Questões de Concurso

   In May 2021, a hole was found in a robotic arm aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The suspected culprit was a piece of rogue space junk. While thankfully no astronauts were injured, it has re-focussed attention on the growing problem of orbital debris.

   It’s easy to forget that just seven decades ago the Moon was the only thing orbiting the Earth. On 1 January 2021 there were 6,542 satellites in orbit. Tellingly, only just over half of them were active. That’s a lot of useless metal careering around the planet at 28,000 kph — ten times faster than a bullet.

   Very bad and getting worse. Estimates suggest there are currently half a million pieces of debris the size of a marble or larger and 100 million pieces of debris above one millimeter across. Yet only 27,000 pieces are actively tracked by the US Department of Defense.

   It’s a catastrophic chain of events in which a satellite is shattered by a piece of space junk (or a collision with another satellite) and the resulting debris destroys more satellites creating more junk and so on in a never-ending cascade. It’s a domino effect – one piece falls and then takes the rest with it – and is named after NASA scientist Donald Kessler, who outlined the dangers back in 1978.

   Better regulation of new launches would help, as right now it’s a bit of a free-for-all. There are existing regulations in place to try and mitigate the dangers, such as a 25-year de-orbit rule for missions in low-Earth orbit. However, ESA’s Space Debris Environment Report says that less than 60 per cent of those flying in low-Earth orbit currently stick to the rules. 

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RUN TO THE HILLS

Iron Maiden

White man came across the sea

He brought us pain and misery

He killed our tribes; he killed our creed

He took our game for his own need

We fought him hard, we fought him well

Out on the plains we gave him hell

But many came, too much for

Cree Oh, will we ever be set free?

Riding through dust clouds and barren wastes

Galloping hard on the plains

Chasing the redskins back to their holes

Fighting them at their own game

Murder for freedom the stab in the back

Women and children and cowards, attack!

Run to the hills

Run for your lives

Soldier blue in the barren wastes

Hunting and killing their game

Raping the women and

wasting the men

The only good Indians are tame

Selling them whiskey and taking their gold

Enslaving the young and destroying the old

(1º§) The mosaic, found in Rutland, has been described as the first example of its kind in the UK. It was discovered by the landowner's son and investigated by archaeologists from the University of Leicester. Historic England described the mosaic as "one of the most remarkable and significant... ever found in Britain".

(2º§) The mosaic and surrounding villa complex have now been protected as a Scheduled Monument by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the advice of Historic England. The complex is thought to have been occupied by a wealthy individual from the late Roman period.

(3º§) Jim Irvine, son of landowner Brian Naylor, made the initial discovery after spotting "unusual pottery" on a walk during the 2020 lockdown, and contacted the archaeological team at Leicestershire County Council. He said: "My family have been farming this land for 50 or 60 years. "During lockdown last year, I noticed some pottery on the ground which didn't look like any pottery I'd seen before. "We came down here with a spade and I dug a shallow trench and I was in exactly the right place. "To see something that has been undisturbed for 1700 years or so has been amazing. "The thing that has been keeping me interested is what's the state of the next thing to come out of the site because it's all been amazing so far." Historic England funded urgent excavation work at the site by the University of Leicester.

(4º§) The mosaic, which forms the floor of what was thought to be a dining or entertaining area of the villa, measures 11m x 7m (36ft x 23ft). Mosaics were regularly used in private and public buildings across the Roman Empire, and often featured famous figures from mythology. However, the Rutland mosaic is thought to be unique in the UK as it features Achilles and his battle with Hector at the conclusion of the Trojan War.

(5º§) I know where the villa was found but I'm not allowed to give away too many details. It's because they don't want anyone coming along and trying to carry out their own investigations and disturbing the site.

(6º§) For now, the mosaic has been covered back up. It's been well protected for more than a millennium and a half beneath a 2ft (0.6m) layer of soil, and it won't come to any further harm now it's back underground. Jim Irvine really hopes that people will be able to come to visit in situ one day but decisions about its long-term future haven't been made yet. The site is so big that only a tiny part of the complex has been excavated. There are likely to be more discoveries in the digging seasons to come.

(7º§) Investigations have revealed the large villa is surrounded by barns, circular structures and possibly a bath house. The complex is likely to have been occupied by someone with a knowledge of classical literature, between the 3rd and 4th Century AD. John Thomas, deputy director of the University of Leicester Archaeological Services and project manager on the excavations, said: "This is certainly the most exciting Roman mosaic discovery in the UK in the last century. "It gives us fresh perspectives on the attitudes of people at the time, their links to classical literature, and it also tells us an enormous amount about the individual who commissioned this piece. "This is someone with a knowledge of the classics, who had the money to commission a piece of such detail, and it's the very first depiction of these stories that we've ever found in Britain."

(8º§) Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, added: "To have uncovered such a rare mosaic of this size, as well as a surrounding villa, is remarkable. "Discoveries like this are so important in helping us piece together our shared history. By protecting this site we are able to continue learning from it, and look forward to what future excavations may teach us about the people who lived there over 1,500 years ago." The site is on private land and not accessible to the public but discussions are ongoing with Rutland County Council to set up an off-site display of the villa complex and its finds, Historic England said. Further excavations are planned on the site in 2022. Mr Irvine said the field will no longer be used for farming so the area can be protected.

(adapted) https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-59391650