26 October 2008
The Science of Chandrayaan: Part 2
Last time I described the Indian-made instruments on the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. But the mission is a huge international collaboration, and there are six more instruments to talk about made by countries around the world. Let’s take a look: An X-ray image of the moon. Chandrayaan-1 X-Ray Spectrometer (C1XS) – “Wait a second!” I hear you saying. “Didn’t you talk about an x-ray spectrometer last time?” Well, yes, but x-rays have …
24 October 2008
Big Picture: Enceladus
Check it out, The Big Picture is featuring views of Saturn’s moon Enceladus today! I have a soft spot for Enceladus because when I was in NASA academy, we chose to come up with a mission concept to Enceladus. Go check out the stunning photos!
New President of the Planetary Society!
I just found out that the Planetary Society has selected a new president: none other than my adviser, Jim Bell! I was wondering where he was earlier this week… I guess I’ll have to start addressing him as Mr. President. 🙂
23 October 2008
The Science of Chandrayaan
By now you’ve probably heard that India successfully launched its first moon mission yesterday (Oct. 22, 2008). But what will it do at the moon? Let’s take a look at the scientific payload and find out! This will be a 2-part post, starting with the five instruments made by the Indian space agency (ISRO), followed by six more made by countries around the world. Most of my information comes from …
21 October 2008
Massive Crystals: The coolest thing I've ever seen.
Really, that’s all I said for like 5 minutes after seeing this picture for the first time: Those are PEOPLE, for scale. Here’s another pic, just to put you in a little more awe: These are the largest crystals yet to be found on Earth, with some reaching over 30 feet in length! As reported in NG, The Cueva de los Cristales is located 1000 feet below ground in the …
Fresh Craters
Today marks my twenty-fourth revolution around the sun! To commemorate this momentous occasion, I am going to be a lazy blogger and just let you drool over some HiRISE images instead. The image above is a small crater in the polar layered deposits. It’s filled with ice because the crater walls keep the floor shaded, so frost can collect there. You can read more about this crater at the HiRISE …
18 October 2008
Carnival of Space #75
Happy Saturday! The 75th carnival of space is up, over at the Lounge of the Lab Lemming! You should check it out. Now. Go!
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 …
15 October 2008
DPS Posting Intermission
I wasn’t able to make it to many sessions today. I was helping to organize a “Women in Science” event at the local middle school, taking advantage of the fact that so many famous female scientists are in town. So unfortuantely that meant that I only caught a few talks today. Fortunately, the sessions are still available online, so I will be able to get caught up on what I …
