Technabob » nasa

NASA Video Shows the Dark Side of the Moon

Shane McGlaun — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:00:39 +0000

I’ve always found it interesting that we can all look in the night sky and see the same moon every day no matter where we live on planet. I’ve also always found it a bit intriguing that we only see one side of the moon and I have often wondered about the dark side (more recently known as the “far side” of the moon.) After all, I hear the dark side has cookies. NASA has released some awesome video which shows off the seldom seen dark side of the moon.

The video was released this week but was actually filmed back in January. It begins in an impact basin known as Mare Orientale. That impact basin is massive at 560 miles wide. To capture the footage, NASA used one of the Grail spacecraft and the camera it’s equipped with called the MoonKAM.

The coolest thing about that camera is that NASA will allow students on earth to snap pictures the lunar surface as part of a project for education. MoonKAM is the first camera ever sent on a NASA probe that is completely dedicated to educational use. Camera control will be given to Middle School students starting in March.

You can check out the video above ore on the official NASA page here.

ISS Orbit Had to Be Changed over the Weekend to Avoid Chinese Space Debris

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:20:57 +0000

Space junk is quickly becoming a big hazard in orbit around the Earth. There are untold numbers defunct satellites and other chunks of debris and trash floating around up there that pose a hazard to humans on the ISS and other satellites that are still being used. The problem is even the tiniest chunk of space debris with the extreme velocities achieved in orbit can destroy functional devices and pose a risk to human life aboard the ISS.

Right now the single biggest space hazard in orbit are the thousands of pieces of debris left over after the Chinese conducted an anti-satellite test with a missile back in 2007. Early Sunday morning this past weekend, mission controllers in Russia had to make a change in the orbital altitude of the ISS to avoid a chunk of that Chinese space debris that was coming perilously close to the ISS.

Mission controllers fired up the engines on the Russian Zvezda service module and over 64 seconds raised the orbit of the ISS by 1.7 km. The ISS is now orbiting at an altitude of 391.6 km above the surface of the Earth. The increased orbital distance was enough to get the ISS away from the chunk of space debris. It seems like we need to start coming up with a good plan to clean up all the junk orbiting the Earth.

[via SpaceDaily]

Do Russian Probe Pics from ’82 Prove Life on Venus?

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:30:18 +0000

This is a very interesting debate going on right now in the scientific community. A Russian scientist named Leonid Ksanfomaliti has checked out some images shot by a Russian probe sent to Venus in 1982 called Venera 13. The 79-year-old Russian scientist from the Space Research Institute in Moscow thinks that the crescent-shaped thing in the right side of the photo below is proof of life on Venus.

According to the Russian, the object is an organism with the body of a scorpion or a crab, a disc shape and a back flap that changed position from one shot to the next the probe took. Life on Venus is hard for most people to imagine, since the surface of the planet can reach temps of 464°C, and the gravity is nine times that of Earth.

A scientist that works with the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University doesn’t believe the Russian is seeing what he thinks. According to Jonathon Hill, who processes images NASA takes of Mars, what Prof. Ksanfomaliti sees is a piece of mechanical equipment which broke off on landing. He also thinks that the reason it looks like it changed positions is that the images were taken by two different cameras on the craft.

Hill also says that the same object shows up in photos taken by another probe called Venera 14 that landed nearby. Venera 14 and Venera 13 are identical, and likely both dropped the same bit of debris on the ground. What do you think from the blurry images here? I can certainly see something you might think are legs, but the mechanical equipment theory seems much more logical.

[via Telegraph]

NASA Says Triangular “UFO” Was Just Light Reflected from Venus

Shane McGlaun — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:00:52 +0000

There has been a lot of hub-bub going on in the UFO nut realm in recent weeks. Apparently, in a NASA video from the STEREO-B spacecraft, something that looked like a triangular UFO appeared and looked as if it was moving towards the Earth. The cover-up rumors started when the feed was later changed to something else.

STEREO-B is one of a pair of spacecraft near the sun that watch the inner solar system and provide images and video. NASA has decided to step up and debunk the rumor on the cover-up and existence of this particular UFO. According to space agency, in the video you can see the bright planet Venus come into view and the “UFO” moves along with Venus.

The triangular shaped “UFO” is nothing but reflected light from inside the telescope on the spacecraft. NASA says that this sort of triangular pattern is not uncommon and that sometimes the reflections manifest as circles too. In other words, calm down UFO nuts. NASA said, “The answer lies on the exact opposite side of the image,” the scientists wrote. “At the same time as this strange-looking feature starts being visible, the very bright planet Venus enters the [telescopic camera's] field-of-view from the lower left.”

“This is not a coincidence. The strange-looking geometrical ‘object’ is actually an internal reflection of the planet Venus within the telescope optics. This effect has been seen many times before.”

[via CSMonitor]

SpaceX Dragon Gets Ready for Run to ISS in February

Shane McGlaun — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Next month is an important month for the NASA space program. It will mark the first visit of a commercial spacecraft to the International Space Station in history. With the Shuttle fleet retired, most of the supplies and visits to the ISS have been performed using Russian spacecraft. In February, SpaceX will send its first Dragon spacecraft to the ISS.

The ISS crew is excited because this isn’t only a visit by a new ship; the Dragon will also be bringing supplies like food, clothing, and other supplies for the crew. The Dragon flight is being funded in part by the NASA Commercial Orbiter Transportation Services (COTS). The Dragon is an automated ship and one of the most important things about Dragon’s arrival is that it will allow items from the ISS to return to Earth.

The Dragon craft will allow the return of “significant” payloads to Earth. That means broken equipment can be sent home and repaired and samples can be returned to Earth. The first visit by the Dragon ship will be unmanned, but it was designed to carry people as well.

SpaceX expects to launch the Dragon from Cape Canaveral using its Falcon 9 booster on February 7th.

[via space.com]

NASA Says Checklist Jim Lovell Sold Was Not His to Sell

Shane McGlaun — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:00:37 +0000

Back in December, we talked about the checklist that was put up for auction by Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell. The checklist was the item that Lovell used to make calculations needed to get his spacecraft home after an explosion ended the trip to the moon. NASA has now contacted the auction house where the item was sold and claimed Lovell didn’t own the item.

Lovell apparently signed an affidavit that asserted he owned the title to the ring-bound checklist. However, NASA says that there is no indication that Lovell was ever assigned the title to the document. NASA’s legal eagle noted that only NASA has the right to sell NASA property.

The auction firm, Heritage Auctions, is keeping the document in its vault and has suspended the sale until the legal wrangling is over. Lovell had sold the checklist at the auction house for $380,000. Apollo 13 was the moon mission that had a tank explosion 200,000 miles from Earth, which forced the crew to return home. NASA is also disputing the legal right to several other space items Heritage Auctions has sold in the past.

[via ABCNews]

Lovejoy Comet Lives Through Brush with Sun’s Corona

Shane McGlaun — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:00:49 +0000

Comets are cool, both literally and figuratively. They are generally made of frozen gases and other stuff. I can remember years and years ago when a particularly bright one was in the sky, and looking at it each morning on the way to work. An amateur astronomer from Australia named Terry Lovejoy recently discovered a new comet that was subsequently named after him.

The Lovejoy comet was on a path that many in the scientific community thought would mean the end of the comet. The comet was headed on a journey that would take it right through the corona of the sun. The scientists expected the comet to be vaporized. So scientists were shocked when the comet actually barreled through the corona and zipped right back into space.

Lovejoy was watched by the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory as it headed toward the sun. The SDO followed the path of the comet, expecting nothing but a dust trial to survive, but it appears to have emerged from the other side. It lost a significant amount of its mass, but part of the comet still made it through. Given the fact that the corona of the sun is estimated to reach a temperature of nearly 2 million degrees Farehnheit, that’s no small feat.

Prior to the fly-by, Lovejoy had a core that was 660-feet wide and is in a class of comets called “Kreutz sungrazers” because they orbit so close to the sun.

[via Space.com]

NASA Creates Space Harpoon for Comets: Thar She Blows!

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:00:46 +0000

Those cats over at NASA come up with some wild ideas from time to time and one of their latest ideas may well be the strangest I have seen in a while. NASA has devised a plan to harpoon a comet as it streaks by. This isn’t to stop it in it’s tracks so Bruce Willis can rest easy, rather to grab samples from a comet as it streaks by. The harpoon gun looks like something Mad Max would use to me.

The crossbow is six feet long and made from a pair of truck carriage springs. The string that holds the giant “arrow” to the crossbow is a thick piece of cable. I have a hard time believing that cable will withstand the forces of shooting into a comet moving 150,000 mph, but stranger things have happened.

The crossbow can launch its ammunition with 1000 pounds of force, and one engineer says if the crossbow were aimed straight up, it would likely shoot a mile into the air. A prototype harpoon even penetrated a 250 liter drum of dirt in testing, and the actual space harpoon will be fired by an explosive cannon, not just a mechanical crossbow like their test model, so it’s likely to be even more powerful and precise. Where was this technology when Captain Ahab was around?

[via Wired]

Far Out Space Nut Drops $380,000 on Apollo 13 Checklist

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:35 +0000

If you are the sort of geek that likes space travel, you have to be enamored by the manned missions to the moon in the 60′s and 70′s. Of all the missions slated to put astronauts on the moon, the one that famously didn’t make it was Apollo 13. Apollo 13 had an oxygen tank explode forcing the astronauts to turn around and limp home two days into their mission, and also was responsible for the infamous “Houston, we have a problem” line people still quote today.

The checklist calculations that commander James Lovell used to work out the spacecraft’s position and the angle to entry back into Earth’s atmosphere were hand written on this chart. One miscalculation and the astronauts would have been killed, so the data on this chart was instrumental in saving the astronauts’ lives.

This authentic original checklist recently grabbed over $380,000 (USD) at auction, making it the most expensive moon mission era item to never have landed on the moon.

[via The Australian]

NASA Makes Little Old Lady Pee Her Pants Over Sliver of Moon Rock. Really?

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:00:16 +0000

Apparently, a 73-year-old woman named Joann Davis has had a tiny sliver of rock from the moon smaller than a grain of rice since 1987 when her husband died. Davis claims the tiny piece of moon rock was given to her husband by Neil Armstrong in the 70′s when her spouse was an engineer at North American Rockwell.

Armstrong apparently denied ever selling or giving space rock to anyone. The piece of rock in question is apparently inside a dome made of acrylic meant to be a paperweight and has been authenticated as real. NASA maintains that any moon rocks were brought back from Apollo missions and therefore are property of the government. Davis contacted someone at NASA to ask for help selling the rock to raise money for a sick child.

She is said to have acknowledged that the rock couldn’t be sold legitimately and hinted at selling it on the black market. When Davis went to a restaurant, in southern California to compete the sale, NASA’s inspector general and law enforcement swooped in and seized the rock and scared Davis so badly she apparently lost control of her bladder. Davis says the rock is her property and that she ended up with bruises on her body from being held by the police. I am sure a lawsuit in the case is coming soon. Davis was not arrested, but wasn’t allowed to keep the rock either.

[via CSMonitor]

NASA Offers Space Ringtones for Free

Shane McGlaun — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 12:00:16 +0000

If you are a space geek that uses an iPhone or an Android device, and are into space and space exploration, NASA has rounded up a bunch of sounds for you. The sounds are offered in one place so they are easy to find and they come in M4R formats for use on the iPhone and as MP3 tones for Android users and all other comers.

The sounds are in four categories including “Shuttle and Station,” “Apollo and Mercury,” “Current Missions,” and “Beeps and Bytes.” Each of the categories has multiple sounds in them. Some of the coolest include Neil Armstrong saying his “One Small Step…“ quote as man first walked on the moon. The sounds also include other memorable quotes from JFK and astronauts of the 60s.

My favorite is the infamous “Houston, we’ve had a problem…“ quote. That would be perfect for your boss’s phone number or the wife. You can also just get beeps and tones from satellites and other stuff too. Grab all of the ringtones over on the NASA website now.

NASA Lays 1-in-3200 Odds That We’ll Get Pegged by a Satellite Chunk

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:00:59 +0000

We all think we can win the lottery even though the odds against us are in the millions to one range. NASA has a massive satellite the size of a bus set to come blazing back into the atmosphere this week. NASA has stated that the odds of a chunk of this satellite hitting some unlucky person on the ground are 1-in-3200. Do those odds bother anyone else?

The satellite in question is the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite or UARS, which was decommissioned in 2005. The last of its fuel is now burnt, pushing the massive 6.5-ton satellite into a lower, decaying orbit that will eventually bring the satellite hurtling back to Earth.

The rub is that the satellite is so big that NASA figures that this Friday – when it’s predicted to enter the atmosphere – about 26 large chunks (weighing as much as 300 pounds) will make it through re-entry and to the surface below. If you aren’t nervous yet, NASA has no idea exactly where this thing will land. Re-entry is predicted to be over a 500-mile long area that puts it over populated areas. According to NASA, the chances are high that the pieces will hit the ocean or uninhabited land, and the chances of any one of us being hit are slim, but I still don’t like those odds.

[via Space.com]

NASA Grabs Amazing Moon Landing Site Pics

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:50:39 +0000

I bet that we have all heard the conspiracy theorists that claim we never actually went to the moon. These folks think that the entire Apollo program was filmed on a movie set. Perhaps to help put these theories to rest once and for all, NASA has changed the orbit recently of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter or LRO to take some of the highest resolution images of the landing sites for the Apollo missions ever.

The photos cover Apollo missions 17, 12, and 14 and show the descent stages for the missions that landed the astronauts on the moon along with the trails left from the astronauts moving around on the surface and from the LRV they drove around. You can even see where the American flag was left behind on the surface of the moon.

Of course, there is something new for the conspiracy nuts to latch on to. The pair of photos for each site don’t overlay exactly. The reasons for this is the angle they were taken at and the change in light on the moon’s surface.

The photos are very cool and you can check out a video explaining the photos below:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Robonaut 2 Tweets from Space

Range — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:36:15 +0000

Well, it took a few months, but now it looks like NASA’s Robonaut 2 is finally tweeting from space. We knew that it had arrived on the ISS a few months ago, and now it looks like he’ll keep his Earth-based followers updated on what’s happening aboard the ISS – via twitter.

Strangely enough, his tweets sound pretty human, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers. You can follow Robonaut 2 over at his @astrorobonaut Twitter account.

So far, Robonaut has about 49,000 followers and is currently undergoing ‘power soak activity’, which can only mean a recharge. It’s currently locked down in the Destiny laboratory, but hopefully it will go on space walks in the near future.

Japan’s tweeting robot will go into space in 2013 and it will probably tweet in Japanese.

[via BBC via Ubergizmo]

NASA Probe Finds New Evidence of Water on Mars, Johnny Cab Nowhere to be Found

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:06:43 +0000

Mars is the planet that will likely be the first planet outside of Earth that humans will set foot on. One of the things that NASA is looking for on the planet are signs of water that could be used for astronauts to drink and other things. So far, liquid water has proven to be hard to find outside of our own planet.

NASA has announced that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has found evidence of what may be flowing water on some slopes on the red planet. The orbiter found dark finger-like features that are going down the slopes of some features on Mars. NASA says that the features show up in early spring and stay though summer before disappearing. Since they appear during warmer seasons the though it that the flows might be water.

NASA notes that normal water would be frozen even during summer temperatures on Mars. The flows, if they are in fact water would be “briny water” or salt water with salt concentrations close to that of the oceans on Earth. Salt lowers the freezing point of water. The flows are half a yard to five yards wide and are up to hundreds of yards long.

There is still no evidence of human-breathable levels of oxygen on Mars though…

Three Lego Minifigs on a Mission to Jupiter

Hazel Chua — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:25:20 +0000

Okay, so they’re not really going to another planet for a mission. But in the pretend world that most young boys and girls make up while they’re playing with their minifigs, these three special LEGO dudes might as well be.

LEGO has kept the entire project under wraps, but they’ve finally revealed that they were hard at work creating these three special LEGO minifigs and carving them out from blocks of aluminum so that the scientists who are a part of the Juno mission will be able to stash them in the ship.

(Even scientists need some toys in outer space. You’d think manning a whole ship would be enough, but no, these scientists had to go and tell LEGO that they wanted to bring along some minifigs, too. And no, I’m not saying this out of envy. I mean, why would I? ~~NASA scientists have all the fun.~~)

The minifigs are LEGO-lized versions of the Roman god Jupiter, his sister Juno, and Italian astronomer Galileo. After the mission, LEGO will be known to have been the toys to travel the farthest.

Each of the figures cost $5,000 (USD) to make, since extra care was put to ensure that they wouldn’t interfere with NASA’s measurements or (God forbid) cause any accidents while on board the ship.

[via Wired via Dvice]

Four-foot Chunk of Space Shuttle Columbia Found in Dried Texas Lake

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:21:58 +0000

Back in 2003, tragedy stuck in the skies over some small sleepy towns in East Texas when the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded and disintegrated in the skies over the area. This is something that I will never forget since I live in the area where much of the debris was found. I witnessed the explosion first-hand in the skies outside my home and its something that I will always remember.

It has been about seven years since the Columbia exploded, coming back to Earth after its mission and parts of the shuttle are still missing and will likely never be found. The woods in this part of Texas are extremely dense and cover hundreds of acres where modern man may have never walked. East Texas is having a severe drought this summer coupled with very high temperatures and the lakes are suffering from the drought.

The most debris from the shuttle disaster was found in Nacogdoches, Texas and with the lakes in the area shrinking, a previously undiscovered part of the Columbia has been found in a dried section of a local lake. NASA has confirmed that the piece is part of the Columbia and has stated the four-foot diameter part is a tank that provided the shuttle with water and power. NASA is deciding now whether recovery crews needs to be sent or if local authorities can handle the recovery.

[via CNN]

Space Shuttle Expedition LEGO Set: A Fond Farewell to Atlantis

Range — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 15:05:54 +0000

With the Space Shuttle Atlantis having landed safely from its final mission, you can continue the Space Shuttle era at home thanks to the LEGO Space Shuttle Expedition Set. The large set of LEGO bricks has 1,230 pieces and stands 17.5 inches in height and 10 inches in width.

This LEGO set comes with 3 minifigs, including male and female astronauts, as well as a service crew member. You’ll find a ground maintenance vehicle, detachable fuel tank, and booster rockets. There’s also a launch pad and a satellite with unfolding antenna and solar panels.

You can order the LEGO Space Shuttle Expedition Set for $99.99 over at the LEGO Shop.

[via GeekAlerts]

Modified Atlas V Rocket Could Someday Shoot Astronauts into Space

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:00:21 +0000

If you follow space related news, you know that the shuttle fleet has been officially retired and for most of the coming years American astronauts will hitch a ride on Russian spacecraft to get to the International Space Station. NASA has now announced that it has signed an agreement with the United Launch Alliance to figure out a way to adapt the giant Atlas V rocket to shoot astronauts into space to meet with the ISS.

The ULA is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin and is designed to make it cheaper to send things into space. The agreement will see NASA and the ULA working together to tweak the Atlas V to work for launching people into space. It will take at least four years to get the rocket ready it seems.

The Atlas V has been chosen by several companies already to launch payloads into space. ULA’s main competition in the new space race is SpaceX. SpaceX announced recently that it broke ground on the facility needed to launch its larger and more powerful Falcon Heavy rocket.

[via PhysOrg]

Dawn Spacecraft in Orbit around Vesta Asteroid, Bruce Willis Not Involved (Yet)

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:51:32 +0000

I really like NASA and space travel. I sincerely wish that Obama and others in Washington had left NASA with the money to actually send humans to continue to do some of the adventuring. NASA announced over the weekend that after four years and 117 million miles the unmanned spacecraft Dawn has entered orbit around the Vesta asteroid in our asteroid belt.

The Dawn spacecraft will continue to orbit and study Vesta for the next year. Among the things that the scientists on the project hope to figure out is why the asteroid is so bright. After studying Vesta for a year, Dawn will take off and head towards the biggest asteroid in the belt called Ceres.

Vesta is as large as the state of Arizona at 330 miles wide. Some astronomers consider Vesta a protoplanet. Ceres makes Vesta look tiny at 590 miles wide. Ceres is considered a dwarf planet. The good news is that Steve Buscemi and Bruce Willis are still around so if Ceres ever heads towards Earth, we can spirit them up there with some nukes and an oil drill to blow the asteroid up.

[via MSNBC]