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FRIDAYSUNDAY FEBRUARY 2628, 2016 | DAILYWILDCAT.COM |
DAILYWILDCAT |
SCIENCE
NEWS
High-rises cast long shadow
WILDCAT WEEKEND
Construction, bad resident behavior agitates nearby businesses
WHAT’S INSIDE
NEWS: Recipe and health tips from health guru, Dr. Andrew Weil p. 2
ARTS & LIFE:
See the future with our head to head Oscars picks, p. 10
OPINIONS: UAlerts should be alerting about real crises, p. 9
SPORTS:
After transfer and elbow injuries, pitcher JC Cloney ready to roll at UA, p. 17
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/DAILYWILDCAT
BY NICK JOHNSON The Daily Wildcat
NASA ARTIST CONCEPT OF OSIRISREX.
Live long and prosper A key component in supporting OSIRIS-REx , the SPOC team helps gather data and plan trajectories BY RENEE CONWAY The Daily Wildcat
The secret to life could be locked in the stars. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft aims to discover more about life on Earth by sampling near-Earth objects. The OSIRIS-REx mission has facilities across the nation, including some at the UA. These facilities consist of teams comprised of an array of different types of scientists, engineers and managers. Each team focuses on a certain aspect of the mission. The mission’s objectives are to return and analyze a sample of asteroid Bennu, map the asteroid, document the sample site, measure the orbit deviation caused by nongravitational forces and compare observations to ground-based observations, according to the OSIRIS-REx webpage. The OSIRIS-REx mission aims to have a deeper understanding of the properties of Bennu and gain a higher understanding of its importance in
relation to life on Earth. But none of this could be accomplished without the help of the Science Processing and Operations Center team. The SPOC team’s work aims to allow a spacecraft to work more quickly on-site, which could change the project’s timeline from decades to days, while concurrently allowing the spacecraft to gather more specific samples. “A lot of the high precision, navigation, and science operations’ flight dynamics decisions is a new philosophy of executing a mission that hasn’t been tried before,” said John Kidd, a SPOC science operations planning engineer. Kidd said that since Bennu’s discovery in 1999, ground-based observations have led them to believe Bennu is in orbit around the sun. Bennu is also thought to be relatively carbon-rich compared to other asteroids.
OSIRIS-REX, 7
For businesses and community centers on the northwest corner of campus, the addition of new highrise apartment complexes to their immediate skyline has been a lessthan-welcome one. With the new Hub On Campus Tucson 2 opening this fall, and another act of vandalism from residents directed toward the Islamic Center of Tucson, business owners began to express their concerns. Melody Gregory, the general manager for Mama’s Hawaiian BarB-Cue, one of the two businesses living in the shadow of the highrises, said there is reason to worry about the construction of the new complex. “There is a little concern, especially for the cars in our parking lot,” Gregory said. “When the first tower of Sol y Luna was completed, we had windshields broken by residents who were throwing cactuses off of the 15th floor. We’ve also had eggs thrown.” Gregory said she is hopeful that these types of problems will not happen again when the new complex opens its doors. Not everyone sees the new apartments as a problem. Maria Mazon, owner of Boca Tacos y Tequila, said the new living spaces shouldn’t be too much of a problem and might actually serve as a benefit. “I don’t see the apartments as a negative thing,” Mazon said. “It will bring more people into the restaurant.” While not everyone can agree about the new apartments, most say they are unsatisfied with the construction. “It’s been annoying. I’ve had tires
HIGH-RISES, 4
DAILYWILDCAT C M ONLINE // NEWS: Read the benefits of holding a spot in ASUA office // ARTS: Watch community chatter on Oscars