Feb 23

SpaceX Moves New Rocket to Launch Pad

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, tesla, Today's Chili
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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.
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Feb 22

NASA Launches Lunar Rover Simulator for iPhone

Posted in: iPhone, NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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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.
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Feb 22

Astronomers Discover Source of Cosmic Explosions

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

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Feb 19

NASA Releases First Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Images

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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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.
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Feb 16

Astronauts Attach Room With a View to Space Station

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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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)
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Feb 12

Summer-loving NASA engineers launch SDO probe to worship the sun (video)

Posted in: NASA, satellite, Today's Chili
Summer-loving NASA engineers launch SDO probe to worship the sun (video)

Say all you want about how bad your local forecast is, it’s way more accurate than our local solar forecast. The last time we checked, solar storms are said to knock out GPS temporarily sometime in the next two years — the kind of window that would make even the most suave meteorologist smirk. With the launch of the new Solar Dynamics Observatory we’re hoping NASA can shrink that window down by, oh, at least a few months. The probe lifted off yesterday, perched atop an Atlas V rocket, and is now orbiting Earth. There it will study our sun with a series of optical and magnetic sensors, beaming data back at a rate of 150MBit/sec, making us ever so slightly jealous that this thing can get a better signal in space than we can down here on the surface. The launch fireworks are embedded below for those who weren’t glued to NASA TV yesterday morning.

[Thanks, Pavel]

Continue reading Summer-loving NASA engineers launch SDO probe to worship the sun (video)

Summer-loving NASA engineers launch SDO probe to worship the sun (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 05

How the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Will Revolutionize Our Understanding of the Sun

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

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Yesterday I blogged about next Tuesday’s launch of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which I’ll be attending as a Twitter correspondent, and the spate of educational events and tweetups around the world that will accompany the launch. So why is this mission important enough to garner all this attention, and for NASA to deem it the crown jewel of its solar science space fleet?

THe SDO will image the Sun at a far greater resolution than previous missions, and take images and measurements at much shorter intervals. This will let scientists look at short-term changes in the Sun’s brightness, appearance, and magnetic field in unprecedented detail, and should allow them to better understand the processes that drive solar activity and produce the “space weather” that can, upon reaching our world, cause geomagnetic storms that endanger astronauts and satellites, disrupt radio communications, and cause power surges or blackouts.

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Feb 05

Hubble Catches Pluto Changing Color

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

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Could it be revenge for being demoted to “dwarf planet” status in 2006? New Hubble Space Telescope photos show that Pluto has turned redder–as if it were angry–and its ice sheets are also shifting around, according to the Associated Press.

In recent photos, Pluto is turning up significantly redder than it has during the past several decades. It still looks vaguely yellow-orange, but astronomers claim there is about 20 percent more red pigment in there than there was before, the report said. This is despite the fact that a “season” lasts 120 years in some regions of the planet.

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Feb 04

Multiple Tweetups Planned for Solar Dynamics Observatory Launch

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

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Next Monday and Tuesday, I’ll be in Cape Canaveral as a Twitter correspondent for a two-day event culminating with the launch (if all stays on schedule) of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). I was one of 15 lucky people chosen at random, according to NASA, from a pool of applicants to attend and tweet about SDO’s launch. Fifty other twitter-folk were chosen for a simultaneous two-day tweetup at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, where SDO was designed and assembled, and from where it will be managed after its launch.

On the day of the launch, several dozen schools, astronomy clubs, and individuals are hosting their own SDO events, with NASA’s support, encouragement, and educational materials. Although most are in the U.S., these tweetups will span the globe, with events scheduled in at least five continents.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
is scheduled to be launched from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch
Complex 41 at around 11 a.m. February 9 atop an Atlas V rocket. It will
be placed in a geosynchronous orbit, where it will be prepped to begin
its nominal 5-year mission to study the sun.

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Feb 04

NASA and GM Create Humanoid Robot

Posted in: NASA, robot, Robots Robotics, Space Tech, Today's Chili

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The impending robot takeover gets closer: NASA and GM have developed and built Robonaut 2, a second generation humanoid robot that is faster, more dexterous, and more technologically advanced than before. Both companies said that the new robot can use its hands to do work, and even work safely alongside people. OR SO THEY SAY.

“This cutting-edge robotics technology holds great promise, not only for NASA, but also for the nation,” said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, in a statement. “I’m very excited about the new opportunities for human and robotic exploration these versatile robots provide across a wide range of applications.”

NASA and GM hope their robotics partnership–through a Space Act Agreement at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston–will lead to advanced safety systems for future vehicles, improved safety and efficiency in manufacturing plants, and in space, the ability to aid astronauts during hazardous missions. I’m not scared at all.

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