My Science School

In November 1922, after years of searching, British archaeologist Howard Carter stumbles upon a buried flight of steps while working in Egypt’s valley of the kings and unearths the entrance to the 3,000-years-old tomb of Tutankhamun. In the months that follow, thousands of priceless artefacts are recovered in one of the greatest finds in the history of archaeology.

By the Spring of 1922, British Egyptologist Howard Carter, financed by George Herbert. Earl of Carnarvon, had spent six seasons - November to April each year, avoiding the intense heat of summer- searching for a royal tomb he believed was waiting to be discovered on the west bank of the Nile, in the famed Valley of the Kings. With little to show for his efforts, it was agreed that the quest would be abandoned after one final, short dig of two months only, to start in November of that year.

What Carter uncovered is now regarded as one of the greatest finds in the history of archaeology: a complete set of royal coffins from the pharaonic New Kingdom era, lavishly wrought and in a startling state of preservation, with, at their centre, the mummified remains of a teenage king beneath a gold and blue "death mask", that would eventually be seen by millions in exhibitions around the world and which would come to represent the magnificence of Ancient Egypt.

It was on November 1, 1922, that Carter began clearing a row of ancient stone huts, formerly used by workmen and close to a much larger tomb, rubble from which was strewn around the site. Three days into the task, on November 4, a single stone step emerged-the top of a flight that had been dug down into the limestone bedrock some 3,000 years earlier to carve out a smaller-than-average burial chamber and surrounding storage rooms.

By sunset the following day, a blocked doorway at the bottom of the stairs had been reached. It was plastered over and, crucially, bore the seal of the royal necropolis. Carter sent a telegram to Lord Carnarvon telling him of his wonderful discovery in Valley a magnificent tomb with seals intact".

It was another three weeks before a group consisting of Carter, Carnarvon, engineer Arthur Callender and Carnarvon's daughter. Lady Evelyn Herbert, stood at a second doorway at the end of a corridor, cleared of debris, while Carter chiselled a hole to peer by candlelight, into the royal antechamber, filled with gold and ebony artefacts.

For the next three months, Carter and his team- including photographer Harry Burton from the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Met's Egyptologist, Arthur Mace- continued their excavation until, in February 1923, they had reached the burial chamber itself, containing four gilded wooden shrines enclosing the sarcophagus that housed Tutankhamun's mummified body. It would be another two years, the start of the season in October 1925, before Carter would come face to face with the now-iconic gold funerary mask, found in a solid gold coffin enclosed by two larger coffins within the sarcophagus. Carter's cataloguing of all king Tutankhamun's treasures would continue until 1932.

"Tutmania" spread across the globe as news of Carter's achievement was reported. Amid the political fallout from the discovery - Egypt had been a British protectorate during World War I, but declared its independence in 1922 visitor numbers soared and the cult of "King Tut" was born. The death from a mosquito bite, of Lord Carnarvon in April 1923, fed into the popular belief in the "Mummy's curse" - the inevitable downfall of those who disturb the pharoah's resting place.

This autumn, Egypt will hope, once again, to attract world attention as its long-awaited replacement for its antiquities museum in Cairo's Tahrir Square - home to the Tutankhamun treasures for many decades- opens only a mile from the Pyramids at Giza. The monumental Grand Egyptian Museum, 20 years in the construction and costing over a billion dollars, will bring together for the first time all 5,000 pieces painstakingly retrieved by Carter a century ago.

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The Centaur upper stage rocket is a family of high-energy rockets that has played a pivotal role in advancing global communications and furthering our knowledge of space. November 27, 1963 is an important day in its history as it marked the first in-flight burn of a liquid hydrogen/ liquid oxygen engine.

When we speak about successful space missions, we generally talk about the results they delivered - the satellites that now orbit the Earth or the probes that gathered invaluable data from other planets. There's a lot of work and plenty of factors, however, that goes into reaching that point. One of them is the upper stage rocket that boosts satellites into orbit and propels probes into space.

Among upper stage rockets, Centaur is a significant achievement as it has served as America's workhorse in space and has been involved in many success stories. Used for over 100 unmanned launches, Centaur has expanded the frontiers of space and revolutionised communication.

Where it all began

Centaur’s beginnings predate even the existence of NASA as the U.S. Air Force studied a proposal from General Dynamics/ Astronautics Corp. to develop a new booster stage in 1957. With the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union heating up during this period, the idea was to give the country an edge, providing a means of orbiting heavy payloads in a very short time.

In 1958, the year NASA was established, Centaur became an official hardware programme with the Air Force as its assigned development authority. While the heaviest Soviet satellite orbiting the Earth at this time was the 1,360-kg Sputnik III, the U.S. had plans for boosting payloads to up to 3,850 kg. They planned to achieve this using Centaur, which was to have a new propulsion system using liquid hydrogen, mixed with liquid oxygen.

By July 1959, Centaur moved from the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense to NASA. Centaurs planned schedule of testing and operation, however, proved too optimistic, as there were a mountain of problems, failures, and delays to overcome.

Silverstein provides the silver lining

In 1962, American engineer Abe Silverstein put his hand up and convinced NASA that his Lewis Research Center could debug the Centaur and manage its problems. Once the entire responsibility was assigned to Lewis under Silverstein, the Lewis engineers got to work, perfecting the booster, while carrying out complex research and development to ensure Centaurs reliability. The fact that Lewis had been involved in pioneering work on high-energy liquid propellants for rockets helped, as this meant that most engineers working with Centaur were already aware of safely handling the liquid hydrogen/ liquid oxygen cryogenic fuels that it used.

The original Centaur rocket measured 30 feet long and 10 feet in diameter. As it used very cold propellants (liquid oxygen at-297 degrees Fahrenheit and liquid hydrogen at -420 degrees Fahrenheit), its tanks required special construction. A doubled walled bulkhead not only served as a heat barrier, but also separated the two compartments containing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Made of stainless steel less than 200ths of an inch thick, the tank was extremely thin and light-weight even once pressurised.

Following successful assembly, inspection, and shipping to Cape Canaveral, engineers and technicians perform testing procedures that can last weeks. A special tiger team uses a checklist to go through it all once again in the days leading up to any launch, before putting the rocket into start condition for the flight.

Go Centaur!

On November 27, 1963, one such launch took place. While it only carried a dummy payload that was put into orbit, it was a significant milestone. This was NASA's first successful launch of the Atlas Centaur, proving the compatibility of the Atlas rocket with the upper stage Centaur. Additionally, it had the first in-flight burn of a liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen engine, showing that these could be safely fired in space. In the decades that followed, there were many more successes for Centaur and a few mishaps too. Centaur was involved in sending the unmanned Surveyor spacecraft, which collected data on the moon's surface and paved the way for the Apollo missions. Along with Atlas and Titan boosters, Centaur featured as the upper for probes and flybys to all other planets in our solar system.

It didn't stop there as Centaur also launched orbiting observatories that help expand our knowledge about the universe, peering at space beyond our solar system. Centaur was also involved in launching various satellites into geosynchronous orbits that have changed the face of communication on our planet. While its name might not be often mentioned along with successful missions, Centaur continues to be a workhorse that serves its purpose.

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The 17-year-old landed at an airfield near the Bulgarian capital Sofia, the same site from which he departed in his shark Aero microlight airplane on March 23.

Along the way, Mack, who was born to British parents but has grown up in Belgium, encountered sandstorms in Sudan and spent the night on an uninhabited Pacific island.

Rutherford's journey took longer than planned due to permit delays that forced him to alter his route twice and fly over Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, North America, and back to Europe. Rutherford became the youngest person to fly around the world solo, taking the title from Travis Ludlow, who was 18 when he completed his journey last year.

He is now also the youngest person to fly around the world in a microlight aircraft, the title held previously by sister Zara, who completed her own trip around the globe in January this year.

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Five hundred years ago, the Victoria, captained by Juan Sebastian Elcano following the death of Ferdinand Magellan, returned to Spain after completing the first circumnavigation of the world.

After a quarrel with the Portuguese king, Ferdinand Magellan enlisted the support of Spain's King Charles for an expedition to reach the Moluccas by sailing westwards. The Spanish wanted a share in the valuable spice trade from the Moluccas, but the Portuguese controlled the eastward route around southern Africa.

 On September 20, 1519, Magellan set out with a fleet of five vessels. In spite of a mutinous crew, rough weather, scurvy, a desperate lack of provisions and unknown waters, Magellan successfully crossed the Atlantic and eventually navigated through the strait at the southern point of South America which was later named after him.

The three remaining ships crossed the Pacific Ocean in a northwesterly arc for three and a half months without once encountering inhabited islands. Hunger, thirst and illness claimed 19 lives before the crews found fresh provisions in the Mariana Islands.

They finally reached the Philippines in March 1521, the first Europeans ever to set foot there. Within weeks Magellan was killed after becoming involved in a battle between two rival local chieftains. The Victoria, the only remaining ship from the original fleet, eventually returned to Spain in September 1522 under the command of Juan Sebastian Elcano, having completed the first ever circumnavigation of the globe.

Picture credit : Google