Category Archives: Space

Speedy critters

Posted on July 8, 2007 | Comments Off on Speedy critters

Things certainly look placid enough. Ah, if only you knew. Folks at the equator, according to NASA, are riding the Earth’s rotation at about 1,000 mph. In Texas it’s probably around 700 mph. Meanwhile the Earth is speeding around the sun at 67,000 mph. Can’t feel a thing, can you? Obviously, things are not what they seem.

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Posted in Scribbles, Space

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The power of light

Posted on July 7, 2007 | Comments Off on The power of light

Laser light. Where a killowatt equals roughly 1.3 horsepower, or about a quarter the thrust of a modern push lawn mower. What for? Preparing for the power beaming competition in the 2007 Space Elevator games. Beam transport for a space elevator. It ain’t rocket science.

Via the Space Elevator Blog 

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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space

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Rover over

Posted on June 29, 2007 | Comments Off on Rover over

The Opportunity robot rover on Mars is set to begin a treacherous journey into a deep meteor crater:

"Opportunity already has been exploring layered rocks in cliffs around Victoria Crater. The team has planned the descent carefully to enable an eventual exit, but Opportunity could become trapped inside the crater or lose some capabilities. The rover has operated more than 12 times longer than its originally intended 90 days."

I’m sure most people have forgotten the rover is still out there. This could help them remember. 

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Posted in Space

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Luminous, blue-white tendrils

Posted on June 15, 2007 | Comments Off on Luminous, blue-white tendrils

An outbreak of neon-blue, noctilucent clouds over Europe’s and the U.S.’s northern tier. Also visible from the space station.

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Posted in Space, Weather/Climate

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Anticlimax in space

Posted on June 9, 2007 | Comments Off on Anticlimax in space

The heat shield on Atlantis–the blanket shield not the tiles–seems to have a 4-inch hole in it, but NASA professes not to be worried. First time in a long time they’ve had an all-male crew, but they’ll be coming back with a woman after one of them replaces her on the space station. All this work on the station has an air of anticlimax, since the shuttle will soon retire and the station itself may not last much longer. But these trips aren’t trivial. They will be generally useful for building a base on the moon, which has not much more gravity than low-Earth orbit.

UPDATE Problem or no, they’re going to fix it, anyway. 

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Today’s pretty picture

Posted on June 2, 2007 | Comments Off on Today’s pretty picture

sombrero_composite.jpg

The Sombrero Galaxy, in a composite photo of X-ray, visible light, and infrared. An unbarred spiral in the Constellation Virgo. A mere 28 million light years away./NASA 

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Today’s pretty picture

Posted on May 19, 2007 | Comments Off on Today’s pretty picture

m81_galex.jpg

M-81, a bright, spiral galaxy, in ultraviolet. It’s about 12 million light years away, in the the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. But it’s visible through most small telescopes/NASA 

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Posted in Space

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