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First Step to an Antimatter Drive?
If your grew up with Star Trek you know that warp drives can’t exist without antimatter — well it seems now scientists have graduated from observing antimatter to actually creating it. Although there seem to be no solid plans to translate this advance to interstellar exploration: Read more… Ouch! Aren’t Astronauts Only Suppose to Drink Tang?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 16, 2008 in Science
Up until this moment I always regretted not being an astronaut — but the idea of having to drink urine to explore outer space is giving me second thoughts: Read more… The First Photo of an Exoplanet
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 14, 2008 in Science
While the photo above looks pretty, it’s no ordinary snapshot — in fact within the red dust is the very first photo of a planet that’s outside of our solar system. Read more… Blind Space Engineer Saves the Day: No This Isn’t Star Trek but NASA!
Someday in the future spaceships will make use of talented but perhaps blind engineers to rescue the day? Yes it sounds like the character Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation, but no it’s the year 2008 and our hero is Marco Midon who works for NASA: Read more… The Little Lander That Could…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 11, 2008 in Science
Everyone is mourning the loss of the Phoenix lander due to the harsh Martian winter, however I’m quite impressed with how this mission lasted much longer than anyone could have predicted: Solar Sails: From Science Fiction to Reality in 20 Years
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 10, 2008 in Science
I just spotted the following news item ecogeek.org which seemed very oddly familiar to me: Star Trek Radiation Shields to Become Reality
Radiation shields on! One of the real limiting factors with space exploration is human biology itself. A good example of this are cosmic rays which are quite scary when you study them, and so far we’ve come up with some pretty crude protection methods. So it’s great to see some research being done to imitate the protection that we get here on Earth with the magnetosphere: Magnetic shield for spacefarers “Future astronauts could benefit from a magnetic “umbrella” that deflects harmful space radiation around their crew capsule, scientists say. The super-fast charged particles that stream away from the Sun pose a significant threat to any long-duration mission, such as to the Moon or Mars. But the research team says a spaceship equipped with a magnetic field generator could protect its occupants. Lab tests are reported in the journal Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion. The approach mimics the protective field that envelops the Earth, known as the magnetosphere.” By the way it should be noted that deflector shields pre-date Star Trek and have been employed in science fiction stories since the 1920s, although the show did popularize the concept with the general public. Yes You Can Vote from Outer Space
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 4, 2008 in Science
Thanks to a bill passed by Texas legislators In 1997 astronauts have the right to vote. This year onboard the International Space Station Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff cast their vote via a secure electronic ballot. To celebrate this occasion the crew recorded this video urging their fellow earth bound citizens to get out and vote (which I more than concur with). Apollo Design Déjà vu: Orion Exploration Vehicle
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 31, 2008 in Science
It’s great to see some physical evidence of progress with the Orion Exploration Vehicle, but it’s depressing to me to think that it will take until 2020 to get to the moon — and 2030 to get to Mars: New NASA capsule Orion resembles Apollo “NASA rolled out its next-generation space capsule here Wednesday, revealing a bulbous module that is scheduled to carry humans back to the moon in 2020 and eventually onward to Mars. Unlike the space-plane shape of the shuttles, the new Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle looks strikingly similar to the old Apollo space capsule that carried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon and back in 1969, with Armstrong and Aldrin becoming the first humans to walk on the lunar surface.” Hubble Shines, But Gets No Respect
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 31, 2008 in Science
Just a few days after coming back to life Hubble rewards us with the fantastic image above of a pair of double galaxies, and yet like some sad ignored family member will have to wait for a repair mission for a few months: Revived Hubble snaps perfect picture “The Hubble Space Telescope is working again, taking stunning cosmic photos after a breakdown a month ago. But the good news was quickly tempered by NASA’s announcement Thursday that a mission to upgrade the popular telescope will be delayed at least until May. A key replacement part that is essential because of the telescope’s failure in September won’t be ready for at least six months. It was the latest twist in the long-running drama surrounding the 18-year-old space telescope — one that initially took only fuzzy photos, then when fixed, provided dazzling and scientifically significant pictures of space, including a new one NASA showed Thursday.” Could Epsilon Eridani Support a Future Earth-like Planet?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 28, 2008 in Science
This is an exciting time in astronomy, although as a fanboy what I wouldn’t give to be alive in the era when we’d have the means to visit these places: Nearby Solar System Looks Like Our Own at Time Life Formed “A nearby solar system bears a striking similarity to our own solar system, raising the possibility it could harbor Earth-like planets. Epsilon Eridani, located about 10.5 light-years from our sun, is surrounded by two asteroid belts that are shaped by planets, astronomers at SETI Institute and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced today. But it’s the possibility that currently undetected smaller planets could lie within the innermost asteroid belt that make the solar system intriguing to astrobiologists. “This system probably looks a lot like ours did when life first took root on Earth,” said SETI’s Dana Backman, lead author of a paper on the 850-million-year-old star that will appear next year in The Astrophysical Journal, in a release.” The Moon is an Ice Free Zone
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 24, 2008 in Science
If the moon had ice it might be slightly easier to colonize, but sadly it looks like the moon is a dry mistress: “New images of Shackleton taken by the Japanese lunar explorer satellite KAGUYA (SELENE) support the view that there likely aren’t any exposed water ice deposits in the crater. Junichi Haruyama of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and his team analyzed the images and data. They suggest that temperatures in the crater are less than -297 degrees Fahrenheit (-183 degrees Celsius), certainly cold enough to hold ice. But the images reveal no conspicuous brightness that would indicate a patch of pure water ice. This new analysis, detailed in the Oct. 24 issue of the journal Science, could mean that there is no water ice present at all in Shackleton crater, or that any ice that exists is mixed into the lunar dirt in low amounts, Haruyama and his team concluded.” India’s Major Leap to the Moon
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 22, 2008 in Science
While it breaks my heart that NASA is in such a sad state it’s great to see India take this major step into exploration. India still have a long way to go to catch up with China, but they’ve just made some real history today. Perhaps the 21st Century will be about space exploration no longer being limited to a few nations but becoming common place: India launches first Moon mission “The unmanned Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft blasted off smoothly from a launch pad in southern Andhra Pradesh to embark on a two-year mission of exploration. The robotic probe will orbit the Moon, compiling a 3-D atlas of the lunar surface and mapping the distribution of elements and minerals. The launch is regarded as a major step for India as it seeks to keep pace with other space-faring nations in Asia. Indian PM Manmohan Singh hailed the launch as the “first step” in a historic milestone in the country’s space programme. “Our scientific community has once again done the country proud and the entire nation salutes them,” Mr Singh said in a message. The launch was greeted with applause by scientists gathered at the site.” One More Way We Might Bite the Dust!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 21, 2008 in Science
Don’t panic quite yet — scientists claim that there isn’t anything to be worried about. However this is yet another reminder just how fragile life on earth is: Sun’s protective ‘bubble’ is shrinking “New data has revealed that the heliosphere, the protective shield of energy that surrounds our solar system, has weakened by 25 per cent over the past decade and is now at it lowest level since the space race began 50 years ago. Scientists are baffled at what could be causing the barrier to shrink in this way and are to launch mission to study the heliosphere. “Around 90 per cent of the galactic cosmic radiation is deflected by our heliosphere, so the boundary protects us from this harsh galactic environment.” The heliosphere is created by the solar wind, a combination of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields that emanate a more than a million miles an hour from the sun, meet the intergalactic gas that fills the gaps in space between solar systems.” Is Every Galaxy a Doughnut with a Black Hole in the Middle?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 18, 2008 in Science
Defiantly not a place that you’d want to have a long term lease: Above is an artists illustration of a cosmic nightmare — two colliding galaxies each with a colossal black hole at the center. But what’s disturbing about this picture is that astronomers think that having a colossal black hole in the center of your galaxy is actually common place: Colossal black holes common in early universe “Astronomers think that many – perhaps all – galaxies in the universe contain massive black holes at their centers. New observations with the Submillimeter Array now suggest that such colossal black holes were common even 12 billion years ago, when the universe was only 1.7 billion years old and galaxies were just beginning to form. The new conclusion comes from the discovery of two distant galaxies, both with black holes at their heart, which are involved in a spectacular collision. 4C60.07, the first of the galaxies to be discovered, came to astronomers’ attention because of its bright radio emission. This radio signal is one telltale sign of a quasar – a rapidly spinning black hole that is feeding on its home galaxy.” Hubble Rescued from Muddle
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 16, 2008 in Science
Do you realize that Hubble has been in orbit since 1990? Hubble pre-dates Windows 95, Nirvana’s first hit and is older than Miley Cyrus! I just find the state of NASA depressing — and making matters worse the the final Presidential debate we get McCain yammering on YET AGAIN about funding a planetarium while his Vice Presidential pick thinks cavemen rode dinosaurs to work in the morning while picking up breakfast at Sonic. But I guess we have to be grateful that Hubble is less flakey than some of the powers that be: NASA approves Hubble revival plan “NASA is going ahead with a plan to restart the flow of science data from the Hubble Space Telescope by routing around circuitry that failed a little more than two weeks ago, officials said Tuesday. The unprecedented switchover is due to begin early Wednesday, and if all goes well, the telescope should be beaming imagery back down to Earth by Friday, said Art Whipple, manager of the Hubble Space Telescope Systems Management Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.” Podcars Ready for Reality
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 14, 2008 in Science
If you’ve ever watched the 1973 Woody Allen film Sleeper which is set in the year 2173 you’ll recall the futuristic podcar. Well it now looks like the city of Ithaca, New York is now seriously thinking about bring the concept to life:
Ithaca Aims To Be America’s First “Podcar” City “With the oil crisis reaching a zenith and federal lawmakers ready to begin fashioning a new national transportation bill for 2010, Roberts and his colleagues think the future is now for podcars — electric, automated, lightweight vehicles that ride on their own network separate from other traffic. Unlike mass transit, podcars carry two to 10 passengers, giving travelers the freedom and privacy of their own car while reducing the use of fossil fuels, reducing traffic congestion and freeing up space now monopolized by parking. At stations located every block or every half-mile, depending on the need, a rider enters a destination on a computerized pad, and a car would take the person nonstop to the location. Stations would have slanted pull-in bays so that some cars could stop for passengers, while others could continue unimpeded on the main course. “It works almost like an elevator, but horizontally,” said Roberts, adding podcar travel would be safer than automobile travel.” Sleeper screen grab found via whatthebutlerblogged. Astronomers Discover Potential Earth-like Planet
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 14, 2008 in Science
It’s anyones guess if Gliese 581 supports life — and of course keep in mind that life might mean a bunch of amoebas rather than Mr. Spock — but this sort of news always get me excited: New Planet Spotted, Could Be Habitable “For the first time, astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for “life in the universe.” It’s Earth-like because its temperature is close to ours, between 32 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit, reports CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes. It has gravity and the potential for water. Its sun, called a red dwarf, is colder and not as bright as our sun. Still, this discovery gives kids a reason to imagine life in outer space, adds Hughes. The planet is just the right size, might have water in liquid form, and in galactic terms is relatively nearby at 120 trillion miles away. There’s still a lot that is unknown about the new planet, which could be deemed inhospitable to life once more is known about it. And it’s worth noting that scientists’ requirements for habitability count Mars in that category: a size relatively similar to Earth’s with temperatures that would permit liquid water. However, this is the first outside our solar system that meets those standards.” Tides Make or Break Planetary Life
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 14, 2008 in Science
I get very excited by the sheer number of planets that we keep discovering outside of our solar system, however the more we understand just what it takes to support life as we know it — to me it seems to be that the chances of finding alien civilizations decreases. Although on the bright side the universe is pretty damn huge and this research proves that we better take good care of our planet: Tides Have Major Impact on Planet Habitability “Astronomers searching for rocky planets that could support life in other solar systems should look outside, as well as within, the so-called “habitable zone,” University of Arizona planetary scientists say.Planets too close to their stars are roasted. Planets too far from their stars are frozen. In between, research models show, there’s a habitable zone where planet temperatures approximate Earth’s. Any rocky planets in this just-right Goldilocks zone could be awash in liquid water, a requisite for life as we know it, theorists say. New research by Brian Jackson, Rory Barnes and Richard Greenberg of UA’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory shows that tides can play a major role in heating terrestrial planets, creating hellish conditions on rocky alien worlds that otherwise might be livable. And just the other way, tidal heat can also create conditions favorable to life on planets that would otherwise be unlivable.” Searching for ET with Telescopes
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 14, 2008 in Science
In Star Trek the Enterprise always seems to be tripping over class M planets, but it might be possible to find small Earth like planets using a technique known as nulling interferometry and earth based observatories: Telescope Tech Will Speed Search for Extraterrestrial Life “The smallest rocky planet detected to date has around four times the mass of Earth. This planet, as well as most of the 300 exoplanets discovered to date, have been detected by the “wobble” or shift in the light spectrum of the star caused by the slight gravitational tug of the orbiting planet. Another planet-hunting method, called gravitational microlensing, takes advantage of the way the gravity of an exoplanet’s star bends and focuses the light from a more distant star like a lens. Small deviations in the light from the distant star indicate that a planet is orbiting the lensing star. Nulling interferometry will surpass both of these strategies in the search for smaller, earth-like worlds that orbit their star at a distance — in the “habitable zone” — that could harbor life. The technique involves incredibly precise measurements of the position of a star, so that the minutest wobble caused by the gravity of an orbiting planet 100,000 times smaller can be detected.” Uncovering Exo-Earths within the Dust
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 12, 2008 in Science
What excites me about this research is that most of the exoplanets we’ve been finding are huge in scale like Jupiter or Saturn. This modeling shows how we might be able to find planets that are the size of our Earth. This doesn’t mean that we’ll be discovering aliens next week (after all Mars and Venus are about the size of earth but don’t support life) but it will bring us a step closer: NASA Supercomputer Shows How Dust Rings Point to Exo-Earths “Supercomputer simulations of dusty disks around sunlike stars show that planets nearly as small as Mars can create patterns that future telescopes may be able to detect. The research points to a new avenue in the search for habitable planets. “It may be a while before we can directly image earthlike planets around other stars but, before then, we’ll be able to detect the ornate and beautiful rings they carve in interplanetary dust,” says Christopher Stark, the study’s lead researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park. Working with Marc Kuchner at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., Stark modeled how 25,000 dust particles responded to the presence of a single planet — ranging from the mass of Mars to five times Earth’s — orbiting a sunlike star. Using NASA’s Thunderhead supercomputer at Goddard, the scientists ran 120 different simulations that varied the size of the dust particles and the planet’s mass and orbital distance.” Cosmic Commode Can’t Cope
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 11, 2008 in Science
To boldly go! As a child watching the moon landing I dreamed of when I would be an adult when humans would go on to conquer space — and at the dawn of the 21st Century we seem to be dealing with plumbing issues instead of reaching for the stars: Space Station Toilet Breaks Again “The master bathroom for three astronauts aboard the International Space Station is on the fritz again just days before a trio of new spaceflyers are due to launch toward the orbiting lab, NASA officials said Friday. A temporary telemetry glitch also sent the space station into a so-called survival mode earlier this morning, changing the outpost’s attitude and leading to system power downs for several hours. That issue was quickly tracked to an electronics box aboard the station, but the balky space toilet in the Russian Zvezda service module continues to plague astronauts and flight controllers. “It failed late yesterday,” NASA spokesperson John Ira Petty said of the Russian-built space commode in televised commentary from Mission Control in Houston. “Russian specialists are troubleshooting. The problem appears to be a [gas] separator issue”.” McCain’s War on Science Literacy
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 9, 2008 in Science
When I started this blog I made it a point not to be overly political, unless it was something that touched on an issue that would be sacred to my fellow fanboys and fangurls. And as all of you know for the last thirty or so years funding for causes like NASA, science research and education has been devastated by both parties. In fact since the 80s we’ve watched space shuttles blow up not once, but twice. The last time this nation seriously cared about both science and education was at the height of the Cold War — and in a sense Sputnik did more to help America than anything else. Yet we’ve gone from willful neglect to a harsh contempt of science in our nation. I know in my heart the next Sputnik will change that, and that may be gas hitting $20 a gallon or watching China land on the moon while we need the Russians to visit an orbiting space station. Sadly I’ve watched the Republicans become the party of anti-science these last few years, and this is even more pathetic when you realize that President Dwight D. Eisenhower put NASA in business in the first place. Recently I’ve been upset by the choice of Sarah Palin — it’s abominable that the daughter of a science teacher lacks the sophistication to believe that the concepts of God and evolution are some how exclusive of each other. But Tuesday hit a low point when Senator McCain dug into Senator Obama over an “$3 million [earmark] for an overhead projector”. That overhead projector is the central projection unit for a planetarium — which is vital if we want to teach the next generation of kids about science: Obama’s Planetarium Projector Earmark Explained “McCain’s phrase suggests Obama spent $3 million on an old-fashioned piece of office equipment that projects charts and text on a wall screen. In fact, the money was for an overhaul of the theater system that projects images of stars and planets for educational shows at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium. When he announced the $3 million earmark last year, Obama said the planetarium’s 40-year-old projection system “has begun to fail, leaving the theater dark and groups of school students and other interested museum-goers without this very valuable and exciting learning experience.” To clarify, the Adler Planetarium requested federal support – which was not funded – to replace the projector in its historic Sky Theater, the first planetarium theater in the Western Hemisphere. The Adler’s Zeiss Mark VI projector – not an overhead projector – is the instrument that re-creates the night sky in a dome theater, the quintessential planetarium experience. The Adler’s projector is nearly 40 years old and is no longer supported with parts or service by the manufacturer. It is only the second planetarium projector in the Adler’s 78 years of operation.” Mercury and Jupiter
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 8, 2008 in Science
Shown above is an image from the Messenger mission fly-by of Mercury. And below is one of the sharpest images of Jupiter taken from the Earth.
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