacements are announced. Afghan President Hamid Karzai will decide when he will nominate replacements after meeting with his national security council on Sunday, a Karzai spokesman told CNN.
The Pakistani military has shelled Afghanistan several times this year, actions that have enraged Afghan authorities.
Eight people were killed in eastern Afghanistan in one instance last month when more than 300 rockets were fired by the Pakistan army stationed near the border.
The Pakistani military said the country's troops only engage militants where they attack. There are militant strongholds on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border.
NATO-led forces and Afghan government forces have been battling the Taliban and al Qaeda in the region for years.
Gunmen kidnap foreigners in Nigeria; kill two sailors
Gunmen attacked a barge belonging to an oil service company near the coast of Nigeria on Saturday, killing two sailors and taking four foreigners hostage.
The remaining four sailors were taken to a nearby hospital where they were treated for injuries, according to Navy spokesman Commodore Kabir Aliyu.
"The Nigerian Navy ... dispatched a naval ship and helicopter to protect and secure the area," said Aliyu.
It is not clear who was responsible for the attack or how many foreigners were on board. Their nationalities were not immediately known.
Africa's most populous nation is a top oil supplier though has been mired in ethnic and religious violence, which in recent years has been compounded by an Islamist insurgency.
The remaining four sailors were taken to a nearby hospital where they were treated for injuries, according to Navy spokesman Commodore Kabir Aliyu.
"The Nigerian Navy ... dispatched a naval ship and helicopter to protect and secure the area," said Aliyu.
It is not clear who was responsible for the attack or how many foreigners were on board. Their nationalities were not immediately known.
Africa's most populous nation is a top oil supplier though has been mired in ethnic and religious violence, which in recent years has been compounded by an Islamist insurgency.
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