Category Archives: space

Mars500 crew returns home from simulated mission to space

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Well here’s a story worth following up on. Last summer a six man crew embarked on a simulated journey to Mars, in Moscow, Russia. On Friday November 4, the Mars500 experiment concluded and all six crew members returned “home” healthy, safe and sound. For 520 days the team essentially pretended to fly to the distant Red Planet, explore its features, and return to Earth. Their objective was to simulate the psychological and physiological stresses of a real space mission to Mars, and according to the latest reports the data collected from this experiment will indeed be useful for further space exploration. When he stepped out of hatch of the Mars500 spacecraft, European Space Agency participant Diego Urbina said this: “On the Mars500 mission, we have achieved on Earth the longest space voyage ever so that humankind can one day greet a new dawn on the surface of a distant, but reachable, planet.” And for that we are all thankful and truly impressed, might I add. Though weightlessness was not experienced for obvious reasons, the team was forced to wear space suits and endure many other symptoms of a space mission including communication delays. Even though they were stationed on Earth, messages sent to and from the Mars500 simulator could sometimes take up to 25 minutes to reach its destination. During their trip, stress and hormone levels, sleep patterns and moods were monitered closely and dietary supplements were tested. For science! And the future of real space exploration! Watch the crew return to Earth in a video embedded after the break.

[Via BBC News; Engadget] Continue reading Mars500 crew returns home from simulated mission to space →

Six men journey to Mars…in Russia

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Last week a six man crew (comprised of Russian, French, Italian and Chinese engineers, doctors, and one astronaut) embarked on a simulated journey to Mars.  The team will be locked up in a contained space for 520 days to “simulate the psycological stress of a real space mission” to Mars.  The simulation includes a 250-day flight to the Mars, a 30-day exploration period, and a 230-day return to planet Earth.  Though the crew will not experience weightlessness, the jouney will be as close to the real thing as possible.  In fact, crew members will only shower once every ten days and communications to the “outside world” will be delayed by up to forty minutes.  All in the name of research!  Watch the the video above to learn more about the mission to Mars in Moscow.  Godspeed, friends!

[Via Engadget]

The Pale Blue Dot, narrated by Carl Sagan

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This is an expert from the book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.  In it astronomer Carl Sagan talks about the the famous picture of the Earth, our “pale blue dot” taken by Voyager I on February 14, 1990.  The short film adds a layer of classic movie scenes to the narration; it was put together by David Fu.  Really puts things into perspective.  We are but a speck in the vastness that is the universe.

[Via Gizmodo]

NASA and GM are sending world’s first humanoid into space

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NASA and General Motors are collaborating to send a robot to the International Space Station to aid the human astronauts who reside there.  Sure we’ve sent robots into space before; you’ve heard of the Mars Rover, right?  This is different.  Robonaut 2, nicknamed R2, is preparing to become the first humanoid robot to enter space.  It’s got arms, legs, a body, and head.  R2 looks like one of us.  So what’s it going to do up there?  According to The New York Times, it “will be monitored in space to see how it performs in weightlessness, but NASA hopes to eventually use R2 to assist astronauts during space walks and to work alongside engineers in the space station.”  R2 is scheduled to leave for space via the Space Shuttle Discovery in September.  To infinity and beyond, I say!  Look after the break for a video that takes you behind the construction of R2.

[Via NYT; Engadget]

Continue reading NASA and GM are sending world’s first humanoid into space →

NASA’s “Project M” can send robots to the Moon in 1,000 days

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This video of NASA Johnson Space Center’s “Project M” depicts a Robonaut-based, tele-operated mission to the Moon – one that JSC claims could be accomplished in 1,000 days once the go-ahead was given.

The background music alone has me pumped for sending exploratory robots into space.  1,000 days, eh?  If we can’t agree on sending more humans to the moon, why not send robots controlled by humans on Earth in motion-capture suits?  Let’s do it!

[Via YouTube; Gizmodo]

Planet Earth like you’ve never seen it before

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This spectacular “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our plane.

Check out the gallery below to see an additional shot with the US of A front and center.  Head over to NASA to download the larger, high resolution versions of these images.  They make for a great desktop background.

[Via NASA; Gizmodo]

It happens once in a blue moon–tonight!

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“It’s simply the occurrence of two full moons in one month,” says retired high school science teacher Bob Hartley.  Simple, yet so rare and beautiful.  A “blue moon” appears approximately every two and a half years; and only once in every 20 years it appears on New Year’s Eve.  When you’re out and about welcoming the New Year, be sure to look up at the sky and catch this month’s “extra moon” because it won’t appear again for a while.  Keep in mind that while some blue moons may glimmer a bluish hue due to dense particles, most of them unfortunately do not.  The name refers to the unusual pattern of its occurrence.

[Via HomerTribune; Gizmodo; Wiki]

“The original spiral nebula” like you’ve never seen it before

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Thanks to image post-processing technology, scientists have digitally remade the image of the NGC 5194, or what is known as “the original spiral nebula.”  Enjoy the 51st entry in Charles Messier’s famous catalog (aka M51) in all its high resolution glory.

Over 60,000 light-years across, M51’s spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (right), NGC 5195. Image data from the Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys has been reprocessed to produce this alternative portrait of the well-known interacting galaxy pair. The processing has further sharpened details and enhanced color and contrast in otherwise faint areas, bringing out dust lanes and extended streams that cross the small companion, along with features in the surroundings and core of M51 itself. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant. Not far on the sky from the handle of the Big Dipper, they officially lie within the boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici.

[Via Gizmodo; NASA]

Satellite imagery portraits Planet Earth

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Weddesigner Depot has posted 60 images of Earth taken by Landsat7 satillites in space.  “Various combinations of the eight Landsat 7 spectral bands were selected to create [these] vivid RGB composites.”  These images are beautiful and really put into perspective how expansive and breathtaking our planet truly is.  Enjoy some more satellite compositions in the gallery below, and head over to Webdesigner Depot to see the rest.

[Via Gizmodo; Webdesigner Depot]

Astronomers find a nearby water-rich “super-Earth”

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Astronomers have discovered GJ 1214b, a nearby planet that contains (supposedly) a plethora of water.  The 40-light years away planet is labeled a “super-Earth” because it’s recorded to be 2.7 times as large as Earth (and technically because it is between one and 10 times as large as Earth).  It orbits a star that is much smaller and less bright than our sun.  To the surprise of many scientists, this planet was sitting right underneath our noses; it was spotted “using an amateur-sized, 16-inch telescope on the ground.”  They never spotted it in the past because researchers don’t normally look for planets that orbit small stars.  David Charbonneau, a Harvard professor of astronomy: “Nature is just far more inventive in making planets than we were imagining.”  For those of you hoping that GJ 1214b contains life similar to that found on our Earth I have unfortunate news.  It’s been reported that its atmosphere is too thick and hot to support life like ours.  This being said, Charbonneau describes this as a breakthrough discovery and leaves the possibility of living organisms open due to the fact that the planet does contain water.  Now how about giving GJ 1214b a real name; it’s a start.

[Via CNN]

“The Known Universe”

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The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History.

It’s true; we are but a speck of beings living in a limitless and expansive universe.

[Via Gizmodo]

Toshiba sends an arm chair into space

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In a strange attempt to advertise its new 2010 REGZA SV LCD TV series, Toshiba sent “an ordinary living room chair” into outerspace.  Check it out!

Facts about the shoot:

• The shots were taken at a staggering 98,268 feet above the earth using Toshiba’s own cameras
• To reach the altitude required and to conform with Federal Aviation Administration regulations, the weight of the rig had to be carefully managed to a weight of no more than four pounds
• Tied to the rig was a specially created full-sized model chair made of biodegradable balsa wood – the chair was made by a company called Artem and cost about £2,500
• Launch coordinates of the rig were – 119 degrees, 14 minutes by 40 degrees, 48 minute (12 miles North-East of the town of Gerlach, Nevada)
• The quality of the footage from the Toshiba IK-HR1S cameras was: 1920×1080 pixel count; 1080i @ 50hz; 100 Mbps
• The temperature dropped to minus 90 degrees when the chair reached 52,037 feet
• The chair took 83 minutes to reach an altitude of 98,268 feet where it broke and took just 24 minutes to fall back down to earth with the rig.

[Via Engadget; Gizmodo; Toshiba.uk]