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9 September 2008
Last Year's MSL Landing Site Workshop: Day 1
Coming up next week is the 3rd Mars Science Laboratory Landing Site Workshop, where the Mars science community will come together to narrow down the possible landing site choices for MSL. There have been two similar meeting before this one, and I was lucky enough to attend the one last year. In fact, some of my first blogging experience was summarizing the three days of that meeting. I will be …
1 September 2008
The Big Picture: Hubble Rescue
The Big Picture blog has a great collection of photos showing the preparations for the upcoming space shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope (STS-125). The mission launches in October and is one of the 10 remaining shuttle missions. Hubble repair missions are extremely tricky, but they are also, in my opinion, the best thing that the space shuttle has been used for.
31 August 2008
Obama Answers Top 14 Science Questions
Sciencedebate2008.com has come up with a list of 14 science policy questions for the candidates to answer, and Obama just provided his answers. Here are my notes, highlighting key points in case you don’t have time to read the whole thing: More NSF fellowships Double basic research budgets in next 10 years reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 expand federally funded …
Mars Rovers Twitter!
Following the lead of their younger, hipper cousin Phoenix, the Rovers now have their own Twitter page. Check it often to get the latest rover news!
29 August 2008
Opportunity Update: Out of Victoria!
It’s offical: Opportunity is out of Victoria crater and back on level ground for the first time in almost a year. Next up, the rover will take a look at some cobbles: rocks strewn about the plains of meridiani by distant impacts. For more detail, check out the JPL press release.
27 August 2008
Opportunity Update: Leaving Victoria Crater
JPL just put out a press release confirming the plan that the rover team has been aware of for a while now: Opportunity is on its way out of Victoria crater. After a lot of frustratingly difficult driving toward the crater wall at Cape Verde, we have tons of awesome images of the layers in the rock but were unable to get close enough to reach out and touch it. …
23 July 2008
Cadavers, Rockets and GPS
Here’s a riddle: What do dead bodies, awesome rockets, and GPS have in common? They are all being used in NASA’s return to the moon. Universe today has three interesting posts with all the details. First, I’ll get to the question that I know you’re asking: What the heck does NASA want with dead bodies? Well, they are in the process of testing the Crew Exploration Vehicle, and deciding how …
21 July 2008
One small step
39 years ago today, the first human set foot on another world. Here’s hoping that we follow in those footsteps sooner rather than later. I don’t have time to say more, but Phil Plait has already said it better than I could, so go see what the Bad Astronomer has to say.
8 July 2008
This is your future – Why the Moon?
With all my moon-related posts, you’d think it was Monday!* I just got this in my email, and thought I would share it with all of you space enthusiasts: What would YOU like to ask of young people that work at NASA? On July 20, 2008, members from the younger generation from four NASA Centers will discuss the future of space exploration as part of the Lunar Science Conference at …
The Moon: Then and Now
Boston.com has a fantastic photo-essay showing some of the new hardware that NASA is testing for the return to the moon, plus some classic images from the Apollo missions. You should really check it out, and pass the link on to everyone you know. More people need to know that NASA is serious about returning to the Moon! Here’s a sample picture from the site: These are the All-Terrain Hex-Legged …
