Yesterday was Carl Sagan’s birthday. Watch this clip a remember what a cool guy he was. The world needs more people like him…
A common misconception about telescopes is that their main purpose is to magnify objects. This is false: in fact what a telescope does is capture more light than is possible by the naked eye. The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the world’s most important telescopes. Situated in orbit around Earth, but outside of its atmosphere, the Hubble gets a clearer view of the Universe and what lies within than any ground-based instrument. In this video, WatchMojo.com learns how the Hubble works.
Apropos of nothing, but worth a read, is Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s tale of one of the most unusual things he saw during his 1969 mission to the moon. Aldrin was on a TCA panel for National Geographic Channel’s Expedition Week.
Here’s a lightly edited version of Aldrin’s story:
I guess the discovery that really baffled me started the first night en route to the moon beyond the Van Allen Belts. We closed the windows and turned out the lights and Mike Collins had the headset on to listen to Houston and Neil [Armstrong] and I were under the couch.
All of a sudden I saw a flash, and then another flash. And before I could move my eye to see what it was, it was gone. And then maybe a streak. And I kept seeing these, until I decided I wanted to go to sleep.
It’s not enough we have to worry about extreme weather, we now have to worry about extreme solar space storms. There is historical proof that this type of storm could happen, and it would affect our electricity, cell phones and even our water supply. In 1859, a solar eruption caused telegraph lines to burn up. As we are nearing a period of active solar storms, it is possible this type of thing could happen again. Read more…
According to Popular Mechanics:
The Phoenix Mars Mission has been a shining success for NASA. Not only did the craft reach Mars and land successfully, it also found ice in the martian soil and saw snow in the sky. But the Phoenix is now racing against time to complete more of its groundbreaking research before the harsh martian winter brings its death, said the project’s science leader, Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, at the first session of the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Conference in New York [15 October]. “It’s down to the wire,” Smith said at a panel discussion with two other Phoenix project leaders, Ed Sedivy from Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Barry Goldstein of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Read more…
Find out more about the Phoenix Mars Mission in this WatchMojo video:
When in space astronauts can enjoy meals that have been inspired from dishes around the world. Start with an Asian-themed entrée, followed by Mexican fajitas and and all-American cranapple cobbler for dessert.
There is a variety to these meals that can be enjoyed through a syringe, but how good can space food really be? When food scientists, not chefs, are in charge of what goes into space how much importance does flavor have when nutrition is the goal?
To read about one food experts critique continue here to find out just how nasty space food is.
As NASA prepares to send humans back to the moon and then on to Mars, psychologists are exploring the challenges astronauts will face on missions that will be much longer and more demanding than previous space flights. Psychologists outlined these mental health challenges recently at the American Psychological Association’s 116th Annual Convention, and introduced a new interactive computer program that will help address psychosocial challenges in space.
According to ScienceDaily
BOULDER, Colo., July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has been awarded a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center contract to build the Operational Land Imager for the eighth Landsat Data Continuity Mission .
“We take great pride in being chosen to help continue NASA’s longest continuous imagery data record of our planet,” said David L. Taylor, president and CEO of Ball Aerospace. “From Radarsat to QuikSCAT, and from QuickBird to its soon to be launched successor, WorldView, Ball Aerospace has a strong legacy in both Earth science and remote-sensing missions.”
The OLI instrument provides 15-meter (490ft.) panchromatic and 30m multi-spectral Earth-imaging spatial-resolution capability. OLI includes a 185km swath allowing the entire globe to be imaged every 16 days. OLI instrument delivery is slated for Sept. 2010, with launch anticipated in 2011.
The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). For more than 30-years, Landsat satellites have continuously and consistently archived images of Earth, creating a historical archive unmatched in quality, detail, coverage, and length. The multispectral imagery is gathered for applications that include agricultural monitoring, natural resource management and land-use planning.
Ball Aerospace is also competing for the Landsat spacecraft bus. The Goddard Rapid Space Development Office Landsat Spacecraft Accommodation study currently underway will result in a Ball Aerospace design that will accommodate the mission-specific requirements of the follow-on Landsat mission.
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions of important national agencies such as the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications. Over the past 50 years, Ball Aerospace has been responsible for numerous technological and scientific ‘firsts’ and acts as a technology innovator for the aerospace market.
Ball Corporation is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products for beverage, food and household customers, and of aerospace and other technologies and services, primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 15,500 people worldwide and reported 2006 sales of $6.6 billion.
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