Oct 3 2011

Fewer mid-sized asteroids meandering about the solar system

Earth-bound asteroids are often the bane of human societies calmly minding their own business in many Sci-Fi films. They lurk in the outer solar system awaiting an opportune moment to fall towards the sun, only to find a blue-green planet with an oddly large moon in their way.

The WISE mission at NASA has recently released a set of obserations that suggest there are fewer of these asteroids than previously thought. Most of the larger asteroids have already been discovered and tracked, but the smaller mid-sized asteroids up to one kilometer across are less well known. Analysis of the observations suggest there are only 19,000 of these rather than the previously expected number 35,000.

Although fewer are now expected only 5,000 of these have been discovered. So the JPL at NASA still has some important work left to do.

See the press release at NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/sep/HQ_11-333_NEOWISE.html

James.

Sep 10 2011

A star explodes

SN 2011fe is the official designation for a super nova that was discovered a few weeks ago. It has just reached its peak and should be visible through a good pair of binoculars in the galaxy M101. It should then fade slowly over the coming days.

View the news release here: http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2011/110907.html

M101 on this graphic will show you where to look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ursa_Major_IAU.svg

James.

Sep 6 2011

Stunning images of NASA’s footsteps on the Moon

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission has just delivered some stunning images of the landing sites of the Apollo program. You can clearly make out the footsteps and buggy tracks still present on the Moon’s dusty surface. To the side, sunlight glints off the remains of the crafts and experiments from Apollo 12, 14 and 17.

It has been a long time since man last stepped on the Moon – Gene Cernan being the last man to leave the moon just before Christmas in 1972. Hopefully these images will inspire people and governments to find ways both private and public to get man back to the Moon and then further afield.

See the pictures, and enlargements here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/apollo-sites.html

James.

Sep 3 2011

NASA’s online solar system explorer @nasa_eyes

NASA have announce the release of a beta version of a new online tool to explore the solar system – Eyes on the Solar System. User can pilot a point of view and move around the solar system, which includes the many probes and missions that are slowly creeping their way across the vast expanse of space. Zoom in and have a look at the rings of Saturn, or move across to Mars and have a look at the desert landscape.

You need to install a small app to run the simulation – then fire up the tool and start exploring. I recommend running it in full screen mode to get the most immersive experience. You can also follow the project on twitter @nasa_eyes

Press release here: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/sep/HQ_11-288_System_Eyes.html

Eyes on the Solar System here: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes/

James.

Aug 31 2011

Optical broadband to be rolled out to the solar system

Internet usage on Earth become more and more data heavy as new applications and uses are found for the digital network. The same problem exists up in space as more sophisticated probes and missions are sent to the far reaches of the solar system.

To address an inevitable future data-bottleneck of the current RF-based communication systems, NASA is to launch a research mission to trial and investigate the characteristics of a light-based comms network.

It will not be able to reduce the time that is required to receive a signal from, for example, Mars – which at best is just over 3 minutes but can be as much as 22 minutes when the planets are furthest apart. But it will be able to increase the amount of data that can be transmitted – multiplying it by a factor of between 10 and 100. This will allow for more and higher-resolution imagery and data packets from future missions.

Read the press article at NASA here: Laser Communications Relay Demonstration

James.

Aug 30 2011

Pulsar consumes star to leave planet-sized diamond

A hyper dense pulsar circles a massive star – pulling the upper atmosphere and gases away and throwing them out in to the cosmos. Despite its size, the star is helpless – locked as it is in a gravitational dance with the pulsar. Year by year the star’s atmosphere of hydrogen and helium is stripped away until all that is left is its crystalline carbon-rich core – left to circle the now dominant pulsar.

This is a scenario that may have preceded the recent discovery by scientists, led by Matthew Bailes at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, reported in Science this week. The diamond planet is only 5 times the size of the Earth but has a mass greater than that of Jupiter. It orbits the pulsar in little more than 2 hours.

Read the press release from the Swinburne University of Technology here: A planet made of diamond

Read the Science relese here: Diamond planet orbits a pulsar

James.

Aug 27 2011

Dwarf star lurks in close proximity to the sun

Dimly glowing, unseen in the interstellar void lurks a newly discovered Dwarf star. A Y dwarf that is much cooler than most known stars, it barely reaches room temperature. It is 9 light-years distant from us – meaning that the dim light we receive from it is less than a decade old.

It was discovered by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission – which has also revealed many more Y dwarfs further afield.

Visit NASA for more details about these stars: Y Dwarf artists impression

Press release: NASA’s WISE mission discovers coolest class of star

James.

Aug 24 2011

Robots capture space station, eye the Moon

Robonaut 2 has come alive on the international space station. Persuing its goal of claiming the moon for robot-kind it has made its first move.

Arriving on the space station in February, it initially kept a low profile, by remaining powered off. But recently has been activated. The other occupants of the space station seem unconcerned by its activation, and have engaged it in what the robot must consider to be play and games.

Robonaut 2 will demonstrate its prowess in space over the coming months and has already started to expand in to the sphere of social networking with a twitter account @AstroRobonaut and a Facebook account at http://www.facebook.com/NASArobonaut

Find out more about Robonaut 2 at Robonaut @ NASA

James.

Aug 23 2011

NASA partners with Tor-Forge to inspire science through sci-fi

A great piece of news for lovers of hard Sci-Fi. NASA has partnered with publisher Tor-Forge to create a series of NASA-inspired works of science fiction. They promise to be based on hard science – with NASA scientists and engineers linking up with the writers at Tor-Forge.

The stories will be fiction, so should contain engaging plots, but will also have technological elements checked by NASA’s scientists.

Full press release at NASA site here:

NASA And Tor-Forge Books Partner In Themed Science Fiction Works

If you are in to hard science fiction, and want a taste of realistic sci-fi, can I humbly suggest my own novel “Agencies” available on Kindle and soon in paperback. (Not written in association with NASA – but hopefully the sort of story they would enjoy.)

(“Agencies” at Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon DE)

James.

Aug 9 2011

Cleaning up space junk in Earth orbit

Every year Earth-orbit gets filled with more and more junk – obsolete and defunct satellites and rocket pods, and debris caused by collisions of exiting junk. Hopefullly this latest attempt to start the clean up process will gain some traction. Providing the funding for private enterprise to do the clean-up will also help to nurture space technology skills within the private sector.

Article here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14405118

James.