Chile Earthquake March 11: Aftershock Hit at 7.2-magnitude

Chile suffers another earthquake just weeks after the earthquake that devastated the South American nation struck. The latest earthquake hit at a massive 7.2-magnitude aftershock. Aftershocks are considered not usual following an original earthquake of enormous magnitude, according to scientists. The aftershock struck Chile at approximately 11:40 am local time.

The fact that is was bigger than the original Feb. 27 has the hard hit nation on high alert. This massive quake has even surpassed the magnitude of the earthquake that hit Haiti in January.  A larger magnitude earthquake is not uncommon, suggests Don Blakeman, a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey. On Feb 27, Chile experienced the world’s largest 8.8-magnitude earthquake to date just off the coast of the Maule region.

Aftershocks are generally part of the process the original earthquake can generate. Typically, aftershocks tend to be of a lesser magnitude and can involve several smaller aftershocks. With an original quake that was more than an 8 in magnitude "we would expect at least a couple of 7's," Blakeman told LiveScience. Aftershocks are the direct result of the fault readjusting after being ruptured in the original temblor. They tend to occur in the nearby zone of the original earthquake.

According to Blakeman, "the bigger the quake, the larger the aftershock zone." The original earthquake rupture zone was 250 miles (400 kilometers) long, "so it's a very big zone," Blakeman added. The recent aftershock struck almost 93 miles (150 km) southwest of Santiago, the capital of Chile. As aftershocks can last for weeks to months, the latest Chile earthquake may not be the last. "It kind of runs in spells," Blakeman said.

Video of the latest 7.2 magnitude Chile Earthquake.

Space station could operate until 2028, says consortium

 

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AFP/NASA/File – In the grasp of the Canadarm2, the cupola was relocated from the forward port to the Earth-facing port …

Thu Mar 11, 2:46 pm ET

PARIS (AFP) – The consortium of agencies building the International Space Station (ISS) wants to see if the orbital outpost can operate until 2028, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.

"There are no identified technical constraints to continuing ISS operations beyond the current planning horizon of 2015 to at least 2020," it said in a press release after a meeting of ISS partners in Tokyo.

"The partnership is currently working to certify on-orbit elements through 2028," it said.

The Tokyo meeting gathered space agency heads from the United States, which is shouldering the main burden of building the ISS, from Canada, Japan and Russia and as well as from ESA.

Costing a reputed 100 billion dollars, the ISS has been hit by budget overruns and setbacks, including the loss of two of the US space shuttles, used to hoist components into low Earth orbit.

The station is due to be completed this year after a 12-year construction effort.

But its future beyond 2015 has recently been under cloud because of NASA's budget constraints.

That sparked fears within ESA that years of investment will yield little scientific reward before the station is mothballed.

In his draft spending plans for 2011, President Barack Obama pledged to extend the US commitment to the ISS to 2020 or beyond, NASA said in February.

Obama also confirmed the shuttle fleet's phaseout this year, promised help for commercial manned missions in space and dropped the so-called Constellation programme his predecessor George W. Bush announced in 2004 to return Americans to the Moon by 2020.