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This website has many images of the disaster from space. Out of all the images, I found this one the most disturbing.

Note how there is a dendritic, tree-like structure radiating outward from a central "trunk." I know crystals can sometimes grow with a dendritic structure, but consider the scale of the image: about 5 meters per pixel. These are huge structures.

Also note that they appear to rise above the surface to a significant height. Sunlight is coming from the bottom of this image; the ground is bright on that side of the objects, and in shadow on the other side.

If you think lichen spots are cool, check out the trees of Mars.

There is an article on space.com.

The picture shows a really *tiny* space station with a progress and a soyuz docked. The station seems to be derived from the soyuz craft, but it will probably offer more room because it will not have a propulsion system. But it will still be really tiny. The habitable space will a cylinder about 2m in diameter and 4m in length. The crew will sleep in the soyuz, so this is not as bad as it sounds. I guess there is a huge window in the "base" of the space station.

The good thing is that this thing will probably be small enough to go up on a Soyuz launcher, so the price tag of 100M$ is quite realistic. If they can raise the money, they will build this.

Frankly I think Russia might just be able to afford this one. They're keeping the design very simple. The picture shown on spacedaily.com shows one module that's smaller than the ISS Svezda (zvezda?) service module (not the FGB).

I think making movies in space is overrated. Movie sets require actual open space to film, and staff on hand. For Ministation 1 we're talking three people max, at least one of which has to be a Soyuz pilot, a max of 20 days, and habitable volume comparible to a minivan. That just doesn't sound realistic for making movies to me.

But space tourism, fuck yeah I'd go. Hell, I want to do it badly enough to try out what that guy in oregon is doing. Don't laugh at me, I was born and raised in Oregon, so maybe it's the air and greenery that implants insane desires.

The runway at Baikonur has just been refurbished, this is the runway that was built specifically for the Buran and AN225.

Reportadly Buran is virtually ready to fly with very little work, strap on an Energia and boosters roll her out to the pad and jump on in.

Here's another example of how NASA tech coming "down to earth", as well as an earlier article about how NASA was helping fight fires (using satellites)

Here's another example of how NASA tech coming "down to earth", as well as an earlier article about how NASA was helping fight fires (using satellites)

Space.com also has an article here. Similarly a good read for those of you that can't get enough.

.ph0x

This article was also on CNN.com and Space.com yesterday as well, to name a few.

Ceres has a diameter of about 950 kilometers (590 miles), and is still (and always will be) the largest main belt asteroid. This new object, known as 2001 KX76 (representing its discovery year and code), is a member of the Kuiper Belt. Kuiper Belt Objects are the primitive remenants of the prestellar cloud that formed our solar system. They have been expected by planetary astronomers for years, and in the last few years, hundreds have been found, although this is the largest found to date (excluding Pluto). It is anticipated that hundreds of thousands more might be found as better telescopes are constructed.

This article on Space.com has considerably more detail about the asteroid and the techniques used for its discovery and measurement.

Included in their discussion is a debate about whether it really is the largest asteroid. The measurement of its radius relies on a reasonable, but not well established, guess for the objects reflectivity of sun light. Also some people claim that since objects at that distance are largely ice, that it may not qualify as a true asteroid (i.e. made of rock).

Astronomers have such HUGE amounts of data collected I'm glad to see that automated techniques are aiding in discovering new objects.

This article on Space.com has considerably more detail about the asteroid and the techniques used for its discovery and measurement.

Included in their discussion is a debate about whether it really is the largest asteroid. The measurement of its radius relies on a reasonable, but not well established, guess for the objects reflectivity of sun light. Also some people claim that since objects at that distance are largely ice, that it may not qualify as a true asteroid (i.e. made of rock).

Astronomers have such HUGE amounts of data collected I'm glad to see that automated techniques are aiding in discovering new objects.

It's only a matter of time before sattelite-based personal communication becomes the norm. Bill gates has been investing in this technology since the mid 90's. We just have to wait until he makes his move...

Space.com has another version with more graphics.

Except the article refers to a consensus reached 25 years ago, but I believe the actual "collision with a Mars-sized body" consensus came from the Kona, Hawaii meeting in 1984. So that's only 17 years... And basically this model is just an incremental improvement (will a big increment - 20,000 body simulation instead of 3,000) over previous simulations of the process. Still interesting though!

It does lend some

It seems to me Zubrin's plan immediately falls apart because we simply don't have "a single, heavy-lift booster rocket with a capability equal to that of the Saturn 5 rockets from the Apollo era". Is Zubrin talking about something similar to Magnum? According to that article, even if the plans for the original Saturn 5 haven't been destroyed, it is simply impossible for us to manufacture something similar to the Saturn 5 today. Magnum's 80 tons of payload would be a bit less than the 100 of Saturn 5.

Raising ships with ping-pong balls

Solar sails for spacecraft

Laser-powered spacecraft

Supersonic speeds underwater

Fake breastesses

Sometimes it feels so good to be a human being :)

"Has sensational journalism gone too far? Find out at eleven!" - John Stewart

When I was born, we had just made it to the moon. I wish I could have been alive to witness that moment. In my 30 years, there hasn't been a single truly amazing technological accomplishment like reaching the moon. Sure, things have gotten smaller, faster, and cheaper. But nothing Earth-shattering has happened that just makes us sit down and say "Wow!"

We've been on cruise control for 32 years. That's bad. Any country--and indeed all mankind--needs a goal. Something to shoot for, keep the scientists thinking, keep everyone dreaming. Just waiting out the recession and waiting for profit reports for the next quarter isn't sufficient motivation for mankind to continue advancing in meaningful ways. Not only do we need to create wealth, we need to continue scientific advances. Humans have always explored "the next frontier," be it out of greed, curiosity, or necessity. There is plenty of room on Mars for all of these, eventually.

Apparently the Russians are planning a manned mission to Mars by 2020 and are asking for international cooperation. That's fine, but I hope America takes the lead as it has in the past. Especially considering Russia's financial situation there's really no way they're going anywhere unless they get a ride with the rest of the world.

In any case, I'd much prefer my tax dollars to be spent on meaningful scientific research that gets us to Mars or a colony on the moon rather than our many entitlement programs. If we'd even spend 1/5th of our entitlement budget on scientific R&D we'd have an outpost on the moon followed by a manned mission and outpost on Mars rather than paying people to stay at home and watch TV instead of working.

Correct URL (no, not goatsex :) http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/ meteor_eastcoast_010723.html

Then again, maybe not.

Just reef the sails. Or if they're too fragile to retract, effectively do so by turning the craft perpendicular to the photons for a bit, until it's close enough into the star that the increased deceleration is adjusted for. (I know some wag will ask: why not just go at night? ;-)

BTW, it's photons powering the craft, i.e., sunlight, not protons, i.e., solar wind or whatever. That was a typo in the CNN article; they got it right a couple articles ago, but got it wrong in the last two.

Speaking of lasers, check out some interesting solar sail material, thicker than previously used, and able to withstand laser temperatures, so you could accelerate with lasers and sunlight close to home, for an added boost.

What can we geeks do to help the space program? Why, we can be geeky and talk it up to people that normally don't think about space. NASA just isn't hyping space up like they used to, and even though you're supposed to see the ISS as a bright object in the sky, people forget because that's about the time they'e running home from work and have bigger things on their minds. It's up to us to bring it up...the ISS isn't going to talk itself up at the water cooler. If people don't know that anything important is going on up on that station or anywhere else in space, then citizens are going to go for those budget cuts and NASA will go nowhere. Let's not repeat the post-Apollo-pre-shuttle days by sitting on the side and watching it go by. Will the next few Mars rovers be the spectacle of the first, or will people treat it as a bad sequel and groan? Or will people just hear about another accident in space on the way to Mars and roll their eyes?

Without something life-changing happening in space, I'm afraid those people across the world (the I in ISS, folks!) will forget about space if we don't remind them. With the Middle East on the verge of causing World War III and such other perils, people honestly don't have time to think about this until something like an explosion or astronauts sodomizing each other makes a newsbite.

I happen to subscribe to the Space.com newsletters, and without them, I would not have remembered that the shuttle Atlantis took off today to the ISS to attach the Joint Airlock module. Who else knew what the astronauts on the ISS did yesterday?

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/ earth_move_010207.html

This thing is 65 light-years away. Now, I haven't run the numbers through Kepler's Third Law, but my intuition is that anything that far out, and in an actual orbit, would have an orbital period in the billions of years-plus area. Not a mere 30 million years or so.

The space.com page you linked to contains this diagram which shows the predicted orbital range for Nemesis to be in the 1- to 3-lightyear separation range. This seems plausible, and I'll bet the astronomers who came up with it have run the numbers through the Third Law and liked what they saw.

Even with a highly eliptical orbit, it doesn't gel that the star would be 65 light-years away and due to arrive in a mere 1.5 million years (out of a 30 year cycle.) That would mean that it's been swinging around for a long while and is "almost here." How far away would it have to swing, 700 light-years? With that sort of range, we'd never have a regular period for it of 30 million years. Other stars would capture it, or otherwise screw up its orbit, as it swung by.

So, intruiging, but I believe, wrong.

--

What NASA says about Nemesis.

An excellent overview from IndiaWorld.

Why Nemesis isn't a wacked out theory, and might even be expected.

A fairly detailed account at space.com

We can see our clock ticking. Divine retribution seems to be a million years away But the animal smaller than dogs can take solace, as IIRC this might be Nemesis' last fly by, so they will inherit the earth for an indeterminate period of time.

The Uranus experiment was even nominated for a 1999 Nebula award (it didn't win, of course).

More info here: http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/movies/uranus_ experiment_000516.html

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http://www.space.com/news/spaceshuttles/buran_boug ht_000303.html

So, how come this discussion has so few comments. It didn't show up on my main /. page. I don't know why.

Heres some more about the Buran at space.com .... http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology /buran_010628.html.

D.

Appearently the CD is on Mars nevertheless:

Mission controllers for NASA's Mars Polar Lander mission are awaiting the next opportunity to communicate with the spacecraft, whose transmissions have not yet been received since it landed on Mars shortly after noon Pacific time today. (see here)

It may even have been spotted again:

The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) has been quietly scanning Mars pictures, looking for the Mars Polar Lander since early December 1999. According to a source close to the NIMA effort, photographic specialists at NIMA think they ve spotted something. But NASA officials say it stoo early to tell. (see here

So at least this CD reached its mission goal and is by now assimilated by the Marsians :-).

Although the Anonymous Coward was trying to be funny, he/she/it may have been on the right track. A recent article in Discover Magazine addresses the psychology problems associated with long durations in space.

NASA Engineers seen fairly confident now that the tip hung-up because of thermal expansion in parts of the arm. Modern mishap analysis teaches that there is usually a series of things that collectively add up to a mishap. Thermal expansion could be one of the material causes (an other possibility being poor engineering), but what of human related causes?

Perhaps Voss and Helms were not a peak performance levels while starting the checks on the arm. Voss has been quoted as saying, the tip of the arm "held on for a little bit longer than it should have, and then the built-up forces allowed it to release. It just backed off a little bit, came back in and contacted the grapple fixture, and then bounced off again." What were they doing while the arm was not responding as it should?

Look at the psychological factors the crew is experiencing. They has been onboard since mid-March. They have recently learned that their stay will be extended. They have dealt with a robotic arm that isn't working as it should. They have been frustrated by delays in installing the new airlock. And even Denis Tito talked about the grueling hours on mind-numbing tasks.

In June of '97, the Russian space station Mir suffered a nearly catastrophic mishap when a resupply ship collided with the space station. This mishap has since been at least partially attributed to human error. The cosmonaut at the controls was mentally exhausted from four month of living on a tiny ship that had experienced myriad problems already.

I think the future of space travel is going to see more psychologically related problems as we push ourselves for longer and longer. This isn't to say we should stop. We should instead forge ahead and learn as much as we possibly can from every moment.

The X-43A weighs in at approximately 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms). The craft is 12 feet (3.7 meters) long, with a width of 5 feet (1.5 meters), and measures 2 feet (.6 meters) in height.

NASA spokesperson Leslie Williams said a press conference would be held later today to discuss the failure. No details about the cause of the problem were immediately available, she said.

On the bright side, at least it was unmanned. Hopefully we got a little data before we shot it down and it won't be a total loss.

--brian

NASA spokesperson Leslie Williams said a press conference would be held later today to discuss the failure. No details about the cause of the problem were immediately available, she said.

On the bright side, at least it was unmanned. Hopefully we got a little data before we shot it down and it won't be a total loss.

--brian

Don't forget space.com

Goldin isn't neccesarily averse to selling rides-- it's just that his price would probably be about 60 million dollars-- whether this is more economically justifiable is beyond me. Of course, his largish price tag would be undercut by the Russians, who operate under different economic constraints.

Goldin has also been, strangely supportive of James Cameron, obstensibly because the director is not particularly pushy about a launch date. Of course, it is likely that Cameron will direct/produce a film stemming from his experience, both enhancing the reputation of NASA, and encouraging the profitable commercialization of space.

Pasting "billboards" on the space station isn't neccesarily crass-- after all, ceratin functional components already bear the logos of their manufacturer, but it is rather unimaginative. It promotes the idea of space as an exotic tourist destination, rather than as a a research and development center. Nasa has a website dedicated to commercialization.

The space.com report gives much more information.

This Bible prophecy site reported the same thing in 1998. They referenced a Washington Times report. This Space.com story reported the same thing in November last year.

Well, I guess the final JPL report is newsworthy.

Note: I don't frequent the online Bible sites, but I knew I had heard this years ago and the referenced site turned up near the top of my Google search!

I was fortunate enough to attend a presentation by Robert Zubrin when he was on my campus about 3 months ago. He provides a compelling argument for a direct-to-Mars project, utilizing technology which currently exists. We could be on Mars in under 10 years. Specs are located here. Zubrin, a succesful author, is also one of the leading supporters of the Mars Society. The most fascinating aspect of their proposal, is that they want to use "private" funding (ie not governmental funds). I really don't know of a cooler open source project. This could be the next SETI@Home.
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Russian Official Condemns U.S. Senator for 'Pimp' Remark

Senator Compares Russian Space Agency to 'Pimps'

Funding Prospects for Pentagon Space Programs Still Unclear

Russian Official Condemns U.S. Senator for 'Pimp' Remark

Senator Compares Russian Space Agency to 'Pimps'

Funding Prospects for Pentagon Space Programs Still Unclear

Russian Official Condemns U.S. Senator for 'Pimp' Remark

Senator Compares Russian Space Agency to 'Pimps'

Funding Prospects for Pentagon Space Programs Still Unclear

Russian Official Condemns U.S. Senator for 'Pimp' Remark

Senator Compares Russian Space Agency to 'Pimps'

Funding Prospects for Pentagon Space Programs Still Unclear

After This guy has already spent so much to get there? The injustice of it all!

This is pretty old news. Posted April 27, 2000:

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology /pulse_technology_000427.html

I have a hard enough time when the US auctions off used, 15 - year old aircraft carriers to developing nations, although there's little I can do to stop it.

This thing flew less than 5 years ago, and China has already been known to buy Russian space technology for its own use. This capsule is said to be fully loaded. Can we trust Russia to strip American proprietary secrets out of the capsule before this blue - light special? Can we be guaranteed that it won't end up in the hands of some terrorist?

OK, this isn't designed to be a weapons grade device, but are we certain that there is NO enabling technology that, say, Iran or Iraq can use for their purposes?

THis isn't to say that forign nationals are bad, but we'd do well to acknowledge at least these two things:

Russia is still arguably an unwise place to do business

There are more than a few places where they don't tale a lot of pride in the the American flag

Again I disagree. Lawyers will do no good if one can establish previous use. See the eToys saga.

Advertising has everything to do with maintaining IP. Advertising shows possession for the IP holder, in addition to all the other stuff they have to do. The point of the post was to discuss the reasoning behind why Coke is trademarked and not copyrighted. If they copyrighted the ingredients in Coke they would have to disclose them. Disclosing them is revealing their IP. Coke will not sue someone for making something that tastes like Coke, only something that IS Coke.

Did you know that Coke has their own police force? They send out people to eat in restaurants who order a Coke. If they are brought Pepsi without being told it is a Pepsi, they report the establishment. The idea here is that the IP for Coke is being diluted and while the customer may know instinctively they are drinking Pepsi, they may still have the word Coke in their head.

Trust me...we had Coke people and lawyers in the room teaching us this. all I was doing was drawing attention to this fact.

If you want to see an intrusive ad, go to space.com and see the Intel ad. Now THAT is intrusive and Intel is just like Coke in this respect.

Jeff

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They're solar panels, for collecting energy. I have seen them called "Solar Sails" elsewhere, but that seems like a misnomer to me. Solar sails are for navigation through the solar wind, and (thanks to events this week) they are still fictitious.
--
Patrick Doyle

Interesting. Anyway, for more info on this go here. At this site, they identify it as a mysterious light similar to our Aurora lights.

Good article on the science behind the aurorae. Take a look here.

The words are "exobiology", "astrobiology", and maybe "panspermia". Go search.

have a look at space.com - someone already has the photos, dude