Hasta La Gadget!

Scientists have discovered some buried channels on Mars that show signs of flooding on the planet. The flood channels were discovered near Mars’s equator along a region called Elysium Planitia, one of the youngest volcanic region on the planet. The scientists are currently looking into the cause of the floods, and how they relate to the climate changes on the planet. So far, scientists believe that the flood waters originated from a deep water reservoir that was released by tectonic or volcanic activity.

Scientists from NASA, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado were able to discover the buried flood channels thanks to the advancement of 3D mapping. They used the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Shallow Radar (SHARAD) to analyze the channels. They believe that the channels are a result of catastrophic flooding on the planet in the past 500 million years.

The scientists were able to discover that there were two different phases in the formation of the flood channels. One of the phases was the etching of small channels through the process of anastomising, or etching through a series of smaller branching. This process allowed water to flow through the four streamlined islands on Mars. The second phase was the carving of the flood channels.

Thanks to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its Shallow Radar, scientists were able to discover the multiple layers to these channels. This new discovery will help scientists figure out the history of water on Mars, and which “recent hydrologic activity prevailed” during Mars’s cold and dry period. The team of scientists published their findings in the March 7th issue of the journal ‘Science’.

[via NASA]

Buried flood channels discovered on Mars is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A couple of weeks ago, NASA announced that it would be conducting a live Google+ Hangout from the International Space Station today starting at 10:30 am ET. Of course, the space agency is sticking to their promise and have officially started the Hangout, which means you can watch live as astronauts answer all your hankering questions.

Astronauts Kevin Ford, Tom Marshburn, and Chris Hadfield are answering questions from now until approximately 11:30 am ET. The team is answering both pre-recorded questions sent in via YouTube, as well as live questions from social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and of course Google+. We’ve embedded the live stream below for your viewing pleasure.

UPDATE: The Hangout is now over, but you can watch the whole thing below if you ended up missing it.

The deadline for submitting video questions has already passed, but you can still submit live questions via social media sites using the #askAstro hashtag, but don’t be upset if the astronauts don’t end up getting to your question — we’re sure they have thousands of other questions to pick from.

Overall, it should be an interesting talk with the astronauts, who will mostly discuss what it’s like in space, and what it’s like to feel weightless in zero gravity. Of course, if you follow soon-to-be ISS commander Chris Hadfield on Twitter, he usually provides sneak peeks inside the ISS every once in a while.

NASA’s ISS Google+ Hangout is live right now [UPDATE] is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

ISS astronaut — and soon to be commander — Chris Hadfield announced on Friday that he’d be conducting a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) on February 17. True to his promise, Hadfield showed up and answered questions from eager minds wanting to know what it’s like to be in space. Hadfield ended up answering quite a bevy of questions, dealing with his fears in space, the dangers involved, and even giving advice to those young ones seeking to be astronauts in the future.

Hadfield says that the scariest thing that he’s seen in space so far was a large meteorite burning up in front of him, which sent a “shiver up [his] back” as he imagined the meteorite coming towards the ISS instead. That’s definitely a legit fear, since Hadfield even said that micro-meteorites hit the station at times, leaving dents and tiny holes on the exterior and the solar panels.

As for the biggest danger living in space, Hadfield says that it’s the initial launch into space where the risk is at its highest, due to “all that power and acceleration.” Once that’s over, though, Hadfield notes that it’s just a “steady threat of radiation, meteorite impacts, and vehicle system failure like fire or ammonia breakthrough.”

Hadfield even was willing to give some advice to young up-and-comers who want to be astronauts when they grow up. Hadfield’s advice? Pretty much what we expected: Eat healthy, exercise on a regular basis, be smart and do your homework, and be trustworthy. Of course, all of this is good advice for anyone, but it goes double for astronauts.

When asked how the Earth looks from space, Hadfield broke out his poetic prowess and explained the experience in as much detail as possible. He says that the world “looks like a carpet of countless tiny perfect unblinking lights in endless velvet, with the Milky Way as a glowing area of paler texture.”

ISS astronaut Chris Hadfield talks fears, dangers, and advice on Reddit is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Today you’re in for a treat if you’re interested in seeing massive hunks of space debris fly past our planet thanks to NASA. The NASA team has put together a live video stream for your enjoyment, showing the Earth flyby in real time today at 2:25 p.m. EST. For those of you wondering – no, there is no chance that this asteroid will be colliding with our planet, so you can rest easy.

The NASA Near-Earth Object Program Office has let it be known that they’ve successfully been able to predict the path of the 2012 DA14 thus far, and have no reason to believe it’ll be changing to a collision course with the planet at any time. On the other hand, this asteroid will be passing so close to the Earth that it will be inside our planet’s massive ring of geosynchronous weather and communications satellites – so if you’ve got any rogue spaceships up there you’ve been meaning to move, you should probably have already done so.

At this point in time – 11:21 AM PST you’ll see the image above showing how NASA puts the 2012 DA14 asteroid at a point closer to the Earth than we are to any of our other planetary cousins. Have a peek at the live stream here as well:

Let us know what you think of this big event and how awesome you feel it is that we’re able to watch the whole thing on the web! This sort of asteroid movement has previously been broadcast on every sort of set all the way back to black and white television, with NASA behind the helm all the way. Have a peek at the timeline below for more information on recent asteroid or meteor happenings as they occurred in our solar system over the past few weeks and months as well!

UPDATE: you can follow the asteroid in a fabulous computer simulation in NASA’s “Eyes on the Solar System” web app as well. It’s a must-see sort of situation – you can ride along with the rock!

Near-Earth Asteroid DA14 live video stream shown by NASA is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This morning a meteorite has broken up over central Russia in a shockwave blast that lit up the sky and caused damage to the bodies of 500 citizens nearby. Though this news bit may seem like science fiction from the latest blockbuster apocalypse movie, it’s the real deal. According to reports from the region, this former chunk of space debris was right around the size of a sports utility vehicle before it shattered entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

Another much larger mass is passing by the Earth today in what asteroid expert Richard Binzel of MIT notes is almost certainly an unrelated incident. This larger asteroid conglomeration called 2012 DA14 is closer in size to a 13-story-sized building and will be passing by the Earth nearly 24 hours after the Russian mass. 2012 DA14 will pass within 17,000 miles of our planet at right around 2:24 PM EST today, February 15th, 2013.

According to Binzel speaking with USA Today, “we just have the incredible coincidence of this happening just before the asteroid flies by.” The Russian meteorite entered Earth’s atmosphere and bits crash landed across Chelyabinsk. This little beast has been estimated at entering the atmosphere at 33,000 mph and has been captured, believe it or not, in a collection of home-made videos filmed by citizens around the area. Have a peek at a couple here:

Above: Here you’ll hear the shockwave – or multiple shocks, that is – along with the dust left by the material entering the atmosphere.

Above: In this vehicle dash-based camera capture you’ll see the meteor enter the vehicle’s line of view, light up the sky, and continue its journey downward in a lovely arc.

Astronomers will be attempting to recover the bits of matter left by the Russian meteor for study as soon as possible. According to a Rueters report, citizens like Viktor Prokofiev saw the heavenly body enter the atmosphere clearly: “I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day. I felt like I was blinded by headlights.”

Above: Security camera footage shows meteor lighting up the sky.

Head of the Emergencies Ministry in Chelyabinsk Yuri Burenko spoke up as well, noting the rarity of this type of situation happening in Russia: “There have never been any cases of meteorites breaking up at such a low level over Russia before.” This same Emergencies Ministry described the event as a “meteor shower in the form of fireballs” but made it clear that “background radiation levels were normal.”

At this very moment final estimates for the amount of damage and injuries are not to be had, but according to Rueters, more than 500 people have been “hurt.” We’ll be checking back throughout the day with updates – stay tuned to SlashGear for more.

UPDATE 10:36 AM CST: The Washington Post now reports that 1,000 people have been injured by the blast.

UPDATE 10:45 AM CST: New home video surfaces (seen below). According to local news group Pravda a partial evacuation was conducted in Chelyabinsk and the police were set to high alert. A “Fortress” plan was enacted and “all vital facilities of the city were taken under additional protection.” It’s also been reported the the area is “currently” being inspected by three aircraft and 20,000 EMERCOM personnel. EMERCOM is Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Situations.

UPDATE 10:50 AM CST: Another video with the first major sonic boom surfaces.

UPDATE 11:00 AM CST: A video has surfaced showing the initial boom with glass breaking in nearby buildings – a must see!

Russian meteor injures 500-1,000 in shockwave blast [updates live] is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.