Aug 24
Right after Curiosity’s success, NASA has announced a new Mars mission called InSight. It will be a spacecraft designed to get deep under the surface of Mars and find some its hidden secrets. It will launch in 2014. More »
Aug 24
Our Milky Way galaxy is a spiral galaxy and as special as it is, it’s certainly not the only galaxy of its kind in the universe. Astronomers have announced the discovery of two galaxies that are nearly a perfect match for the Milky Way. According to astronomers, spiral galaxies are common, but these newfound twin galaxies share other key features of our Milky Way.
Key features shared with these newly discovered galaxies, and the Milky Way include the fact that the twin galaxies both have their own satellite galaxies. Astronomers say that those satellite galaxies are very similar to our neighboring large and small Magellanic Clouds. The scientists report that only about 3% of the galaxies in the universe that are similar to the Milky Way also have companion galaxies.
That means that spiral galaxies having companion galaxies similar to the Magellanic Clouds are very rare. According to the scientists, only 14 galaxies similar to the Milky Way have been discovered with only these two being nearly identical to our home galaxy. Scientists involved in the project used data from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey that maps out about 340,000 galaxies local to the Milky Way in the grand scale of the universe to make the discovery.
Interestingly, the researchers say that the Magellanic Clouds won’t be around forever. One researcher says our two cloud galaxy companions will only be around for a few billion years more. On a human scale of time, that might as well be forever.
[via Space.com]
Astronomers discover twins to our Milky Way galaxy is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Aug 23
The Drake Equation, developed by astronomer Frank Drake, is an equation that estimates how many alien civilizations might live in our galaxy. But the more we find out about the way of the milky, the less chance alien life exists. Just check out the difference between how much alien life existed before when the Drake Equation was invented and how much alien life is estimated to exist now. More »
Aug 23
What you’re about to see is a collection of photos taken by NASA and constructed into a video with extremely high definition by a fellow by the name of Daniel Luke Fitch. This guy is a visual effects producer for Altitude-FX that simply did what noone else took the time to do – took all the photographs that NASA’s Mars mission had sent back at full resolution while it was landing and turned them into one massive video. The video runs at 15 frames per second, that being just about 3 times the speed of the actual landing according to the space between photos from NASA.
What you’re going to find here is that if you’re afraid of heights, you’re going to hurl basically right away – that much is true. Otherwise there’s one astonishing bit of film magic going on here straight from the most awesome modern space mission we’ve ever had the pleasure of living through. The entire movie is just 50 seconds, but it’s the best 50 seconds you’ll spend on a YouTube video all day, guaranteed.
The real drop took around 7 minutes – that’s “Seven Minutes of Terror” for those of you that’ve been following NASA’s presentation of the whole mission from start to finish. You can also see NASA’s 3D rendering video of the landing below – it’s terrifying!
Also have a peek at our Curiosity collection with no less than a massive offering of stories and updates regarding this mission from start to – right where we are now. This mission has been a total success thus far and will certainly lead NASA into the future on a wave of hand claps and science love for some time to come.
Curiosity Mars descent gets 1080p video is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Aug 22
This afternoon the folks responsible for the NASA mission at their Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California announced that they’d begun to move forward on wheels. The Curiosity rover landed less than a month ago on the planet, it being another of NASA’s successful landings in what’s expected to be a long line of Mars explorations. The rover was announced today to have rolled forward about 15 feet before rotating its wheels 120 degrees and advancing another 8 feet in a new direction.
For the science fiction lovers amongst us there’s also the announcement made today that this mission’s managers have decided name the landing site “Bradbury Landing” in honor of the late writer. Ray Bradbury passed away this June and would have been 92 today, the day of this history next step in the NASA mission. Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA headquarters, made their intent clear today.
“We have truly extended our reach and touched another planet. Today would have been Ray Bradbury’s 92nd birthday, but he’s already reached immortality with the 100s of short stories he’s written and nearly 50 books. His books have truly inspired us. The Martian Chronicles have inspired our curiosity and opened our minds to the possibility of life on Mars. In his honor, we declared the place that Curiosity touched down to be forever known as Bradbury Landing.” – Meyer
Have a peek at the news conference given where the declaration was made and the team became the first in the universe to rove about the planet Mars.
Inside that conference you’ll see old footage – also included below – of Ray Bradbury reciting his poem “If only we had been taller” at an event at Caltech on the eve of the craft Mariner 9 heading to Mars in 1971. This event is epic as well, with his words containing the power to launch our ships of the future – proof is all around us!
[via NASA]
Curiosity becomes First roving machine on Mars is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Aug 22
Back in March of this year, NASA announced that it was conducting initial testing to prepare for a bigger test this summer having to do with a simulated mission to a near-Earth asteroid. The goal of the mission was to study the human factors that contribute to living and operating on the surface of an asteroid for an extended period. NASA has announced that the mission simulation is ready to kick off at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The Research and Technology Studies (RATS) test is designed to simulate a 10-day asteroid exploration simulation and kicked off this week. The test mission is being conducted in the Johnson Space Vehicle Mockup Facility. The test mission is part of the preparation to send a human to a near-Earth asteroid by the year 2025.
The simulated mission allows NASA to test new operations, concepts, and exploration techniques that will influence the real mission in the years to come. NASA will be using several different technologies to allow participants in the test mission to simulate life and work on the surface of an asteroid. As part of the test mission, a crew of five scientists and flight controllers will in pairs take turns sleeping, eating, exercising, and working inside the cabin of a multi-mission Space Exploration Vehicle.
Each pair of crewmembers will live inside the Space Exploration Vehicle for three days and two nights at a time. During the time inside the vehicle, the pair will evaluate the displays, controls, and views with the help of a video wall that contours around the vehicle window to show a simulated asteroid surface. That display is able to simulate the surface of an asteroid as the crewmembers inside the vehicle steer across it. The mission simulation will also involve simulated spacewalks on the asteroid surface using a virtual reality laboratory and Active Response Gravity Offload System. The system uses a virtual reality helmet and gloves to simulate movement on the asteroid surface and suspends astronauts from a special crane that offsets their weight to simulate microgravity.
NASA kicks off asteroid mission simulation at Johnson Space Center is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Aug 21
Curiosity rover flaunts its battle scar, wind sensor is bruised (but not broken)
Posted in: Today's Chili 
You can’t win ’em all. Such is the case with the Curiosity rover, anyway, as diagnostics have revealed that its wind sensors have sustained damage. NASA engineers aren’t fully sure what caused this minor setback to the otherwise successful landing, but hypothesize that stones might’ve been kicked up during the rocket-powered landing, which then struck the sensor’s wiring. Fortunately, there’s already someone on the job, as Javier Gomez-Elvira is investigating the damage with the intent of restoring the lost functionality. Another NASA scientist, Ashwin Vasavada, believes the issue is rather minor: “It degrades our ability to detect wind speed and direction when the wind is blowing from a particular direction, but we think we can work around that.”
The broken instrument was initially discovered as part of NASA’s routine power-cycling of all instrumentation, so as to determine an overall bill of health for the rover. Now that Curiosity has earned its battle scars, it can hold its head high during its journey to Glenelg and Mount Sharp.
Filed under: Science
Curiosity rover flaunts its battle scar, wind sensor is bruised (but not broken) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 19:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Aug 21
This futuristic black and white image was taken today by one of the navigation cameras on NASA’s Curiosity rover. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab are wiggling front left wheel in the Mars gravel as vehicle gets ready to start out on its first drive soon. The dots on the wheel stand for JPL, because NASA won’t let the lab attach its logo. And though the pic is low res, it’s inspiringly beautiful. Who knew Ansel Adams was on board? [NASA via @AlexisMadrigal] More »
Aug 21
This week the folks at NASA are detailing one of several proposals they’ve had prepared for future missions to heavenly bodies inside our solar system, the most exciting these being another mission to none other than Mars! This mission has been dubbed InSight and will be launching in March of 2016. The InSight mission is not set to study the surface of the Red Planet as their current mission is with the Curiosity rover, instead they’ll be studying the interior of the planet – getting down deep inside!
This Mars exploration mission has been approved by NASA and certainly springs forth from the success of the current mission that has the group exploring the planet as we speak. Head to our Curiosity collection to see the many fabulous moments in the past few weeks that surround NASA’s success in becoming, once again, the only group to have successfully landed and explored that particular rocky mass.
On the other hand, Amina Khan of the LA Times has spoken this week with scientists at NASA who claim that, “the decision to fund another Mars mission at JPL in La Cañada Flintridge had nothing to do with Curiosity’s successful landing in Gale Crater two weeks ago.” John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, spoke on the matter, saying that this InSight mission was decided upon well in advance of the August 5th landing. This was done so that no matter what the outcome of the first landing, the second mission would not be affected.
InSight is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. In the mission, researchers will be using a lander to find new information now how rocky planets such as Mars and Earth were formed. The lander will be burrowing as deep as 16 feet below the surface of the planet Mars and will be studying heat flowing underground as well as how Mars moons affect tidal forces on the planet.
This mission will cost $425-million and is part of the Discovery program, the same program that launched the first successful rover to Mars in 1997.
[via NASA]
NASA InSight mission approved: we’re heading back to Mars in 2016 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Aug 21
Cosmonauts on ISS take a spacewalk
Posted in: Today's ChiliI think one of the coolest things an astronaut or cosmonaut can ever do is take a spacewalk. Being out in space floating above the Earth would have to be one of the most amazing experiences any human could have. Yesterday a pair of Russian cosmonauts living on the international space station took a spacewalk to upgrade some components on the space station.
The cosmonauts who participated on the spacewalk were Gennady Padalka and Yuri Malenchenko. The pair were expected to be outside the ISS for about 6 1/2 hours to complete maintenance and repairs on the exterior of the space station. The Russian cosmonauts ventured outside the ISS after exiting the Pirs module wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits.
The spacewalk was the first for the Expedition 32 mission. Another spacewalk for the mission will be conducted by two other astronauts for NASA on August 30. Padalka and Malenchenko focused on installing new micrometeoroid debris shields over certain parts of the Russian Zvezda service module. The cosmonauts also moved a hand-operated crane called the Strela-2 from the Pirs docking module to the Zarya control module.
Once the primary mission goals for the spacewalk were completed, the cosmonauts were going to try to retrieve a pair of science experiments from the outside of space station. The experiments included panels that were being used to determine how different materials reacted in the vacuum of space. If the cosmonauts were able to find themselves with even more time, they were planning to launch a small spherical satellite from the ISS.
[via Space.com]
Cosmonauts on ISS take a spacewalk is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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