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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightRussia Wants to Bring the Olympic Flame to the International Space Station
In a move mirroring the personalty of their own premier, Vlad Putin, Russia wants to take the 2014 Winter Olympic Flame up to the International Space Station. Roscosmos just has to solve the ever-so-tiny problem of protecting the flame from a space habitat full of pressurized oxygen (which is prohibited on the ISS FOR SOME … Continued
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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightThis Is the Last Launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery
Today, Discovery reached for the stars for the last time in history. The launch almost got canceled because of a last-minute range computer system display problem, but the engineers saved the day a couple of seconds before the launch window deadline. Here’s the video of the launch. It was a thrilling moment. I just can’t … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Watch the Discovery’s Final Voyage From the Comfort of Your PlayStation Home
At 4:50pm EST today, PlayStation Home users can tune in to watch NASA’s Discovery’s final blast-off from the Kennedy Space Center to the ISS, which will actually be Home’s first-ever live-stream of an event. There’s just one catch—it can only be watched from within the LOOT Sunset Yacht, which costs a pretty penny. If that … Continued
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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightApollo 18 Is The Space Voyage We Never Knew About
Apollo 18 is the latest Hollywood movie to capture an outer space excursion to the moon. But unlike a film such as Apollo 13, which retells a true story in melodramatic fashion, Apollo 18 goes the fictional route and attempts to unravel the mystery behind a alien conspiracy. As far as likeminded films go, Underwire … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
What’s the Time on Saturn, Mr. Wolf?
Instead of tossing out his junk components, one man decided to make a clock with a difference: it tells the time on the various planets, not just Earth. So we now know the time on Jupiter, but the reason we’d want to know it is somewhere out there in the ether… Using a backlit LCD, … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Life On Other Planets: No Star, No Problem!
Scientists now think it’s not only possible for life to exist on a planet which isn’t in orbit around a star, but that these vagabond planets might be key for spreading life throughout the universe. Experts previously hypothesized that conditions wouldn’t have enough gravity to hold water and be too cold and to sustain life. … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Survival Training Astronauts Look like Desert Island Madmen
The six haggard dudes you see here aren’t extras from Lawrence of Arabia, but intrepid, tough as hell astronauts from the Mercury 6 program. The 1960s squad attended survival training school in Nevada to prepare for a remote crash landing. Those clothes they’re wearing? Partially fashioned from parachutes. Those beards? Awesome. Those faces? The looks … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightThis Is the Sound of a Comet
On February 14 NASA’s Stardust spacecraft had a close encounter with the comet Temple 1. For the first time in history, we got to visit a comet two times—a strange opportunity that allowed scientist to see how these space objects change. The first pass was made by Deep Impact—on its way to Hartley 2, back … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Enormous Solar Flare Set Will Cause Massive Communication Disruptions Tonight
It appears Tuesday’s massive solar eruption is already impacting communications in southern China and may disrupt satellites in orbit and electrical grids on the ground over the next few days. The X-class flare is the most powerful seen in four years. Class X solar flare—the largest category of solar flash—was ejected from a Jupiter-sized sun … Continued
Clay Dillow - PopSci -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
NASA Proudly Returns To Take Photo Of The Hole It Made
Six years ago, NASA blasted a hole into comet Tempel 1. Now it’s gone back to survey the damage anew and continue observations, with its Stardust-NExT probe photographing the mess made by 2005’s Deep Impact. The crater made by Deep Impact is 150 metres across, and can just about be seen in the before and … Continued
By Gary Cutlack -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightWhy You Shouldn’t Be Scared Of the Dark
Carl Sagan. Listening to his voice reading through the Yellow Pages would be enough for me. Listening him read his own writing about humans, why life searches for life, and why we are bound to explore space is even better. These are the first two videos of a—I hope—a long series. The second one—on the … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightFake Mars Looks Like a Terrible, Terrible Place
If I was one of these Mars500 crew members who spent over 250 days sitting in a room as part of a simulated journey to the red planet, and this was the best Fake Mars the European Space Agency could come up with, I’d be pissed. Keep in mind they have to go back in … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
The Mystery of the Giant Planet Hidden In Our Solar System
There’s a giant planet right here, hiding in our Solar System. One that nobody has ever seen, even while it is four times larger than Jupiter and has rings and moons orbiting it. At least, that’s what two astrophysicists say. The name of the planet is Tyche. The scientists are John Matese and Daniel Whitmire, … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
A Brief History of Rockets, and Why They’re Not Getting Any More Advanced
Over at Slate, Neal Stephenson charts a brief, fascinating history of the rocket, starting with Hitler’s V-2 during the second World War and ending with today’s sophisticated rockets, capable of launching complex communications satellites that can cost up to $100,000 a pound. But here, Stephenson explains, we find ourselves locked in: To employ a commonly … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Japanese Space Agency Caught Piece Of Space Junk *This Big*
The problem of space junk is being dealt with in a novel way by Japanese space agency JAXA, which plans to rope up loads of the broken old stuff from the 1960s in an old-fashioned, analogue, traditional net several kilometres wide. The triple-layered metal thread net will then be burned up in the atmosphere once … Continued
By Gary Cutlack -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
How Far in Space Can Radio Broadcasts Reach?
Apparently our radio broadcasts can be listened to in a “space bubble” 200 light years in diameter. That’s huge! But when you compare it to the rest of the Milky Way, um, not really. So just know when you’re hoping an E.T. will find you through your radio broadcasts, he has to be within that … Continued
By Casey Chan -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightThe Soviet Plan to Go to the Moon Was Stupid
I look at the Soviet plans to go to the Moon and I wonder if they secretly contracted the Marx Brothers to design it. I guess it’s easy to say that with hindsight—look at the Apollo program—but couldn’t they really see that this was not a very smart option? This Soviet plan to go to … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightPigeons In Zero Gravity
What would it be like if we brought pigeons into outer space? Well, you’d have a lot of crazed and confused pigeons, that’s what. How come more of our space budget can’t go towards projects like these? Quick pedantry: the pigeons aren’t technically in zero gravity; the effect is actually an illusion, achieved by inertia … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Space Shuttle May Fly Without NASA
Already missing the soon to be shelved Space Shuttle? You might not have to, with private contractor United Space Alliance considering a $1.5 billion a year proposal to take the fleet private. “It is safe. We have a lot of history, we understand how to operate it,” explains United Space Alliance’s chief. We’re not so … Continued
By Sam Biddle