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Monday, 27 October 2008
Internet co-founder Vint Cerf has revealed plans to create an Interplanetary Internet that will provide astronauts, spacecraft and robotic rovers a permanent, reliable communications network and put and end to the need for costly, tailor-made solutions. Monday, 29 September 2008
SpaceX today made history with a successful launch of their Falcon 1 rocket. It has set a new record, becoming the first ever privately developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit the Earth. This was the company’s fourth attempt at reaching orbit. The last rocket in August failed with a payload of two NASA satellites and the ashes of 208 people, including those of Star Trek’s James “Scotty” Doohan. Thursday, 31 July 2008
The USAF has a new weapon that could take care of those who speak ill of the United States. In partnership with Boeing, they have developed the world’s first unmanned military spaceplane which will launch before the end of this year. The spaceplane is designed to be reusable, being capable of numerous takeoffs and runway landings. The objective for its first mission reads like cryptic military parlance; risk reduction and experimentation. The launch is scheduled for November on the back of an Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, stealing the reserved launch slot of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter which got bumped to early 2009. Is it really a stretch to see this spaceplane rigged with Boeing’s death-ray lasers and covertly targeting weapons factories, airborne missiles, political targets or even dissidents on the surface? Scary! Sources: Tuesday, 3 June 2008
The Space Shuttle Discovery’s astronauts prepared on Tuesday for the first spacewalk of their mission plus the installation of Japan’s huge Kibo lab to the International Space Station (ISS). The shuttle docked with the space station Monday and now spacewalkers Ronald Garan Jr and Michael Fossum are preparing the $1 billion lab for installation. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will then use the station’s robotic arm to attach the lab to the International Space Station. “Obviously its gonna be a really big day for Japan, they’ve been working very hard on this module and all of the systems in it,” said ISS flight director Emily Nelson. Kibo, which is Japanese for hope, is 37 feet long, making it bigger than the European and U.S. labs already in place. About an hour before they docked, Discovery was positioned so that its underside could be photographed by ISS astronauts. This has become a regular safety feature to ensure the shuttle is free of damage before re-entry. As well as preparing the installation of Kibo, the spacewalkers need to clean a jammed solar rotating joint and remove an inspection boom they will need next week to check for damage to the Discovery’s nose cap and wings. The boom was left behind by the last crew as Kibo took up all the room in the payload bay. Discovery brought with it badly-needed supplies including parts to fix a high-tech Russian space toilet. The astronauts had rigged-up a temporary bypass for liquid waste when the ISS commode broke down last week. There were about five pieces of insulating foam that broke free from Discovery’s fuel tank during liftoff but does not appear to have caused any damage. The focus lies on the flame trench which suffered the worst launch pad damage in 27 years. A large section measuring 75 feet by 20 feet broke away plus concrete mortar and pieces of the heat-resistant fire bricks were found over 1,800 feet away, beyond the chain-link barrier fence. The trench does not appear to have damaged the shuttle. The trench dates back to the Apollo era in the 1960s and is designed to deflect the exhaust of the booster rockets. Sources: Related Articles: Monday, 26 May 2008
NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander successfully touched down on the Martian planet on Sunday and sent through its first images. “It’s surprisingly close to what we expected and that’s what surprises me most,” said the mission’s principal investigator, Peter Smith. “I expected a bigger surprise.” The landing ends the probe’s 296-day journey to the Red Planet’s arctic plains with a landing that was right on target. NASA’s Ed Weiler, compared the feat to landing a hole-in-one from 10,000 miles away with a golf ball. At mission control, (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California) they celebrated the successful landing but the team is waiting anxiously for the next set of indicators to verify the health of the lander. NASA was nervous about the landing and justifiably so. Phoenix’s twin, named Polar, malfunctioned during its decent in 1999 and crashed. Another spacecraft, the Mars Climate Orbiter also failed the same year. Project manager for the Phoenix mission, Barry Goldstein told CNN. “It was better than we could have imagined,” referring to the landing. During its journey, the Phoenix depended on electricity from solar panels built into the craft’s cruise stage. This was jettisoned seven minutes before entering the Martian atmosphere. Batteries are providing the craft with electricity until its own pair of solar arrays are spread open. The Phoenix will remain on Mars for 90 days, analysing the permafrost and soil for signs of life – past or present. “We are not going to be able to answer the final question of is there life on Mars,” said Peter Smith, principal investigator and optical scientist with the University of Arizona. “We will take the next important step. We’ll find out if there’s organic material associated with this ice in the polar regions. Ice is a preserver, and if there ever were organics on Mars and they got into that ice, they will still be there today.” Photo credit: NASA | SUBSCRIBE:  Stay up to date! Get Mark's Technology News updates via RSS Or, grab your updates via email. Your email address: Compare Prices with Twenga Top Sections ARCHIVES: RECENT COMMENTS: MTN Is Listed At: | |
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