Mika McKinnon, Author at Gizmodo

Cosmos episode 3

Last night was an exploration of how knowledge conquers fear, and the power of scientific prediction over superstition. NASA pulled together stories of how their missions overlapped with this week’s theme. Read on for the episode recap. https://gizmodo.com/when-knowledge-conquered-fear-the-nasa-version-1550106469 https://gizmodo.com/cosmos-chronicles-how-knowledge-conquers-fear-1550158286

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 24 '14

Sunrise on the Soyuz Rollout

Soyuz is rolling into position for launch day! The rocket will take off from Kazakhstan in the middle of this week, carrying Expedition 39 to the International Space Station. Sunrise over the Baikonur Cosmodrone in Kazakhstan on Sunday, shortly before the Soyuz spacecraft was rolled into position. The Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft was rolled into position…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 24 '14

Vote on the Z-2 Spacesuit Prototype design

NASA is collecting votes on the aesthetics of the next edition of the Z-series spacesuit prototypes. With a lot of gortex and electroluminescent wire, the options come straight out of a scifi set. Alas, this is for the prototype phase, which means it is a non-flight suit that will stay firmly on Earth. The cover…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 24 '14

Orion’s splashdown test

The first recovery tests for the Orion, NASA’s in-development multi-purpose crew vehicle, didn’t exactly go as planned. Cut short by difficulty handling lines to secure the test vehicle inside a flooded hull, the team learned a lot in preparation for upcoming full test-flights this fall. Retrieving the boilerplate Orion test-platform by attaching it with lines…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 24 '14

Companion to a Supernova

When half of a binary system goes supernova, usually that means a very bad day for the remaining star. But DEM L241 is tougher than that, surviving the astronomical blast to shine another day. The optical image is a mess of gas and dust (yellow and cyan) captured by Magellanic Cloud Emission Line Survey (MCELS)…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 24 '14

When Knowledge Conquered Fear, the NASA version

NASA plays along with each new Cosmos episode, posting photos, stories, and projects relevant to the episode. This week is an exploration of how scientific theory is used to predict events on the cosmic scale. Venus transited the sun in 1882, then again 2012. Each time it was met with enthusiasm and curiosity, making headlines…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 24 '14

Is Lightning Producing These Mysterious Gamma Ray Bursts?

About 500 of 4.3 million daily lightning strikes produce brief gamma ray bursts in our atmosphere, a mysterious phenomena under investigation by the Firestation instrument on the International Space Station. White lightning above Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, photographed on December 12, 2013. Want a label-free version for your new wallpaper? Here you go! Gamma rays…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 23 '14

This Week in Space

Astronomy & planetary science news this week that didn’t make the Space subsite: Volcanology around the solar system, a comparison of eruptions on Io and Venus An art project photographing chalkboards after quantum mechanics lectures. Air gaps: pretty much essential for marine navigation. How did the BICEP-2 team keep their results secret until the press…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 23 '14

The Space icon

What should we use for the Space subsite icon? A rocket launch, a corner of an alien world, our own blue marble of a planet? Let’s have a 80×80 pixel space-themed picture-party to pick something iconic! The rules are that it needs to look good while tiny (80 pixel x 80 pixel preferred), be space-related,…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 23 '14

The Jade Rabbit: not quite dead yet

I never predicted zombies would be a problem in space, but we’re starting to get a lot of undead activity near Earth. First, the Kepler planet-hunting space telescope returns from the dead. Now, the Chinese lunar rover Yutu, the Jade Rabbit, isn’t quite as dead as we thought! https://gizmodo.com/kepler-is-a-planet-hunting-powerhouse-1543642014 https://gizmodo.com/hell-yes-nasa-aims-to-revive-kepler-mission-with-cleve-1472501333 https://gizmodo.com/chinas-jade-rabbit-moon-rover-has-been-lost-1521264033 After making headlines with…

Space & Spaceflight Mika McKinnon Mar 23 '14

A tree so mighty it deforms space itself!

Take a peek at Deformscape, a garden patio in San Francisco. The architectural sculpture is a practical solution to limited space, and a vertigo-inducing illusion of a wormhole ready to suck the neighbourhood into the Japanese Maple tree. Continuing the theme of space-time warping optical illusions used in design, browsing architect Thom Faulders wanted to…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 23 '14

Geologic Time: the Star Wars Scale

Geologic time spans 4.6 billion years, from the early Earth through present day. That’s a lot of time to cram into a brain evolved to deal with the day-to-day. So, how about using Star Wars as a metaphor, calculating out what events happen when in the story? But, humans don’t take up much time at…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 22 '14

Water On Earth: Floods, Droughts And Prediction

Today is World Water Day, a time to think about how water interacts with the environment. Too much water leads to floods and landslides; too little water results in droughts. Better predictions of when either situation is going to occur will reduce risk through better disaster preparation, in turn making everyone safer and happier. Too…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 22 '14

It’s relative: observing the cosmos

Artist Taki Bump has created a very neat bit of interactive art on the relative nature of observing the universe. The Twitter embed is mangling the illustration presentation, so please click here to view the original tweet, then click on the image again for the reveal. I like this as both a statement of the…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 22 '14

Microsatellite Art In Orbit

Planet Labs has a flock of DOVES, microsatellites to provide rapid Earth imaging. Aside from being adorably tiny science-machines, these little observers have art etched into their very panels. Why? Because it’s beautiful. Art in space is a tricky concept. To ensure that the images will last in space without fading, chipping, sticking, or otherwise…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 22 '14

An ode to Aerogel

Back in 1999, the Stardust mission launched to trap particles of a comet and return the sample to Earth. The Stardust spacecraft made its scheduled rendezvous with Comet Wild 2 in 2004, captured comet-dust in aerogel, and successfully returned the samples. The rest of the story is complicated and cool enough to be saved for…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 21 '14

Conduct the Asteroid Redirect Mission from the comfort of your computer

The Kerbal Space Program isn’t so much a game as it is a space-themed sandbox physics engines with adorable Kerbals to sacrifice to your scientific curiosity. NASA is a fan of these expressive explorers, and paired up with the game to make an asteroid exploration extension. Kerbonaut Jebediah Kerman accidentally testing the limits of reaching…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 21 '14

Gravitational waves & inflation in comic-form

Need another way to think about gravitational waves? PhD Comics has it in cosmologist-approved comic format. https://gizmodo.com/have-physicists-detected-gravitational-waves-yes-1545591865 (Why am I just teasing you with it here? Because content-creators own their work, but this is cool enough to bring to your attention. So, go clicky-clicky & check it out.) Need more context? We’ve also got the…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 21 '14

Dinner with the greatest view of Earth

NASA and some of their astronauts played along during #LiveInSpace to give a behind-the-scenes look at how the vital necessities take place in the International Space Station. Food has changed a lot over the years, with current meals on the ISS looking a lot like what we eat here on Earth. But it’s not quite…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 21 '14

Black Holes & Flight 370: a call for participation

CNN has suggested that a black hole might have swallowed up the missing flight 370. Anyone want to get a head-start on debunking this in the comments before I tackle it tomorrow? This is too delightfully hilarious to not share the joy, and I’d so love this to be our first collaborative story on the…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 20 '14

Mika McKinnon

Cosmos episode 3

Sunrise on the Soyuz Rollout

Vote on the Z-2 Spacesuit Prototype design

Orion’s splashdown test

Companion to a Supernova

When Knowledge Conquered Fear, the NASA version

Is Lightning Producing These Mysterious Gamma Ray Bursts?

This Week in Space

The Space icon

The Jade Rabbit: not quite dead yet

A tree so mighty it deforms space itself!

Geologic Time: the Star Wars Scale

Water On Earth: Floods, Droughts And Prediction

It’s relative: observing the cosmos

Microsatellite Art In Orbit

An ode to Aerogel

Conduct the Asteroid Redirect Mission from the comfort of your computer

Gravitational waves & inflation in comic-form

Dinner with the greatest view of Earth

Black Holes & Flight 370: a call for participation

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