NASA plans to have a lunar science lab manned by robots on the Shackleton Crater

NASA has plans to set up a lunar science lab on a crater on the Moon and have, tentatively, zeroed on Shackleton Crater. The lab would be controlled by robots and, in the opinion of NASA, the crater on the moon’s South Pole could be turned into ‘an oasis of warm sunlight surrounded by a desert of freezing cold darkness’.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 7 July 2015.

The thinking is that the terraforming experiment by making use of rovers would make the crater environment more similar to that on Earth and would allow robots working inside it to analyze materials brought back from excavations. The area that has been chosen for the ‘lab’ would be the size of a football field – it is in a valley about twice the size of Washington DC and is surrounded on all sides by 14,000 ft (4,267 metre) peaks.
NASAs plans are to fill the crater with solar-powered transformers because these would be essential to provide power for the robotic scientists and, also, heat the space.
Incidentally, the crater that is named after the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, is two miles deep and more than 12 miles wide.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

A few more must reads -
Maggi noodles are banned in India but, the same Maggi is safe in the UK

Top Ramen follows Maggi and goes off the shelves

India’s dreams of a Utopia vanishing, courtesy arrogant and corrupt ministers

Oil giant Shell to drill for oil in the Arctic off the Alaskan coast

Venezuela facing shortage of beer


Boko Haram unleashes another round of terror on Nigeria – kill 150 in Borno state

ISIS child executioners shoot and kill 25 Syrian soldiers in Palmyra ruins in public

Britain wakes from slumber after Tunisia deaths – to debate airstrikes on ISIS targets,br>

Mangoes are forever

Ripe mangoes and mango cakes or amsatta

Welcome the robot into your kitchen

Just imagine a robot in your kitchen that has learnt the tricks of the trade by watching 88 specially selected YouTube videos. This has been made possible by researchers from the University of Maryland and the Australian research center NICTA – they have published a paper on their findings.
Their work is basically part of an impressive use of artificial intelligence called 'deep learning' which involves researchers using training systems called artificial neural networks on lots of information derived from audio, images, and other inputs. Based on these information, the researchers generate commands which the robot could then execute.
The researchers employed 'convolutional neural networks' which are now in use at Facebook, among other companies. These networks help identify the way a hand is grasping an item, and to recognize specific objects. Moreover, the system was also able to anticipate the action involving an object and a hand.
The results from the study will be revealed later this month at the 29th annual conference of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.