Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
Founder: Joseph Barone
Contributors: crookedindifference, bumerangue, propagandery, rocketmagic, rostenbach
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
How exploding stars might well have changed the course of evolution: http://nyr.kr/117eF9g
What the hell is happening on the Sun?
In less than 24 hours, the Sun has unleashed a trio of X-Class solar flares. They are the first, second and third X-class eruptions of 2013, making them the most powerful of the year by a substantial margin. What’s more, each burst has been more violent than the last. So uhh… what the hell is going on here?
Watch the ISS spacewalk live for some respite from the manhunt madness
This morning’s manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers has left many of us glued to our screens. If you find yourself in need of a little mental/emotional/psychological vacation from it all, here’s a live feed of this morning’s spacewalk outside the ISS.
2013 Yuri’s Night
Yuri’s Night is a global celebration of humanity’s past, present, and future in space. Yuri’s Night parties and events are held around the world every April in commemoration of April 12, 1961, the day of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first manned spaceflight, and April 12, 1981, the inaugural launch of NASA’s Space Shuttle.
Yuri’s Night events combine space-themed partying with education and outreach. These events can range from an all-night mix of techno and technology at a NASA Center, to a movie showing and stargazing at your local college, to a gathering of friends at a bar or barbecue.
Find a Yuri’s Night party in your area.
The launch of Soyuz TMA-08M. According to tradition, the crew sign their room doors and are blessed by a Russian Orthodox priest. The crew then put on their sokol suits, have them checked for leaks and head out to the launch pad. After launch, the crew made the first expedited docking after only six hours, instead of two days.
(Source: GCTC)
NASA: “We’ve discovered a previously unknown surprise circling Earth”
This is wild. NASA’s recently deployed Van Allen probes — a pair of robotic spacecraft launched just last August to investigate Earth’s eponymous pair of radiation belts — are already turning out some very unexpected findings. Chief among them: an ephemeral third ring of radiation, previously unknown to science, surrounding our planet.
The First Human Mission to Mars in 2018
A press release indicated that a new organization, Inspiration Mars Foundation, led by the first private space traveler, Dennis Tito, would make a major announcement, February 27th concerning a 501 day mission to Mars. http://spaceref.com/mars/the-first-human-mission-to-mars-in-2018.html
What We Know About the Russian Meteor Event
We have the technology to provide warning about these potential disasters, says Heidi Hammel from Planetary Society.
An Astronaut Recorded Music in Space, and the ISS Sounds Like a Plane
A couple days ago Canadian astronaut–and killer mustache wearer–Colonel Chris Hadfield posted a song he’d recorded aboard the International Space Station on Reddit.
Click-through for a look back at 20 of the most striking images of our home planet as seen from orbit in 2012: http://nyr.kr/UosuxW, images courtesy of NASA’s Earth Observatory,
Isostasy, gravity, and the Moon! Last week the GRAIL lunar gravity mission published their first scientific results, and what they have found will send many geophysicists back to the drawing board to explain how the Moon formed and why it looks the way it does now.
Here’s an explainer of the first results from GRAIL.
Source: The Planetary Society Facebook page.
NASA TV to Cover Departure of Japanese Cargo Ship From Space Station Sept. 12
NASA Television will provide live coverage of the third Japanese “Kounotori” H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) cargo ship’s departure from the International Space Station in two broadcasts Wednesday, Sept. 12. The first, covering unberthing, will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT, and the second, covering release, will begin at 11:30 a.m.
HTV-3, launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) July 21, arrived to the orbiting laboratory July 27 with several tons of supplies and experiments. Departure, originally planned for Sept. 6, was delayed to accommodate a second spacewalk by Expedition 32 Flight Engineers Sunita Williams of NASA and Akihiko Hoshide of JAXA on Wednesday.
Hoshide and fellow Expedition 32 Flight Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA will be at the controls of the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to unbolt and disengage the cargo craft from the station’s Harmony module. A few hours later the astronauts will release the cargo craft, which will be moved a safe distance away from the complex. JAXA flight controllers later will fire the spacecraft’s engine, initiating its destructive entry back through Earth’s atmosphere.
For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
This is a full-resolution version of the NASA Curiosity rover descent to Mars, taken by the MARDI descent imager. As of August 20, all but a dozen 1600x1200 frames have been uploaded from the rover, and those missing were interpolated using thumbnail data. The result was applied a heavy noise reduction, color balance, and sharpening for best visibility.
Breaking News! NASA just selected its next Discovery-class mission. We’re going back to Mars with InSight: a stationary lander to study the geophysics of Mars. For the first time ever, it will deploy a seismometer, a heat-flow probe 5 meters (!), and an antenna to very accurately measure Mars’ movement around the sun. Less-than-good-news: no color camera.
More info here: http://insight.jpl.nasa.gov/
