Nasa is planning to stream their next launch in HD. This will be the first time Nasa will show a launch in HD on their online HDTV channel. The ISS crew will fly out to the ISS in the Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Make sure you’re around for the launch on April 4th at 5:18 pm EST.
Details after the break. → Read More
Although the Mars rovers have gone way, way beyond the call of duty (the original mission was for 90 days; Opportunity is still active after more than six years), the dream has to end sometime — and evidence is mounting that for Spirit, the first of the two rovers to touch down, may be down for the count. After a year of being trapped in sand, its last big hope was a big solar boost over… → Read More
If James Cameron were to take all the revenues from both Titanic and Avatar, then he may be able to send his own mars rover to space. That’s the closest he’ll ever get to having his 3D tech blasted into orbit now that Nasa pulled the plug on his plans. → Read More
One day after McAfee warned about the dangers of corporations becoming vulnerable to hackers, we now learn that Nasa has similar concerns. Its inspector general, Paul Martin, has written a report entitled “Security Practices Expose Key Nasa Network To Cyber Attack,” and you can guess what that means. Actually, don’t bother guessing. The report warns that six of Nasa’s servers that just so… → Read More
Why this is making a splash today, I can’t really answer, but here we go. Nasa published a white paperin November that discusses how best to protect our GPS satellites from any sort of impropriety. The primary suggestion is to have the president declare our GPS satellites critical infrastructure. Once they’ve been classified as such the Department of Homeland Security will be put in charge of… → Read More
The good news: Nasa will still be able to travel to the International Space Station, bringing to it vital supplies and very possibly chocolate cookies. The bad news—I guess you can call this bad news—is that Nasa will only be able to do so hitching a ride on board Russian spacecraft. Budgets are a tricky business. → Read More
Few things are quite as exciting as a good old fashioned feud between distinguished scientists. You’ll recall that a scientist, Nasa’s Richard Hoover, published an article last week in The Journal of Cosmology that claimed to have discovered a form of extraterrestrial bacteria on a meteorite. Life, in other words. But hold on! In the days that have since passed a number of scientists have come out… → Read More
The Space Shuttle Discovery is currently en route to Kennedy Space Center’s three-mile runway and expected to land for the last time at 11:57 am EST. Click through for the live feed provided by Ustream. There’s just one more shuttle flight planned so you may want to spend a few minutes watching this historic event. Update: Touchdown! USA! USA! USA! Gallery of the highlights after the… → Read More
NASA has a hard time getting funding these days, and this incident doesn’t look like it will help the cause. A nine-story rocket, named Glory, carrying an Earth-observation satellite failed to reach orbit and fell back to earth. → Read More
Where will you be tomorrow morning at 0437 GMT? If you’re a Nasa engineer odds are you’ll be glued to your many monitors, keeping a watchful on your Stardust spaceshipas it approaches the Tempel 1 comet. The Nasa spaceship will be approaching the comet in part in order to take a look at the impact crater created by a previous spaceship’s probe back in 2005. → Read More
Fun fact: This is the first complete image of our life-giving friend in the sky. Like, first ever in the history of mankind. NASA’s STEREO mission — Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory — installed two nearly identical satellites on either side of the sun making the 3D eyecandy possible. The goal here is to track sunspots, solar storms and the like on the other side of the sun. This was… → Read More
NASA is putting a cap on the long-running Space Shuttle program with STS-135, the final flight by Space Shuttle Atlantis, just recently announced to be taking place on June 28th. There are no more missions planned after this, and the 30-year old shuttle program will finally give way to its successor. This will presumably the Constellation Program, aimed at creating unified architecture for… → Read More
Astronaut Pro Tip: Shave your head before entering zero gravity environments. You’ll feel like Captain Picard (because you’re on a spaceship) combined with the nearly mind-over-body control of Professor Xavier. Plus, you won’t look like a fool on the annual Christmas card. → Read More
One of the authors of the scientific paper that described an arsenic-using microbe has asked everyone to calm down for a moment, and said that everything will be cleared up in the days ahead. Felisa Wolfe-Simon, the scientist whose paper (co-written with several others) genuinely ignited America’s interest in science for a day or two (a gigantic achievement in and of itself) had come under fire… → Read More
Living in Silicon Valley, one gets used to meeting people who are optimistic and who talk about changing the world. But as I lamented in this piece about the Valley’s obsession with Facebook and Twitter apps, most of its entrepreneurs either think too small or are focused on the wrong things. So, even though I am enthusiastic about its ability to take risks and innovate, I’ve been skeptical… → Read More
Good news for Nasa, which could probably use some right now. On December 15 its Odyssey Orbiter will become the single longest serving Mars surface spacecraft in history. (Unless there’s some sort of Protean ship on there we’re not aware of yet!) Once December 15 hits Odyssey will have served its 3,340th day up there, surpassing the previous record holder, the Mars Global Surveyor. → Read More
Space X: great success! Yes, the Dragon spacecraft successfully made its orbits around good ol’ Planet Earth and has safely crashed into the Pacific Ocean. It marks the first time a commercial spacecraft has done so. → Read More
Oh, Nasa. If only you could invent a time machine and go back to when you actually had a budget. The agency’s claim last week that it had found a new type of life in a lake in California is now under fire from all sides. Encirclement! One Slate article quotes several skeptical scientists who question the veracity of Nasa’s claims. One even said perhaps the most damming thing one scientist can say… → Read More
We’re one step closer to the commercializing of space flight. (We wouldn’t have to rely on such commercialization if Nasa could get more than 75 cents per year in funding, but that’s another story altogether.) Space X’s lifter’s engine ran successfully at the weekend, which means that the capsule, named Dragon, can be launched tomorrow from Cape Canaveral. Elon Musk: literally building rockets in… → Read More
Yes~! Nasa has revealed that it did, in fact, find a microbe (GFAJ-1, to be exact) in Mono Lake, in California, that’s able to substitute arsenic for phosphorus. Nasa just comes right out and says it: “The definition of life has just expanded. As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know… → Read More
There’s several big announcements coming up later today. The biggest is probably the World Cup bids, and the tension is evident. (More on that later.) Then we’ve got UFC‘s Chael Sonnen appearing before the California State Athletic Commission to explain his elevated testosterone levels during his fight with Anderson Silva back in August. Last, Nasa. Yes, somehow Nasa has rubbed two nickels… → Read More
Wait a minute, Nasa, developing something great? Did we wake up in the 1960s, back when Nasa actually had a budget to, you know, do things? Either way, this is great news. So, Nasa plans to develop a new type of hypersonic jet that would reduce the flight time from New York to Sydney, which currently takes 21 hours, to two-and-a-half hours. Two-and-a-half! You can’t even drive from New York to… → Read More
Well this stinks. Space Shuttle Discovery is in the closing stages of preparation for its final flight ever. After that I guess American astronauts will have to hitchhike their way into orbit, which is pretty lame, I think you’ll agree. The launch is scheduled for November 1. → Read More
Ready to kill your lunch break? Head over to the brand new NASA section on Flickr Commons where you’ll find 180 historic photographs. These pics range from pre-NASA days, to Goddard’s works, to NASA prototypes, and enough liftoff pics to fill a History Channel special. The best part you’ve probably never seen most of these as they’re right from NASA’s collection and… → Read More
The $24 billion solar panel market could use a good dusting. The benefits of solar energy are well-known, but what’s rarely mentioned is its nemesis: dust. Even a little bit—one-seventh of an ounce per square yard—can weaken a panel’s power conversion by 40%.
To tackle the problem, scientists looked to Mars, where similar technology was developed for space missions to the planet. NASA, along… → Read More
Remember the Robonaut? It’s (he’s?) a joint project between NASA and GM aimed at creating a robot that can perform many of the tasks humans do in space. The funny thing is, though, he’s being sent into space as if he’s a crate of eggs. If this guy is going to stand up to heat, vacuum, and micrometeorites, shouldn’t he be able to handle a rocket launch? When they send… → Read More
This is what I like to see, homebrew space equipment. It’s a spacesuit that was invented by the two gentlemen at Final Frontier Design, one that made its debut at the Eyebeam Center for Art + Technology in New York last week. (Wonder why we weren’t invited?) Besides merely looking neat, it provides all the protection and functionality of a Nasa spacesuit, but only costs about one-fifth of what… → Read More
I love seeing the shots that NASA has been releasing from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter! The latest is from the Apollo 16 site, and they really timed this one right. The LRO was passing over the site exactly at noon (local time of course) so there’s a minimum amount of shadowing, and a maximum amount of contrast → Read More
OK, this is great. It’s an updated version of Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope, and t’s all about Mars. Microsoft spent three years developing this new version of the application, with its engineers put together after studying super high-resolution Nasa photos. The result is, much like Google Earth, you can zoom around the Red Planet, taking in the sights and sounds right from your computer. → Read More
And now Nasa hates the Jabulani. Wonderful. I suppose Nasa has nothing better to do now that it has less money than your little sister has in her piggy bank. The former space agency says that the ball becomes “unpredictable” at speeds greater than 44 mph, and that the high altitude that many of the games were played only exacerbates the problem. → Read More
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