Category Archives: Space

India goes for Luna

Posted on July 14, 2019 | Comments Off on India goes for Luna

Blast off of an Indian orbiter, a 1.4-ton moon lander and a 56-pound robot mobile rover on the far side of the moon is today, seven months after the Chinese put a lander on the far side of the moon.

These landers are preparation for manned explorations, including establishment of moon bases, however small at first. Trump reportedly is (take that for what it’s worth) angry that NASA isn’t moving faster on putting Americans back on the moon by 2024.

NASA is a biiiggg bureaucracy—with lots of paperwork—which moves at a snail’s pace. I’m betting on the first base being Chinese.

Via Science Alert & PJMedia

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Posted in Obsessions, Science/Engineering, Space

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Try, try again

Posted on April 15, 2019 | 5 comments

Israel will try once more to land a robot craft on the moon.

“The 5-foot-tall Beresheet 1, the world’s first privately funded moon lander, crashed into the moon while attempting a landing [April 11] Apparently, a technical glitch caused its main engine to stop mid-landing.”

The second attempt could take 2 to 3 years to get ready. If at first you don’t succeed…

Via UPI

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Posted in Israel, Science/Engineering, Space

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Israeli spacecraft takes Selfie

Posted on March 5, 2019 | 1 comment

The Hebrew means Israel Lives! The English: Small Country, Big Dreams

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Posted in Israel, Judaism, Science/Engineering, Space

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Roadster to the Sun

Posted on February 7, 2019 | Comments Off on Roadster to the Sun

Space X’s Elon Musk celebrated the Feb. 6. 2018, first flight of its Falcon Heavy rocket by launching a cherry-red Tesla roadster with a space-suited mannequin driver into solar orbit. Video low-orbit view here.

“The Tesla will likely make quite a few laps around the sun before its deep-space adventure comes to an end. An orbit-modeling study performed last year predicted that the space car will eventually slam into either Venus or Earth, probably within the next few tens of millions of years.”

When you’re filthy rich you can do anything, obviously. Even evade the environmental wackos who might have held this up. Too late, guys, the roadster is now about 226 million miles away. And probably a wreck.

Via Space dot com

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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space, Uncategorized

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An impressive hole

Posted on January 6, 2019 | Comments Off on An impressive hole

View of the far side of Luna, a great hole to be explored, and inside the Chinese probe, an experimental biosphere that may lead to a moon base for people– a sustainable closed ecosystem.

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Just another day at the office

Posted on December 10, 2018 | Comments Off on Just another day at the office

The 16th dragon ship to rendezvous with the International Space Station has delivered Xmas goodies and “a team of space-going mice” which I’m sure will outrage PETA if they don’t make it back alive.

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November cold so far

Posted on November 17, 2018 | Comments Off on November cold so far

It usually waits in Central Texas to get cold, cold in December and then only for short periods with quick warmups. January is our winter and by mid-February it’s warming up for good.

Not this year. Freezing nights have already been here and more are expected.

No big surprise, says Martin Mlynczak of Nasa’s Langley Research Center:

Very few sunspots on the sun this year means “it could be about to get very cold very quickly…If current trends continue, it could set a new Space Age record for cold…It could happen in a matter of months.”

Oh, joy.

Via Metro

UPDATE:  We’ve been spared the snow so far. We rarely get snow.

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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space, Weather/Climate

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