Hasta La Gadget!

SpaceX stated during a conference at the Kennedy Space Center that it plans to send a crew of its own employees into orbit in 2015. This follows the company’s successfully completed unmanned mission to the ISS, earning the record of first commercial company to do so. The announcement was made by Garret Reisman, one of SpaceX’s project managers and former NASA astronaut.

SpaceX is taking this step as a way to demonstrate that its Dragon and Falcon 9 are safe and ready to carry NASA crew members into space. NASA is likewise enthusiastic about the mission, stating that it wants to know when these companies are ready to fly their own crew at their own risk. Unlike its historic unmanned mission to the ISS, this flight will not dock at the station. Likewise, it is being reported that the vessel will stay in space for a minimum of three days.

When asked if he would be part of the crew that SpaceX sends into orbit, Reisman offered this statement. “I did not come to SpaceX specifically … with the intent of going back to space. What’s important to me is that I can look myself in the mirror … [and say] that the risk is acceptable for me to fly.”

NASA has been pursuing commercial companies, having had to utilize Russia for sending astronauts into space after the space shuttle was retired. Commercial companies will save the U.S. a substantial amount of money, but aren’t quite at the point they need to be yet. By sending a crew into space, SpaceX will demonstrate its abilities while taking a big step towards ushering in a new future of space exploration.

[via Orlando Sentinel]

SpaceX wants to send its employees into orbit in 2015 is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Astronomers have a mind-blowing new theory: that there are 17 billion Earth-sized planets in our galaxy. They don’t yet know how many of these worlds are in habitable zones, but the implications of this discovery are amazing. So much that some claim the “quest for a twin Earth is heating up.” More »

A rock from the Red Planet was discovered in the Sahara desert, and has been under study for the last year. The results from the study show that it is different from other Martian rocks that have been discovered, in that it contains more water and is older than the majority of other discoveries. The finding has been named NWA 7034, is said to be 2.1 billion years old, and offers a glimpse into Mars’ history.

Perhaps easier to remember, the rock is being referred to as Black Beauty, and was given to the University of New Mexico after being acquired in Morocco. It’s not the first rock from Mars to be found in the Sahara desert, and certainly isn’t the oldest, with that title going to a rock estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. Of the 65 or so rocks that have been found in the Sahara, most of them are younger than 600 million years.

A team at the University of New Mexico studied Black Beauty over the course of a year, during which they confirmed its Martian origins via its chemical makeup, and that it formed via a volcanic eruption. Likewise, it released a very small yet significant 6,000 parts per million of water when heated, which trumps the amount from other Martian rocks. The rock itself was relatively uncontaminated, it is being reported, and wasn’t terribly altered by Earth’s weather.

The study’s head at the University of New Mexico Carl Agee offered this statement. “Here we have a piece of Mars that I can hold in my hands. That’s really exciting … Having this sample from 2 billion years ago may give us a little bit of a glimpse of what the surface conditions were like [during the transition period when Mars went from warm and wet to cold and dry].”

[via Associated Press]

Unique Martian rock found in the Sahara desert is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Next year could be a very good year for watching comets. A comet was discovered this past September that is expected to fly within 1.2 million miles of the center of the Sun on November 28, 2013. If things go well, as the comet approaches the Sun, its heat will begin to vaporize the ice in the comet’s body creating a spectacular show in the heavens.

Comet ISON comes from the Oort Cloud, which is a cluster of frozen rock and ice that circles the Sun about 50,000 times further away than Earth’s orbit. Every so often material from this cloud breaks free and begins a long trip towards the Sun. Astronomers say that ISON’s path is very similar to a comet that passed the Earth in 1680 that was reported to be so bright it could be seen in daylight.

However, there is a chance that the comet might not survive its brush with the Sun. According to NASA, the comet could break apart as it nears the Sun or fail to produce the tail of particles we hope will be visible from the Earth. If that happens, legions of skywatchers around the world will be sorely disappointed.

Assuming the comet survives, researchers believe that ISON would be visible in the nighttime and early morning sky with the naked eye between October 2013 and January 2014.

[via Reuters]

Exoplanets have been popping up in the world of astronomy with relatively high frequency over the last half decade or so, with the latest one being the 51 Pegasi b that was revealed back in October. Thanks to advances in technology and other factors, it is likely the first “Earth twin” planet will be discovered next year, according to scientists.

Thus far, exoplanets that have been discovered, while sharing characteristics with Earth, all possess factors that make them uninhabitable. 51 Pegasi b, for example, is close to its star, and as such, is extremely hot, rendering its landscape a scorched wasteland. Thus far, a legitimate Earth twin planet remains the subject of science fiction.

Multiple scientists and researchers believe that 2013 is the year when the first habitable planet similar in landscape and size to Earth will be found. The University of California, Berkeley’s Geoff Marcy stated: “The first planet with a measured size, orbit and incident stellar flux that is suitable for life is likely to be announced in 2013.”

The Earth twin will likely be discovered by High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher, more commonly called HARPS, the same technology that uncovered the exoplanet 51 Pegasi b. Says the University of Hertfordshire’s Mikko Tuomi, “Estimating carefully, there are 200 billion stars that host at least 50 billion planets, if not more. Assuming that 1:10,000 are similar to the Earth would give us 5,000,000 such planets.”

[via Space]

Earth twin will be discovered in 2013, according to scientists is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.