January 20, 2006
our active galaxy
The galaxy is a more exciting place than you might think. From Space.com:
A new X-ray movie of the Milky Way Galaxy shows stars erupting and black holes pulsating over a full decade of time.
It's strangely compelling, like signal lights from a distant shore... [Thanks to Bryan for the link.]
January 19, 2006
off to pluto!
The NASA New Horizons probe launched successfully today on it's way to Pluto. (It's the first probe to visit our distant icy cousin.) My favorite part is that even though it'll take 10 years to get to Pluto, the probe is flying so fast it'll zip past Jupiter in only a year.
January 09, 2006
following the north star...s?
A quickie from HubbleSite: astronomers have determined that Polaris (the North Star) is actually a triple-star system with two of the stars so close together that it takes the full power of Hubble to differentiate them.
December 23, 2005
it's a lot like life
From yesterday's New Scientist:
The first evidence that some of the basic organic building blocks of life can exist in an Earth-like orbit around a young Sun-like star has been provided by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
Nicely done. I can't wait to go visit some of these places...
November 23, 2005
falcon 1 launches this friday
SpaceX announced that Falcon 1, the first privately-developed liquid-fueled rocket designed to reach orbit, will launch this Friday. If successful, it will mean a new era of safe, low-cost access to space; Falcon has both the lowest cost ($7 million) and highest reliability rating of any American launch vehicle. Go Falcon!
UPDATE: The November 26 launch was scrubbed due to technical problems. The next launch attempt is scheduled for December 17th.
November 01, 2005
my three moons
Hubble astronomers have recently discovered two more moons orbiting Pluto. Our icy neighbor has recently been criticized for not being too different from the big bunch of planetoids in the Kuiper Belt, so this new discovery might provide a new reason to call Pluto a real planet.
September 11, 2005
more power! [cackle]
SpaceX, one of the new private space race competitors, has announced the Falcon 9 project, a launch vehicle with enough oomph to send big satellites into orbit or supplies up to ISS. Better yet, launches could be as cheap as $20 million each, which puts it smack in the middle of Space Prize territory. Go SpaceX!
August 19, 2005
spurious assertion of the month award
To take my mind of the latest depressing Shuttle news, I followed a Google Ad to the Moon Landing Hoax page. Since "they faked the moon landing" is a running joke at the office, I figured it would be worth a chuckle. Unfortunately, the assertions were so rhetorical and so easily debunked that it was unsatisfying. (And the really compelling evidence? "Buy my movie and I'll show you." Feh.)
If you decide to watch the intro, here's a hint: think about speed and mass instead of distance. The Shuttle flies at 17,000 mph and carries tons more payload than Apollo did. Now spot the fallacy.
July 20, 2005
Happy Armstrong Day
36 years ago today, men landed on the Moon. That makes this Armstrong Day 36 on the Tranquility Calendar. Google has put together a fitting tribute based on Google Maps.
They went in peace, for all mankind. Let's hope we go back soon.
July 15, 2005
my three suns
From CNN today:
"Astronomers have detected a planet outside our solar system with not one, but three suns, a finding that challenges astronomers' theories of planetary formation."
Indeed. I used to think that the whole multiple-suns (think Tatooine) sci-fi thing was artistic license. Truth really is stranger than fiction...
July 06, 2005
backyard (mountain) astronomy
At a recent open house, Palomar Observatory showed off their new Palomar Testbed Interferometer, a set of 'scopes that work together to produce resolution equivalent to a much larger telescope. Who says that land-based astronomy is dead?
June 28, 2005
return to flight july 13th
According to a recent AP article, Space Shuttle Discovery is ready to launch on July 13th. Perhaps even more interesting is a little blurb at the end of the article:
The Iran Non-Proliferation Act would effectively bar U.S. astronauts from staying on the space station after April 2006. The bill, passed in 2000, had aimed to prevent Russia from helping Iran expand its nascent nuclear program.
Whoops. That might be something to look into...
June 22, 2005
update: space travel still risky
Cosmos 1, the solar-sail probe launched yesterday by the Planetary Society, has apparently failed on launch. The failure was in the first-stage rocket launching the probe into orbit, not the probe itself, so it seems that the thing to do is to build the same thing over and try it again.
June 10, 2005
Free Rover!
~5 days ago... no post yet?
Now this is science. Next time I sink all four wheels of my car into deep sand in the desert near Blythe (as I have done twice in the past), maybe they'll have published the amazing driving techniques I can use to drive away without getting out of the car, digging under the car with my hands, jacking up the car, digging to get the wheels uncovered, and putting stuff under the wheels to drive away. OTOH, I've done it in about four hours, versus five weeks. (Note: Adam Houston was along for one of these adventures.)
April 29, 2005
opportunity is stuck
Opportunity, one of the Mars Exploration Rovers, has gotten stuck on a sand dune and it's not certain that they'll be able to free it. (All six wheels are pretty deeply buried.)
I'm sure they'll think of something and the Little Rover That Could will be on its way. Still, send good vibes to Opportunity whenever you can.
March 23, 2005
The Glory of the Taikonauts
How about some Chinese space program propaganda?
Edited to Add: Oh my God. Scroll all the way down. Seriously.
March 15, 2005
X marks the spot
Look what famous "prize" is being displayed at the New Detroit Science Center. The trophy designer is from Troy, Michigan, so it starts its tour in this fair state. And this is what I did on spring break....
A Little More about Space Exploration
Saw a great documentary with Glen over the weekend about Spirit and Opportunity. Both were supposed to last 90 days, but they're still going. Helping that is this latest news - Spirit just received a mystery bath similar to one given (?) to Opportunity some time ago. No one understands it really, but it's cool.
I'm also trying to figure out how to support Sentator Barbara Mikulski in her bid to keep the Hubble running. You go, Babs!
March 14, 2005
new face of the space race
Space Review invites you to Meet Michael Griffin, the new nominee for NASA administrator. While I've been extremely skeptical of the Bush administration's space exploration initiative, this nomination actually gives me hope that NASA could be shifted to the right track.
It wouldn't be without losses, of course; the shuttle, ISS, and Hubble are all likely to take a back seat to human exploration of the solar system. However, I think that if we can really put people back on the Moon and/or send them to Mars, the gains would be worth it.
February 21, 2005
pack your ice skates
According to an article in New Scientist, Mars may have a frozen underground sea right near the equator. If it's there, it's just under the surface, is about 45m (145ft) deep, and covers thousands of square kilometers, about the size of the North Sea.
In related news, I just finished reading Red Thunder, John Varley's recent novel about plucky youngsters launching a mission to Mars. It's a fantastic read, the kind of book that would be written by the mutant prodigy love-child of Varley, Robert Heinlein, Carl Hiaasen, Spider Robinson, Douglas Coupland, Neal Stephenson, and Carl Sagan.
January 16, 2005
Space Linguistics
How to pronounce Huygens - come on, you know you've worried about it.... :-)
January 11, 2005
first extrasolar planet photograph
Whoa. (OK, it's not as visually impressive as that Topanga boulder, but stunning nonetheless.)
January 07, 2005
"It's time for us to go fly."
You bet it is. Good luck to the next crew of the shuttle Discovery.
(I still get a kick out of the fact that the average age of the 7-person crew is 45. The "youngster" is 8 years older than me. Mission Specialist Charles Camarda is making his first flight into space at 52. Maybe I'll do something as cool in 20 years...)
December 07, 2004
Eight Days in Dreamland
Finally posting a bit about my time at Space Camp. Summary: it was as much fun as any geek could pack into eight days. And there were rockets.
Follow along with the photos as you read, and it could almost be a picture book. Almost.
Continue reading "Eight Days in Dreamland"
November 12, 2004
mars needs... cookies?
The folks over at the Mars Homestead Project are collecting recipes to compile a Mars cookbook. Know any good ones? I'm not sure how one would test low-pressure and low-gravity baking on Earth, but there are probably some creative ways to get around that. 3-Bean Spirit Chili, anyone?
October 07, 2004
Space, it's what's for dinner
I'll have details of my own space exploration soon, but for now I'm sure you'll be excited to hear about the new Space Prize, Robert Bigelow's follow-on to the X Prize. It's a $50 million prize for the first vehicle that can reach low earth orbit and dock with Nautilus, his proposed orbiting hotel. Go, space folks!
September 28, 2004
Attack of the Space Virgin
You may already know this, but in a move designed to make me (and you?) ever-so-slightly giddy, Paul Allen (SpaceShipOne) and Richard Branson (Virgin Airways) have decided to join forces and get a space tourism business up and running by 2007. It's only $198,600 a pop for a three-hour tour, so start saving (Oh, yeah, there's going to be a space hotel, too)! Check out the Virgin Galactic site -- fun!
September 23, 2004
the horse's mouth
Seems reasonable to me: If you want to know whether astronauts could handle an extended-duration mission to Mars, ask an astronaut. Specifically, ask one who has logged over a year on orbit, including a 6-month stint living with just one other cosmonaut. His advice? Don't sweat the niceties, and don't skimp on oxygen.
September 22, 2004
Beyond the edge of space
This just in: SpaceDev, the San Diego company that provides SpaceShipOne's revolutionary hybrid rocket engine, is developing Dream Chaser, a low-cost sub-orbital spacecraft. Not limited to X-Prize ranges, Dream Chaser is designed to scale up to the point where people can be delivered to and from Low Earth Orbit (read: space station).
August 19, 2004
Space Race II progress
Space Daily has an engaging overview of X Prize progress, including both the trials and the triumphs of the frontrunners. Even the mistakes are exciting, as fun to follow as the series of progressively-more-impressive rocket tests in "October Sky". Go teams!
July 13, 2004
Ring Drops Keep Falling on my Head
Cassini has just gone through a "gap" in the rings of Saturn where it still managed to be pelted with microscopic particles for a while. The neat part is that they made a sound recording of it all with a QT movie that I think is a simulation. Ah, the pebble-y sound of space (from inside, where it's safe).
July 09, 2004
Hotels in space, on the cheap
(written on the board 50 times)
I will not make predictions about space tourism.
I will not make predictions about space tourism.
I will not make predictions about space tourism.
July 02, 2004
Hubble discovers 100 new planets
Wow! No description can top that headline, so here it is again: Hubble discovers 100 new planets
Oh, OK, here's a quote: "The discovery will lend support to the idea that almost every sunlike star in our galaxy, and probably the Universe, is accompanied by planets."
June 18, 2004
Because it's there
This is the real reason why exploring space is important. We may think we know what we're going to find, but we don't. For example, a comet in our own solar backyard has baffled space scientists by refusing to conform to our ideas of how comets should act. Silly comet.
A detailed analysis of the comet Wild 2 (pronounced "Vilt 2") has left astronomers astounded at an object that has no known peers in the solar system.
The comet, examined in a close flyby in January by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, has towering protrusions and steep-walled craters that seem to defy gravity. More than a dozen jets of material shoot out from its insides. Dust swirls around the comet in unexpectedly dense pockets.
June 04, 2004
SpaceShipOne launches June 21
A quickie: The SpaceShipOne folks have announced a historic launch on June 21: the ship will reach 100 km, generally regarded as the "edge of space". Apparently this is the first space launch that can be viewed up close by the public, since the rocket itself doesn't fire until the carrier plane is aloft.
April 01, 2004
Startling formation found on Mars
Stunned space scientists were reeling last night after stumbling across a startling new formation on the surface of Mars. I sure hope it's not advertising...
March 31, 2004
Yo Ho Huh?
I have no idea why there is this connection, and from the dates involved it doesn't seem to be an April Fool thing, but apparently evidence of saltwater on Mars fulfilled conditions for a pledge by Long John Silver's to give away giant shrimp in May.
So wheeee! Free space saltwater Mars shrimp!
(thanks to Glen of course)
March 26, 2004
Hope for the Hubble?
I know I'm obsessed with this, but I guess I'm not the only one. We've got some U.S. Senators (bipartisan!) introducing a resolution to keep the blessed thing going. Yay!
March 21, 2004
Red roses on a red planet?
All that iron-rich soil has to be good for something. At least the Mars Botanic Garden people seem to think so....
You might like the souvenirs.
March 19, 2004
Hubble, Hubble, toil and trouble
Sorry, couldn't think of anything else. Apparently American astronauts have joined in the protests against the destruction of the Hubble Telescope. There really has to be some way of making a reprieve, and I admire the astronauts who are willing to continue risking their lives in the name of science.
I'm especially annoyed because I heard yesterday that fundies on Bush's staff are pushing to get rid of the Hubble because it provides too much evidence about the actual age of the universe.... Grrrrr....
March 18, 2004
The Bad Space News
It may sound odd, but I'm not too keen on the Bush administration's new space initiative. On the surface it may seem like everything I've asked for from NASA (a coherent direction, emphasis on permanent Moon/Mars colonies). Unfortunately, at its core it suffers from the Bush syndrome: too much pork and not nearly enough direction or funding.
This Space Daily article sums it up much better than I could. I can only hope that once Kerry gets into office he'll take the rhetoric and make it into a real space program.
The Good Space News
If you haven't heard of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, take a few moments to peruse their newly-updated Web site. SDSS has been painstakingly mapping a big chunk of the known universe - every star, every galaxy, everything we can see with telescopes.
Best of all, they're releasing all their data to the public - about 6 terabytes so far (or as Steve Jobs would put it, "two million songs".) That translates to lots and lots and lots of really neat eye-candy, plus a bunch of fun science projects made possible by this much data.
[Feb 2006 UPDATE: Fixed the links to point to the main Sloan site; deep linking seems to break whenever a new version is launched.]
March 02, 2004
The Red Wet Planet
Woo hoo! The results are in, and it looks like Mars once had liquid water on its surface, according to tests conducted by Spirit and Opportunity.
January 23, 2004
Bombard Away!
Seriously, if anyone here has suggestions (like some of these) on how to save the Hubble telescope, please let NASA know. Apparently they're willing to listen, which is good because it would be stupid to let the Hubble die because of Dubya's new budgetary plans.
January 19, 2004
SpaceShipOne ups and downs
I didn't get a chance to mention it at the time, but SpaceShipOne, the world's most fantastically beautiful rocketship, had its first supersonic test on December 17th. Note that this is the first privately-built aircraft to break the sound barrier.
The Mojave weblog also has a nice page with photos of the launch, including the heart-stopping (but luckily not show-stopping) landing. I can't wait to hear about the next flight!
January 07, 2004
A heady time for space geeks
The Washington Post has a good summary article on the NASA Mars rovers and comet mission, with photos. I'm already using the latest photo as my desktop background, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the full panorama when it arrives.
December 23, 2003
Go Space Brits!
Cross your fingers.... The Redcoats are about to land on the Red Planet. Check out the Beagle 2 website to keep track of how they do. ETA is Christmas Day, 2:54am GMT. Thanks again to Glen for the keen link - also if you haven't already, check out the call sign the probe is scheduled to play. Pretty neat.
December 11, 2003
Weathering Space
Planning a trip through space today? Well, why not check the weather? You never know when those magnetic storms might hit!
December 02, 2003
Basics of Space Flight
This is more a note to myself than anything, but you might find it interesting as well. JPL has put together an overview called the Basics of Space Flight, covering topics like orbital mechanics, experiments, and communication. It's supposed to have a bent toward unmanned missions, but a lot of the principles are the same. I look forward to reading it.
November 14, 2003
Space Links
From Spaceman Glen. These are very cool. The first one has a giganto java applet and I had trouble getting it to load, but if you have a decent-sized computer, it's worth it - It's Molecular Expressions' Power of Ten. It's basically a site that starts you out in the Milky Way 10 million light years from earth, then moves you 10 times closer and 10 times closer and you eventually get subatomic inside a leaf on earth.
The other one also rocks, if you like space and stuff. It's from Australia and it's called The Best of Hubble. It takes you on a tour of some amazing Hubble images with some neat spacey music. Very cool. Very, very cool.
October 15, 2003
The Foam did it
Glen the space historian writes:
Here is a link to a very good article on the Columbia accident investigation.
October 10, 2003
Fun! (If nausea is fun, and who knows?)
When Chris and Karen take Sea Monkey to Disney World, Dad can get some first-hand space sim experience. Perfect family vacation, and Aunt Deana can come along too.
July 11, 2003
More planets!
NASA reported Thursday that they've found a really old planet, three times older than Earth and only a bit younger than the universe.
July 03, 2003
90 light years is so close
By now you may have heard of the discovery of a new planetary system that looks a whole lot like our own. It's 90 light years away, but as a wise man once said, "that's peanuts to space." Seriously, 90 light years is the kind of distance we'll be able to travel in a few months (relative) once we get the basics of interstellar flight taken care of.
Even better, seeing a solar system like our own so close to home makes it even more likely that we'll find one with Earth-like life sometime fairly soon. That's why I like reading this:
ESA is leading the way with its Darwin mission to analyse the atmospheric composition of Earth-like planets. This flotilla of six space telescopes will launch in around 2014.
How very 21st century!
June 02, 2003
NASA and the Future of Space
SpaceDaily has an interesting opinion piece about NASA's role in the future of space exploration. Most intriguing is the author himself; he's a scientist who was part of the Apollo program, which gives him real credibility in these matters.
UPDATE: I think this is the leading edge of a group of dire, bitter pronouncements about NASA. Just remember, folks, NASA isn't the only way into space.
Continue reading "NASA and the Future of Space"
May 22, 2003
A Pale Blue Blob
"The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light."
-- Carl Sagan
From "Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space," Random House, 1994
May 09, 2003
Neat space poster
If you like the idea of ordinary folks in space, check out this poster, rendered by Mark Shuttleworth during his visit to the International Space Station.
SpaceShipOne propulsion
A few comments by Jim Benson from SpaceDev made me realize I hadn't mentioned the propulsion prospects for SpaceShipOne. I think Scaled is considering a hybrid rocket engine, which uses a combination of solid and liquid fuel techniques. Specifically, they're using a rubber solid fuel and nitrous oxide liquid oxidizer.
SpaceDev, one of the companies competing to provide the rocket, is a local (San Diego) company I've been admiring from afar for a while. With government-funded spaceflight facing a hostile climate, it's good to know that someone in the private sector is taking on the challenge.
Thanks, Jim!
May 01, 2003
And the 5th generation, too
I don't know why, but it's heartening to know that some research worms survived the Columbia disaster.
April 28, 2003
The private space race heats up!
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, has started a private space development company called Blue Origin. It's nice to see all this interest in private space exporation, especially by folks with money to spend. Oddly enough, Neal Stephenson is being listed as one of the advisors. I say "oddly enough" because all of his sci-fi stories (to date, at least) have been set firmly on Earth. He has his own reasons for joining, though.
April 22, 2003
More on SpaceShipOne
Of all places, MSNBC has a good article with specifics on SpaceShipOne's flying characteristics. It really looks like they've put a lot of thought into it, down to using the same flight controls for the carrier ship and rocketplane so that maneuvers can be practiced in either.
April 18, 2003
SpaceShip One!
Scaled Composites revealed their passenger-carrying spaceship today. This is an actual, working vehicle they're planning to use as part of a commercial space program. It would also get them the X Prize once flown. Wow!
For those who don't know Scaled Composites, it's an aerospace firm run by Burt Rutan. His plane Voyager was the first to fly around the world without landing or refueling. He's known for working, low-cost aircraft designed with revolutionary techniques. Go Burt!
April 02, 2003
XCOR tests new rocket engine
Wow! It must be the week of X Prize related announcements. The latest is from XCOR, which successfully tested their new XR-4K5 engine on Monday. It's just one stage in their plan to go suborbital and win the prize.
April 01, 2003
Space Cadet
OK, the details I promised.
Karen and I decided a while back that we would do adventurous things for our decade birthdays (e.g. 30th, 40th) because it would give us something to look forward to rather than dread.
For Karen's, she flew a plane and spent a month [not week; sorry K!] on her own in Europe. For mine, it had to be Space Camp, because I've wanted to go for years. It's a one-week immersion into astronaut training, using real (if older) NASA procedures and equipment.
I'm going a few weeks after my birthday, from December 28th to January 2nd. For the Shuttle missions I'll be trained as a Mission Specialist, mostly because I don't have the coordination to fly the thing or handle that robot arm. A good solid tech, that's what they need. ;)
The whole thing sounds exciting, but I'm most intrigued by things like the buoyancy trainer tank, where I get to strap on SCUBA gear (first time ever) and work on space station components in a weightless-like environment. Kind of a poor-man's Vomit Comet, if you will.
I'm going to read up on Shuttle systems before I go, but otherwise there's not much to do but count the days until I'm 30. Come on, 30! Oh, and plan for what I'll do when I turn 40, or perhaps when I turn 50.
March 28, 2003
You will go to the moon...
I'm goin' to Space Academy!
Details to follow.
BTW, Mars is getting more and more exciting. I'd love to think of that as an adventure trip for my 50th birthday.
March 27, 2003
Light echoes and mysterious stars
Karen sent a link to an article at Space.com about a bizarre new nova-like star that is expanding and cooling in a way astronomers didn't expect. At the same time, it's giving us a show: a light echo, which is light that bounced off larger and larger regions of dust around the star as the star got brighter.
March 26, 2003
Mars in our own backyard
I didn't realize just how in-depth the Mars Desert Research Station mission was. Two rovers, a full hab, eight international crew and some brand-new space suit designs from Australia. Nice stuff!
Continue reading "Mars in our own backyard"