May 05

Plasma Rocket Could Get Asteroid Mission

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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VASIMR, the plasma rocket capable of reducing travel time to Mars by over 80 percent, may soon get its own dedicated mission to visit an asteroid, according to Discovery News.
Originally, VASIMR (the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) was being built as a spare for another heading to the International Space station. But by heading for an asteroid, it could serve as a powerful demonstration of VASIMR’s plasma-based technology, the report said.
“The engine is actually firing right now,” VASIMR inventor and physicist Franklin Chang-Diaz told Discovery News. “We have lots of hurdles and challenges; we have lots of work to do. But if you look at what has happened in the last five years since we left NASA, it’s been amazing.”
VASIMR is on target for a 2014 launch to the space station; Chang-Diaz is building two engine spares, one of which could set sail for a completely different mission that NASA doesn’t invest in. Check out the full report for details.
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May 04

Blizzard Rages on Saturn

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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And here you thought the D.C. area “snowmageddon” was big–this one is about five times its size.
NASA astronomers and amateur skywatchers are currently transfixed by a massive blizzard raging on Saturn, one that’s large enough to see from Earth, Space.com reports.
The good news is that we can get much more detail about the storm, courtesy of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which is currently orbiting Saturn. However, NASA was first tipped off by amateur astronomers here on Earth, the report said.
Part of the problem is that Cassini’s imaging and spectrometer observations are locked in place months in advance, while the storm may appear and disappear in a matter of weeks. Cassini has other instruments dedicated to gathering weather-related data just like this, though, and is currently having a field day with the storm.
(The above image is from amateur astronomer Christopher Go, courtesy of NASA/JPL Caltech/GSFC).
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May 04

Look Out: Zombie Satellite Out of Control in Orbit

Posted in: satellite, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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An intense solar storm in early April may have knocked an Intelsat communications satellite out of its orbit, and could cause possible signal interference with other nearby spacecraft, Space.com reports.
“In what industry officials called an unprecedented event, Intelsat’s Galaxy 15 communications satellite has remained fully ‘on,’ with its C-band telecommunications payload still functioning even as it has left its assigned orbital slot of 133 degrees west longitude 36,000 kilometers over the equator.”
The report said that the satellite, launched in 2005, first stopped communicating with ground controllers last month, and that it has begun moving eastward into the path of other satellites.
Everyone is apprised of the situation, including competing firms. The satellite is still pointing towards Earth, and will likely continue to do so until late July or August, assuming ground control can’t recover it before then.
The satellite was built by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia; the first possible satellite in its path is the AMC-11 C-band satellite, owned by SES of Luxembourg. (Image credit: Orbital Sciences/Intelsat 18 rendering)

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May 03

Avatar Director, NASA Building 3-D Mars Rover Camera

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of Avatar and Titantic, has linked up with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to build a high resolution 3-D camera for Curiosity, the next-generation Mars rover, Discovery News reports.
Malin Space Science Systems, the company behind the fixed-focal-length lens cameras for the rover, will build the actual 3-D mast camera as well, with Cameron listed as “co-investigator,” the report said.
Back in 1999, Cameron produced a TV mini-series and an IMAX film depicting the first humans to live on Mars. No word yet on what kind of glasses we’re all going to need to see the 3-D images coming down from the rover for the first time.
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Apr 30

NASA Refutes Claims of Life on Mars

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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NASA is strongly refuting claims circulating in the intertubes that it has just discovered life on Mars.
On Wednesday, the U.K.’s “The Sun” newspaper ran an article entitled, “NASA: Evidence of Life on Mars,” saying that the agency had discovered “compelling evidence” for organisms, Space.com reports.
NASA officials and veteran Mars scientists alike are all saying that it’s not true. “This headline is extremely misleading,” said Dwayne Brown, a NASA spokesperson, in the report. “This makes it sound like we announced that we found life on Mars, and that is absolutely, positively false.”
The piece reported that the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity discovered pond scum, which the paper said contains “the building blocks of life as we know it.” But Steve Squyres, the mission’s principal investigator, disputed the claim. “I can only assume that the Sun reporter misunderstood,” Squyres said in the report. “What Spirit and Opportunity have found is sulfate minerals… not organic materials, not pond scum, and not the building blocks of life as we know it.”
Back in 1996, NASA did announce that they found evidence of life on Mars on a Martian rock, but over the course of the following decade, many scientists found non-living explanations for the rock’s various markings, as the report points out. (Image credit: NASA)
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Apr 30

James Cameron convinces NASA to use 3D camera on next Mars mission

Posted in: camera, NASA, space, Today's Chili

What do you do once you’ve broken your own record for the world’s highest-grossing picture film? Well, you go offworld, of course. James Cameron, in his infinite benevolence and multidimensional wisdom, has convinced NASA bigwigs not to forgo the inclusion of a high-res 3D camera on the Curiosity (aka Mars Science Laboratory) rover, which is set to depart for the red planet in 2011. Budget overruns had led to the scrapping of the autostereoscopic idea, but the director-man — who has been involved with this project for a good few years now — felt the results of the mission would be far more engaging if people could see them in 3D. Hey, if he can make us watch the Blue Man Group reenactment of Fern Gully, don’t bet on Cameron failing to make extraterrestrial rubble interesting with his 3D voodoo.

James Cameron convinces NASA to use 3D camera on next Mars mission originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 05:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 29

NASA to Amp Up Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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Alien life is making news lately, and now NASA looks to lead the charge.
The agency announced eight possible missions Wednesday that would closely examine tiny microorganisms and minerals, according to CNN.
“Astrobiology and the search for life is central to many of the most important missions that we are studying,” Steve Squyres, the Cornell astronomer leading the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, said on a conference call with reporters.
The missions include robotic soil sample-and-return missions to Mars, and looking for life in water on distant moons, the report said. Specifically, they include sending landers to Mercury, analyzing methane on Mars, probing Europa’s oceans, searching for organic materials on Titan, and more closely examining comets.
None of the missions have been approved, according to the report. Separately, Squyres announced Wednesday that in an effort to maximize newly limited budgets, NASA is considering a plan to stretch out missions to return samples from Mars into three parts, Reuters reports. (Image credit: NASA/Terrestrial Planet Finder concept)
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Apr 29

Frosty Asteroid Points to Origin of Earths Oceans

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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It’s well known that comets are made primarily of ice. But the recent discovery of frost on an asteroid–the first ever–has scientists looking for clues that icy rocks could have been the source of the Earth’s oceans, Scientific American reports.
Two studies in the journal Nature detail how scientists have used an infrared telescope to spectroscopically examine asteroid 24 Themis’s surface, the report said. The resulting chemical signature looked like a match for water ice.
Previously, asteroids were thought to be free of ice. 24 Themis first attracted attention because all of its neighbors are icy comets.
The asteroid is one of the largest in the belt just outside Mars, with a diameter of 129 miles. Let’s hope that one stays away from Earth. (Artist concept credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle)

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Apr 29

Japan sending humanoid robot to the moon by 2015

Posted in: robot, space, Today's Chili


As the US prepares to send NASA’s humanoid Robonaut2 up to the International Space Station in September, Japan’s private SOHLA (Space Oriented Higashiosaka Leading Association) is gearing up to send its own two-legged robot to the moon by 2015. The $10.5 million robot named “Maido-kun” is being developed in coordination with the Space Exploration Agency of Japan (JAXA), an organization that has been trying to send robots to the moon since at least 2006. Oh sure, there’s little reason to send a wobbling two-legged robotic rover to the crater-pocked face of the moon when four-on-the-floor would be much more practical — other than it’s awesome.

Japan sending humanoid robot to the moon by 2015 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 28

Scientists: Some Moon Craters May Be Electrified

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

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New NASA calculations show that the moon’s north and south poles may be a little more interesting than previously thought–and perhaps even dangerous.
Solar winds streaming over the craggy lunar surface may be strong enough to electrically charge polar crater on the moon, Space.com reports. That’s despite the presence of water ice; scientists believe it’s because of the moon’s orientation to the sun, which keeps the craters shielded and brings temperatures down to minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit, the report said. 
That’s enough to store water for billions of years, but the addition of solar winds presents additional problems for astronauts, said NASA lead author William Farrell in the article.
“Our research suggests that, in addition to the wicked cold, explorers and robots at the bottoms of polar lunar craters may have to contend with a complex electrical environment as well, which can affect surface chemistry, static discharge, and dust cling,” Farrell said.
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