You are browsing the archive for NASA.
16 October 2008
Saturn V Launch in Slow-Motion
It may not be too long before we see launches like this again… I can’t wait! via videosift.com
DPS 2008 Day Five: Icy and Not-so-Icy Moons
Today was the final day of the DPS meeting here at Cornell, but the sessions were still very interesting. They served to remind me just how little we know about the outer solar system. Also, remember you can go and watch all the sessions yourself! I believe the plan is to transfer all the videos to a more permanent location soon, so I will keep you posted. The first few …
10 October 2008
MSL Still Aiming for Oct 2009
NASA is holding a press conference right now regarding MSL and it sounds like they are going to press on and try to achieve the October 2009 launch date. More info as it becomes available! Update: Emily has a much more detailed post about the status of MSL over at the Planetary Society blog.
8 October 2008
25km Enceladus Flyby!
Tomorrow the Cassini spacecraft will fly within 25 km of the surface of Enceladus. Yes, you read that right. Twenty five kilometers. Not 2500, not 250. Holy crap. I’ll let you read about all the details over at the Planetary Society blog. I just wanted to call attention to how freakin’ amazing it is to be able to command a spacecraft that is currently ~1,525,300,000 km away from Earth and …
7 October 2008
Mercury Flyby #2 Images
The first close-up images from MESSENGER’s second Mercury flyby were posted today and they’re spectacular! Here’s a link to the images, and a nice summary over at Bad Astronomy. The most striking thing about this first image is the totally awesome planet encircling ejecta rays! These are formed in large impacts when the debris gets blasted out of the crater in coherent jets. Rays are common, expecially on airless bodies, …
6 October 2008
NASA + YouTube = Awesome
NASA has put out some excellent new YouTube videos. Music videos. I’ll let them speak/sing for themselves: And when a music video doesn’t work: cute kids!
Mercury Flyby!
The MESSENGER probe flew by Mercury for the second time last night, coming only 200 km from the planet’s surface. Since MESSENGER is so close to the sun, NASA engineers had to compensate for the fact that the intense sunlight produces a force on the spacecraft. In essence, MESSENGER was acting like a small solar sail! The picture shown above was taken yesterday during the approach, but I’ll post the …
2 October 2008
Carnival of Space #73 – NASA Birthday Edition
NASA is legendary for its numerous and sometimes unnecessary acronyms. (My personal favorite is IDD – instrument deployment device, also known as the arm on the MER rovers.) That’s why it is fitting that this week’s carnival of space is one huge acronym commemorating NASA’s birthday! Go check it out at Alice’s Astro Info!
Happy Birthday NASA!
Today marks the 50th birthday of NASA! Nancy Atkinson over at Universe Today has a very nice post reflecting on the past five decades of space exploration. Rather than repeat what she wrote, I’ll just provide you with these space-exploration-related quotes: “To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.” -Stephen Hawking “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring …
29 September 2008
Phoenix Sees Snow and Carbonates on Mars!
Big news from the Phoenix lander! A new JPL press release just came out, announcing the detection of snow and carbonates on Mars! From the press release: A laser instrument designed to gather knowledge of how the atmosphere and surface interact on Mars has detected snow from clouds about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) above the spacecraft’s landing site. Data show the snow vaporizing before reaching the ground. “Nothing like this …
