Mar 03

Mars Express Spacecraft Visits Phobos, No Sign of Cyberdemons

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili

NASA_Mars_Phobos.jpg

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express orbiter will soon pass within about 30 miles above Phobos–one of Mars’ two moons made famous in id Software’s Doom franchise, among other places.
Discovery reports that scientists hope to learn more about the potato-shaped rock: where it came from, how its gravity works, and whether or not the interior is actually hollow–a theory scientists have been tossing about for decades.
To figure this all out, scientists plan to track minute changes in the probe’s flight path via a radio signal, in an attempt to indirectly correlate Phobos’ gravitational tugs with its internal structure. No word yet on when we’ll finally learn about all those creepy “scientific” experiments. (Image credit: ESA/NASA/HiRISE)
No Comments | Tags:
Mar 01

ESOs Very Large Telescope Survives Earthquake in Chile

Posted in: science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
ESO_Very_Large_Telescope_Chile.jpg
The European Southern Observatory said in a statement that all of its employees are safe and unharmed following the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck central Chile on February 27, 2010, and that none of its telescopes were damaged.
The only effect seen was a power outage that cut observations for one night at La Silla, according to Universe Today. Paranal Observatory, the APEX telescope, and the ALMA Operations Support Facility and Array Operations Site were all unaffected, according to the report. That includes VISTA, plus the ‘Very Large Telescope‘ we’ve covered on numerous occasions, which includes four separate optical telescopes in an array (pictured).
The Gemini South Observatory also said that their employees were fine, and that the main 27-foot optical/infrared hybrid telescope located there suffered no damage, according to the same report. (Image credit: ESO/2009)

No Comments | Tags:
Feb 25

Astronaut Looks Out New Space Station Window

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
NASA_ISS_Cupola_Astronaut.jpg
“Hey mom! I’m in a space station!” OK, well, I’m not sure exactly what NASA astronaut and shuttle flight STS-130 commander George Zamka was thinking here–but it’s a great shot.
As Popular Science reports, the Feb. 19 photo shows Zamka looking out from the newly installed Cupola observation deck on the International Space Station, before heading home on shuttle Endeavor.
In addition to offering an expansive vista on the universe, Cupola aims to give residents of the space station better views to control the attached robotic arm, according to the report.
Astronauts completed the installation of the $27 million, 10-foot-wide Cupola observation deck on February 15. It features a 31-inch main window on top, plus six smaller windows around the sides.
No Comments | Tags:
Feb 23

SpaceX Moves New Rocket to Launch Pad

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, tesla, Today's Chili
SpaceX_Falcon9.jpg
Space Exploration Technologies, also known as SpaceX, is gearing up for final testing of its two-stage Falcon 9 rocket.
Space.com reports that the privately held firm–contracted by NASA, along with one other firm–is now sitting on top of its Florida launch pad, in preparation for a scheduled first flight later this year.
NASA has contracted the two firms for unmanned cargo shipments to the International Space Station on commercially built spaceships, the report said. SpaceX’s $1.6 billion contract calls for 12 missions.
SpaceX is one of former PayPal co-founder Elon Musk’s two largest current ventures, the other being electric sports car maker Tesla Motors.
No Comments | Tags:
Feb 22

NASA Launches Lunar Rover Simulator for iPhone

Posted in: iPhone, NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
NASA_LER_Simulator_iPhone.jpg
NASA has unveiled Lunar Electric Rover Simulator, a free iPhone game that lets players get a taste of what it would be like to support a functioning Lunar Outpost.
The game features an interactive Lunar Electric Rover viewer and separate simulator, multiple difficulty levels, and what appears to be a total lack of documentation–complete with an empty FAQ page. That’s OK, because the idea is so cool, we’ll let it slide.
NASA Lunar Electric Rover Simulator works on the iPhone and iPod touch, and requires iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later. Grab it now for free from Apple’s App Store.
No Comments | Tags:
Feb 22

Astronomers Discover Source of Cosmic Explosions

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
NASA_Chandra_Supernova2.jpg
Astronomers have used ever-mysterious supernovas to help measure the expansion of the universe for decades, but now may finally have an answer as to what causes them in the first place.
Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany studied Type 1a supernovae in Andromeda and five nearby elliptical galaxies, according to AFP. They found that almost all of them come from two white dwarf stars merge; if one comes from accretion, or the drawing in of material from a companion star, it would be 50 times brighter in x-rays, the report said.
White dwarf pairs are extremely rare, but the study–published in the February 18th edition of Nature–said that once white dwarfs spiral close enough to merge, the explosion occurs within a few tenths of a second. (Image credit: NASA/JPL/Chandra-Spitzer X-ray/Infrared hybrid)

No Comments | Tags:
Feb 19

NASA Releases First Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Images

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
NASA_WISE_Image.jpg
NASA has released the first images from WISE, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, a probe that first launched in mid-December–and they’re pretty striking.
The images include Andromeda, our nearest galaxy neighbor, as well as a comet and a “star factory” 20,000 light years away inside our own galaxy (pictured), as the BBC reports.
The report said Wise will continue to scan the skies through October, at which point its supply of frozen coolant will run out. By that point, Wise will have done one and a half complete scans of the sky.
Click here for more images at NASA’s Web site.
No Comments | Tags:
Feb 16

Astronauts Attach Room With a View to Space Station

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
NASA_Tranquility_ISS.jpg
NASA astronauts have finished attaching a new observation deck to the International Space Station after fighting three jammed bolts and a stuck capture mechanism.
The 1.6-ton, $27 million Cupola observation deck is now attached to the station’s new Tranquility module, a 24-foot-long room that’s about the size of a small bus, according to Space.com.
The new, 10-foot-wide observation deck will give astronauts unprecedented panoramic views of Earth and space. It features a 31-inch round window in the center, flanked by six smaller windows. The ESA built both Tranquility and Cupola, and are NASA’s last major pieces for the $100 billion ISS. (Image credit: NASA)
No Comments | Tags:
Feb 12

PCs Join Globally to Map the Milky Way

Posted in: science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
Milky_Way_Sloan.jpg
In the spirit of SETI@home–the decade-old distributed computing project dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life–over 17,000 people are now working together to help map the shape of the Milky Way, according to RPI (the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY).
The new MilkyWay@Home project focuses on the distribution of stars and mysterious dark matter in our own galaxy. The project uses the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) platform, the same one that provides the foundation for SETI@home, to create a three-dimensional model of the Milky Way based on data gathered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
To this end, MilkyWay@Home participants have so far combined to deliver over one petaflop of computing power. That effectively places this distributed ‘supercomputer’ at number two in the world in sheer speed, according to the report. For more information on the project, head to the main MilkyWay@home site, or grab the BOINC 6.10.21 client to participate. (Image credit: Sloan Digital Sky Survey)
No Comments | Tags:
Feb 11

Ground-Based Telescope Reveals Stunning Orion Nebula Image

Posted in: science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili

VISTA_Orion_Nebula.jpg

The orbiting Hubble Space Telescope isn’t the only way to get stunning images of distant objects.

This breathtaking photo of the Orion Nebula (M42), a stellar nursery about 1,350 light years from Earth, was taken by the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), the newest scope to grace the European Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, according to Space.com.

Orion is an easy target even for amateur astronomers using home-based telescopes. But VISTA’s image shows what those telescopes can’t: the large portion of Orion’s gas cloud that only reveals itself to detectors sensitive to longer, infrared wavelength radiation, the report said.

No Comments | Tags: