# Space exploration thread



## ScienceRocks

All missions and latest advances in space exploration goes here. 


*NASA building a better solid rocket booster for space launch system rocket *

October 3, 2012 by Bill Hubscher 



> ATK employees at the company's Promontory, Utah facility prepare a segment of a qualification motor for NASA's Space Launch System for transport. Credit: ATK (Phys.org)&#8212;The largest and most powerful solid rocket booster ever built for flight is being assembled for NASA's Space Launch System at ATK Space Systems in Brigham City, Utah, incorporating new cost-savings measures. The SLS will launch NASA's Orion spacecraft and other payloads beyond low Earth orbit, and provide an entirely new capability for human exploration.
> 
> Although similar to the solid rocket boosters that helped power the space shuttle to orbit, the five-segment SLS boosters include several upgrades and improvements implemented by NASA and ATK engineers. In addition, the SLS boosters will be built more affordably and efficiently than shuttle boosters, incorporating new and innovative processes and technologies. "America's next steps in deep space exploration build on the lessons learned from our nation's rich human spaceflight history.
> 
> By using the best-of-the-best from shuttle and improving on previous investments, we will produce the needed solid booster for the first SLS flights," said Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. "We are encouraged by the progress being made at ATK. Their commitment to deliver a safe and high-quality rocket booster is vital as we build SLS to enable exploration to new frontiers in the solar system." New process improvements have been implemented throughout the manufacturing of Qualification Motor-1, the next full-scale test article for SLS booster. Four case segments have now been cast, and the motor will begin assembly in the test stand next month in preparation for a ground test in the spring of 2013.
> 
> The forward segment of the qualification motor for NASA'S Space Launch System is transported through manufacturing and assembly at ATK's facility in Promontory, Utah in preparation for a full-scale ground test there next spring. Credit: ATKImplementing new handling processes, *ATK estimates the total assembly time for the SLS booster can be reduced by approximately 46 percent overall. *In one area, ATK optimized inspection methods and replaced x-ray inspections with an ultrasonic examination of the booster's nozzle, allowing technicians to evaluate the hardware on the production floor.
> 
> In another, *ATK reduced the number of moves from 47 to seven during one phase of booster assembly,* reducing the chance of any damage in transit and greatly reducing the time it takes to complete that production process. "By improving upon proven Space Shuttle solid rocket motor hardware and operations, our shared goal is to deliver a safe, affordable and sustainable launch vehicle," said Alex Priskos, SLS booster manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "We are embracing innovation both technically and in our management processes as we design and build SLS. Through the use of new streamlined approaches and techniques we have been able to drive down costs and enhance the reliability of the hardware."
> 
> The booster team has successfully completed its Booster Requirements Review confirming the five-segment solid rocket motor had a well-understood set of requirements. The review, held at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, included independent consultants and determined the team is ready


Read more at: NASA building a better solid rocket booster for space launch system rocket


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## ScienceRocks

Researchers working on dilithium-powered fusion impulse engines

Researchers working on dilithium-powered fusion impulse engines | DVICE



> Hear that, Star Trek? Technology is catching up! The University of Alabama's Aerophysics Research Center, NASA, Boeing, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are all getting together to develop an "impulse engine" that's powered in part by "dilithium crystals."
> 
> Here's how the scientists describe their own research:
> 
> "Star Trek fans love it, especially when we call the concept an impulse drive, which is what it is. The fusion fuel we're focusing on is deuterium [a stable isotope of hydrogen] and Li6 [a stable isotope of the metal lithium] in a crystal structure. That's basically dilithium crystals we're using."
> 
> We would be remiss, of course, if we didn't point out that in reality (that is, in Star Trek), dilithium is not quite the same as lithium-6 (which would be, uh, hexalithium?), and also, dilithium regulates the matter/antimatter reaction in the warp drive, not the impulse drive. So good, we've gotten all of our hrrumphing out of the way, let's move on.
> 
> The drive should/would/will be based on the principle of Z-pinch fusion. A Z-pinch, for you physics fans, is when you run a huge jolt of electricity through an array of tiny wires, turning them into a plasma and generating a massive magnetic field at the same time. The field "pinches" the plasma, collapsing it down onto a core of deuterium and lithium, causing those atoms to fuse and releasing a big burst of fusion energy- more than it took to set the Z-pinch off in the first place. Here's a picture of what it looks like when they do a Z-pinch on the Z Machine at Sandia National Labs:
> 
> 
> 
> At full throttle, the impulse engine will produce Z-pinches nearly continuously, and astronauts onboard a spaceship using this method of propulsion would feel a series of pulses as opposed to some non-stop beastly acceleration. The acceleration will be beastly, though: the researchers say the impulse engine would generate "millions of pounds of thrust out the back of this thing--on the order of Saturn-V-class thrust."
> 
> Since a fusion-driven impulse engine is far more efficient than a conventional rocket engine, you can go much farther, much faster, on a lot less fuel, meaning that a trip from Earth to Mars could take just six weeks instead of six months or more. And as for speed, the impulse engine may be able to propel a spacecraft at up to 62,600 miles per hour. This is quite fast, although not up to Star Trek's definition of full impulse, which (depending on who you ask) is probably somewhere between 16 and 17 million miles per hour.
> 
> There are a bunch of things that the researchers need to figure out before they're ready to fire this thing up. They need to the the fusion to be self-sustaining, of course, but they also need to figure out how to channel the resulting, er, explosion in the right direction (i.e. away from the spaceship), probably using some sort of magnetic nozzle. It's going to take some work, and some time, but smart people are actually working on a fusion-driven impulse engine as we speak. Wow.


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## ScienceRocks

UAHuntsville student seeking &#8216;Holy Grail&#8217; of rocket propulsion system 



> HUNTSVILLE, Ala. &#8211; Can a device formerly used to test nuclear weapons effects find a new life in rocket propulsion research? That is the question in which researchers at The University of Alabama in Huntsville seek an answer.
> 
> A new massive device is being assembled at the university&#8217;s Aerophysics Research Center on Redstone Arsenal, where a team of scientists and researchers from UAHuntsville&#8217;s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Boeing and Marshall Space Flight Center&#8217;s Propulsion Engineering Lab are busy putting together a strange looking machine they&#8217;re calling the &#8220;Charger-1 Pulsed Power Generator.&#8221; It&#8217;s a key element in furthering the development of nuclear fusion technology to drive spacecraft.
> 
> The huge apparatus, known as the Decade Module Two (DM2) in its earlier life, was used on a contract with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for research into the effects of nuclear weapons explosions.
> 
> UAHuntsville was first informed about its availability in 2009, several years after the research contract for which it was originally designed came to an end.
> 
> Reassembling several huge pieces of industrial equipment, the components were delivered in five shipments to the Aerophysics Research Center from San Leandro, Calif. When assembled, the unit will tip the scales at nearly 50 tons, and will be &#8220;one of the largest, most powerful pulse power systems in the academic world,&#8221; according to university officials.
> 
> With all units now in place, UAHuntsville engineering professor and project head Dr. Jason Cassibry says the team is busy cleaning up the components, which picked &#8220;a lot of dirt&#8221; after sitting in a lab for nearly 10 years, then being shipped across the country.
> 
> Refurbishment will include replacement of about 100 large resistors, and securing 15,000 gallons of transformer oil for the Marx tank, which holds the capacitors and prevents arcing between them. &#8220;That&#8217;s a big hurdle, but we&#8217;ll get there,&#8221; says Cassibry.



UAHuntsville - News - Items


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## ScienceRocks

> This real photograph of Titan shows two thin haze layers, now known to change with the seasons. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cassini (Phys.org)&#8212;Detailed observations of Saturn's moon Titan have now spanned 30 years, covering an entire solar orbit for this distant world. Dr Athena Coustenis from the Paris-Meudon Observatory in France has analysed data gathered over this time and has found that the changing seasons of Titan affect it more than previously thought. Dr Coustenis presented these results at the European Planetary Science Congress in Madrid on Friday 28th September.
> 
> Explains Dr Coustenis, "As with Earth, conditions on Titan change with its seasons. We can see differences in atmospheric temperatures, chemical composition and circulation patterns, especially at the poles. For example, hydrocarbon lakes form around the north polar region during winter due to colder temperatures and condensation. Also, a haze layer surrounding Titan at the northern pole is significantly reduced during the equinox because of the atmospheric circulation patterns.
> 
> This is all very surprising because we didn't expect to find any such rapid changes, especially in the deeper layers of the atmosphere." The main cause of these cycles is solar radiation. This is the dominant energy source for Titan's atmosphere, breaking up the nitrogen and methane present to create more complex molecules, such as ethane, and acting as the driving force for chemical changes. Titan is inclined at around 27 degrees, similar to the Earth, meaning that the cause of seasons &#8211; sunlight reaching different areas with varying intensity due to the tilt &#8211; is the same for both worlds. Says Dr Coustenis, "It's amazing to think that the Sun still dominates over other energy sources even as far out as Titan, over 1.5 billion kilometres from us."



 Read more at: Saturn's moon Titan shows surprising seasonal changes


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## ScienceRocks

More evidence that Voyager has exited the solar system

http://blog.chron.co...e-solar-system/





> Something very, very interesting is happening with Voyager 1, the human probe thats the very farthest from Earth.
> New data from the spacecraft, which I will discuss below, indicate Voyager 1 may have exited the solar system for good. If true, this would mark a truly historic moment for the human race  sending a spacecraft beyond the edge of our home solar system.


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## ScienceRocks

Group Sends First Rocket Under Deal With NASA
By KENNETH CHANG
Published: October 7, 2012 


> A rocket launching on Sunday night inaugurated a new era for NASA in which private companies ferry people and supplies to the International Space Station.
> 
> The company behind this effort is Space Exploration Technologies of Hawthorne, Calif. &#8212; SpaceX, for short &#8212; which launched its Falcon 9 rocket at 8:35 p.m. Eastern time from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
> 
> The rocket is carrying a cargo-only capsule called Dragon that contains about 1,000 pounds of food, clothing, equipment and science experiments, including 23 designed and built by students. The cargo also includes a freezer that can store laboratory samples at temperatures as low as 300 degrees below zero. The goods are scheduled to reach the space station on Wednesday, and the capsule would stay docked for a few weeks.
> 
> &#8220;It actually marks the beginning of true commercial spaceflight to take cargo to the International Space Station for us,&#8221; Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr., the NASA administrator, said during a video chat on Google Plus on Friday.
> 
> SpaceX successfully launched a capsule to the space station in a test flight in May, but Sunday&#8217;s launching is the first of a dozen flights under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.
> 
> The student projects come through a program run by NanoRacks, a company that arranges for experiments to fly to the space station, and the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education. They include one from middle school students in Santa Monica, Calif., who want to know whether Silly Putty &#8212; a non-Newtonian dilatant fluid, in scientific terms &#8212; has different properties in the weightlessness of space than it does on Earth.
> 
> Under the plans, the SpaceX spacecraft will return to Earth near the end of October and splash down about 250 miles off the coast of Southern California. A successful mission would restore some of NASA&#8217;s ability to bring back items from the space station, which it lost with the termination of the space shuttle program last year.
> 
> A second company, the Orbital Sciences Corporation of Vienna, Va., is preparing its rocket for a test flight this year from Wallops Island, Va., and hopes to begin cargo runs to the space station next year.



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/s...cket-holding-cargo-to-space-station.html?_r=0

*SpaceX Falcon Rocket Flies*



> Space Exploration Technologies, also known as SpaceX, launched the first of 12 cargo missions to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, restoring U.S. access to the orbital outpost for the first time since the space shuttles were retired last year.
> 
> SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule blasted off at 8:35 p.m. EDT on Sunday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, just south of the NASA's now-dormant shuttle launch pads.
> 
> 
> The 157-foot tall rocket tore through warm, partly cloudy skies, arcing out over the ocean as it headed into orbit for a Wednesday rendezvous with the space station.
> 
> The Dragon cargo capsule is filled with 882 pounds of food, clothing, science gear and equipment for the station, including a freezer to transport medical samples to and from orbit. For the ride up, the freezer also was stocked with a treat for the crew -- chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream.
> 
> SpaceX nailed a practice run to the space station in May, clearing the way for the company to begin working off its $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly supplies to the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that is owned and operated by 15 nations.
> 
> Since the shuttle's retirement last year, NASA had been dependent on Russian, European and Japanese freighters to keep the station stocked. SpaceX is one of two firms it hired to fly cargo to the station. The second company, Orbital Sciences Corp., plans to debut its Antares rocket later this year.
> 
> If all goes as planned, Dragon will be reloaded with about one ton of returning science experiments and equipment no longer needed aboard the station and sent back to Earth on Oct. 28.


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## ScienceRocks

China to collect samples from Mars by 2030: Xinhua



> China is planning to collect samples from the surface of Mars by 2030, according to the chief scientist of the country's lunar orbiter project, state media reported Wednesday.
> 
> Ouyang Ziyuan said the mission would have three stages&#8212;remote sensing, soft-landing and exploration, and return after automatic sampling, Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying in a lecture organised by the Chinese Society of Astronautics. Ouyang also briefed attendees on the tests and work to be carried out by China's lunar probe, the Chang'e-3, which is expected to touch down on the moon in the second half of 2013. He said the probe could help build a telecommunications network that would cover a future Mars probe and said samples taken from the moon would be returned to earth, Xinhua reported. The landing planned for next year would be China's first on the lunar surface and mark a new milestone in its space development.


 Read more at: China to collect samples from Mars by 2030: Xinhua


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## ScienceRocks

Astronomers Reveal Planet Is Made Of Diamond





> A planet about 40 light years away and twice the size of Earth is made largely out of diamond, astronomers have said.
> 
> The rocky planet, called 55 Cancri e, which is in the constellation of Cancer, is orbiting a sun-like star that is visible with the naked eye.


 
From http://news.sky.com/...made-of-diamond


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## Mr. H.

That's a big carat.


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## eots

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSBSd_z9lmY]Operation Elevation...The Space elevator..music by eots - YouTube[/ame]


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## ScienceRocks

Mineral-hunting Polaris moon rover detailed


Mineral-hunting Polaris moon rover detailed | DVICE



> Polaris is the latest robotic rover getting ready to roll. It's tasked with digging four feet into the surface of the moon to check for the water, oxygen and nitrogen that would be critical in establishing lunar bases there in the future.
> 
> Polaris is intended to deploy sometime before 2012 ends by way of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Its ultimate destination is the moon's north pole, where scientists believe they might find the all-important ice they are looking for, more likely in the pole's craters where the water wouldn't be evaporated by the heat of the sun.
> 
> The rover will have to be able to roll into those craters and still be able to catch the sun's rays; given that the sun is low in the sky at the poles, Polaris needs to have that odd spine of solar arrays to make sure it gets every bit of sun possible. Polaris needs to generate 250 watts of power to operate its drill. That means positioning is vital, and the rover will use software written by those robo-nuts at Carnegie Mellon University to position itself to get the most sun possible.
> 
> One lunar day is rougly 29 of our days long, with a good 10 days worth of daylight. During that time, the rover will try to dig at over 100 sites over the span of three miles. Then comes a two-week lunar night, when the temperature plunges. If the rover can survive beyond the initial 10-day mission and through a night, researchers hope Polaris will be able to operate indefinitely.
> 
> As you can see in the image above, Polaris, like Curiosity, is pretty large. It's five and a half feet high, seven feet wide and eight feet long. It is relatively lightweight at 150 pounds, built out of alloys and composites that won't contaminate any samples. It will also able to carry another 150 pounds, plus its all-important drill.
> 
> Polaris's wheels are also custom-built for the task. The two-foot wheels, also made from composite, are built with a special suspension system that will allow the rover to navigate the rougher terrain of the craters along the northern pole, steady as she goes at around one foot per second.
> 
> Astrobiotic Technology, a specialized company spun out of Carnegie Mellon University, built the Polaris Rover prototype. NASA is currently funding the project and supplying specialized ice-prospecting gear. The team is hoping to get more funding, possibly from Google's Lunar X Prize, to continue refining the prototype and its software.
> 
> The Polaris mission could be able to answer some questions we have around the prospects of building bases on the moon. To see Polaris take a stroll, check out the video below.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YVuoTZBX5Tc


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## ScienceRocks

Favorites Emerge in the New Moon Race




> "Twenty-five teams are officially in the running for the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP), the $30 million prize for soft-landing a privately funded spacecraft on the moon. As the 2015 deadline approaches, however, it has become clear which teams are the early leaders in the chase to pull off a feat achieved only by two world superpowers, and not since the 1970s."
> 
> Twenty-five teams are officially in the running for the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP), the $30 million prize for soft-landing a privately funded unmanned spacecraft on the moon. As the 2015 deadline approaches, however, it has become clear which teams are the early leaders in the chase to pull off a feat achieved only by two world superpowers, and not since the 1970s.
> 
> "This is really a predictable watershed year for the competition," says Bob Richards, co-founder and CEO of Moon Express, one of the top contenders in the competition. Richards spoke to PM by phone as he drove to his team's headquarters at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Bay Area. A rocket launch must be booked two years in advance, according to Richards, "so if you don't have a launch contract 24 months before the expiry of the prize, you're just not credible."
> 
> Richards is coy about the contract status of Moon Express. "We have launch arrangements, but we can't disclose or discuss them at this time," he says. But just as important as sealing the deal on a launch contract to be consummated years from now is the development of the lander hardware and software&#8212;that's what this competition is all about. "You can buy everything you need to get 249,999 miles" of the quarter-million-mile distance from the Earth to the surface of the moon, Richards says. It's that last mile that counts. "What you can't buy is the lander system itself that does the final braking and does the landing. That doesn't exist."



http://www.popularmechanics.com/sci...in-the-new-moon-race-13623282?click=pm_latest


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## ScienceRocks

*Unprecedented: Amateur astronomers discover a planet with four suns*

George Dvorsky


> Two volunteer astronomers have confirmed the existence of a Neptune-like planet that has four suns, making it the first quadruple star system ever discovered. The planet, which is 5,000 light years away from Earth, closely orbits one pair of stars, which in turn forms a unit that revolves around a second pair at a distance of around 1,000 AU.
> 
> Illustration by Ron Miller.
> 
> The amateur astronomers took part in the Planet Hunters citizen science project, and were able to confirm the system with help from professionals in the U.K. and U.S.
> 
> Binary star systems are fairly common, but it's exceptionally rare for them to feature planets. As a result, astronomers have speculated that the odds of finding a planet in a quadruple system were extremely low. This new find, therefore, came as a complete surprise.
> 
> 
> 
> Full size
> The discovery of the planet, which has been named PH1 after the Planet Hunters project, was made by Kian Jek of San Francisco and Robert Gagliano from Cottonwood, Arizona, who were using Planethunters.org, a website that utilizes human pattern recognition to identify planetary transits in data that's made available to the public (specifically, scans that are gathered by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope).
> 
> Looking at the data, the duo noticed faint dips in light caused by the planet passing in front of its parent stars. Following their immediate observation and announcement, a team of professional astronomers took over and confirmed the presence of a quadruple system using telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
> 
> 
> 
> Full size
> What the astronomers still don't understand, however, is how the gas giant, which is just slightly larger than Neptune, avoids being pulled apart by the intense gravitational forces exerted on it by the four nearby stars. And indeed, the planet's proximity to such large gravity wells place it in an incredibly complex gravitational environment &#8212; but it sits in an apparently stable orbit. Lead researcher Chris Lintott from the University of Oxford described it as "really confusing."
> 
> Regardless, PH1 has now been classified as the first confirmed planet to orbit an eclipsing binary in a hierarchical quadruple star system. And given that the most distant stars are only 1,000 AU away, the night sky must be nothing short of spectacular.


Details of the study can be found at arXiv.
Unprecedented: Amateur astronomers discover a planet with four suns


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## ScienceRocks

*Earth-sized planet found just outside solar system*
October 16, 2012 by Seth Borenstein 




> (Phys.org)&#8212;European astronomers have discovered a planet with about the mass of the Earth orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri system&#8212;the nearest to Earth. It is also the lightest exoplanet ever discovered around a star like the Sun. The planet was detected using the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. The results will appear online in the journal Nature on 17 October 2012.
> 
> Alpha Centauri is one of the brightest stars in the southern skies and is the nearest stellar system to our Solar System&#8212;only 4.3 light-years away. It is actually a triple star&#8212;a system consisting of two stars similar to the Sun orbiting close to each other, designated Alpha Centauri A and B, and a more distant and faint red component known as Proxima Centauri. Since the nineteenth century astronomers have speculated about planets orbiting these bodies, the closest possible abodes for life beyond the Solar System, but searches of increasing precision had revealed nothing. Until now.
> 
> "Our observations extended over more than four years using the HARPS instrument and have revealed a tiny, but real, signal from a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B every 3.2 days," says Xavier Dumusque (Geneva Observatory, Switzerland and Centro de Astrofisica da Universidade do Porto, Portugal), lead author of the paper. "It's an extraordinary discovery and it has pushed our technique to the limit!"
> 
> Alpha Centauri B is very similar to the Sun but slightly smaller and less bright. The newly discovered planet, with a mass of a little more than that of the Earth, is orbiting about six million kilometres away from the star, much closer than Mercury is to the Sun in the Solar System. The orbit of the other bright component of the double star, Alpha Centauri A, keeps it hundreds of times further away, but it would still be a very brilliant object in the planet's skies.


Earth-sized planet found just outside solar system

Let's send a probe!


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## aalok

Space exploration from single flight hardware can be reused, which allows greater exploration. Private interests have begun to create more competition and greater government task in space exploration, the desire.


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## TNHarley

I hate when people say they hate space exploration. "it's a waste of money" they say. How is that smartphone or calculator doing? Wait, that doesn't count right?


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## mamooth

Exploration for its own sake is noble, but settlement has to go down a more realistic path.

For example, Mars is a big gravity well, way far away, with an unbreathable atmosphere mucking things up even more. That makes it stink in the near-term as a settlement area. We can't do anything on Mars we couldn't do better on the moon or in earth orbit. Take the baby steps first.

We need some large spinning stations, for the simulated gravity, so people can actually live there long-term. And to build that (barring some miracle tech), we'd need some mass-launchers here on earth. Big rail guns that can fire bulk goods into space, something we do have the techonology for. Not for people, as the G-forces involved would squish people.


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## ScienceRocks

I think we should also start at the moon to for your reasons...
1# Less gravity 
2# Resources

Easier to build a larger ship in orbit around the moon. We're not going to mars in a fitted space shuttle. I'd rather spend money on science and space than in Afighastan...

Science and Techonology is something we must do if we wish to compete with China, Japan, South Korea and most of europe.


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## ScienceRocks

*Massive new rocket being planned by SpaceX*

18th October 2012

200-ton capacity behemoth could transport humans to Mars.




> Earlier this year, SpaceX's Dragon became the first commercial vessel to dock with the International Space Station. Founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk, the space transport company is planning the first test launch of its Falcon Heavy next year. This will have more than four times the payload-to-LEO capacity of the Falcon 9 used to deliver the Dragon capsule into orbit.
> 
> However, an even larger rocket is now being planned. Elon Musk claims it would use an entirely new engine and fuel type, "several times" as powerful as the 160,000lb-thrust (712kN) Merlin 1 series that powers the Falcon 9. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell had recently hinted at a project with similar characteristics, describing multiple engines with "more than 1.5 million pounds" of thrust and a payload range of 150-200 tons.
> 
> By comparison, next year's Falcon Heavy will have a capacity of 53 tons, while NASA's Space Launch System planned for 2017 will have 70 tons initially, later being upgraded to 129 tons. The Saturn V used to deliver men to the Moon had a capacity of 120 tons. SpaceX's rumoured super rocket &#8211; at potentially 200 tons &#8211; would therefore be the largest and most powerful rocket ever built by a wide margin, easily big enough to send astronauts to Mars. Entire space stations and super-sized satellites could also be delivered to orbit in a single launch.
> 
> The project is being kept under wraps for now, but Elon Musk has promised more details in "between one and three years".


Massive new rocket being planned by SpaceX


Personally, I wouldn't send humans on such a small ship to Mars. I'd use this to put 3-4 parts of a ship that I'd build around earth that would. I feel that it would be best to power it with ion engines powered by nuclear. SCREW chemical, too slow.

I'd want it to be capable of being reused again and again.

It would be humanities first planetary class ship.






Something like this 
-Ion engine 
-nuclear reactor drive
-With possibly 2-3 departments for life support, lander, ect.  
-The human living quarters would instead be made of what the bigelow space station concept. NOT mental. Bigelow Commercial Space Station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## whitehall

All dressed up and nowhere to go.


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## ScienceRocks

whitehall said:


> All dressed up and nowhere to go.



Because our leadership is full of idiots.  We not only should lead in space, but must.


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## ScienceRocks

*Japan Wants Space Plane or Capsule by 2022*


Japan Plans Manned Capsule or Space Plane by 2022 | Space.com




> Japan hopes to be launching astronauts aboard a manned capsule or space plane by 2022, and the nation is also eyeing point-to-point suborbital transportation over the longer haul.
> 
> The capsule or mini-shuttle &#8212; which may resemble Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser space plane &#8212; would each accommodate a crew of three and carry up to 880 pounds (400 kilograms) of cargo, officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said this month.
> 
> The mini-shuttle would weigh 26,400 pounds (11,975 kg) and land at one of five suitable runways worldwide. Because a launch abort from Japan&#8217;s Tanegashima Space Center would mean a Pacific Ocean landing, the space plane would also have to be able to cope with the sea.


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## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX&#8217;s 10-Story Re-useable Grasshopper Rocket Takes a Bigger Hop*


SpaceX&#8217;s 10-Story Re-useable Grasshopper Rocket Takes a Bigger Hop

Quote




> SpaceX is developing the &#8220;Grasshopper&#8221; reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing rocket. Back in September, the 32-meter- (106-ft-) tall Grasshopper made a tiny hop &#8211; barely lifting off the pad just to test-fire its engines. But now the Grasshopper has made a second, bigger hop. Over the weekend, Elon Musk quietly tweeted a link to a video, saying, &#8220;First flight of 10 story tall Grasshopper rocket using closed loop thrust vector & throttle control.&#8221;
> 
> SpaceX hasn&#8217;t talked much about this rocket, but reportedly the goal with Grasshopper is to eventually create a reusable first stage for its Falcon 9 rocket, which would be able to land safely instead of falling back into the ocean and not being usable again.
> 
> 
> Here&#8217;s some info about the Grasshopper from a draft environmental impact assessment put out by the FAA in 2011:
> 
> 
> The Grasshopper RLV consists of a Falcon 9 Stage 1 tank, a Merlin-1D engine, four steel landing legs, and a steel support structure. Carbon overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs), which are filled with either nitrogen or helium, are attached to the support structure. The Merlin-1D engine has a maximum thrust of 122,000 pounds. The overall height of the Grasshopper RLV is 106 feet, and the tank height is 85 feet.
> 
> The propellants used in the Grasshopper RLV include a highly refined kerosene fuel, called RP-1, and liquid oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer.
> 
> The reports goes on to say that the Grasshopper test program is to have three phases of test launches, at SpaceX&#8217;s facility in McGregor, Texas. Phases 1 and 2 would consist of very low test fires with the rocket rising to not more than 73 meters (240 feet) during Phase 1 and 204 meters (670 feet), which is below controlled-airspace. Both Phase 1 and 2 flights would last up to 45 seconds.
> 
> Phase 3 tests have the goal of increasingly higher altitudes with higher ascent speeds and descent speeds. The altitude test sequence likely would be 366 meters (1,200 feet); 762 meters (2,500 feet); 1,524 meters (5,000 feet); 2,286 meters (7,500 feet); and 3,505 meters (11,500) feet. The maximum test duration would be approximately 160 seconds. If all goes well, the Grasshopper would land back on the launch pad.
> 
> 
> Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/98316/...pper-rocket-takes-a-bigger-hop/#ixzz2BLTTJFyM


----------



## Mr. H.

^ this is how rockets were depicted in 50's and 60's sci-fi flicks.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Post-election rumor: next NASA mission will be beyond moon*




> A view of the moon and Earth from 6.2 million miles out, taken by the Galileo spacecraft in 1992.
> Post-election rumor: next NASA mission will be beyond moon | DVICE
> 
> 
> We've known since February that the leading candidate for NASA's next major manned mission is a station located at the L2 Earth-Moon Lagrange Point out beyond the far side of the moon. The latest rumors suggest that this mission was probably approved by the Obama administration, and now that he's been reelected, it has a good chance of actually happening.
> 
> Long term (perhaps by 2030 or 2035), humans are headed for Mars. Medium term (perhaps by 2025), humans are headed for an asteroid. But before all that, within the next decade or so, the next logical stepping stone is probably going to be a manned space station outside of the Earth-moon system. Or at least, that's NASA's plan, provided that the agency receives enough government funding and support. Pre-election, things were less certain, since Mitt Romney would likely have made some substantial changes to NASA's mission. But with Barack Obama back in office for another four years, it's now sounding like NASA can go ahead with plans to send humans out into deep space.
> 
> Before humans stray too far from home, NASA wants to take its fancy new Orion capsule and powerful Space Launch System and park out in space past the moon for a while to see how to keep humans from dying or going crazy after extended stays in deep space. While they're out there, astronauts could also have some fun by teleoperating lunar rovers on the moon's dark side.
> 
> All of this will get kicked off in 2017 with the first (unmanned) launch of the SLS, and the trans-lunar mission could come as early as 2021. Supposedly, this is all more or less within NASA's existing budget structure, and although a lot can happen between now and the 2020s, we're definitely on an optimistic and exciting path towards space.




I think it would make more sense for a space base on the moon. BUT THIS would be cool! Why can't we sat one day on the moon once in the next 10 years? 

What makes it so much harder. Honestly, if the new rocket is the new saturn 5 why couldn't we?


----------



## ScienceRocks

NASA and ESA test interplanetary internet protocol using Lego robot



> Summary: NASA and the European Space Agency have successfully tested something called the Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocol, which they hope will provide internet-like communications in space. They did so by controlling a Lego robot in Germany from the International Space Station.





> NASA and the European Space Agency say they have successfully tested an interplanetary communications protocol, with astronauts on the International Space Station using it to control a Lego robot in Germany.
> The Lego robot. Image: ESA
> The protocol is called Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN), and one of its creators is Vint Cerf, a man who helped come up with the original Internet Protocol suite. NASA and the ESA said on Thursday that DTN may one day allow "internet-like communications" with spaceships and help support infrastructure on other planets.


NASA and ESA test interplanetary internet protocol using Lego robot | ZDNet


----------



## ScienceRocks

Analysts keep close eye on China's mystery space plane
MSNBC ^ | 11/9/2012 5:24:08 PM ET | Leonard David 



> A close-up of China's robotic Shenlong space plane prototype tucked beneath a Chinese H-6 bomber for glide testing in December 2007.
> 
> 
> Last year several Chinese media outlets reported a test flight of the Shenlong space plane that apparently included its airdrop from an H-6 bomber.
> 
> Several China watchers in the U.S. have taken a stab at what the Shenlong (Mandarin for "Divine Dragon) might mean, with some experts conjecturing that the craft is simply a tit-for-tat response to the unmanned X-37B space plane.
> 
> 
> This December 2007 image shows China's robotic Shenlong space plane prototype carried by an H-6 bomber during testing.
> 
> 
> This comparative chart shows Chinas Shenlong and the U.S. Air Force X-37B space plane.
> 
> 
> Space-to-ground military operations
> 
> Other China space program watchdogs are mindful of the military origins of the country's space efforts.
> 
> "Given regular Peoples Liberation Army writings about the importance of space-to-ground military operations in the future, something like an X-43 (an unmanned experimental hypersonic aircraft) or X-37B would also have appeal, as a likely pathway for military purposes," Cheng said.
> 
> 
> 
> This is an alleged screenshot of coverage by Chinas official military television channel depicting a Shenlong test flight.
> 
> 
> The bottom line
> 
> depending on its precise nature, Shenlongs reported test may turn out to be part of a larger trend: a shrinking time gap between when the U.S. discloses a prototype military system and when China publicly shows a system similar in type if not equal in capabilities or immediately operational.
> 
> "Beijings development of space plane programs is broad-based, and their trajectory will represent a key barometer of its civil and military space intentions."



China's mystery space plane draws attention - Technology & science - Space - Space.com | NBC News


----------



## ScienceRocks

Habitable-zone super-Earth candidate in a six-planet system around the K2.5V star HD 40307
[1211.1617] Habitable-zone super-Earth candidate in a six-planet system around the K2.5V star HD 40307



> The K2.5 dwarf HD 40307 has been reported to host three super-Earths. The system lacks massive planets and is therefore a potential candidate for having additional low-mass planetary companions. We re-derive Doppler measurements from public HARPS spectra of HD 40307 to confirm the significance of the reported signals using independent data analysis methods. We also investigate these measurements for additional low-amplitude signals. We used Bayesian analysis of our radial velocities to estimate the probability densities of different model parameters. We also estimated the relative probabilities of models with differing numbers of Keplerian signals and verified their significance using periodogram analyses. We investigated the relation of the detected signals with the chromospheric emission of the star. As previously reported for other objects, we found that radial velocity signals correlated with the S-index are strongly wavelength dependent. We identify two additional clear signals with periods of 34 and 51 days, both corresponding to planet candidates with minimum masses a few times that of the Earth. An additional sixth candidate is initially found at a period of 320 days. However, this signal correlates strongly with the chromospheric emission from the star and is also strongly wavelength dependent. When analysing the red half of the spectra only, the five putative planetary signals are recovered together with a very significant periodicity at about 200 days. This signal has a similar amplitude as the other new signals reported in the current work and corresponds to a planet candidate with M sin i = 7 Me (HD 40307 g). ...


----------



## Mr. H.

If I had a space hammer
I'd space hammer in the mornin'

I'd space hammer in the evenin'

All over this land....


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Mars radiation fine for humans, Curiosity finds*

Initial readings of cosmic ray radiation on Mars suggest it's about the same as on the International Space Station. Now we just need a spaceship.



> by Tim Hornyak
> | November 16, 2012 10:05 AM PST
> 
> 
> "Now, this is the plan. Get your ass to Mars."
> 
> We all remember Schwarzenegger motivating himself to go to the Red Planet in "Total Recall" (anyone bother watching the remake?) and sure we'd like to go too. Now NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has determined that radiation levels on the planet's surface are safe for human explorers.
> 
> "The astronauts can live in this environment," Don Hassler, principal investigator on Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector instrument (RAD), told a news conference.
> 
> "Basically, we're finding that the Mars atmosphere is acting as a shield for the radiation on the surface and as the atmosphere gets thicker, that provides more of a shield and therefore we see a dip in our radiation dose," Hassler said.
> 
> The findings mark the first time that cosmic rays have been measured on the surface of another planet, and come 100 years after Victor Hess discovered cosmic rays on Earth by using a hot-air balloon.



This is a huge reason that Mars is better than the moon.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Has Curiosity Made an &#8216;Earth-Shaking&#8217; Discovery?

by Nancy Atkinson on November 20, 2012



> The Mars Science Laboratory team has hinted that they might have some big news to share soon. But like good scientists, they are waiting until they verify their results before saying anything definitive. In an interview on NPR today, MSL Principal Investigator John Grotzinger said a recent soil sample test in the SAM instrument (Sample Analysis at Mars) shows something &#8216;earthshaking.&#8217;
> 
> &#8220;This data is gonna be one for the history books,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s looking really good.&#8221;
> 
> What could it be?
> 
> SAM is designed to investigate the chemical and isotopic composition of the Martian atmosphere and soil. In particular, SAM is looking for organic molecules, which is important in the search for life on Mars.


 
Read more: http://www.universet.../#ixzz2CnKhGW67

http://news.discovery.com/space/mars-mystery-what-has-curiosity-discovered-121120.html


----------



## ScienceRocks

Skylon spaceplane engine concept achieves key milestone 
By Jonathan Amos







BBC News - Skylon spaceplane engine concept achieves key milestone



> The UK company developing an engine for a new type of spaceplane says it has successfully demonstrated the power unit's enabling technology.
> 
> Reaction Engines Ltd (REL) of Culham, Oxfordshire, ran a series of tests on key elements of its Sabre propulsion system under the independent eye of the European Space Agency (Esa).
> 
> Esa's experts have confirmed that all the demonstration objectives were met.
> 
> REL claims the major technical obstacle to its ideas has now been removed.
> 
> "This is a big moment; it really is quite a big step forward in propulsion," said Alan Bond, the driving force behind the Sabre engine concept.
> 
> The company must now raise the £250m needed to complete the next phase of development.
> 
> This would essentially take the project to the final designs that could be handed to a manufacturer.
> 
> Although the British government has put significant sums into REL's technology in the past, the company's preference is to pursue city finance.
> 
> "The project to date has been more than 90% privately funded, and we intend to continue with that type of structure," explained Tim Hayter, the CEO of Reaction Engines Ltd.
> 
> "Yes, we would encourage government money but we're not reliant on it and we're certainly not depending on it.
> 
> "What is more important to us is government endorsement. That gives everyone the confidence that the UK is behind this project."
> 
> *REL's idea is for an 84m-long vehicle called Skylon that would do the job of a big rocket but operate like an airliner, taking off and landing at a conventional runway.*
> 
> The vehicle would burn a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen but in the low atmosphere the oxygen would be taken from the air, in the same way that a jet engine breathes air.
> 
> The pre-cooler demonstration was a critical step in proving the Skylon concept
> Only once it had achieved very high speeds would Skylon switch to full rocket mode, burning onboard fuel supplies.
> 
> Taking its oxygen from the air in the initial flight phase would mean Skylon could fly lighter from the outset with a higher thrust-to-weight ratio, enabling it to make a single leap to orbit, rather than using and dumping propellant stages on the ascent - as is the case with current expendable rockets.
> 
> If such a vehicle could be made to work, its reusability should transform the costs of accessing space.
> 
> But its success depends on the Sabre engine's ability to manage the very hot air entering its intakes at high speed.
> 
> These gases have to be cooled prior to being compressed and burnt with the onboard hydrogen.
> 
> REL's solution is a module containing arrays of extremely fine piping that can extract the heat and plunge the inrushing air to minus 140C in just 1/100th of a second.
> 
> Ordinarily, the moisture in the air would be expected to freeze out rapidly, covering the piping in a blanket of frost and dislocating their operation.
> 
> But the company's engineers have also devised a means to control the frosting, permitting the Sabre engine to run in jet mode for as long as is needed before making the transition to full rocket mode to take the Skylon spaceplane into orbit.
> 
> *It is the innovative helium cooling loop with its pre-cooler heat-exchanger that REL has been validating on an experimental rig.
> 
> "We completed the programme by getting down to -150C, running for 10 minutes," said Mr Bond. "We've demonstrated that the pre-cooler is behaving absolutely as predicted." *


----------



## ScienceRocks

*The biggest breakthrough in propulsion since the jet engine*

29th November 2012



> Reaction Engines Ltd. has announced what they claim is "the biggest breakthrough in aerospace propulsion technology since the invention of the jet engine." Critical tests have been successfully completed on the key technology for SABRE, an engine which will enable aircraft to reach the opposite side of the world in under 4 hours, or to fly directly into orbit and return in a single stage, taking off and landing on a runway.
> 
> SABRE, an air-breathing rocket engine, utilises both jet turbine and rocket technology. Its innovative pre-cooler technology is designed to cool the incoming airstream from over 1,000°C to minus 150°C in less than 1/100th of a second (six times faster than the blink of an eye) without blocking with frost. Recent tests have proven the cooling technology to be frost-free at the crucial low temperature of -150°C.
> 
> *The European Space Agency (ESA) has evaluated the SABRE engine's pre-cooler heat exchanger on behalf of the UK Space Agency, and has given its official validation to the test results:*
> 
> "The pre-cooler test objectives have all been successfully met and ESA are satisfied that the tests demonstrate the technology required for the SABRE engine development."
> 
> Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts said: *"This is a remarkable achievement for a remarkable company. Building on years of unique engineering know-how, Reaction Engines has shown the world that Britain remains at the forefront of technological innovation and can get ahead in the global race. This technology could revolutionise the future of air and space travel."*
> 
> Well over 100 test runs, undertaken at Reaction Engines Ltd's facility in Oxfordshire, integrated the ground-breaking flight-weight cooling technology and frost control system with a jet engine and a novel helium cooling loop, demonstrating the new technologies in the SABRE engine that drive its highly innovative and efficient thermodynamic cycle. This success adds to a series of other SABRE technology demonstrations undertaken by the company including contra-rotating turbines, combustion chambers, rocket nozzles, and air intakes. It marks a major advance towards the creation of reusable vehicles like SKYLON &#8211; initially designed to transport satellites and cargo, but which could eventually transport people into space at relatively low cost.


 
The biggest breakthrough in propulsion since the jet engine


----------



## Moonglow

NASA wants a digging probe on Mars also.


----------



## ScienceRocks

NASA probe reveals organics, ice on Mercury

NASA probe reveals organics, ice on Mercury | Reuters



> (Reuters) - Despite searing daytime temperatures, Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, has ice and frozen organic materials inside permanently shadowed craters in its north pole, NASA scientists said on Thursday.
> 
> Earth-based telescopes have been compiling evidence for ice on Mercury for 20 years, but the finding of organics was a surprise, say researchers with NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, the first probe to orbit Mercury.
> 
> Both ice and organic materials, which are similar to tar or coal, were believed to have been delivered millions of years ago by comets and asteroids crashing into the planet.
> 
> "It's not something we expected to see, but then of course you realize it kind of makes sense because we see this in other places," such as icy bodies in the outer solar system and in the nuclei of comets, planetary scientist David Paige, with the University of California, Los Angeles, told Reuters.


----------



## Votto

TNHarley said:


> I hate when people say they hate space exploration. "it's a waste of money" they say. How is that smartphone or calculator doing? Wait, that doesn't count right?



You are telling me.  In fact, I think it high time we send a manned mission to Mars.  I hear they have a lot of rocks.......red ones.  That should keep them busy for years!!

Of course, this will be met with some resistance from the Obama administration since it will progably be viewed as a form of seceding from the Union.


----------



## Votto

Moonglow said:


> NASA wants a digging probe on Mars also.



Why are bureaucrats always obsessed with digging large holes?  I don't get it.


----------



## LAfrique

Matthew said:


> All missions and latest advances in space exploration goes here.
> 
> 
> *NASA building a better solid rocket booster for space launch system rocket *
> 
> October 3, 2012 by Bill Hubscher
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ATK employees at the company's Promontory, Utah facility prepare a segment of a qualification motor for NASA's Space Launch System for transport. Credit: ATK (Phys.org)The largest and most powerful solid rocket booster ever built for flight is being assembled for NASA's Space Launch System at ATK Space Systems in Brigham City, Utah, incorporating new cost-savings measures. The SLS will launch NASA's Orion spacecraft and other payloads beyond low Earth orbit, and provide an entirely new capability for human exploration.
> 
> Although similar to the solid rocket boosters that helped power the space shuttle to orbit, the five-segment SLS boosters include several upgrades and improvements implemented by NASA and ATK engineers. In addition, the SLS boosters will be built more affordably and efficiently than shuttle boosters, incorporating new and innovative processes and technologies. "America's next steps in deep space exploration build on the lessons learned from our nation's rich human spaceflight history.
> 
> By using the best-of-the-best from shuttle and improving on previous investments, we will produce the needed solid booster for the first SLS flights," said Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. "We are encouraged by the progress being made at ATK. Their commitment to deliver a safe and high-quality rocket booster is vital as we build SLS to enable exploration to new frontiers in the solar system." New process improvements have been implemented throughout the manufacturing of Qualification Motor-1, the next full-scale test article for SLS booster. Four case segments have now been cast, and the motor will begin assembly in the test stand next month in preparation for a ground test in the spring of 2013.
> 
> The forward segment of the qualification motor for NASA'S Space Launch System is transported through manufacturing and assembly at ATK's facility in Promontory, Utah in preparation for a full-scale ground test there next spring. Credit: ATKImplementing new handling processes, *ATK estimates the total assembly time for the SLS booster can be reduced by approximately 46 percent overall. *In one area, ATK optimized inspection methods and replaced x-ray inspections with an ultrasonic examination of the booster's nozzle, allowing technicians to evaluate the hardware on the production floor.
> 
> In another, *ATK reduced the number of moves from 47 to seven during one phase of booster assembly,* reducing the chance of any damage in transit and greatly reducing the time it takes to complete that production process. "By improving upon proven Space Shuttle solid rocket motor hardware and operations, our shared goal is to deliver a safe, affordable and sustainable launch vehicle," said Alex Priskos, SLS booster manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "We are embracing innovation both technically and in our management processes as we design and build SLS. Through the use of new streamlined approaches and techniques we have been able to drive down costs and enhance the reliability of the hardware."
> 
> The booster team has successfully completed its Booster Requirements Review confirming the five-segment solid rocket motor had a well-understood set of requirements. The review, held at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, included independent consultants and determined the team is ready
> 
> 
> 
> Read more at: NASA building a better solid rocket booster for space launch system rocket
Click to expand...


 Man, what is going on? I thought space travel was now open private business and NASA was finished with rocket launching!


----------



## Politico

New rockets cool. Now if they only had something to attach them to.


----------



## ScienceRocks

LAfrique said:


> Matthew said:
> 
> 
> 
> All missions and latest advances in space exploration goes here.
> 
> 
> *NASA building a better solid rocket booster for space launch system rocket *
> 
> October 3, 2012 by Bill Hubscher
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ATK employees at the company's Promontory, Utah facility prepare a segment of a qualification motor for NASA's Space Launch System for transport. Credit: ATK (Phys.org)The largest and most powerful solid rocket booster ever built for flight is being assembled for NASA's Space Launch System at ATK Space Systems in Brigham City, Utah, incorporating new cost-savings measures. The SLS will launch NASA's Orion spacecraft and other payloads beyond low Earth orbit, and provide an entirely new capability for human exploration.
> 
> Although similar to the solid rocket boosters that helped power the space shuttle to orbit, the five-segment SLS boosters include several upgrades and improvements implemented by NASA and ATK engineers. In addition, the SLS boosters will be built more affordably and efficiently than shuttle boosters, incorporating new and innovative processes and technologies. "America's next steps in deep space exploration build on the lessons learned from our nation's rich human spaceflight history.
> 
> By using the best-of-the-best from shuttle and improving on previous investments, we will produce the needed solid booster for the first SLS flights," said Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. "We are encouraged by the progress being made at ATK. Their commitment to deliver a safe and high-quality rocket booster is vital as we build SLS to enable exploration to new frontiers in the solar system." New process improvements have been implemented throughout the manufacturing of Qualification Motor-1, the next full-scale test article for SLS booster. Four case segments have now been cast, and the motor will begin assembly in the test stand next month in preparation for a ground test in the spring of 2013.
> 
> The forward segment of the qualification motor for NASA'S Space Launch System is transported through manufacturing and assembly at ATK's facility in Promontory, Utah in preparation for a full-scale ground test there next spring. Credit: ATKImplementing new handling processes, *ATK estimates the total assembly time for the SLS booster can be reduced by approximately 46 percent overall. *In one area, ATK optimized inspection methods and replaced x-ray inspections with an ultrasonic examination of the booster's nozzle, allowing technicians to evaluate the hardware on the production floor.
> 
> In another, *ATK reduced the number of moves from 47 to seven during one phase of booster assembly,* reducing the chance of any damage in transit and greatly reducing the time it takes to complete that production process. "By improving upon proven Space Shuttle solid rocket motor hardware and operations, our shared goal is to deliver a safe, affordable and sustainable launch vehicle," said Alex Priskos, SLS booster manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "We are embracing innovation both technically and in our management processes as we design and build SLS. Through the use of new streamlined approaches and techniques we have been able to drive down costs and enhance the reliability of the hardware."
> 
> The booster team has successfully completed its Booster Requirements Review confirming the five-segment solid rocket motor had a well-understood set of requirements. The review, held at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, included independent consultants and determined the team is ready
> 
> 
> 
> Read more at: NASA building a better solid rocket booster for space launch system rocket
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Man, what is going on? I thought space travel was now open private business and NASA was finished with rocket launching!
Click to expand...


  The SLS suppose to be able to put 105-120 tons into space. This is bigger than the saturn 5...All we need is a modern lander and we can land on the moon. 

My problem with Obama is he doesn't have a clear plan.


----------



## Votto

Matthew said:


> LAfrique said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Matthew said:
> 
> 
> 
> All missions and latest advances in space exploration goes here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The SLS suppose to be able to put 105-120 tons into space. This is bigger than the saturn 5...All we need is a modern lander and we can land on the moon.
> 
> My problem with Obama is he doesn't have a clear plan.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No offense, but why are you exited about colonizing the moon exactly?
> 
> It is a dead moon, just like the rest of the solar system.  If you colonize it, it will only be temporary and in the end not cost effective.  There is no escaping the earth which is a planet that is alive.
Click to expand...


----------



## RoccoR

Votto, Mathew, Afrique, _et al,_ 

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but I can tell you how I feel aout it.



Votto said:


> Matthew said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LAfrique said:
> 
> 
> 
> The SLS suppose to be able to put 105-120 tons into space. This is bigger than the saturn 5...All we need is a modern lander and we can land on the moon.
> 
> My problem with Obama is he doesn't have a clear plan.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No offense, but why are you exited about colonizing the moon exactly?
> 
> It is a dead moon, just like the rest of the solar system.  If you colonize it, it will only be temporary and in the end not cost effective.  There is no escaping the earth which is a planet that is alive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> *(COMMENT)*
> 
> I think this is science.  This is something exciting and something I can understand.  We can see results.
> 
> It is much different that all this invisible Dark Energy and Dark Matter magic about which, se can't see.  Some of this new stuff that is coming out makes me wonder what kind of crack some of our scientist are smoking.
> 
> Most Respectfully,
> R
Click to expand...


----------



## ScienceRocks

Votto said:


> Matthew said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LAfrique said:
> 
> 
> 
> The SLS suppose to be able to put 105-120 tons into space. This is bigger than the saturn 5...All we need is a modern lander and we can land on the moon.
> 
> My problem with Obama is he doesn't have a clear plan.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No offense, but why are you exited about colonizing the moon exactly?
> 
> It is a dead moon, just like the rest of the solar system.  If you colonize it, it will only be temporary and in the end not cost effective.  There is no escaping the earth which is a planet that is alive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do you have any clue of the resources of space? Or do you really believe that the earth is the only body in all the universes that has resources??? That would be very short sighted. Each asteroid is worth trillions of dollars worth of rare metals and fresh water all over our solar system...Believe it or not the living planet we live on was formed by asteroids and certainly isn't the be all and end all by any reach of the imagination.
> 
> Maybe because we can??? Maybe because one day we will run out of resources to support our population on this one little planet. Anyone wonder why Obama has chosen astroids and only a year ago Eon mask as Obama's friend is being given everything from contracts for the rockets to get there??? That's because there's serious fucking money to be made and our leadership is waking up to it. Eon Musk now has a business to go mine them.
> 
> Or how about for the fact that it is within humanity's blood to explore and expand our knowledge??? Do we really need anymore reasons. Short sightedness is something that many humans have had over our history...Thank god for the people that have taken steps to move our species forward.
> 
> I'd gladly close 90% of our over sea's bases to expand our space programs to its rightful place.
> 
> One more thing, Eon Musk is a business man that see's money, money and more money. I hope he becomes the next JP Morgan! And if successful in mining asteroids he will have a trillion dollars in his bank account. Hows that for dead????
Click to expand...


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Researchers test novel power system for space travel*

Researchers test novel power system for space travel

The research team recently demonstrated the first use of a heat pipe to cool a small nuclear reactor and power a Stirling engine.



> John Bounds of Los Alamos National Laboratory's Advanced Nuclear Technology Division makes final adjustments on the DUFF experiment, a demonstration of a simple, robust fission reactor prototype that could be used as a power system for space travel. DUFF is the first demonstration of a space nuclear reactor system to produce electricity in the United States since 1965.






> &#8220;Perhaps one of the more important aspects of this experiment is that it was taken from concept to completion in 6 months for less than a million dollars,&#8221; said Los Alamos engineer David Dixon. &#8220;We wanted to show that with a tightly-knit and focused team, it is possible to successfully perform practical reactor testing.&#8221;
> 
> 
> Joint DOE and NASA team demonstrates simple, robust fission reactor prototype
> 
> LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Nov. 26, 2012&#8212;A team of researchers, including engineers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, has demonstrated a new concept for a reliable nuclear reactor that could be used on space flights.
> 
> The research team recently demonstrated the first use of a heat pipe to cool a small nuclear reactor and power a Stirling engine at the Nevada National Security Site&#8217;s Device Assembly Facility near Las Vegas. The Demonstration Using Flattop Fissions (DUFF) experiment produced 24 watts of electricity. A team of engineers from Los Alamos, the NASA Glenn Research Center and National Security Technologies LLC (NSTec) conducted the experiment.


----------



## ScienceRocks

One of the few good things about Obama is the fact that he has made a large part of our space program PRIVATE. Men like Eon Musk now can become the J.P Morgan the 21st century!!! 

Any right winger that doesn't like it is a leftist. One that wants to block humanity from the resources of space!


----------



## Old Rocks

Letting private business take over when the basic R and D is done is the goal of such programs. Bluesky R and D is seldom profitable, and not worth the risk for most businesses. Yet, when it does pay off, the payoff is so spectacular that is changes the way we live.

So NASA plays with experimental vehicles, and the private business uses what is learned to make space trucks. That is as it should be.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Old Rocks said:


> Letting private business take over when the basic R and D is done is the goal of such programs. Bluesky R and D is seldom profitable, and not worth the risk for most businesses. Yet, when it does pay off, the payoff is so spectacular that is changes the way we live.
> 
> So NASA plays with experimental vehicles, and the private business uses what is learned to make space trucks. That is as it should be.



Did you see the skylon news above??? This is going to make space travel cheap. This plane will be able to take stuff up and down. Very important.

We can thank the British for another huge breakthrough. If successful Eon Musk is going to be one rich sob...The J.P Morgan of the 21st century.


----------



## Votto

Matthew said:


> One of the few good things about Obama is the fact that he has made a large part of our space program PRIVATE. Men like Eon Musk now can become the J.P Morgan the 21st century!!!
> 
> Any right winger that doesn't like it is a leftist. One that wants to block humanity from the resources of space!



Is it like how Solyndra was going to take off as well?

I'll believe it when I see it.  My belief on the matter means nothing to them in terms of success or failure.  So now I guess we just sit back and watch.


----------



## whitehall

Where you gonna go and how are you going to survive once you get there? Face it rocketheads, there ain't nothin on Mars and you can't get any further than that in your lifetime.


----------



## ScienceRocks

whitehall said:


> Where you gonna go and how are you going to survive once you get there? Face it rocketheads, there ain't nothin on Mars and you can't get any further than that in your lifetime.



Same was said about the car, computer(yep) and a crap load of stuff. Visionless people need to be shown wrong and normally are. I can't wait until a billionaire does! 

The real rich got there through doing just that! If you think that there isn't anything of value in our solar system...Well, there must be a santa!

Believe me, this kind of close mindless really does hurt the republican party.


----------



## whitehall

Matthew said:


> whitehall said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where you gonna go and how are you going to survive once you get there? Face it rocketheads, there ain't nothin on Mars and you can't get any further than that in your lifetime.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Same was said about the car, computer(yep) and a crap load of stuff. Visionless people need to be shown wrong and normally are. I can't wait until a billionaire does!
> 
> The real rich got there through doing just that! If you think that there isn't anything of value in our solar system...Well, there must be a santa!
> 
> Believe me, this kind of close mindless really does hurt the republican party.
Click to expand...


It must be the new democrat party religion. I guess you gotta have faith when reality is considered to be mindless. It makes you understand how the global warming theories have been embraced by the left. It's all about politics. For the record it ain't a new concept. Einstein said we can't travel even close to the speed of light and it would take the equivlant of the human race and the time of the dinosaurs to travel to a distant star which is the only other energy source other than our Sun and even if we traveled at the speed of light the freaking star might not be there when we arrive. It' a dream people. We are stuck on this hunk of junk and you better get your minds right.


----------



## ScienceRocks

whitehall said:


> Matthew said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> whitehall said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where you gonna go and how are you going to survive once you get there? Face it rocketheads, there ain't nothin on Mars and you can't get any further than that in your lifetime.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Same was said about the car, computer(yep) and a crap load of stuff. Visionless people need to be shown wrong and normally are. I can't wait until a billionaire does!
> 
> The real rich got there through doing just that! If you think that there isn't anything of value in our solar system...Well, there must be a santa!
> 
> Believe me, this kind of close mindless really does hurt the republican party.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It must be the new democrat party religion. I guess you gotta have faith when reality is considered to be mindless. It makes you understand how the global warming theories have been embraced by the left. It's all about politics. For the record it ain't a new concept. Einstein said we can't travel even close to the speed of light and it would take the equivlant of the human race and the time of the dinosaurs to travel to a distant star which is the only other energy source other than our Sun and even if we traveled at the speed of light the freaking star might not be there when we arrive. It' a dream people. We are stuck on this hunk of junk and you better get your minds right.
Click to expand...


We don't have to leave the solar system. One asteroid is worth many trillions of dollars and moons like Europa has fresh water oceans that are 50-70 miles deep. Who's talking about going outside of the solar system? Why do we want to limit ourselves to one planet. There will become a time when who ever that controls the mining of asteroids will be the economic power of earth. 

Warp drive that now takes about the mass of a small car in energy seems to be possible. Moving space is possible. We wouldn't have the world we enjoy today if there wasn't risk takers.


----------



## RoadVirus

Votto said:


> Matthew said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LAfrique said:
> 
> 
> 
> The SLS suppose to be able to put 105-120 tons into space. This is bigger than the saturn 5...All we need is a modern lander and we can land on the moon.
> 
> My problem with Obama is he doesn't have a clear plan.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No offense, but why are you exited about colonizing the moon exactly?
> 
> It is a dead moon, just like the rest of the solar system.  If you colonize it, it will only be temporary and in the end not cost effective.  There is no escaping the earth which is a planet that is alive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So we just sit here on this one planet forever, never moving foward amongst the stars?
Click to expand...


----------



## ScienceRocks

RoadVirus said:


> Votto said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Matthew said:
> 
> 
> 
> No offense, but why are you exited about colonizing the moon exactly?
> 
> It is a dead moon, just like the rest of the solar system.  If you colonize it, it will only be temporary and in the end not cost effective.  There is no escaping the earth which is a planet that is alive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So we just sit here on this one planet forever, never moving foward amongst the stars?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Some people wouldn't of sailed the sea's or left the horse and buggy. It's sad. Thank god we have people that do.
Click to expand...


----------



## Votto

Matthew said:


> whitehall said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where you gonna go and how are you going to survive once you get there? Face it rocketheads, there ain't nothin on Mars and you can't get any further than that in your lifetime.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Same was said about the car, computer(yep) and a crap load of stuff. Visionless people need to be shown wrong and normally are. I can't wait until a billionaire does!
> 
> The real rich got there through doing just that! If you think that there isn't anything of value in our solar system...Well, there must be a santa!
> 
> Believe me, this kind of close mindless really does hurt the republican party.
Click to expand...


But billionares are the new evil targets of progressives.  How long do you think they can hold out?

Let me just say, the potential of the human mind is limitless.  However, the faulty petty selfish nature limits them to such a degree that their limitless potential is almost rendered null and void.

Then again, being able to dream is what keeps us going, so keep dreaming my friend!!


----------



## ScienceRocks

Life would be pretty pointless if people didn't push the boundries. There may come a time when our species find it within our interest to seek out the resources within our own solar system.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China plans to grow vegetables on Moon, Mars*

http://economictimes...ow/17463990.cms



> Gardening in space! Chinese astronauts may grow fresh vegetables in extraterrestrial bases on Moon or Mars in the future to provide food and oxygen supplies to astronauts, an official said after a successful lab experiment.
> 
> Deng Yibing, deputy director of the Beijing-based Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Center, said that the recent experiment focused on a dynamic balanced mechanism of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water between people and plants in a closed system.
> 
> According to Deng, a cabin of 300 cubic metres was established to provide sustainable supplies of air, water and food for two participants during the experiment, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
> Four kinds of vegetables were grown, taking in carbon dioxide and providing oxygen for the two people living in the cabin. They could also harvest fresh vegetables for meals, Deng said.


----------



## Mr. H.

This caught my eye because a good friend used to work for Orbital Sciences before getting laid off a few years ago. Maybe they'll call him back. 

Orbital Sciences Replaces SpaceX on Stratolaunch Project - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON &#8212; _After the exit of launch services provider Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Corp. as its rocket subcontractor, Stratolaunch Systems has turned to Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., to keep the world's largest air-launch-to-orbit system on track for a 2017 test flight._


----------



## ScienceRocks

*3D Printer Could Transform Moon Dirt Into Lunar Base*




> Megan Gannon, News Editor
> 
> Date: 04 December 2012 Time: 06:20 AM ET
> 3D Printer Could Transform Moon Dirt Into Lunar Base | Space.com
> 
> For space scientists dreaming up a manned base on the moon, 3D printing with lunar dust looms as an attractive possibility. Such on-demand fabrication would allow astronauts to repair broken parts, manufacture spare ones and maybe even build structures, all out of the dirt scooped from under their boots.
> 
> In a new study involving artificial moon dust, engineers have shown that the technology is close to becoming reality.
> 
> With 10 pounds of simulated lunar dirt (or regolith) in hand, NASA officials approached researchers at Washington State University and challenged them to melt and resolidify the fake moon rock using 3D laser printing technology, which produces objects layer by layer based on a computer model.
> 
> 
> The simulant is an expensive combination of silicon, aluminum, calcium, iron and magnesium oxides. Meant to mimic the properties of the regolith found on the moon, the powdery material had a particle structure resembling that of ceramics.
> 
> Because of their tendency to crack, ceramics can be tough to manipulate using 3D printers. But the WSU researchers, including husband-and-wife team Amit Bandyopadhyay and Susmita Bose, had previously demonstrated that ceramic-like material can be re-formed with an on-demand fabricator to create custom-made bone scaffolding.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Van Allen Probes reveal new dynamics of radiation belts*
December 6, 2012 
Van Allen Probes reveal new dynamics of radiation belts



> Phys.org)&#8212;Just 96 days since their launch, NASA's twin Van Allen Probes have already provided new insights into the structure and behavior of the radiation belts that surround Earth, giving scientists a clearer understanding about the fundamental physical properties of these regions more than half a century after their discovery.
> 
> 
> In a press conference on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at the American Geophysical Union's 2012 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, members of the Van Allen Probes science team discussed current findings made in unlocking the mysteries of the radiation belts. These two donut-shaped regions of high-energy and hazardous particles &#8211; named for their discoverer and the mission's namesake, American physicist James Van Allen of the University of Iowa &#8211; are created by our planet's magnetosphere, and can harm space technologies such as satellites, as well as affect human space travel.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*The Earth at night*



> In stunning new images of Earth taken at night, the Suomi NPP satellite shows how the lights from our cities illuminate the black marble globe. The composite image, taken in April and October, was mapped over existing Blue Marble imagery of Earth to provide a realistic view of the planet.


 The Earth at night - NASA releases incredible views of the Earth at night (pictures) - CNET News

http://eoimages2.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/79000/79765/dnb_land_ocean_ice.2012.3600x1800.jpg


----------



## ScienceRocks

I'll tell you straight up...If we cut our science and technology programs that will be the day we become a second rate power. History shows clearly that a nation is based on two things, 1# Millitary, 2# technology and science. 

Both use each other to build a nation into something great. America becomes Mexico if we cut science.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*'Golden Spike' Plans to Fly People to the Moon*


'Golden Spike' Plans to Fly People to the Moon : Discovery News



> A Colorado company run by former NASA managers plans to offer missions to the moon at a cost of about $1.5 billion.
> 
> By making use of existing rockets and commercial spaceships already in development, the company expects it will need raise between $7 billion and $8 billion to set up operations, said Alan Stern, a former NASA associate administrator who serves as president and chief executive of Golden Spike.
> 
> 
> VIDEO: NASA smashes the LCROSS and spent Centaur rocket into the moon in a search of water.
> 
> ANALYSIS: Strip Mine the Moon to Fuel Space Exploration
> 
> "There's a hunger out there for lunar exploration," Stern told reporters during a press conference on Thursday unveiling the venture.
> 
> "We can fly human missions for the cost of a robotics one," he said.
> 
> In addition to wealthy tourists, Golden Spike says its market research identified 25 nations that are in a position to afford and have the desire for lunar expeditions.


----------



## ScienceRocks

SpaceX lands first military contracts, a big step for private space flight
By James Plafke on December 7, 2012 at 4:11 pm

SpaceX lands first military contracts, a big step for private space flight | ExtremeTech



> SpaceX has announced that it won two military contracts from the US Air Force, which happen to be the first military contracts the company has ever won. Even though the contracts are one-and-done jobs, if SpaceX performs them well, it could wrestle US Air Force business away from United Launch Alliance (ULA), the company that usually handles the biggest Air Force launches.


----------



## ScienceRocks

US to launch anew secretive space plane
December 10, 2012 



> The United States is planning a new launch of its tiny, pilotless military space plane on Tuesday as part of a futuristic Air Force program that has fueled speculation over its mission.


US to launch anew secretive space plane


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Air Force&#8217;s Secret X-37B Space Plane Launches on Third Mission*

by Nancy Atkinson on December 11, 2012








> An Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station today, carrying the Air Force&#8217;s X-37B space plane into orbit on its third classified mission. Launch took place at 1:03 EST (18:03 UTC) for the unmanned orbital test vehicle, which looks like a mini space shuttle.
> 
> The U.S. Air Force has not released any details of what may be on board the vehicle or what its mission may be. United Launch Alliance provided a webcast of the launch, but the broadcast was ended &#8220;at the request of our customer (the Air Force),&#8221; when the space plane successfully reached orbit.
> .



Read more: Air Force&#8217;s Secret X-37B Space Plane Launches on Third Mission

Our military has themselves a space plane!


----------



## ScienceRocks

Pack up the space canoe: 200 mile &#8220;Mini Nile&#8221; spotted on Saturn moon Titan
Chris Davies, Dec 13th 2012 Discuss [5] 



> NASA has identified what appears to be a huge river system on Saturn&#8217;s moon Titan, after the spacecraft Cassini performed a close flyby and snapped photos of what&#8217;s believed to be a 200 mile long, liquid-filled trench. The river valley, compared to Earth&#8217;s Nile River by NASA by virtue of its sheer scale, is the largest ever to have been observed other than on our planet, though it&#8217;s not filled with water. Instead, the Titan river is believed to be made up of the liquid hydrocarbons that give the moon its unusual precipitation.








Pack up the space canoe: 200 mile &#8220;Mini Nile&#8221; spotted on Saturn moon Titan - SlashGear


----------



## Old Rocks

Matthew said:


> Pack up the space canoe: 200 mile Mini Nile spotted on Saturn moon Titan
> Chris Davies, Dec 13th 2012 Discuss [5]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> NASA has identified what appears to be a huge river system on Saturns moon Titan, after the spacecraft Cassini performed a close flyby and snapped photos of whats believed to be a 200 mile long, liquid-filled trench. The river valley, compared to Earths Nile River by NASA by virtue of its sheer scale, is the largest ever to have been observed other than on our planet, though its not filled with water. Instead, the Titan river is believed to be made up of the liquid hydrocarbons that give the moon its unusual precipitation.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pack up the space canoe: 200 mile Mini Nile spotted on Saturn moon Titan - SlashGear
Click to expand...


We need to design a Curiosity type vehicle to explore Titan. This is one of the most fascinating objects in our solar system. Also, a very good candidate for "Life as we don't know it".


----------



## ScienceRocks

Old Rocks said:


> Matthew said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pack up the space canoe: 200 mile Mini Nile spotted on Saturn moon Titan
> Chris Davies, Dec 13th 2012 Discuss [5]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> NASA has identified what appears to be a huge river system on Saturns moon Titan, after the spacecraft Cassini performed a close flyby and snapped photos of whats believed to be a 200 mile long, liquid-filled trench. The river valley, compared to Earths Nile River by NASA by virtue of its sheer scale, is the largest ever to have been observed other than on our planet, though its not filled with water. Instead, the Titan river is believed to be made up of the liquid hydrocarbons that give the moon its unusual precipitation.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pack up the space canoe: 200 mile Mini Nile spotted on Saturn moon Titan - SlashGear
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We need to design a Curiosity type vehicle to explore Titan. This is one of the most fascinating objects in our solar system. Also, a very good candidate for "Life as we don't know it".
Click to expand...


We can agree on this one my friend.  I wish we would stop protecting the world with hundreds of bases all over the world and fund our edge in science. 

The advancements and cures would be well worth it. Now I do think we should have a first rate military that has the best but just for us.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Chinese spacecraft sends back snapshots of near-miss asteroid*



> While the rest of the world was content to just let the mountain-sized asteroid 4179 Toutatis zip right past Earth without being molested, China sent a spacecraft out to get a closer look at this potential herald of an extinction-level event.
> 
> We'd originally heard that China's Chang'e 2 spacecraft (which was puttering around out in space after its successful 2010 lunar survey mission) would pass within about a 100 miles of Toutatis. This is very, very close, as distances out in space go. Instead, Chang'e 2 apparently passed within two miles of Toutatis. Two. We don't know whether this was intentional or an accident, but either way, that's ridiculously, suicideally close, especially consider that the probe was travelling at 6.7 miles per second relative to the asteroid. For scale, the asteroid is about three miles long, and the largest surface feature in the picture is about 35 feet across.
> 
> The pictures you're looking at here were taken from as close as 58 miles away, using a one megapixel auxiliary camera originally designed to provide verification of a successful solar panel deployment. Chang'e 2 also has on board a high resolution stereo camera, along with a laser altimeter and a variety of spectrometers, but we don't yet know whether any of these instruments were turned on during the flyby. So, it's possible that we'll get back even better pictures somewhere down the line, but for now, these ones are fairly spectacular all by themselves.



Chinese spacecraft sends back snapshots of near-miss asteroid | DVICE

Just the start of CHINA owning space. America is dying.


----------



## RoadVirus

Matthew said:


> *Chinese spacecraft sends back snapshots of near-miss asteroid*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> While the rest of the world was content to just let the mountain-sized asteroid 4179 Toutatis zip right past Earth without being molested, China sent a spacecraft out to get a closer look at this potential herald of an extinction-level event.
> 
> We'd originally heard that China's Chang'e 2 spacecraft (which was puttering around out in space after its successful 2010 lunar survey mission) would pass within about a 100 miles of Toutatis. This is very, very close, as distances out in space go. Instead, Chang'e 2 apparently passed within two miles of Toutatis. Two. We don't know whether this was intentional or an accident, but either way, that's ridiculously, suicideally close, especially consider that the probe was travelling at 6.7 miles per second relative to the asteroid. For scale, the asteroid is about three miles long, and the largest surface feature in the picture is about 35 feet across.
> 
> The pictures you're looking at here were taken from as close as 58 miles away, using a one megapixel auxiliary camera originally designed to provide verification of a successful solar panel deployment. Chang'e 2 also has on board a high resolution stereo camera, along with a laser altimeter and a variety of spectrometers, but we don't yet know whether any of these instruments were turned on during the flyby. So, it's possible that we'll get back even better pictures somewhere down the line, but for now, these ones are fairly spectacular all by themselves.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Chinese spacecraft sends back snapshots of near-miss asteroid | DVICE
> 
> Just the start of CHINA owning space. America is dying.
Click to expand...


Meanwhile, Obama is wanting NASA to worry more about climate change and Muslim "outreach".


----------



## Mr. H.

It looks like a big ol' tater.


----------



## ScienceRocks

RoadVirus said:


> Matthew said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Chinese spacecraft sends back snapshots of near-miss asteroid*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> While the rest of the world was content to just let the mountain-sized asteroid 4179 Toutatis zip right past Earth without being molested, China sent a spacecraft out to get a closer look at this potential herald of an extinction-level event.
> 
> We'd originally heard that China's Chang'e 2 spacecraft (which was puttering around out in space after its successful 2010 lunar survey mission) would pass within about a 100 miles of Toutatis. This is very, very close, as distances out in space go. Instead, Chang'e 2 apparently passed within two miles of Toutatis. Two. We don't know whether this was intentional or an accident, but either way, that's ridiculously, suicideally close, especially consider that the probe was travelling at 6.7 miles per second relative to the asteroid. For scale, the asteroid is about three miles long, and the largest surface feature in the picture is about 35 feet across.
> 
> The pictures you're looking at here were taken from as close as 58 miles away, using a one megapixel auxiliary camera originally designed to provide verification of a successful solar panel deployment. Chang'e 2 also has on board a high resolution stereo camera, along with a laser altimeter and a variety of spectrometers, but we don't yet know whether any of these instruments were turned on during the flyby. So, it's possible that we'll get back even better pictures somewhere down the line, but for now, these ones are fairly spectacular all by themselves.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Chinese spacecraft sends back snapshots of near-miss asteroid | DVICE
> 
> Just the start of CHINA owning space. America is dying.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Meanwhile, Obama is wanting NASA to worry more about climate change and Muslim "outreach".
Click to expand...


Why do we fear North Korea while Ignoring China? They just went within 2 miles of a asteroid going 6 miles/second. They could land a nuke on each and everyone of our cities.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Astronomer discovers three potentially habitable planets orbiting around one red dwarf
Astronomer discovers three potentially habitable planets orbiting around one red dwarf

George Dvorsky



> Canadian astronomer Philip Gregory has confirmed that there are three habitable zone planets orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 667C. The star, which is part of a trinary star system, is only 22 light-years away and it features a planet that's only twice the mass of Earth &#8212; making it the lowest mass planet found in a habitable zone thus far.
> 
> New results with old data
> 
> Astronomers have known about the Gliese 667 system for some time &#8212; including the fact that it features some interesting exoplanets. But now, armed with new telescopic techniques, scientists have been able to study the triple star system in much greater detail.
> 
> Specifically, Gregory re-analyzed data acquired by the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher, HARPS, which is part of the European Southern Observatory's 3.6 metre telescope in Chile. But this time he performed a Bayesian analysis based on a fusion Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm &#8212; a system that allowed him to sample probability distributions.
> 
> Looking at the new results, he confirmed the presence of at least six planets, including the three potentially habitable ones.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*A home from home: Five planets that could host life *



> The nearest single Sun-like star to the Earth hosts five planets - one of which is in the "habitable zone" where liquid water can exist, astronomers say.
> 
> Tau Ceti's planetary quintet - reported in an online paper that will appear in Astronomy and Astrophysics - was found in existing planet-hunting data.
> 
> The study's refined methods of sifting through data should help find even more far-flung worlds.
> 
> The star now joins Alpha Centauri as a nearby star known to host planets.
> 
> In both those cases, the planets were found not by spying them through a telescope but rather by measuring the subtle effects they have on their host stars' light.



BBC News - Tau Ceti's planets nearest around single, Sun-like star

20 years ago our government would of doubled the nasa budget if such discoveries were found. Today, O'nooo's, fuck discovery lets build another base in someones country!

Under 12 light years http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_Ceti 

Between this and the discovery above of habitable planets at 20 light years this is turning out to be one hell of a end of a year!

*Astronomers Discover Potentially Habitable Earth-Like Planet Very Near Us*

http://gizmodo.com/
Jesus Diaz



> This is really exciting: an international team of astronomers has discovered that Tau Ceti, the closest single star like our Sun, has planets just like our solar system. But more importantly, one of these planets orbits in the habitable zone around the star.
> 
> Tau Ceti is very close to Earth. It's only 12 light-years away, which in cosmic terms is just around the corner. It's so close that we can see it with the naked eye at night


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Spaceport Sweden and Qinetiq explore commercial spaceflight*

19 December 2012




> Spaceport Sweden and Qinetiq have signed a strategic partnering agreement to identify, explore and exploit opportunities in commercial human spaceflight (CHSF).
> 
> Under the agreement, Spaceport Sweden and Qinetiq will initially use the Flight Physiological Centre (FPC) in Linköping, Sweden, to develop a preparation programme for CHSF passengers.
> 
> &#8216;Spaceport Sweden is establishing commercial human spaceflights and Europe&#8217;s gateway to space and is proud to be partnering with Qinetiq to further our development and offering. Initially we will seek to develop and deliver a world-class spaceflight preparation programme together, where future space travellers will emerge prepared, confident and relaxed, ready to maximise their journey to space,&#8217; said Karin Nilsdotter, chief executive officer of Spaceport Sweden, in a statement




Read more: Spaceport Sweden and Qinetiq explore commercial spaceflight | News | The Engineer


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA Public Affairs Officer Josh Byerly and Spacesuit Engineer Amy Ross with the Z-1.
 To infinity, and beyond!*



> As least, that&#8217;s what NASA must think, considering the design of its new Z-1 spacesuit. The prototype comes with a number of neat features to make Buzz Lightyear Aldrin proud.
> 
> The white and green suits designed by contractors David Clark Company are good for use in all aspects of NASA space exploration&#8212;a one-outfit-suits-all deal&#8212;which in turn should help NASA save precious funds. Other than the green strips, another striking element is the large hatch on the back to help you climb in and out of the suit. This also doubles as a dock that attaches you to the side of a shuttle or station&#8212;no need for an airlock on the craft.
> 
> The Z-1's joints are more flexible than those on previous space suits (which should make it it easier for astronauts to move around) and provides improved radiation protection. They&#8217;ll still look a bit like the Marshmallow Man though, seeing as the suits have to carry a certain amount of air for protection against the elements (or lack of!).


 NASA's space suit prototype will take us to infinity...and beyond | TechHive


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Four planets in 'habitable zones' spotted within spitting distance of Earth *

Four planets in 'habitable zones' spotted within spitting distance of Earth - CSMonitor.com


> Astronomers say they used a new statistical technique to find four possible super-Earths orbiting in the habitable zone of two stars within 22 light-years of Earth, Gliese 667C and tau Ceti.
> 
> Three of those candidate planets are among a tightly packed clutch of five that orbit Gliese 667C, part of a triple-star system 22 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. The other possible planet is one of five orbiting tau Ceti, a sun-like star 12 light-years away in the constellation Cetus


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Passes Key Flight Test*

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Passes Key Flight Test | Commercial Suborbital Spacecraft | Space.com

Suborbital SpaceShipTwo makes safe landing after Dec. 19 drop test. 




> After a high-altitude release from the WhiteKnightTwo mothership, SpaceShipTwo  was piloted to a smooth runway touchdown Wednesday (Dec. 19), scoring a successful test drop and checking off a number of milestones.
> 
> "Today was a big step closer to first powered flight," said George Whitesides, CEO and president of Virgin Galactic, a spaceliner firm backed by British entrepreneur Richard Branson.
> 
> "We had a variety of systems newly installed on the vehicle," Whitesides told SPACE.com. "The most important were the components of the rocket system, including all the flight-ready tanks and valves. But we also flew with flight-ready thermal protection materials on the leading edges of the vehicle for the first time," he said.



Why not go all the way?


----------



## ScienceRocks

*A novel twist on space launches*



> In October, a small team of rocket scientists gathered in the middle of the Mojave Desert to watch a launch they hoped would help change space flight forever.
> 
> Spaceplane engine passes key test
> 
> 
> Poised in front of them on the flat, open pan was a slender, 7.5-m (25-ft) tall, Garvey Prospector P-15 sounding rocket. To the untrained eye, the rocket was nothing special. But inside was a radical new engine technology that promises to cut the size, weight and therefore the cost of putting a rocket &#8211; and payload &#8211; into space.
> 
> When the countdown clock ticked zero, the rocket fizzed into a roar and rose rapidly from its launch pad; its blazing engine pushing the rocket to 270 m/s (600 mph). After 30 seconds, the engine cut out and the first of the rocket&#8217;s red parachutes popped from their casing. The flight test was a success.
> 
> For the crew from Orbital Technologies Corp (Orbitec) that built the test motor, it was another step in its decade-plus-long journey to prove its technology and show it to be an attractive alternative to a technology that&#8217;s been around since the birth of rocketry and one that is still used in most big rockets today.
> 
> *&#8220;Orbitec is ready and excited to compete for any future rocket engine and propulsion application,&#8221; Paul Zamprelli, business director at the firm said at the time. He and his colleagues believe that their &#8220;game-changing technology&#8221; could have a major impact on lowering the cost of space access. &#8220;We look forward to supplying the Air Force, Nasa and commercial markets with all of our affordable advanced engines and technologies.&#8221;*
> 
> Cyclonic swirl
> 
> To understand why Orbitec&#8217;s engines are different, you must first understand how larger liquid-fuel rocket engines &#8211; the ones that power astronauts and satellites into orbit &#8211; work. At their most basic these rockets have a combustion chamber that&#8217;s fed by two pressurised tanks &#8211; one of a rocket fuel and one of an oxidiser. When these two are forced into the chamber they mix, ignite and the exhausts are sent at high speed through a nozzle at the end of the rocket, propelling it forward.
> 
> At full thrust, these engines get incredibly hot, reaching temperatures upwards of 3,000C (5,400F) or more, hot enough to melt the metal chamber in which the rocket fuel mixes with oxygen and burns. At these extremes, even rockets with sidewalls made of heat-resistant superalloys would fail catastrophically.
> 
> To solve this problem, rocket scientists usually incorporate vein-like networks of cooling tubes through the sides of the combustion chamber which contain heat-absorbing liquid fuels that carry off excess thermal energy. The arrangement is like a car&#8217;s radiator system with internal coolant ducts arrayed around the outside of the engine core. It is only through this so-called "regenerative cooling" system that the rocket is able to maintain its structural integrity. Although the system works it adds considerable weight, cost and complexity to the engine.
> 
> *Orbitec&#8217;s alternative approach keeps the hot burning gases away from the chamber surfaces altogether. The company&#8217;s patented designs create a cyclonic swirl, or vortex, of fuel and oxygen that holds the searing gases and fumes in the very centre of the cylindrical combustion chamber, away from the vulnerable sidewalls.
> 
> &#8220;Our vortex generator eliminates the high temperatures at the inner surfaces of the engine,&#8221; says Martin Chiaverini, principal propulsion engineer at the firm. &#8220;You can touch the exterior during lab-test firings and not get burned.&#8221;*
> 
> The vortex, or swirl, is produced by placing the oxidiser nozzles at the base of the combustion chamber and aiming them tangentially to the inner surface of its curving walls. This produces an outer vortex of cool gases that spiral up the walls forming a protective, cooling barrier. When this meets the top of the chamber it is mixed with rocket fuel and forced inward and down, forming a second, inner, descending vortex in the centre of the chamber that is concentrated like a tornado. The escaping downward stream of hot, high-pressure gases are then forced through the nozzle at the back of the chamber, producing thrust



BBC - Future - Science & Environment - A novel twist on space launches


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX successfully tests reusable rocket dubbed &#8216;Grasshopper&#8217; [VIDEO]*



> SpaceX, the Southern California-based space company, has reportedly successfully tested a reusable rocket that it hopes will reduce the cost of traveling to space.
> 
> The company &#8212; officially known as Space Exploration Technologies Corporation &#8212; released a video Monday showing the test flight of its Grasshopper rocket, which took off and hovered twelve stories off the ground. After launch, it hovers in the air &#8212; and lands vertically.
> 
> &#8220;The 12-story flight marks a significant increase over the height and length of hover of Grasshopper&#8217;s previous test flights, which took place earlier this fall. In September, Grasshopper flew to 1.8 meters (6 feet), and in November, it flew to 5.4 meters (17.7 feet/2 stories) including a brief hover,&#8221; SpaceX said in statement issued Sunday.
> 
> The test was conducted December 17 at SpaceX&#8217;s rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas. The company had conducted a number of tests and this was widely seen as its most advanced test to date.
> 
> Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of the company, tweeted on Monday, saying the launch was a success.
> 
> &#8220;To provide a little perspective on the size of Grasshopper, we added a 6ft cowboy to the rocket,&#8221; he wrote on Twitter.


SpaceX successfully tests reusable rocket dubbed &#8216;Grasshopper&#8217; [VIDEO] | Science Recorder



> SpaceX's Grasshopper takes a 12-story leap towards full and rapid rocket reusability in a test flight conducted December 17, 2012 at SpaceX's rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas. Grasshopper, a vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (VTVL), *rose 131 feet (40 meters), *hovered and landed safely on the pad using closed loop thrust vector and throttle control. The total test duration was 29 seconds.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Russia completes design for next-gen lunar spacecraft*




> Russia has been sending Soyuz capsules into space since the late 1960s. As spaceships go, they're simple, cheap, and dead nuts reliable, but the design is old enough that taking a Soyuz capsule much beyond Earth orbit isn't really an option. We've just heard that Russia has finalized the design for a new spacecraft that will be able to take humans all the way to the Moon.
> 
> The new capsule is called the "Prospective Piloted Transport System," or PPTS. More officially, it's known as the "New Generation Piloted Transport Ship," or PTK NP, or, if you want to get really fancy about things, the Pilotiruemyi Transportny Korabl Novogo Pokoleniya. The contract to design the PPTS was awarded to RKK Energia (which has been making Soyuz) back in 2009, and it sounds like the PPTS prototype will be ready for its first flight quite soon:
> 
> "We have completed the technical design project taking into account the fact that the new spaceship is to fly to the moon, among other places," Energia President Vitaly Lopota said Wednesday. "If we get normal financing, we will start flight tests of the spaceship in 2017."
> "The moon among other places" means near-Earth asteroids or perhaps even Mars, suggesting that there will likely be several different versions of the capsule, appropriate for Earth orbit cargo transfer, lunar missions, and beyond. We already know that Russia has plans to send humans to the Moon and Mars between 2020 and 2050, and it's looking like the PPTS is what's going to get them there.


Russia completes design for next-gen lunar spacecraft | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA&#8217;s NEXT ion drive breaks world record, will eventually power interplanetary missions*
By Sebastian Anthony on December 28, 2012 at 11:29 am

NASA&#8217;s NEXT ion drive breaks world record, will eventually power interplanetary missions | ExtremeTech



> Proving yet again that Star Trek was scarily prescient, NASA has announced that its NEXT ion drive &#8212; NASA&#8217;s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster &#8212; has operated continually for over 43,000 hours (five years). This is an important development, as ion thrusters are pegged as one of the best ways to power long-term deep-space missions to other planets and solar systems. With a proven life time of at least five years, NEXT engines just made a very big step towards powering NASA&#8217;s next-gen spacecraft.


----------



## ScienceRocks

70% of what's holding us back is surface to orbit. Cut the cost and we will see a lot more space travel....There's been 3 really big improvements this year.

1# The reaction engine has been proven(skylon, A2)
2# Grasshopper in the youtube video above is proving to be a success. 
3# A few post above about the "vortex" keeping the heat within the center of the rocket. This could cut down the cost of launching to space.

Any one of these three are huge. I can't remember the last time I've seen so many real advancements in this area of space travel.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Japan Launching Ambitious Asteroid-Sampling Mission in 2014

Japan Launching Hayabusa2 Asteroid-Sampling Probe in 2014 | Space.com
by Leonard David, SPACE.com&#8217;s Space Insider Columnist



> Japan's space agency is readying a new asteroid probe for launch, an ambitious mission that aims to build on the victory of the country's first round-trip asteroid mission that sent the Hayabusa spacecraft to retrieve samples of the space rock Itokowa.
> 
> The new Japanese asteroid mission, called Hayabusa2, is scheduled for launch in 2014 and aimed at the asteroid 1999 JU3, a large space rock about 3,018 feet (920 meters) in length. It is due to arrive at the asteroid in mid-2018, loiter at the space rock and carry out a slew of challenging firsts before departing the scene at the end of 2019.
> 
> If all goes well, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft will return to Earth with samples of asteroid 1999 JU3 at the end of 2020. The probe's name is Japanese for "Falcon2."


----------



## ScienceRocks

Earth microbes can survive on Mars, study finds
Brittany Hillen, Dec 28th 2012 Discuss [3] 



> In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences and the University of Florida show that the anaerobic organism Carnobacterium can survive on the Red Planet. This comes after years of belief that any Earth microbes that make their way to Mars via devices sent there, such as the Curiosity rover, won't survive the conditions. In light of this information, scientists have to be more careful than ever to avoid sending microbes to the Martian planet.


Earth microbes can survive on Mars, study finds - SlashGear


Insanity...Why not take these 6 to mars?


----------



## ScienceRocks

Planets abound: Astronomers estimate that at least 100 billion planets populate the galaxy
January 3, 2013 by Marcus Woo 
Planets abound: Astronomers estimate that at least 100 billion planets populate the galaxy



> Caltech astronomers have estimated that the Milky Way Galaxy contains at least 100 billion planets.
> 
> (Phys.org)&#8212;Look up at the night sky and you'll see stars, sure. But you're also seeing planets&#8212;billions and billions of them. At least.
> 
> 
> That's the conclusion of a new study by astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) that provides yet more evidence that planetary systems are the cosmic norm. The team made their estimate while analyzing planets orbiting a star called Kepler-32&#8212;planets that are representative, they say, of the vast majority in the galaxy and thus serve as a perfect case study for understanding how most planets form.
> 
> "There's at least 100 billion planets in the galaxy&#8212;just our galaxy," says John Johnson, assistant professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech and coauthor of the study, which was recently accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. "That's mind-boggling."
> 
> "It's a staggering number, if you think about it," adds Jonathan Swift, a postdoc at Caltech and lead author of the paper. "Basically there's one of these planets per star."
> 
> The planetary system in question, which was detected by the Kepler space telescope, contains five planets. The existence of two of those planets have already been confirmed by other astronomers. The Caltech team confirmed the remaining three, then analyzed the five-planet system and compared it to other systems found by the Kepler mission.



I'd say it's insanity to quite exporation and advancement into space.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Plan for dragging asteroid into lunar orbit surfaced*



Mark Hoffman

First Posted: Jan 04, 2013 04:44 PM EST




> Plans by NASA to utilize a robotic spacecraft to drag a small asteroid to a lunar orbit surfaced today. According to researchers with the Keck Institute for Space Studies in California, such a mission would cost about $2.6 billion and could happen by the 2020s, New Scientist reports.
> 
> The plan envisioned by the team from Keck Institute involves a slow-moving spacecraft with an ion-engine, that would catch a rather tiny asteroid the size of a small bus in a bag, and then adjust its trajectory towards a high lunar orbit, a process that could take up to 10 years to complete.


Plan for dragging asteroid into lunar orbit surfaced : Space & The Future : Science World Report

When you think about it this is a REALLY good idea...We have to practice this in case a bigger one comes our way.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Will China Launch an Anti-Satellite Test Soon?*


http://www.space.com/19137-china-anti-satellite-launch-test.html


> China may be gearing up to perform a controversial anti-satellite test this month, perhaps in the next week or two, some experts say.
> 
> For several months, rumors have been circulating within the United States defense and intelligence communities that a Chinese anti-satellite test is imminent, says Gregory Kulacki of the Union of Concerned Scientists. It could even be conducted on Jan. 11, the date on which China performed ASAT operations in both 2007 and 2010.
> 
> "Given these high-level administration concerns, and past Chinese practice, there seems to be a strong possibility China will conduct an ASAT test within the next few weeks," Kulacki wrote in a blog post today (Jan. 4). "What kind of test and what the target might be is


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Billions of Earthlike Planets Crowd Milky Way?*

Our galaxy is chock-full of rocky worlds, new research suggests.
.
Billions of Earthlike Planets Found in Milky Way

for National Geographic News

Published January 7, 2013




> Tens of billions of Earthlike worlds are strewn across the Milky Way, many of them circling stars very much like our own sun, astronomers said today.
> 
> Earlier research suggested that rocky planets might be much more abundant around small stars than sunlike ones. (Also see "New 'Super Earth' Found at Right Distance for Life.")
> 
> But a fresh analysis of data from NASA's Kepler mission, which launched in 2009, suggests this is not the case, according to new research presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California.
> 
> "We found that the occurrence of small planets around large stars was underestimated," said astronomer Francois Fressin, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
> 
> A Starry Night ... Full of Planets
> 
> To find planets, Kepler stares at a patch of sky in the constellation Cygnus, made up of about 150,000 stars. The space telescope detects potential alien worlds by watching for telltale dips in starlight created when planets pass in front of, or "transit," their parent stars.
> 
> Using their own independent software for analyzing Kepler's potential planet detections, Fressin and his colleagues estimate that about 17 percent, or one in six, of all the sunlike stars in the Milky Way host a rocky planet that orbits closer than the distance at which Mercury orbits our own sun.
> 
> Since the Milky Way is home to about a hundred billion stars, that means there are at least 17 billion rocky worlds out there. (See Milky Way pictures.)
> 
> When the team expanded their search to Earth-size orbits or larger, *they found that half of all sunlike stars may host rocky planets.*
> 
> "Every time you look up on a starry night, [nearly] each star you're looking at has a planetary system," Fressin said.



Planets are a natural part of star formation.


----------



## Mr. H.

Rocky worlds? 

Stallone look out!


----------



## ScienceRocks

> Most of the newest planet candidates are less than twice the size of Earth. Four of these are in "Goldilocks orbits," neither scorchingly close to their host star nor beyond the ice line. And one &#8212; evocatively named *KOI ("Kepler Object of Interest") 172.02 &#8212; orbits in the habitable zone around a Sun-like star every 242 days. This first candidate to satisfy Kepler's goal is 1.5 times Earth's size, with a balmy temperature of 46°F (8°C) &#8212; or at least that's the estimate made under certain ideal conditions, such as having the same temperature on its day and night sides.) *
> Kepler's newest data release also shows an increase in the complexity of these alien arrangements: the spacecraft added 102 new multiples to its previous list of 365, including a trio of five-planet systems. The total tally of Kepler-detected exoplanet candidates now stands at 2,740 planets around 2,036 stars. Follow-up observations with ground-based telescopes haven't kept pace with the spacecraft's rapid-fire discovery rate, but so far 105 candidates stand confirmed as bona fide planets.
> 
> Kepler's 461 new candidates come from a much longer list of 13,000 "threshold-crossing events". These TCEs represent the first step in the discovery pipeline, and the vast majority of these won't turn out to be planets, says Christopher Burke (SETI Institute). Nevertheless, Kepler recently released a list of TCEs to the community, in the hope that researchers not on the Kepler team might come up with their own methods of pruning the list. Francois Fressin (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) cautions, "We encourage the community to use these TCEs, but we don't encourage them to make crazy claims!"
> 
> 
> Another team looking through Kepler data is Zooniverse's Planet Hunters. This project enlists the aid of citizen volunteers to sort through Kepler's light curves, looking for the characteristic dip that indicates a planet. If enough people observe the same light curve, the team can eliminate false positives &#8212; a signal that looks like it's due to a planet, but isn't. So far, the group has found one confirmed planet and 31 planet candidates, 15 of which occupy their star's habitable zone. Even though all of these planets are gas giants, life as we know it could still exist on large moons orbiting one or more of them.
> 
> Pruning is an issue for Kepler's planet-candidate list, too; some false positives still slip though. The expectation, Burke says, is a false positive rate between 10% and 20%. But the actual count of impostors depends on the size and orbit of the purported planet &#8212; giant planets in close-in, short-period orbits are less likely to be real than small planets in long-period orbits, for example &#8212; so getting the pruning right is important for our understanding of the growing exoplanet population.
> 
> Fressin and others recently simulated a Kepler-like survey to account for the real survey's shortcomings, such as the planet-search algorithm's inability to distinguish between a planet and a eclipsing binary star in the background. Even with such occasional lapses, Fressin found in his simulation that 90% of Kepler's candidates are genuine planets


.
Kepler Zeroes in on Alien Earths - News from Sky & Telescope - SkyandTelescope.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Telescopes find evidence for asteroid belt around Vega*
January 8, 2013 
Telescopes find evidence for asteroid belt around Vega


> (Phys.org)&#8212;Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a large asteroid belt around the star Vega, the second brightest star in northern night skies. The scientists used data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, in which NASA plays an important role.
> 
> The discovery of an asteroid belt-like band of debris around Vega makes the star similar to another observed star called Fomalhaut. The data are consistent with both stars having inner, warm belts and outer, cool belts separated by a gap. This architecture is similar to the asteroid and Kuiper belts in our own solar system.
> 
> What is maintaining the gap between the warm and cool belts around Vega and Fomalhaut? The results strongly suggest the answer is multiple planets. Our solar system's asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, is maintained by the gravity of the terrestrial planets and the giant planets, and the outer Kuiper belt is sculpted by the giant planets.
> 
> "Our findings echo recent results showing multiple-planet systems are common beyond our sun," said Kate Su, an astronomer at the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Su presented the results Tuesday at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Long Beach, Calif., and is lead author of a paper on the findings accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA researchers studying advanced nuclear rocket technologies*
January 10, 2013 by Rick Smith 




> (Phys.org)&#8212;Advanced propulsion researchers at NASA are a step closer to solving the challenge of safely sending human explorers to Mars and other solar system destinations.
> 
> 
> By using an innovative test facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., researchers are able to use non-nuclear materials to simulate nuclear thermal rocket fuels&#8212;ones capable of propelling bold new exploration missions to the Red Planet and beyond.
> 
> The Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage team is tackling a three-year project to demonstrate the viability of nuclear propulsion system technologies. A nuclear rocket engine uses a nuclear reactor to heat hydrogen to very high temperatures, which expands through a nozzle to generate thrust. Nuclear rocket engines generate higher thrust and are more than twice as efficient as conventional chemical rocket engines.
> 
> The team recently used Marshall's Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator, or NTREES, to perform realistic, non-nuclear testing of various materials for nuclear thermal rocket fuel elements. In an actual reactor, the fuel elements would contain uranium, but no radioactive materials are used during the NTREES tests. Among the fuel options are a graphite composite and a "cermet" composite&#8212;a blend of ceramics and metals. Both materials were investigated in previous NASA and U.S. Department of Energy research efforts.



NASA researchers studying advanced nuclear rocket technologies


----------



## ScienceRocks

*US firms target astronaut flights*



> California's SpaceX company says it expects to start launching humans into orbit in its Dragon capsule in 2015.
> 
> Its intention is to be able to deliver a crew to the International Space Station by the end of that year.
> 
> The first flights would carry the company's own test pilots - not US space agency (Nasa) astronauts.


 

From http://www.bbc.co.uk...onment-20964826

Going to take over 2 1/2 years? WTF??? Does any one really want to do anything anymore?


----------



## ScienceRocks

One-kilometer-long &#8216;electric sail&#8217; tether constructed 


> Propellant-free system could accelerate a 1000 kg spacecraft to more than 67,000 miles per hour in one year
> 
> The Electronics Research Laboratory at the University of Helsinki has successfully constructed a 1-km-long electric sail (ESAIL), which would interact with the solar wind (charged particles from the sun) to produce long-distance propulsion power for a spacecraft.
> 
> Using ultrasonic welding, the feat proves that manufacturing full-size ESAIL tethers is possible. Experts previously considered it impossible to weld together such thin wires.
> 
> Invented by Dr. Pekka Janhunen at the Finnish Kumpula Space Centre in 2006, the ESAIL consists of long, thin (25&#8211;50 micron) electrically conductive tethers manufactured from aluminum wires. A full-scale sail can include up to 100 tethers, each 20 kilometers long.


 

http://www.kurzweila...her-constructed


----------



## Mr. H.

It's big, folks. A really big shoo...

Largest Spiral Galaxy in Universe Revealed - Yahoo! News
_
Astronomers have crowned the universe's largest known spiral galaxy, a spectacular behemoth five times bigger than our own Milky Way._


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Inflatable module approved for ISS, could launch in two years
*




> NASA has just announced a $17.8 million dollar deal with private spaceflight firm Bigelow Aerospace to build and attach an inflatable private module to the International Space Station. The modules, called Bigelow Expandable Activity Modules (BEAM) would be used as a technology demonstration.
> 
> In a joint announcement released on Friday, January 11, a NASA official commented:
> 
> "This partnership agreement for the use of expandable habitats represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress in U.S. commercial space innovation," NASA deputy chief Lori Garver.
> The short statement was followed by news that Garver and Bigelow founder and president Robert Bigelow will hold a joint event at Bigelow Aerospace in Las Vegas on January 16 to further discuss the ambitious BEAM project.


Inflatable module approved for ISS, could launch in two years | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Russia Plans for a Spaceship After Soyuz*

 Jan 15, 2013 // by AFP 
Russia Plans for a Spaceship After Soyuz : Discovery News



> Russia's struggling space agency has unveiled a new multi-billion-dollar plan that will see the development of a replacement for the aging Soyuz rocket by 2020.
> 
> The $70-billion plan published over the weekend on the website of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) also envisions the launch of new unmanned missions to the moon and beyond.
> 
> But one of the biggest priorities is finding a replacement for the Soyuz -- the backbone of Russian space travel since its development by pioneering Soviet scientists in the 1960s.
> 
> NEWS: U.S. Signs New Deal for Soyuz Flights
> 
> Both the rocket and its eponymous space capsule for manned missions have served as humans' main link to the International Space Station (ISS) since the scientific orbiter's launch in 1998. But an accident with an unmanned Soyuz cargo ship in August 2011 caused delays to subsequent missions and renewed fears about the safety of space travel.
> 
> The Soyuz became the world's only manned link to the ISS following last year's retirement of the US space shuttle program.
> 
> Roscosmos did not disclose many details about its post-Soyuz plans or give a specific date by when the vessel might take flight. The agency's outline only called for the introduction of an "energy transportation module with a promising propulsion installation that will be ready for testing by 2018." But Russia will be keen to preserve its status as a vital player in international manned endeavors.
> 
> Several private US firms are already working on their own smaller-scale shuttle replacements.
> 
> The Russian agency said it also intended to "deploy a program for detailed study of the moon" and launch a series of unmanned missions for studying its soil samples. The plan further called for "the development of an entirely new class of interplanetary travel technology and technology (enabling) human activity on the planets."


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Russia plans to double space industry output by 2020*



> With the retirement of the US space shuttle fleet the only way American astronauts can get to the ISS is tucked inside Russian Soyuz spacecraft. It seems Russia wants a larger part of the space industry and has announced that it plans to double the output of its space industry by 2020. The plan comes as part of a new state program announced over the weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Russia believes that the increase in output for the space industry would give it a 16% share in the space technology market by 2020. Russia currently has 10.7% of the space technology market according to officials. Part of Russia&#8217;s plan is to create a new Angara launch vehicle. Russia also wants to continue development of the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East.
> 
> The plan will also see Russia making improvements to its Glonass satellite navigation system. Glonass is the Russian equivalent of GPS satellites used in the US and other countries. The top priority for Russia under the new plan is space industry development with a secondary goal of scientific research. Russia&#8217;s third goal with the new program is manned spaceflight.
> 
> However, manned spaceflight could move up the hierarchy after 2020 when the International Space Station is expected to end its mission. The new space program will cost Russia $69 billion including private investments, which are virtually nonexistent in Russia&#8217;s space program at this time. The Russian government approved the new plan in late December and the plan has only now been published. Reports also indicate that Russia&#8217;s plan has a classified section, which was not made public


Russia plans to double space industry output by 2020 - SlashGear


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Europe and US agree details for Orion astronaut spacecraft*




> The US and Europe have cemented their plan to work together on the Americans' next-generation capsule system to take humans beyond Earth.
> 
> The Orion vehicle is being built to carry astronauts to the Moon, asteroids and Mars, but it will need a means to propel itself through space.
> 
> Europe has now formally agreed to provide this technology.
> 
> Space agency executives have just signed an "implementing agreement" to cover the legal aspects of the work.
> 
> The first flight of Orion with its European-built "service module" will take place in 2017.


 

From http://www.bbc.co.uk...onment-21044408


----------



## ScienceRocks

For Space Station, a Pod That Folds Like a Shirt and Inflates Like a Balloon





http://www.nytimes.c...argain-too.html



Quote




> The balloonlike structure is carefully designed not to pop. The fabric walls will consist of several layers including Vectran, a bullet-resistant material. Even if punctured by a high-speed meteorite, the fabric does not tear. A hole in a metal structure in space, by comparison, can cause explosive decompression as air rushes out.
> 
> 
> When the Beam module reaches the space station, astronauts


----------



## ScienceRocks

Deep Space Industries &#8211; asteroid mining company

*The second asteroid mining company in less than a year will soon be announced. *



> Last year, Planetary Resources was announced as the world's first commercial asteroid mining company. Co-founded by Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson, its stated goal was "to expand Earth's natural resource base" by developing a series of telescopes, probes and robotic vehicles. With a single asteroid containing more precious metals than ever mined in history, this endeavour could potentially "add trillions of dollars to the global GDP" and "enable humanity's prosperity to continue for centuries to come."
> 
> Planetary Resources &#8211; with a team of high-profile backers &#8211; generated overwhelming interest from the public. Since that press conference, the firm has signed an agreement with Virgin Galactic enabling multiple launches for its spacecraft.
> 
> It now appears that a second company has entered the race. Although its website is rather sparse, we understand that Deep Space Industries will be announcing their plans on 22nd January. From the little information gleaned elsewhere, former Astrobotic Technology President David Gump is said to be involved. The firm is developing "a breakthrough process for manufacturing in space" and intends to pursue "an aggressive schedule."
> 
> Deep Space Industries will showcase their plans at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying, California. The Science Channel's Geoff Notkin will host the event, which will include a video showing the new spacecraft and the company's other plans. When more information becomes available, we will of course post it here.


Deep Space Industries &ndash; asteroid mining company


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Scientists uncover massive river on Mars*
Brittany Hillen, Jan 19th 2013 Discuss [0] 



> In 2012, the European Space Agency discovered a huge 1,500 kilometer river in the upper Reull Vallis region of Mars. The agency's Mars Express took a picture of the area using a high-stereo camera, which gave an impressive look at the landscape. Now it has released the 3D image taken of the river, which shows a large area of the Reull Vallis complete with one tributary and mountains off to the right


Scientists uncover massive river on Mars - SlashGear


----------



## ScienceRocks

Kepler Mission Manager Update: Kepler Returns to Science Mode





> After a "wheel rest" safe mode that began on January 17, 2013, NASA's Kepler spacecraft returned to science data collection at 5 p.m. PST on January 28, 2013. During the 10-day resting safe mode, daily health and status checks with the spacecraft using NASA's Deep Space Network were normal.
> 
> 
> The recovery from wheel rest began at 11:30 a.m. PST on January 27, 2013, and proceeded without issue. The spacecraft responded well to commands and transitioned from thruster control to reaction wheel control as planned.
> 
> Early this month during a semi-weekly contact with the spacecraft, elevated friction was detected in reaction wheel #4. As a precaution for wheel safety, and as a measure to mitigate the friction, the reaction wheels were spun down to zero-speed and the spacecraft was placed in a thruster-controlled safe mode.
> 
> Science data collection was halted during this rest period and the spacecraft solar panels were pointed at the sun to maintain positive power. This is similar to a normal safe mode configuration, but with thrusters maintaining attitude instead of reaction wheels.
> 
> Since the failure of reaction wheel #2 in July 2012, the performance of the spacecraft on three wheels has been excellent. Reaction wheel #2, we now know, worked relatively well until January 2012, when it began to exhibit elevated and somewhat chaotic friction that led to failure.
> 
> Reaction wheel #4 has been something of a free spirit since launch, with a variety of friction signatures, none of which look like reaction wheel #2, and all of which disappeared on their own after a time.
> 
> Resting the wheels can provide an opportunity for the lubricant in the bearings to redistribute and potentially return the friction to nominal levels. Over the next month, the engineering team will review the performance of reaction wheel #4 before, during, and after the safe mode to determine the efficacy of the rest operation.


 

http://www.nasa.gov/...m-20132901.html


----------



## Mr. H.

That's the most I've read about wheels since I don't know when.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Largest solar sail ever to take flight in 2014
    Evan Ackerman
    Friday, February 1, 2013 - 5:26pm




> Most spacecraft are limited in their range and capabilities by consumables. What usually happens is that spacecraft need fuel to go places and turn into very useless (and very expensive) asteroids as soon as they've exhaused their propellant. This is why we've been looking for new and better ways to keep spacecraft running longer, but the best that we've come up with (ion engines) still run out of reaction mass eventually. The appeal of the solar sail, then, is that by using the sun itself as an engine, it never has to worry about running out of fuel.


 Largest solar sail ever to take flight in 2014 | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*
Scientists: 4.5 Billion Earth-Like Planets in the Galaxy*




> According to a new study quoted in Space.com, the Milky Way Galaxy may have as many as 4.5 billion Earthlike planets, some within a close distance of Earth, as interstellar gulfs go, within 13 light-years.
> 
> Earth-like planets circle red dwarf stars
> 
> Space.com reports that the study, to be published in The Astrophysical Journal, is based on analysis of data derived from the Kepler Space Telescope. Kepler, which is dedicated to discovering exoplanets, has found 2,740 candidates for planets circling other stars since March 2009. The study suggests that red dwarf stars that Kepler has examined are smaller and cooler than previously thought. Worlds that had previously been thought to be too large and too hot to maintain life have been "downsized" to a degree that many of them are now considered rocky worlds of the approximate size of Earth. Also since their parent stars are considered cooler, many exoplanets thought to be circling too close to such stars may now be in the habitable zone where liquid water can exist and thus life may be present.
> 
> 4.5 billion Earths in our galaxy
> 
> Space.com goes further to state that according to the data from Kepler, roughly 60 percent of red dwarves have planets smaller than Neptune, the smallest gas giant in our solar system. It was determined that roughly 6 percent of the red dwarves in the Milky Way Galaxy have Earth-like planets, hence the figure of 4.5 billion.
> 
> Red dwarves
> 
> According to Universe Today, a red dwarf star ranges from less than half to 7.5 percent of the mass of the sun. A red dwarf puts out between 10 percent and 1/10000 the energy of the sun. Red dwarves consume themselves at far less the rate of a yellow star such as the sun and therefore a considerably older. Thus the habitable zone for such a star is much closer to it than that of the sun, where Earth is located. The closest star to Earth besides the sun is a red dwarf, Proxima Centauri.
> 
> Visiting Earth-like worlds
> 
> The idea that another Earth might be within 13 light-years is beguiling to scientists. Thus far, no technology exists that could propel a probe to any star system outside our own for any amount of time less than centuries. However Space.com reports that NASA has embarked on a research and development program that might, some decades hence, create something resembling warp drive as depicted in science fiction such as "Star Trek." It could be that people alive today will see one or more of these new Earths with their own eyes.
> 
> 
> 
> Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.



Scientists: 4.5 Billion Earth-Like Planets in the Galaxy - Yahoo! News

Yet you fuckers want to defund nasa? LOL! what a joke my species have become.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China claims successful test of microwave relativity engine*



China claims successful test of microwave relativity engine | DVICE


> Researchers in China say that they've successfully managed to test an engine that runs on electricity, requires no propellant and produces no exhaust. It's called the EmDrive, and it's able to convert microwave energy directly into thrust inside a sealed chamber. Oh, it's totally silent and highly efficient, too. If it seems too good to be true, well, you're not the only one who feels that way. But the researchers have a prototype that apparently works, and they've just published a paper detailing it.
> 
> Before we get into the mechanics of the EmDrive, let's give it some context. An engine is something that converts energy into motion. There are lots and lots of different ways of doing this, but let's take a look at a very simple one: a rocket engine. With a rocket engine, you've got a big tube with some explosive stuff (propellant) in it. When you launch the rocket and the propellant combusts, it tries to expand in all directions at once, but because it's stuck in a tube, it can only make it out the back. This means that the force that explosion exerts on the tube is symmetrical in every direction except for the back and the front, and as the propellant escapes out the back, the rocket gets pushed forward.


----------



## Mr. H.

The Belgian EmDrive...


----------



## ScienceRocks

Asteroid-Targeting System Could Vaporize Dangerous Space Rocks

http://www.space.com...pace-rocks.html

Quote

...Lubin and his colleagues have conceived of a system they call DE-STAR, or Directed Energy Solar Targeting of Asteroids and exploration. The concept: harness power from the sun and convert it into a massive phased array of laser beams that can deflect or evaporate asteroids hazardous to Earth.

"This system is not some far-out idea from Star Trek," Gary B. Hughes, a researcher at California Polytechnic State University, said in a statement. "All the components of this system pretty much exist today. Maybe not quite at the scale that we'd need  scaling up would be the challenge  but the basic elements are all there and ready to go."


----------



## Mr. H.

Matthew said:


> Asteroid-Targeting System Could Vaporize Dangerous Space Rocks
> 
> http://www.space.com...pace-rocks.html
> 
> Quote
> 
> ...Lubin and his colleagues have conceived of a system they call DE-STAR, or Directed Energy Solar Targeting of Asteroids and exploration. The concept: harness power from the sun and convert it into a massive phased array of laser beams that can deflect or evaporate asteroids hazardous to Earth.
> 
> "This system is not some far-out idea from Star Trek," Gary B. Hughes, a researcher at California Polytechnic State University, said in a statement. "All the components of this system pretty much exist today. Maybe not quite at the scale that we'd need  scaling up would be the challenge  but the basic elements are all there and ready to go."



That could come in handy. Once every 10 million years or so.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Newly discovered planet is tiniest one yet

Kepler 37-b is roughly size of Earth's moon, report released today says 

By Emily Chung, CBC News 

Posted: Feb 20, 2013 1:00 PM ET 

Last Updated: Feb 20, 2013 1:14 PM ET 
Newly discovered planet is tiniest one yet - Technology & Science - CBC News



> A hot, rocky planet discovered using the Kepler space telescope is the smallest ever found outside our solar system.
> 
> The new planet, called Kepler-37b, has a radius less than a third the size of Earth&#8217;s, making it roughly the size of the moon, a paper published online in the journal Nature reported Wednesday.
> 
> "The thing that really I find astounding about this is we&#8217;ve managed to find a planet that is smaller than any that we know of in our own inner solar system,&#8221; Thomas Barclay, a researcher at NASA-Ames Research Center, who led the study, said in an interview with CBC News.
> 
> Barclay noted that many of the first planets found outside our solar system were larger than the planets found in our own solar system, showing that stellar systems could be quite different from our own.
> 
> "Now we know that things are not only larger than what we have in our own solar system, but also smaller,&#8221; he said.
> 
> That makes Kepler-37b &#8220;significantly smaller&#8221; than Mercury, which has officially been the smallest planet in our solar system since Pluto was demoted to a &#8220;dwarf planet&#8221; by the International Astronomical Union in 2006.
> 
> Kepler-37b is the inner-most of three planets detected orbiting a star called Kepler-37, located about 210 light years away from Earth in the constellation Lyra.
> 
> The star is sun-like, but cooler and a little bit smaller than the sun, according to the paper by Kepler-37b is thought to be a rocky, with no atmosphere, like Mercury. Because it is very close to its star, its surface temperature is estimated to be a scorching 400 C. The little planet is also a speedy traveller, completing its journey around its star once every 13 days.
> 
> The two other planets in the system are Kepler-37c, which has a radius about 70 per cent the size of Earth&#8217;s, and Kepler-37d, which has a radius about double that of the Earth&#8217;s.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Nearby Ancient Star is Almost as Old as the Universe



> A metal-poor star located merely 190 light-years from the Sun is 14.46+-0.80 billion years old, which implies that the star is nearly as old as the Universe! Those results emerged from a new study led by Howard Bond. Such metal-poor stars are (super) important to astronomers because they set an independent lower limit for the age of the Universe, which can be used to corroborate age estimates inferred by other means.


Nearby Ancient Star is Almost as Old as the Universe


----------



## ScienceRocks

Private Space Company Plans To Send Space Tourists To Mars By 2018



> Dennis Tito, the first private space tourist and chairman of Inspiration Mars Foundation, is planning to open up opportunities for people to take a trip to Mars in a 501-day trip.
> 
> ...
> 
> Tito first made history in 2001, after paying $20 million for a ride to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Since his expedition to space, six other individuals have taken similar flights.
> 
> According to a report by NBC, the mission to Mars being discussed next week would involve a flyby of Mars with a free return back to Earth. The type of mission would essentially be a straight trajectory, due to orbital conditions that will only be taking place in 2018 and 2031. The space tourist(s) would be heading towards the Red Planet in a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule, which NASA is considering for use for its astronauts.



Space Tourists May Fly To Mars By 2018 - Space News - redOrbit


----------



## Mr. H.

Matthew said:


> Nearby Ancient Star is Almost as Old as the Universe
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A metal-poor star located merely 190 light-years from the Sun is 14.46+-0.80 billion years old, which implies that the star is nearly as old as the Universe! Those results emerged from a new study led by Howard Bond. Such metal-poor stars are (super) important to astronomers because they set an independent lower limit for the age of the Universe, which can be used to corroborate age estimates inferred by other means.
> 
> 
> 
> Nearby Ancient Star is Almost as Old as the Universe
Click to expand...


I don't get it. How can that star be so close to us if it's that old?


----------



## ScienceRocks

Doesn't make any sense, Mental poor and 14.6 billion years old only 190 light years away. Makes one wonder.


*The estimate for the occurrence rate of Earth-sized planets in the HZ of M dwarf stars has increased to 15%.*

[1302.1647] The Occurrence Rate of Small Planets around Small Stars



> We corrected an error in the code that calculates the number of stars for which a given planet could have been detected. The stellar parameters, planet parameters, and fraction of stars with planets did not change significantly. However, our estimate of the occurrence rate of habitable-zone, Earth-sized planets increased. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Machine readable tables in right sidebar


----------



## ScienceRocks

Second SpaceX Space Station Resupply Flight Ready to Go

Second SpaceX space station resupply flight ready to go
Feb. 25, 2013 





> The second International Space Station Commercial Resupply Services flight by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is set for liftoff at 10:10 a.m. EST on March 1 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
> 
> Carried by a Falcon 9 rocket, the Dragon spacecraft will ferry 1,268 pounds of supplies for the space station crew and for experiments being conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory.
> 
> The Falcon 9 and Dragon were manufactured at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., and arrived at the Florida launch site by truck. The rocket, topped with the spacecraft, stands 157-feet tall.
> 
> The two-stage rocket uses nine engines to power the first stage, generating 855,000 pounds of thrust at sea level, rising to nearly 1,000,000 pounds of thrust as Falcon 9 climbs out of Earth's atmosphere. One engine powers the second stage to complete the climb to space. The 14.4-foot-tall Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying more than 7,000 pounds of cargo split between pressurized and unpressurized sections.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Lab Instruments Inside Curiosity Eat Mars Rock Powder*

Lab instruments inside Curiosity eat Mars rock powder
Feb. 25, 2013 &#8212; 





> Two compact laboratories inside NASA's Mars rover Curiosity have ingested portions of the first sample of rock powder ever collected from the interior of a rock on Mars.
> 
> Curiosity science team members will use the laboratories to analyze the rock powder in the coming days and weeks.
> 
> The rover's Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) and Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments received portions of the sample on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22 and 23, respectively, and began inspecting the powder.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Is a Comet on a Collision Course with Mars?*

by Nancy Atkinson on February 26, 2013

Is a Comet on a Collision Course with Mars?


> Simulation of the close approach of C/2013 A1 to Mars in Celestia using the latest info from the Minor Planet Center. Credit: Ian Musgrave/Astroblog.
> 
> There is an outside chance that a newly discovered comet might be on a collision course with Mars. Astronomers are still determining the trajectory of the comet, named C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring), but at the very least, it is going to come fairly close to the Red Planet in October of 2014. &#8220;Even if it doesn&#8217;t impact it will look pretty good from Earth, and spectacular from Mars,&#8221; wrote Australian amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave, &#8220;probably a magnitude -4 comet as seen from Mars&#8217;s surface.&#8221;
> 
> The comet was discovered in the beginning of 2013 by comet-hunter Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. According to a discussion on the IceInSpace amateur astronomy forum when the discovery was initially made, astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona looked back over their observations to find &#8220;prerecovery&#8221; images of the comet dating back to Dec. 8, 2012. These observations placed the orbital trajectory of comet C/2013 A1 right through Mars orbit on Oct. 19, 2014.


.

Read more: Is a Comet on a Collision Course with Mars?


----------



## Mr. H.

Who knew, Matthew?
Who knew...


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China to Launch Next Manned Space Mission *



China to Launch Next Manned Space Mission


> China says it will launch its latest manned space mission later this year, as it moves forward with ambitious plans to build its own space station.
> 
> The official Xinhua news agency says the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft, carrying three astronauts, will be launched sometime between June and August.
> 
> The spacecraft will connect with an experimental space module known as Tiangong 1, which serves as a prototype for a full-fledged space station. The docking is considered an important initial step toward the building of a permanent space facility.
> 
> Three Chinese astronauts successfully linked up with the orbiting space module in June. China is only the third country to accomplish this.
> 
> China's space program has made major breakthroughs in a relatively short time, although it lags behind the U.S. and Russia in space technology and experience. In 2003, China sent its first astronaut into space. Five years later, it completed its first spacewalk.


----------



## ScienceRocks

How fast does a supermassive black hole spin? Groundbreaking measurement could help unlock the history of our galaxy
The supermassive black hole spinning at almost the speed of light - and it holds the galaxy's history | Mail Online


> &#8226;Team say supermassive black hole at the center of the spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is spinning so fast that its surface is traveling at nearly the speed of light
> &#8226;Project is first time anyone has accurately measured the spin of a supermassive black hole
> 
> Astronomers have measured the rate of spin of a supermassive black hole for the first time.
> 
> 
> The sphere more than 2 million miles across - eight times the distance from Earth to the Moon - is spinning so fast that its surface is traveling at nearly the speed of light.
> 
> 'This is the first time anyone has accurately measured the spin of a supermassive black hole," said lead author Guido Risaliti of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and INAF - Arcetri Observatory.
> 
> The groundbreaking measurement was made using new data from the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton X-ray satellites.
> 
> Astronomers want to know the black hole's spin for several reasons.
> 
> 
> The first is physical - only two numbers define a black hole: mass and spin.
> 
> By learning those two numbers, you learn everything there is to know about the black hole.
> 
> Most importantly, the black hole's spin gives clues to its past and by extension the evolution of its host galaxy.
> 
> 'The black hole's spin is a memory, a record, of the past history of the galaxy as a whole,' said Risaliti.
> 
> Although the black hole in NGC 1365 is currently as massive as several million Suns, it wasn't born that big.
> 
> 
> It grew over billions of years by accreting stars and gas, and by merging with other black holes, the researchers said.


----------



## LAfrique

Matthew said:


> All missions and latest advances in space exploration goes here.
> 
> 
> *NASA building a better solid rocket booster for space launch system rocket *
> 
> October 3, 2012 by Bill Hubscher
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ATK employees at the company's Promontory, Utah facility prepare a segment of a qualification motor for NASA's Space Launch System for transport. Credit: ATK (Phys.org)The largest and most powerful solid rocket booster ever built for flight is being assembled for NASA's Space Launch System at ATK Space Systems in Brigham City, Utah, incorporating new cost-savings measures. The SLS will launch NASA's Orion spacecraft and other payloads beyond low Earth orbit, and provide an entirely new capability for human exploration.
> 
> Although similar to the solid rocket boosters that helped power the space shuttle to orbit, the five-segment SLS boosters include several upgrades and improvements implemented by NASA and ATK engineers. In addition, the SLS boosters will be built more affordably and efficiently than shuttle boosters, incorporating new and innovative processes and technologies. "America's next steps in deep space exploration build on the lessons learned from our nation's rich human spaceflight history.
> 
> By using the best-of-the-best from shuttle and improving on previous investments, we will produce the needed solid booster for the first SLS flights," said Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. "We are encouraged by the progress being made at ATK. Their commitment to deliver a safe and high-quality rocket booster is vital as we build SLS to enable exploration to new frontiers in the solar system." New process improvements have been implemented throughout the manufacturing of Qualification Motor-1, the next full-scale test article for SLS booster. Four case segments have now been cast, and the motor will begin assembly in the test stand next month in preparation for a ground test in the spring of 2013.
> 
> The forward segment of the qualification motor for NASA'S Space Launch System is transported through manufacturing and assembly at ATK's facility in Promontory, Utah in preparation for a full-scale ground test there next spring. Credit: ATKImplementing new handling processes, *ATK estimates the total assembly time for the SLS booster can be reduced by approximately 46 percent overall. *In one area, ATK optimized inspection methods and replaced x-ray inspections with an ultrasonic examination of the booster's nozzle, allowing technicians to evaluate the hardware on the production floor.
> 
> In another, *ATK reduced the number of moves from 47 to seven during one phase of booster assembly,* reducing the chance of any damage in transit and greatly reducing the time it takes to complete that production process. "By improving upon proven Space Shuttle solid rocket motor hardware and operations, our shared goal is to deliver a safe, affordable and sustainable launch vehicle," said Alex Priskos, SLS booster manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "We are embracing innovation both technically and in our management processes as we design and build SLS. Through the use of new streamlined approaches and techniques we have been able to drive down costs and enhance the reliability of the hardware."
> 
> The booster team has successfully completed its Booster Requirements Review confirming the five-segment solid rocket motor had a well-understood set of requirements. The review, held at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, included independent consultants and determined the team is ready
> 
> 
> 
> Read more at: NASA building a better solid rocket booster for space launch system rocket
Click to expand...



I thought NASA was practically out-of-business., and space exploration is now in the domain of private companies.


----------



## ScienceRocks

LAfrique said:


> Matthew said:
> 
> 
> 
> All missions and latest advances in space exploration goes here.
> 
> 
> *NASA building a better solid rocket booster for space launch system rocket *
> 
> October 3, 2012 by Bill Hubscher
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ATK employees at the company's Promontory, Utah facility prepare a segment of a qualification motor for NASA's Space Launch System for transport. Credit: ATK (Phys.org)The largest and most powerful solid rocket booster ever built for flight is being assembled for NASA's Space Launch System at ATK Space Systems in Brigham City, Utah, incorporating new cost-savings measures. The SLS will launch NASA's Orion spacecraft and other payloads beyond low Earth orbit, and provide an entirely new capability for human exploration.
> 
> Although similar to the solid rocket boosters that helped power the space shuttle to orbit, the five-segment SLS boosters include several upgrades and improvements implemented by NASA and ATK engineers. In addition, the SLS boosters will be built more affordably and efficiently than shuttle boosters, incorporating new and innovative processes and technologies. "America's next steps in deep space exploration build on the lessons learned from our nation's rich human spaceflight history.
> 
> By using the best-of-the-best from shuttle and improving on previous investments, we will produce the needed solid booster for the first SLS flights," said Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. "We are encouraged by the progress being made at ATK. Their commitment to deliver a safe and high-quality rocket booster is vital as we build SLS to enable exploration to new frontiers in the solar system." New process improvements have been implemented throughout the manufacturing of Qualification Motor-1, the next full-scale test article for SLS booster. Four case segments have now been cast, and the motor will begin assembly in the test stand next month in preparation for a ground test in the spring of 2013.
> 
> The forward segment of the qualification motor for NASA'S Space Launch System is transported through manufacturing and assembly at ATK's facility in Promontory, Utah in preparation for a full-scale ground test there next spring. Credit: ATKImplementing new handling processes, *ATK estimates the total assembly time for the SLS booster can be reduced by approximately 46 percent overall. *In one area, ATK optimized inspection methods and replaced x-ray inspections with an ultrasonic examination of the booster's nozzle, allowing technicians to evaluate the hardware on the production floor.
> 
> In another, *ATK reduced the number of moves from 47 to seven during one phase of booster assembly,* reducing the chance of any damage in transit and greatly reducing the time it takes to complete that production process. "By improving upon proven Space Shuttle solid rocket motor hardware and operations, our shared goal is to deliver a safe, affordable and sustainable launch vehicle," said Alex Priskos, SLS booster manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "We are embracing innovation both technically and in our management processes as we design and build SLS. Through the use of new streamlined approaches and techniques we have been able to drive down costs and enhance the reliability of the hardware."
> 
> The booster team has successfully completed its Booster Requirements Review confirming the five-segment solid rocket motor had a well-understood set of requirements. The review, held at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, included independent consultants and determined the team is ready
> 
> 
> 
> Read more at: NASA building a better solid rocket booster for space launch system rocket
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I thought NASA was practically out-of-business., and space exploration is now in the domain of private companies.
Click to expand...


I'm just pissed off that Obama killed moon to mars.  Can you blame me?


----------



## Politico

Seeing as we could never get there and practically do anything yes. But it would have been fun.


----------



## ScienceRocks

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch provides a rare view of stage 1 and 2 rocket separation
By Sebastian Anthony on March 1, 2013 at 11:57 am
Comment
SpaceX Falcon 9 launch provides a rare view of stage 1 and 2 rocket separation | ExtremeTech



> This morning, SpaceX successfully launched CRS-2 &#8212; the second commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule aboard the Falcon 9 rocket will dock with the ISS on Saturday morning, delivering 1,473 pounds (677kg) of cargo to the astronauts, and will return in a couple of weeks, filled to the brim with scientific experiments.
> 
> The launch itself went off almost without a hitch (more on that below), and was wholly unexceptional&#8230; except for one thing: Rocket Cam, which sits on the side of the Falcon 9 rocket, transmitted live video for the first nine minutes of the flight, capturing both the first and second stage separations. In previous Falcon launches, the video feed from the Rocket Cam usually dries up before main engine cutoff (MECO), which occurs just before the first stage separation. In this case, the video feed from Rocket Cam didn&#8217;t dry up until an altitude of around 200 kilometers (125mi), as the Dragon capsule drifted off into space in search of the ISS and the second stage began to fall back to Earth.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*New Evidence Found for Europa's Vast Ocean --Increases Potential for Life*

New Evidence Found for Europa's Vast Ocean --Increases Potential for Life

March 5, 2013





> Based on new evidence from Jupiter's moon Europa, astronomers hypothesize that chloride salts bubble up from the icy moon's global liquid ocean and reach the frozen surface. Mike Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Brown&#8212;known as the Pluto killer for discovering a Kuiper-belt object that led to the demotion of Pluto from planetary status&#8212;and Kevin Hand from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have found the strongest evidence yet that salty water from the vast liquid ocean beneath Europa's frozen exterior actually makes its way to the surface.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hand emphasizes that, from an astrobiology standpoint, Europa is considered a premier target in the search for life beyond Earth; a NASA-funded study team led by JPL and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have been working with the scientific community to identify options to explore Europa further. "If we've learned anything about life on Earth, it's that where there's liquid water, there's generally life," Hand says. "And of course our ocean is a nice salty ocean. Perhaps Europa's salty ocean is also a wonderful place for life."
> 
> 
> 
> "We now have evidence that Europa's ocean is not isolated&#8212;that the ocean and the surface talk to each other and exchange chemicals," says Brown, the Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor and professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech. "That means that energy might be going into the ocean, which is important in terms of the possibilities for life there. It also means that if you'd like to know what's in the ocean, you can just go to the surface and scrape some off."
> 
> 
> 
> The finding, based on some of the first data of its kind since NASA's Galileo mission (1989) to study Jupiter and its moons, suggests that there is a chemical exchange between the ocean and surface, making the ocean a richer chemical environment, and implies that learning more about the ocean could be as simple as analyzing the moon's surface. "The surface ice is providing us a window into that potentially habitable ocean below," says Hand, deputy chief scientist for solar system exploration at JPL.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Japan quake 'heard at edge of space'*


BBC News - Japan quake 'heard at edge of space'

10 March 2013 


> The great Tohoku earthquake in Japan two years ago was so big its effects were even felt at the edge of space.
> Scientists say the Magnitude 9.0 tremor on 11 March 2011 sent a ripple of sound through the atmosphere that was picked up by the Goce satellite.
> 
> Its super-sensitive instrumentation was able to detect the disturbance as it passed through the thin wisps of air still present 255km above the Earth.
> 
> The observation is reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
> 
> It has long been recognised that major quakes will generate very low-frequency acoustic waves, or infrasound - a type of deep rumble at frequencies below those discernible to the human ear. But no spacecraft in orbit has had the capability to record them, until now.
> 
> "We've looked for this signal before with other satellites and haven't seen it, and I think that's because you need an incredibly fine instrument," said Dr Rune Floberghagen from the European Space Agency (Esa).


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX reusable rocket reaches 300 feet*



> In December, SpaceX's Grasshopper performed a test launch in which it hovered 131ft (40m) above the ground before landing back down. It has now conducted another successful test, reaching 300ft (91m). In the near future, it is hoped that this rocket could drastically cut the cost of space travel. Fuel and oxygen is only 0.3% of the cost of a rocket, and this rocket would be fully reusable  landing safely anywhere on Earth like a helicopter, without needing to be replaced.



SpaceX reusable rocket reaches 300 feet

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFAfF1aTjNI&feature=player_embedded]SpaceX Grasshopper Hoverslam | Ring of Fire | Flight 4 HD - YouTube[/ame]


----------



## ScienceRocks

Curiosity Rover discovers conditions suited for ancient life on Mars
CNet ^ | 12 March 2013 | Charles Cooper 

Curiosity Rover discovers conditions suited for ancient life on Mars | Cutting Edge - CNET News



> NASA is reporting that an analysis of a rock powder sample collected by the Curiosity rover suggests that ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.
> 
> The sample contained traces of sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbon -- key chemical ingredients for life.
> 
> For astronomers, the news constitutes the latest clue in their pursuit of a scientific holy grail: Answering the big question about whether life ever existed on the Red Planet. Their challenge until now has been to confirm whether the Martian atmosphere could have supported a habitable environment. The preliminary evidence now suggests the answer is yes...


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Earth-Sized Planets in Habitable Zones Are More Common Than Previously Thought*

Earth-sized planets in habitable zones are more common than previously thought


> Mar. 12, 2013  The number of potentially habitable planets is greater than previously thought, according to a new analysis by a Penn State researcher, and some of those planets are likely lurking around nearby stars


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Extremely rare triple quasar found*
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (SPX) Mar 14, 2013

Extremely rare triple quasar found
An infrared image of the triple quasar system QQQ J1519+0627, made using the 3.5-m aperture telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory. The three quasars are labelled A, B and C. Credit: Emanuele Paolo Farina.  


> For only the second time in history, a team of scientists--including Carnegie's Michele Fumagalli--have discovered an extremely rare triple quasar system. Their work is published by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. It is available online


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Europe, Russia in tie-up on Mars missions*
By AFP | AFP &#8211; 10 hours ago.. .
.

Europe, Russia in tie-up on Mars missions - Yahoo! News UK



> The European Space Agency (ESA) said it signed a deal on Thursday with its Russian counterpart to launch two unmanned missions to Mars, a quest that was rocked by a US pullout last year.
> 
> Called ExoMars, the scheme entails sending an orbital probe to the Red Planet in January 2016 to look for atmospheric traces of methane gas, a pointer to the existence of microbial life.
> 
> It will also send down a small stationary lander to test key technologies for the second mission -- the launch of a six-wheeled rover in 2018.


----------



## whitehall

There is no "space exploration". NASA has turned into a hollow shell and is concentrating it's limited energies into the junk science of global warming. Mars is the only real "exploration" target but the risky expensive potential mission will accomplish nothing but bragging rights. The planet is an empty iron based hulk. Face facts trekkies, as long as the laws of physics are still in effect humans can forget space exploration.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Very flat earth kind of mindset you have.
-"tens/hundreds" of Trillions of dollars in rare mentals in the asteroids
-europa has more water then earth

100 billion stars with likely as many planets. 

O'yes you say that earth is all humanity has. What's the purpose of humanity if not to advance and expand?

Note: Titan is damn interesting too.


----------



## Votto

I just hope that we don't find other life out there unless they want to pay into Obamacare and get subpar treatment with a retirement system that could not even feed a mouse.

If that were not bad enough, the illegals would come to colonize their worlds.  Next thing you know Mexico will have a space program.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*World's largest radio telescope is operational after 30 years*



> After 30 years of planning and 10 years of construction, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) has become fully operational in northern Chile.
> 
> The $1.5bn project was inaugurated at an official ceremony attended by 500 people including the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera. This event marked the completion of all major systems of the giant telescope and its formal transition from a construction site to a fully-fledged observatory. ALMA is a partnership between Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. It was originally conceived as three separate projects in Europe, the USA and Japan in the 1980s, but merged to one in the 1990s. Construction started in 2003.
> 
> "One of our many natural resources is Chile's spectacular night sky," said Piñera. "I believe that science has been a vital contributor to the development of Chile in recent years. I am very proud of our international collaborations in astronomy, of which ALMA is the latest, and biggest outcome."


World's largest radio telescope is operational after 30 years


----------



## ScienceRocks

U.S. restarts plutonium production for space probes 


> The Department of Energy has produced its first batch of non-weapons grade plutonium, used to power space probes, since a nuclear reactor shutdown 25 years ago, NASA officials said on Monday.
> 
> In partnership with NASA, the Department of Energy irradiated the radioactive metal neptunium-237 with neutrons at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee for about a month and successfully produced a small amount plutonium.
> 
> NASA is looking for the department to produce about 3.3 to 4.4 pounds (1.5 to 2 kg) of plutonium-238 per year.
> 
> Newly made plutonium has the added benefit of reviving older plutonium that has decayed past the point of being viable for deep space probes.
> 
> "The new material when we add with our old plutonium, which is more than 20 years old in some cases, really allows us to get the appropriate energy density out," Green said.
> 
> 
> 
> NASA also has been working on a more energy efficient generator, called the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator, which can produce four times more electrical power per kilogram of plutonium-238.
> 
> 
> 
> Green said two such flight-ready generators are on schedule for completion in 2016. Neither has yet been assigned for a specific mission.



Voyager 1 has entered a new region of space, sudden changes in cosmic rays indicate


----------



## ScienceRocks

Ice blades threaten Europa landing



> Jupiter's icy moon Europa is a prime target for future space missions as it harbours a buried ocean that could have the right conditions for life.
> 
> But attempts to land may face a major hazard: jagged "blades" of ice up to 10m long.
> 
> A major US conference has heard the moon may have ideal conditions for icy spikes called "penitentes" to form.
> 
> Scientists would like to send a lander down to sample surface regions where water wells up through the icy crust.
> 
> These areas could allow a robotic probe to sample a proxy for ocean water that lies several kilometres deep.
> 
> Details of the penitentes theory were announced as scientists outlined another proposal to explore the jovian moon with robotic spacecraft.



BBC News - Ice blades threaten Europa landing


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Switzerland will start testing this chubby spaceplane next year*
Switzerland will start testing this chubby spaceplane next year | DVICE

Evan Ackerman

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 - 3:58pm


> Swiss Space Systems (S3), a Swiss company that develops, er, space systems, has managed to pull together $265 million to build a prototype of a small, autonomous spaceplane that would be able to quickly and efficiently launch satellites into orbit. For just $10.5 million, you'd be able to send a 250kg satellite payload into a 700km orbit, which is about four times cheaper than it costs right now.
> 
> To make this work, S3 is relying on the recently popular first-stage aircraft, using an Airbus A300 to hoist the spaceplane up to 33,000 feet. The spaceplane then pops off, and fires up its rocket engine to make it up to 260,000 feet (80km) or so. This seems like a long way from the 700km target orbit, but it's above Earth's problematic atmosphere and at orbital velocity already, so all that's necessary to travel the remaining 620km is to release the payload along with a small, expendable upper stage


.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Swiis company announces reusable suborbital spaceplane launcher for 2017

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_sLx6VH9EVU]Projet Swiss Space Systems - YouTube[/ame]

I'm glad many nations are getting into it and some are working on cheap ways into space. People like Obama shouldn't hold a axe over humanities future in space!


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX's New Rocket Engine Cleared for Private Launches*

SpaceX's New Rocket Engine Cleared for Private Launches | Space.com
by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer

Date: 21 March 2013 Time: 02:55 PM ET


  Two of SpaceX's Merlin 1D engines sit on a test stand at the company's rocket-development facility in McGregor, Texas.



> SpaceX's next-generation rocket engine is ready to fly and will likely power a commercial space launch for the first time this summer, company officials announced Wednesday (March 20).
> 
> The Merlin 1D engine was judged flight-ready after firing for a total of nearly 33 minutes over the course of 28 different tests at SpaceX's rocket-development facility in McGregor, Texas. The new engine will soon be incorporated into the company's Falcon 9 rocket, officials said.





> Company officials say the Merlin 1D will provide a big boost for the Falcon 9, which until now has been powered by Merlin 1C engines in its first stage (nine of them, hence the name).
> 
> "The Merlin 1D has a vacuum thrust-to-weight ratio exceeding 150, the best of any liquid rocket engine in history," SpaceX officials wrote in a press release Wednesday. "This enhanced design makes the Merlin 1D the most efficient booster engine ever built, while still maintaining the structural and thermal safety margins needed to carry astronauts."





> The Merlin 1D already powers SpaceX's Grasshopper rocket, an experimental booster that the company hopes will pave the way for a fully reusable launch system. Earlier this month, the Grasshopper lifted off on its fourth test flight, rising 263 feet (80 meters) into the Texas skies before returning to Earth and making a soft landing.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Planck's most detailed map ever reveals an almost perfect Universe *


> (Phys.org) &#65533;Acquired by ESA's Planck space telescope, the most detailed map ever created of the cosmic microwave background &#65533; the relic radiation from the Big Bang &#65533; was released today revealing the existence of features that challenge the foundations of our current understanding of the Universe.
> 
> The image is based on the initial 15.5 months of data from Planck and is the mission's first all-sky picture of the oldest light in our Universe, imprinted on the sky when it was just 380 000 years old. At that time, the young Universe was filled with a hot dense soup of interacting protons, electrons and photons at about 2700ºC. When the protons and electrons joined to form hydrogen atoms, the light was set free. As the Universe has expanded, this light today has been stretched out to microwave wavelengths, equivalent to a temperature of just 2.7 degrees above absolute zero.


Planck's most detailed map ever reveals an almost perfect Universe


----------



## ScienceRocks

SpaceX Dragon 2.0 looks like 'alien spaceship,' says Elon Musk
SpaceX Dragon 2.0 looks like 'alien spaceship,' says Elon Musk - Science

By Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com


> The next version of the Dragon spacecraft built by the private spaceflight company SpaceX will look like something truly out of this world, according to Elon Musk, the company's billionaire founder and CEO.
> 
> Musk detailed some of the high points of the firm's much-anticipated Dragon Version 2 to reporters Thursday during a briefing with NASA to celebrate the firm's second successful cargo mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule returned to Earth Tuesday with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
> 
> But according to Musk, Dragon Version 2 landings won't be so &#8230; wet. But it may look weird.
> 
> "There are side-mounted thruster pods and quite big windows for astronauts to see out," Musk told SPACE.com. "There are also legs to pop out at the bottom. It looks like a real alien spaceship."


----------



## ScienceRocks

Future Looks Bright for Private US Space Ventures

US Space Agency NASA Blasts Earth-Observing Satellite Into Orbit
US Firm Launches Reusable Space Rocket
Privately Owned Rocket Blasts Off In First of a Dozen Space Station Supply Mission
Future Looks Bright for Private US Space Ventures | World | RIA Novosti


> WASHINGTON, March 28 (By Sasha Horne for RIA Novosti) &#8211; From wealthy American technology executives to British billionaires, entrepreneurs are betting big on the emerging US private spaceflight industry. While some ventures claim to forge the path to US dominance, others aim to level the playing field for countries that lack space exploration programs.
> 
> &#8220;The private sector is more efficient than the government and can do the same thing at a lower cost,&#8221; said John Logsdon, professor emeritus at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.
> 
> Historically, Logsdon said, the US space agency NASA partnered with private companies for semi-routine cargo transport to space, but it was the decommissioning of NASA&#8217;s shuttle program in 2011 that really offered a platform for independent companies.
> 
> &#8220;As the shuttles retired, the decision was made by NASA to contract private companies to not just transport cargo, but also to carry crew,&#8221; Logsdon told RIA Novosti.
> 
> With NASA&#8217;s space shuttles grounded, it now relies solely on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). The price tag for each roundtrip is $62 million, the US space agency said.


----------



## Mr. H.

Dutch Company Offering One-Way Trip to Mars - ABC News

_A Dutch start-up named Mars One is hoping to send a select group of brave astronauts on a one-way trip to the Red Planet in the year 2023 with the aim of establishing a permanent human colony. _


----------



## ScienceRocks

*
Pluto Could Have Ten Moons*

 Mar 18, 2013 06:00 AM ET  //  by  Ray Villard      



> Pluto Could Have Ten Moons : Discovery News
> A recent simulation predicts that NASA&#8217;s New Horizons probe could slam into a rocky killing field encircling the &#8220;binary planet&#8221; Pluto-Charon, during its 2015 flyby.
> 
> That&#8217;s according to a new theoretical dynamical simulation that predicts there could be as many as 10 moons circling the distant world &#8212; plus one or more ring systems.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Nasa to launch enormous, Arthur C Clarke-inspired solar sail in 2014*

Nasa to launch enormous, Arthur C Clarke-inspired solar sail in 2014 (Wired UK)
By Olivia Solon

26 March 13




> Nasa plans to launch an enormous, ultra-thin sail into space to see whether it is possible to use the pressure of the sunlight to provide propellant-free transport capabilities.
> 
> Solar sails have been mooted for centuries. In 1610, Johannes Kepler observed that comet tails always point away form the Sun and suggested that "provide ships or sails adapted to the heavenly breezes, and there will be some who will brave even that void". In 2010, Jaxa launched a solar sail called Ikaros, which measured 200 square metres and travelled to Venus.


----------



## Mr. H.

Think about it- a one way ticket to Mars. There's a fucking movie here.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Mr. H. said:


> Think about it- a one way ticket to Mars. There's a fucking movie here.



Want to go for it


----------



## ScienceRocks

The first mission to a gas giant using solar sail propulsion


> Solar sail propulsion is a new method of space travel that requires no fuel, but instead captures the Sun's energy in the form of high-speed gas particles and photons. Known as the "solar wind", this stream of charged particles can be harnessed so that it strikes large mirrors, gradually accelerating a craft to extremely high speeds.
> 
> It was first demonstrated in 2010 with a 14m (46 ft) Japanese experimental probe called IKAROS. This passed by Venus at a distance of 80,800 km (50,200 mi). It was followed by two NASA spacecraft &#8211; NanoSail-D2 in 2011 and the much larger Sunjammer in 2014, the latter with sails reaching 38m (124 ft).
> 
> Later in this decade, an even larger spacecraft is deployed, again by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). This measures 50m (164 ft) and is shaped like a flower. It features a hybrid propulsion method that combines sailing with an ion-propulsion engine, powered by embedded solar cells. The craft is sent to explore Jupiter and the nearby Trojan asteroids that share the planet's orbit.**


2019 Technology | Gateway Spacecraft 2019 | Galileo 2019 | Exaflop Supercomputer | Exaflop Barrier | Timeline | Future | Predictions | Events | 2010 | 2012 | 2015 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2050 | 2100 | 21st century


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Rocket Powered by Nuclear Fusion Could Send Humans to Mars*


Rocket powered by nuclear fusion could send humans to Mars


> Apr. 4, 2013 &#8212; Human travel to Mars has long been the unachievable dangling carrot for space programs. Now, astronauts could be a step closer to our nearest planetary neighbor through a unique manipulation of nuclear fusion, the same energy that powers the sun and stars.
> 
> University of Washington researchers and scientists at a Redmond-based space-propulsion company are building components of a fusion-powered rocket aimed to clear many of the hurdles that block deep space travel, including long times in transit, exorbitant costs and health risks.
> 
> "Using existing rocket fuels, it's nearly impossible for humans to explore much beyond Earth," said lead researcher John Slough, a UW research associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics. "We are hoping to give us a much more powerful source of energy in space that could eventually lead to making interplanetary travel commonplace."


----------



## Papawx3

The bigger problem I see is that it's going to take approx. 6 months to make the trip, and that is IF you take advantage of the Minimum Energy Transfer Orbit (aka: Hohmann Orbit) to make it there in the least amount of time.  How Long Does it Take to Get to Mars?
So how to you keep a human occupied for that 6 months without them going stark raving mad by the time they get there? How would you feed them?  What type of living arrangements would you make for them for the journey?   And, how would they return?  How long would they need to stay there before earth and mars are in acceptable positions to be able to return in just as short a time?  
These and a lot of other questions will need to be studied and answered before they put someone in a capsule and blast them off toward Mars.


----------



## ScienceRocks

..

*Senator: NASA to lasso asteroid, bring it closer*
By SETH BORENSTEIN | Associated Press &#8211; Fri, Apr 5, 2013..
Senator: NASA to lasso asteroid, bring it closer



> .
> FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2013 file photo, the Orion Exploration Flight Test 1crew module is seen in the Operations and Checkout building during a media tour at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Senate Science and Space subcommittee Chairman Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. says President Barack Obama and NASA are planning for a robotic spaceship to lasso a small asteroid and park it near the moon. Then astronauts would explore it in 2021. Nelson said the plan would speed up by four years an existing mission to land astronauts on an asteroid by bringing the space rock closer to Earth. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
> 
> 
> WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; NASA is planning for a robotic spaceship to lasso a small asteroid and park it near the moon for astronauts to explore, a top senator said Friday.
> 
> The ship would capture the 500-ton, 25-foot asteroid in 2019. Then using an Orion space capsule, a crew of about four astronauts would nuzzle up next to the rock in 2021 for spacewalking exploration, according to a government document obtained by The Associated Press.
> 
> Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said the plan would speed up by four years the existing mission to land astronauts on an asteroid by bringing the space rock closer to Earth.
> 
> Nelson, who is chairman of the Senate science and space subcommittee, said Friday that President Barack Obama is putting $100 million in planning money for the accelerated asteroid mission in the 2014 budget that comes out next week. The money would be used to find the right small asteroid.
> 
> "It really is a clever concept," Nelson said in a press conference in Orlando. "Go find your ideal candidate for an asteroid. Go get it robotically and bring it back."
> 
> This would be the first time ever humanity has manipulated a space object in such a grand scale, like what it does on Earth, said Robert Braun, a Georgia Institute of Technology aerospace engineering professor who used to be NASA's chief technology officer.
> 
> "It's a great combination of our robotic and human capabilities to do the kind of thing that NASA should be doing in this century," Braun said.
> 
> Last year, the Keck Institute for Space Studies proposed a similar mission for NASA with a price tag of $2.6 billion. There is no cost estimate for the space agency's version. NASA's plans were first reported by Aviation Week.



Ben nelson is one of the few democrats that I'd vote for!


----------



## Old Rocks

This is one of the best ideas I have seen so far. Once parked, an analysis can be made of what the asteroid is made of. Bet we find that there are enough valuable minerals to make going for the big boys even in their present orbits a desirable economic objective. A fifty year program that would have huge payoffs. Not without historical precedents, either. After all, it was forty years after the Corps of Discovery made it's journey before the wagons started rolling.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Ice Cloud Heralds Fall at Titan's South Pole




> Apr. 11, 2013 &#8212; An ice cloud taking shape over Titan's south pole is the latest sign that the change of seasons is setting off a cascade of radical changes in the atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon. Made from an unknown ice, this type of cloud has long hung over Titan's north pole, where it is now fading, according to observations made by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) on NASA's Cassini spacecraft.


Ice cloud heralds fall at Titan's south pole


----------



## longknife

Astronomy Picture of the Day April 10, 2013

Awesome!


----------



## Mr. H.

Old Rocks said:


> This is one of the best ideas I have seen so far. Once parked, an analysis can be made of what the asteroid is made of. Bet we find that there are enough valuable minerals to make going for the big boys even in their present orbits a desirable economic objective. A fifty year program that would have huge payoffs. Not without historical precedents, either. After all, it was forty years after the Corps of Discovery made it's journey before the wagons started rolling.



the ultimate NIMBYism.


----------



## longknife

APOD 11 April 2013


----------



## ScienceRocks

Can one buy the right to name a planet? IAU responds 
April 13, 2013 



> In the light of recent events, where the possibility of buying the rights to name exoplanets has been advertised, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) wishes to inform the public that such schemes have no bearing on the official naming process. The IAU wholeheartedly welcomes the public's interest to be involved in recent discoveries, but would like to strongly stress the importance of having a unified naming procedure.



 Read more at: Can one buy the right to name a planet? IAU responds


----------



## ScienceRocks

600 miles-per-second solar flare causes radio blackout on Earth

A massive solar flare leads to a blackout.  600 miles-per-second solar flare causes radio blackout on Earth | Science Recorder


----------



## LAfrique

*Planet Earth got too sophisticated that US government via NASA and MIT seeking for subjects to colonize in outer space *- NASA And MIT Mission Will Search For Habitable Planets - Forbes


----------



## longknife

2013 April 12






2013 April 13


----------



## longknife

*Wired Space Photos*


----------



## longknife

APOD April 15, 2013


----------



## LAfrique

longknife said:


> *Wired Space Photos*



*
Looks to me like some life form they are incubating to populate other planets. Funny looking things.*


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Three Super-Earth-Size Planets Foud in 'Habitable Zone'*
Three super-Earth-size planets foud in 'habitable zone'

Apr. 18, 2013 &#8212; *NASA's Kepler mission has discovered two new planetary systems that include three super-Earth-size planets in the "habitable zone," the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water.*


Time to double nasa's budget. This is far more important then guarding some field of drugs in the middle east.


----------



## longknife

*2013 April 18*




Star Factory Messier 17 
Image Credit: Subaru Telescope (NAOJ), Hubble Space Telescope,


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Kepler 2.0: Next-Gen Exoplanet Hunter Approved*

 Apr 7, 2013 03:03 AM ET  //  by  Ian O'Neill      
Kepler 2.0: Next-Gen Exoplanet Hunter Approved : Discovery News


> NASA has selected a $200 million mission to carry out a full-sky survey for exoplanets orbiting nearby stars. The space observatory, called the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), is scheduled for a 2017 launch.
> 
> Like the currently operational Kepler Space Telescope, TESS will be in the lookout for exoplanets that orbit in front of their host stars, resulting in a slight dip in starlight. This dip is known as a &#8220;transit&#8221; and Kepler has revolutionized our understanding about planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy by applying this effective technique. As of January 2013, Kepler has spotted 2,740 exoplanetary candidates.
> 
> 
> Although Kepler&#8217;s powerful optics have allowed astronomers an unprecedented look into multiplanetary systems, identifying worlds as small as Mercury to many times the size of Jupiter, it is restricted to gazing at a small field of view &#8212; accounting for a mere 0.28 percent of the sky. Tiny it may be, but 145,000 main sequence stars fill that view, providing us with a gargantuan amount of transit data for hundreds of exoplanets.
> 
> But TESS will be surveying the entire sky, supercharging our profound quest to understand how many stars like our own could host worlds, not too dissimilar to Earth, in their habitable zones.


----------



## longknife

*2013 April 20* Airglow, Gegenschein, and Milky Way 




*
2013 April 21*, The Big Dipper


----------



## ScienceRocks

850 feet for 61 seconds!!!
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoxiK7K28PU]Grasshopper 250m Test | Ring of Fire - YouTube[/ame]


----------



## ScienceRocks

New U.S. rocket blasts off from Virginia launch pad
By Irene Klotz | Reuters &#8211; 22 hrs ago..

.The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen as it launches from Pad-0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, April 21, 2013. REUTERS/Bill Ingalls/NASAView Photo.
The Orbital Sciences Corporation &#8230;


By Irene Klotz


> (Reuters) - A privately owned rocket built in partnership with NASA to haul cargo to the International Space Station blasted off on Sunday for a debut test flight from a new commercial spaceport in Virginia.
> 
> The 13-story Antares rocket, developed and flown by Orbital Sciences Corp, lifted off at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) from a Virginia-owned and operated launch pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.
> 
> "Beautiful view," said NASA launch commentator Kyle Herring as live video from the rocket, broadcast on NASA TV, showed the booster riding atop a bright plume of fire above the Atlantic Ocean.
> 
> Ten minutes later, the rocket deposited its payload - a 8,380-pound (3,800-kg) dummy capsule - into an orbit 158 miles above the planet, fulfilling the primary goal of the test flight.
> 
> Orbital Sciences and privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, hold NASA contracts worth a combined $3.5 billion to fly cargo to the space station, a $100 billion research outpost that flies about 250 miles above Earth.
> 
> NASA turned to commercial suppliers after retiring the space shuttles in 2011.
> 
> Flight controllers radioed news of Antares' successful debut to the station crew shortly after launch.
> 
> "Wahoo, that's super," replied station commander Chris Hadfield, with the Canadian Space Agency.
> 
> "Congratulations to all concerned. That bodes well for all of our futures," Hadfield said.
> 
> On its next flight, scheduled for late June or early July, another Antares rocket will carry a Cygnus cargo ship on a demonstration mission to the station.
> 
> California-based SpaceX completed three test flights and last year began delivering cargo to the station under its $1.6 billion contract


.[/quote]New U.S. rocket blasts off from Virginia launch pad


----------



## longknife

2013 April 23 X-rays from Supernova Remnant SN 1006


----------



## longknife

2013 April 25 - Lunar Eclipses


----------



## Mr. H.

Isn't the plural of eclipse _eclipseai_?


----------



## ScienceRocks

Privately Financed Spaceship Roars Closer to Space

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/s...spaceshiptwo-inches-closer-to-space.html?_r=0


> An image taken from a video of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo as it took off on Monday for its first supersonic flight.
> 
> By KENNETH CHANG
> 
> 
> For the more than 500 space tourists who have signed up for a trip on Richard Branson&#8217;s Virgin Galactic, Monday was a milestone: the day the spaceship that will be carrying them aloft made its first powered flight and broke the sound barrier for its first time.
> 
> &#8220;We will be going to space at the end of this year,&#8221; Mr. Branson said in a telephone interview after the test flight over Mojave, Calif. Or, he added, possibly in the first quarter of next year. He and his children are to be passengers on that first flight.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*There's a Mighty Maelstrom at Saturn's North Pole*

 Apr 29, 2013 07:34 PM ET  //  by  Jason Major      
There's a Mighty Maelstrom at Saturn's North Pole : Discovery News
The spinning vortex of Saturn&#8217;s north polar storm as imaged by Cassini. 

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI 



> The incredible vortex of spiraling clouds that churns above Saturn's north pole is seen in all its blood-red glory in this stunning image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, released today (April 29).
> 
> Taking advantage of a new orbital trajectory that puts it high above Saturn's rings and poles, Cassini acquired the near-infrared images used to make this composite back on Nov. 27, 2012. The resulting image is false color -- our eyes aren't sensitive to those particular wavelengths of light -- but still no less amazing.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Detection of two new exoplanets with Kepler, SOPHIE and HARPS-N*

5 hours ago 


> An international team of astronomers, including Alexandre Santerne of the EXOEarths team at CAUP, identified and characterized two new exoplanets, thanks to combined observations from the Kepler space telescope, plus SOPHIE and HARPS-N spectrographs.
> 
> These planets, named KOI-200 b and KOI-889 b are among the first detected with the new high-accuracy spectrograph HARPS-N, the northern hemisphere counterpart of the most prolific exoplanet hunter, HARPS (ESO). CAUP researcher Alexandre Santerne commented: "The SOPHIE spectrograph was already playing an important role in the characterization of Kepler planets by unveiling the true nature of the candidates and measuring the mass of giant planets. With the new HARPS-N spectrograph, with an even better accuracy, we expect to characterize much smaller exoplanets, hopefully down to the size of the Earth."


Detection of two new exoplanets with Kepler, SOPHIE and HARPS-N


----------



## ScienceRocks

(Phys.org) &#8212;As planets age they become darker and cooler. Saturn however is much brighter than expected for a planet of its age - a question that has puzzled scientists since the late sixties. New research published in the journal Nature Geoscience has revealed how Saturn keeps itself looking young and hot. 

 Read more at: Saturn's youthful appearance explained

Saturn's youthful appearance explained


----------



## BlueGin

*Wow! Monster Hurricane on Saturn Spied by NASA Spacecraft*


Spectacular new images from a NASA spacecraft orbiting Saturn have captured the most detailed views ever of an enormous hurricane churning around the ringed planet's north pole. 

The stunning new images and video of the Saturn hurricane, which were taken by NASA's Cassini probe, show that the storm's eye is 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) wide  about 20 times bigger than typical hurricane eyes on Earth. And the Saturn maelstrom is more powerful than its Earth counterparts, with winds at its outer edge whipping around at 330 mph (530 km/h).

Pictures at link

Wow! Monster Hurricane on Saturn Spied by NASA Spacecraft


----------



## Mr. H.

I spy something, I spy something.... red.

And angry...


----------



## ScienceRocks

*New experiments set to detect gravitational waves*

4 hours ago by Bob Yirka report




> (Phys.org) &#8212;Over the next five years, Mansi Kasliwal writes in an astrophysics perspective in the journal Science, researchers will begin setting up experiments designed to detect gravitational waves. Kasliwal, an astronomer with the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science located in Pasadena, California, says momentum is building in the physics community to find proof of the existence of gravitational waves. Thus, far, they are still considered theoretical.




 Read more at: New experiments set to detect gravitational waves


----------



## ScienceRocks

*New Kind of Cosmic Flash May Reveal Birth of a Black Hole*

New kind of cosmic flash may reveal birth of a black hole


> May 3, 2013 &#8212; A new kind of cosmic flash may reveal something never seen before: the birth of a black hole


----------



## ScienceRocks

*First Tunguska Meteorite Fragments Discovered*
First Tunguska Meteorite Fragments Discovered | MIT Technology Review


> Nobody knows what exploded over Siberia in 1908, but the discovery of the first fragments could finally solve the mystery.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Record-Breaking Star Explosion Is Most Powerful Ever Seen*

Record-Breaking Star Explosion Is Most Powerful Ever Seen | Space.com



> Two NASA space telescopes have captured what appears to be the most powerful star explosion ever detected, a cosmic event so luminous that scientists dubbed it "eye-wateringly bright" despite being 3.6 billion light-years from Earth


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Air Force-Developed Rocket Propellant Could Usher In Next Era of Space Travel*

New propellant is environmentally friendly and safe to handle
Air Force-Developed Rocket Propellant Could Usher In Next Era of Space Travel - US News and World Report




> NASA is ready to use an Air Force-developed rocket propellant that can allow spacecraft to fly faster, further and carry a heavier payload than current space propellants.
> 
> [PHOTOS: NASA's Curiosity Lands on Mars]
> 
> 
> The agency will test out AF-M315, a new class of propellant, in 2015. AF-M315 is about twice as powerful as existing spacecraft propellants and doesn't damage the environment, according to Tom Hawkins, of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Aerospace Systems Directorate. The propellant has been under development for more than 10 years by scientists at the Air Force's Office of Scientific Research and the AFRL.
> 
> Hawkins says the propellant might usher in a new era of space travel


----------



## ScienceRocks

*
New research sets back date of moon's dynamo 160 million years*

May 07, 2013 by Bob Yirka report


(Phys.org) &#8212;





> A multi-disciplinary team of international researchers has found evidence to suggest the moon's dynamo persisted until at least 3.6 billion years ago. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team says this pushes back the date for the dynamo approximately 160 million years.


New research sets back date of moon's dynamo 160 million years


----------



## ScienceRocks

NASA announces new site for Mars drilling



> After a four-week break, NASA researchers have announced a second drilling site on Mars, they announced May 9 via their website. The break came about due to the Sun&#8217;s recent position relative to Earth and Mars; the Sun could have blocked or corrupted the information sent to the rover (named Curiosity), so the team opted to wait it out.




Read more: NASA announces new site for Mars drilling | Science Recorder


----------



## ScienceRocks

Mars One founder on mission to Mars: We expected a slow start  
Photo credit: Mars One 


Science Recorder | Alyssa Samson | Saturday, May 11, 



> It sounds like something straight out of the Hunger Games: groups are selected all around the world, each of whom train for months on end to try and make it to the final round&#8212;a one-way ticket to Mars&#8212;while the rest of the world votes.




Read more: Mars One founder on mission to Mars: We expected a slow start | Science Recorder


----------



## Mr. H.

I forget, did the Robinson's ever make it back to earth?


----------



## ScienceRocks

Hubble Tells a Tale of Galactic Collisions
Hubble tells a tale of galactic collisions



> May 12, 2013 &#8212; When we look into the distant cosmos, the great majority of the objects we see are galaxies: immense gatherings of stars, planets, gas, dust, and dark matter, showing up in all kind of shapes.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*'Einstein's Planet': New Alien World Revealed by Relativity*



> Einstein's special relativity has proven more useful than ever, as scientists have now used it to discover an alien planet around another star.
> 
> The newfound world &#8212; nicknamed "Einstein's planet" by the astronomers who discovered it &#8212; is the latest of more than 800 planets known to exist beyond our solar system, and the first to be found through this method.
> 
> The planet, officially known as Kepler-76b, is 25 percent larger than Jupiter and weighs about twice as much, putting it in a class known as "hot Jupiters." The world orbits a star located about 2,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. [7 Ways to Discover Alien Planets]


 'Einstein's Planet': New Alien World Revealed by Relativity | Space.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

First X-Class Solar Flares of 2013
05.13.13 Second Update: 3:30 p.m. EDT
NASA - First X-Class Solar Flares of 2013



> The X2.8-class flare was also associated with a coronal mass ejection, or CME, another solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space, which can potentially affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground. The CME was not Earth-directed, but could pass NASA's STEREO-B, Messenger and Spitzer spacecraft. Their mission operators have been notified. Experimental NASA research models show that the CME left the sun at 1,200 miles per second beginning at 12:18 p.m. EDT. If warranted, operators can put spacecraft into safe mode to protect the instruments from solar material.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*A Robot Just Broke the Human Record for Miles Driven in Space*

Another victory for Opportunity, the spunky little rover driving on Mars 

Megan GarberMay 16 2013, 6:16 PM ET

A Robot Just Broke the Human Record for Miles Driven in Space - Megan Garber - The Atlantic



> In December of 1972, the Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt got to do something awesome: They took a joyride on the moon. A long one. The pair piloted their mission's Lunar Roving Vehicle 19.3 nautical miles (which is also 22.210 statute miles, or 35.744 kilometers) over the moon's dusty, roadless terrain, collecting scientific samples along the way.
> 
> Their trip -- Thelma and Louise, with a better car and a happier ending -- was notable not just for the photos it produced or the payloads it collected. The distance Cernan and Schmitt traversed on that foreign soil -- those 20-odd miles of moon-driving -- has marked the longest stretch that any NASA vehicle has ever tread on ground other than Earth.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Kepler telescope down, but not yet out (we hope)*

Colin Druce-McFadden

Kepler telescope down, but not yet out (we hope) | DVICE


> The Kepler space telescope has been peering into the heavens since 2009, carefully watching 150,000 alien suns in the search for potentially habitable worlds orbiting them. Data collected from the telescope has helped astronomers estimate that there are at least 17 billion (billion!) Earth-sized exoplanets in our galaxy.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA signs off on sampling mission to Earth-threatening asteroid*
NASA signs off on sampling mission to Earth-threatening asteroid ? The Register



> NASA has given final approval for a billion-dollar mission that will visit one of the most potentially dangerous asteroids to Earth, collect samples, and then bring it back home for analysis.
> 
> The OSIRIS-REx* mission, proposed by the University of Arizona, will blast off in 2016 and visit 101955 Bennu &#8211; a 493m wide hunk of rock and gravel that orbits the sun every year and a half. After a two-year flight, the craft will orbit the asteroid, mapping it in visible, infrared, and X-ray spectrums, and then land a sample collector.
> 
> The machine will scoop up at least 60 grams (2.1 ounces) of material, and possibly as much as 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds), before spending another two years heading back to Earth. The sample is scheduled to land in the Utah desert by 2023.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Private Space Plane Arrives in California for Key Flight Tests*


by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer

Date: 17 May 2013 Time: 03:53 PM ET

Private Space Plane Arrives in California for Key Flight Tests | Dream Chaser | Space.com

Dream Chaser Hauled  



> A private space plane has arrived at a NASA facility in California to undergo tests that will help vet its ability to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
> 
> A test version of the Dream Chaser space plane arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in southern California on Wednesday (May 15) aboard a flatbed truck, wrapped in a protective white caul for the overland journey from Colorado.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Why do planets farthest from sun have highest winds? Team closes in on answer



> Now, they may be a step closer to figuring out the energy source that drives these mighty winds.
> 
> In a new study, a team  scientists from Israel and the US finds that on Uranus and Neptune the winds appear to be confined to the top 680 miles of the atmosphere &#8211; and may actually involve a thinner layer than that.



Why do planets farthest from sun have highest winds? Team closes in on answer - CSMonitor.com


----------



## BlueGin

*Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion*


The moon has a new hole on its surface thanks to a boulder that slammed into it in March, creating the biggest explosion scientists have seen on the moon since they started monitoring it.

The meteorite crashed on March 17, slamming into the lunar surface at a mind-boggling 56,000 mph (90,000 kph) and creating a new crater 65 feet wide (20 meters). The crash sparked a bright flash of light that would have been visible to anyone looking at the moon at the time with the naked eye, NASA scientists say.

"On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office said in a statement. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before." 


Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion


----------



## longknife

Matthew said:


> *Private Space Plane Arrives in California for Key Flight Tests*
> 
> 
> by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer
> 
> Date: 17 May 2013 Time: 03:53 PM ET
> 
> Private Space Plane Arrives in California for Key Flight Tests | Dream Chaser | Space.com
> 
> Dream Chaser Hauled
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A private space plane has arrived at a NASA facility in California to undergo tests that will help vet its ability to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
> 
> A test version of the Dream Chaser space plane arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in southern California on Wednesday (May 15) aboard a flatbed truck, wrapped in a protective white caul for the overland journey from Colorado.
Click to expand...


Here's a neat picture of what's under the tarp:


----------



## longknife

BlueGin said:


> *Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion*
> 
> 
> The moon has a new hole on its surface thanks to a boulder that slammed into it in March, creating the biggest explosion scientists have seen on the moon since they started monitoring it.
> 
> The meteorite crashed on March 17, slamming into the lunar surface at a mind-boggling 56,000 mph (90,000 kph) and creating a new crater 65 feet wide (20 meters). The crash sparked a bright flash of light that would have been visible to anyone looking at the moon at the time with the naked eye, NASA scientists say.
> 
> "On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office said in a statement. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before."
> 
> 
> Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion



And, thanks to our many miles of atmosphere, rocks this size burn up far before they could crash into our surface.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Scientists Shape First Global Topographic Map of Saturn's Moon Titan*


> Scientists have created the first global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan, giving researchers a valuable tool for learning more about one of the most Earthlike and interesting worlds in the solar system.
> 
> Titan is Saturn's largest moon &#8212; at 1,600 miles (2,574 kilometers) across it's bigger than planet Mercury &#8212; and is the second-largest in the solar system. Scientists care about Titan because it's the only moon in the solar system known to have clouds, surface liquids and a mysterious, thick atmosphere. The cold atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, like Earth's, but methane on Titan acts the way water vapor does on Earth, forming clouds and falling as rain and carving the surface with rivers. Organic chemicals, derived from methane, are present in Titan's atmosphere, lakes and rivers and may offer clues about the origins of life.
> 
> "Titan has so much interesting activity &#8212; like flowing liquids and moving sand dunes &#8212; but to understand these processes it's useful to know how the terrain slopes," says Ralph Lorenz, of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., who led the map-design team. "It's especially helpful to those studying hydrology and modeling Titan's climate and weather, who need to know whether there is high ground or low ground driving their models."


Scientists Shape First Global Topographic Map of Saturn's Moon Titan


----------



## ScienceRocks

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LtI1V624vWM]SpaceX Fairing Separation Test - YouTube[/ame]

SpaceX Fairing Separation Test


----------



## RoadVirus

longknife said:


> BlueGin said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion*
> 
> 
> The moon has a new hole on its surface thanks to a boulder that slammed into it in March, creating the biggest explosion scientists have seen on the moon since they started monitoring it.
> 
> The meteorite crashed on March 17, slamming into the lunar surface at a mind-boggling 56,000 mph (90,000 kph) and creating a new crater 65 feet wide (20 meters). The crash sparked a bright flash of light that would have been visible to anyone looking at the moon at the time with the naked eye, NASA scientists say.
> 
> "On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office said in a statement. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before."
> 
> 
> Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And, thanks to our many miles of atmosphere, rocks this size burn up far before they could crash into our surface.
Click to expand...


We hope.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX Leases Pad in New Mexico for Next Grasshopper Tests*

SpaceX Leases Pad in New Mexico for Next Grasshopper Tests | SpaceNews.com


> WASHINGTON &#8212; The next phase of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.&#8217;s (SpaceX) experimental Grasshopper program, a key part of the Hawthorne, Calif., rocket maker&#8217;s attempt to build a reusable space booster, will be based at New Mexico&#8217;s Spaceport America under the terms of a three-year lease the spaceport announced May 7.
> 
> From Spaceport America, which is about 50 kilometers southeast of Truth or Consequences, N.M., and about 60 kilometers west of the restricted air space over the U.S. Army&#8217;s White Sands Missile Range, Grasshopper could fly much higher than the 760-meter ceiling the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed for launches from SpaceX&#8217;s rocket test site in McGregor, Texas.
> 
> &#8220;Spaceport America offers us the physical and regulatory landscape needed to complete the next phase of Grasshopper testing,&#8221; Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said in the Spaceport&#8217;s May 7 press release about the lease.
> 
> Essentially, that means SpaceX &#8220;can fly [Grasshopper] at higher altitudes and along different trajectories&#8221; than those allowed at McGregor, SpaceX spokeswoman Christina Ra said May 9.
> 
> *&#8220;We&#8217;re good for about 350,000 feet,&#8221; or roughly 100 kilometers,* Christine Anderson, executive director of Spaceport of America, said in a phone interview May 8. That altitude is the internationally recognized boundary of space.
> 
> Under the terms of the three-year deal, which was signed in late April, SpaceX will pay Spaceport America $6,600 a month to lease a launchpad and a small mission control facility, Ra said. Anderson said SpaceX also will pay a $25,000 fee for every Grasshopper flight from the commercial spaceport.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Private Mars Flyby Mission Ponders NASA & Commercial Rockets*
SPACE.comBy Clara Moskowitz | SPACE.com &#8211; Fri, May 17, 2013..
Private Mars Flyby Mission Ponders NASA & Commercial Rockets
.


> The organizers of a private plan to send two people on a round-trip flyby of Mars in 2018 are choosing between a variety of commercial rockets and a NASA booster for the mission.
> 
> The nonprofit Inspiration Mars foundation was founded by entrepreneur and space tourist Dennis Tito, who flew to the International Space Station in 2001 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Tito said the flyby mission is aimed at inspiring the public about space exploration and accelerating humanity's quest to visit Mars by taking advantage of a rare launch opportunity that allows for a relatively brief 501-day round trip.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Warp speed, Scotty: Faster than light drives a reality?*




> NASA appears to be debating a way to permanently colonize another planet, boldly going where no one has ever gone -- and where no one could come back, some fear. (Paramount)
> 
> 
> In the "Star Trek" TV shows and films, the U.S.S. Enterprise's warp engine allows the ship to move faster than light, an ability that is, as Spock would say, "highly illogical."
> 
> However, there's a loophole in Einstein's general theory of relativity that could allow a ship to traverse vast distances in less time than it would take light. The trick? It's not the starship that's moving &#8212; it's the space around it.
> 
> In fact, scientists at NASA are right now working on the first practical field test toward proving the possibility of warp drives and faster-than-light travel. Maybe the warp drive on "Star Trek" is possible after all.
> 
> 'Nature can do it. So the salient question is, can we?'
> 
> - Physicist Harold 'Sonny' White, with NASA's Johnson Space Center
> 
> 
> According to Einstein's theory, an object with mass cannot go as fast or faster than the speed of light. The original "Star Trek" series ignored this "universal speed limit" in favor of a ship that could zip around the galaxy in a matter of days instead of decades. They tried to explain the ship's faster-than-light capabilities by powering the warp engine with a "matter-antimatter" engine. Antimatter was a popular field of study in the 1960s, when creator Gene Roddenberry was first writing the series. When matter and antimatter collide, their mass is converted to kinetic energy in keeping with Einstein's mass-energy equivalence formula, E=mc2.


Read more: Warp speed, Scotty: Faster than light drives a reality? | Fox News


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Forecast for Titan: Wild weather could be ahead*

52 minutes ago 



> Forecast for Titan: Wild weather could be ahead
> Ligeia Mare, shown in here in data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, is the second largest known body of liquid on Saturn's moon Titan. It is filled with liquid hydrocarbons, such as ethane and methane, and is one of the many seas and &#8230;more
> (Phys.org) &#8212;Saturn's moon Titan might be in for some wild weather as it heads into its spring and summer, if two new models are correct. Scientists think that as the seasons change in Titan's northern hemisphere, waves could ripple across the moon's hydrocarbon seas, and hurricanes could begin to swirl over these areas, too. The model predicting waves tries to explain data from the moon obtained so far by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Both models help mission team members plan when and where to look for unusual atmospheric disturbances as Titan summer approaches.
> 
> The other model about hurricanes, recently published in Icarus, predicts that the warming of the northern hemisphere could also bring hurricanes, also known as tropical cyclones. Tropical cyclones on Earth gain their energy from the build-up of heat from seawater evaporation and miniature versions have been seen over big lakes such as Lake Huron. The new modeling work, led by Tetsuya Tokano of the University of Cologne, Germany, shows that the same processes could be at work on Titan as well, except that it is methane rather than water that evaporates from the seas. The most likely season for these hurricanes would be Titan's northern summer solstice, when the sea surface gets warmer and the flow of the air near the surface becomes more turbulent. The humid air would swirl in a counterclockwise direction over the surface of one of the northern seas and increase the surface wind over the seas to possibly 45 mph (about 70 kilometers per hour).
> 
> "For these hurricanes to develop at Titan, there needs to be the right mix of hydrocarbons in these seas, and we still don't know their exact composition," Tokano said. "If we see hurricanes, that would be one good indicator that there is enough methane in these lakes to support this kind of activity. So far, scientists haven't yet been able to detect methane directly."






 Read more at: Forecast for Titan: Wild weather could be ahead


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Destination Moon: Private Spaceflight Companies Eye Lunar Bases*


by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer

Date: 23 May 2013 Time: 04:06 PM ET



> Pit stop, the moon! Lunar extraction of minerals and ice are envisioned as near-term objectives for space mining advocates.
> 
> 
> Human exploration of deep space is looking more and more like a tag-team affair, with NASA jetting off to asteroids and Mars while the private sector sets up shop on the moon.
> 
> While NASA has no plans to return humans to the lunar surface anytime soon, private industry is eyeing  Earth's nearest neighbor intently, said Bigelow Aerospace founder and president Robert Bigelow


.
Private Spaceflight Companies Eye Moon Bases | Space.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Cosmic Swirly Straws: Galaxies Fed by Funnels of Fuel*
Cosmic swirly straws: Galaxies fed by funnels of fuel



> May 24, 2013 &#8212; Computer simulations of galaxies growing over billions of years have revealed a likely scenario for how they feed: a cosmic version of swirly straws.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Space station astronauts snap amazing photos of Alaskan volcanic eruption*

Space station astronauts snap amazing photos of Alaskan volcanic eruption - CSMonitor.com


> Pavlof Volcano has been erupting for over a week, releasing a humongous plume of ash, steam, and smoke visible from the International Space Station. The eruption has quieted down, but seismic data suggests that it's not over.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Asteroid capture: NASA plans to drag space rock into lunar orbit



> NASA Administrator Charles Bolden dropped by JPL on Thursday to outline the agency's plans to capture an asteroid, and to look at a model of a powerful new ion thruster that has enough strength to drag a space rock into orbit around the moon.
> 
> 
> NASA unveiled a multistep plan to rendezvous with a smallish asteroid, put it in what looks like a giant reflective garbage bag, and bring it into lunar orbit, earlier this year.
> 
> Once the space rock is in a stable orbit around the moon, astronauts could land on it and bring small chunks of it back to Earth.


Asteroid capture: NASA plans to drag space rock into lunar orbit - latimes.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

New Technique Could Probe Rocky Alien Planet Surfaces


New Technique Could Probe Rocky Alien Planet Surfaces | Space.com






> Artist's concept of Kepler-10b, which was detected by NASA's Kepler mission. Kepler scientists say it's the first "unquestionably rocky" alien planet ever found.
> 
> 
> Numerous rocky, Earth-like worlds have been discovered by transit surveys such as NASA's Kepler mission.
> 
> For those familiar with the transit of Venus last year, exoplanet transits are the same idea  an exoplanet crosses the face of its parent star as perceived by observers on or near Earth. By comparing the amount of starlight the transiting planet blocks and the total starlight emitted by the host star, astronomers can determine the radius of a transiting planet.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Big weather on hot Jupiters*
Among the hundreds of new planets discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft are a class of exotic 





> worlds known as "hot Jupiters." Unlike the giant planets of our own solar system, which remain at a safe distance from the sun, these worlds are reckless visitors to their parent stars. They speed around in orbits a fraction the size of Mercury's, blasted on just one-side by starlight hundreds of times more intense than the gentle heating experienced by Jupiter here at home."
> 
> Meteorologists watching this video are probably wondering what kind of weather a world like that might have. The short answer is "big."
> 
> Heather Knutson of Caltech made the first weather map of a hot Jupiter in 2007.


 Read more at: Big weather on hot Jupiters


----------



## ScienceRocks

*New report indicates private industry interested in building moon base*


> Phys.org) &#8212;Two months ago NASA commissioned Bigelow Aerospace to conduct a survey of the corporate sector to learn about private enterprise plans for space exploration. While the report has not yet been completed, Bigelow president Robert Bigelow and NASA's head of space operations William Gerstenmaier held a teleconference with reporter's to discuss findings thus far.



 Read more at: New report indicates private industry interested in building moon base


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Manned lunar colony by 2020? One company says it has plans to make that happen*

Science Recorder | Drew Adams | Tuesday, May 28, 2013



> NASA and the Obama Administration are seeking to accomplish a great deal by 2035, including putting astronauts on an asteroid and, later, on the planet Mars. Private industry does not wish to be left out of the process, however, and one in particular is staking its claim on the moon itself.
> 
> A study commissioned by NASA claims that astronauts might be able to live on the Moon by 2020. Bigelow Aerospace, the Las Vegas-based firm that conducted the study, stated that many of the roughly 20 companies surveyed showed an excited interest in the ambitious goal of a more commercialized space.
> 
> The firm also interviewed foreign space agencies and research groups as they pursue the idea of fully operating a space habitat market consisting of inflatable living quarters on the moon&#8217;s rocky surface.
> 
> Private industry interest in the moon comes after President Obama allocated a $105 million budget to NASA to begin pursuing projects that would hopefully locate, capture, and manipulate an asteroid into the moon&#8217;s orbit so that the space agency might access it by 2025. They also plan to put humans on Mars by an estimated 2035. These focuses leave the moon wide open for exploration by others.


Read more: Manned lunar colony by 2020? One company says it has plans to make that happen | Science Recorder

I hope someone can get us to the moon and set up the industry.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Crowdfunded telescope puts your photo in space*
 By Julianne Pepitone  @julpepitone May 30, 2013: 12:57 PM ET


Planetary Resources' Kickstarter-funded telescope puts your photo in space - May. 30, 2013
arkyd space telescope 
Planetary resources wants to raise $1 million on Kickstarter by June 30 to get its first Arkyd telescope into space in 2015. 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)


> For just $25, you can go to space ... sort of. Planetary Resources launched a Kickstarter campaign on Wednesday for "the first publicly accessible space telescope," and backers will be able to use it in a variety of ways.
> 
> Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining company, ultimately wants to build a fleet of Arkyd telescopes that can find asteroids -- then launch robotic spacecraft that can mine those asteroids for raw materials like precious metals and water.
> 
> To garner interest in its mission, the first Arkyd is focused on education and public access. In order to get that first telescope into space in 2015, the company wants to raise $1 million on Kickstarter by June 30.
> 
> A donation of $25 scores a backer a "space selfie," in which a user sends in a picture to be uploaded to a screen on the side of the telescope. The company then snaps a photo of the picture with the telescope and


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Rounded pebbles on Mars reveal past flowing water*
Updated 1:09 pm, Thursday, May 30, 2013 



> LOS ANGELES (AP) &#8212; A fresh analysis by NASA's Curiosity rover confirms a stream once ran through Gale Crater on Mars.
> 
> During a pit stop last year, Curiosity came upon hundreds of smooth, round pebbles that look strikingly similar to deposits in river banks on Earth.
> 
> Scientists believe the rover rolled onto an ancient streambed, but needed to study the stones in more detail. So Curiosity snapped high-resolution pictures and fired its laser at several pebbles to analyze the chemical makeup.
> 
> Researchers say the roundness of the stones was shaped by a fast-flowing stream that probably was ankle to waist-deep. Curiosity landed in the crater near the equator last summer.
> 
> The analysis appears in Friday's issue of the journal Science.



Read more: Rounded pebbles on Mars reveal past flowing water - SFGate


----------



## ScienceRocks

Asteroids Provide Sustainable Resource, Study Finds
Asteroids provide sustainable resource, study finds



> May 30, 2013 &#8212; The prospects of a robotic manufacturing base operating off Earth is not as far-fetched as it used to be according to a study published by a team of NASA researchers led by a Kennedy Space Center physicist.
> 
> Because asteroids are loaded with minerals that are rare on Earth, near-Earth asteroids and the asteroid belt could become the mining centers for remotely operated excavators and processing machinery. In 20 years, an industry barely imagined now could be sending refined materials, rare metals and even free, clean energy to Earth from asteroids and other bodies.
> 
> In their paper called "Affordable, Rapid Bootstrapping of the Space Industry and Solar System Civilization," published in the Journal of Aerospace Engineering, Phil Metzger, Anthony Muscatello, Robert Mueller and James Mantovani detail an intriguing path toward developing a self-sustaining, space-based industry that would use resources from asteroids and other heavenly bodies to meet the needs of humanity.





> "Now that we know we can get carbon in space, the basic elements that we need for industry are all within reach," Metzger said. "That was game-changing for us. The asteroid belt has a billion times more platinum than is found on Earth. There is literally a billion times the metal that is on the Earth, and all the water you could ever need."





> "*You could grow an industry that is a million times bigger than the United States' in the main asteroid belt,"* Metzger said. "Then you really are capable of terraforming planets and doing all the other great things because it wouldn't cost you anything" in terms of labor, resources or materials.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Secret Space Plane, Air Force's X-37B, Passes Five-Month Mark In Orbit *

Secret Space Plane, Air Force's X-37B, Passes Five-Month Mark In Orbit

  Posted: 05/30/2013 7:49 am EDT  



> By: Leonard David
> Published: 05/29/2013 07:46 AM EDT on SPACE.com
> 
> The U.S. Air Force's robotic X-37B space plane has quietly passed the five-month mark on its latest secret mission in Earth orbit.
> 
> The unmanned X-37B spacecraft launched into space atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Florida&#8217;s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Dec. 11, 2012, kicking off a mission whose objectives and payloads are classified.
> 
> The winged craft is known as Orbital Test Vehicle-3 (OTV-3), since it is conducting the third mission of the Air Force's X-37B program


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA &#8212; New Solar Electric Ion Propulsion Engine Image Released*


May 31, 2013  Nathan 


Editor&#8217;s note: NASA + solar&#8230; big geek win! And holy cow, Batman &#8212; look at that wicked NASA image! Try not to drool on your keyboard while you enjoy this Solar Love repost.

NASA recently released a new image of its newest solar-electric propulsion thruster design. The design utilizes xenon ions for propulsion, offering the possibility of a much more efficient means of space travel than chemical rockets can provide. More energy-efficient space travel sounds good, and it&#8217;s solar-powered to boot

Read more at NASA -- New Solar Electric Ion Propulsion Engine Image Released | CleanTechnica


----------



## ScienceRocks

*It's time to start mining the moon *



> Lunar mining start-up Moon Express is testing robotic moon landers in advance of a 2015 trial mission. Internet entrepreneur Naveen Jain tells Paul Marks why he founded the firm, and why he's leaving the pursuit of asteroids to rival space miners
> 
> How did you go from internet businesses to moon mining?
> I'd been looking at how to solve big problems in alternative energy. A lot of the time, innovative ideas don't get very far because we just don't have the affordable material resources here on Earth. Take platinum, for example, which could possibly be used as a catalyst for fuel cells in hydrogen-fuelled cars. It is so expensive here on Earth. Or helium-3, which you could potentially use in future fusion reactors to create a non-radioactive energy source. We got to wondering if we could harvest such materials from space, and specifically from the moon. There are so many riches in space: why not go and get them?
> 
> You mentioned platinum and helium-3, what other resources can you mine on the moon?
> All the gold, cobalt, iron, palladium, tungsten and so on mined from Earth's crust came from asteroids that hit Earth after its crust cooled. These same types of asteroids bombarded the moon throughout its history, so we can expect the same resources to be available on or near the lunar surface.
> 
> Others believe asteroids are the best source for such materials. Why shoot for the moon?
> My thinking has always been: why go to an individual asteroid when the moon has been an aggregator of asteroids for billions of years? Look up at the moon on a clear night and all you see are craters where asteroids have struck. And because the moon has no atmosphere, and there is no tectonic activity, all of the asteroid material is still sitting there on the surface. It has already been crushed, so it is all ready to be processed. Moon mining will be mostly open-skimming of surface materials.
> 
> Additionally, the lunar gravity is of tremendous benefit because it means equipment used on Earth for gold or platinum mining can be modified to work there.


It's time to start mining the moon - opinion - 31 May 2013 - New Scientist


----------



## ScienceRocks

SpaceX Chief Says Reusable First Stage Will Slash Launch Costs
SpaceX Chief Says Reusable First Stage Will Slash Launch Costs | Reusable Rockets | Space.com



> PARIS &#8212; SpaceX chairman Elon Musk said the company's Dragon capsule, now used to ferry cargo to the international space station, should be ready to carry astronauts to and from space within two or three years, and that he is more optimistic than ever that a partially reusable rocket will accelerate the reduction in launch costs that SpaceX has already caused with its Falcon 9.
> 
> Speaking at the All Things Digital conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Musk said his ultimate goal with Hawthorne, Calif.-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has not changed since he founded the company: placing humans on Mars to start a permanent colony there.
> 
> For now, Musk said SpaceX's success in building and launching rockets less expensively than established launch service suppliers is "an incremental, not a revolutionary" breakthrough. "Our aspiration is to have a revolutionary breakthrough," he said. [SpaceX's Grasshopper, the Amazing Reusable Rocket (Photos)]
> 
> Musk reiterated the origin of the SpaceX production model, saying fuel is only 0.3 percent of the total cost of a rocket, with construction materials accounting for no more than 2 percent of the total cost, which for the Falcon 9 is about $60 million.
> 
> Given that the rocket's constituent materials are such a small part of the total vehicle cost, he said: "Clearly people were doing something silly in how they put those materials together. By eliminating those foolish things, we were able to make a rocket for much less."



Musk is the Rockefeller, Westinghouse, etc of the 21st century!


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Boeing Commercial Space Taxi and Atlas V Launcher Move Closer to Blastoff*

by Ken Kremer on June 1, 2013



> Shown here is the integrated CST-100 crew capsule and Atlas V launcher model at NASA's Ames Research Center. The model is a 7 percent model of the Boeing CST-100 spacecraft, launch vehicle adaptor and launch vehicle. Credit: Boeing
> Shown here is the integrated CST-100 crew capsule and Atlas V launcher scale model at NASA&#8217;s Ames Research Center. The model is a 7 percent model of the Boeing CST-100 spacecraft, launch vehicle adaptor and launch vehicle. Credit: Boeing
> 
> The next time that American astronauts launch to space from American soil it will surely be aboard one of the new commercially built &#8220;space taxis&#8221; currently under development by a trio of American aerospace firms &#8211; Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp &#8211; enabled by seed money from NASA&#8217;s Commercial Crew Program (CCP).
> 
> Boeing has moved considerably closer towards regaining America&#8217;s lost capability to launch humans to space when the firm&#8217;s privately built CST-100 crew capsule achieved two key new milestones on the path to blastoff from Florida&#8217;s Space Coast.
> 
> The CST-100 capsule is designed to carry a crew of up to 7 astronauts on missions to low-Earth orbit (LEO) and the International Space Station (ISS) around the middle of this decade.
> .


Read more: Boeing Commercial Space Taxi and Atlas V Launcher Move Closer to Blastoff


----------



## ScienceRocks

Astronomers Directly Image Exoplanet Candidate HD95086 b



Astronomers Directly Image Exoplanet Candidate HD95086 b | Astronomy | Sci-News.com


> Astronomers using ESO&#8217;s Very Large Telescope have captured an image of a faint object circling the young, dusty, early-type star HD 95086. With a mass of 4 to 5 times greater than Jupiter&#8217;s, the object would be the least massive planet to be directly imaged outside the Solar System.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China Heads to Space Again This Month*

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

Published: June 3, 2013 



> HONG KONG &#8212; China&#8217;s next space mission begins this month when a capsule carrying three astronauts will dock with an orbiting module, a spokesman for the space program said Monday.
> 
> The astronauts will be on board a Shenzhou 10 capsule, which will be launched on a rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing the spokesman, whom the agency did not name.



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/world/asia/chinas-next-space-mission-is-this-month.html?_r=0


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Europe set for record-breaking space launch*

Jun 03, 2013 by Mariette Le Roux 


> Nearly 40 years ago, European countries worried by US and Soviet dominance of space gave the green light to the first Ariane rocket, a wee launcher capable of hoisting a satellite payload of just 1.8 tonnesthe equivalent mass of two small cars.
> 
> 
> 
> On Wednesday, the fifth and mightiest generation of Arianes is set to take a whopping 20.2 tonnes into orbit, a cargo craft the size of a double-decker bus and a record for Europe, proud engineers say.
> 
> The payload is the fourth cargo delivery by the European Space Agency (ESA) to the International Space Station (ISS), bringing food, water, oxygen, scientific experiments and special treats to the orbiting crew.



 Read more at: Europe set for record-breaking space launch


----------



## BlueGin

*Space Weather on Par With Tornado Threat, NASA Chief Says*

Severe space weather could be as devastating to the planet as serious tornadoes and other natural disasters, NASA chief Charles Bolden said in a public address Tuesday (June 4).

Bolden spoke before scientists and industry members at the Space Weather Enterprise Forum, which was held at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Auditorium and Science Center in Silver Spring, Md.

The daylong conference aimed to bring together researchers and policymakers to identify how the sun's activity impacts Earth, and the potentially harmful effects of space weather.

Space Weather on Par With Tornado Threat, NASA Chief Says


----------



## ScienceRocks

*International team strengthens Big Bang Theory*



> (Phys.org) &#8212;An international team of scientists using the most powerful telescope on Earth has discovered the moments just after the Big Bang happened more like the theory predicts, eliminating a significant discrepancy that troubled physicists for two decades. The discovery will be published in the international journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on June 6.



 Read more at: International team strengthens Big Bang Theory


----------



## ScienceRocks

*New observations of a 'dust trap' around a young star solve long-standing planet formation mystery*



> Astronomers using the new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array have imaged a region around a young star where dust particles can grow by clumping together. This is the first time that such a dust trap has been clearly observed and modeled. It solves a long-standing mystery about how dust particles in discs grow to larger sizes so that they can eventually form comets, planets and other rocky bodies.


 Read more at: New observations of a 'dust trap' around a young star solve long-standing planet formation mystery


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Second rover finds hint of a life-friendly ancient Mars*
Second rover finds hint of a life-friendly ancient Mars | Reuters
By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Fri Jun 7, 2013 8:21pm EDT 


> (Reuters) - A Martian rock analyzed by NASA's rover Opportunity contains clays formed in non-acidic water, an environment potentially suitable for the chemistry of ancient life to brew.
> 
> The solar-powered Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004 for what was expected to be a 90-day mission to look for signs there was once water. It, and a twin rover, Spirit, which succumbed to the harsh Martian environment three years ago, had both found rocks altered by highly acidic water.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*PAH's in Titan's Upper Atmosphere*

Prof. Manuel López-Puertas 



> Observations of Titan's atmosphere made with the VIMS instrument on board the Cassini satellite show a strong limb emission around 3.3 µm at high atmospheric altitudes (above 700 km). This emission exhibits the typical spectral signatures of the strong CH4 bands. A detailed analysis of the spectra reveals, however, an additional strong emission centered at 3.28 µm and peaking at about 950 km. We have untangled this spectral emission and found it produced by large amount of heavy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's). I will describe this research and will briefly discuss about the important consequences of this finding on the origin of Titan's main haze layer.


PAH's in Titan's Upper Atmosphere | Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía - CSIC


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Saturn's Moon Dione May Have An Underground Ocean *

Saturn's Moon Dione May Have An Underground Ocean | Popular Science
A NASA spacecraft has found evidence of geological activity under the surface of the icy moon. 

By Rose PastorePosted 06.10.2013 at 4:00 pm0 Comments 




> Saturn's moon Dione   Icy Dione in front of Saturn. The horizontal stripes near the bottom of the image are Saturn's rings. Images taken on Oct. 11, 2005, with blue, green and infrared spectral filters were used to create this color view, which approximates the scene as it would appear to the human eye.  NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
> 
> 
> A phrase to make your ears perk up: Yet another of Saturn's moons may have "astrobiological potential," NASA scientists have announced. The agency's Cassini spacecraft recently captured evidence that there once was&#8212;and may still be&#8212;a subterranean ocean on the ringed planet's icy satellite Dione.
> 
> The 700-mile-diameter moon is home to a 500-mile mountain called Janiculum Dorsa (see photo below). Images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show the surface of the moon puckering nearly 0.3 miles under the mountain, a clue that Dione had a subsurface ocean when the mountain formed.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China's Shenzhou 10 launch lifts off, heads for the stars*
China's Shenzhou 10 launch lifts off, heads for the stars | DVICE

Colin Druce-McFadden

Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 11:37am


> Ten years after the China's first successful space flight, the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft successfully lifted off this morning. The mission not only marks the end of the nation's first decade in space, but heralds the next era of Chinese space exploration.
> 
> The crew of the Shenzhou 10 consists of veteran astronaut and mission commander Nie Haisheng, pilot Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping, China's second female astronaut. Once docked properly at the Tiangong 1 module &#8212; a small space station that has been in orbit since 2011 &#8212; Yaping will begin teaching ground-based school children all about space travel. Think of her as the mission's Chris Hadfield.
> 
> The mission is not only a learning experience for students, however. The Shenzhou 10 mission will be the third and final round of tests done on space-borne living before China begins building a much larger space station, set to begin operation in 2020. Future crews could use the elbow room, too. The Tiangong 1 module is to date the smallest space station to have ever been in orbit. Check out our gallery below to see images of the Shenzhou 10 launch.


----------



## BlueGin

*New Kind of Dark Matter Could Form 'Dark Atoms'*

The mysterious dark matter that makes up most of the matter in the universe could be composed, in part, of invisible and nearly intangible counterparts of atoms, protons and electrons, researchers say.

Dark matter is an invisible substance thought to make up five-sixths of all matter in the universe. Scientists inferred the existence of dark matter via its gravitational effects on the movements of stars and galaxies.

Most researchers think dark matter is composed of a new type of particle, one that interacts very weakly at best with all the known forces of the universe save gravity. As such, dark matter can almost never be seen or touched, and rarely even collides with itself. 

New Kind of Dark Matter Could Form 'Dark Atoms'


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Moon radiation findings may reduce health risks to astronauts*

16 hours ago 





> Space scientists from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) report that data gathered by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show lighter materials like plastics provide effective shielding against the radiation hazards faced by astronauts during extended space travel. The finding could help reduce health risks to humans on future missions into deep space.


 Read more at: Moon radiation findings may reduce health risks to astronauts


----------



## ScienceRocks

Planetary Resources adds exoplanet hunting stretch goal to Kickstarter campaign


By David Szondy

June 12, 2013
Planetary Resources adds exoplanet hunting stretch goal to Kickstarter campaign


> Planetary Resources is offering to upgrade an Arkyd 100 satellite for exoplanet hunting if its crowdfunding stretch goal is reached
> 
> In May, asteroid mining firm Planetary Resources announced its crowdfunding campaign for one of its Arkyd 100 telescope satellites that backers would be allowed to use for a bit of private space exploration. Having reached over US$860,000 of its $1 million goal on Wednesday, Planetary Resources is upping the ante by offering to upgrade the satellite for exoplanet hunting if pledges reach $2 million before the campaign ends on May 30.
> 
> Planetary Resources says that it wants to help fill the gap left by the recent failure of NASA&#8217;s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope, which went out of commission in May after a gyro failure. If the $2 million mark is met, Planetary Resources will team with MIT exoplanet researchers and enhance an Arkyd&#8217;s stability systems, so it will be suitable for exoplanet work.
> 
> Then satellite time will be dedicated to monitoring candidate star systems for transiting exoplanets, which involves recording the dip in a star&#8217;s light intensity as a planet passes in front of it, or studying gravity microlensing, which uses the distortion of light caused by the mass of a star and its planets to detect the latter.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Atmosphere of Super-Earth Exoplanet Observed for First Time by Two Japanese Telescopes*
Sunny super-Earth? Atmosphere of super-Earth exoplanet observed for time first by two Japanese telescopes



> A research team led by Akihiko Fukui (NAOJ), Norio Narita (NAOJ) and Kenji Kuroda (the University of Tokyo) observed the atmosphere of super-Earth "GJ3470b" for the first time using two telescopes at OAO (Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, NAOJ). This super-Earth is an exoplanet, having only about 14 times the mass of our home planet, and it is the second lightest one among already-surveyed exoplanets. The observational data revealed that this planet is highly likely to NOT be covered by thick clouds.
> 
> The research team performed highly accurate observations on the transit of exoplanet GJ3470b using the Near-Infrared Imager/Spectrograph (ISLE) camera mounted on the 188cm reflecting telescope and three visible light cameras on Multicolor Imaging Telescopes for Survey and Monstrous Explosions (MITSuME) telescope, all belonging to OAO, simultaneously. They measured the brightness dropping rates of the stars in 4 colors (from visible to near infrared). The observations enabled to estimate each radius by color for the planet. As a result, the radius derived from near infrared radiation (1.3 micrometer wavelength) is about 6% shorter than that from visible light. The difference of radii between colors probably is the reflection of the atmospheric characteristics of the planet. When the light from the primary star is transmitted through the thick atmosphere of the planet, certain wavelengths of light are absorbed or scattered by atmospheric molecules, which could cause the difference of apparent radii for each observation wavelength.



This would be ONE hell of a big super earth terrestrial planet.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China astronauts enter space module (Update)*

3 hours ago 
 June 11, 2013 


> China's Shenzhou-10 rocket blasts off from the Jiuquan space centre in the Gobi Desert, in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu province, on June 11, 2013. The spacecraft on Thursday carried out a successful docking, according to state media.
> Three Chinese astronauts Thursday entered a space module after carrying out a successful docking manoeuvre, state media said, two days after the launch of the country's longest manned space mission.
> 
> The astronauts entered the Tiangong-1 space module at 0817 GMT, almost three hours after their spacecraft Shenzhou-10 had linked up with the space laboratory in an "automated docking", Xinhua said, citing the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.




 Read more at: China astronauts enter space module (Update)


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Astronomers use precision pulsar positions to break record*
Astronomers use precision pulsar positions to break record



> An international team of scientists led by astronomer Adam Deller (ASTRON) have used the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) to set a new distance accuracy record, pegging a pulsar called PSR J2222-0137 at 871.4 light-years from Earth. They did this by observing the object over a two-year period to detect its parallax, the slight shift in apparent position against background objects when viewed from opposite ends of Earth's orbit around the Sun.


----------



## BlueGin

A huge solar sail designed to demonstrate the viability and value of propellant***-free propulsion is slated to blast into space in November 2014, mission officials say.

NASA's Sunjammer spacecraft  whose 13,000-square-foot (1,208 square meters) sail will allow it to cruise through the heavens like a boat through the ocean  is scheduled to lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral late next year.

Sunjammer will be a secondary payload on the Falcon 9, whose main task is launching the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) toward a gravitationally stable location called the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1, which lies about 900,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from our planet. [Photos: Solar Sail Evolution for Space Travel]

World's Largest Solar Sail to Launch in November 2014


----------



## ScienceRocks

*James Webb Telescope's last backbone component completed*

16 minutes ago 




> (Phys.org) &#8212;Assembly of the backbone of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the primary mirror backplane support structure, is a step closer to completion with the recent addition of the backplane support frame, a fixture that will be used to connect all the pieces of the telescope together.
> The backplane support frame will bring together Webb's center section and wings, secondary mirror support structure, aft optics system and integrated science instrument module. ATK of Magna, Utah, finished fabrication under the direction of the observatory's builder, Northrop Grumman Corp.



 Read more at: James Webb Telescope's last backbone component completed


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA finds record 7.5 billion mile distance between a planet and its star*



> NASA has revealed that its Hubble Space Telescope made a new discovery: evidence of a planet forming at a record distance from its star, something that &#8211; if proven to be true &#8211; could then shake up current theories regarding planets and their formation. The discovery was made in the Hydra the Sea Serpent constellation.


NASA finds record 7.5 billion mile distance between a planet and its star - SlashGear


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Wow! Mars Rover Captures Stunning Billion-Pixel Photo of Red Planet*

Curiosity Rover's Billion-Pixel Image Shows Mars in Stunning Detail | Space.com

by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer



> A new 1.3-billion-pixel image from NASA&#8217;s Mars rover Curiosity allows viewers to zoom in and investigate part of the Red Planet in incredible detail.
> 
> The huge mosaic stitches together nearly 900 photos that the Curiosity rover took with some of its 17 cameras during the robot's exploration of Gale Crater on Mars, NASA officials said.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China Readying 1st Moon Rover for Launch This Year*
SPACE.comBy Leonard David | SPACE.com &#8211; 2 hrs 52 mins ago..



> NASA&#8217;s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will keep a high-resolution eye out for China&#8217;s first soft landing on the moon and deployment of a rover..
> 
> As three Chinese astronauts zip around the Earth aboard a prototype space station, the country is gearing up to launch its first moon rover in the coming months.
> 
> China's robotic Chang'e 3 mission, reportedly slated to blast off toward the end of 2013, marks a big step forward in the nation's lunar exploration program. Chang'e 3 will become China's first craft to attempt a soft landing and rover deployment on the surface of the moon.


China Readying 1st Moon Rover for Launch This Year

China is going to own the fucking moon soon! FUCK YOU anti-space assholes!


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Russia Could Send 'Satan' To Space*



> A Russian SS-18 Satan intercontinental ballistic missile is rocket fueled and just might be the right tool to play real-life Asteroids in outer space.
> 
> Fans of Russian military equipment might recall the U.S.S.R&#8217;s old first-strike SS-18 Satan missile, a heavy intercontinental warhead aimed at Soviet enemies. Today, they can be used against Russian enemies hailing from outer space.
> 
> Not gray aliens.
> 
> Asteroids.
> 
> Russia was walloped by meteorites earlier this February after a meteor broke up in the atmosphere and showered space rock onto buildings, injuring over 1,000 people in the Urals mountains region.



Russia Could Send 'Satan' To Space - Forbes


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Europe's prototype spacecraft starts re-entry tests*

Colin Druce-McFadden

Monday, June 24, 2013 - 3:19pm
.


> Europe has gotten pretty good at shuttling supplies to the ISS by way of their robotic cargo vessels. But the process thus far has been a tad on the costly side, what with the entire shuttle burning up on re-entry every time. Well, the days of kamikaze robot pilots making suicidal cargo deliveries looks like it will soon be at an end, thanks to the development of a new reusable spaceship.
> 
> While the U.S. cracked the reusable shuttle nut a while ago, Europe doesn't quite have the storied history that Americans and Russians share. They're also attacking the shuttle design from an entirely different angle than the old U.S. designs. Robot pilots notwithstanding.


Europe's prototype spacecraft starts re-entry tests | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Astronomers find three planets in Gliese 667C's habitable zone  *

By Jon Fingas posted Jun 25th, 2013 at 1:39 PM 85   


> Astronomers have a good day when they detect one planet inside a star system's habitable zone. A mostly European team of researchers must be giddy, then, as it just found three of those ideally located planets around Gliese 667C. The group has combined existing observations from the ESO's Very Large Telescope with new HARPS telescope data to spot the trio of super-Earths, all of which could theoretically support liquid water. As long as the discovery holds up, it may have a big impact on exoplanetary research: it shows both that three super-Earths can exist in one system and that more than one survivable planet can orbit a low-mass star. We can only do so much with the findings when Gliese 667C is 22 light-years away, but it's good to learn that space could be more human-friendly than we once thought.


Astronomers find three planets in Gliese 667C's habitable zone


*Scientists find neighbor star with 3 planets in life-friendly orbits*



Tue Jun 25, 2013 8:27pm EDT 

By Irene Klotz



> CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., June 25 (Reuters) - A neighbor star has at least six planets in orbit, including three circling at the right distance for water to exist, a condition believed to be necessary for life, scientists said on Tuesday.
> 
> Previously, the star known as Gliese 667C was found to be hosting three planets, one of which was located in its so-called "habitable zone" where temperatures could support liquid surface water. That planet and two newly found sibling worlds are bigger than Earth, but smaller than Neptune.


----------



## BlueGin

Earths Most Stunning Transformations

From Japan's erupting rock to Iraq's vanishing marshes, here's a look at some remarkable phenomena users have discovered since Google and TIME unveiled three decades of satellite imagery in May. Plus: Use our "explore" tool to share what you find. Read more about the project here.

Timelapse: Landsat Satellite Images of Climate Change, via Google Earth Engine


----------



## BlueGin

Found! 3 super-Earth planets that could support alien life

The habitable zone of a nearby star is filled to the brim with planets that could support alien life, scientists announced Tuesday. 

An international team of scientists found three potentially habitable planets around the star Gliese 667C, a star 22 light-years from Earth that is orbited by at least six planets, and possibly as many as seven, researchers said. The three planet contenders for alien life are in the star's "habitable zone"  the temperature region around the star where liquid water could exist. Gliese 667C is part of a three-star system, so the planets could see three suns in their daytime skies.

The three potentially rocky planets in Gliese 667C's habitable zone are known as super-Earths  exoplanets that are less massive than Neptune but more massive than Earth. Their orbits make them possible candidates for hosting life, officials from the European Southern Observatory said in a statement. 

Found! 3 super-Earth planets that could support alien life - NBC News.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Why Warp Drives Aren't Just Science Fiction*

Why Warp Drives Aren't Just Science Fiction | Space.com
Jillian Scharr, TechNewsDaily Staff Writer




> Astrophysicist Eric Davis is one of the leaders in the field of faster-than-light (FTL) space travel. But for Davis, humanity's potential to explore the vastness of space at warp speed is not science fiction.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Astronomers Discover Two Exoplanets in Star Cluster NGC 6811*

 Jun 27, 2013 by  Natali Anderson 
Astronomers Discover Two Exoplanets in Star Cluster NGC 6811 | Astronomy | Sci-News.com


> An international group of astronomers reporting in the journal Nature has discovered two extrasolar planets circling Sun-like stars in the open star cluster NGC 6811.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA's NEXT ion thruster runs five and a half years nonstop to set new record*

NASA's NEXT ion thruster runs five and a half years nonstop to set new record


> On Monday, NASA announced that its advanced ion propulsion engine operated for 48,000 hours, or five and a half years &#8211; and that&#8217;s without stops for fuel or coffee. Developed under NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) project, the engine now holds the record for the longest test duration of any type of space propulsion system.
> 
> NEXT is a solar electric propulsion system where electricity from the spacecraft&#8217;s solar panels is used to power a a 7-kW class ion thruster. In this, particles of xenon gas are electrically charged and then accelerated to speeds up to 90,000 mph (145,000 km/h). Such thrusters have already been used on spacecraft, such as NASA&#8217;s Dawn probe, and engineers are very interested in them because of their much higher performance compared to conventional chemical rocket engines.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Kenya Repurposing Satellite Dishes for Space Exploration *
Mohammed Yusuf

June 27, 2013 
http://www.voanews.com/content/kenya-repurposing-satellite-dishes-for-space-exploration/1690637.html



> NAIROBI &#8212; The construction of a huge radio telescope in South Africa is giving a boost to the science and space industries in Kenya.  The country&#8217;s top space physicist says telecommunication companies are leasing out their now-obsolete satellite dishes for use in the new project.
> 
> Several African countries are working to build a large radio telescope known as the Square Kilometer Array, or SKA.  The core station will be in South Africa, while other countries across the continent - Ghana, Mauritius, Botswana and Kenya - will host nodes that will operate together.



YAY, The Africans are doing something to advance humanity!!!!


----------



## ScienceRocks

*'Star Trek'-like deflector shield could soon be a reality*


Published: June 28, 2013 at 4:25 PM 



> DIDCOT, England, June 28 (UPI) -- The command "shields up" to protect humans traveling in spacecraft from radiation may soon graduate from the realm of science fiction, British researchers say.
> 
> Scientists at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory say they've been testing a lightweight system to protect astronauts from harmful radiation on long voyages, such as a round trip to Mars, who would be exposed to cosmic rays and high-energy particles from the sun contained in solar storms.


Read more: Researchers working on deflector shield to protect astronauts in space - UPI.com

Good.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Quantum mechanics enables 'impossible' space chemistry *
18:01 30 June 2013 by Jacob Aron 
For similar stories, visit the Astrobiology and Quantum World Topic Guides 

Quantum mechanics enables 'impossible' space chemistry - physics-math - 30 June 2013 - New Scientist


> Quantum weirdness can generate a molecule in space that shouldn't exist by the classic rules of chemistry. If interstellar space is really a kind of quantum chemistry lab, that might also account for a host of other organic molecules glimpsed in space.
> 
> Interstellar space should be too cold for most chemical reactions to occur, as the low temperature makes it tough for molecules drifting through space to acquire the energy needed to break their bonds. "There is a standard law that says as you lower the temperature, the rates of reactions should slow down," says Dwayne Heard of the University of Leeds, UK.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*UK pledges fresh support for revolutionary space engine*



By Paul Sutherland 27 June 2013 



> (Sen) - A revolutionary engine that can turn an aircraft into an orbiting spaceplane has won fresh backing from the British Government.
> 
> The UK&#8217;s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, singled out the SABRE project that will power Skylon into space in his 2013 spending review delivered to Parliament.
> 
> The hybrid engine - its name stands for Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine - is currently being developed by Reaction Engines, based at Abingdon, near Oxford.
> 
> Last year, the engineers developing it, led by Alan Bond, mastered a key factor in its design that was described as the biggest breakthrough in flight technology since the invention of the jet engine.
> 
> Praising UK inventiveness and historic successes, Mr Osborne said: &#8220;Britain was once the place where the future was invented. From the railway to the jet engine to the World Wide Web.* We can be that country again . . . a huge amount of innovation and discovery still goes on.&#8221;
> 
> The Chancellor&#8217;s report pledged to commit to funding high-priority projects, including SABRE, though further details of the investments were not given.
> 
> Until now, spacecraft heading for orbit have had to be launched by conventional rockets because of the amount of fuel needed to be get them into space.



UK pledges fresh support for revolutionary space engine


----------



## Moonglow

Won't be long before vacations are offered on the Moon.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Fermi telescope: 'Violent cosmos' map gets more extreme*
By Jason Palmer
BBC News - Fermi telescope: 'Violent cosmos' map gets more extreme
Science and technology reporter, BBC News



> The Fermi space telescope has updated its catalogue of the Universe's most violent neighbourhoods.
> 
> Fermi catches gamma rays, the most energetic light, spewing from nature's most extreme physical processes.
> 
> The new catalogue, posted on the Arxiv server, lists the sources of the highest-energy gamma rays that Fermi has yet seen: 514 of them.
> 
> Some 65 of them are "unassociated" sources that may turn out to be completely new astronomical objects.
> 
> The catalogue is to be published in the Astrophysical Journal


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA Commercial Crew Partner SpaceX Completes Two Human-Critical Reviews*

NASA Commercial Crew Partner SpaceX Completes Two Human-Critical Reviews | Space Industry News



> Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., recently completed two milestones for NASA&#8217;s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, which is intended to make commercial human spaceflight services available for government and commercial customers.
> 
> These were the fifth and sixth milestones for SpaceX, a partner in NASA&#8217;s Commercial Crew Program (CCP). The company is on track to complete all 14 of its CCiCap milestones by mid-2014.


----------



## BlueGin

*Sun Unleashes Solar Fireworks Preview for July Fourth*


 The sun fired off an intense solar flare Wednesday (July 3), giving NASA scientists a solar preview to the Fourth of July holiday in the United States.

The solar flare erupted at about 3 a.m. EDT (0700 GMT) and was spotted by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which snapped a photo of the July solar storm.

"Just a few minutes after 7:00 UT, the sun produced an M1.5-class solar flare. Perhaps an early Fourth of July fireworks?" SDO mission officials wrote in a Facebook post announcing the flare. 

M-class solar flares are medium-strength solar storms that can supercharge Earth's northern lights displays when they are aimed at Earth. NASA officials reported that the July 3 solar flare erupted from a point just over the eastern side, or limb, of the sun, so it was not directed at our planet.

Sun Unleashes Solar Fireworks Preview for July Fourth


----------



## BlueGin

*NASA's Fourth of July Fireworks: 2 Rockets Launching Today*

 NASA is hoping to celebrate the Fourth of July with some fireworks if its own today with a double rocket launch from Virginia's Eastern Shore.

After a series of weather delays, scientists at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., will try to launch two small sounding rockets just 15 seconds apart in an experiment to study electrical currents in Earth's atmosphere.

NASA's Fourth of July Fireworks: 2 Rockets Launching Today


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Hubble reveals variation between hot extrasolar planet atmospheres*

53 minutes ago 


> First results from the analysis of eight 'hot Jupiter' exoplanets suggest that winds and clouds play an important role in the atmospheric make up of these exotic planets. Catherine Huitson of the University of Exeter will present the results at the National Astronomy Meeting in St Andrews on Friday 5 July.
> 
> Hot Jupiters are giant exoplanets, similar in size to Jupiter, that orbit so close to their stars that their atmospheres can reach temperatures of 1000-3000 degrees Celsius. Astronomers can detect which gases are present in their atmospheres by analysing the spectrum of starlight filtered through the planet's atmosphere when the planet passes in front of the star. Last year, a team led by the University of Exeter was awarded nearly 200 hours on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to examine eight planets using this technique &#8211; the largest survey of its type to date.



 Read more at: Hubble reveals variation between hot extrasolar planet atmospheres


----------



## ScienceRocks

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eGimzB5QM1M]Grasshopper 325m Test | Single Camera (Hexacopter) - YouTube[/ame]

325 meters on June 14th. I want to see a 1,000 meters soon. 


*SpaceX shows off new nav gear with latest Grasshopper rocket launch-and-landing (video) *

http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/06/spacex-grasshopper-new-launch/
By Timothy J. Seppala posted Jul 6th, 2013 at 3:47 PM 12   



> DNP SpaceX tests new rocket, totally sticks the landing
> 
> We've been watching as the SpaceX Grasshopper's leap has grown higher and higher with each successive launch (and landing!), and the rocket's flights never fail to impress. The reusable spacecraft's latest test is no exception: this time, the 'hopper sailed past its previous 840 feet record, stopping at 1,066 feet. According to the company, the launch had a "more precise" landing thanks to new sensors that measure distance between the ground and the vessel. It shows. The touch-down is both noticeably smoother than previous efforts and drama free compared to Russia's explosive incident in Kazakhstan. The private spaceflight company's latest video is after the break -- do yourself a favor and watch it in HD.


----------



## BlueGin

British scientists are to make a concerted effort to look for alien life among the stars.

Academics from 11 institutions have set up a network to co-ordinate their Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (Seti).

The English Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees, will act as patron.

The group is asking funding agencies for a small - about £1m a year - sum of money to support listening time on radio telescopes and for data analysis.

It would also help pay for research that considered new ways to try to find aliens. 

BBC News - UK astronomers to co-ordinate their search for alien signals


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Science Team Outlines Goals for NASA's 2020 Mars Rover*
Science Team Outlines Goals for NASA's 2020 Mars Rover - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

July 09, 2013


> WASHINGTON -- The rover NASA will send to Mars in 2020 should look for signs of past life, collect samples for possible future return to Earth, and demonstrate technology for future human exploration of the Red Planet, according to a report provided to the agency.
> 
> The 154-page document was prepared by the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team, which NASA appointed in January to outline scientific objectives for the mission. The team, composed of 19 scientists and engineers from universities and research organizations, proposed a mission concept that could accomplish several high-priority planetary science goals and be a major step in meeting President Obama's challenge to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.


----------



## BlueGin

*First Images of Our Solar System's Tail Revealed*

	Astronomers have gotten the first-ever peek at our solar system's tail, called the heliotail, finding that it's shaped like a four-leaf clover, NASA scientists announced today (July 10).

The discovery was made using NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), a coffee-table-sized spacecraft that is studying the edge of the solar system.

First Images of Our Solar System's Tail Revealed


----------



## ScienceRocks

*First exoplanet to be imaged in color is lovely shade of blue*

Colin Druce-McFadden
First exoplanet to be imaged in color is lovely shade of blue | DVICE
Thursday, July 11, 2013 - 12:52pm



> Until now, we've had to simply guess as to what planets outside our solar system might look like. For the first time, the light from an individual exoplanet has been analyzed by the Hubble Space telescope. The planet is named HD 189733b, and while the image above is just an artistic rendering, we do know that it shines a wonderful cobalt blue.
> 
> A "Hot Jupiter", HD 189733b might resemble Earth from a distance thanks to its hue, but the two planets could hardly be more different. The exoplanet's atmosphere is above 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Storms consistently ravage HD 189733b, raining glass raindrops down through its gaseous skies. And if that wasn't bad enough, atomizing winds whip across the planet's surface at something like 4,300 miles per hour.


----------



## ScienceRocks

Interplanetary precision laser could reach to Mars and beyond



> (Phys.org) &#8212;Currently, precision laser ranging is limited to the Earth-Moon distance. These systems are based on passive laser ranging, so that the signal deteriorates as 1/R4 over distance R. In a new study, physicists have designed a system that has a range thousands of times this distance due to the fact that it is based on active laser ranging, where the signal deteriorates as only 1/R2. The new system also has the potential to achieve sub-millimeter accuracy, yielding an overall performance improvement that is more than three orders of magnitude better than today's state-of-the-art space ranging systems.


 Read more at: Interplanetary precision laser could reach to Mars and beyond


----------



## ScienceRocks

*British space penetrator passes icy test*


> UK engineers have tested a projectile technology that they believe could be used to explore the Solar System.
> 
> The steel penetrator was fired at a 10-tonne cube of ice to simulate the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.
> 
> It hit the block at a speed of 340m/s and decelerated rapidly, but its structure remained intact, as did its interior components.
> 
> Researchers say the penetrator would be a robust and inexpensive way to land instruments on other worlds.
> 
> These might be seismometers to study the interior of Mars, or a miniature organic chemistry laboratory to check for microbial activity on icy Jovian satellites.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23281423


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA photographs Pluto's moon Charon*



> A NASA spacecraft bound for Pluto has captured its first photo of the dwarf planet's largest moon Charon, a cosmic snapshot snapped from nearly 550 million miles away.



Read more: NASA photographs Pluto's moon Charon | Fox News


----------



## longknife

The Pillars of Eagle Castle


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA tests 3D-printed rocket engine*

Published July 15, 2013
FoxNews.com



> Can your printer do this?
> 
> NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne designed and fabricated a key part for a rocket engine with a 3D printer, shaving six months and 70 percent off the cost of production. A successful test of the component, a rocket injector assembly that delivers liquid oxygen and hydrogen into the engine&#8217;s combustion chamber, may lead to more efficient manufacturing in the future.




Read more: NASA tests 3D-printed rocket engine | Fox News


----------



## BlueGin

*Astronomer finds new moon orbiting Neptune*

 CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An astronomer studying archived images of Neptune taken by the Hubble Space Telescope has found a 14th moon orbiting the planet, NASA said on Monday.

Estimated to be about 12 miles in diameter, the moon is located about 65,400 miles from Neptune.

Astronomer Mark Showalter, with the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, was searching Hubble images for moons inside faint ring fragments circling Neptune when he decided to run his analysis program on a broader part of the sky.

"We had been processing the data for quite some time and it was on a whim that I said, OK, let's just look out further," Showalter told Reuters.

Astronomer finds new moon orbiting Neptune


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA tests 3D-printed rocket engine*
NASA tests 3D-printed rocket engine | Fox News



> Can your printer do this?
> 
> NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne designed and fabricated a key part for a rocket engine with a 3D printer, *shaving six months and 70 percent off the cost of production.* A successful test of the component, a rocket injector assembly that delivers liquid oxygen and hydrogen into the engine&#8217;s combustion chamber, may lead to more efficient manufacturing in the future.
> 
> 
> 'Additive manufacturing can be game-changing for new mission opportunities.'
> 
> - Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator for space technology
> 
> 
> "NASA recognizes that on Earth and potentially in space, additive manufacturing can be game-changing for new mission opportunities, significantly reducing production time and cost by 'printing' tools, engine parts or even entire spacecraft," said Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator for space technology in Washington. "3D manufacturing offers opportunities to optimize the fit, form and delivery systems of materials that will enable our space missions while directly benefiting American businesses here on Earth."


Read more: NASA tests 3D-printed rocket engine | Fox News


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Britain invests £60 million in Skylon spaceplane*
Britain invests £60 million in Skylon spaceplane


> The British government announced on Tuesday that it has authorized an investment of £60 million in Reaction Engine&#8217;s Skylon spaceplane. The funding boost comes after a successful feasibility test of a core component of the spacecraft&#8217;s revolutionary engine managed by the European Space Agency (ESA) last November and will be used to further develop the revolutionary SABRE engine, which is designed to power the Skylon into orbit and back without the need for outside boosters or tanks



A real single stage space plane.


----------



## longknife

What is it?




Find out @ BBC News - Black hole-bound gas cloud 'stretched like spaghetti'


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA engineer achieves another milestone in emerging nanotechnology (w/ Video)*



> A NASA engineer has achieved yet another milestone in his quest to advance an emerging super-black nanotechnology that promises to make spacecraft instruments more sensitive without enlarging their size.
> 
> A team led by John Hagopian, an optics engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., has demonstrated that it can grow a uniform layer of carbon nanotubes through the use of another emerging technology called atomic layer deposition or ALD. The marriage of the two technologies now means that NASA can grow nanotubes on three-dimensional components, such as complex baffles and tubes commonly used in optical instruments.
> 
> *"The significance of this is that we have new tools that can make NASA instruments more sensitive without making our telescopes bigger and bigger," Hagopian said. "This demonstrates the power of nanoscale technology, which is particularly applicable to a new class of less-expensive tiny satellites called Cubesats that NASA is developing to reduce the cost of space missions."*
> 
> Since beginning his research and development effort five years ago, Hagopian and his team have made significant strides applying the carbon-nanotube technology to a number of spaceflight applications, including, among other things, the suppression of stray light that can overwhelm faint signals that sensitive detectors are supposed to retrieve.




 Read more at: NASA engineer achieves another milestone in emerging nanotechnology (w/ Video)


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Futuristic British Space Plane Engine to Get Flight Test in 2020 *



> Flight tests of an engine for the giant space plane Skylon are expected by 2020. The British government and European Space Agency (ESA) are providing $100 million in funding, which will be matched by private financing to complete the propulsion system's development and test.
> 
> Two Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engines (SABRE) will power the Skylon space plane &#8212; a privately funded, single-stage-to-orbit concept vehicle that is 276 feet (84 meters) long. At take-off, the plane will weigh about 303 tons (275,000 kilograms).



 - See more at: Futuristic British Space Plane Engine Set for 2020 Test | Space.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*World's first mission to the Moon's south pole announced*

World's first mission to the Moon's south pole announced



> (Phys.org) &#8212;The world's first mission to the South Pole of the Moon was announced today by the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) and Moon Express, Inc. The private enterprise mission will be both scientific and commercial, and will deliver the International Lunar Observatory (ILO) to the Moon's South Pole aboard a Moon Express robotic lander, establishing permanent astrophysical observations and lunar commercial communications systems for professional and amateur researchers.
> 
> Moon Express will also utilize the mission to explore the Moon's South Pole for mineral resources and water. Lunar probes have provided compelling evidence of mineral and volatile deposits in the Moon's southern polar region where energy and resources may be abundant.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*An important new discovery has been made in Japan about neutrinos.*



> These are the ghostly particles that flood the cosmos but which are extremely hard to detect and study.
> 
> Experiments have now established that one particular type, known as the muon "flavour", can flip to the electron type during flight.
> 
> The observation is noteworthy because it allows for the possibility that neutrinos and their anti-particle versions might behave differently.
> 
> If that is the case, it could be an explanation for why there is so much more matter than antimatter in the Universe.
> 
> Theorists say the counterparts would have been created in equal amounts at the Big Bang, and should have annihilated each other unless there was some significant element of asymmetry in play.
> 
> "The fact that we have matter in the Universe means there have to be laws of physics that aren't in our Standard Model, and neutrinos are one place they might be," Prof Dave Wark, of the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Oxford University, told BBC News.


BBC News - Neutrino 'flavour' flip confirmed


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Water on Mars? Ancient Red Planet had humongous ocean, say scientists. (+video)*



> Scientists have spotted more evidence that an enormous ocean on Mars covered much of the planet's surface billions of years ago.
> 
> The latest clues were found in photos from NASA's powerful
> 
> Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter circling the planet. The images show what appears to be an ancient river delta, which may have emptied into a vast Martian ocean that inundated up to one-third of the Red Planet long ago, a new study reports.
> 
> "Scientists have long hypothesized that the northern lowlands of Mars are a dried-up ocean bottom, but no one yet has found the smoking gun," study co-author Mike Lamb, an assistant professor of geology at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, said in a statement.


Water on Mars? Ancient Red Planet had humongous ocean, say scientists. (+video) - CSMonitor.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Ars hops in Boeing&#8217;s &#8220;commercial space&#8221; spaceship, the CST-100*



> Boeing took the curtain off its proposed commercial spacecraft this morning, allowing a limited number of press and media into one of its Houston facilities to crawl around inside a high-fidelity mockup. The spacecraft, designated the CST-100 (for "Crew Space Transportation"), is a large capsule, resembling a scaled-up version of the iconic Apollo command module.
> 
> The CST-100 seats up to seven astronauts and will primarily be used to transport people to and from destinations in Low Earth Orbit ("LEO"), such as the International Space Station. CST-100 is designed specifically as a LEO transport, but Low Earth Orbit is only one of a much larger set of potential destinations that Boeing and other commercial space flight companies hope to target, extending all the way out to interplanetary space. According to Boeing Space Exploration Vice President and General Manager John Elbon, each destination has its own set of requirements and challenges. So CST-100 is Boeing's attempt at creating a spacecraft specifically designed to be a LEO workhorse.
> 
> The capsule itself sits bedecked with ladders and cameras elevated on a stand in the high bay of Boeing's Houston Product Support center. When the press first approached the spacecraft, astronaut Serena Auñón was still strapped into one of the mockup's two seats, performing an evaluation of how her bright orange ACES flight suit worked with the spacecraft's internal layout. The press quickly mobbed her when she emerged from the craft and stepped down the ladder. When asked, Auñón reported that she was pleased with the cockpit and the work done so far.
> 
> 
> CST-100 eschews the space shuttle's tile-based thermal protection system, instead using for its heat shield a phenolic resin-based structure that burns away ("ablates") during re-entry. This approach is also used by the Orion MPCV and avoids the tremendous touch-labor expense that the space shuttle's tiles incurred prior to every launch.* The craft is reusable too. After a mission it is designed to be refurbished and refitted and relaunched up to 10 times. This makes it more flexible and cost-efficient than the original capsules of the 1960s, and at the same time it avoids incurring the huge total refit costs that the space shuttle brought with it*.



Ars hops in Boeing?s ?commercial space? spaceship, the CST-100 | Ars Technica


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China launches three experimental satellites*
 by Staff Writers



> A Long March-4C carrier rocket carring three satellites for scientific experiments blasts off from the launch pad in the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province.
> 
> China successfully launched three satellites for scientific experiments into space at 7:37 a.m. Saturday, the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center said.
> 
> The Chuangxin-3, Shiyan-7 and Shijian-15 satellites were boosted by a Long March-4C carrier rocket, according to the center in north China's Shanxi Province.



China launches three experimental satellites


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Snow On Mars? New Evidence Suggests Ancient Precipitation*



> Researchers have discovered evidence that suggests the existence of ancient snow and precipitation on Mars. Some Martian valley networks may have been created by runoff from rain or snow.


Snow On Mars? New Evidence Suggests Ancient Precipitation


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Could this hypervelocity coil launch ships into space?*

Could this hypervelocity coil launch ships into space? | Cutting Edge - CNET News



> If you read the endorsements from NASA scientists on Derek Tidman's book, his idea may seem a tad less wacky than at first blush.
> 
> He thinks a massive, gyrating coil can speed up objects fast enough to give them escape velocity and send them into orbit.
> 
> The book outlined the concept. Now he's trying to build a large prototype launcher with Kickstarter backing. It's called the Slingatron.
> 
> From space elevators to mass drivers and floating launchpads, there have been many proposals to launch things into Earth's orbit without chemical rockets.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*A Space Laser Designed To Vaporize Dangerous Asteroids *

DE-STAR could vaporize asteroids that threaten Earth in less than an hour. 
A Space Laser Designed To Vaporize Dangerous Asteroids | Popular Science



> DE-STAR is designed to vaporize or divert asteroids that threaten Earth. This isn&#8217;t science fiction&#8212;I build things that have to work in practice. DE-STAR stands for Directed Energy Solar Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation. It looks like an open matchbook with lasers on one flap and a photovoltaic panel for power from sunlight on the other. By synchronizing the laser beams, we can create a phased array, which produces a steerable 70-gigawatt beam. An onboard system receives orders on what to target. Our laser beam would then produce a spot about 100 feet in diameter on an asteroid that&#8217;s as far away from the satellite as we are from the sun. The laser would raise an asteroid&#8217;s surface temperature to thousands of degrees Celsius&#8212;hot enough that all known substances evaporate. In less than an hour, DE-STAR could have completely vaporized the asteroid that broke up over Russia this winter, if we had seen it coming. Plus, as the material evaporates, it creates a thrust in the opposite direction, comparable to the space shuttle&#8217;s rocket booster. That means you could divert the asteroid by changing its orbit with a shorter laser blast.
> 
> DE-STAR could also power things on Earth or in space. You could send the electrical power it produces&#8212;not via laser beam but via microwaves. Or you could use the laser to directly propel spacecraft. But here&#8217;s the thing: For full-blown asteroid vaporization, each flap of the matchbook would have to be six miles long. We&#8217;ve never built a structure this size in space, but if there were the worldwide will, I could see building this within 30 to 50 years. But since it&#8217;s completely modular, we propose starting smaller. We could begin with a version that&#8217;s three feet per side right now. With that, you could cook your dinner from 600 miles away.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Mars Rover Curiosity Takes Longest Red Planet Drive Yet *

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is really starting to stretch its legs on the Red Planet. The 1-ton Curiosity rover made by far the longest drive of its nearly year-long surface mission on Sunday (July 21), traversing 329 feet (100.3 meters) of Martian terrain. The robot's one-day distance record prior to Sunday had been 161 feet (49 m), NASA officials said. - See more at: Mars Rover Curiosity Takes Longest Red Planet Drive Yet | Space.com


----------



## BlueGin

*NASA Photos Show Outburst from Potential 'Comet of the Century'*


	A comet that could put on a dazzling show when it zooms through the inner solar system later this year is already blasting out huge amounts of gas and dust, new observations by a NASA spacecraft show.

Images taken on June 13 by NASA's infrared Spitzer Space Telescope reveal that dust and carbon dioxide gas are streaming off Comet ISON, forming a tail about 186,400 miles (300,000 kilometers) long, researchers said.

NASA Photos Show Outburst from Potential 'Comet of the Century'


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Tenth parachute test for NASA's Orion adds 10,000 feet of success*

9 hours ago 



> A complicated, high-altitude test Wednesday demonstrated NASA's new Orion spacecraft could land safely even if one of its parachutes failed.




 Read more at: Tenth parachute test for NASA's Orion adds 10,000 feet of success

We never should of gave up on Apollo for the fucking shuttle.  The replacement will either be the skylon reaction tech or the grasshopper...But these are at least a decade off. 

If we didn't give up on Apollo(Saturn V) we'd likely have a base on the moon now.


----------



## BlueGin

*IRIS telescope snaps first photos of mystery region of the sun*

NASA's newest solar observatory has taken its first photos of the lowest layers of the solar atmosphere, a mysterious and little-understood region of the sun.

The images, taken just 21 hours after mission controllers first opened the telescopes door, reveal new details of the suns lower atmosphere  an area known as the "interface region." The IRIS spacecraft (short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) captured images of thin magnetic structures and streams of material in the solar atmosphere. These early observations suggest tremendous amounts of energy flow through the interface region, according to NASA officials.

IRIS telescope snaps first photos of mystery region of the sun - NBC News.com


----------



## BlueGin

Pretty cool.  And this time it was found by accident.  

****************************************************************

Researchers say a shipwreck discovered 150 miles off the coast of Galveston may provide insight into Texas' fight for independence.

Officials with Texas A&M University at Galveston and Texas State University say the recovery expedition of the two-masted ship concluded Wednesday. It may have sunk in the Gulf of Mexico 200 years ago.

Scientists say it may have been a warship or a vessel transporting arms and soldiers. It may have supported the Mexican army during the fight for Texas independence or been sailing to provide arms to the Texans.

The ship was some 4,300 feet below the surface. Items discovered aboard the vessel include muskets, swords, cannons and clothing.

The artifacts likely date from the early 1800s, when Galveston was the operations base for the notorious French pirate Jean Lafitte, KHOU.com reported.

Read more: 200-year-old shipwreck may shed light on Texas Revolution | Fox News


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA Flooded with Asteroid Exploration Ideas* 
NASA Flooded with Asteroid Exploration Ideas: Scientific American



> SAN JOSE, Calif. &#8212; A NASA call for novel ideas on how to tackle its ambitious mission to capture an asteroid and park it near the moon has paid off in spades, with the agency receiving hundreds of proposals from potential partners.
> 
> NASA has received more than 400 proposals from private companies, non-profit groups and international organizations in response to a call for asteroid-retrieval mission suggestions released last month, agency officials announced Friday (July 26). The space agency will review the submissions over the next month and plan to discuss the most promising ideas in a public workshop in September.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*3D-Printed Rocket Parts Excel in NASA Tests*



> Key rocket parts built using 3D-printing technology have passed another round of NASA firing tests, inspiring further confidence among space agency officials in this emerging manufacturing technique.
> 
> Two rocket engine injectors made with a 3D printer performed as well as traditionally constructed parts during recent hot-fire tests, which exposed them to temperatures approaching 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit (3,316 degrees Celsius) and extreme pressures, NASA officials announced Wednesday (July 24).
> 
> "The additive manufacturing process has the potential to reduce the time and cost associated with making complex parts by an order of magnitude," Singer said.



3D-Printed Rocket Parts Excel in NASA Tests


----------



## whitehall

What kind of space exploration is on the table? The Moon? Where ya gonna go with the rocket booster technology? It takes more than just leaving the earth's gravity to become "exploration". To resort to an old cliche, "we can put a man on the moon but we can't fix Detroit".


----------



## ScienceRocks

whitehall said:


> What kind of space exploration is on the table? The Moon? Where ya gonna go with the rocket booster technology? It takes more than just leaving the earth's gravity to become "exploration". To resort to an old cliche, "we can put a man on the moon but we can't fix Detroit".



More jobs and more education is how we fix Detroit. Both go together.

I am sorry you're as clueless as a leftist on economics. How does giving millions of high paid jobs to explore our solar system = bad for the economy? I see you people as people that would love to decrease the number of high tech programs within this country.

Get how idiotic this sounds?


----------



## whitehall

Matthew said:


> whitehall said:
> 
> 
> 
> What kind of space exploration is on the table? The Moon? Where ya gonna go with the rocket booster technology? It takes more than just leaving the earth's gravity to become "exploration". To resort to an old cliche, "we can put a man on the moon but we can't fix Detroit".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> More jobs and more education is how we fix Detroit. Both go together.
> 
> I am sorry you're as clueless as a leftist on economics. How does giving millions of high paid jobs to explore our solar system = bad for the economy? I see you people as people that would love to decrease the number of high tech programs within this country.
> 
> Get how idiotic this sounds?
Click to expand...



Taxpayer funded projects do not grow the economy. Space exploration is meaningless unless there is a profit margin for the private sector independent from government meddling. Sadly it seems that asphalt paving on the interstate might be less exciting but it is is a far better use of confiscated funds.


----------



## ScienceRocks

So this is how we become a  second rate nation. This is what you support. 

Why shouldn't we invest in exploration and tech?

I think a worse use of money is to build up a nation like Iraq just to get kicked in the teeth.


----------



## whitehall

Matthew said:


> So this is how we become a  second rate nation. This is what you support.
> 
> Why shouldn't we invest in exploration and tech?
> 
> I think a worse use of money is to build up a nation like Iraq just to get kicked in the teeth.



You got it wrong. The private sector invests in projects that makes money and employs thousands of skilled and unskilled people. The federal government invests in projects that tend to put the United States ahead of other nations in status and technological superiority. The US is the last super power in the world and our own president has been engaged in a six year apology tour for America's decadent use of the technology we created. Space exploration is a dead end unless the administration understands that cheap energy is the key to a vibrant economy. So far there are only joke technology and ridiculous excuses for energy production while the dirty little secret is that we are dependent on fossil fuel. The dumb assed pop-culture generation raves about the Arab wealth while we pretend to believe in toxic battery technology and migratory bird killing gigantic windmills and toxic solar technology that we would rather see made in China.


----------



## ScienceRocks

I'll keep supporting expiration, science, tech, infrastructure and a evidence based justice system. You extremist ignore 200 years of common sense and evidence that says your way is wrong.


----------



## whitehall

The word "supporting" is the key. I support space exploration and anybody who has any sense supports  infrastructure maintenance but these things are already funded and ongoing. If the radical left was really concerned about science and technology it would take a look at the federal department of education which seems more concerned about putting a condom on a cucumber than real science and as a result the US ranks about the bottom of the list in science and technology education.


----------



## ScienceRocks

I believe adding 10 billion(27-30 billion) to nasa here at home would be far better then giving it to Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey. It isn't like we're blowing 200 billion a year on Iraq for over a decade. 

Nasa=American jobs that pay good.  Our kids want to work harder in school=more people getting good jobs.


My vote is as good as yours.


----------



## whitehall

Matthew said:


> I believe adding 10 billion(27-30 billion) to nasa here at home would be far better then giving it to Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey. It isn't like we're blowing 200 billion a year on Iraq for over a decade.
> 
> Nasa=American jobs that pay good.  Our kids want to work harder in school=more people getting good jobs.
> 
> 
> My vote is as good as yours.



 It's true. Using NASA as an employment agency is as bad as blowing foreign aid on countries that hate us.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA to Launch Cargo Craft *

NASA To Launch Cargo Craft To International Space Station - ABC News


> An unpiloted cargo craft is scheduled to deliver nearly three tons of food, fuel, supplies and experimental hardware today to the International Space Station.
> 
> NASA is launching the cargo craft, the ISS Progress 52, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft is expected to reach the space station in approximately six hours, after orbiting the earth four times.



Pretty much Russia is...We should be doing all this.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*First Planet Discovered Orbiting a Brown Dwarf*



> Astronomers have long supposed that planets can form around brown dwarfs just as they do around ordinary stars. Now they&#8217;ve found the first example
> 
> Astrophysical calculations show that any star that is smaller than about 1/10th of the mass of the sun cannot sustain hydrogen fusion reactions at its core. These failed stars never light up. Instead they wander the galaxy as warm, dark balls of hydrogen known as brown dwarfs.
> 
> Brown dwarfs probably form through the same process that lead to ordinary stars but merely on a smaller scale. If that&#8217;s correct, planets should also form in the protoplanetary disks of gas and dust around brown dwarfs. Indeed, astronomers have seen a number of protoplanetary disks of this type.
> 
> Until now, however, they&#8217;ve never seen a planet orbiting a brown dwarf. That&#8217;s not really surprising.
> 
> The standard methods for detecting planets look for the way a star wobbles as a planet orbits or at how its magnitude changes as a planet passes in front. But given that brown dwarfs are dim and difficult to see, these methods have yet to produce fruit.



First Planet Discovered Orbiting a Brown Dwarf | MIT Technology Review


----------



## BlueGin

*Big Asteroid Flies By Earth Tonight: How to Watch Live*

 An asteroid as large as five football fields will zoom by Earth tonight, and you can watch the close approach live from the comfort of your home.

The near-Earth asteroid 2003 DZ15 will come within 2.2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers) of our planet   about nine times farther than the distance between Earth and the moon  tonight (July 29) at 8:37 p.m. EDT (0037 GMT on July 30). There is no chance that 2003 DZ15 will strike Earth on this pass, scientists say.

The online Virtual Telescope Project will stream live footage of 2003 DZ15 beginning at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) tonight. The webcast will use views from a powerful telescope in Ceccano, Italy, along with live commentary by astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, who runs the Virtual Telescope Project. You can watch the feed of 2003 DZ15's flyby here on SPACE.com, or follow it at the Virtual Telescope Project's site here: The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0: Virtual Telescope?s WebTV

Big Asteroid Flies By Earth Tonight: How to Watch Live


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX Wins Contract to Launch Canadian Radar Satellites *



> WASHINGTON &#8212; Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) will launch all three satellites for Canada&#8217;s planned Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM) in 2018 aboard a single Falcon 9 rocket, the Hawthorne, Calif., rocket maker announced Tuesday (July 30). The contract award to SpaceX had been expected since January, when the Canadian Space Agency awarded MDA Corp. of Richmond, British Columbia, the 706 million Canadian dollar ($692 million) prime contract to build the RCM satellites. - See more at:



SpaceX Wins Contract to Launch Canadian Radar Satellites | Space.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Nasa completes first internal review of concepts for asteroid redirect mission*

3 hours ago 



> NASA has completed the first step toward a mission to find and capture a near-Earth asteroid, redirect it to a stable lunar orbit and send humans to study it.
> 
> In preparation for fiscal year 2014, a mission formulation review on Tuesday brought together NASA leaders from across the country to examine internal studies proposing multiple concepts and alternatives for each phase of the asteroid mission. The review assessed technical and programmatic aspects of the mission.




 Read more at: Nasa completes first internal review of concepts for asteroid redirect mission


----------



## ScienceRocks

*New Explorer mission chooses the 'just-right' orbit*



> Principal Investigator George Ricker likes to call it the "Goldilocks orbit"&#8212;it's not too close to Earth and her Moon, and it's not too far. In fact, it's just right
> 
> And as a result of this never-before-used orbit&#8212;advanced and fine-tuned by NASA engineers and other members of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) team&#8212;the Explorer mission led by Ricker will be perfectly positioned to map the locations of more than 500 transiting exoplanets, extrasolar planets that periodically eclipse each one's host star. When the two-year mission begins in the 2017-2018 timeframe, it will represent the first time NASA has examined a large number of small planets around the brightest and closest stars in the sky.


 Read more at: New Explorer mission chooses the 'just-right' orbit


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA technologist makes traveling to hard-to-reach destinations easier*



> Traveling to remote locations sometimes involves navigating through stop-and-go traffic, traversing long stretches of highway and maneuvering sharp turns and steep hills. The same can be said for guiding spacecraft to far-flung destinations in space. It isn't always a straight shot.
> 
> A NASA technologist has developed a fully automated tool that gives mission planners a preliminary set of detailed directions for efficiently steering a spacecraft to hard-to-reach interplanetary destinations, such as Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, and most comets and asteroids.



 Read more at: NASA technologist makes traveling to hard-to-reach destinations easier


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Mission to build world's most advanced telescope reaches major milestone*



> (Phys.org) &#8212;With the signing last week of a "master agreement" for the Thirty Meter Telescope&#8212;destined to be the most advanced and powerful optical telescope in the world&#8212;the University of California and UCLA moved a step closer to peering deeper into the cosmos than ever before.
> 
> The agreement, signed by UC President Mark Yudof and several international partners, formally outlines the telescope project's goals, defines the terms of its construction and establishes its governance structure, design and financing.
> 
> Work on the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), named for its 30-meter primary mirror&#8212;three times the diameter of the largest existing telescopes&#8212;is scheduled to begin in April 2014 atop Hawaii's dormant Mauna Kea volcano. The TMT's scientific operations are slated to start in 2022.



 Read more at: Mission to build world's most advanced telescope reaches major milestone


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA's Next Mega-Rocket Passes Key Design Review*



> The huge rocket that NASA is building to blast astronauts toward Mars, asteroids and other destinations in deep space has passed a critical design milestone, agency officials announced today (Aug. 1).
> 
> Engineers wrapped up the preliminary design review for NASA's Space Launch System rocket on Wednesday (July 31), giving the heavy lifter's design, production and ground support plans a stamp of approval.


NASA's Next Mega-Rocket Passes Key Design Review

Space x is also working on 130 ton rocket(Saturn v 110 ton). So we will be very capable of going back to the moon.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Japanese vehicle delivers new hardware for NASA's Robotic Refueling Mission*



> It may be called the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), but NASA's RRM was built to demonstrate much more than the clever ways space robots can fill up satellites.
> 
> With the launch of new hardware to the International Space Station on Aug. 3, RRM &#8211; recently named a "Top Exploration Technology Application From the International Space Station in 2012" &#8211; will be outfitted to practice a new set of satellite-servicing activities.
> 
> New Hardware for a New Era of Satellite-Servicing Demonstrations


 Read more at: Japanese vehicle delivers new hardware for NASA's Robotic Refueling Mission


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX will send nine-engine rocket for reusability tests in New Mexico *


 By:   Zach Rosenberg Washington DC 

06:39 1 Aug 2013  



> SpaceX has confirmed it will bring a nine-engine vehicle to Spaceport America in New Mexico to test reusable technology, rather than the Grasshopper reusability test bed currently flying in Texas.
> 
> In contrast to Grasshopper, which flies with one Merlin 1D engine and associated tankage, the new vehicle will closely resemble the Falcon 9-R core stage that had its first firing at SpaceX's test stand in McGregor, Texas, with nine engines and eventually a potential second stage.
> 
> In contrast to the Texas site, Spaceport America is an FAA-certified spaceport with relatively open airspace. Grasshopper is certified to fly up to 11,500ft at the McGregor site, and would require additional certifications or waivers to fly higher and faster; flights from Spaceport America will not require such certifications.
> 
> "New Mexico will have testing ongoing, but we haven't announced when," says the company.


SpaceX will send nine-engine rocket for reusability tests in New Mexico

This will go to 100,000 feet!


----------



## ScienceRocks

Hey, Whitehall

If Musk is successful in the grasshopper that can be reused up to 10 times at .3 percent to refuel. Let's say for 80k! Believe me there's a market. So expect to see a lot more satellites, probes, etc. hehe




> Musk reiterated the origin of the SpaceX production model, saying fuel is *only 0.3 percent of the total cost of a rocket, *with construction materials accounting for no more than 2 percent of the total cost, which for the Falcon 9 is about $60 million. Given that the rocket's constituent materials are such a small part of the total vehicle cost, he said: "Clearly people were doing something silly in how they put those materials together. By eliminating those foolish things, we were able to make a rocket for much less." Musk said that a rocket's first stage accounts for three-quarters of its total price tag, so a vehicle with a reusable first stage can be produced at far less cost &#8212; assuming the hardware is fully and rapidly reusable. SpaceX is developing a reusable first stage for the Falcon 9 under a program dubbed Grasshopper.


 - See more at: SpaceX Chief Says Reusable First Stage Will Slash Launch Costs | Reusable Rockets | Space.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/videos/movies/msl20130801/msl20130801-480.mov


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA's Next Mars Probe Arrives at Launch Site*


> As NASA's Curiosity rover celebrates one year on Mars, the space agency has begun final preparations for the launch of its next Red Planet mission later this year. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, or MAVEN, arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday (Aug. 2), just three days before the one-year anniversary of Curiosity's dramatic Mars landing. MAVEN is now sitting in a cleanroom, where engineers are testing and fueling the orbiter ahead of its planned Nov. 18 launch from Kennedy toward the Red Planet. -



See more at: NASA's Next Mars Probe Arrives at Launch Site | Space.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

Astronomers image lowest-mass exoplanet around a sun-like star


> Using infrared data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, an international team of astronomers has imaged a giant planet around the bright star GJ 504. Several times the mass of Jupiter and similar in size, the new world, dubbed GJ 504b, is the lowest-mass planet ever detected around a star like the sun using direct imaging techniques.




Read more at: Astronomers image lowest-mass exoplanet around a sun-like star


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Top 10 milestones of Curiosity's first year on Mars*




> Today, NASA paid tribute to its Curiosity rover, which has completed its first year exploring the planet Mars. On August 6, 2012 (August 5, PDT), the unmanned explorer landed on the Red Planet as the start of a two-year mission to seek out areas where life might have once, or could still exist. To commemorate this event, the space agency broadcast reminiscences by Curiosity team members from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. What follows is our own look at the top 10 milestones of Curiosity&#8217;s first year.
> 
> To be technical, it&#8217;s actually the end of Curiosity&#8217;s first Earth Year on Mars. In Martian years, it&#8217;s only halfway to the anniversary mark, at about 356 out of 668 Martian days. In that time, the nuclear-powered explorer has sent back to Earth 190 gigabits of data, fired its laser 75,000 times, collected and analyzed samples from two rocks and clocked over one mile (1.6 km) on the odometer &#8211; if it had an odometer. It&#8217;s been an eventful year that began with what NASA calls &#8220;seven minutes of terror.&#8221;



Top 10 milestones of Curiosity's first year on Mars


----------



## BlueGin

*Sun's magnetic field "is about to flip", warns NASA*

The whole of the sun's magnetic field is about to "flip", according to NASA - with warning signs being spotted by observatories around the world this year.

This "flip" happens every 11 years, and coincides with the greatest solar activity in the "cycles" of the sun, known as "Solar Maximum" - with sunspots and "coronal mass ejections" on the surface of the sun.

"It looks like we're no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal," says solar physicist Todd Hoeksema of Stanford University. "This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system."

Yahoo! News UK & Ireland - Latest World News & UK News Headlines


----------



## BlueGin

*Perseid Meteor Shower: August's 'Fireball Champion' Should Dazzle Stargazers*

	Gear up to see some great balls of fire flashing through the sky this month.

According to NASA research, the upcoming Perseid meteor shower produces more fireballs  bright meteors that streak across the sky  than any other annual shower, earning it the title of "fireball champion".

During the peak of the Perseids, stargazers under dark skies could see more than 100 meteors per hour, but some bright fireballs can also be spotted in urban, light polluted areas.

"We have found that one meteor shower produces more fireballs than any other," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office said in a statement. "It's the Perseid meteor shower, which peaks on August 12th and 13th."

Perseid Meteor Shower: August's 'Fireball Champion' Should Dazzle Stargazers


----------



## ScienceRocks

*First Hundred Thousand Years of Our Universe*



> Mystery fans know that the best way to solve a mystery is to revisit the scene where it began and look for clues. To understand the mysteries of our universe, scientists are trying to go back as far they can to the Big Bang. A new analysis of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation data by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has taken the furthest look back through time yet &#8211; 100 years to 300,000 years after the Big Bang &#8211; and provided tantalizing new hints of clues as to what might have happened


.

First Hundred Thousand Years of Our Universe « Berkeley Lab News Center


----------



## ScienceRocks

*
Space station poised to launch open-source satellites*

Space station poised to launch open-source satellites - space - 07 August 2013 - New Scientist


> Want to do your own space experiment? From next week, you will be able to run science projects on the world's first open-source satellites. And it won't break the bank.
> 
> ArduSat-1 and ArduSat-X were launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 August aboard a Japanese resupply vehicle (which is also carrying fresh food, supplies and a talking humanoid robot).
> 
> Known as CubeSats, each mini satellite packs an array of devices &#8211; including cameras, spectrometers and a Geiger counter &#8211; into a cube just 10 centimetres to a side.
> 
> The cargo ship carrying the CubeSats should arrive at the ISS on 9 August, and the satellites will then be deployed using a robotic-arm technique tested last year. The method can put several small satellites into orbit around Earth, eliminating the need for dedicated launch vehicles and making citizen-science missions like ArduSat more affordable.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*A Jovian Mystery: It's Time to Land On Europa*




> Europa has only been seen from afar, but its aura of intrigue has inspired scientists to study ideas as to how to explore the icy Jovian moon.
> 
> In a new study published today (Aug. 7), a NASA-appointed science definition team lays out the rich tapestry of discovery facing any mission to study Europa, but what questions do we need answering?



A Jovian Mystery: It's Time to Land On Europa : Discovery News

I wish we would stop rebuilding countries that hate us and go find these questions out.


----------



## BlueGin

*MAVEN mission team / picks haiku for Red Planet / We're green with envy*

NASA's next mission to Mars will carry what no spacecraft has carried before: more than a thousand 17-syllable haiku poems, digitized on a decorated DVD.

The "Message to Mars" haiku contest is part of the outreach effort associated with the MAVEN orbiter, which is to be launched this fall to study the Red Planet's atmosphere.

More than 12,500 valid entries were submitted by poets around the world, according to the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, which is in charge of MAVEN's science operations and organized the contest. Each haiku reflected the 5-7-5-syllable scheme associated with the traditional Japanese form of poetry.

Internet users were given the chance to vote for their favorite poem

MAVEN mission team /*picks haiku for Red Planet /*We're green with envy - NBC News.com


----------



## dilloduck

BlueGin said:


> *MAVEN mission team / picks haiku for Red Planet / We're green with envy*
> 
> NASA's next mission to Mars will carry what no spacecraft has carried before: more than a thousand 17-syllable haiku poems, digitized on a decorated DVD.
> 
> The "Message to Mars" haiku contest is part of the outreach effort associated with the MAVEN orbiter, which is to be launched this fall to study the Red Planet's atmosphere.
> 
> More than 12,500 valid entries were submitted by poets around the world, according to the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, which is in charge of MAVEN's science operations and organized the contest. Each haiku reflected the 5-7-5-syllable scheme associated with the traditional Japanese form of poetry.
> 
> Internet users were given the chance to vote for their favorite poem
> 
> MAVEN mission team /*picks haiku for Red Planet /*We're green with envy - NBC News.com



Best reason to stop funding the space program that I've ever heard.


----------



## ScienceRocks

dilloduck said:


> BlueGin said:
> 
> 
> 
> *MAVEN mission team / picks haiku for Red Planet / We're green with envy*
> 
> NASA's next mission to Mars will carry what no spacecraft has carried before: more than a thousand 17-syllable haiku poems, digitized on a decorated DVD.
> 
> The "Message to Mars" haiku contest is part of the outreach effort associated with the MAVEN orbiter, which is to be launched this fall to study the Red Planet's atmosphere.
> 
> More than 12,500 valid entries were submitted by poets around the world, according to the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, which is in charge of MAVEN's science operations and organized the contest. Each haiku reflected the 5-7-5-syllable scheme associated with the traditional Japanese form of poetry.
> 
> Internet users were given the chance to vote for their favorite poem
> 
> MAVEN mission team /*picks haiku for Red Planet /*We're green with envy - NBC News.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Best reason to stop funding the space program that I've ever heard.
Click to expand...


So you're a Taliban kind of man that doesn't believe in advancing this nation? People like you would turn this country into just that.

Enjoy my ignore asshole.


----------



## dilloduck

Matthew said:


> dilloduck said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BlueGin said:
> 
> 
> 
> *MAVEN mission team / picks haiku for Red Planet / We're green with envy*
> 
> NASA's next mission to Mars will carry what no spacecraft has carried before: more than a thousand 17-syllable haiku poems, digitized on a decorated DVD.
> 
> The "Message to Mars" haiku contest is part of the outreach effort associated with the MAVEN orbiter, which is to be launched this fall to study the Red Planet's atmosphere.
> 
> More than 12,500 valid entries were submitted by poets around the world, according to the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, which is in charge of MAVEN's science operations and organized the contest. Each haiku reflected the 5-7-5-syllable scheme associated with the traditional Japanese form of poetry.
> 
> Internet users were given the chance to vote for their favorite poem
> 
> MAVEN mission team /*picks haiku for Red Planet /*We're green with envy - NBC News.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Best reason to stop funding the space program that I've ever heard.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So you're a Taliban kind of man that doesn't believe in advancing this nation? People like you would turn this country into just that.
> 
> Enjoy my ignore asshole.
Click to expand...


Matthew---use reason. Look at the big picture.


----------



## ScienceRocks

We give tens of billions of dollars to build schools throughout the rest of the world to have the chance to have education as we do. You want to side with the Taliban? Why not fund our educational programs and give our children something to strive for in life. 

WTF is all these wars doing if not bringing the chance to advance to those people. You want to fucking tell me our children don't deserve that.


----------



## ScienceRocks

This is the problem with extremism be it left or right...

It is fucking stupid and doesn't have any facts backing it.


----------



## dilloduck

Matthew said:


> This is the problem with extremism be it left or right...
> 
> It is fucking stupid and doesn't have any facts backing it.



Money---there's a fact
Priorities--there's another one


----------



## ScienceRocks

I'd rather spend on education and our science programs then another day of nation building. 

That would do far more for this nation. I am sorry to see someone go to such extremes against our society reminding a top society on this planet.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*U.S. 'Space Fence' Will Cease To Operate, Site Says*



> A U.S. radar system that tracks thousands of objects orbiting Earth &#8212; from satellites to harmful debris &#8212; has been slated for shutdown, according to the Space News site. The ground-based network known as the "Space Fence" may cease to operate in October.
> 
> "This is your notice to begin preparing the sites for closure," a memo from Air Force Space Command told the contractor that operates the arrays last week. The memo obtained by Space News continues, "A specific list of action items will be provided as soon as it is finalized. A specific date to turn off the mission system has not been established yet, but will be provided to you immediately upon determination."


U.S. 'Space Fence' Will Cease To Operate, Site Says : The Two-Way : NPR


Yay, let's leave all of our gps, satellites and even our space station totally fucking unprotected. Yay, let's go completely back to the 18th century. Fuck you republican cock suckers!!!

It's war!

Who can vote for the 18th century is pure insanity! Did I tell you that satellite communications and gps is going to be killed because of these morons!


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SPACEX IS AWARDED LAUNCH OF GERMAN RADAR RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITE SYSTEM *




> Falcon 9 rockets will deliver three-satellite SARah Constellation that will serve German Ministry of Defense
> 
> Hawthorne, CA &#8211; Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will provide the launch services for Germany&#8217;s second-generation radar reconnaissance satellite system. The satellites, provided by OHB System AG and Astrium GmbH, will replace the current constellation and will be delivered to orbit by two Falcon 9 rockets in 2018 and 2019.
> 
> "SpaceX looks forward to working with OHB and Astrium, and we appreciate their confidence in SpaceX to reliably deliver these satellites to orbit,&#8221; said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President and COO. &#8220;These missions are very meaningful for SpaceX as the first contracted for a European government.&#8221;
> 
> OHB will build two passive-antenna synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, and Astrium GmbH will build a larger, phased-array-antenna satellite under contract for OHB. The three-satellite constellation will replace the current OHB-built five-satellite SAR-Lupe constellation.


SPACEX IS AWARDED LAUNCH OF GERMAN RADAR RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITE SYSTEM | SpaceX

Diloduck,

Musk fucking rules and pretty soon the private sector will rule space. HAHAHA!!!!


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA Picks Rocket to Launch Asteroid Sample-Return Mission*
NASA Picks Rocket to Launch Asteroid Sample-Return Mission | Space.com




> NASA has picked the rocket that will launch a spacecraft to a near-Earth asteroid in 2016 to collect samples of the space rock and return them to Earth.
> 
> The U.S. space agency has tapped an Atlas 5 rocket built by the Englewood, Colo.-based company United Launch Services to launch the asteroid-sampling OSIRIS-Rex mission. The $800 million asteroid mission will launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in September 2016.



WAHOOOOOO!!!!  Knowledge and technological advancement is cool


----------



## ScienceRocks

*3D Printer Bound for Space Station Passes Key Test*


> A 3D printer has notched an important milestone on the way toward its planned launch to the International Space Station next year.
> 
> An engineering model of California-based startup Made in Space's 3D printer passed a battery of tests at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., confirming that the machine can survive the rigors of launch and function in a microgravity environment, company officials announced Wednesday (Aug. 7).
> 
> "This developmental testing was vital to the design of our flight-unit printer. We&#8217;ve engaged in a fast-paced mission starting in early 2013 to produce hardware that NASA would qualify for launch and installation to the ISS in 2014," Michael Snyder, director of research and development at Made in Space, said in a statement. "The fact that we&#8217;ve been able to pass another milestone in an abbreviated time frame is extremely exciting."



3D Printer Bound for Space Station Passes Key Test

3-d made parts, 3-d made rocket engines, Grasshoppers going to cost maybe .3% to refuel....

Space fucking rules and we're so fucking close to trimming the cost of surface to orbit flight that it is simply amazing.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Spaceport America Readies to Welcome Space Tourists*


> TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. &#8212; Spread across 18,000 acres, Spaceport America continues to preen itself here in anticipation of booming business as the world's first purpose-built, commercial spaceport.
> 
> The "fit-out" of the Spaceport Operations Center continues at the site. New fire trucks and emergency vehicles are now on station, and field maintenance activities are in full swing. A runway extension effort is complete, now yielding a 12,000-foot "spaceway" to handle the projected comings and goings of anchor tenant Virgin Galactic, which plans to begin commercial space tourism flights there in the coming years.


Spaceport America Readies to Welcome Space Tourists


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Can asteroids be mined? NASA plans to find out*

Can asteroids be mined? NASA plans to find out | DVICE



> Many resources on Earth are limited. So what do we do in the future when we run out? What if we could visit asteroids in the solar system and mine those for more materials? NASA hopes that its 2016 asteroid mission will be a step in that direction.
> 
> Asteroids are the hundreds of thousands leftovers from the formation of our solar system. They're made up of a variety of metal, rock, dust, and ice. Learning to mine these materials could be a valuable way to gain new resources on Earth, and it could also be critical for the exploration of deep space.



The first trillionaire will be made by mining the asteroids. Probably within the next 50-75 years!  Go nasa!


----------



## ScienceRocks

On August 13th, the Falcon 9 test rig (code name Grasshopper) completed a divert test, flying to a 250m altitude with a 100m lateral maneuver before returning to the center of the pad. The test demonstrated the vehicle's ability to perform more aggressive steering maneuvers than have been attempted in previous flights. 

Grasshopper is taller than a ten story building, which makes the control problem particularly challenging. Diverts like this are an important part of the trajectory in order to land the rocket precisely back at the launch site after reentering from space at hypersonic velocity

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2t15vP1PyoA]Grasshopper Divert | Single Cam - YouTube[/ame]

Completely reusable and cost .3% to refuel each time. Imagine using each one a dozen times.  This is what advancement looks like.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX Grasshopper successfully performs lateral divert test*




> For those readers who haven&#8217;t been following its progress, SpaceX&#8217;s Grasshopper is a prototype reusable launch vehicle that&#8217;s designed to perform a vertical landing back on Earth after delivering its payload into space. While it&#8217;s already managed a few low-altitude test hops, yesterday (Aug. 13) it reached a new milestone by performing a &#8220;lateral divert test.&#8221;
> 
> In its previous test flights, the Grasshopper has lifted off vertically from a launch pad, travelled straight up (to a maximum height of 250 m/820 ft), then used its Merlin-1D engine to ease itself back down to the pad. In an actual mission, however, it wouldn&#8217;t simply be traveling straight up and down &#8211; when it came time to land, a considerable amount of lateral steering would be necessary to line it back up with the launch site. That&#8217;s where yesterday&#8217;s flight comes in.
> 
> The Grasshopper once again reached its previously-achieved altitude of 250 meters, but also proceeded to move an additional 100 m (328 ft) to one side. It was subsequently still able to land safely back at the center of the launch pad, compensating for its lateral diversion. According to SpaceX, &#8220;The test demonstrated the vehicle's ability to perform more aggressive steering maneuvers than have been attempted in previous flights.&#8221;



SpaceX Grasshopper successfully performs lateral divert test


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SNC Dream Chaser completes ground tests, prepares for glide test *

August 13 2013 11:41:37 PM | by Clark Lindsey, Managing Editor  



> An announcement from Sierra Nevada Space Systems.
> 
> Sierra Nevada Corporation&#8217;s Dream Chaser® Completes Ground
> Tow Tests in Preparation for Upcoming Approach and Landing Test
> 
> Sparks, Nev., &#8211; August 13, 2013 &#8211; Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announces the completion of the Dream Chaser® Space System tow testing at NASA&#8217;s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. The ground tow tests were conducted in preparation for the upcoming approach and landing test scheduled for the third quarter 2013.
> 
> The tow tests were performed in preparation for pre-negotiated, paid-for-performance milestones with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), which is facilitating U.S. companies' development of spacecraft and rockets that can launch from American soil.


https://www.newspacewatch.com/artic...tes-ground-tests-prepares-for-glide-test.html



*ATK wins order for Stratolaunch's air-launched space vehicle*



http://www.nbcnews.com/science/atk-wins-order-stratolaunchs-air-launched-space-vehicle-6C10923330


> WASHINGTON &#8212; Alliant Techsystems has won an order from Orbital Sciences Corp. to provide the solid rocket motors for a new air-launched space transport system that is part of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's latest venture.
> 
> Blake Larson, president of ATK Aerospace Group, gave no details on the size and scope of the contract, but told Reuters on Tuesday that the deal was "certainly substantial."
> 
> "It further enhances and expands other commercial elements of our propulsion business," Larson said. ATK is seeking to take on more commercial projects to diversity its portfolio at a time when the U.S. military budget is set to flatten or decline.
> 
> Allen's Stratolaunch Systems tapped Orbital Sciences in June to develop the new transport system, which will use a large aircraft to launch satellites, cargo and possibly humans into space.
> 
> Stratolaunch plans to launch test flights in 2016, and may fly its first space mission in 2017 or 2018.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Xombie rocket lands on its feet*

Xombie rocket lands on its feet - space - 14 August 2013 - New Scientist



> Future NASA spacecraft could be powered by zombies, or rather, Xombies &#8211; vertical take-off, vertical landing rockets of the kind seen here flying against the backdrop of the Mojave Desert.
> 
> VTVL rockets, as the industry calls them, are a mainstay of sci-fi but have not been used much in real-life space exploration. The Apollo Lunar Module, which ferried astronauts from orbit to the surface of the moon and back, is the only VTVL craft that has been used on a NASA mission.
> 
> Other VTVL rockets have been developed and tested on Earth, but their guidance algorithms often date back to the Apollo era. NASA is using the Xombie rocket, developed by Masten Space Systems in Mojave, California, to test new algorithms, which should cut fuel usage and enable missions to a wider variety of destinations.
> 
> This latest flight, which took place on 30 July, simulated a course correction during a landing on Mars. The rocket's flight algorithms were able to divert it from an incorrect landing point and land it safely.
> 
> The Xombie isn't the only VTVL rocket on the up and up. SpaceX continues to test its Grasshopper rocket, which has achieved an altitude of 325 metres and yesterday demonstrated its own course-correction skills.


----------



## jon_berzerk

Matthew said:


> On August 13th, the Falcon 9 test rig (code name Grasshopper) completed a divert test, flying to a 250m altitude with a 100m lateral maneuver before returning to the center of the pad. The test demonstrated the vehicle's ability to perform more aggressive steering maneuvers than have been attempted in previous flights.
> 
> Grasshopper is taller than a ten story building, which makes the control problem particularly challenging. Diverts like this are an important part of the trajectory in order to land the rocket precisely back at the launch site after reentering from space at hypersonic velocity
> 
> Grasshopper Divert | Single Cam - YouTube
> 
> Completely reusable and cost .3% to refuel each time. Imagine using each one a dozen times.  This is what advancement looks like.



pretty cool


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Voyager 1 has left the solar system, says new study*



> (Phys.org) &#8212;Voyager 1 appears to have at long last left our solar system and entered interstellar space, says a University of Maryland-led team of researchers
> 
> Carrying Earthly greetings on a gold plated phonograph record and still-operational scientific instruments &#8211; including the Low Energy Charged Particle detector designed, built and overseen, in part, by UMD's Space Physics Group &#8211; NASA's Voyager 1 has traveled farther from Earth than any other human-made object. And now, these researchers say, it has begun the first exploration of our galaxy beyond the Sun's influence.



 Read more at: Voyager 1 has left the solar system, says new study


*New technology could revolutionize satellite use*



> (Phys.org) &#8212;New technology being tested by the University of Maryland's Space Power and Propulsion Laboratory (SPPL) on the International Space Station could revolutionize the capabilities of satellites and future spacecraft by extending their lifecycle through the use of a renewable power source.



 Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-08-technology-revolutionize-satellite.html#jCp


----------



## BlueGin

Matthew said:


> *Voyager 1 has left the solar system, says new study*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (Phys.org) Voyager 1 appears to have at long last left our solar system and entered interstellar space, says a University of Maryland-led team of researchers
> 
> Carrying Earthly greetings on a gold plated phonograph record and still-operational scientific instruments  including the Low Energy Charged Particle detector designed, built and overseen, in part, by UMD's Space Physics Group  NASA's Voyager 1 has traveled farther from Earth than any other human-made object. And now, these researchers say, it has begun the first exploration of our galaxy beyond the Sun's influence.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Read more at: Voyager 1 has left the solar system, says new study
> 
> 
> *New technology could revolutionize satellite use*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (Phys.org) New technology being tested by the University of Maryland's Space Power and Propulsion Laboratory (SPPL) on the International Space Station could revolutionize the capabilities of satellites and future spacecraft by extending their lifecycle through the use of a renewable power source.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Read more at: New technology could revolutionize satellite use
Click to expand...



Was just going to post this same article.  Pretty neat!


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Private Space Race Heats Up With Some Key Breakthroughs*

Private Space Race Heats Up With Some Key Breakthroughs | Autopia | Wired.com



> Even as Elon Musk got everyone&#8217;s attention with the Hyperloop, his wild idea to remake mass transit, his engineers at SpaceX did something far cooler: They proved their reusable rocket can go sideways.
> 
> Almost immediately after Tuesday&#8217;s lift off, the 10-story-tall Grasshopper rocket made a &#8220;hard lateral deviation,&#8221; as Musk put it, of 100 meters during its ascent to 250 meters. It then returned to the center of the launch pad at touchdown.
> 
> That is rocket science. Literally. The really cool kind of rocket science.
> 
> Grasshopper already has made a few short hops and a few higher-altitude flights, and the flight, announced Wednesday, greatly expands the maneuvering envelope of the vertical take-off/vertical landing vehicle. It&#8217;s a major milestone in Musk&#8217;s plan to reboot the space sector. And it was but one milestone we&#8217;ve hit this week in the private space race. Sierra Nevada completed important &#8212; if pedestrian &#8212; testing of its new lifting body spacecraft, and Virgin Galactic signed up still more customers for flights it plans next year.
> 
> For all the debate among pseudo rocket scientists arguing whether carrying the fuel needed to return to Earth is a worthwhile proposition, those signing the checks still need to develop the technology to make it work. Musk is doing just that. He&#8217;s made it clear that reusing the first stage of a rocket will greatly improve the economics of delivering payloads to space, and his engineers continue making some impressive flights even as his critics continue piling on doubt.
> 
> The Grasshopper test is a big deal because there aren&#8217;t, at the moment, any rockets in use capable of the kind of lateral maneuvers SpaceX showed off Tuesday. Some smaller rockets have done it, but none of them even approaches Grasshopper&#8217;s size. The ability to make significant corrections to the trajectory is a key part of developing a reusable rocket, as the first stage will return to Earth at hypersonic speed. The only way to decrease its lateral speed, and guide it to a landing site, is through such moves.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA&#8217;s Juno Spacecraft is Halfway to Jupiter*


August 14, 2013 by Staff
NASA's Juno Spacecraft is Halfway to Jupiter | SciTech Daily



> Pasadena, California &#8211; NASA&#8217;s Juno spacecraft is halfway to Jupiter. The Jovian-system-bound spacecraft reached the milestone today (8/12/13) at 5:25 a.m. PDT (8:25 a.m. EDT/12:25 UTC).
> 
> &#8220;Juno&#8217;s odometer just clicked over to 9.464 astronomical units,&#8221; said Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. &#8220;The team is looking forward, preparing for the day we enter orbit around the most massive planet in our solar system.&#8221;


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Cosmonauts Break Record for Longest Russian Spacewalk*

Cosmonauts Break Record for Longest Russian Spacewalk | Space.com 


> Two cosmonauts set a new record for the longest Russian spacewalk on Friday (Aug. 16), spending more than seven hours working outside the International Space Station to prepare it for the addition of a new Russian-built orbital lab.
> 
> Veteran cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Alexander Misurkin spent a total of seven hours and 29 minutes &#8212; a new Russian record &#8212; on a spacewalk to install power and data cables for a new Russian laboratory module expected to launch to the space station in upcoming months. NASA cameras beamed images of the record-setting spacewalk to Earth during the orbital excursion


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Alien Planet Eclipse Called First Ever Observed In X-Ray Light*

Alien Planet Eclipse Called First Ever Observed In X-Ray Light


> A hot alien planet that's as big as Jupiter and cobalt blue in color has been spotted crossing in front of its parent star in the X-ray spectrum &#8212; a first for scientists.
> 
> Nearly two decades ago, researchers started detecting exoplanets by observing the dips in starlight that result when these alien worlds pass in front of their stars. But scientists had never before observed an exoplanet eclipse, called a "transit," in X-ray light.
> 
> "Thousands of planet candidates have been seen to transit in only optical light," study researcher Katja Poppenhaeger, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Mass., said in a statement. "Finally being able to study one in X-rays is important because it reveals new information about the properties of an exoplanet."


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Disruptors like Spacex, Tesla Motors, Broad Group fight the courts and politically connected*



> If Spacex fully* succeeds then launch costs to orbit could drop to $10 per pound from $4000-20000 per pound.* This could open up space to colonization and industry and enable the economy of civilization to expand by trillions of dollars in decades and enable large scale expansion into the solar system much the way nationwide highway and rail allowed the US to fill out from coast to coast.
> 
> If Tesla Motor fully succeeds then the electric car could become displace gasoline cars on a global and set the stage for mainstream electric airplanes and other vehicles.
> 
> If Broad Groups factory produced skyscrapers fully succeed the cost of building construction could drop two to ten times. This will changes cities and world urbanization and the $4 trillion world construction market.



Disruptors like Spacex, Tesla Motors, Broad Group fight the courts and politically connected


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Paper: Voyager 1 Leaves Solar System*

Paper: Voyager 1 Leaves Solar System


> Eleven billion miles and 36 years after its launch, some researchers say the Voyager 1 spacecraft has finally left our solar system and entered interstellar space.
> 
> Researchers at the University of Maryland who made the claim realize it&#8217;s a controversial view, but they say their model indicates the spacecraft left the solar system over a year ago &#8212; on July 27, 2012, to be exact.
> 
> Voyager &#8220;is truly beginning its travels through the Milky Way," said University of Maryland research scientist Marc Swisdak, lead author of a new paper published online this week in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Waking up to a new year: Team discovers an exoplanet that orbits its star in 8.5 hours*



> In the time it takes you to complete a single workday, or get a full night's sleep, a small fireball of a planet 700 light-years away has already completed an entire year.
> 
> Researchers at MIT have discovered an Earth-sized exoplanet named Kepler 78b that whips around its host star in a mere 8.5 hours&#8212;one of the shortest orbital periods ever detected. The planet is extremely close to its star&#8212;its orbital radius is only about three times the radius of the star&#8212;and the scientists have estimated that its surface temperatures may be as high as 3,000 degrees Kelvin, or more than 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. In such a scorching environment, the top layer of the planet is likely completely melted, creating a massive, roiling ocean of lava.


 Read more at: Waking up to a new year: Team discovers an exoplanet that orbits its star in 8.5 hours


----------



## jon_berzerk

Matthew said:


> *Paper: Voyager 1 Leaves Solar System*
> 
> Paper: Voyager 1 Leaves Solar System
> 
> 
> 
> Eleven billion miles and 36 years after its launch, some researchers say the Voyager 1 spacecraft has finally left our solar system and entered interstellar space.
> 
> Researchers at the University of Maryland who made the claim realize its a controversial view, but they say their model indicates the spacecraft left the solar system over a year ago  on July 27, 2012, to be exact.
> 
> Voyager is truly beginning its travels through the Milky Way," said University of Maryland research scientist Marc Swisdak, lead author of a new paper published online this week in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Click to expand...


eventually leading to a problem for Captain Kirk


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Bigelow Aerospace's inflatable space stations and future plans*




> Bigelow Aerospace is a private company developing inflatable space stations.
> 
> Bigelow Aerospace's inflatable space stations and future plans
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In 2007, Bigelow launched the Genesis II, which was their second experimental space habitat designed.
> 
> Genesis II was identical in size to Genesis I. It is a one-third scale of the full-size BA 330 model, with on-orbit measurements of 4.4 metres (14.4 ft) in length and 2.54 metres (8.3 ft) in diameter, with an interior habitable volume of 11.5 cubic metres (406.1 cu ft).
> 
> 
> The BA 330 would be a full-scale production module weighing approximately 43,000 pounds (20,000 kg),with dimensions of approximately 45 feet (14 m) in length and 22 ft (6.7 m) in diameter when expanded.
> 
> 
> In December 2012, Bigelow began development work on Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) under a $17.8 million NASA contract. In 2015, BEAM is projected to be transported to ISS inside the unpressurized cargo trunk of a SpaceX Dragon during the SpaceX CRS-8 cargo mission.
> 
> 
> 
> The BA 2100, or Olympus module is a concept module that would require a heavy-lift launcher and would place in orbit the complete infrastructure of a 2,100-cubic-metre (74,000 cu ft) habitat, over six times as large as the BA 330. As of October 2010, initial estimates put the vehicle mass between 70-90 tonnes, with a diameter of approximately 41 feet (12 meters).
> 
> Future plans awaiting low cost launch capability
> 
> Bigelow has plans for orbital stationSpace Complex Bravo which they hoped to launch in 2016 and go into commercial operation in 2017.
Click to expand...


----------



## ScienceRocks

*
NASA discusses its warp drive research, prepares to create a warp bubble in the lab*

NASA discusses its warp drive research, prepares to create a warp bubble in the lab | ExtremeTech




> Late last year, it emerged that a small team of NASA researchers were working on warp drive technology in the lab. Led by Harold &#8220;Sonny&#8221; White, the team devised a variation of the Alcubierre warp drive that could almost be feasibly produced &#8212; if we can work out how to produce and store antimatter. Now, White is ready to discuss some other facets of his warp drive, such as the energy requirements, what a spacecraft with a warp drive would look like, and what it would be like to travel at warp speed
> 
> 
> When it comes to interstellar travel, due to the massive distances involved, the only feasible solution for reaching other planets and stars is a method of transport that travels at close to or faster than the speed of light. The nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, is just over four light years away &#8212; at a speed of 62,136 kmh (the speed at which Voyager-1 is flying through space), it would take roughly 67,000 years for a spacecraft to reach it. There are a variety of proposed propulsion systems, such as ion drives, but none of them really get close to the speeds necessary to enable the exploration of other planets in under a few thousand years. Warp drives, while years away from even small-scale testing &#8212; if they&#8217;re even possible at all &#8212; are one of the few exceptions that would allow same-lifetime space travel.]


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Decommissioned WISE Gets a New Mission - Asteroid Hunter*
By Marc Boucher on August 21, 2013 5:36 PM.  2 Comments 

Decommissioned WISE Gets a New Mission - Asteroid Hunter - NASA Watch




> NASA Spacecraft Reactivated to Hunt for Asteroids, NASA
> 
> "A NASA spacecraft that discovered and characterized tens of thousands of asteroids throughout the solar system before being placed in hibernation will return to service for three more years starting in September, assisting the agency in its effort to identify the population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, as well as those suitable for asteroid exploration missions.



Now this is useful to humanity


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA to test laser communications link with new lunar mission*





> An upcoming NASA mission will test a new laser communications system that could one day deliver high-definition 3D video signals from Mars and beyond.
> 
> The lunar laser communications demonstration will be part of the agency's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission, which is scheduled to launch on Sept. 6. The LADEE spacecraft will orbit the moon and collect information on the lunar atmosphere -- technically an exosphere -- for around 100 days. A laser communications module is built into the satellite.
> 
> "NASA has a need for faster download speeds for data from space and that grows everyday, just like it does for the rest of us at home and also from work," said Don Cornwell, mission manager for the lunar laser communications demonstration. He was speaking at a televised NASA news conference on Thursday.


NASA to test laser communications link with new lunar mission | PCWorld


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA is looking at pulsed fusion propulsion*

NASA is looking at pulsed fusion propulsion



> Nasa Scientist Dr Rob Adams speaks about Pulsed Fusion Propulsion, dense plasma focus fusion, z pinch fusion and the possibilities of high density compression of fusion fuels.
> 
> NAIC - Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF) Propulsion System
> 
> Fission-ignited fusion systems have been operational &#8211; in weapon form &#8211; since the 1950&#8217;s.





*Quantum Thrusters to Give Warp Drives a Boost?*

Warp-drive technology, a form of "faster than light" travel popularized by TV's "Star Trek," could be bolstered by the physics of quantum thrusters -- another science-fiction idea made plausible by modern science.

 Aug 23, 2013 01:15 PM ET  //  by  Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com 
http://news.discovery.com/space/quantum-thruster-warp-drive-physics-130823.htm



> Although Barnard's Star is in our cosmic back yard, six light-years is a long way to go, meaning relativistic speeds are required. And that means you will need a very, very big starship.
> 
> Adrian Mann
> 
> NASA scientists are performing experiments that could help make warp drive a possibility sometime in the future from a lab built for the Apollo program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.


----------



## BlueGin

*Earth-Size 'Lava Planet' With 8.5-Hour Year Among Fastest Ever Seen*

	Astronomers have discovered a hot Earth-size planet so close to its star that a year on that exoplanet lasts just 8.5 hours, making it one of the fastest alien planets ever seen.

The small orbital period  one of the shortest ever discovered for an alien planet among the worlds discovered by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope  means the planet is far outside what is considered the habitable zone of its star, where liquid water, and maybe life, could exist. In fact, scientists have described the new world as a so-called "lava planet."

The find, however, excites astronomers because the host star of the planet, called Kepler-78b, is bright enough for other telescopes to spot the world. This is a relieving note for the research team given that the Kepler Space Telescope's prime exoplanet mission officially ceased Thursday (Aug. 15),

Earth-Size 'Lava Planet' With 8.5-Hour Year Among Fastest Ever Seen


----------



## ScienceRocks

*New telescope will be 10 times sharper than Hubble*


> Scientists are currently hard at work on a new telescope that promises to have 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope &#8212; but we're going to have to wait awhile.
> 
> So far, only one of an eventual seven massive mirrors has been completely cast and polished for the Giant Magellan Telescope. Each mirror is 27 feet across, weighs 20 tons, and takes a year to polish, reports the Los Angeles Times.





> The project's cost? $700 million, reports Space.com.
> 
> 
> Assuming things go as planned, the GMT will be installed in Chile's Atacama Desert in 2022. If that sounds a long time to wait for better space photos, good news: The current Magellan telescope has just been upgraded to be twice as sharp as the Hubble.



http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/08/25/newser-telescope-magellan/2696955/


----------



## Mr. H.

Why don't they make all 7 mirrors at the same time?


----------



## ScienceRocks

Mr. H. said:


> Why don't they make all 7 mirrors at the same time?



They seem not to have the common sense to do such a thing.


----------



## Mr. H.

Matthew said:


> Mr. H. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why don't they make all 7 mirrors at the same time?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They seem not to have the common sense to do such a thing.
Click to expand...


Maybe we'll see beyond the edge of the universe!


----------



## ScienceRocks

Mr. H. said:


> Matthew said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mr. H. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why don't they make all 7 mirrors at the same time?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They seem not to have the common sense to do such a thing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Maybe we'll see beyond the edge of the universe!
Click to expand...


Certainly would hope so  I'd think it would be better to look for extrasolar planets  We have found maybe 4,000 out of possibly 300,000,000,000 within our own galaxy.

What we already know is simply amazing.

I really like what Ion musk is doing with the grass hopper concept. 




> SpaceX believes a fully and rapidly reusable rocket is the pivotal breakthrough needed to substantially reduce the cost of space access. SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket currently carries a list price of about $54 million. However, the cost of fuel for each flight is only around $200,000about 0.4% of the total. The majority of the launch cost comes from building the rocket, which flies only once. Compare that to a commercial airliner. Each new plane costs about the same as Falcon 9, but can fly multiple times per day, and conduct tens of thousands of flights over its lifetime. Following the commercial model, a rapidly reusable space launch vehicle could reduce the cost of reaching Earth orbit by a hundredfold.



Reusability: The Key to Making Human Life Multi-Planetary | SpaceX


This is the kind of space research that can advance space within a direction for everyone.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Major volcanic eruption seen on Jupiter's moon Io*



> Recent observations of Jupiter's moon Io has revealed a massive volcanic eruption taking place 628,300,000 km (390,400,000 miles) from Earth. Io, the innermost of the four largest moons around Jupiter, is the most volcanically active object in the Solar System with about 240 active regions. But this new one definitely caught the eye of Dr. Imke de Pater, Professor of Astronomy and of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California in Berkeley. She was using the Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii on August 15, 2013 when it immediately became apparent something big was happening at Io.



 Read more at: Major volcanic eruption seen on Jupiter's moon Io


----------



## BlueGin

*Strange magnetic monster found lurking inside dead star*

Hiding in the recesses of a dead star is an ultra-strong magnetic field bursting from its surface in the form of X-rays, astronomers report.

The surprising nature of the object SGR 0418+5729 was revealed after three years of observations by several telescopes that initially showed a weak magnetic field there.

Uncovering the "magnetic monster," as European Space Agency officials described the star in a statement, required a new analytical technique. If confirmed, the find could rewrite scientists' understanding of how magnetic fields form and are amplified in other neutron stars, which are the leftovers from star explosions.

Strange magnetic monster found lurking inside dead star - NBC News.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA'S Mars Curiosity Debuts Autonomous Navigation*



> Aug. 27, 2013 &#8212; NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used autonomous navigation for the first time, a capability that lets the rover decide for itself how to drive safely on Mars.
> This latest addition to Curiosity's array of capabilities will help the rover cover the remaining ground en route to Mount Sharp, where geological layers hold information about environmental changes on ancient Mars. The capability uses software that engineers adapted to this larger and more complex vehicle from a similar capability used by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, which is also currently active on Mars.



NASA'S Mars Curiosity debuts autonomous navigation


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX To Test Reusable Booster Technology During Launch of Canadian Space Weather Sat*


> WASHINGTON &#8212; Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) will test its flyback booster technology during the maiden launch of its Falcon 9 1.1 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California later this year, according to the company&#8217;s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) commercial launch license.
> 
> In the first of a planned series of reusability tests, SpaceX plans to maneuver the first stage of the Falcon 9 1.1 rocket &#8212; an upgraded of version of the current Falcon 9 &#8212; after it separates from the rest of the vehicle during the flight. The stage would be brought down in the Pacific Ocean for what is being called a soft water landing.
> 
> SpaceX founder and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk alluded to the test back in March, after the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company completed its second cargo delivery mission to the international space station.


SpaceX To Test Reusable Booster Technology During Launch of Canadian Space Weather Sat | SpaceNews.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*
NASA tests limits of 3-D printing with powerful rocket engine check*

3 minutes ago 


> The largest 3-D printed rocket engine component NASA ever has tested blazed to life Aug. 22 during an engine firing that generated a record 20,000 pounds of thrust.
> 
> This test is a milestone for one of many important advances the agency is making to reduce the cost of space hardware. Innovations like additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, foster new and more cost-effective capabilities in the U.S. space industry.


 Read more at: NASA tests limits of 3-D printing with powerful rocket engine check


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Milky Way gas cloud causes multiple images of distant quasar*


> For the first time, astronomers have seen the image of a distant quasar split into multiple images by the effects of a cloud of ionized gas in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Such events were predicted as early as 1970, but the first evidence for one now has come from the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope system.


 Read more at: Milky Way gas cloud causes multiple images of distant quasar


----------



## BlueGin

*Moon Water Discovery Hints at Mystery Source Deep Underground*

	Evidence of water spotted on the moon's surface by a sharp-eyed spacecraft likely originated from an unknown source deep in the lunar interior, scientists say.

The find  made by NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 probe  marks the first detection of such "magmatic water" from lunar orbit and confirms analyses performed recently on moon rocks brought to Earth by Apollo astronauts four decades ago, researchers said.

"Now that we have detected water that is likely from the interior of the moon, we can start to compare this water with other characteristics of the lunar surface," study lead author Rachel Klima, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., said in a statement. 

Moon Water Discovery Hints at Mystery Source Deep Underground


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China gets set to launch its first moon lander by year's end*


Ben Blanchard,  Reuters 

3 hours ago 




> BEIJING &#8212; China will land its first probe on the moon by the end of this year, state media reported on Wednesday.
> 
> The Chang'e 3 mission to the lunar surface would mark the next step in an ambitious space program that includes eventually building a space station.
> 
> In 2007, China launched its first moon orbiter, Chang'e 1, named after a lunar goddess. That probe took images of the surface and analyzed the distribution of elements. Chang'e 2 was launched in 2010, orbited the moon for several months, then headed out to reach the Earth-Sun L2 gravitational balance point and fly by asteroid Toutatis.



China gets set to launch its first moon lander by year's end - NBC News.com

GO CHINA GO!!! China is going to leave America in the dirt within the next decade.


----------



## jon_berzerk

BlueGin said:


> *Moon Water Discovery Hints at Mystery Source Deep Underground*
> 
> Evidence of water spotted on the moon's surface by a sharp-eyed spacecraft likely originated from an unknown source deep in the lunar interior, scientists say.
> 
> The find  made by NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 probe  marks the first detection of such "magmatic water" from lunar orbit and confirms analyses performed recently on moon rocks brought to Earth by Apollo astronauts four decades ago, researchers said.
> 
> "Now that we have detected water that is likely from the interior of the moon, we can start to compare this water with other characteristics of the lunar surface," study lead author Rachel Klima, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., said in a statement.
> 
> Moon Water Discovery Hints at Mystery Source Deep Underground




that is cool thanks for posting that


----------



## BlueGin

*Curiosity rover snaps best Mars solar eclipse photos ever*


NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has captured the sharpest-ever images of a solar eclipse as seen from the Red Planet.

The 1-ton Curiosity rover snapped pictures with its telephoto lens as Phobos, the larger of Mars' two tiny moons, blotted out much of the solar disk on Aug. 17.

"This event occurred near noon at Curiosity's location, which put Phobos at its closest point to the rover, appearing larger against the sun than it would at other times of day," Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, a co-investigator for Curiosity's Mastcam instrument, said in a statement. "This is the closest to a total eclipse of the sun that you can have from Mars."

Read more: Curiosity rover snaps best Mars solar eclipse photos ever | Fox News


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Martian soup may have been tasty to early life*



> Martian minerals dissolved in groundwater are much more likely to yield a key building block for life &#8211; phosphate &#8211; than dissolved minerals on Earth. At least, that's the finding of a lab-based physical simulation designed to work out the habitability of ancient environments on the Red Planet.
> 
> The news comes just a few days after a prominent chemist aired his theory that only on Mars were the right chemical elements &#8211; specifically boron, molybdenum and oxygen &#8211; present at the right time to produce RNA molecules. RNA is widely thought to be the precursor to DNA and therefore to life as we know it.
> 
> Both studies have brought renewed attention to the idea that life on Earth was seeded from space, a theory known as panspermia. However, they can't both be right. One idea requires Mars to be covered in liquid water, while the other needs it to be as dry as a desert.


http://www.newscientist.com/article...ve-been-tasty-to-early-life.html#.UiPYrH7n_VI


----------



## BlueGin

Here is something we did today.  Viewed photos taken by the Hubble telescope at the Natural History and Science Museum.  Way cool!







[/URL][/IMG]


----------



## ScienceRocks

BlueGin said:


> Here is something we did today.  Viewed photos taken by the Hubble telescope at the Natural History and Science Museum.  Way cool!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [/URL][/IMG]



We spend 17 billion discoverying 99.999999% of everything and 99.99999999% of all resources.
and 700 billion on war and defending a little bit of resources.

Humanity is weird.


----------



## BlueGin

*Why our galaxy's black hole is a picky eater*

(CNN) -- You might think of black holes as indiscriminate eaters, hungrily gobbling up everything in their vicinity.

But the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, Sagittarius A, is not exactly like this, new research suggests. Instead, this black hole -- and likely other black holes in the centers of galaxies -- must spit out a lot in order to swallow a little.

It's been a mystery why black holes at the centers of galaxies in the present universe appear so much dimmer than quasars, extremely bright objects from the early universe that have black holes at their centers, too.

As Albert Einstein noted in his famous formula E=mc², energy is equivalent to mass times the speed of light squared. In a black hole, crushed mass gets converted into energy. Black holes in quasars eat a lot, creating the spectacular brightness associated with them. But we don't find as much radiation emanating from Sagittarius A, or other black holes in the centers of galaxies in the present universe.

So what's going on? Is the hot gas that Sagittarius A is eating just not radiating as much as the colder gas that quasars capture?

Why our galaxy's black hole is a picky eater - CNN.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceFab: 3D printing and robotic assembly in space*



> SpiderFab, a series of technologies under development by Tethers Unlimited, Inc. (TUI), combines 3D printing and robotic assembly to build and create spaceship components and structures in orbit. The groundbreaking systems are being designed to enable on-orbit construction of antennas, booms, solar arrays, trusses and other multifunctional components, ten to hundreds of times larger than currently possible with existing technology.



http://www.gizmag.com/spacefab-3d-printing-in-space/28898/


----------



## BlueGin

*Astronomers spot cosmic caterpillar 6 trillion miles long*






The Hubble Heritage Project on Thursday released a photo of what it calls a cosmic caterpillar that stretches 6 trillion miles long. Its actually a protostar, a mass of gas and dust that eventually produces a star. This one, called IRAS 20324+4057, is in the very early evolutionary stage. It has also been described as a tadpole in an interstellar pond.

Astronomers spot ?cosmic caterpillar? 6 trillion miles long


----------



## BlueGin

*Did Ancient Earth-Chilling Meteor Crash Near Canada?*

 A meteor or comet impact near Quebec heaved a rain of hot melted rock along North America's Atlantic Coast about 12,900 years ago, a new study claims.

Scientists have traced the geochemical signature of the BB-sized spherules that rained down back to their source, the 1.5-billion-year-old Quebecia terrane in northeastern Canada near the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. At the time of the impact, the region was covered by a continental ice sheet, like Antarctica and Greenland are today.

"We have provided evidence for an impact on top of the ice sheet," said study co-author Mukul Sharma, a geochemist at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. The results were published today (Sept. 2) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Did Ancient Earth-Chilling Meteor Crash Near Canada?


----------



## BlueGin

*Spacecraft aims to solve 50-year-old moon mystery of 'strange glow'*

A NASA spacecraft launching to the moon on Friday could help scientists solve some age-old mysteries of the solar system.

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft is expected to investigate lunar dust and the moon's extremely thin atmosphere once the craft makes it into orbit around Earth's closest celestial neighbor about 30 days after launch.

It's an ideal time to conduct LADEE's unique kind of science on the moon, according to LADEE program scientist Sarah Noble. Relatively few probes have landed on the surface of the natural satellite in recent years, leaving the moon's atmosphere somewhat undisturbed. 

Spacecraft aims to solve 50-year-old moon mystery of 'strange glow' - NBC News.com


----------



## BlueGin

*Spectacular Fireball Outshines Moon Over American Southeast*


	A dazzlingly bright fireball lit up the skies over the American South last week, and NASA caught the dramatic action on video.

The meteor blazed up in the predawn hours of Aug. 28, putting on a brief but spectacular show for night owls in several southeastern states.

"Recorded by all six NASA cameras in the Southeast, this fireball was one of the brightest observed by the network in 5 years of operations," Bill Cooke, head of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., wrote in a blog post Tuesday (Sept. 3). "From Chickamauga, Georgia, the meteor was 20 times brighter than the full moon; shadows were cast on the ground as far south as Cartersville." [See video of last week's super-bright meteor]

The asteroid that sparked the sky show was probably about 2 feet wide and weighed more than 100 pounds, Cooke added. The space rock hit Earth's atmosphere above the Georgia/Tennessee border at 3:27 a.m. EDT (0727 GMT) on Aug. 28, moving northeast at 56,000 mph.

Spectacular Fireball Outshines Moon Over American Southeast (Video)

Video at link


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Russian Space Industry to Be Consolidated Within Year &#8211; Rogozin*



> MOSCOW, September 4 (RIA Novosti) &#8211; Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin confirmed plans on Wednesday to consolidate Russia&#8217;s space industry under a single state-controlled corporation within a year.
> 
> The United Rocket and Space Corporation, to be formed as a joint-stock company, will contain all organizations in the aerospace industry, with the exception of a few defense companies, he said. Plans for the restructuring were first announced in July.
> 
> Consolidation will help the government pursue a &#8220;unified technical policy&#8221; in the space sector as well as remove current redundancies and avoid potential ones, Rogozin said, adding that the new corporation would absorb 33 space organizations, including 16 enterprises.


Russian Space Industry to Be Consolidated Within Year ? Rogozin | Russia | RIA Novosti


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Soars in 2nd Rocket-Powered Flight Test*


> MOJAVE, Calif. &#8212; A private Virgin Galactic spaceship built to carry passengers on suborbital joyrides aced its second powered test flight Thursday (Sept. 5), breaking the sound barrier as it roared through the skies here over the Mojave Desert.
> 
> Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo soared skyward on a column of bright orange flames and white smoke after being released from its WhiteKnightTwo mother ship.
> 
> In a blog post published after the test, Virgin Galactic's founder, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, said the spaceship was released at 46,000 feet (14,000 meters) and burned its hybrid rocket engine for 20 seconds, which was four seconds longer than on the previous flight. The craft reached a maximum altitude of 65,000 feet (19,812 m) and a top speed of Mach 1.6, Virgin Galactic officials said in a statement. [See more photos of SpaceShipTwo's 2nd rocket-powered test flight]
> 
> "This is a giant step," Branson wrote on his blog. "Our spaceship is now the highest commercial winged vehicle in history! We also successfully tested its feather system for carefree re-entry too &#8212; the first time that&#8217;s happened on a rocket-powered flight."



Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Soars in 2nd Rocket-Powered Flight Test | Space.com

Cool sub-obritibal space plane. Doubt it takes people to space before July of next year.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*
SpaceX to build spacecraft parts with motion tech and 3D printers*



> Elon Musk's new endeavor to build rocket ship parts with Leap Motion hand gesture technology, Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets, and 3D laser metal printers makes sci-fi look antiquated.
> A new initiative by SpaceX founder Elon Musk would make science fiction author Issac Asimov proud.
> 
> In a SpaceX YouTube video (see below), Musk describes how he's endeavoring to build new rocket ship parts using only hand and finger movements and a high-grade 3D laser metal printer. He won't use a typical desktop computer, he won't use a keyboard.
> 
> SpaceX is a private company founded by Musk in 2002; it designs, builds, and launches spacecrafts and rockets into low-Earth orbit. The company's goal is to one-day send humans into space so that they can live on other planets.
> 
> "At SpaceX, we love to play with cutting-edge technology and are always looking for ways to turn science fiction into reality," the SpaceX YouTube video description reads. "It not only advances our work, but it's also fun."


SpaceX to build spacecraft parts with motion tech and 3D printers | Cutting Edge - CNET News


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Super-Earth Gliese 1214b Has Water-Rich Atmosphere, Japanese Astronomers Say*

 Sep 5, 2013 by  Enrico de Lazaro 



> Astronomers from Japan using NAOJ&#8217;s Subaru Telescope have found that the extrasolar planet Gliese 1214b has a water-rich atmosphere.
> 
> Discovered in 2009 by the MEarth Project, this alien world is about 2.7 times Earth&#8217;s diameter and is almost 7 times as massive. It is located 42 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus.
> 
> Dr Michitoshi Yoshida of Hiroshima University and his colleagues used the Suprime-Cam and the FOCAS optical camera aboard the Subaru Telescope to look for the Rayleigh scattering feature in the atmosphere of Gliese 1214b.
> 
> The new observations, reported in the Astrophysical Journal (arXiv.org), showed that the exoplanet&#8217;s atmosphere does not display strong Rayleigh scattering.
> 
> According to the astronomers, this finding implies that Gliese 1214b has a water-rich or a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere with extensive clouds.



Super-Earth Gliese 1214b Has Water-Rich Atmosphere, Japanese Astronomers Say | Astronomy | Sci-News.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA launching robotic explorer to moon from Va.*

NASA is poised to return to the moon. 



> An unmanned rocket is scheduled to blast off late Friday night from Virginia with a robotic explorer that will study the lunar atmosphere and dust. Called LADEE (LA'-dee), the moon-orbiting craft will measure the thin lunar atmosphere.
> 
> Scientists want to learn the composition of the moon's ever-so-delicate atmosphere and how it might change over time. Another puzzle: whether dust actually levitates from the lunar surface.
> 
> Unlike the quick three-day Apollo flights to the moon, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE, will take a full month to get there. An Air Force Minotaur rocket, built by Orbital Sciences Corp., is providing the ride from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. It's the first moonshot from Virginia.


 Read more at: NASA launching robotic explorer to moon from Va.


----------



## BlueGin

*Is Comet ISON a UFO? Hubble's scientists do a reality check*

It's not at all certain that Comet ISON will turn out to be the "comet of the century," as hoped, but a couple of things are certain: It's not an alien spaceship, and it hasn't split up into three pieces.

Those were apparently questions on the minds of some folks last month, thanks to a flurry of videos and blog postings based on imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope's archives. The hoohah got hot enough to merit an official response, posted to the Space Telescope Science Institute's archive website and its ISON Blog.

Is Comet ISON a UFO? Hubble's scientists do a reality check - NBC News.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Iranian rocket to take another monkey into space*


Iranian rocket to take another monkey into space - The Times of India


> TEHRAN: Iran plans to send its second monkey into space onboard home-made rocket Pishgam (Pioneer) II within 45 days, a top official said.
> 
> In January, Iran sent a capsule containing a monkey onboard the Pishgam (Pioneer) I into space, Xinhua reported.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*If Spacex gets a reusable booster they will be able to lower cost per launch by 25 per cent or more*




> SpaceX's latest Falcon 9 version 1.1 is 60 percent longer than the company&#8217;s five previous Falcon 9 boosters. Its launch is scheduled for Sept. 14.
> 
> The rocket&#8217;s extension, which makes it more susceptible to bending during flight, is the most visible of several upgrades intended to increase the booster&#8217;s lift capacity and simplify operations.
> 
> In addition to a new 5-meter payload fairing, the rocket has upgraded avionics and software as well as a new stage-separation system that cuts the number of attachment points from 12 to three.
> 
> Because it is a demonstration mission, SpaceX offered launch services at a cut-rate price. MDA Corp. of Canada bought the ride for its 500-kilogram Cassiope spacecraft, built in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency and Technology Partnerships Canada.
> 
> &#8220;Cassiope is a very small satellite. It takes up just a tiny fraction of the volume of the fairing. They paid, I think, maybe 20 percent of the normal price of the mission,&#8221; he added.
> 
> Once the payloads are put into orbit, SpaceX may try to restart the rocket&#8217;s upper-stage motor, depending on how much fuel is left. Also on tap is a highly experimental restart of the Falcon&#8217;s boost stage to slow its crash landing into the sea.
> 
> &#8220;Just before we hit the ocean, we&#8217;re going to relight the engine and see if we can mitigate the landing velocity to the point where the stage could potentially be recovered, but I give this maybe a 10 percent chance of success,&#8221; Musk said.
> 
> In a related program called Grasshopper, SpaceX has been developing a booster stage that can fly itself back to a launch pad.
> 
> &#8220;We&#8217;ve never attempted to land Grasshopper on water. We don&#8217;t know if the radar system will detect the water surface level accurately. We don&#8217;t know all sorts of things, so I really give it a very tiny chance of success. But we&#8217;re going to see what data we can learn,&#8221; Musk said.



If Spacex gets a reusable booster they will be able to lower cost per launch by 25 per cent or more


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Pew! Pew! Pew! NASA Moon Probe Carries Space Laser for Big Tech Test *




> A NASA probe launching toward the moon tonight (Sept. 6) is carrying a high-tech laser experiment designed to improve deep-space communications.
> 
> NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft &#8212; which is slated to blast off from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia today at 11:27 p.m. EDT (0327 GMT Sept. 7) &#8212; aims primarily to study the moon's wispy atmosphere. But it also totes laser gear to see how well two-way communications can go between a moon-bound spacecraft and the Earth.
> 
> The laser experiment may end up helping out a variety of future missions, NASA officials say.
> 
> "We can even envision such a laser-based system enabling a robotic mission to an asteroid," Don Cornwell, manager of LADEE's lunar laser communication demonstration at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a statement. "It could have 3D, high-definition video signals transmitted to Earth providing essentially &#8216;telepresence&#8217; to a human controller on the ground," Cornwell added.


NASA Moon Probe Carries Space Laser for Big Tech Test | Space.com


----------



## Bill Angel

Matthew said:


> *Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Soars in 2nd Rocket-Powered Flight Test*
> 
> 
> 
> MOJAVE, Calif.  A private Virgin Galactic spaceship built to carry passengers on suborbital joyrides aced its second powered test flight Thursday (Sept. 5), breaking the sound barrier as it roared through the skies here over the Mojave Desert.
> 
> Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo soared skyward on a column of bright orange flames and white smoke after being released from its WhiteKnightTwo mother ship.
> 
> In a blog post published after the test, Virgin Galactic's founder, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, said the spaceship was released at 46,000 feet (14,000 meters) and burned its hybrid rocket engine for 20 seconds, which was four seconds longer than on the previous flight. The craft reached a maximum altitude of 65,000 feet (19,812 m) and a top speed of Mach 1.6, Virgin Galactic officials said in a statement. [See more photos of SpaceShipTwo's 2nd rocket-powered test flight]
> 
> "This is a giant step," Branson wrote on his blog. "Our spaceship is now the highest commercial winged vehicle in history! We also successfully tested its feather system for carefree re-entry too  the first time thats happened on a rocket-powered flight."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Soars in 2nd Rocket-Powered Flight Test | Space.com
> 
> Cool sub-obritibal space plane. Doubt it takes people to space before July of next year.
Click to expand...




Rocket Cyclist at Artscape 2013
Her rocket is labeled Virgin Galactic Launcher One
Image taken in  on July 19, 2013


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Scramspace scramjet arrives in Norway for test flight*


> A revolutionary jet engine capable of operating at eight times the speed of sound has arrived in Norway. Designed and built in Brisbane, Australia by the University of Queensland (UQ), the Scramspace is a hypersonic scramjet that will be fired by rocket in the Arctic Circle, where it will very briefly fly fast enough to travel from London to Australia in two hours. It&#8217;s part of a project to develop hypersonic technology that may one day be used to put payloads into orbit at a much lower cost than is possible today.
> 
> Scramspace is three-year research project by an international research team of 13 partners and sponsors from five countries led by Scramspace Director and Chair for Hypersonics at UQ, Professor Russell Boyce. Its AUD$14 million (US$13.7 million ) &#8220;shoestring budget&#8221; is small compared to similar American hypersonic project budgets that run into the hundreds of millions, but it draws on two decades of Australian hypersonic research into new engine designs and materials.



Scramspace scramjet arrives in Norway for test flight


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Upgrade to Mars rovers could aid discovery on more distant worlds*


> Smart as the Mars Curiosity mission has been about landing and finding its own way on a distant world, the rover is pretty brainless when it comes to doing the science that it was sent 567 million kilometers to carry out. That has to change if future rover missions are to make discoveries further out in the solar system, scientists say.
> 
> The change has now begun with the development of a new camera that can do more than just take pictures of alien rocks &#8211; it also thinks about what the pictures signify so the rover can decide on its own whether to keep exploring a particular site, or move on.
> 
> "We currently have a micromanaging approach to space exploration," said senior researcher Kiri Wagstaff, a computer scientist and geologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "While this suffices for our rovers on Mars, it works less and less well the further you get from the Earth. If you want to get ambitious and go to Europa and asteroids and comets, you need more and more autonomy to even make that feasible."





 Read more at: Upgrade to Mars rovers could aid discovery on more distant worlds


----------



## BlueGin

*Venus and Moon Share Spectacular Close Encounter* 


	Venus and moon shared a dazzling celestial meet-up that wowed stargazers around the world Sunday evening (Sept. 8).

Skywatchers snapped photos and at least one time-lapse video of Venus and the moon as the pair shined together in the night sky.

Venus and the moon shared what astronomers call a "conjunction," when two celestial objects appear near each other when viewed from Earth. The Venus-moon sight occurred about 45 minutes after sunset on Sunday (Sept. 8) in what was their closest encounter of the northern summer, fall or winter. [Amazing Photos: Venus and the Moon Together on Sept. 8]

"The sun set behind a veil of clouds, some of which reached the ground," skywatcher Victor Rogus of Jadwin, Mo., told SPACE.com in an email. "An eerie sound of the creatures of the night began to fill the air. A bit of a surreal and spooky setting as the moon began to make itself seen now with its friend, the planet Venus. A beautiful pairing of the two most romantic objects in the night sky. The two ducked in and out of the cloudy sky like a pair of shy lovers meeting in the dark."

Photographer Mike Black of New Jersey captured amazing close-ups of the Venus and the moon as they set Sunday night. it was Black who created the time-lapse video of the two brilliant night sky objects. 

Venus and Moon Share Spectacular Close Encounter (Photos)


----------



## BlueGin

*Meteorite Brought Surprising Ingredient for Life to Earth In 2012*


	Scientists have discovered unexpected ingredients for life  organic molecules never seen before in meteorites  inside a chunk of space rock that fell to Earth over California last year, scientists say.

The discovery comes from an analysis of the so-called Sutter's Mill meteorite, which lit up the California night sky with a dazzling fireball in April 2012. Meteorite fragments from the event may shed light on the primordial ooze that helped give rise to life on Earth, researchers said.

Meteors that streak across Earth's sky mostly are fragments of the asteroids that lie between Mars and Jupiter. Meteorites can be rich in organic compounds, including some found among life on Earth.

Meteorite Brought Surprising Ingredient for Life to Earth In 2012


----------



## idb

Matthew said:


> *Iranian rocket to take another monkey into space*
> 
> 
> Iranian rocket to take another monkey into space - The Times of India
> 
> 
> 
> TEHRAN: Iran plans to send its second monkey into space onboard home-made rocket Pishgam (Pioneer) II within 45 days, a top official said.
> 
> In January, Iran sent a capsule containing a monkey onboard the Pishgam (Pioneer) I into space, Xinhua reported.
Click to expand...


At last!
Someone's doing something about all those damn monkeys!!!
I'm knee-deep in them here!


----------



## BlueGin

*Dwarf Planet Ceres Could Harbor Ice Underground*

	In March of 2015, NASA's Dawn missionwill arrive at the dwarf planet Ceres, the first of the smaller class of planets to be discovered and the closest to Earth.

The dwarf planet Ceres, which orbits the sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is a unique body in the solar system, bearing many similarities to Jupiter's moon Europaand Saturn's moon Enceladus, both considered to be potential sources for harboring life.

On Thursday, August 15, Britney Schmidt, science team liaison for the Dawn Mission, and Julie Castillo-Rogez, planetary scientist from JPL, spoke in an Google Plus Hangout titled 'Ceres: Icy World Revealed?' about the growing excitement related to the innermost icy body.

Dwarf Planet Ceres Could Harbor Ice Underground


----------



## ScienceRocks

*XCOR Lynx space plane to begin flight tests soon*


> Virgin Galactic has been getting a lot of the space tourism press in recent months, but now another company is gearing up for some high-profile tests of their own. XCOR Aerospace is a privately funded outfit that has been designing and constructing their Lynx space plane out in California's Mojave Desert.
> 
> XCOR CEO Jeff Greason has been a life-long fan of manned spaceflight, and the Lynx space plane will be his very first foray into the arena for himself. The Lynx Mark 1 is nearing completion and is expected to begin test flights next year. Once those have been completed, the Mark 1 will be capable of carrying one passenger at a time to an altitude of 40 miles &#8212; approximately the height at which shooting stars burn up.


XCOR Lynx space plane to begin flight tests soon | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*First Swarm satellite heads to launch site*

First Swarm satellite heads to launch site



> The first of three satellites designed to undertake a comprehensive study the Earth&#8217;s magnetic field left Munich airport on Tuesday aboard an Ilyushin-76 transport aircraft bound for Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. This first Swarm satellite will be followed by two identical craft and more than 60 tons of support equipment before all three are launched into polar orbit in November


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Cygnus heads for the International Space Station*
Cygnus heads for the International Space Station



> Commercial space flight took another step forward today as NASA and Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Virginia launched Orbital's Cygnus spacecraft for a rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS). The unmanned cargo ship lifted off at 10:58 AM EDT atop an Orbital Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia and is intended as a demonstration flight of the Cygnus to show its suitability for delivering supplies to the ISS.


----------



## testarosa

Atlas V rocket lifted off at 4:10 am from Cape Canaveral dual launches with VA private rocket.

Story:


Atlas V rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral | Brevard County News - WESH Home

Launch:

Raw Video: AtlasV launches from Cape Canaveral | Brevard County News - WESH Home


----------



## testarosa

*September 17, 1976 NASA publicly unveiled its first space shuttle - the Enterprise.*


----------



## BlueGin

*Ferrari of Space' Doomed: Satellite Will Fall from Space in October*


 A European satellite is facing a fiery doom next month, when it is expected to begin falling from space to end a successful mission to map Earth's gravity. The spacecraft runs out of fuel in October, but exactly when and where it will fall to Earth isn't yet known.

The fiery re-entry of the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite, which the European Space Agency has billed as the "the Ferrari of space," will occur about two or three weeks after the , ESA officials said.

"The affected area will be narrowed down closer to the time of re-entry," ESA officials explained in a statement. "Taking into account that two-thirds of Earth are covered by oceans and vast areas are thinly populated, the danger to life or property is very low." 

'Ferrari of Space' Doomed: Satellite Will Fall from Space in October


----------



## BlueGin

*Incredible Technology: How Solar Sails Could Propel the First Starships*

 Sail ships might be the spacecraft that first take human technology to distant stars.

Giant sails propelled by the sun's or a laser's energy could be the most viable option for in the not-too-distant future, James Benford, a physicist associated with Icarus Interstellar, a non-profit group devoted to finding a way to travel to another star system, said during a panel at the Starship Congress conference in August.

Large and lightweight sails could allow unmanned probes to travel interstellar distances within a somewhat reasonable time frame, Benford said. [ ]

Rockets won't do the job "because we haven't gotten fusion yet," Benford said. "Beyond that is antimatter rockets that suffer not only from a very difficult design problem, but the absence of the fuel."

That leaves sail ships. "I would say that I think sail ships are going to be the first starships, because we know how to do it," Benford said.

Incredible Technology: How Solar Sails Could Propel the First Starships


----------



## BlueGin

*The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought*

 The moon is quite a bit younger than scientists had previously believed, new research suggests.

The leading theory of   holds that it was created when a mysterious planet  one the size of Mars or larger  slammed into Earth about 4.56 billion years ago, just after the solar system came together. But new analyses of lunar rocks suggest that the moon, which likely by this monster impact, is actually between 4.4 billion and 4.45 billion years old.

The finding, which would make the moon 100 million years younger than previously thought, could reshape scientists' understanding of the early Earth as well as its natural satellite, researchers said. 

The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Mars hopper concept 'is feasible'*



> A UK team is developing its idea for a Mars "hopper" - a robot that can bound across the surface of the Red Planet.
> 
> At the moment, landing missions use wheels to move around, but their progress can be stymied by sand-traps, steep slopes and boulder fields.






> A hopper would simply leap across these obstacles to the next safest, flat surface.
> 
> The research group is led from Leicester University and the Astrium space company.
> 
> They propose the use of a vehicle powered by a radioisotope thermal rocket engine



BBC News - Mars hopper concept 'is feasible'


----------



## ScienceRocks

*American, two Russians take shortcut to space*



> An American and two Russians blasted off Thursday for the International Space Station atop a Soyuz rocket that will slash more than a day off the usual travel time.
> 
> Michael Hopkins of NASA and Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky of Russia took off without a hitch from the Baikonur space centre that Moscow leases from Central Asia's ex-Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.
> 
> "Everything went according to plan. Everything went as expected," NASA's official flight commentator announced via a web feed after the Soyuz reached orbit about 10 minutes into its flight.




 Read more at: American, two Russians take shortcut to space


----------



## ScienceRocks

*How engineers revamped Spitzer to probe exoplanets*



> (Phys.org) &#8212;Now approaching its 10th anniversary, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has evolved into a premier observatory for an endeavor not envisioned in its original design: the study of worlds around other stars, called exoplanets. While the engineers and scientists who built Spitzer did not have this goal in mind, their visionary work made this unexpected capability possible. Thanks to the extraordinary stability of its design and a series of subsequent engineering reworks, the space telescope now has observational powers far beyond its original limits and expectations.
> 
> "When Spitzer launched back in 2003, the idea that we would use it to study exoplanets was so crazy that no one considered it," said Sean Carey of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "But now the exoplanet science work has become a cornerstone of what we do with the telescope."
> 
> Spitzer views the universe in the infrared light that is a bit less energetic than the light our eyes can see. Infrared light can easily pass through stray cosmic gas and dust, allowing researchers to peer into dusty stellar nurseries, the centers of galaxies, and newly forming planetary systems.


 Read more at: How engineers revamped Spitzer to probe exoplanets


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Water In Martian Soil*
Mars Water Found: Curiosity Rover Uncovers 'Abundant, Easily Accessible' Water In Martian Soil - International Science Times



> After scooping up Martian soil and analyzing it for the first time, NASA's Curiosity rover has something interesting to report: there's water in the soil. A fair bit of the stuff, too.
> 
> "One of the most exciting results from this very first solid sample ingested by Curiosity is the high percentage of water in the soil," said Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Dean of Science Laurie Leshin, the lead author of a study detailing the findings. "About 2 percent of the soil on the surface of Mars is made up of water, which is a great resource, and interesting scientifically." If you heated a cubic foot of the Martian soil up, you'd get about two pints of water.
> 
> 
> 
> Although scientists have speculated that ancient rivers and even oceans once existed on Mars, the fact that the very first soil sample they analyzed contained two percent water is pretty remarkable. It means that water is still very much present, and even widespread, in Martian soil.
> 
> 
> 
> "We now know there should be abundant, easily accessible water on Mars," said Leshin. "When we send people, they could scoop up the soil anywhere on the surface, heat it just a bit, and obtain water."
> 
> 
> 
> That should come as a relief to the 200,000 people vying for a one-way ticket to Mars.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Earth&#8217;s Atmosphere Had Oxygen 700M Years Earlier Than Previously Thought, Analysis Of 3-Billion-Year-Old Rock Samples Suggests*




> Earth's atmosphere may have contained oxygen much earlier than the current timetable of our history predicts, according to new research from the University of British Columbia. After studying the chemical composition of the oldest soils on Earth, scientists from the university found evidence that oxygen was present in the layer of gases surrounding Earth as early as 3 billion years ago.




Earth?s Atmosphere Had Oxygen 700M Years Earlier Than Previously Thought, Analysis Of 3-Billion-Year-Old Rock Samples Suggests - International Science Times


----------



## Rct_Tsoul

Matthew said:


> Researchers working on dilithium-powered fusion impulse engines
> 
> Researchers working on dilithium-powered fusion impulse engines | DVICE
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hear that, Star Trek? Technology is catching up! The University of Alabama's Aerophysics Research Center, NASA, Boeing, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are all getting together to develop an "impulse engine" that's powered in part by "dilithium crystals."
> 
> Here's how the scientists describe their own research:
> 
> "Star Trek fans love it, especially when we call the concept an impulse drive, which is what it is. The fusion fuel we're focusing on is deuterium [a stable isotope of hydrogen] and Li6 [a stable isotope of the metal lithium] in a crystal structure. That's basically dilithium crystals we're using."
> 
> We would be remiss, of course, if we didn't point out that in reality (that is, in Star Trek), dilithium is not quite the same as lithium-6 (which would be, uh, hexalithium?), and also, dilithium regulates the matter/antimatter reaction in the warp drive, not the impulse drive. So good, we've gotten all of our hrrumphing out of the way, let's move on.
> 
> The drive should/would/will be based on the principle of Z-pinch fusion. A Z-pinch, for you physics fans, is when you run a huge jolt of electricity through an array of tiny wires, turning them into a plasma and generating a massive magnetic field at the same time. The field "pinches" the plasma, collapsing it down onto a core of deuterium and lithium, causing those atoms to fuse and releasing a big burst of fusion energy- more than it took to set the Z-pinch off in the first place. Here's a picture of what it looks like when they do a Z-pinch on the Z Machine at Sandia National Labs:
> 
> 
> 
> At full throttle, the impulse engine will produce Z-pinches nearly continuously, and astronauts onboard a spaceship using this method of propulsion would feel a series of pulses as opposed to some non-stop beastly acceleration. The acceleration will be beastly, though: the researchers say the impulse engine would generate "millions of pounds of thrust out the back of this thing--on the order of Saturn-V-class thrust."
> 
> Since a fusion-driven impulse engine is far more efficient than a conventional rocket engine, you can go much farther, much faster, on a lot less fuel, meaning that a trip from Earth to Mars could take just six weeks instead of six months or more. And as for speed, the impulse engine may be able to propel a spacecraft at up to 62,600 miles per hour. This is quite fast, although not up to Star Trek's definition of full impulse, which (depending on who you ask) is probably somewhere between 16 and 17 million miles per hour.
> 
> There are a bunch of things that the researchers need to figure out before they're ready to fire this thing up. They need to the the fusion to be self-sustaining, of course, but they also need to figure out how to channel the resulting, er, explosion in the right direction (i.e. away from the spaceship), probably using some sort of magnetic nozzle. It's going to take some work, and some time, but smart people are actually working on a fusion-driven impulse engine as we speak. Wow.
Click to expand...


That sounds very complicated & dangerous ........... instead why not just use the already available Bose Einstein Condensate Drive, it only needs electricity to run, and is capable of propelling a Ship at near light speed. I am sure some of you are familiar with this.
Basically you take an oval shap tube, inside the tube is fitted with lasers, you then take Argon gas and freeze it down to near absolute zero, inject the now very cold Argon gas into the tube, then your lasers inside the tube target & fire upon the Argon molecules ......... thus slowing their movement down even more bringing the gas closer to absolute zero, this produces what is called a Bose Einstein Condensate, causing all the Argon gas to act as 1 particle, this allows you to grab onto or latch onto the Higgs Boson particle (the particle that occupies empty space & holds atom nucleuses together)
Now the lasers start moving the NOW singular particle down the tube at any speed needed upto light speed remaining in a state of Bose until reaching the end of the tube as regular zero point energy reverts it back to normal Argon gas (individual molecules).
Then recycled around the tube again to be brought back into a state of Bose.
Depending upon what direction the oval tube is facing, this can move your ship to near light speed. 
It also has other applications.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX ready to test-fly new Falcon rocket*



> LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Privately owned Space Exploration Technologies plans to test an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday from a site in California as part of its push into the satellite launch market.
> 
> Previous versions of the Falcon 9 have flown five times from the company's launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
> 
> If the new rocket's debut goes well, SpaceX plans to return to Florida for the Falcon 9's first commercial mission, an SES World Skies communications satellite, later this year.
> 
> Perched on top of the 22-story, beefed-up Falcon 9 will be Canada's Cassiope science satellite. Liftoff is targeted for 9 a.m. PDT (1600 GMT) from a newly refurbished launch site at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.



SpaceX ready to test-fly new Falcon rocket - Yahoo Finance


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX launches Canadian satellite from California (Update 2)*

13 hours ago 


> A SpaceX rocket carrying a Canadian satellite intended to track space weather launched from the California coast Sunday in what was billed as a test flight
> 
> 
> The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles, shortly after 9 a.m. under clear skies, eventually reaching its intended orbit.
> 
> SpaceX launched an older model of Falcon 9 five times from Florida. This was the first time the Southern California-based private rocket maker flew the next-generation version that boasts upgraded engines designed to improve performance and deliver heavier payloads.
> 
> The rocket carried a satellite dubbed Cassiope, a project of the Canadian Space Agency and other partners.



 Read more at: SpaceX launches Canadian satellite from California (Update 2)


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA preparing to launch 3-D printer into space (Update)*

14 hours ago by Martha Mendoza


> NASA is preparing to launch a 3-D printer into space next year, a toaster-sized game changer that greatly reduces the need for astronauts to load up with every tool, spare part or supply they might ever need.
> 
> The printers would serve as a flying factory of infinite designs, creating objects by extruding layer upon layer of plastic from long strands coiled around large spools. Doctors use them to make replacement joints and artists use them to build exquisite jewelry.
> 
> In NASA labs, engineers are 3-D printing small satellites that could shoot out of the Space Station and transmit data to earth, as well as replacement parts and rocket pieces that can survive extreme temperatures.



 Read more at: NASA preparing to launch 3-D printer into space (Update)


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Number Of Alien Planets Confirmed Beyond Our Solar System Nears 1,000, Data Shows *



> Just two decades after discovering the first world beyond our solar system, astronomers are closing in on alien planet No. 1,000.
> 
> Four of the five main databases that catalog the discoveries of exoplanets now list more than 900 confirmed alien worlds, and two of them peg the tally at 986 as of Sept. 26. So the 1,000th exoplanet may be announced in a matter of days or weeks, depending on which list you prefer.
> 
> That's a lot of progress since 1992, when researchers detected two planets orbiting a rotating neutron star, or pulsar, about 1,000 light-years from Earth. Confirmation of the first alien world circling a "normal" star like our sun did not come until 1995.


Number Of Alien Planets Confirmed Beyond Our Solar System Nears 1,000, Data Shows


----------



## jon_berzerk

Matthew said:


> *Number Of Alien Planets Confirmed Beyond Our Solar System Nears 1,000, Data Shows *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just two decades after discovering the first world beyond our solar system, astronomers are closing in on alien planet No. 1,000.
> 
> Four of the five main databases that catalog the discoveries of exoplanets now list more than 900 confirmed alien worlds, and two of them peg the tally at 986 as of Sept. 26. So the 1,000th exoplanet may be announced in a matter of days or weeks, depending on which list you prefer.
> 
> That's a lot of progress since 1992, when researchers detected two planets orbiting a rotating neutron star, or pulsar, about 1,000 light-years from Earth. Confirmation of the first alien world circling a "normal" star like our sun did not come until 1995.
> 
> 
> 
> Number Of Alien Planets Confirmed Beyond Our Solar System Nears 1,000, Data Shows
Click to expand...


that is pretty cool 

thanks


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA's Cassini spacecraft finds ingredient of household plastic in space*



> NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected propylene, a chemical used to make food-storage containers, car bumpers and other consumer products, on Saturn's moon Titan. This is the first definitive detection of the plastic ingredient on any moon or planet, other than Earth.
> 
> A small amount of propylene was identified in Titan's lower atmosphere by Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS). This instrument measures the infrared light, or heat radiation, emitted from Saturn and its moons in much the same way our hands feel the warmth of a fire.
> 
> Propylene is the first molecule to be discovered on Titan using CIRS. By isolating the same signal at various altitudes within the lower atmosphere, researchers identified the chemical with a high degree of confidence. Details are presented in a paper in the Sept. 30 edition of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
> 
> "This chemical is all around us in everyday life, strung together in long chains to form a plastic called polypropylene," said Conor Nixon, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and lead author of the paper. "That plastic container at the grocery store with the recycling code 5 on the bottom -- that's polypropylene."


NASA's Cassini spacecraft finds ingredient of household plastic in space | e! Science News


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Distant planet's clouds are mapped*
BBC News - Distant planet's clouds are mapped



> Astronomers have created the first map of the clouds on a planet outside our Solar System.
> 
> The planet in question is Kepler-7b, a large gaseous world like Jupiter, roughly 1,000 light-years away.
> 
> The researchers used data from Nasa's Spitzer and Kepler space telescopes to study the exoplanet, which orbits close to its parent star.
> 
> Their results suggest the hot giant is marked by high clouds in the west and clear skies in the east.
> 
> The findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
> 
> "By observing this planet with Spitzer and Kepler for more than three years, we were able to produce a very low-resolution 'map' of this giant, gaseous planet," said co-author Brice-Olivier Demory of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, US.
> 
> "We wouldn't expect to see oceans or continents on this type of world, but we detected a clear, reflective signature that we interpreted as clouds."


BBC News - Distant planet's clouds are mapped


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Strange Super-Earth Planet Has 'Plasma' Water Atmosphere*

Strange Super-Earth Planet Has 'Plasma' Water Atmosphere | Space.com
 by Nola Taylor Redd, SPACE.com contributor   |   October 01, 2013 01:48pm ET



> A nearby alien planet six times the size of the Earth is covered with a water-rich atmosphere that includes a strange "plasma form" of water, scientists say.
> 
> Astronomers have determined that the atmosphere of super-Earth Gliese 1214 b is likely water-rich. However, this exoplanet is no Earth twin. The high temperature and density of the planet give it an atmosphere that differs dramatically from Earth.
> 
> "As the temperature and pressure are so high, water is not in a usual form (vapor, liquid, or solid), but in an ionic or plasma form at the bottom the atmosphere &#8212; namely the interior &#8212; of Gliese 1214 b," principle investigator Norio Narita of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan told SPACE.com by email.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*ESA set to begin Mars rover tests in Chile*



> The Atacama desert in Chile is so dry that parts of it are utterly devoid of life down to bacteria. That and its sandy, rock-strewn terrain makes it so similar to Mars that it's a perfect spot for ESA to trial its Sample Acquisition Field Experiment with a Rover (SAFER), which will this week carry out tests related to navigation, remote control and the use of scientific instruments. The agency&#8217;s goal is the latest in a series of tests to develop technologies and gain practical experience in anticipation of ESA&#8217;s launch of the ExoMars rover to the Red Planet in 2018.



ESA set to begin Mars rover tests in Chile


----------



## ScienceRocks

*
Cost-effective laser-based asteroid defense system pitched to NASA*



> Last year, the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow put forward the idea of using fleets of laser-toting satellites to deflect potentially dangerous objects away from Earth. Now, Dr. Richard Fork, principal investigator for the Laser Science and Engineering Laboratory at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), and his team have refined the idea, saying that it&#8217;s not only feasible, but could handle anything up to the size of a comet.
> 
> If an asteroid 100 m (330 ft) across hit the Earth, it would be a bad day. The impact of a comet such as Halle-Bopp, which is about 70 km (43 mi) in diameter, would make for a very, very bad day. According to Fork, "[The Hale-Bopp comet] is enormous, and if it had been on a collision course with Earth we would have had only two years from the time it was first observed to the time it arrived at Earth. If the comet happened to be on track to hit us, there would have been nothing we could have done. We would have been toast."
> 
> Because of the remote, but still present, danger of such an event happening, finding ways to deflect asteroids is of great interest to scientists and engineers. The idea floated by researchers at Strathclyde University in 2012 involves sending a fleet of small satellites that fires lasers at a potentially dangerous asteroid. The purpose wouldn't be to destroy it in a spectacular Death Star-like explosion, but to nudge it into a new orbit.


Cost-effective laser-based asteroid defense system pitched to NASA


----------



## ScienceRocks

*A strange lonely planet found without a star*



> (Phys.org) &#8212;An international team of astronomers has discovered an exotic young planet that is not orbiting a star. This free-floating planet, dubbed PSO J318.5-22, is just 80 light-years away from Earth and has a mass only six times that of Jupiter. The planet formed a mere 12 million years ago&#8212;a newborn in planet lifetimes.



 Read more at: A strange lonely planet found without a star


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Diamonds in the sky: Scientists find Jupiter and Saturn are awash in diamonds*



> Recent work by planetary scientists has indicated that the deep atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn may contain chunks of diamond floating in a liquid hydrogen/helium fluid.
> 
> Planetary scientists Mona L. Delitsky of California Specialty Engineering in Pasadena, California, and Kevin H. Baines of the University of Wisconsin-Madison have compiled recent data about the phase diagram of carbon and combined them with newly published adiabats (pressure-temperature diagrams) for Jupiter and Saturn to calculate that diamond will be stable in the deep interiors. Further, at altitudes below the regions where diamond is stable, the pressures and temperatures will be so large as to melt the diamond into liquid, creating diamond rain or liquid diamond.



 Read more at: Diamonds in the sky: Scientists find Jupiter and Saturn are awash in diamonds


----------



## ScienceRocks

*
Found: Planets skimming a star's surface*

3 minutes ago 



> A new planet-hunting survey has revealed planetary candidates with orbital periods as short as four hours and so close to their host stars that they are nearly skimming the stellar surface. If confirmed, these candidates would be among the closest planets to their stars discovered so far. Brian Jackson of the Carnegie Institution for Science's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism presented his team's findings, which are based on data from NASA's Kepler mission, at the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences meeting.




 Read more at: Found: Planets skimming a star's surface


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Grasshopper 744m Test | Single Camera (Hexacopter) *


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZDkItO-0a4&feature=player_embedded]Grasshopper 744m Test | Single Camera (Hexacopter) - YouTube[/ame]


Published on Oct 12, 2013  



> On Monday, October 7th, Grasshopper completed its highest leap to date, rising to 744m altitude. The view above is taken from a single camera hexacopter, getting closer to the stage than in any previous flight.
> 
> Grasshopper is a 10-story Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle designed to test the technologies needed to return a rocket back to Earth intact. While most rockets are designed to burn up on atmosphere reentry, SpaceX rockets are being designed not only to withstand reentry, but also to return to the launch pad for a vertical landing. The Grasshopper VTVL vehicle represents a critical step towards this goal.
> 
> Grasshopper consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure.



This is 2,460 feet.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Spacex Grasshopper reusable rocket flies to 744 meters and back*



> On Monday, October 7th, Grasshopper completed its highest leap to date, rising to 744 meter altitude. This is two and half times the previous height of about 300 meters. The view above is taken from a single camera hexacopter, getting closer to the stage than in any previous flight.
> 
> Grasshopper is a 10-story Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle designed to test the technologies needed to return a rocket back to Earth intact. While most rockets are designed to burn up on atmosphere reentry, SpaceX rockets are being designed not only to withstand reentry, but also to return to the launch pad for a vertical landing. The Grasshopper VTVL vehicle represents a critical step towards this goal.
> 
> Grasshopper consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure.
> 
> Reusable rockets can reduce the cost of launching into orbit by 100 times.



Spacex Grasshopper reusable rocket flies to 744 meters and back


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Iran plans new monkey space launch*

8 hours ago 


> Iran is planning to send another live monkey into space within a month, a top space official said in remarks reported by media Sunday.
> 
> "The second live animal will be ready within a month to be sent into space," said Hamid Fazeli, deputy head of Iran's space organisation, the Jomhuri Eslami newspaper reported.
> 
> Iran in January claimed to have successfully launched a live monkey into space and to have brought it safely back to earth.




 Read more at: Iran plans new monkey space launch

I can't wait until they launch a man into space  Would be nice if they could be part of our international space station....


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Final flight of Grasshopper v1.0 sets new record*



> SpaceX made another successful Grasshopper test flight last week, which was also the last flight for Grasshopper v1.0. Its swan song lasted 80 seconds, during which time Grasshopper reached an altitude of 744 meters (nearly half a mile), more than twice the previous record. Grasshopper v1.1 is well along the road to flight tests.
> 
> Following the successful test flight carried out on October 8, SpaceX's Grasshopper v1.0 is to be retired, and will be replaced by Grasshopper v1.1, which is also known as the Falcon 9 Reusable development vehicle. Grasshopper v1.1 will be based at New Mexico's Spaceport America following initial low-level testing in SpaceX's Texas flight test field.
> 
> Grasshopper v1.1 is being made from a Falcon 9 v1.1 first stage tank, which at 68.4 meters (224 ft) in length is more than twice the height of v1.0. It will have a 2 metric ton set of retracting landing legs spanning about 18 meters (60 feet). The legs will be extended into landing position using high pressure helium.



Final flight of Grasshopper v1.0 sets new record


----------



## ScienceRocks

ISPCS conference: https://twitter.com/ISPCS/status/390503577170763776


ISPCS
&#8207;@ISPCS
@SpaceX hopes to have their first flight from @Spaceport_NM in December 2013


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Preparations on for launch of India&#8217;s Mars Orbiter Mission*



> CHENNAI: Preparations are afoot in Sriharikota for the launch of Mars Orbiter Mission Mangalyaan on PSLV C25, ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan said.
> 
> "The exact date and time of the launch will be decided in a meeting on October 17. So by October 18, we will get to know the exact time and date of the launch," he told reporters here.
> 
> On the launch of the GSLV D5, which was called off on August 19 after detection of a fuel leak, he said, "We are working on the GSLV for its launch in December."


Preparations on for launch of India?s Mars Orbiter Mission - The Times of India


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Sunjammer, World's Largest Solar Sail, Passes Key Test for 2015 Launch*



> A NASA plan to launch the world's largest solar sail into space and unfurl it like a giant parasol has passed a major test as the mission moves closer to a planned January 2015 launch. Sunjammer mission successfully deployed part of its huge solar sail in a test on Sept. 30, revealing the craft should be ready to function successfully following its January 2015 launch.
> 
> The giant Sunjammer solar sail, cleared a successful design test that required the deploying beam to stretch a quarter of the sail completely open. Because the Sept. 30 test took place on Earth, gravity and atmosphere made conditions more challenging than they would be in the vacuum of space, the sail's designers said.



NASA's Sunjammer Solar Sail Mission Completes Key Test on Earth | Space.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Cygnus cargo craft readies to leave space station*


> A private cargo ship built by Orbital Sciences Corporation is preparing to leave the International Space Station early Tuesday and burn up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, NASA said Monday.
> 
> The Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to detach from the orbiting research outpost at 1000 GMT Tuesday and leave the ISS an hour and a half later.
> 
> "Orbital engineers then will conduct a series of planned burns and maneuvers to move Cygnus toward a destructive re-entry in Earth's atmosphere," NASA said in a statement.
> 
> Orbital said Cygnus is expected to re-enter the atmosphere on Wednesday, October 23 at 1818 GMT over the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand.
> 
> The unmanned spaceship attached itself to the ISS on September 29, marking the first successful demonstration mission of a cargo resupply flight by Orbital Sciences.
> 
> It is the fourth such mission by a private company to ferry supplies to global astronauts, a capacity the United States lost when the space shuttle program ended in 2011.



 Read more at: Cygnus cargo craft readies to leave space station


----------



## ScienceRocks

*For Sale: Balloon Rides to Near-Space for $75,000 a Seat*


> You don't have to climb aboard a rocket ship to be a space tourist anymore.
> 
> For $75,000, a company called World View Enterprises will loft you 19 miles (30 kilometers) up into Earth's atmosphere using a high-altitude balloon. While the gentle ride won't earn passengers their astronaut wings &#8212; outer space is generally considered to begin at an altitude of 62 miles (100 km) &#8212; it will afford spectacular views of the blackness of space and the curvature of our planet, World View officials say.
> 
> "Seeing the Earth hanging in the ink-black void of space will help people realize our connection to our home planet and to the universe around us, and will surely offer a transformative experience to our customers," World View CEO Jane Poynter said in a statement.


Balloon Rides to Near-Space for $75,000 a Seat | Space.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Europe joins the quest to create space-faring 3D printers*



> The European Space Agency (ESA) has recently announced that it will be diving headlong into the quest for 3D printers capable of printing in zero gravity. Dubbed the largest collaborative 3D printing initiative in existence, the project is called AMAZE, and if successful it certainly will.
> 
> AMAZE is short for "Additive Manufacturing Aiming Towards Zero Waste and Efficient Production of High-Tech Metal Products," which is a bit of a long and meandering title. That's fairly appropriate, seeing as AMAZE isn't really your straightforward 3D printing project. Together with 28 industrial partners, the ESA is aiming to create both a small, metal-printing 3D printer for use in the ISS and other future spacecraft as well as a highly-complex ground-based 3D printer capable of churning out whole satellites.


Europe joins the quest to create space-faring 3D printers | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Exoplanet tally soars above 1,000*
By Melissa Hogenboom


> The number of observed exoplanets - worlds circling distant stars - has passed 1,000.
> 
> Of these, 12 could be habitable - orbiting at a distance where it is neither "too hot" nor "too cold" for water to be liquid on the surface.
> 
> The planets are given away by tiny dips in light as they pass in front of their stars or through gravitational "tugs" on the star from an orbiting world.
> 
> These new worlds are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia.


BBC News - Exoplanet tally soars above 1,000


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Blue Origin's suborbital reusable vertical takeoff and landing rocket is almost ready*
Blue Origin's suborbital reusable vertical takeoff and landing rocket is almost ready



> Blue Origin is very close to making sub-orbital flights. Blue Origin will let researchers and other companies take a payload up into space&#8212;topping out at 100 kilometers&#8212;for about three to four minutes. The hope is that Blue Origin will be able to do this at a moment&#8217;s notice and do it often. Blue Origin is funded by Amazon.com multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos.
> 
> Blue Origin, LLC is developing technologies to enable human access to space at dramatically lower cost and increased reliability. This is a long-term effort, which we&#8217;re pursuing incrementally, step by step. We&#8217;re currently focused on developing reusable launch vehicles utilizing rocket-powered Vertical Take-off and Vertical Landing (VTVL) technology.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Asteroid-blast space cannon on track, Japan scientists say*

53 minutes ago 



> Japanese scientists readying to blast a crater in an asteroid to find out what it is made of said Wednesday they have successfully tested their new space cannon.
> 
> The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the huge weapon would fire a metal bullet at the surface of asteroid 1999JU3 some time in 2018.






 Read more at: Asteroid-blast space cannon on track, Japan scientists say


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Berkeley scientists devise satellite-based early warning system for wildfires*


Published on October 23rd, 2013 

Written by: Ryan Whitwam 


> As human civilization continues to creep into what was once remote wilderness, the impact of wildfires is becoming more severe. The problem is only expected to worsen as global climate change results in longer, drier summers. A group of scientist from UC Berkeley think they&#8217;ve found a space-based way to mitigate the loss of property and life that can result from an out of control wildfire. The proposed solution is a satellite called the FUEGO (Fire Urgency Estimator in Geosynchronous Orbit). FUEGO would be able to watch over the tinder-dry western US for the beginnings of potentially catastrophic fires.


Berkeley scientists devise satellite-based early warning system for wildfires | ExtremeTech


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA uses lasers to transmit data to the moon at lightning speed*



> Lasers are miracle workers: they can restore sight, detect bombs and easily get you arrested. But who would've thunk that shooting lasers at the moon would help create a new record for data transmission?
> 
> By using pulsed lasers aimed directly at the moon, NASA was able to transmit data at a rate of 622 megabits per second, completely error-free. The laser-sharp data demonstration, named "Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD)" was deployed from a New Mexico ground station to a spacecraft 239,000 miles away. LLCD is NASA's first laser-powered two-way communication system and will likely replace the much slower radio wave transmission system used in the past. Previously, a speed of only 20 mbps was achieved by the same laser. LLCD is hosted aboard NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), launched in September of this year.


NASA uses lasers to transmit data to the moon at lightning speed | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*New galaxy 'most distant' yet discovered*
By Rebecca Morelle

Science reporter, BBC World Service


> An international team of astronomers has detected the most distant galaxy yet.
> 
> The galaxy is about 30 billion light-years away and is helping scientists shed light on the period that immediately followed the Big Bang.
> 
> It was found using the Hubble Space Telescope and its distance was then confirmed with the ground-based Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
> 
> The study is published in the journal Nature.


BBC News - New galaxy 'most distant' yet discovered


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Cassini gets new views of Titan's land of lakes*

1 hour ago 



> (Phys.org) &#8212;With the sun now shining down over the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan, a little luck with the weather, and trajectories that put the spacecraft into optimal viewing positions, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has obtained new pictures of the liquid methane and ethane seas and lakes that reside near Titan's north pole. The images reveal new clues about how the lakes formed and about Titan's Earth-like "hydrologic" cycle, which involves hydrocarbons rather than water.


 Read more at: Cassini gets new views of Titan's land of lakes


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## longknife

Matthew said:


> *Exoplanet tally soars above 1,000*
> By Melissa Hogenboom
> 
> 
> 
> The number of observed exoplanets - worlds circling distant stars - has passed 1,000.
> 
> Of these, 12 could be habitable - orbiting at a distance where it is neither "too hot" nor "too cold" for water to be liquid on the surface.
> 
> The planets are given away by tiny dips in light as they pass in front of their stars or through gravitational "tugs" on the star from an orbiting world.
> 
> These new worlds are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia.
> 
> 
> 
> BBC News - Exoplanet tally soars above 1,000
Click to expand...


And who poh-pohs UFOs?


----------



## ScienceRocks

I think it is quite possible  We should be spending 10 times more on nasa and our space program.

*Seven-planet solar system found*
By Paul Rincon and Melissa Hogenboom

BBC News



> Astronomers may have identified one of the richest planetary systems yet.
> 
> The discovery of a seventh planet around the dwarf star KIC 11442793 could be a record, according to two separate teams of researchers.
> 
> The system bears some similarities to our own, but all seven planets orbit much closer to their host star, which lies some 2,500 light-years from Earth.
> 
> The crowded solar system is described in two papers published on the pre-print server Arxiv.org.


BBC News - Seven-planet solar system found


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## ScienceRocks

*On the Path to Pluto, 5 AU and Closing*


October 25, 2013
New Horizons Web Site



> Pluto isn&#8217;t quite the next exit on New Horizons&#8217; voyage through the outer solar system, but the destination is definitely getting closer. Today the NASA spacecraft speeds to within five astronomical units (AU) of Pluto &#8211; which is less than five times the distance between the Earth and the sun, or about 460 million miles.
> 
> "It's exciting to be closing in on the Pluto system,&#8221; says Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colo. &#8220;The encounter begins in January 2015 &#8211; just over 14 months from now. You can really feel the energy level rising on this mission!"


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Scientists discover how the atmosphere of Mars turned to stone*
by Staff Writers
 Glasgow, UK (SPX) Oct 24, 2013


> Scientists at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, the University of Glasgow and the Natural History Museum in London may have discovered how Mars lost its early carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere to become the cold and arid planet we know today. This research provides the first direct evidence from Mars of a process, called "carbonation" which currently removes carbon dioxide from our own atmosphere, potentially combating climate change on Earth.
> 
> It is widely recognised that accumulation of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is contributing to global warming. The loss of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere of Mars, however, around 4000 million years ago is likely to have caused the planet to cool. So understanding how carbon dioxide was removed from the Martian atmosphere could lead to new ways of reducing the accumulation of greenhouse gases in our own atmosphere.


Scientists discover how the atmosphere of Mars turned to stone


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## ScienceRocks

*Stamp-size thrusters could propel small satellites into space*



> Satellites the size of a Rubik's Cube could explore distant planets, thanks to tiny ion thrusters that could help reduce the cost of space missions.
> Remember that Lego spaceship you once built? What if it could have a working thruster the size and weight of a Lego brick?
> 
> MIT professor Paulo Lozano is designing prototype "microthrusters" that would propel pint-size satellites in orbit and into deep space.
> 
> The director of MIT's Space Propulsion Laboratory believes such microthrusters and the scaled-down satellites they would power could radically reduce the cost of space missions compared with conventional spacecraft technology.
> 
> So-called CubeSat satellites are roughly the size of a Rubik's Cube. Dozens of CubeSats have been put into orbit over the past decade, often as part of university research projects.
> 
> But instead of letting them burn up in Earth's atmosphere as their orbits decay, Lozano wants to equip them with tiny thrusters to prolong their usefulness -- and give them new functionality.


Stamp-size thrusters could propel small satellites into space | Cutting Edge - CNET News


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## ScienceRocks

*Spring on Saturn's Moon Titan Reveals Amazing Views of Otherworldly Lakes (Photos)*



> NASA's Cassini space probe is getting an exceptional look at the vast liquid lakes of Titan's north pole, where dense winter clouds are finally retreating thanks to a change in seasons on Saturn's largest moon.
> 
> A clearer view of Titan's wet northern region could provide clues about the moon's hydrologic cycle and the evolution of its seas. New images released by NASA this week even revealed the Titan equivalent of salt flats surrounding its northern lakes, some of which are as big as the Caspian Sea and Lake Superior combined.
> 
> Titan more closely resembles Earth than any other planet or moon in our solar system, with a dense atmosphere and stable liquids on its surface. But Titan's clouds, lakes and rain are made up of hydrocarbons, such as ethane and methane, rather than water


Spring on Saturn's Moon Titan Reveals Amazing Views of Otherworldly Lakes (Photos) | Space.com


----------



## Steven_R

Matthew said:


> *Spring on Saturn's Moon Titan Reveals Amazing Views of Otherworldly Lakes (Photos)*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> NASA's Cassini space probe is getting an exceptional look at the vast liquid lakes of Titan's north pole, where dense winter clouds are finally retreating thanks to a change in seasons on Saturn's largest moon.
> 
> A clearer view of Titan's wet northern region could provide clues about the moon's hydrologic cycle and the evolution of its seas. New images released by NASA this week even revealed the Titan equivalent of salt flats surrounding its northern lakes, some of which are as big as the Caspian Sea and Lake Superior combined.
> 
> Titan more closely resembles Earth than any other planet or moon in our solar system, with a dense atmosphere and stable liquids on its surface. But Titan's clouds, lakes and rain are made up of hydrocarbons, such as ethane and methane, rather than water
> 
> 
> 
> Spring on Saturn's Moon Titan Reveals Amazing Views of Otherworldly Lakes (Photos) | Space.com
Click to expand...


The irony about Titan being that by the time we progress to the point that we can exploit Titan's hydrocarbons, we'll no longer need hydrocarbons.


----------



## mamooth

That's correct. Titan would be nearly impossible to settle without having fusion power for heat, because Titan isn't just cold, it's cold with a dense, windy atmosphere. Most of those other supercold moons are near-vacuums, meaning heat is only lost by radiation. On Titan, you'd have conduction and convection stripping away heat a hundred times faster, hence you'd need prodigious amounts of heat to replace it.

The real treasure of the outer solar system is Jupiter's outermost moon Callisto. Kind of a boring place, but boring is good. It's got plenty of solid rocky surface to build on and mine, massive water ice deposits, significant gravity (necessary for human health in the long term), low radiation levels, a spot not too deep in Jupiter's gravity well, and no atmosphere, meaning that solar power becomes useful. Barely useful, given how far Jupiter is from the sun, but still feasible.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*ESA concept robot video depicts the future of space exploration*



> Robots have become a mainstay of space exploration. From rovers to chatty anime robots on the International Space Station, they have already proven their worth in many ways. But what will the space robots of the future look like? The European Space Agency has released a video showing advanced robotics designs for lunar and planetary exploration. The concepts include multifunction robots designed for both autonomous space exploration and to aid astronauts in working on other worlds.
> 
> ESA has had a keen interest in robotics for decades and as the 2018 launch date for its ExoMars rover approaches, that interest grows ever keener. The new ESA video is designed to give us some idea of what future robot explorers will look like by showing them in action in a hypothetical lunar scenario.




ESA concept robot video depicts the future of space exploration

At least China and eu understands the importance of space travel. I am starting to hate conservatives.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Mars Rover begins mountain climbing*


> NASA's Opportunity Mars rover has started scaling the tallest hill it has yet encountered in its nearly 10 years of Red Planet exploration.
> 
> Opportunity is working its way up "Solander Point," the northern tip of a 130-foot-tall hill on the rim of Mars' Endeavour Crater. The rover is currently studying rocky outcrops that lie between 6.5 feet and 20 feet above the surrounding plains, and it may climb higher in the coming days and weeks, NASA officials said.
> 
> "This is our first real Martian mountaineering with Opportunity," Opportunity principal investigator Steve Squyres, of Cornell University, said in a statement. "We expect we will reach some of the oldest rocks we have seen with this rover &#8212; a glimpse back into the ancient past of Mars."



Mars Rover begins mountain climbing | Fox News

Amazing how this has been going for 9 years.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*ESA releases spectacular Mars flyover video after probe&#8217;s 12,500 trips around the planet*



> Mars Express was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2003 on a mission to explore the surface of the Red Planet from both orbit and ground level. The ground-based inspection didn&#8217;t exactly go to plan, but that hasn&#8217;t stopped the probe from spending a decade painstakingly mapping the surface of Mars from every conceivable angle. Now the ESA has assembled a video based on the topographical data gathered by Mars Express, the effect of which is like flying over the sweeping plains of Mars.
> 
> The video is part of the celebrations around the probe&#8217;s 10-year anniversary, which started in June of this year. The craft didn&#8217;t actually make it to Mars until the end of 2003, so we&#8217;re also nearing the 10 year mark of its data collection activities. Mars Express has orbited the planet almost 12,500 times since its arrival and has mapped almost the entire surface of Mars.


ESA releases spectacular Mars flyover video after probe?s 12,500 trips around the planet | ExtremeTech


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## ScienceRocks

*NASA prepares to launch first mission to explore Martian atmosphere*



> (Phys.org) &#8212;A NASA spacecraft that will examine the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail is undergoing final preparations for a scheduled 1:28 p.m. EST Monday, Nov. 18 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
> 
> The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission (MAVEN) will examine specific processes on Mars that led to the loss of much of its atmosphere. Data and analysis could tell planetary scientists the history of climate change on the Red Planet and provide further information on the history of planetary habitability.
> 
> "The MAVEN mission is a significant step toward unraveling the planetary puzzle about Mars' past and present environments," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The knowledge we gain will build on past and current missions examining Mars and will help inform future missions to send humans to Mars."



 Read more at: NASA prepares to launch first mission to explore Martian atmosphere


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## Vikrant

Both the United States and India are gearing up for unmanned missions to Mars.

India will launch its first interplanetary spacecraft when the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) sends its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) to the Red Planet on Nov. 5. The spacecraft will be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre located in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India.

According to ISRO, one of MOM&#8217;s main objectives is to allow the Indian space program to develop the technologies required to design, plan, manage and operate an interplanetary mission.

Once the MOM spacecraft arrives at Mars in September 2014, it will drop into orbit around the planet. Throughout its nearly year-long mission the MOM will explore the Martian surface and atmosphere.

Meanwhile, NASA is making final preparations to launch a new unmanned mission to Mars that will allow scientists on Earth to examine the Red Planet&#8217;s atmosphere in greater detail.

Lift-off for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission (MAVEN) is currently scheduled on Monday, Nov. 18 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

In the course of its one-Earth-year primary mission, MAVEN will study the specific processes that led to Mars losing much of its atmosphere about 3.5 billion years ago.

Data sent back to Earth from MAVEN should help scientists gain a greater understanding of climate change on the Red Planet and learn more of the history of planetary habitability.

&#8220;The MAVEN mission is a significant step toward unraveling the planetary puzzle about Mars&#8217; past and present environments,&#8221; said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA&#8217;s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. &#8220;The knowledge we gain will build on past and current missions examining Mars and will help inform future missions to send humans to Mars.&#8221;

Once it arrives at Mars, also in September 2014, and eases into its elliptical science orbit, the MAVEN will observe all of the Red Planet&#8217;s latitudes.  The spacecraft is expected to cruise around Mars at an altitude of between 158 and 6,115 km above its surface.

During its mission, MAVEN will also perform five of what NASA calls &#8220;deep dip maneuvers,&#8221; that will send the spacecraft down to an altitude of only 125 km above the surface of Mars, which scientists say is the lower boundary of the planet&#8217;s upper atmosphere.

ISRO said that NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory will also provide communications and navigation support to the Indian MOM mission.

US, India Prep for Unmanned Missions to Mars « Science World


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## ScienceRocks

*NASA's Curiosity Mars rover approaches 'Cooperstown'*


> (Phys.org) &#8212;NASA's Mars rover Curiosity completed its first two-day autonomous drive Monday, bringing the mobile laboratory to a good vantage point for pictures useful in selecting the next target the rover will reach out and touch.
> 
> When it drives autonomously, the rover chooses a safe route to designated waypoints by using its onboard computer to analyze stereo images that it takes during pauses in the drive. Prior to Monday, each day's autonomous drive came after a segment earlier that day that was exactly charted by rover team members using images sent to Earth. The Sunday-Monday drive was the first time Curiosity ended an autonomous driving segment, then continued autonomously from that same point the next day.



 Read more at: NASA's Curiosity Mars rover approaches 'Cooperstown'


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## ScienceRocks

*Kepler 78b exoplanet is Earth-like in mass and size*


> In August, MIT researchers identified an exoplanet with an extremely brief orbital period: The team found that Kepler 78b, a small, intensely hot planet 700 light-years from Earth, circles its star in just 8.5 hourslightning-quick, compared with our own planet's leisurely 365-day orbit. From starlight data gathered by the Kepler Space Telescope, the scientists also determined that the exoplanet is about 1.2 times Earth's sizemaking Kepler 78b one of the smallest exoplanets ever measured.


 Read more at: Kepler 78b exoplanet is Earth-like in mass and size


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## ScienceRocks

*ESA unveils Martian "box of delights"*



> A mission to return samples from the planet Mars is still many years away and, officially, not on the calendar. That hasn't stopped the ESA from producing a proof-of-concept prototype of the scientific &#8220;box of delights,&#8221; which could one day bring bits of the Red Planet back to Earth for study.
> 
> Returning samples from Mars would be a technological achievement only exceeded by actually landing astronauts there. It would involve a small fleet of unmanned spacecraft operating in concert. Key to this is the development of a multifunctional sample container that can keep Martian samples safe and in pristine condition at sustained temperatures of less than -10° C (14° F).


ESA unveils Martian "box of delights"


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## ScienceRocks

*Mars One to launch first test mission*



> Mars One will launch its first unmanned mission to the Red Planet in 2016, its co-founder says.
> 
> The firm plans to establish a human settlement on Martian soil in 2023, by offering passengers a one-way ticket.
> 
> Mars One will send "a small craft that will demonstrate the technologies we need for our human colony" and is inviting partners to join the mission.
> 
> Bas Lansdorp revealed details of the test mission at the International Space Commerce 2013 Summit, in London.




BBC News - Mars One to launch first test mission


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## ScienceRocks

Matthew said:


> *ESA unveils Martian "box of delights"*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A mission to return samples from the planet Mars is still many years away and, officially, not on the calendar. That hasn't stopped the ESA from producing a proof-of-concept prototype of the scientific box of delights, which could one day bring bits of the Red Planet back to Earth for study.
> 
> Returning samples from Mars would be a technological achievement only exceeded by actually landing astronauts there. It would involve a small fleet of unmanned spacecraft operating in concert. Key to this is the development of a multifunctional sample container that can keep Martian samples safe and in pristine condition at sustained temperatures of less than -10° C (14° F).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ESA unveils Martian "box of delights"
Click to expand...




*Primary GOES-R instrument ready to be installed onto spacecraft*



> A key instrument that will fly on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite  R (GOES-R) spacecraft, NOAA's next-generation of geostationary satellites, is cleared for installation on the spacecraft.
> 
> The Advanced Baseline Imager, or ABI, is GOES-R's primary instrument for scanning Earth's weather, oceans, and environment and is a significant improvement over instruments on NOAA's current geostationary satellites. The ABI will offer faster imaging with much higher detail. It will also introduce new forecast products for severe weather, volcanic ash advisories, fire and smoke monitoring and other hazards.
> 
> "The United States is home to some of the most severe weather in the world including tornadoes, hurricanes, snowstorms, floods, and wildfires," said Mary Kicza, assistant administrator for NOAA's Satellite and Information Service. "The ABI offers breakthrough technology that will help NOAA develop faster and more accurate forecasts that will save lives and protect communities."



 Read more at: Primary GOES-R instrument ready to be installed onto spacecraft


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Scientists announce first results from LUX dark matter detector*

Published: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - 12:37  in Astronomy & Space 



> In its first three months of operation, the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment has proven itself to be the most sensitive dark matter detector in the world, scientists with the experiment announced today. "LUX is blazing the path to illuminating the nature of dark matter," Rick Gaitskell, professor of physics at Brown University and co-spokesperson for LUX. The detector's location, more than a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota, offers a "supremely quiet" environment to detect the rare, weak interactions between dark matter particles and ordinary matter, Gaitskell said.
> 
> The first results from the experiment's initial 90-day run were announced today during a seminar at the Sanford Lab in Lead, S.D.



Scientists announce first results from LUX dark matter detector | e! Science News


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## ScienceRocks

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKYdoOyduq0]United Nations Developing Asteroid Defense Plan - YouTube[/ame]


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Astronomers answer key question: How common are habitable planets?*



> UC Berkeley and University of Hawaii astronomers analyzed all four years of Kepler data in search of Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of sun-like stars, and then rigorously tested how many planets they may have missed. Based on this analysis, they estimate that 22 percent of stars like the sun have potentially habitable Earth-size planets, though not all may be rocky or have liquid water, a presumed prerequisite for life.



 Read more at: Astronomers answer key question: How common are habitable planets?


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## ScienceRocks

*India counts down to launch of mission to Mars*

46 minutes ago by Katy Daigle 


> India is counting down to the launch of its first journey to Mars, a complex mission that it hopes will demonstrate and advance technologies for space travel.
> 
> Mangalyaan, which means "Mars craft" in Hindi, will ride a powerful rocket first into an elliptical orbit around Earth. There, it will perform a series of technical maneuvers and short burns to raise its orbit before it slingshots toward Mars.



 Read more at: India counts down to launch of mission to Mars


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## longknife

Matthew said:


> *Astronomers answer key question: How common are habitable planets?*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> UC Berkeley and University of Hawaii astronomers analyzed all four years of Kepler data in search of Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of sun-like stars, and then rigorously tested how many planets they may have missed. Based on this analysis, they estimate that 22 percent of stars like the sun have potentially habitable Earth-size planets, though not all may be rocky or have liquid water, a presumed prerequisite for life.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Read more at: Astronomers answer key question: How common are habitable planets?
Click to expand...


I didn't copy the link, but many websites report astronomers are now estimating BILLIONS of Earth-like planets in the Milky Way alone.


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## Steven_R

It almost makes me think we'll need a redefinition of planet before too much longer. It's kind of started with the reclassification of Pluto from planet to dwarf planet. I wonder if maybe we'll just eliminate planet outright and start classifying by some other means than just rocky and gas as subcategories.


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## ScienceRocks

A planet is a planet.

As long as it doesn't fuse fusion + spherical = planet.

*GRAIL mission puts a new face on the moon*



> (Phys.org) &#8212;Scientists using data from the lunar-orbiting twins of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission are gaining new insight into how the face of the moon received its rugged good looks. A report on the asymmetric distribution of lunar impact basins is published in this week's edition of the journal Science.


 Read more at: GRAIL mission puts a new face on the moon


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## Steven_R

Simple hydrostatic equilibrium (when there is enough mass and gravity to cause roundness) isn't a good enough indicator of what makes a planet a planet and not something else. I seem to recall the IAU conference in 2006 also considered if the body had cleared its neighborhood and if it had a barycenter with any moons outside of the planet itself and no real consensus was reached.

As it is, just based on the minor planets like Eris and Makemake and Pluto we could end up with dozens and perhaps hundred of planets if we make round as the definition of planet. 

It's an interesting question to consider and right now the best we can do is "we know it when we see it" and that's not really scientific enough.


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## ScienceRocks

Let's just make Pluto the lower limit  

We're going to find millions of such objects mercury to Jupiter sized NOT orbiting a star.


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## Steven_R

Except that then we're left with bodies that are larger than Pluto but not planets. Planet is an arbitrary designation anyways, but as time goes on I think it needs a better definition and maybe at some point we'll need to ditch the term outright and come up with some new vocabulary.


----------



## Vikrant

After a successful launch on Tuesday, India's Mars spacecraft has carried out the first of six crucial engine firings in Earth orbit.

BBC News - India Mars probe makes first engine burn


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## ScienceRocks

*To Mars and back quickly: Improved propulsion technology in works*
To Mars and back quickly: Improved propulsion technology in works - NBC News.com

Mike Wall,  Space.com 



> New propulsion technologies may blast astronauts through space at breakneck speeds in the coming decades, making manned Mars missions much faster and safer.
> 
> Souped-up electric propulsion systems and rockets driven by nuclear fusion or fission could end up shortening travel times to the Red Planet dramatically, proponents say, potentially opening up a new era in manned space exploration.
> 
> "Using existing rocket fuels, it's nearly impossible for humans to explore much beyond Earth," John Slough of the University of Washington, leader of a team developing a fusion-driven rocket, said in a statement earlier this year. "We are hoping to give us a much more powerful source of energy in space that could eventually lead to making interplanetary travel commonplace."



Possible but as long as the LOSERTERIANS have so much power = probably not going to happen. China may????


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## ScienceRocks

*Scientist finds medium sized Kuiper belt object less dense than water*



> (Phys.org) &#8212;Michael Brown, a planetary scientist with California Institute of Technology, has found a medium sized object in the Kuiper belt (dubbed 2002 UX25) that doesn't appear to conform to theories of how such objects came to exist. In his paper to be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, Brown notes that the mid-sized object appears to be less dense than it should be if it followed conventional thinking that suggests the larger the objects are in the belt, the more dense they should get.



 Read more at: Scientist finds medium sized Kuiper belt object less dense than water


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## slava

*Longknife*
Thank you for sharing these stuningly beautiful images of space. Getting back to the topic of the latest space news and discoveries, what do you personally think about the possibility of sending humans to the red planet one day. I guess it's feasible but the endevour like that involves so many decisions that need to be made on a super high level that a flight to Mars is still in our dreams only and might never happen. Besides, the current global economic system is quite unstable and there's no country that would invest big bucks into space exploration if it's not sure that returns will exceed costs



> websites report astronomers are now estimating BILLIONS of Earth-like planets in the Milky Way alone



From what I read the existence of millions and millions of earth sized planets doesn't prove that we may find intelligent life elsewhere. One celled organisms can survive in extreme conditions. They can be cast into space, orbit our planet and return back safe and sound. On the contrary, intelligent life is so fragile - it can be wiped out by a natural disaster, destroy itself or throw itself back into the dark ages. it took billions of years for the life on our planet to evolve. We are smart and able to create tools to be a dominant species on Earth. Still we are making just tiny little baby steps in exploring our sollar system. And the brightest minds of the human kind are just kids  who know nothing and are totally unaware of many secrets of the universe...
Besides, It's just a pretty rough calculation that makes scientists believe we are not alone in the vacuum of space. . There may be technologically advanced civilizations in our galaxy or beyond who knows. But in oder to reach our region of space they must be " Gods of science"


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## ScienceRocks

*Nasa's Maven Mars mission launches*

The US space agency's (Nasa) Maven mission has set off for Mars.



> The orbiter was launched on an Atlas V rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 13:28 local time (18:28 GMT).
> 
> Assuming the $671m (£416m) mission stays on track, the probe will have a 10-month cruise to the Red Planet.
> 
> Maven is going to study Mars' high atmosphere, to try to understand the processes that have robbed the world of most of its air.
> 
> Evidence suggests the planet was once shrouded in a thick blanket of gases that supported the presence of liquid water at its surface. Today, the air pressure is so low that free water would instantly boil away.
> 
> Maven was released from the Atlas V's upper-stage some 53 minutes after leaving the Cape Canaveral pad. The probe then had to open its solar panels and orientate itself into a cruise configuration.



BBC News - Nasa's Maven Mars mission launches


----------



## ScienceRocks

*SpaceX postpones launch of SES TV satellite*

BBC News - SpaceX postpones launch of SES TV satellite



> The US SpaceX company had to postpone its latest launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Monday.
> 
> It was trying to put a 3.1-tonne TV satellite in orbit for the Luxembourg-based operator SES.
> 
> Three attempts were made to get the Falcon off the ground in the allotted 65-minute window, but on each occasion controllers were thwarted by a glitch.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA&#8217;s Next Frontier: Growing Plants On The Moon *


NASA?s Next Frontier: Growing Plants On The Moon | Singularity Hub


> A small team at NASA&#8217;s Ames Research Center has set out to &#8220;boldly grow where no man has grown before&#8221; &#8211; and they&#8217;re doing it with the help of thousands of children, a robot, and a few specially customized GoPro cameras.
> 
> In 2015, NASA will attempt to make history by growing plants on the Moon. If they are successful, it will be the first time humans have ever brought life to another planetary body. Along the way, they will make groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of biology, agriculture, and life on other worlds. And though they may fail, the way they are going about their mission presents a fascinating case study of an innovative model for public-private collaboration that may very well change space entrepreneurship.
> 
> 
> 
> It is quite unusual to hear of a significant NASA project that is so simple, small-scale, and low-cost. Thanks to the rapid advances in consumer electronics over the last few years, parts that would have once cost millions of dollars now cost just hundreds. But what really made this project feasible was an unexpected opportunity: the Google Lunar X Prize, the search giant&#8217;s twenty-million-dollar incentive prize for a private company to launch a robotic spacecraft that lands on the moon, travels across the surface, and transmits back two &#8220;Mooncasts&#8221; by December 31, 2015. Multiple teams are competing &#8211; and whoever ends up winning will likely fly with this special payload on board.
> 
> 
> 
> With this model NASA doesn&#8217;t have to spend tens of millions of dollars or wait years for the next mission to the Moon. According to Dr. Chris McKay, a well-renowned planetary scientist, this project would have cost $300 million two decades ago &#8211; now, NASA can build and launch it for under $2 million. It serves as a win for both NASA and private space industry. Dr. McKay compared it to the early days of airplanes and airmail, &#8220;Just like we buy tickets on commercial airlines, why shouldn&#8217;t we buy space on commercial flights?&#8221;


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Black hole birth captured by &#8216;armada of instruments&#8217;*

"A Rosetta-Stone event ... may require physicists to modify existing theories about radiation" 

November 25, 2013



> &#8220;Los Alamos&#8217; RAPTOR telescopes in New Mexico and Hawaii received a very bright cosmic birth announcement for a black hole on April 27,&#8221; said astrophysicist Tom Vestrand, lead author of a paper n the journal Science Nov. 21 that highlights the unusual event.
> 
> &#8220;This was the burst of the century,&#8221; said Los Alamos co-author James Wren. &#8220;It&#8217;s the biggest, brightest one to happen in at least 20 years, and maybe even longer than that.&#8221;
> 
> The RAPTOR (RAPid Telescopes for Optical Response) system &#8212; designed by Los Alamos National Laboratory &#8212; is a network of small robotic observatories that scan the skies for optical anomalies such as flashes emanating from a star in its death throes as it collapses and becomes a black hole, an object so dense that not even light can escape its gravity field.


Black hole birth captured by ?armada of instruments? | KurzweilAI


----------



## WillReadmore

slava said:


> *Longknife*
> Thank you for sharing these stuningly beautiful images of space. Getting back to the topic of the latest space news and discoveries, what do you personally think about the possibility of sending humans to the red planet one day. I guess it's feasible but the endevour like that involves so many decisions that need to be made on a super high level that a flight to Mars is still in our dreams only and might never happen. Besides, the current global economic system is quite unstable and there's no country that would invest big bucks into space exploration if it's not sure that returns will exceed costs


I don't believe manned space flight is being gated by unwillingness to pay to explore space.

For now, it seems like every year that passes finds us with LESS reason to add in the incredible expense of having a human being doing that in person.

We should be excited about the James Webb telescope (among others) and the prospects of several upcoming visitations by robots.


----------



## ScienceRocks

It's good that we're still willing to discover with robots...But we as a species are tripped on a rock with dozens of extinction level events that could call  out our number. I find it sad.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA&#8217;s Kepler makes a comeback*



> Earlier this year, NASA&#8217;s Kepler spacecraft lost its second gyroscope wheel. Although there are a total of four wheels, three operational ones are necessary to allow Kepler to position itself to point at the right patch of sky. With two of these wheels down, Kepler's search for habitable exoplanets came to an end. Since then, it&#8217;s just been floating out there in space, although NASA never gave up on using it for something. *NASA, along with a team of engineers from Ball Aerospace, have figured out a way to recover the ability to position Kepler, by using the Sun. In other words, the Kepler search for habitable planets is back in business.*
> 
> The Sun, which provides energy to Kepler's solar panels, moves the spacecraft around as photons hit the spacecraft. NASA believes they can use the solar pressure by distributing it evenly across the spacecraft, giving it some of the stability which was lost with the failing of the gyroscope wheels. However, Kepler will need to be in an exact position in relation to the sun.



NASA?s Kepler makes a comeback | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Gov&#8217;t boosts its goals for space*



> Nov 27,2013
> 
> Korea plans to launch an exploratory lunar probe aboard its own launch vehicle by June 2020 and later embark on missions to Mars and asteroids by 2040, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced yesterday.
> 
> This represents a revision of the space development blueprint that moves up the time frame of the lunar landing mission and outlines a budget and other long-term space plans.



Gov?t boosts its goals for space-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily

wow a nation like south korea has a better plan then we.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Parachuting rocket telescope studies Venus&#8217; atmosphere*



Parachuting rocket telescope studies Venus? atmosphere | DVICE


> Venus is one of the brightest objects in the night sky, and there's still much to be learned about this planet named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. For example, did the planet ever have water? Scientists at NASA think so, and have sent a rocket, VeSpR, with an onboard telescope into space to study the planet&#8217;s atmosphere and learn if water ever existed on its surface.
> 
> What we currently know about Venus and its potential for water comes from data gathered back in 1978. Then, scientists believed that Venus might have once held enough water to cover the entirety of the planet. However, we need updated information about the levels of hydrogen and deuterium (heavy hydrogen) in the planet&#8217;s atmosphere to confirm or disprove that. Deuterium is a heavier hydrogen isotope and might have stayed in Venus&#8217; atmosphere even after the sun&#8217;s UV rays broke apart regular hydrogen atoms, releasing them into space. By comparing how much hydrogen and deuterium is present, scientists can create theories on how much water might have once existed on the planet and what happened to it.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China readies to launch first moon rover mission*

9 hours ago 



> China will launch its first ever moon rover mission on Monday, state media said, as Beijing embarks on the latest stage in its ambitious space programme.
> 
> A rocket carrying the vehicle, named "Jade Rabbit" in a nod to Chinese folklore, will blast off at 1:30 am local time (Sunday 1730 GMT).
> 
> "The Chang'e 3 is set to be launched for its moon mission from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Dec. 2," state broadcaster CCTV said on its verified Twitter account on Saturday.


 Read more at: China readies to launch first moon rover mission

Go China


----------



## Vikrant

Emily Lakdawalla runs a very informative blog on space exploration. In the link posted below she describes the complexity of interplanetary missions with the aid of graphics depicting mechanics involved in shifting from one heliocentric orbit to another. I think this blog would be a good follow if you are into space exploration. 

Congratulations due to India: Mars Orbiter Mission is on the way to Mars! | The Planetary Society


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China space: 'Jade Rabbit' lunar mission blasts off*



> China has launched its first lunar rover mission, the next key step in the Asian superpower's ambitious space programme.
> 
> The Chang'e-3 mission blasted off from Xichang in the south at 01:30 Monday local time (17:30 GMT Sunday).
> 
> The Long March rocket's payload includes a landing module and a six-wheeled robotic rover called Yutu (or Jade Rabbit).
> 
> The mission should land in the Moon's northern hemisphere in mid-December.
> 
> Chinese state TV carried live pictures of the launch of the Chinese-developed Long March 3B rocket carrying the lunar probe.
> 
> This will be the third robotic rover mission to land on the lunar surface, but the Chinese vehicle carries a more sophisticated payload, including ground-penetrating radar which will gather measurements of the lunar soil and crust.



BBC News - China space: 'Jade Rabbit' lunar mission blasts off


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China launches first Moon landing mission since 1976*



> With our recent trips to Mars and beyond, it's easy to take a "been there, done that" attitude towards exploration of the Moon. But not for China, which has been steadily building up its space program over the last few years.
> 
> China has successfully launched a Long March rocket on a mission named Chang'e-3, carrying a lunar rover called Jade Rabbit. The rover is about the size of a small camping trailer and weighs a little over 300 pounds. Its mission is to do a bunch of typical science related stuff, like analyzing rocks and soil, mapping the landing area, and making astronomical observations using an optical telescope and ultraviolet cameras. Of course, seeing as the mission is being run by the top secret Chinese military, there's no telling what else they might be planning to do up there.
> 
> Chang'e-3 will be the first man-made object to land in a controlled manner on the Moon since the Soviets landed Luna 24 in August of 1976. The U.S. hasn't landed anything on the Moon's surface since the manned Apollo 17 mission way back in 1972. In the 37 years since Luna 24, there have been eight missions that have intentionally crashed into the Moon's surface, but that's a whole lot easier than making a soft landing and sending back data.



China launches first Moon landing mission since 1976 | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Prototype spacesuit powered by body heat*


> The next generation of spacesuits is here. Engineers at Kansas State University are working on a prototype suit that can monitor an astronaut&#8217;s vital signs by providing power to integrated electronic components. What makes this spacesuit so unique, though, is that it gets its power from an astronaut&#8217;s body heat.
> 
> This new suit is a replica of the spacesuit used in the now-defunct space shuttle program. Using this model, engineers want to convert energy generated from an astronaut&#8217;s body heat into power for on-board electronics like sensors and radios. Batteries are too dangerous to use with spacesuits because of the oxygen they generate, so an alternate energy source is necessary.



Prototype spacesuit powered by body heat | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Hubble traces subtle signals of water on hazy worlds*



> (Phys.org) &#8212;Using the powerful eye of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, two teams of scientists have found faint signatures of water in the atmospheres of five distant planets.
> 
> The presence of atmospheric water was reported previously on a few exoplanets orbiting stars beyond our solar system, but this is the first study to conclusively measure and compare the profiles and intensities of these signatures on multiple worlds.
> 
> The five planets&#8212;WASP-17b, HD209458b, WASP-12b, WASP-19b and XO-1b&#8212;orbit nearby stars. The strengths of their water signatures varied. WASP-17b, a planet with an especially puffed-up atmosphere, and HD209458b had the strongest signals. The signatures for the other three planets, WASP-12b, WASP-19b and XO-1b, also are consistent with water.



 Read more at: Hubble traces subtle signals of water on hazy worlds


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Third time a charm: SpaceX launches commercial satellite*

3 hours ago 



> After two delays, private US company SpaceX on Tuesday successfully launched its first commercial satellite, after repairs were made to the Falcon 9 rocket.



 Read more at: Third time a charm: SpaceX launches commercial satellite


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA aims to grow flowers and veggies on the moon by 2015*



> Ever since Google announced that they'd be going to the moon in 2015, NASA has been planning to hitch a ride with the tech giant. The space agency's goal is to stow a few hitchhiking plants aboard the eventual winner of Google's Lunar X Prize and then unload them upon the surface of the moon.
> 
> Once upon the lunar surface, these plants, encapsulated in their own little greenhouses, will test whether plants can grow upon the moon. So far NASA is planning on sending basil, turnips and some flowers to the lunar surface in the hopes that they will be capable of surviving the radiation that the moon's thin atmosphere experiences. As seedlings, plants can be just as susceptible to damage from radiation as we are, so you could say that the turnips and flowers will actually function in part as a human analogue.



NASA aims to grow flowers and veggies on the moon by 2015 | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*NASA Sunjammer solar sail prepares to shoot the breeze*



> The team of NASA, L&#8217;Guarde, and Space Services Inc. are preparing for the Sunjammer space mission that in 2015 will see the first deep space deployment of a solar sail. On September 30, the Sunjammer team completed a milestone when they successfully deployed a quarter panel of the spacecraft&#8217;s solar sail.



NASA Sunjammer solar sail prepares to shoot the breeze


----------



## jon_berzerk

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W72XRFeqyQ]ISON UPDATE/Large Debris Moving Fast. - YouTube[/ame]


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Astronomers discover planet that shouldn't be there*



> An international team of astronomers, led by a University of Arizona graduate student, has discovered the most distantly orbiting planet found to date around a single, sun-like star. It is the first exoplanet  a planet outside of our solar system  discovered at the UA.



 Read more at: Astronomers discover planet that shouldn't be there


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Engineers create origami-inspired solar array for space deployment*



> One big problem when sending things into space is, well, space. Rockets have limited payload capacity and given the costs involved, every inch counts. That's why Brigham Young University researchers have turned to origami as their inspiration. Their folding solar array is designed to be compact at launch and expand to around 10 times its size once it's deployed in outer space.



Engineers create origami-inspired solar array for space deployment


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China moon rover enters lunar orbit: Xinhua*

China moon rover enters lunar orbit: Xinhua



> China's first lunar rover entered the moon's orbit on Friday, state media reported, a key step towards the vessel's planned landing later this month.
> 
> The rover -- known as Yutu, or Jade Rabbit -- reached lunar orbit late Friday, the official Xinhua news agency said, about 112 hours after it was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China.
> 
> It is expected to touch down on the moon in mid-December to explore its surface and search for natural resources.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Mars lake 'much like early Earth'*



> The ancient lake environment found in Mars' Gale Crater could have supported microbes called chemolithoautotrophs - if they had been present.
> 
> That is the conclusion of scientists after reviewing all the pictures and other data gathered in the deep impact bowl by Nasa's Curiosity rover.
> 
> Chemolithoautotrophs do not need light to function; instead, they break down rocks and minerals for energy.
> 
> On Earth, they exist underground, in caves and at the bottom of the ocean.
> 
> In Mars' Gale Crater, such organisms would have found just as conducive a setting, and one that the scientists now think could have lasted for many millions of years.
> 
> "For all of us geologists who are very familiar with what the early Earth must have been like, what we see in Gale really doesn't look much different," Curiosity chief scientist Prof John Grotzinger told BBC News.
> 
> He was speaking here in San Francisco at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, the largest annual gathering of Earth and planetary researchers.




BBC News - Mars lake 'much like early Earth'


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Moon Express to send its new MX-1 lander to the moon by 2015*

Moon Express to send its new MX-1 lander to the moon by 2015 | DVICE



> Late last week, a crowd of thousands gathered in Las Vegas to see the unveiling of a squat little object that could almost be mistaken for an innertube wearing a tutu. But there's a lot more going on under this contraption's skirts than you might assume. It's the MX-1 lunar lander, and it just might be the invention that brings private enterpise to the moon.
> 
> The company behind the MX-1 is Moon Express, a NASA-partnered company founded in 2010. The company's goal for the MX-1 isn't just to walk away with $30 million of Google's prize money. They want to use it to mine the surface of the moon and establish our satellite as Earth's "eighth continent."


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Damp spots found in supposedly dry Martian tropics*



> Dark streaks on sun-warmed slopes hint at unexpected dampness in the Martian tropics. If confirmed, the discovery would mean that water on Mars is more widespread than imagined &#8211; possibly adding a wrinkle to efforts to protect Mars from contamination with earthly life forms.
> 
> Previous images taken from orbit showed similar streaks that appear to be moving down slopes in the planet's southern mid-latitudes. These dark spots appeared in sunny areas in late spring and summer then faded away, leading scientists to conclude that briny ice under the surface was melting, and that liquid water was seeping up and evaporating.



Damp spots found in supposedly dry Martian tropics - space - 10 December 2013 - New Scientist


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Jupiter's icy moon Europa 'spouts water'*



> Water may be spouting from Jupiter's icy moon Europa - considered one of the best places to find alien life in the Solar System.
> 
> Images by the Hubble Space Telescope show surpluses of hydrogen and oxygen in the moon's southern hemisphere, say astronomers writing in Science journal.
> 
> If confirmed as water vapour plumes, it raises hopes that Europa's underground ocean can be accessed from its surface.
> 
> Future missions could probe these seas for signs of life.
> 
> Nasa's planetary science chief Dr James Green told BBC News: "The presence of the water has led scientists to speculate that the Europa we know today harbours life.



BBC News - Jupiter's icy moon Europa 'spouts water'


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Cassini spacecraft reveals clues about Saturn moon*



> (Phys.org) &#8212;NASA's Cassini spacecraft is providing scientists with key clues about Saturn's moon Titan, and in particular, its hydrocarbon lakes and seas.
> 
> Titan is one of the most Earth-like places in the solar system, and the only place other than our planet that has stable liquid on its surface.
> 
> Cassini's recent close flybys are bringing into sharper focus a region in Titan's northern hemisphere that sparkles with almost all of the moon's seas and lakes. Scientists working with the spacecraft's radar instrument have put together the most detailed multi-image mosaic of that region to date. The image includes all the seas and most of the major lakes. Some of the flybys tracked over areas that previously were seen at a different angle, so researchers have been able to create a flyover of the area around Titan's largest and second largest seas, known as Kraken Mare and Ligeia Mare, respectively, and some of the nearby lakes.



 Read more at: Cassini spacecraft reveals clues about Saturn moon










> A creative application of a method previously used to analyze data at Mars also revealed that *Ligeia Mare is about 560 feet (170 meters) deep.* This is the first time scientists have been able to plumb the bottom of a lake or sea on Titan. This was possible partly because the liquid turned out to be very pure, allowing the radar signal to pass through it easily. The liquid surface may be as smooth as the paint on our cars, and it is very clear to radar eyes.
> The new results indicate the liquid is mostly methane, somewhat similar to a liquid form of natural gas on Earth.
> 
> "Ligeia Mare turned out to be just the right depth for radar to detect a signal back from the sea floor, which is a signal we didn't think we'd be able to get," said Marco Mastrogiuseppe, a Cassini radar team associate at Sapienza University of Rome. "The measurement we made shows Ligeia to be deeper in at least one place than the average depth of Lake Michigan."
> 
> One implication is that Cassini scientists now can estimate the total volume of the liquids on Titan. Based on Mastrogiuseppe's work, calculations made by Alexander Hayes, of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., show there are about 2,000 cubic miles (9,000 cubic kilometers) of liquid hydrocarbon, about 40 times more than in all the proven oil reservoirs on Earth.





> In the meantime, its radar passes will continue to fill in gaps in the scientists' surface map. One key flyover next year will allow the probe to take similar bathymetric measurements at Kraken.
> 
> "Kraken's area is four to five times the size Ligeia, so if it has a similar depth profile you would expect it to have about 200 times the proven oil reserves on Earth," said Alex Hayes from Cornell University.
> 
> "By way of comparison, the estimate for the volume of Ligeia is twice that of Lake Michigan. And for all the [seas on Titan], it is 15 times the volume of Lake Michigan."



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25360516


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China lands Jade Rabbit robot rover on Moon*



> China says it has successfully landed a craft carrying a robotic rover on the surface of the Moon, the first soft landing there for 37 years.
> 
> On Saturday afternoon (GMT), a landing module used thrusters to touch down, marking the latest step in China's ambitious space exploration programme.
> 
> Several hours later, the lander will deploy a robotic rover called Yutu, which translates as "Jade Rabbit".
> 
> The touchdown took place on a flat plain called Sinus Iridum.
> 
> The Chang'e-3 mission launched atop a Chinese-developed Long March 3B rocket on 1 December from Xichang in the country's south.




BBC News - China lands Jade Rabbit robot rover on Moon


----------



## ScienceRocks

* 
Iran sends second monkey into space*



> Iran said on Saturday that it had safely returned a monkey to Earth after blasting it into space in the second such launch this year in its controversial ballistic programme.
> 
> President Hassan Rouhani congratulated the scientists involved in the mission, in a message carried by the official IRNA news agency.
> 
> The report added that the rocket reached a height of 120 kilometres (75 miles).
> 
> In January, Iran said it had successfully brought a live monkey, which it named Pishgam (Pioneer), back to Earth from orbit.
> 
> But the experiment's success was disputed, when a different monkey was presented to the media after the landing.
> 
> An earlier attempt had failed in September 2011.




 Read more at: Iran sends second monkey into space


----------



## william the wie

Just lurking


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Space lander of the future takes fiery flight*



> Untethered and, more importantly, not exploding this time around, NASA's Morpheus lander roared into life and climbed 15 metres above a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday.
> 
> Designed to be a test bed for future lunar, asteroid and planetary cargo lander designs, the liquid oxygen and methane-powered spacecraft then hovered and nudged itself sideways before landing 7.5 metres from where it took off &#8211; missing a target by just 15 centimetres.
> 
> This success is a far cry from 9 August 2012, when an earlier model crashed and burned on its first free flight test. That fate can be a regular problem for such landers: back in 1968 Neil ArmstrongMovie Camera narrowly escaped death when his lunar module test bed went similarly awry. He ejected just in time.




http://www.newscientist.com/article...e-future-takes-fiery-flight.html#.Uq0TUZV3tOw


----------



## Vikrant

If you think about it, space travel by itself is quite cheap even though we hear all sorts of complaint about the cost involved. Let me illustrate my point with an example. India's Mars Orbiter Mission took off on a very light rocket called PSLV. How can it reach Mars on such small amount of fuel? The answer lies in the mechanics. Once a body is in motion, it stays in the motion till some outside force acts upon it to retard its velocity. So once PSLV managed to escape the Earth. It is now in the Heliocentric orbit with negligible gravity. The velocity it acquired during the slingshot maneuver will remain with till it reaches Mars without requiring any additional fuel. So it will travel 780-million kilo meters on zero fuel except when it performs trajectory corrections. No form of travel can beat that kind of gas mileage.


----------



## ScienceRocks

People bitch about space travel because they don't understand the facts or just don't care.

Not everyone wanted to explore the world during the 15th century that lived in Europe. Honestly these people are shallow human beings that sleep, shit and go to work without a thought of anything else. I feel sorry for them.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China Unveils New Plans for Space Exploration*



> BEIJING -- China said Monday it was on track to launch a fifth lunar probe with the aim of bringing back lunar soil and rock samples following the successful moon landing of a space probe.
> 
> The new mission planned for 2017 would mark the third and final phase of China's robotic lunar exploration program and pave the way for possibly landing an astronaut on the moon after 2020.
> 
> (WATCH: Evidence of Alien Life?)
> 
> On Saturday, Chang'e 3 set down on the moon, marking the first soft landing of a space probe on the lunar surface in 37 years. The landing vehicle will conduct scientific research for a year and its accompanying rover will survey the moon's structure and probe for natural resources.



China Unveils New Plans for Space Exploration - weather.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*First exomoon glimpsed &#8211; 1800 light years from Earth*
15:20 18 December 2013 by Jacob Aron
For similar stories, visit the Astrobiology Topic Guide



> Pandora and Endor, eat your hearts out. The first known moon outside of our solar system may have been found, and it seems weirder than we ever could have imagined.
> 
> Exomoons have long been predicted to exist &#8211; some may even be habitable worlds &#8211; but until now, no one had detected any. "This is the first serious candidate from any survey that I am aware of," says astronomer David Kipping of Harvard University, who was not involved in the discovery.
> 
> Unlike the exomoons that feature in the films Avatar and Return of the Jedi, not to mention the moons in our solar system, the new moon and its exoplanet seem to be adrift in the cosmos, far from any star.
> 
> The two new objects were detected using an unusual method. Most of the 1000 or so exoplanets discovered to date were found by analysing changes in the light of their star, but a select few have been seen using a technique called gravitational microlensing. When an object passes in front of a distant star as seen from Earth, the object's gravity bends the light from the background star, focusing it like a lens &#8211; and making the star temporarily appear brighter if observed from a particular angle.



First exomoon glimpsed ? 1800 light years from Earth - space - 18 December 2013 - New Scientist


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Gaia 'billion star surveyor' set for launch*



> Europe is about to launch the Gaia satellite - one of the most ambitious space missions in history.
> 
> The 740m-euro (£620m) observatory is going to map the precise positions and distances to more than a billion stars.
> 
> This should give us the first realistic picture of how our Milky Way galaxy is constructed.
> 
> Gaia's remarkable sensitivity will lead also to the detection of many thousands of previously unseen objects, including new planets and asteroids.



BBC News - Gaia 'billion star surveyor' set for launch


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Europe launches billion-dollar Milky Way telescope*



> The European Space Agency (ESA) on Thursday launched an advanced telescope designed to detect a billion stars and provide the most detailed map yet of the Milky Way.
> 
> The Gaia telescope was successfully hoisted by a Soyuz-STB-Fregat rocket from ESA's space base in Kourou, French Guiana, the agency reported in a webcast.
> 
> "All is fonctioning normally," an ESA commentator said.
> 
> The satellite was to be deployed 42 minutes after launch.
> 
> The 740-million-euro ($1.02-billion) device, the most sophisticated space telescope ever built by Europe, aims at building an "astronomical census" of a billion stars, or around one percent of all the stars in the Milky Way.
> 
> By repeating the observations as many as 70 times throughout its mission, Gaia can help astronomers calculate the distance, speed, direction and motion of these stars and build a 3-D map of our section of the galaxy.
> 
> It will also help in the search for planets beyond our Solar System&#8212;as many as many as 50,000 so-called extrasolar planets could be spotted during the satellite's five-year life, astronomers hope.
> 
> Gaia will also observe the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter to help the search for any rocks that may one day threaten Earth, and keep a watch for exploding stars, called supernovae, which are rarely observed in real time.



 Read more at: Europe launches billion-dollar Milky Way telescope


----------



## Politico

Matthew said:


> *Gaia 'billion star surveyor' set for launch*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Europe is about to launch the Gaia satellite - one of the most ambitious space missions in history.
> 
> The 740m-euro (£620m) observatory is going to map the precise positions and distances to more than a billion stars.
> 
> This should give us the first realistic picture of how our Milky Way galaxy is constructed.
> 
> Gaia's remarkable sensitivity will lead also to the detection of many thousands of previously unseen objects, including new planets and asteroids.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BBC News - Gaia 'billion star surveyor' set for launch
Click to expand...


Yes we should get a realistic picture. About 50 launches and a few centuries from now.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*New technique measures mass of exoplanets*



> To date, scientists have confirmed the existence of more than 900 exoplanets circulating outside our solar system. To determine if any of these far-off worlds are habitable requires knowing an exoplanet's mass&#8212;which can help tell scientists whether the planet is made of gas or rock and other life-supporting materials.
> 
> But current techniques for estimating exoplanetary mass are limited. Radial velocity is the main method scientists use: tiny wobbles in a star's orbit as it is tugged around by the planet's gravitational force, from which scientists can derive the planet-to-star mass ratio. For very large, Neptune-sized planets, or smaller Earth-sized planets orbiting very close to bright stars, radial velocity works relatively well. But the technique is less successful with smaller planets that orbit much farther from their stars, as Earth does.
> 
> Now scientists at MIT have developed a new technique for determining the mass of exoplanets, using only their transit signal&#8212;dips in light as a planet passes in front of its star. This data has traditionally been used to determine a planet's size and atmospheric properties, but the MIT team has found a way to interpret it such that it also reveals the planet's mass.



 Read more at: New technique measures mass of exoplanets


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Live from Mars: Mission to beam video back to Earth in 2018*



> WASHINGTON &#8211;  The Mars One colonization project plans to bring live video of the surface of Mars to Earth via a privately built communications satellite and lander to launch as part of an unmanned mission to the Red Planet in 2018.
> 
> "When we land on Mars, we will have the most unique video footage in the solar system," Mars One co-founder and CEO Bas Lansdorp said in a news conference on Dec. 10. "Anyone with Internet access will be able to see what the weather's like on Mars."
> 
> Lansdorp said public engagement is a driving force for Mars One, which aims to land humans on the Red Planet by 2025. The Netherlands-based nonprofit has said it plans to finance the settlement mission in part through a reality TV show, for which a live video feed will be crucial.




Live from Mars: Mission to beam video back to Earth in 2018 | Fox News


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China&#8217;s Moon rover has activated it&#8217;s science tools. Imaging experiments have begun. *





> Six out of the eight pieces of scientific equipment deployed to the moon with the Chang&#8217;e-3 lunar mission have been activated by scientists and are functioning properly, according to those working on the mission.
> 
> Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, scientists said the Yutu lunar rover and the Chang&#8217;e-3 lander have functioned as planned.
> 
> Su Yan, deputy designer of the Chang&#8217;e-3 ground applications system stated that, &#8221;Except for the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and the visible and near-infrared imaging spectrometer, the instruments have all been activated and are undergoing tests and adjustments,&#8221;
> 
> Zhang He, deputy designer of the probe,  said that all the equipment on the moon is in &#8220;perfect&#8221; condition, and optical and ultraviolet-imaging experiments are under way.
> 
> Scientists with the ground applications system are expecting to receive a gigantic quantity of original data from the rover and lander. Each with their own independent channels to send signals, Su said.
> 
> Wu Weiren, chief designer of China&#8217;s lunar probe program said, &#8221;We made more than 200 plans to respond to any possible emergencies, and they cover each step of the mission,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I am proud that we haven&#8217;t needed to use them so far.&#8221;
> 
> China became the third nation in the world, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, to soft-land a probe on the moon when the Chang&#8217;e-3 rover successfully set down.



China?s Moon rover has activated it?s science tools. Imaging experiments have begun. | Space Industry News


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Binary brown dwarf system may contain closest exoplanet to Sun*


> It has only been within the last 20 years that we&#8217;ve discovered planets outside of our solar system, although astronomers have always believed they exist. Now, though, new exoplanets are discovered every day, including some that may even be habitable. Thanks to NASA&#8217;s Kepler mission, we have detected more than 3,500 potential exoplanet candidates. In fresh news: a team of astronomers at the European Southern Observatory may have discovered the most exciting &#8212; and closest &#8212; exoplanet yet.
> 
> This new potential exoplanet exists within a system of two brown dwarf stars, named Luhman 16AB. This system, which is only 6.6 light years away from Earth, was first discovered last year when astronomers looked over data from NASA&#8217;s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. Luhman 16AB is so close, in fact, that television transmissions of Dexter are now getting there (Dexter premiered in 2006). By studying orbital cycles, astronomers determined that the mass of these brown dwarfs is about 40 times that of Jupiter.



Binary brown dwarf system may contain closest exoplanet to Sun | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Researchers use Hubble Telescope to reveal cloudy weather on alien world*



> Weather forecasters on exoplanet GJ 1214b would have an easy job. Today's forecast: cloudy. Tomorrow: overcast. Extended outlook: more clouds.
> 
> A team of scientists led by researchers in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago report they have definitively characterized the atmosphere of a super-Earth class planet orbiting another star for the first time.
> 
> The scrutinized planet, which is known as GJ1214b, is classified as a super-Earth type planet because its mass is intermediate between those of Earth and Neptune. Recent searches for planets around other stars ("exoplanets") have shown that super-Earths like GJ 1214b are among the most common type of planets in the Milky Way galaxy. Because no such planets exist in our Solar System, the




Researchers use Hubble Telescope to reveal cloudy weather on alien world


----------



## Delta4Embassy

Space exploration..."Hey look everybody! More space!" Sorry, feeling punchy.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Mars One finishes first round of choosing finalists for 2022 Mars mission*




> Mars One begins choosing people for its Red Planet mission.
> If you think getting into an Ivy League college is tough, just try getting chosen to join the crew of Mars Ones 2024 mission to Mars. The nonprofit announced Monday that out of more than 200,000 applications from aspiring volunteers for the mission, it has selected 1,058 to more on to the next round of screening.
> 
> Further rounds of winnowing down this pool of semifinalists will commence in 2015, when the nonprofit organizes them all into teams that will compete in extended training courses that tests their physical and mental capability. These training courses will air in a live reality show to audiences worldwide, with the proceeds going toward funding the mission itself.


Mars One finishes first round of choosing finalists for 2022 Mars mission | Science Recorder


----------



## Delta4Embassy

Ethics of the Mars One idea is worth a thread. Sending people on a one-way trip to Mars? What if they change their mind? What about law enforcement if someone freaks out? A lot of things to address besides just the technical hurdles getting there. I don't see it happening by 2022 as a result. Sounds overly optimistic to me, like "in the future, we'll all have jet packs."


----------



## ScienceRocks

Sign a contract allowing space one to do this = your choice. Still I'd put together a space outpost on mars capable of keeping these people alive the rest of their natural lives. 

Growing oxygen
A recycling system
and food from a percentage of that oxygen growing system.

It really shouldn't be a short term thing and they die.


----------



## Delta4Embassy

Ya, and no one's ever challenged a contract before. The legality of such a contract in the first place needs to be established. This is going to be all uncharted legal ground. We get confused enough in international waters, now we have to accomodate off-world jurisdictions too? Fascinating, but tricky.

Might all be moot though. Do they actually have a spaceship yet? Space shuttles aren't space ships, they're low-orbit insertion vehicles which plummet as soon as they get there (orbit being orbit, not 'flying.') So unless they have an Apollo like rocket on steroids with enough shielding to protect crew from interplanetary radiation (away from the Earth, it's a concern) they have a bit to do first.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Chang'e-3 satellite payload APXS obtained its first spectrum of lunar regolith*


> The Active Particle-induced X-ray Spectrometer (APXS), carried by the Yutu rover of the Chang'e-3 satellite got its first X-ray fluorescence spectrum of lunar regolith around the landing site on December 25, 2013.
> 
> An initial analysis indicates that eight major rock-forming elements (Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Cr and Fe) and at least 3 minor elements (Sr, Y and Zr) of the Moon can be identified in this spectrum.
> 
> Besides, the energy resolution of AXS is estimated to be about 135 @5.9keV, which demonstrates that it is currently one of the best X-ray spectrometer for the planetary exploration in the world.



Chang'e-3 satellite payload APXS obtained its first spectrum of lunar regolith


----------



## Vikrant

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has lined up around 50 missions in the next five years.

To support these, the organisation was planning to set up a &#8220;high-tech&#8221; third launch pad at the Sriharikota space station, near Chennai, before 2016.

K Radhakrishnan, Isro chairman, said: &#8220;We require one more launch pad to carry heavy payloads and that would come up here in two years.&#8221;

The new launch pad would mainly support the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III (GSLV Mk-III), which would carry heavier satellites.

The Centre had approved setting up an assembly centre. A study was underway, he said, talking after the successful launch of the GSLV-D5 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.

Officials added, the assembling facility and launch pad will come up in three square kilometer area, which is bigger then the measurement of the existing two launch pads, and it would require around Rs 500 crore of investment.

The new complex will provide complete support for the vehicle assembly, fueling, checkout and launch operations. Besides, it will have facilities for launching rockets meant for studying the earth&#8217;s atmosphere.

The complex will also have a new mobile pedestals, umbilical towers, emergency exits, ground escape system, crew ingress and egress systems, safety bunkers, material handling equipment and related electrical systems, said Isro.

Sriharikota to get third launch pad | Business Standard


----------



## ScienceRocks

At least China and india understand that r@d and advancement in space directly links to power as a nation. 



*Kepler provides insight about enigmatic but ubiquitous planets, five new rocky planets*

2 hours ago 



> (Phys.org) &#8212;More than three-quarters of the planet candidates discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft have sizes ranging from that of Earth to that of Neptune, which is nearly four times as big as Earth. Such planets dominate the galactic census but are not represented in our own solar system. Astronomers don't know how they form or if they are made of rock, water or gas.
> 
> The Kepler team today reports on four years of ground-based follow-up observations targeting Kepler's exoplanet systems at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington. These observations confirm the numerous Kepler discoveries are indeed planets and yield mass measurements of these enigmatic worlds that vary between Earth and Neptune in size.



Kepler provides insight about enigmatic but ubiquitous planets, five new rocky planets


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Massive exoplanets may be more earth-like than thought: 'Super-earths' likely to have both oceans and continents*

43 minutes ago 
http://phys.org/news/2014-01-massive-exoplanets-earth-like-thought-super-earths.html


> (Phys.org) &#8212;Massive terrestrial planets, called "super-Earths," are known to be common in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Now a Northwestern University astrophysicist and a University of Chicago geophysicist report the odds of these planets having an Earth-like climate are much greater than previously thought.
> 
> 
> Nicolas B. Cowan and Dorian Abbot's new model challenges the conventional wisdom which says super-Earths actually would be very unlike Earth&#8212;each would be a waterworld, with its surface completely covered in water. They conclude that most tectonically active super-Earths&#8212;regardless of mass&#8212;store most of their water in the mantle and will have both oceans and exposed continents, enabling a stable climate such as Earth's.
> 
> Cowan is a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, and Abbot is an assistant professor in geophysical sciences at UChicago.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Hubble's first frontier field finds thousands of unseen, faraway galaxies*



> Phys.org) &#8212;The first of a set of unprecedented, super-deep views of the universe from an ambitious collaborative program called The Frontier Fields is being released today at the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C.
> 
> The long-exposure image taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is the deepest-ever picture taken of a cluster of galaxies, and also contains images of some of the intrinsically faintest and youngest galaxies ever detected.
> 
> The target is the massive cluster Abell 2744, which contains several hundred galaxies as they looked 3.5 billion years ago. The immense gravity in this foreground cluster is being used as a "gravitational lens," which warps space to brighten and magnify images of far more-distant background galaxies as they looked over 12 billion years ago, not long after the big bang.
> 
> "The Frontier Fields is an experiment; can we use Hubble's exquisite image quality and Einstein's theory of General Relativity to search for the first galaxies?," said Space Telescope Science Institute Director Matt Mountain. "With the other Great Observatories, we are undertaking an ambitious joint program to use galaxy clusters to explore the first billion years of the universe's history."





Hubble's first frontier field finds thousands of unseen, faraway galaxies


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Gemini Planet Imager first light: World's most powerful exoplanet camera turns its eye to the sky*



> After nearly a decade of development, construction, and testing, the world's most advanced instrument for directly imaging and analyzing planets around other stars is pointing skyward and collecting light from distant worlds.
> 
> The instrument, called the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), was designed, built, and optimized for imaging faint planets next to bright stars and probing their atmospheres. It will also be a powerful tool for studying dusty, planet-forming disks around young stars. It is the most advanced such instrument to be deployed on one of the world's biggest telescopes &#8211; the 8-meter Gemini South telescope in Chile.
> 
> "Even these early first-light images are almost a factor of 10 better than the previous generation of instruments. In one minute, we are seeing planets that used to take us an hour to detect," says Bruce Macintosh of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who led the team that built the instrument.



Gemini Planet Imager first light: World's most powerful exoplanet camera turns its eye to the sky


----------



## ScienceRocks

> Orbital Sciences&#8217; Cygnus spacecraft successfully launched its first cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station today. Coverage began via NASA TV at 9:15 a.m. PT/12:15 p.m. ET with the launch scheduled for just under an hour later.
> 
> The probability of acceptable weather has improved to 95 percent at the time of launch.
> 
> NASA's twitter feed indicates that fueling is underway.
> 
> They announced on twitter:
> 
> Solar array deployment is complete for #Cygnus on orbit, heading for a Sunday rendezvous with the #ISS on the #Orb1 mission.




Orbital Sciences Commercial Resupply Launch | NASA

Orbital Sciences successfully launched resupply mission to the space station


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Surprising new class of 'hypervelocity stars' discovered escaping the galaxy*



> An international team of astronomers has discovered a surprising new class of "hypervelocity stars" &#8211; solitary stars moving fast enough to escape the gravitational grasp of the Milky Way galaxy.
> 
> The discovery of this new set of "hypervelocity" stars was described at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society this week in Washington, D.C., and is published in the Jan. 1 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
> 
> "These new hypervelocity stars are very different from the ones that have been discovered previously," said Vanderbilt University graduate student Lauren Palladino, lead author on the study. "The original hypervelocity stars are large blue stars and appear to have originated from the galactic center. Our new stars are relatively small &#8211; about the size of the sun &#8211; and the surprising part is that none of them appear to come from the galactic core."
> 
> The discovery came as Palladino, working under the supervision of Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, assistant professor of astronomy at Vanderbilt was mapping the Milky Way by calculating the orbits of Sun-like stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a massive census of the stars and galaxies in a region covering nearly one quarter of the sky.



Surprising new class of 'hypervelocity stars' discovered escaping the galaxy


----------



## ScienceRocks

*International Space Station life 'to be extended'*



> Nasa has won White House backing to extend the life of the International Space Station for a further four years, until 2024.
> 
> Construction of the ISS began in 1998 and is a joint venture between the US, Russia, Canada, Japan, and states in the European Space Agency (Esa).
> 
> For the extension to happen, it will likely need the partners' support.
> 
> Their current commitments run to 2020, but many engineers believe the station could work safely until at least 2028.
> 
> Bill Gerstenmaier, the associate administrator at Nasa with responsibility for the station, told reporters that it was feasible to continue operating the ISS if some partners decided not to stay on board, but added that he expected them all to come through, even if the agreements took a few years to put in place: "I think the idea is that 10 years from today is a pretty far-reaching, pretty strategic decision," he said.



BBC News - International Space Station life 'to be extended'

Good. A good investment going to last 26 years!!! Wish we'd take the same concept for our planetary vehicals coming


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Cygnus launch sparks science boom in low Earth orbit*
18:39 09 January 2014 by Jacob Aron
For similar stories, visit the Space flight Topic Guide






> Ants, antibiotics and a fleet of tiny satellites are heading to the International Space Station (ISS), following the successful launch of the commercial Cygnus craft today.
> 
> As well as being Cygnus's first official ISS mission, the launch should herald a boom in the scientific and commercial exploitation of low Earth orbit.
> 
> Cygnus, which took off from Wallops, Virginia at 1.07pm local time, is operated by the private company Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Virginia. Last September, Orbital became the second private firm to send a craft to dock with the ISS, while its rival, SpaceX, is already conducting regular ISS resupply launches.
> 
> Assuming it reaches the ISS without any problems, NASA now has a choice of two delivery firms &#8211; a boon to companies operating from there. "The more ways to get there the better. It's similar to having multiple companies competing for freight delivery, like Fed Ex and UPS along with the postal service," says Rich Pournelle of NanoRacks, a company based in Houston, Texas, that leases space and equipment on the ISS and sells access to other customers.



Cygnus launch sparks science boom in low Earth orbit - space - 09 January 2014 - New Scientist

Some things can be done by the private sector  Let nasa focus on science and idea's....


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Kepler team validates 41 new exoplanets with Keck I*

Kepler team validates 41 new exoplanets with Keck I



> (Phys.org) &#8212;The Kepler team today reports on four years of observations from the W. M. Keck Observatory targeting Kepler's exoplanet systems, announcing results this week at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington. These observations, from Keck Observatory on the summit of Mauna Kea, confirm that numerous Kepler discoveries are indeed planets and yield mass measurements of these enigmatic worlds that vary between Earth and Neptune in size.
> 
> More than three-quarters of the planet candidates discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft have sizes ranging from that of Earth to that of Neptune, which is nearly four times as big as Earth. Such planets dominate the galactic census but are not represented in our own solar system. Astronomers don't know how they form or if they are made of rock, water or gas.
> 
> Using one of the two world's largest telescopes at Keck Observatory in Hawaii, scientists confirmed 41 of the exoplanets discovered by Kepler and determined the masses of 16. With the mass and diameter in-hand, scientists could immediately determine the density of the planets, characterizing them as rocky or gaseous, or mixtures of the two.
> 
> Included in the findings are five new rocky planets ranging in size from ten to eighty percent larger than Earth. Two of the new rocky worlds, dubbed Kepler-99b and Kepler-406b, are both forty percent larger in size than Earth and have a density similar to lead. The planets orbit their host stars in less than five and three days respectively, making these worlds too hot for life as we know it.
> 
> A major component of these follow-up observations were Doppler measurements of the planets' host stars. The team measured the reflex wobble of the host star, caused by the gravitational tug on the star exerted by the orbiting planet. That measured wobble reveals the mass of the planet; the higher the mass of the planet, the greater the gravitational tug on the star and hence the greater the wobble.
> 
> "This marvelous avalanche of information about the mini-Neptune planets is telling us about their core-envelope structure, not unlike a peach with its pit and fruit," said Geoff Marcy, professor of astronomy at University of California, Berkeley who led the summary analysis of the high-precision Doppler study using the HIRES instrument installed on the 10-meter, Keck I telescope. "We now face daunting questions about how these enigmas formed and why our solar system is devoid of the most populous residents in the galaxy."




I know more science then 85% of this board. Fact. I have lived my whole life with it....

So you think this post is worthless?


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo reaches record height in latest test*


> Space tourism company Virgin Galactic sent its SpaceShipTwo reusable space vehicle to new heights on Friday, blasting the craft nearly 13.5 miles into the air and reaching a speed of Mach 1.4.
> 
> The craft left Mojave Air and Space Port at approximately 7:22 a.m. PST strapped to the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, which took the slick plane to around 46,000 feet. At the controls were Virgin Galactic Pilot Mike Masucci and Scaled Test Pilot Mike Alsbury.



Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo reaches record height in latest test | Fox News


----------



## Kosh

The far left wants to gut NASA as they could use that money for their social programs.

So voting far left will not help you if you like the space program.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*First planets discovered near our sun&#8217;s twin*


First planets discovered near our sun?s twin | DVICE


> When we look for alien solar systems, we tend to look for planets and stars that resemble ones we&#8217;re familiar with, including Earth-like planets and sun-like stars. Thanks to the HARPS telescope in Chile, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) not only discovered a star that could be our sun&#8217;s twin in a star cluster, but we&#8217;ve also found three planets close to it.
> 
> The star cluster in question is Messier 67. What&#8217;s important here is that these three new planets reside in a star cluster, something that's rare. And this star cluster also contains our solar twin, a star that resembles our sun in almost every way: it has almost the same mass, temperature, and chemical composition. Obviously, such stars, as far as we know, are rare. But that&#8217;s not all astronomers discovered: this twin to our sun resides in a cluster with two other stars and has at least three nearby planets. Two of those planets are about the size of Jupiter, with the other being slightly larger. These observations mark the first time that we&#8217;ve seen a star cluster with a solar twin that also has planets. In Messier 67&#8217;s configuration, the stars and planets orbit around the larger star, that which is our sun&#8217;s twin.
> 
> Unfortunately, these new planets are probably not habitable. They are extremely hot and do not fall in what we define as the &#8220;habitable zone,&#8221; a place in orbit where a planet can exist with liquid water. Studying them, though, may still tell us more about our own solar system, particularly if these are planets that might have once resided in the habitable zone and slowly moved out of it (something that occurs naturally over billions of years).


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Japan will go fishing for space junk by launching a giant net*



> If the space junk surrounding the Earth was a reality show, it might as well be an episode of Hoarders. After all, there's currently something like 22,000 sizable bits of space junk floating around that scientists say are big enough to pose a danger to space vehicles. This includes everything from huge discarded rocket stages, to smaller bits that broke away from space vehicles in collisions. The total weight of this stuff is over 5,500 tons, so you really don't want to collide with any of it. Just check out the movie Gravity to see an exaggerated version of what could happen.
> 
> To avoid that possibility, several space agencies constantly track the paths of every larger piece out there, and make sure that newly launched spaceships and satellites use an orbit that avoids collisions. The problem is that the situation is now reaching a critical point, and future Earth orbiting objects could be in danger unless something is done to clean the dump up.
> 
> Japan's space agency JAXA plans to start the cleanup process, by launching a sort of extraterrestrial version of a street sweeper to scoop up some of the junk. The first tests will use a 1,000 foot long net, which has a magnetic charge to attract the junk as it passes. The net was made by a Japanese fishing net manufacturer, but this time the catch will be nothing like a net full of tuna. Once the net is loaded up with space junk, the ship leading it will be instructed to re-enter the atmosphere, where it, along with all of the junk, will simply burn up.
> 
> Assuming the first test goes well, JAXA already prepared a net that's 2/3 of a mile long for the next run, and future plans include larger versions that can snag entire rocket stages and other big pieces.
> 
> Look for the initial test version to be launched in late February.



Japan will go fishing for space junk by launching a giant net | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*China's Jade Rabbit rover explores Moon soil*



> China's Jade Rabbit Moon rover has completed its first examination of the lunar soil, state media claim.
> 
> The Beijing Aerospace Control Center said the rover had explored the surface using its mechanical arm on Tuesday night (Beijing time).
> 
> The survey lasted half an hour and official news service Xinhua said the rover performed well in the tests.
> 
> In December, the Chinese landing module and rover made the first "soft" landing on the Moon since 1976.




BBC News - China's Jade Rabbit rover explores Moon soil


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Wake up Rosetta: You have a date with a comet*



> London (CNN) -- Scientists are inviting you to take part in "waking up" a comet-chasing probe that has been in hibernation in space for nearly three years.
> 
> The spacecraft is due to reactivate itself from an internal alarm clock on Monday but to celebrate the event the European Space Agency (ESA) is asking people to film themselves shouting "Wake up, Rosetta!" and then share their video clips on a dedicated Facebook page.
> 
> Visitors to the page can vote for their favorites and the top 10 will be transmitted towards Rosetta and out into the universe beyond.
> 
> Behind the fun lies a ground-breaking mission, which, if successful, will notch up a series of notable firsts.



Wake up ESA's Rosetta space probe, you have a comet to meet - CNN.com


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Milky Way may have formed 'inside-out': Gaia provides new insight into Galactic evolution*



> A breakthrough using data from the Gaia-ESO project has provided evidence backing up theoretically predicted divisions in the chemical composition of the stars that make up the Milky Way's disc &#8211; the vast collection of giant gas clouds and billions of stars that give our Galaxy its 'flying saucer' shape.



 Read more at: Milky Way may have formed 'inside-out': Gaia provides new insight into Galactic evolution


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Water plumes spotted on dwarf planet Ceres; makes it rare planet with conditions for supporting life*



> THE largest object in the asteroid belt just got more attractive: Scientists have confirmed signs of water on the dwarf planet Ceres, one of the few bodies in the solar system to hold that distinction.
> 
> Peering through the Herschel Space Observatory, a team led by the European Space Agency detected water plumes spewing from two regions on Ceres.
> 
> The observations, published in Nature, come as NASA's Dawn spacecraft is set to arrive at the Texas-sized dwarf planet next year.
> 
> It's long been suspected that Ceres is water-rich, but previous detections have been inconclusive. This is the first definitive evidence of water on Ceres and confirms that it has an icy surface, said lead author Michael Kuppers of the European Space Agency.
> 
> "It makes Ceres a more exciting target" for exploration, he said.
> 
> The latest finding puts Ceres in a special class of solar system objects with active plumes of water, a key ingredient for life.
> 
> The company includes Jupiter's moon Europa - where an underground ocean is believed to exist - and the Saturn moon Enceladus, where jets have been seen venting from the surface.
> 
> The source of the water plumes is still unclear. Scientists think there may be a layer of ice just below the surface that gets heated by the sun or the plumes could be spewed by ice volcanoes.



Water plumes spotted on dwarf planet Ceres; makes it rare planet with conditions for supporting life | News.com.au


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Dream Chaser mini-shuttle given 2016 launch date*


> The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has set 1 November, 2016, for the debut flight of its space shuttle replacement.
> 
> Known as the Dream Chaser, the winged vehicle will launch atop an Atlas V from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre.
> 
> Though smaller than Nasa's famous orbiters, the Dream Chaser has still been designed to carry up to seven astronauts into low-Earth orbit.
> 
> The maiden voyage, however, will be an unmanned, autonomous flight.
> 
> The re-usable "lifting body" will spend about a day in orbit before returning to a landing strip on the US West Coast.
> 
> If all goes well, SNC hopes to mount its first manned mission in 2017.
> 
> And, ultimately, the Dream Chaser will land back at Kennedy on the same runway as used by the shuttles, and be serviced in Kennedy's processing facilities.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25878042


----------



## ScienceRocks

*

NASA wants commercial lunar landers*



> NASA understands that the future of space exploration now means partnering with private companies. Not only has the agency signed large contracts with both Space X and Orbital Sciences to carry supplies (and eventually people) to the International Space Station, but it is also putting out a call for privately companies to get involved with the next missions to the Moon by designing and developing the next generation of robotic lunar landers.
> 
> The new program, called Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (CATALYST), seeks out any interested parties that have great ideas for future lunar exploration. In return, NASA will provide its expertise, equipment, and facilities to assist future lunar lander projects. It&#8217;s a great solution for the agency, considering its ever-shrinking budget (NASA won&#8217;t supply funds for the project), and it will also give a big push for commercial space projects in the future.
> 
> NASA is planning to use Lunar CATALYST for new missions to the Moon. The idea is to get these robotic vehicles on the Moon&#8217;s surface to not only study it, but to also mine water. However, the concepts could also apply to future exploration farther away, like Mars. NASA is already working with Canada and other countries to develop a moon rover and lander, but it&#8217;s also interested in what&#8217;s available in the U.S. from potential commercial partners. Interested companies have until March 17th to submit their proposals.




NASA wants commercial lunar landers | DVICE


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Russian Space Agency Plans World&#8217;s Biggest Rocket*

Russian Space Agency Plans World?s Biggest Rocket | Russia | RIA Novosti



> MOSCOW, January 28 (RIA Novosti) &#8211; Russia&#8217;s Roscosmos space agency is to seek government approval to build the world&#8217;s largest rocket, its head said Tuesday.
> 
> &#8220;I think that in the near future, within a month, we will make our suggestions to the Military-Industrial Commission,&#8221; Oleg Ostapenko said at an annual space conference in Moscow.
> 
> Ostapenko, who was appointed head of the agency in October, said the planned launcher would be able to lift 80 metric tons into low Earth orbit.


----------



## ScienceRocks

*"Kepler Object of Interest" --A Major Step in the Search for a Twin Solar System*



> This past December, a team of European astrophysicists discovered the most extensive planetary system to date, orbiting star KOI-351. The star system has seven planets, more than in other known planetary systems arranged in a similar fashion to the eight planets in the Solar System, with small rocky planets close to the parent star and gas giant planets at greater distances.
> 
> Although the planetary system around KOI-351 is packed together more tightly, &#8220;We cannot stress just how important this discovery is. It is a big step in the search for a &#8216;twin&#8217; to the Solar System, and thus also in finding a second Earth,&#8221; said Juan Cabrera, an astrophysicist at the DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin-Adlershof.
> KOI is the abbreviation for &#8216;Kepler Object of Interest&#8217;, which means the star was observed by NASA&#8217;s Kepler space telescope, between 2008 and 2013, and classified as a candidate for the existence of exoplanets. At present, KOI-351 is the star with the most extrasolar planets, or exoplanets for short. The star is 2500 light years away from Earth.
> 
> Astrophysicists around the world have been searching for a star system similar to our own for a long time. Now, the team led by Cabrera has taken a major step in this direction. Three of the seven planets in orbit around the star KOI-351 were discovered in recent years, and have periods of 331, 211 and 60 days, similar to those of Earth, Venus and Mercury.


"Kepler Object of Interest" --A Major Step in the Search for a Twin Solar System (Today's Most Popular)


----------



## slava

> BBC News - China's Jade Rabbit rover explores Moon soil



Space is crowded with activity now I heard China is going to construct its own space station and become entirely independent from other space faring countries. Of course, building such an enormous structure and then putting it into orbit costs billions of dollars and is a mammoth undertaking but they realise that big scientific projects generate knowledge, expirience, thousands of fully fledged scientists and engineers - it helps create an ecosystem of science if you will. So I'm sure that they'll pull it off. Hope that your country is gonna keep up with China and one day we'll see humans stepping down on Mars )


----------



## ScienceRocks

*Scientists Home In On Earth-Sized Exoplanet*

 Mar 20, 2014 04:29 AM ET  //  by  Irene Klotz 



> Scientists are close to announcing the first Earth-sized planet in a habitable zone around its parent star.
> 
> Astronomer Thomas Barclay, with NASA&#8217;s Ames Research Center in California, culled data collected by the Kepler space telescope to ferret out a five-planet system, the outermost of which circles toward the outer edge of its star&#8217;s habitable zone, according to reports posted Wednesday on Twitter by astronomers attending the Search for Life Beyond the Solar System conference in Tucson, Ariz.
> 
> The Most Horrific Alien Planets In Our Galaxy
> 
> The outermost planet has a radius that is estimated to be 1.1 times as big as Earth&#8217;s, Nick Ballering, an astronomy graduate student at the University of Arizona, and scientist Jessie Christiansen, with the Ames Research Center, wrote in separate posts on Twitter.




Scientists Home In On Earth-Sized Exoplanet : Discovery News

Please post in the other thread for now on!


----------



## waltky

Lost NASA satellite found...





*NASA Finds ‘Lost’ Space Probe*
_August 23, 2016 - After losing communication with a space probe two years ago, NASA says it has reestablished contact._


> NASA said it lost contact with the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories, known as the STEREO-B spacecraft, on Oct. 1, 2014, but that on Aug. 21, the Deep Space Network (DSN) established a link with the craft.  Contact with the probe was lost after a maneuver to try to prevent overheating of the ship’s antenna.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Two similar space probes are orbting the sun gathering information on solar weather.​
> STEREO-B is the sister craft to STEREO-A, both of which were launched in 2006 to study the sun and space weather. The spacecraft have contributed greatly to the understanding of coronal mass ejections, a bubble of super-heated gas and charged particles blasted into space from the sun’s upper atmosphere, the corona.
> 
> STEREO-A is reportedly working normally.  NASA said it will now have to test STEREO-B to see how instrumentation and other sensors are operating after two years.  Both spacecraft are located on the other side of the sun from earth.
> 
> NASA Finds ‘Lost’ Space Probe


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