4.11.2010
This week I read this interesting article about comet Hartley 2
close encounter by NASA's space craft "Deep Impact" imagine not only
discovering a comet but being able to see it close up that's what
Malcolm Hartley is about to do hey! "On Nov. 4, NASA's EPOXI mission
will fly within 500 miles of comet Hartley 2".
linky here....
Also today I just happened to turn on the tv and saw a show on ABC 1
about these end of world scenarios and one of them was redirecting
asteroids to crash into the Sun using gravity assist and how over a
long period one could send the Earth plummeting into the Sun.
26.06.2010
Tonight was a partial Luna Eclipse, first for the year and it was
awesome. I could see it begin at around 8.10pm there was a blue light happening
around the lower edge. Then I watched as the shadow grew and covered over half
the Moon. more info on the event here...
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OHfigures/OH2010-Fig02.pdf
13.06.2010
http://www.iter.org/
Today I read about thermoneuclear fusion and found the ITER site. ^Link
above^
Plasma energy breakeven has never been achieved:
the current record for energy release is held by JET, which succeeded in
generating 70% of input power. Scientists have now designed the next-step device
- ITER - which will produce more power than it consumes: for 50 MW of input
power, 500 MW of output power will be produced.
ITER will begin writing the chapter on 21st century fusion.
1.06.2010
I was listening to Dr John O'Connor on 2nurfm radio yesterday talk about how
they have
tested the scramjet for a record duration of 3minutes....
Scramjets and ramjets it all started here in OZ....
www.space.com
http://www.uq.edu.au/hypersonics/
http://www.mech.uq.edu.au/hyper/hyshot/
"On July 30, 2002, the University of Queensland's HyShot team (and
international partners) conducted the first ever successful test flight of a
scramjet.
The team took a unique approach to the problem of accelerating the engine to
the necessary speed by using an Terrier-Orion sounding rocket to take the
aircraft up on a parabolic trajectory to an altitude of 314 km. As the craft
re-entered the atmosphere, it dropped to a speed of Mach 7.6. The scramjet
engine then started, and it flew at about Mach 7.6 for 6 seconds. This was
achieved on a lean budget of just A$1.5 million (US $1.1 million), a tiny
fraction of NASA'S US $250 million to develop the X-43A. This involved many of
the same researchers involved in the University of Queensland report in 1995 of
the first development of a scramjet that achieved more thrust than drag."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet_programs
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/f_scramjets.html
6.05.2010
I must say here "Astronomy" is never boring. Each day I find something new to
amaze...
Atlas V vs sun dog.mov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vvqg7MxfZ8&feature=relatedThe Solar Dynamics
Observatory (SDO) lifted off from Kennedy Space Centre on Thursday morning, 11th
Feb 2010, kicking off a 5-year mission to study the variability of the sun.
Moments after liftoff, SDO did something that astonished and delighted
observers. It flew right through a bright, rainbow-colored sundog and destroyed
it. Originally posted on SpaceWeather.com. Video recorded by Ms. Herbst of
Bishop, California.
First Light for the Solar Dynamics Observatory SDO is the first
mission of NASA's Living with a Star (LWS)
program. The goal of LWS is to understand the sun as a magnetic
variable star and to measure its impact on life and society on Earth.
Program scientist Lika Guhathakurta of NASA headquarters envisions big
things for the new observatory: "SDO is our 'Hubble for the sun'," she says.
"It promises
to transform solar physics in the same way the Hubble Space Telescope
has transformed astronomy and cosmology." "No solar telescope has ever come
close to the combinedspatial, temporal and spectral resolution of SDO," adds
Title. "This is
possible because of the combination of 4096 x 4096-pixel CCDs with huge
dynamic range and a geosynchronous orbit which allows SDO to observe
the sun and communicate with the ground around the clock."
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/21apr_firstlight/
Atlantis is "Go" for May 14 Launch
Thu, 06 May 2010 07:56:03 AM EST
Launch of space shuttle Atlantis on its STS-132 mission to the
International Space Station officially is set for May 14 at 2:20 p.m. EDT. Top
NASA managers made the decision at the end of Wednesday's Flight Readiness
Review at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
23.03.2010
NASA television on youtube
New Crew Leaves For Launch Site
Expedition 23 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineers
Mikhail Kornienko and Tracy Caldwell Dyson departed for the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to train for their launch to the International
Space Station in their Soyuz capsule on April 2. Before leaving, the
trio participated in traditional ceremonies at the Gagarin Cosmonaut
Training Center in Star City, Russia, outside Moscow March 22. In
Baikonur, theyll conduct a series of prelaunch activities in preparation
for liftoff to the orbital outpost.
Discovery's Launch Preparations Continue...
Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:03:55 AM EDT
At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians at Launch Pad
39A completed performing additional tests on space shuttle Discovery's right
reaction control system helium regulators this past weekend. Preliminary
data shows that thus far the regulators are functioning within
specifications. Engineers will evaluate the data and discuss options Tuesday
morning. Today's launch preparation work at the pad will include closeout of
the shuttle's aft compartment.
Today at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the STS-131 astronauts will
review stowage and transfer activities for the items that will be
transported on Discovery during the flight to the International Space
Station.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
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14.02.10
Okay its Valentines....
“Meeting, hardly meeting”
Meeting, hardly meeting, suffices:
one quick glance, fragments of obscure words,
and again waves of happiness and pain
sweep over everything and rage.
The dam of oblivion I had built in my defence
is as if it had never been.
I kneel on the shore of the roaring sea
and drink my fill.
Rachel
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Hi, as you may have heard there
are just five remaining missions before NASA is slated to mothball its space
shuttle fleet mid 2010. News link below...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35273635/ns/technology_and_science/
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida. – The space shuttle Endeavour has cleared the launch
tower and gaining altitude after lifting off at about 4:39 p.m. EST (0939 GMT).
A good website
with constant updates is space.com
http://www.space.com/spaceshuttle/
Endeavour
was scheduled to blast off on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 4:39 a.m. EDT (0939 GMT) from
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin a long-awaited delivery mission
flight to the International Space Station. The cargo: a new connecting module
and giant bay window for the orbiting laboratory. Mission was delayed due to
inclement weather.
The
spaceflight will be NASA's 130th mission for the aging shuttle fleet, which has
been flying since 1981.
Their replacement, the capsule-based Orion ship and its Ares I booster, is not
slated to begin operational flights until 2015.
NASA currently plans to fly
astronauts on Russian Soyuz vehicles, and possibly commercial spacecraft, during
the interim.
Some space
shuttle contacts....
Send your ?s to Mike Massimino
http://twitter.com/astro_Mike
He will ask the next
shuttle crew while they are in space.
ST-131
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-131#Mission_background
This will be the final mission with a 7 person crew.
Also, this will be the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or more
"rookie" astronauts; the missions after this will have all-veteran crews.
33rd shuttle mission to the ISS
STS-131 (ISS
assembly flight 19A)[3]
is a scheduled mission of
Space Shuttle Discovery,
targeted for launch March 18, 2010.[1]
The primary payload is scheduled to be a
Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. The mission will also remove and replace an
ammonia tank assembly outside the station and return a Lightweight Adapter Plate
Assembly (LWAPA) plate, located on the Columbus module. The mission also
includes several on-board payloads, this mission has the most payloads since
STS-107.
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STS-130
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmzJeIUIvv4
Volume one of Veteran NASA Astronaut Mike Massimino's
behind the scenes look at the crew of Space Shuttle Endeavor as they prepare for
their STS-130 mission to the International Space Station.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
Endeavour's STS-130 Mission
Commander George Zamka will lead the STS-130 mission to the International Space
Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour. Terry Virts will serve as the pilot.
Mission Specialists are Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Stephen Robinson and
Kathryn Hire. Virts will be making his first trip to space.
Shuttle Endeavour and its crew will deliver to the space station a third
connecting module, the Italian-built Tranquility node and the seven-windowed
cupola, which will be used as a control room for robotics. The mission will
feature three spacewalks.
Liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida is scheduled for February 7, 2010, at 4:39 a.m. EST
Toss of the coin...
It may be one small flip, but the coin that
will decide whether the Indianapolis Colts or New Orleans Saints possess the
ball at the start of Sunday's Super Bowl XLIV will have already made a giant
leap when it hits the field at Miami's Sun Life Stadium.
In a move that at the time was known only to a
few people at NASA, the NFL, and The Highland Mint of Melbourne, Fla. where the
coin was created last August, the opening- toss medal was flown on space shuttle
Atlantis' STS-129 mission in November. Over 11 days and 171 orbits around the
Earth, the silver coin logged four million miles.
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-020510a.html
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