Okay, I’m being lazy today … so much I ought to write about, but I’ll just post “‘Me, too!’ like some brain-dead AOL-er.”
Perspective via a sort of palindrome. (Brought to my attention by Paul Weston.)
Homeschoolers versus the Home-Schooled.
The Known Universe: In Persepctive.
In 2029, the 900-foot asteroid Apophis, will miss Earth by only about 18,000 miles. To put that in contrast, the moon is an average of 238,857 miles away, center-to-center, or about 234,000 miles surface-to-surface. (The moon, of course, has a slightly elliptical orbit, so that’s just an average.) If that doesn’t set up the right mental image, take a look at the animation below, from an article on Wired Science.
Below you’ll see some beautiful video compiled from the STS-129 mission launch. (STS stands for space transportation system, and is the designation for NASA’s own Space Shuttle.
STS-129 Ascent Video Highlights from mike interbartolo on Vimeo.
STS-129 video highlights as compiled by the SE&I imagery team here at JSC from all of the ground, air, ET and SRB assets.
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1, ESV)
; "Colliding Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038/NGC 4039)")
A sample: colliding Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038/NGC 4039)
Check out the 2008 Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar; a new HST image will be posted each day through tomorrow.
This story about duct tape use on the moon was simply too good to pass up on cross-posting.
[I]n [the] Taurus-Littrow [valley, in the Sea of Serenity, on the moon] a missing fender was a potential disaster. The reason is moondust. When a rover rolls across the lunar surface, it kicks up a plume of moondust in its wake. (Astronauts called them “rooster tails.”) Without a fender, the rover would be showered by a spray of dark, abrasive grit. White spacesuits blackened by dust could turn into dangerous absorbers of the fierce lunar sun with astronauts overheating inside. Sharp-edged dust wiped off visors would scratch the glass, making helmets difficult to see out of. Moondust also had an uncanny way of working itself into hinges, latches and joints, rendering them useless.
; "Duct tape in use on the fender of the Apollo 17 lunar buggy.")
Cernan: “And I hate to say it, but I’m going to have to take some time to try … to get that fender back on. Jack, is the tape under my seat, do you remember?” (He’s referring to a roll of ordinary, gray duct tape.)
Star Wars:
Weather Control:
Natural Disasters:
Tall Buildings:
Robotics (especially for Neal Stephenson fans):
Space Slide Shows:
You see, I had this space suit.
How it happened was like this: “Dad,” I said, “I want to go to the moon.”
“Certainly,” he answered and looked back at his book. It was Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat, which he must know by heart.
I said, “Dad, please! I’m serious.”
This time he closed the book on a finger and said gently, “I said it was all right. Go ahead.”
“Yes … but how?”
“Eh?” He looked mildly suprised. “Why, that’s your problem, Clifford.”
(Opening lines from Robert A. Heinlein’s Have Space Suit—Will Travel)
I remember when I in elementary school, and the short Saturday-morning “In the News” program predicted that, if one were 25 years of age or younger, it would be possible to vacation on the moon in one’s lifetime.
Despite our different focus in our government-sponsored space program, new materials science and technology, the availability of massive amounts of private capital, and the undying dream of human space exploration and even tourism, are working to make those predictions a reality.
See my post Have Space Ship—Will Travel, as well as other Wilcox Family BLOG posts regarding NASA and Space.
Here is just one such example of what is developing, with a view for what wonders the next 20 years may bring:
Wired: The “Moon Could Be Next Tourist Trap.”
Space tourism is already a reality for those wealthy enough to afford it. But just like transcontinental voyages and air travel, space will open up for the common man.
Time to start buying Skyway Soap …
There are few things in life cooler than exploring other parts of our Solar System. Along those lines, here are a couple of great links recommended by Brian Cortez:
Apollo 13, We Have a Solution—An accurate and fascinating account of the engineering and preparation that allowed Apollo 13’s crew to return safely to earth. If you have seen the film, you definitely want to read the real story.
Doug “JavaDoug” Ross contributing this link to the MSNBC Tech/Science Slide Show Archive, which contains more wonder.
Artist Lynette Cook is achieving fame via her amazing work on extrasolar planets. Be sure to look at her other work as well.
The European Space Agency has an excellent annotated animation of the Huygens probe (launched from the Cassini spacecraft on Christmas Eve) descent to the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan. See also The Cassini Site at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
On June 21, the privately-funded SpaceShipOne will launch for a history-making, 100 km (62 mile) altitude flight.
“Our goal is to demonstrate that non-government manned space flight operations are not only feasible, but can be done at very low costs.” (Burt Rutan)
Read the article at MSNBC.com here, and check out the Scaled Composites FAQ and related pages.
Thanks to Phil Luchon for this reference.
Just a few quick bullet items:
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