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
Crescent Mars
Emily has posted some awesome pictures of a crescent Mars that she put together using old Viking data. For some reason, the previous attempts at doing this are pretty horrible looking, but her images look great! She also provides the relevant touched-up data files for you to try making your own images.
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. …
What Makes Volcanoes Erupt?
The local newspaper here in Ithaca posts weekly science questions, with answers from experts at Cornell. I’ve answered a couple of questions about astronomy in the past, but that’ not why I’m mentioning it. I mention it because today’s question ties in nicely with my recent volcano – themed posts! So if you want to know why volcanoes erupt, check it out! Edit: It looks like the Ithaca journal link …
25 August 2008
Hot Lava: Types of Lava
We’ve talked about how lava becomes molten, now let’s discuss how it behaves once it erupts. As liquid rock erupts from a volcanic vent it is glowing hot and can be very fluid. But, it cools rapidly, and as it does so it behaves more like rock and less like a liquid. Depending on the rate of eruption (among other things) there are two main types of lava flow: a’a …
22 August 2008
Hot Lava: Where does it come from?
You’ve seen it in movies, documentaries, and photographs. Mario and other video game heroes have died countless terrible deaths falling into pits of the stuff, but how much do you really know about lava? Where does it come from? Well, volcanoes. And the lava in volcanoes comes from deep in the earth where everything is molten, right? Wrong! It’s true that as you go deeper into the earth, things heat …
Carnival of Space #68 and First Frost for Phoenix!
This week’s Carnival of Space is up over at Crowlspace! Be sure to check out this fantastic picture of the first image of water frost on the martian surface from Phoenix over at The Meridiani Journal. Eventually, Phoenix will be covered with about 3 feet of frost and ice. So, while this is a very cool thing to see, some might find the first signs of frost a little depressing.
