Hasta La Gadget!

NASA‘s Cassini mission has been spending some time looking at one of Saturn’s moons — specifically Enceladus, which is quite a unique piece of rock. What makes it so unique is the collection of water vapor geysers that are bunched up together at one portion of the moon, making it look like a propelled bubble that you’d find in the game Osmos.

These geysers were confirmed back in 2005, and it’s said that there are at least 98 geysers all located near the moon’s south pole, and the photo above does a great job showing off the beauty of water vapor shooting out of the moon’s surface. You can easily tell that the plume is has large as the diameter of the moon itself.

Since confirming the geysers in 2005, scientists have been continually trying to learn more about how they behave and where they are coming from. As of right now, the theory behind the geysers is that Enceladus has a liquid subsurface ocean, and pressure from the surface layers above that force the water up through surface cracks and out into space.

As far as what the plumes consist of, the Cassini space craft has flown through the geysers before and has determined that it’s a combination of water, organic material, and salt levels similar to that of our own oceans here on Earth. If the geyser indeed shoots the water vapor as far high as the diameter of the moon, that means that we’re looking at geysers that shoot plumes approximately 300 miles in the air.

[via Universe Today]

Saturn’s Enceladus rocket moon shows the beauty of space geysers is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While NASA shut down the Space Shuttle program in 2011, they have still been sending astronauts to the International Space Station and back. However, they’ve been sending them to Russia in order to hop on a Soyuz rocket, but that doesn’t seem to be the exact solution that NASA wants. The organizations plans to launch manned space flights in the US again, but the timing as been delayed into 2017.

NASA has a developed a plan to replace the space shuttle by paying private space companies like SpaceX to send astronauts to the ISS. However, due to government budget cuts, the original 2015 date when we would see this happen has been delayed two years into 2017. As a result, NASA has had to pay the Roscosmos Space Agency $424 million to extend their contract into 2017.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that “it is unacceptable that we don’t currently have an American capability to launch our own astronauts.” Bolden and company is calling upon Congress to approve President Obama’s budget request of $821 million for NASA, or else there will be further delays past 2017 to launch astronauts from the US.

At least we have an American company sending and bringing back cargo off the ISS. SpaceX, which was founded by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, has completed several resupply missions to the ISS so far, and NASA hopes soon that SpaceX rockets will be carrying astronauts up into space within the next few years.

NASA extends contract with Russia as US-based launches get delayed is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A hurricane is an impressive display of the power of nature, an unfortunate reality that sometimes causes more than its fair share of damage and grief. While we’re all familiar with what a hurricane on our own planet looks like, hurricanes on other planets have been something of a mystery. That changed this month when NASA got the first-ever detailed look at a hurricane that took place on Saturn.

As it turns out, a hurricane on Saturn looks remarkably similar. Said California Institute of Technology’s Andrew Ingersoll, who was on the team responsible for imaging the storm: “We did a double take when we saw this vortex because it looks so much like a hurricane on Earth. But there it is at Saturn, on a much larger scale, and it is somehow getting by on the small amounts of water vapor in Saturn’s hydrogen atmosphere.”

Both images and a video were captured of the hurricane, which NASA reports as having an eye 20x bigger than a typical Earth hurricane at 1,250 miles across. The storm took place in what is known as a hexagon weather pattern, six-sided and with thin outer clouds swirling around at 330mph. And unlike hurricanes that take place on our planet, the hurricane on Saturn is stuck to its north pole region rather than traveling.

One of the scientists’ goals is to figure out how the hurricane is created and sustained in the relative absence of water. Learning how the hurricane utilizes water vapors to form – especially given its overall larger and more powerful nature than our own – will help researchers understand the function of hurricanes on our own planet. The content was captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

[via NASA]

NASA gets first ever look at hurricane on Saturn is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Space is a dangerous world. Debris is flying around everywhere, including small space rocks (read: bits of asteroid or meteoroid), which means that the International Space Station is constantly prone to getting hit by these small objects, and when you’re traveling at 4.8 miles per second, even small objects can have a big impact. ISS Commander Chris Hadfield tweeted a photo of a hole in the one of the solar panels where a space rock ripped through.

Few details are known at this point, but Hadfield referred to the damage on the solar panel as a “bullet hole,” and said that he was “glad it missed the hull.” We’re not sure exactly what would happen if a small rock like that collided with the ISS hull, but judging from Hadfield’s sigh of relief, nothing good would come out of it.

We’re guessing that the hole didn’t cause too much severe damage to the solar panel, or else the ISS would be in deep trouble. We’re not sure how large the small hole is, but it doesn’t look big at all — merely a small speck compared to the sheer size of the solar panels on the station.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Hadfield has talked about small meteoroids hitting the ISS. He hosted a Reddit AmA back in February where he discussed “micro-meteorites would sometimes hit the hull and make a loud “ping” noise, which leaves dents on the outside of the station. However, Hadfield notes that a larger piece of rock could come along and cause greater damage.

Space rock rips through ISS solar panel, gives hull a miss is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Earlier this month, we told you about a Mars initiative where a non-profit company called Mars One would be planning to send astronauts to Mars on a one-way trip to colonize the red planet. The company is expecting a lot of applications — up in the seven-digit range, and they may reach that goal, because 20,000 people have already applied in just three days.

The plan is to put astronauts on Mars by 2023, and they will begin the recruitment process in July. The company began accepting video applications last week, and anyone can apply, but there’s an application fee of $25, which is there to prevent spammers and those not serious about joining the expedition from applying.

The money earned from application fees are predicted to reach in the millions of dollars, and that money will be spent to help fund the entire project. Essentially, those who apply will have to agree to fly to Mars and say there for the rest of their lives, helping build a colony on the red planet in the meantime.

Mars One will narrow down its applicants to a short list of 24 to 40 applicants, with the final group being selected by a TV audience. The final group will be the first group to head to Mars. The short list of candidates is said to be selected by July 2015, so if you plan on applying, you’ll be waiting a couple years before you hear back, giving all new meaning to the hiring phrase, “we’ll let you know.”

[via io9]

One-way Mars trip sees thousands of astronaut applications is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.