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space metals
Metals Manufactured In Space Could Increase Jet Engine Efficiency
The European Space Agency is looking into manufacturing intermetallic materials in zero gravity space to cut the weight of jet engines in half and increase fuel efficiency. Intermetallic materials are different than alloys in that they are combined at the molecular level, as opposed to merely melting down metals and creating a homogeneous mix. Scientists want to manufacture Titanium Aluminide up in space because on Earth, the difference in the metals' weight prevents the alloys from diffusing correctly. The ESA currently plans to go up to the International Space Station to conduct tests on the manufacturing process. [BBC via io9 via DViCE]
big bang theory
PopSci has a great article about scientists who are trying to re-create the events of the Universe, such as the big bang and black holes, with controlled lab experiments. The Universe in a Teacup, shown above, cools helium to 0.0003°F above absolute zero, and moves around the particles so that little whirlpools remain after the helium settles. The state inside this pinky-sized tube is thought to be the condition of the universe just after the big bang.
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Does This Finger Sized Tube Carry The Secrets of the Big Bang?
PopSci has a great article about scientists who are trying to re-create the events of the Universe, such as the big bang and black holes, with controlled lab experiments. The Universe in a Teacup, shown above, cools helium to 0.0003°F above absolute zero, and moves around the particles so that little whirlpools remain after the helium settles. The state inside this pinky-sized tube is thought to be the condition of the universe just after the big bang.
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hard drives
Charred Hard Drive from Space Shuttle Columbia Recovered (Best Data Rescue Ever?)
It's taken four and a half years, but the data recovery specialists charged with extracting data from a cracked, charred 400MB Seagate drive aboard the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia have done their duty, retrieving 99% of the information written to the disk. The Columbia burned up on re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003, over Louisiana and Texas. Computerworld reports that the drive was found in a dry lakebed and handed to a team at Kroll Ontrack about six months after the tragedy, but the successful recovery has only just come to light. So, you ask, what was on the drive that was so important? More »
space
Fresnel Telescope Will Spot M-Class Planets 30 Light Years Away
Scientists might be giving up on the notion of sending ridiculously large pieces of glass into space. Using a Fresnel-zone lens instead, astronomers at Observatoire Midi Pyrenees in France propose to take extremely high-contrast images at vast distances without a large lens or mirror. A 30-meter Fresnel telescope will provide visual confirmation of Earth-like planets up to 30 light years away. Since it can also observe a wide spectrum range including UV and IR, it can do follow-up detection of life signs, too. The main advantage of the Fresnel telescope is, of course, the fact that it's a perforated sheet of roll-up metal instead of heavy, breakable glass. But there are some major reasons it's not super easy to just whip up one of these telescopes in the machine shop: More »
boomerang
Video of Space Boomerang Is Exactly What You Expect
We knew that boomerangs work in space because Takao Doi tried one in the International Space Station last month. Now, thanks to JAXA's obsession with cameras we have proof on video. The usual skeptics who think that Elvis is really the only human that ever went to the moon—and still lives there—will be happy. [JAXA via Pink Tentacle]
spirit rover
NASA Releases Dirty Photos of Spirit Rover Solar Panels
Hey Pig Pen. Yeah, you, the Mars Spirit Rover with the red Martian dust all over your solar panels. We're filing a post on a bathtub later today, so why don't you take the hint and use one? What's that? You're millions of miles away and potable water may or may not be somewhere on the planet you're currently exploring? Oh, well, in that case, pray for another wind storm or something, because these filthy before and after pics mean only about 1/3 of the Sun's light is getting through to power your electronics. NASA's plea for a sensor-cleaning interstellar dust storm is after the break. More »
rockets
Europe Kicks Off Saturday Night With A Rocket Launch
Europeans sure know how to celebrate a Saturday night! While I spent the good part of Happy Hour knocking back shots, our cousins from across the ocean shot a satellite up into space. The Giove-B satellite, a demonstrator that will test key technologies needed in satellite navigation systems, ascended to the heavens at 22:16 GMT. More »
9:30 PM on Sat Apr 26 2008
By Elaine Chow
1,961 views,
8 comments
space
Spiderweb Solar-Wind Sail Proves Jor-El Was Right
Laugh all you want at the sea-urchiny ship Jor-El used to send Kal-El to earth, but it looks a lot like the new kind of solar-sail array developed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute in Helsinki. Instead of the standard solar panels, the Finnish scientists propose long thin strands, just microns in diameter, that stretch out from the spaceship, and use a positive charge to repel heavy positive ions in the solar wind that move at hundreds of kilometers per second. More »
hubble
Eighteen years ago today, the Hubble Telescope was launched into space by the Space Shuttle Discovery. To celebrate its coming of age, NASA has released 59 high-definition breathtaking pictures of galaxies colliding across the universe. Above is ESO 99-4, a weird-shaped galaxy (probably the result of another collision) situated in the Triangulum Australe, around 400-million light years away from earth. [Wired]
NASA Pics Celebrate Hubble's 18th Birthday, Space Telescope Still Can't Drink Beer
Eighteen years ago today, the Hubble Telescope was launched into space by the Space Shuttle Discovery. To celebrate its coming of age, NASA has released 59 high-definition breathtaking pictures of galaxies colliding across the universe. Above is ESO 99-4, a weird-shaped galaxy (probably the result of another collision) situated in the Triangulum Australe, around 400-million light years away from earth. [Wired]
science
Flowers Grow In Moon Soil Simulation
The moon is a nice place to visit, but you'd never want to live there. Because of the lack of breathable air? Nah. There are no flowers. But now, scientists have successfully grown marigolds in crushed anorthosite, a rocky Earth-based soil that is quite similar to the stuff we see on the moon. More »
nasa
German Schoolboy Corrects NASA's Math - We're All Doomed
NASA has been forced to check its math after a 13-year-old German boy wrote to tell them their calculations for the probability of an asteroid hitting earth were incorrect. Agency bosses had predicted a one-in-45,000 chance of an interstellar object bringing an end to life as we know it; that was until teen Nico Marquardt told them that the figure was closer to one in 450. More »
retromodo
Soviet Dog Cooked in Space Only Got this Lousy Statue
It's the stuff of canine legends. Fifty years ago Laika the dog went from stray zero to hero when the Soviet Union strapped her to Sputnik 2 and launched it into the cold reaches of outer space. The trailblazing pooch, who had a statue to her unveiled in Russia last week, proved that living things could survive in space. Her trip also paved the way for more ambitious human-related endeavors, like John's Glenn's historic orbit, the Apollo 11 moon landing and Tom Hanks' career. Laika eventually died an excruciating death from overheating when life support failed a few hours after launch, for which Russia recognized her with a monument. All that sacrifice, and just a statue? More »
space
First High Definition Moon Map Released, Uranium Sites Located
Selene, Japan's lunar spacecraft and HD peeping Tom, keeps sending stunningly-detailed information from our crystal clear Moon to trashed Mother Earth. These first-ever high definition global topographic maps of the Moon were created using 1,127,392 point measurements, taken with its laser altimeter. And they are just preliminary versions. More »
space
Apparently there are nerds in space, too. This was spotted in variable star V838 Monocerotis of the constellation Monoceros and, holy moley, it looks like the Firefox logo! Whatever. I'll be impressed when we see a celestial body that looks like an iPod. [EE Times via CrunchGear via New Launches]
Even Gigantic Celestial Bodies Prefer Firefox to IE
Apparently there are nerds in space, too. This was spotted in variable star V838 Monocerotis of the constellation Monoceros and, holy moley, it looks like the Firefox logo! Whatever. I'll be impressed when we see a celestial body that looks like an iPod. [EE Times via CrunchGear via New Launches]
science
Cornell researchers are working on a way to make hovering vehicles a reality. By pairing superconductors with permanent magnets, they've figured out a way to get objects to hover with complete stability without any power necessary.
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Scientists Use Superconductors to Get Spacecrafts Hovering
Cornell researchers are working on a way to make hovering vehicles a reality. By pairing superconductors with permanent magnets, they've figured out a way to get objects to hover with complete stability without any power necessary.
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trashtronauts
The European Space Agency has just released images showing all the satellites and human-made debris now orbiting space as a result of 51 years of launching stuff since Sputnik. That's about 6,000 satellites up there—of which only 800 remain operational—plus thousands of other objects from launches and accidents. According to their mindblowing simulations things are getting a lot worse:
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Space Is Full of Crap
The European Space Agency has just released images showing all the satellites and human-made debris now orbiting space as a result of 51 years of launching stuff since Sputnik. That's about 6,000 satellites up there—of which only 800 remain operational—plus thousands of other objects from launches and accidents. According to their mindblowing simulations things are getting a lot worse:
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jules verne
