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| Author: |
comicbookguy |
| Dated: |
Saturday, July 30 2005 @ 05:03 PM PDT |
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370 times |
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Finally the answer to the age old question.
Is there Life on Mars?
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| Author: |
PlanetD |
| Dated: |
Monday, June 21 2004 @ 07:10 PM PDT |
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391 times |
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MOJAVE, CALIFORNIA – The first non-governmental rocket ship flew to the edge of space today and was piloted to a safe landing on a desert airport runway here.
Civilian test pilot, now turned astronaut Mike Melvill brought SpaceShipOne down to the Mojave Airport tarmac after flying to 100 kilometers (62 miles) in altitude, leaving the Earth’s atmosphere during his history-making sub-orbital space ride.
Read the full story here.
Source: Space.com
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| Author: |
comicbookguy |
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Sunday, June 06 2004 @ 11:55 PM PDT |
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339 times |
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The transit or passage of a planet across the face of the Sun is a relatively rare occurrence. As seen from Earth, only transits of Mercury and Venus are possible. On average, there are 13 transits of Mercury each century. In contrast, transits of Venus occur in pairs with more than a century separating each pair.
No living person has seen a transit of Venus because the most recent one occurred in 1882. This situation is about to change since Venus will transit the Sun on Tuesday, June 08 2004. The entire event will be widely visible from Europe, Africa and Asia. Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia will witness the beginning of the transit but the Sun will set before the event ends. Similarly, observers in western Africa, eastern North America, the Caribbean and most of South America will see the end of the event since the transit will already be in progress at sunrise from those locations.
To learn more about the transit visit The European Southern Observatory.
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| Author: |
comicbookguy |
| Dated: |
Friday, June 04 2004 @ 03:13 PM PDT |
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415 times |
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Saturn and its rings are growing large in the view of the international Cassini spacecraft, which is nearing a rendezvous with the giant planet after years of travel across the solar system.
Cassini, carrying the European-built Huygens probe, was about 15.9 million kilometres from Saturn on Thursday, and officials said all was well with the $3 billion US mission.
Recent images sent to Earth from Cassini show Saturn's subtly striped atmosphere and details of its rings. Cassini, which was developed and assembled at JPL, will fly by Saturn's outermost moon, Phoebe, next week and at the end of the month will fire its rocket in a manoeuvre to put it into orbit around the ringed planet for at least four years of observation.
Robert Mitchell, the JPL Cassini program manager, said the spacecraft had been put through a complete test of the orbital insertion procedure, without actually firing the rocket, "and the sequence clocked out just fine."
Huygens will be released from Cassini in December to enter the atmosphere of the moon Titan in January. Cassini was launched from Florida in 1997 on a 3.5 billion-kilometre journey to Saturn.
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| Author: |
comicbookguy |
| Dated: |
Wednesday, May 12 2004 @ 04:00 PM PDT |
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406 times |
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Mexican air force pilots filmed 11 unidentified flying objects in the skies over southern Campeche state. A videotape made widely available to the news media shows the bright objects, some sharp points of light and others like large headlights, moving rapidly in what appears to be a late-evening sky.
The lights were filmed March 5 by pilots using infrared equipment. They appeared to be flying at an altitude of about 3,500 metres and allegedly surrounded the air force jet as it conducted routine anti-drug trafficking vigilance in Campeche. Only three of the objects showed up on the plane's radar.
The video was first aired on national television Monday night then again at a news conference Tuesday by Jaime Maussan, a Mexican investigator who has dedicated the last 10 years to studying UFOs.
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| Author: |
PlanetD |
| Dated: |
Wednesday, January 28 2004 @ 12:08 AM PST |
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371 times |
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DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) - Europe's Mars orbiter has detected water molecules vapourizing from the Red Planet's south pole, scientists announced Friday, calling it the most direct evidence yet of water in the form of ice on the Martian surface.
The quest for water on Mars - which could indicate life - has fascinated scientists for centuries. Mars watchers have long believed that the planet's poles contain frozen water, but previous scientific findings - including NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter's evidence of large amounts of ice - were based more on inferences, European Space Agency scientists said.
While Mars Odyssey has been able to indirectly show the presence of water at the pole using temperature monitors, the European camera has for the first time been able to "literally map the polar cap" using infrared technology that shows where water molecules are present, said scientist Jean-Pierre Bibring.
"You look at the picture, look at the fingerprint, and say this is water ice," said agency scientist Allen Moorehouse. "This is the first time it's been detected on the ground. This is the first direct confirmation."
For the full story Click Here
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| Author: |
toddellis |
| Dated: |
Tuesday, January 13 2004 @ 10:50 PM PST |
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533 times |
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The Spirit rover's wheels have rolled for the first time on Mars, the mission team said Tuesday, and scientists have mapped out what the rover will do and most likely where it will die.
Overnight, the golfcart-sized rover cut the final cord tying it to the landing platform that it came in on 10 days ago, then backed up about 10 inches (25 centimeters) and turned 45 degrees. These were the first maneuvers planned in preparation for having Spirit roll 10 feet (3 meters) down a ramp onto the Martian surface on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
"The engineering team is just elated that we're driving, finally," flight director Chris Lewicki told journalists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We cut our ties loose and we're ready to rove."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3855168/
1 comments
Most Recent Post: 01/14 10:47PM by PlanetD
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| Author: |
PlanetD |
| Dated: |
Monday, January 12 2004 @ 03:31 PM PST |
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300 times |
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Jan. 8, 2004 — The U.S. human space program is expected to be redirected away from station-keeping in low-Earth orbit and refocused on a return to the moon and preparation for exploration of nearby asteroids and Mars, according to a major policy announcement slated to be unveiled by President George W. Bush next week.
The still-unnamed program will culminate with a landing on the moon in 2013, said Frank Sietzen, a Washington, D.C.-based space policy expert and co-author of "New Moon Rising," an upcoming book about the new exploration initiative.
The lunar studies are intended to pave the way for human missions to Mars by 2020. The moon would be used to develop technologies and systems for sustaining human life in space.
Bush is expected to request $800 million to kick-start the program during NASA's next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. In addition, the administration plans to request an annual budget increase for NASA of five percent a year to support the new space exploration initiative, according to Sietzen.
That increase will fall far short of what would be needed to resume expeditions to the moon, which ended in 1972 with a sixth lunar landing under the Apollo program.
NASA will be directed to end the shuttle program as soon as possible and diminish its role in the International Space Station to focus its efforts and funding on the renewed lunar exploration effort.
For the full story Click Here
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| Author: |
Lance |
| Dated: |
Monday, January 05 2004 @ 03:48 PM PST |
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550 times |
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I read an interesting article over at Science Daily about NASA's Spirit Rover. The Rover is starting to examine its new surroundings, revealing a vast flatland well suited to the robot's unprecedented mobility and scientific toolkit.
The rover remains perched on its lander platform, and the next nine days or more will be spent preparing to roll off, onto the martian surface. The rover's initial images excited scientists about the prospects of exploring the region after the roll-off.
To read the full story Click Here.
To view the latest images send back from Mars Check out Nasa's Site.
1 comments
Most Recent Post: 01/05 03:53PM by PlanetD
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| Author: |
PlanetD |
| Dated: |
Sunday, January 04 2004 @ 04:05 PM PST |
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578 times |
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PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - A NASA rover plunged through the atmosphere of Mars and bounced down on its rocky surface Saturday night, beginning a mission to roam the Red Planet in search of evidence that it was once suitable for life.
A cheer went up at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory after signals showed the spacecraft had successfully reached Mars. The rover signalled Earth after landing.
The Spirit rover is the first of two identical robots that will roam the planet's rocky surface if all goes as planned.
The gravity of Mars had already begun to tug on the spacecraft earlier Saturday from a distance of 95,000 kilometres, project manager Pete Theisinger said. Spirit appeared on track to make a "bull's-eye" landing within a cigar-shaped ellipse inside Gusev Crater, just south of the Martian equator, navigation team chief Louis D'Amario said.
"This is essentially perfect navigation. We couldn't have possibly hoped to do better than this," D'Amario said. Previously, about two of every three attempts to land spacecraft on Mars have failed. The latest apparent failure was the British Beagle 2 lander, which has not been heard from since it was to have set down on Mars on Christmas.
"It's an incredibly difficult place to land. Some have called it the 'death planet' for good reason," said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for space science.
For the full story Click Here
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