astronomy & space stuff
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Lost Cause
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With captured Nazi tech....
Fifty years ago today, the world changed forever. What began as a science experiment, quickly evolved into a political competition, and then drove humankind as far as the Moon in less than 12 years.
http://www******.com/php/multimedia...+images.+Credit:+Russian+Federal+Space+Agency
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/features/sounds/sputnik-photo.gif
Fifty years ago today, the world changed forever. What began as a science experiment, quickly evolved into a political competition, and then drove humankind as far as the Moon in less than 12 years.
http://www******.com/php/multimedia...+images.+Credit:+Russian+Federal+Space+Agency
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/features/sounds/sputnik-photo.gif
Lost Cause
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I can't believe we missed this one-
A back door to anti-gravity physics?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Scientists_make_water_defy_gravity/articleshow/2434502.cms
LONDON: Scientists in Britain have defied gravity by getting drops of water to flow uphill.
Researchers at the University of Bristol achieved the unlikely feat by vigorously vibrating the droplets -- the force created when they bulged upwards as the surface they were on dropped was enough to make them trickle up a steep slope, The Daily Telegraph reported in London on Saturday.
According to lead researcher Prof Jens Eggers, "This is totally new. It's never been done before, and we're still not totally sure exactly what's happening. As the shaking surface rises the drop is compressed, while it bulges upward as the plate falls.
"If the shaking is vigorous enough to overcome the surface tension experienced as the drop is compressed, the drop will tend to lean forward, producing a net force which drives the drop uphill. We don't completely understand why this is happening. It means there is a lot of interesting physics and maths to discover."
http://www.byz.org/~immort/bm2004/m/BM2004-0723-Friday-0903-1957-DogDish-GravityBowl-ArtCar-GoingToGetNightRegistered-Lights.JPG
http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/bm2004/m/BM2004-0263-Tuesday-0831-1530-DogDish-GravityBowl-ArtCar-TireTracks.jpg
A back door to anti-gravity physics?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Scientists_make_water_defy_gravity/articleshow/2434502.cms
LONDON: Scientists in Britain have defied gravity by getting drops of water to flow uphill.
Researchers at the University of Bristol achieved the unlikely feat by vigorously vibrating the droplets -- the force created when they bulged upwards as the surface they were on dropped was enough to make them trickle up a steep slope, The Daily Telegraph reported in London on Saturday.
According to lead researcher Prof Jens Eggers, "This is totally new. It's never been done before, and we're still not totally sure exactly what's happening. As the shaking surface rises the drop is compressed, while it bulges upward as the plate falls.
"If the shaking is vigorous enough to overcome the surface tension experienced as the drop is compressed, the drop will tend to lean forward, producing a net force which drives the drop uphill. We don't completely understand why this is happening. It means there is a lot of interesting physics and maths to discover."
http://www.byz.org/~immort/bm2004/m/BM2004-0723-Friday-0903-1957-DogDish-GravityBowl-ArtCar-GoingToGetNightRegistered-Lights.JPG
http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/bm2004/m/BM2004-0263-Tuesday-0831-1530-DogDish-GravityBowl-ArtCar-TireTracks.jpg
Lost Cause
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Do not approach Europa.....2010
The New Horizons spacecraft, bound for Pluto on a nine-year journey, caught Jupiter off-guard in February 2007 and allowed astronomers to gather hordes of new information about the Jovian giant.
"Jupiter changed its attitude right before the flyby," said Kevin Baines, an astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Every other time we've looked at the planet with the Voyager, Galileo and Cassini spacecraft, we've seen a very traditional view of Jupiter."
"This is the first polar lightning we've ever seen on a non-terrestrial planet," he said. "Other spacecraft that visited Jupiter never saw it."
Some of the lighting strikes seen during the New Horizons flyby were about 10 times more energetic than Earth's strongest bolts and occurred about 50 miles (80 kilometers) below Jupiter's surface. Baines thinks that hot gases-including water vapor-are rising from deep within the planet to cause the lightning.
"On Earth we see most lightning near the equator, where warm moist air is rising up above colder, denser air," he said. "We now know that Jupiter's lightning occurs all over the planet, so some uniform internal heat source has to be driving the activity."
Nine separate studies on Jupiter, three of which detail some of this new information about the planet's atmospheric phenomena, will be published in the Oct. 12 issue of the journal Science.
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/071009-jupiter-views-02.jpg
The New Horizons spacecraft, bound for Pluto on a nine-year journey, caught Jupiter off-guard in February 2007 and allowed astronomers to gather hordes of new information about the Jovian giant.
"Jupiter changed its attitude right before the flyby," said Kevin Baines, an astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Every other time we've looked at the planet with the Voyager, Galileo and Cassini spacecraft, we've seen a very traditional view of Jupiter."
"This is the first polar lightning we've ever seen on a non-terrestrial planet," he said. "Other spacecraft that visited Jupiter never saw it."
Some of the lighting strikes seen during the New Horizons flyby were about 10 times more energetic than Earth's strongest bolts and occurred about 50 miles (80 kilometers) below Jupiter's surface. Baines thinks that hot gases-including water vapor-are rising from deep within the planet to cause the lightning.
"On Earth we see most lightning near the equator, where warm moist air is rising up above colder, denser air," he said. "We now know that Jupiter's lightning occurs all over the planet, so some uniform internal heat source has to be driving the activity."
Nine separate studies on Jupiter, three of which detail some of this new information about the planet's atmospheric phenomena, will be published in the Oct. 12 issue of the journal Science.
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/071009-jupiter-views-02.jpg
Lost Cause
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"Black energy at work LC."
Dark matter is a mysterious something invoked by scientists to explain mass they know is out there but which can't be seen. The invisible matter, far more prevalent than regular matter, is evident by its gravitational effects on galaxies and galaxy clusters. And as researchers hunt for the strange stuff, they need not worry about it disappearing any time soon, if that makes any sense.
New calculations show at least 2.1 million-billion years must pass for half of the invisible stuff to decay, if it does at all.
While all this theoretical thinking seems awfully abstract, it represents yet another effort to pin down what the heck dark matter might really be.
Scientists proposed the half-life—about 150,000 times longer than the current age of the universe—after looking at X-rays from the Bullet Cluster, a cosmic collision of galaxies thought to harbor two massive globs of dark matter.
If dark matter can slowly decay, it can also emit radiation, albeit at nearly undetectable levels. The proposed ultra-wimpy signal might help explain why it's practically invisible to our scientific instruments.
"We don't know what dark matter is, but we do know it's made of some kind of particle," said Signe Riemer-Sorensen, an astrophysicist within the University of Copenhagen's Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark. "One theory says these particles are axions, which are very massive and can decay."
http://www******.com/scienceastronomy/071008-mm-dark-matter-life.html
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/070718_bullet_cluster_02.jpg
Dark matter is a mysterious something invoked by scientists to explain mass they know is out there but which can't be seen. The invisible matter, far more prevalent than regular matter, is evident by its gravitational effects on galaxies and galaxy clusters. And as researchers hunt for the strange stuff, they need not worry about it disappearing any time soon, if that makes any sense.
New calculations show at least 2.1 million-billion years must pass for half of the invisible stuff to decay, if it does at all.
While all this theoretical thinking seems awfully abstract, it represents yet another effort to pin down what the heck dark matter might really be.
Scientists proposed the half-life—about 150,000 times longer than the current age of the universe—after looking at X-rays from the Bullet Cluster, a cosmic collision of galaxies thought to harbor two massive globs of dark matter.
If dark matter can slowly decay, it can also emit radiation, albeit at nearly undetectable levels. The proposed ultra-wimpy signal might help explain why it's practically invisible to our scientific instruments.
"We don't know what dark matter is, but we do know it's made of some kind of particle," said Signe Riemer-Sorensen, an astrophysicist within the University of Copenhagen's Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark. "One theory says these particles are axions, which are very massive and can decay."
http://www******.com/scienceastronomy/071008-mm-dark-matter-life.html
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/070718_bullet_cluster_02.jpg
Lost Cause
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Got quids?
The Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination, or QUID, is the new currency of inter-planetary travelers. It was designed for the foreign exchange company Travelex by scientists from Britain's National Space Centre and the University of Leicester.
The design intent is that QUIDs must withstand the rigors of space travel – no sharp edges and no chemicals that could hurt space tourists.
"None of the existing payment systems we use on earth – like cash, credit or debit cards – could be used in space," said Professor George Fraser from the University of Leicester. "Anything with sharp edges, like coins, would be a risk to astronauts while the chips and magnetic strips used in our cards on Earth would be damaged beyond repair by cosmic radiation."
The QUID (see photo) is made from a space-qualified polymer – PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene). This material is widely used by space agencies because of its durability and versatility. Earthlings know it better as "teflon," and are well-aware of its resistance to high temperatures and corrosive materials. (Merchants will like the ease with which QUIDs slide out of consumer's pockets.)
The rounded edges of the QUID make it safer, and also encompass the eight planets orbiting a sun which are part of the design. Each of the orbiting planets contain a serial number; taken together, these numbers will give each QUID disc a unique code to prevent counterfeiting.
What's a QUID worth? The current exchange rate for the new currency is £6.25 to the QUID (or US$12.50 or about 8.68 Euros).
http://www******.com/businesstechnology/071009-technovel-spacemoney.html
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/071009-technovel-spacemo-02.jpg
The Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination, or QUID, is the new currency of inter-planetary travelers. It was designed for the foreign exchange company Travelex by scientists from Britain's National Space Centre and the University of Leicester.
The design intent is that QUIDs must withstand the rigors of space travel – no sharp edges and no chemicals that could hurt space tourists.
"None of the existing payment systems we use on earth – like cash, credit or debit cards – could be used in space," said Professor George Fraser from the University of Leicester. "Anything with sharp edges, like coins, would be a risk to astronauts while the chips and magnetic strips used in our cards on Earth would be damaged beyond repair by cosmic radiation."
The QUID (see photo) is made from a space-qualified polymer – PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene). This material is widely used by space agencies because of its durability and versatility. Earthlings know it better as "teflon," and are well-aware of its resistance to high temperatures and corrosive materials. (Merchants will like the ease with which QUIDs slide out of consumer's pockets.)
The rounded edges of the QUID make it safer, and also encompass the eight planets orbiting a sun which are part of the design. Each of the orbiting planets contain a serial number; taken together, these numbers will give each QUID disc a unique code to prevent counterfeiting.
What's a QUID worth? The current exchange rate for the new currency is £6.25 to the QUID (or US$12.50 or about 8.68 Euros).
http://www******.com/businesstechnology/071009-technovel-spacemoney.html
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/071009-technovel-spacemo-02.jpg
Lost Cause
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Wow!
While observing Venus, scientists noted an unusual signature in the mid-infrared region of the spectrum that they couldn't identify.
"It was conspicuous and systematic, increasing with depth in the atmosphere during the occultation, so we knew it was real," said study leader Jean-Loup Bertaux of the Service d'aeronomie of France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
Later that year, NASA scientists observing Mars using telescopes in Hawaii notified Bertaux's team that they had found the same unusual signature.
Because the atmospheres of both Mars and Venus are composed of 95 percent carbon dioxide (as compared to Earth's atmosphere which has only 0.04 percent carbon dioxide and is composed primarily of nitrogen), the researchers thought the strange molecule could be an isotope of carbon dioxide. (Isotopes have the same number of protons, but a different number of neutrons than the main form of an element.)
This exotic form of carbon dioxide has one "normal" oxygen attached to its carbon atom, while the other attached oxygen atom has 10 neutrons, instead of the usual eight.
The differently-weighted oxygen atoms let the isotope absorb more energy than normal carbon dioxide molecules, which could mean that it contributes more to the greenhouse effect on stifling-hot Venus, the researchers said. (Because the isotope only accounts for about 1 percent of carbon dioxide molecules on Earth, its contribution to our greenhouse effect is likely very small.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20071013/sc_space/strangemoleculefoundinvenussatmosphere
http://www******.com/
http://www.biocrawler.com/w/images/thumb/7/70/250px-Venus-pioneer-uv-black.jpg
While observing Venus, scientists noted an unusual signature in the mid-infrared region of the spectrum that they couldn't identify.
"It was conspicuous and systematic, increasing with depth in the atmosphere during the occultation, so we knew it was real," said study leader Jean-Loup Bertaux of the Service d'aeronomie of France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
Later that year, NASA scientists observing Mars using telescopes in Hawaii notified Bertaux's team that they had found the same unusual signature.
Because the atmospheres of both Mars and Venus are composed of 95 percent carbon dioxide (as compared to Earth's atmosphere which has only 0.04 percent carbon dioxide and is composed primarily of nitrogen), the researchers thought the strange molecule could be an isotope of carbon dioxide. (Isotopes have the same number of protons, but a different number of neutrons than the main form of an element.)
This exotic form of carbon dioxide has one "normal" oxygen attached to its carbon atom, while the other attached oxygen atom has 10 neutrons, instead of the usual eight.
The differently-weighted oxygen atoms let the isotope absorb more energy than normal carbon dioxide molecules, which could mean that it contributes more to the greenhouse effect on stifling-hot Venus, the researchers said. (Because the isotope only accounts for about 1 percent of carbon dioxide molecules on Earth, its contribution to our greenhouse effect is likely very small.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20071013/sc_space/strangemoleculefoundinvenussatmosphere
http://www******.com/
http://www.biocrawler.com/w/images/thumb/7/70/250px-Venus-pioneer-uv-black.jpg
Karen Kraft
29
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Lost Cause said:
I know I always get super horny during occulation and, yeah, it does seem pretty real, to me at least, and those around me....
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z70/KarenKraft/FeelingGoodToday.jpg
Johnny_Ray_Wilson
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No Sex for 40 Million years
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071011/sc_nm/sex_survival_dc;_ylt=AjGmsBiQzHsAWS8mBy_mc2YPLBIF
By Michael Kahn
Thu Oct 11, 2:12 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - One microscopic organism has thrived despite remaining celibate for tens of millions of years thanks to a neat evolutionary trick, researchers said.
Asexual reproduction has allowed duplicate gene copies of the single-celled creatures -- called bdelloid rotifers -- to become different over time.
This gives the rotifers a wider pool of genes to help them adapt and survive, the researchers said in the journal Science.
"It is like having a bigger tool kit," Alan Tunnacliffe, a molecular biologist at the University of Cambridge, said in a telephone interview. "You can do the same job but better."
Other researchers had shown the translucent, waterborne creatures could survive for 40 million years without sexual relations.
The question, Tunnacliffe said, was how the creatures found in pools of water accomplished this feat without the gene-swapping made possible by sexual reproduction.
"Sexual reproduction is supposed to be a good thing in evolution," he said on Thursday.
"So when you come across an organism like the bdelloid, which hasn't engaged in sexual reproduction for tens of millions of years, you begin to question why sex is important."
Every species of plant and animal that reproduces sexually has pairs of genes nearly identical to each other, with one of each pair coming from the mother and father.
These creatures get around that problem with the evolutionary trick that allows their genes to drift apart and evolve on their own, Tunnacliffe said, after using molecular cloning techniques.
"No sex means the genes can evolve in different directions," he said. "It is like you have a bigger gene pool to select from for different functions in evolution."
The theory of natural selection says sex mixes up the genes to cope with unexpected changes in a treacherous world.
Some genetic changes are good and boost survival, for example against new strains of disease, but others lead to conditions like cystic fibrosis in humans.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071011/sc_nm/sex_survival_dc;_ylt=AjGmsBiQzHsAWS8mBy_mc2YPLBIF
By Michael Kahn
Thu Oct 11, 2:12 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - One microscopic organism has thrived despite remaining celibate for tens of millions of years thanks to a neat evolutionary trick, researchers said.
Asexual reproduction has allowed duplicate gene copies of the single-celled creatures -- called bdelloid rotifers -- to become different over time.
This gives the rotifers a wider pool of genes to help them adapt and survive, the researchers said in the journal Science.
"It is like having a bigger tool kit," Alan Tunnacliffe, a molecular biologist at the University of Cambridge, said in a telephone interview. "You can do the same job but better."
Other researchers had shown the translucent, waterborne creatures could survive for 40 million years without sexual relations.
The question, Tunnacliffe said, was how the creatures found in pools of water accomplished this feat without the gene-swapping made possible by sexual reproduction.
"Sexual reproduction is supposed to be a good thing in evolution," he said on Thursday.
"So when you come across an organism like the bdelloid, which hasn't engaged in sexual reproduction for tens of millions of years, you begin to question why sex is important."
Every species of plant and animal that reproduces sexually has pairs of genes nearly identical to each other, with one of each pair coming from the mother and father.
These creatures get around that problem with the evolutionary trick that allows their genes to drift apart and evolve on their own, Tunnacliffe said, after using molecular cloning techniques.
"No sex means the genes can evolve in different directions," he said. "It is like you have a bigger gene pool to select from for different functions in evolution."
The theory of natural selection says sex mixes up the genes to cope with unexpected changes in a treacherous world.
Some genetic changes are good and boost survival, for example against new strains of disease, but others lead to conditions like cystic fibrosis in humans.
Lost Cause
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It's awesome knowing we're all made from the same stuff...
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_kids/AskKids/images/venus_sky.jpg
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_kids/AskKids/images/venus_sky.jpg
Fagin
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Is there life on a moon of Saturn?
New images of a giant planet's satellites taken by the 10-year Cassini probe have excited scientists
Robin McKie, science editor
The Observer
Sunday October 14 2007
http://image.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/10/14/saturn2.jpg
An image of Saturn's rings taken by the Cassini spacecraft. Photo: NASA
They are visions of a unique family of worlds on the other side of the solar system: a moon with lakes of liquid methane: a tiny, rocky world with geysers of water that are being sprayed into space and a strange mottled moon that has been splattered with dark, organic-rich gunk, like a comedian who has been hit by a custard pie.
These bizarre sets of images were released last week as Nasa, and the European Space Agency, Esa, prepare to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of their Cassini-Huygens probe to Saturn. Blasted into space on 15 October, 1997, the probe took seven years to reach Saturn. Since then, the robot spacecraft has been delivering stunning photographs of the ringed planet and its fantastic family of moons. 'The launch was the start of one of space exploration's great adventures and we didn't really know what we would find,' said Professor Andrew Coates, of University College London, who heads one of the UK teams involved in Cassini. 'Now we are reaping the rewards of nearly 20 years' work on the mission and the science continues to be amazing.'
The mission's most spectacular moment occurred in December 2004, when its tiny Huygens probe separated from its mother craft, Cassini, and headed towards Saturn's main satellite, Titan, the only moon in the solar system with an atmosphere. Several weeks later, it parachuted down to a landing on its surface and returned close-up images of this weird, distant world.
Huygens stopped working after only a few hours, as expected, but Cassini has continued to survey Saturn and its moons - with startling results. In the case of Iapetus, it has helped solve - or at least partly solve - a 300-year-old scientific mystery. Astronomers had noted the little moon darkened and lightened as it moved round Saturn but couldn't work out why.
Now Cassini has helped provide the answer. Dark, organic-rich material is splattering the face of Iapetus as it orbits Saturn, like a car whose windscreen is sprayed with water from other cars on a rainy day.
'Dusty material spiralling in from outer moons [of Saturn] hits Iapetus head-on, and causes the forward-facing side of Iapetus to look different than the rest of the moon,' said Tilmann Denk, a Cassini team member based at the Free University, Berlin. Which moon is responsible for imposing this indignity on Iapetus remains unknown, however.
In addition, Cassini radar images have shown that both poles of Titan are pitted with hydrocarbon lakes, one of them larger than Lake Superior, Earth's largest freshwater lake. 'This is our version of mapping Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia and northern Russia,' said Rosaly Lopes, of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. 'It's like mapping these regions of Earth for the first time.'
Titan's north pole is currently gripped by winter. And quite a winter it is, with temperatures dropping to -180C and a rain of methane and ethane drizzling down, filling the moon's lakes and seas. These liquids also carve meandering rivers and channels on the moon's surface.
Finally, last week Nasa and Esa revealed images from Cassini which confirmed that jets of fine, icy particles are spraying from Saturn's moon Enceladus and originate from a hot 'tiger stripe' fracture that straddles the moon's south polar region. The discovery raises the prospect of liquid water existing on Enceladus, and possibly life.
'These are findings with tremendously exciting implications,' said Carolyn Porco, of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. 'Do the jets derive from near-surface liquid water or not? And if not, then how far down is the liquid water that we all suspect resides within this moon?'
New images of a giant planet's satellites taken by the 10-year Cassini probe have excited scientists
Robin McKie, science editor
The Observer
Sunday October 14 2007
http://image.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/10/14/saturn2.jpg
An image of Saturn's rings taken by the Cassini spacecraft. Photo: NASA
They are visions of a unique family of worlds on the other side of the solar system: a moon with lakes of liquid methane: a tiny, rocky world with geysers of water that are being sprayed into space and a strange mottled moon that has been splattered with dark, organic-rich gunk, like a comedian who has been hit by a custard pie.
These bizarre sets of images were released last week as Nasa, and the European Space Agency, Esa, prepare to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of their Cassini-Huygens probe to Saturn. Blasted into space on 15 October, 1997, the probe took seven years to reach Saturn. Since then, the robot spacecraft has been delivering stunning photographs of the ringed planet and its fantastic family of moons. 'The launch was the start of one of space exploration's great adventures and we didn't really know what we would find,' said Professor Andrew Coates, of University College London, who heads one of the UK teams involved in Cassini. 'Now we are reaping the rewards of nearly 20 years' work on the mission and the science continues to be amazing.'
The mission's most spectacular moment occurred in December 2004, when its tiny Huygens probe separated from its mother craft, Cassini, and headed towards Saturn's main satellite, Titan, the only moon in the solar system with an atmosphere. Several weeks later, it parachuted down to a landing on its surface and returned close-up images of this weird, distant world.
Huygens stopped working after only a few hours, as expected, but Cassini has continued to survey Saturn and its moons - with startling results. In the case of Iapetus, it has helped solve - or at least partly solve - a 300-year-old scientific mystery. Astronomers had noted the little moon darkened and lightened as it moved round Saturn but couldn't work out why.
Now Cassini has helped provide the answer. Dark, organic-rich material is splattering the face of Iapetus as it orbits Saturn, like a car whose windscreen is sprayed with water from other cars on a rainy day.
'Dusty material spiralling in from outer moons [of Saturn] hits Iapetus head-on, and causes the forward-facing side of Iapetus to look different than the rest of the moon,' said Tilmann Denk, a Cassini team member based at the Free University, Berlin. Which moon is responsible for imposing this indignity on Iapetus remains unknown, however.
In addition, Cassini radar images have shown that both poles of Titan are pitted with hydrocarbon lakes, one of them larger than Lake Superior, Earth's largest freshwater lake. 'This is our version of mapping Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia and northern Russia,' said Rosaly Lopes, of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. 'It's like mapping these regions of Earth for the first time.'
Titan's north pole is currently gripped by winter. And quite a winter it is, with temperatures dropping to -180C and a rain of methane and ethane drizzling down, filling the moon's lakes and seas. These liquids also carve meandering rivers and channels on the moon's surface.
Finally, last week Nasa and Esa revealed images from Cassini which confirmed that jets of fine, icy particles are spraying from Saturn's moon Enceladus and originate from a hot 'tiger stripe' fracture that straddles the moon's south polar region. The discovery raises the prospect of liquid water existing on Enceladus, and possibly life.
'These are findings with tremendously exciting implications,' said Carolyn Porco, of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. 'Do the jets derive from near-surface liquid water or not? And if not, then how far down is the liquid water that we all suspect resides within this moon?'
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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1 hour to liftoff- Full sails, Discovery!
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/video/
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/170421main_120-strapin.jpg
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/video/chan2large.jpg
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/video/chan4large.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/video/
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/170421main_120-strapin.jpg
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/video/chan2large.jpg
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/video/chan4large.jpg
Lost Cause
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Lost Cause
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Flashback-ice reported on external fixtures..
9 minutes-
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/video/chan3large.jpg
9 minutes-
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/video/chan3large.jpg
sophieloves
running silent
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this thread always provides interesting material. thanks.
Lost Cause
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Good Launch and orbit insertion!
Lost Cause
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Yeah, you'd figure they'd keep it going for public interest.
Later they should provide full videos of the tank and SRBs splash down..like they did for STS 118~
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/Video_Gallery_Archives.html
Later they should provide full videos of the tank and SRBs splash down..like they did for STS 118~
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/Video_Gallery_Archives.html
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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You know, those sequence NASA pictures I posted keep changing...I wonder if they're still linked?
Fagin
little fishie
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- 101,650
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Today's launch marks a major milestone for the Chinese space program
http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/6411_ap_launch.jpg
China today successfully launched its first lunar probe, a big first step in the country's three-step space program that hopes to put an astronaut on the moon by 2020.
The Chang'e 1 orbiter, named after a mythical Chinese goddess who lives on the moon, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 6:05 p.m. local time with a large trail of smoke. Several thousand tourists and space officials watched as the 5,070-pound probe was sent into space aboard a Long March 3A carrier rocket.
Today's launch "marks another milestone in China's aerospace program after man-made satellites and manned space flights," said Zeng Peiyan, Chinese vice-premier.
China is the third country to launch its own astronaut into space, behind only the United States and Russia, and has plans to possibly build its own space platform as part of its multi-step plan to get taikonauts on the moon.
Chang'e 1 is expected to be in orbit around the moon for one year, offering Chinese researchers satellite images of the moon and other data that will be crucial for the country to launch a space vehicle and astronaut to the moon. The first round of satellite images should be sent back to researchers sometime in late November.
Chang'e 1's launch comes several weeks after the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), the largest lunar mission since the NASA Apollo mission. JAXA officials recently said the probe was in a correct position over the moon and is ready to begin its project to analyze and map the surface of the moon. The growing Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is currently working on a lunar mission it hopes to launch sometime next spring.
Even though the launch is a great success for China, the United States is concerned about the possible militarization of space, especially after China destroyed an aging satellite with a land-based anti-satellite missile. According to a government official, China wants to become part of the international space station project with more than a dozen other participating nations, but the United States is reluctant to let the Communist nation participate. China has said numerous times it does not want to create an arms race in space.
http://www.dailytech.com/China+Launches+its+First+Lunar+Orbiter+/article9397.htm
Today's launch marks a major milestone for the Chinese space program
http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/6411_ap_launch.jpg
China today successfully launched its first lunar probe, a big first step in the country's three-step space program that hopes to put an astronaut on the moon by 2020.
The Chang'e 1 orbiter, named after a mythical Chinese goddess who lives on the moon, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 6:05 p.m. local time with a large trail of smoke. Several thousand tourists and space officials watched as the 5,070-pound probe was sent into space aboard a Long March 3A carrier rocket.
Today's launch "marks another milestone in China's aerospace program after man-made satellites and manned space flights," said Zeng Peiyan, Chinese vice-premier.
China is the third country to launch its own astronaut into space, behind only the United States and Russia, and has plans to possibly build its own space platform as part of its multi-step plan to get taikonauts on the moon.
Chang'e 1 is expected to be in orbit around the moon for one year, offering Chinese researchers satellite images of the moon and other data that will be crucial for the country to launch a space vehicle and astronaut to the moon. The first round of satellite images should be sent back to researchers sometime in late November.
Chang'e 1's launch comes several weeks after the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), the largest lunar mission since the NASA Apollo mission. JAXA officials recently said the probe was in a correct position over the moon and is ready to begin its project to analyze and map the surface of the moon. The growing Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is currently working on a lunar mission it hopes to launch sometime next spring.
Even though the launch is a great success for China, the United States is concerned about the possible militarization of space, especially after China destroyed an aging satellite with a land-based anti-satellite missile. According to a government official, China wants to become part of the international space station project with more than a dozen other participating nations, but the United States is reluctant to let the Communist nation participate. China has said numerous times it does not want to create an arms race in space.
http://www.dailytech.com/China+Launches+its+First+Lunar+Orbiter+/article9397.htm
