January 2012

0

Last month, Hewlett-Packard announced that it would release its webOS operating system as free / open source software after the debacle of the HP TouchPad tablet in the last summer. Now HP has announced the roadmap for the development of Open webOS, the free version of that operating system under the Apache License 2.0, which should lead to the release of its version 1.0 in September 2012.

A mosaic of images taken by the Mars Rover Opportunity in recent days (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State University)

2

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to celebrate the anniversaries in terms of Martian years but obviously it’s easier to use the Earth’s ones. On January 25, 2004, the Mars Rover Opportunity reached the red planet and after eight Earth years it keeps on working.

A comparison between the two kinds of Titan dunes and the Earth ones in desert of Oman and Kalahari (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech, and NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team)

1

New analysis of radar data from the Cassini mission in a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency concerning Titan, the largest of Saturn’s moons, have revealed an extensive presence of dunes that show changes with the passage of time and are different depending on their latitude and altitude.

Thorsten Heins

2

Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, founders and co-CEOs of Research In Motion, the company that produces the famous BlackBerry, have resigned their resignations. In their place Thorsten Heins was named on the recommendation by Balsillie and Lazaridis.

Artist's concept of the planet 55 Cancri e behind the Earth (Image NASA)

1

55 Cancri e is one of the planet of the star 55 Cancri A. It has a mass nearly eight times the Earth, about half the mass of Neptune. The diameter of 55 Cancri e is about twice the Earth. Its orbital period is just about 18 days and the estimated surface temperature is about 1800 degrees Celsius (3200 degrees Fahrenheit). The extraordinary thing is that given the temperature and pressure existing on the surface of the planet it’s likely that various compounds are supercritical fluids.