Researchers have discovered what they believe to be 1100km lake on Saturn's largest moon Titan. It is slightly smaller than Earth's largest lake, the Caspian Sea.
Unlike lakes on Earth, this new lake is likely filled with liquid methaneNew Star Trek Movie
Star Trek," one of the most popular and successful franchises in the history of movies and television, returns to the big screen under the creative vision of J.J. Abrams, the force behind "Lost," "Alias" and "Mission Impossible III" for Paramount Pictures.
The team behind the film will include Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci ("Mission Impossible III") who wrote the screenplay and will executive produce with Bryan Burk. J.J. Abrams and "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof will produce. (more...)
Written on February 28, 2007 | Posted in Science Fiction | No comment
Largest Lake every Found on Titan
Researchers have discovered what they believe to be 1100km lake on Saturn's largest moon Titan. It is slightly smaller than Earth's largest lake, the Caspian Sea.
Unlike lakes on Earth, this new lake is likely filled with liquid methane
Written on February 28, 2007 | Posted in Planetary Science | No comment
Atlantis is Rolling Back to the VAB
After the External Tank was damaged by hail Monday night, NASA has decided to roll Atlantis back into the VAB. The rollback should be this weekend.
They are definitely not launching in March. Wayne Hale, shuttle manager, said “It will be about a month before we can talk about heading back to the [...]
Written on February 28, 2007 | Posted in NASA | No comment
Antarctican Telescope is Open for Business
The South Pole Telescope, built with money from NSF, Kavli Foundation of Oxnard, Calif., and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of San Francisco, is open for business. Scientists say the first observations were completed on February 16.
Written on February 28, 2007 | Posted in Astronomy | No comment
More on COTS Finalists
The print version of Space News has an article on SpaceX and Rp/K’s COTS milestones. According to Brian Berger, here are where the two companies are at (hat tip RLV & Space Transport News):
Written on February 27, 2007 | Posted in COTS | No comment
NASA’s Exploration is Off Target
NASA has already started to miss schedule targets for ESMD. From NasaWatch:
“… Within the program, three of the four projects are rated yellow: Orion, Ares and Ground Operations. Mission Operations Project is rated green at this time. … Green is on target, yellow is off target but recoverable, red is unrecoverable.” (emphasis [...]
Written on February 27, 2007 | Posted in NASA | No comment
March 15 Launch may be Postponed due to Hail
The March 15, 2007 launch of Atlantis may be postponed due to hail damage to the External Tank (ET) last night.
NASA will wait to decide for sure at the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) closer to time. If Atlantis misses it’s March window, it will have to wait until April.
Written on February 27, 2007 | Posted in NASA | No comment
Editorial: Irans Motives
After Iran’s reported missile launch earlier this month, they have now come out and said it was for research purposes.
Really?
I suppose researching long range missile technology that could hit Europe is still research. But I think they are trying to imply that it was all pure scientific, peaceful research. Deputy head of [...]
Written on February 27, 2007 | Posted in Space Weapons | No comment
SS2 Flight Rate
Rand Simberg has issues with my comment on SS2 flight rate recently.
I see no reason that they shouldn’t have a much higher flight rate than that. I’d think that they could probably fly every day, as long as they make the hybrid motor easy to refuel.
Written on February 27, 2007 | Posted in Space Tourism | No comment
NASA and Virgin Galactic have Conflicting Stories
NASA said last week that they will not be buying seats on SS2.
It does not include training of NASA astronauts, an agreement to buy seats on a Virgin Galactic flight, or provision of technical advice by NASA to Virgin Galactic.
Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic told Flight International:
NASA had budgeted to [...]
Written on February 27, 2007 | Posted in Space Tourism | No comment
Iran Launches a Space Capable Missile
Iran has reportedly launched a missile, built internally, that can reach the edge of space. Iran’s Defense Ministry has not released the date of the test, however.
This does not represent an increase in Iran’s missile capability “The performance is similar to that of existing solid-propellant Iranian tactical missiles,” Doug Richardson, editor of [...]
Written on February 26, 2007 | Posted in Foreign Space | No comment
Virgin spaceship taking shape
A passenger-carrying suborbital spaceliner and the airplane that will serve as its first stage are starting to take shape on the factory floors at Scaled Composites of Mojave, Calif.
Work on the SpaceShipTwo prototype is moving forward, as is the fabrication of the White Knight 2 mothership, and at this point spaceline operator Virgin Galactic is [...]
Written on February 26, 2007 | Posted in Space News | No comment
Bigelow to Build Moon Base
Robert Bigelow announced, in an interview with Alan Boyle, that Bigelow Aerospace will be using their inflatable modules to construct “space villages.”
According to Bigelow, after he launch of the first orbiting space hotel into low earth orbit in 2010, Bigelow Aerospace will move their focus to the 1st Earth-Moon Lagrange point, or [...]
Written on February 23, 2007 | Posted in NASA | No comment
State of Private Space
Clark Lindsey gives an overview of the progress being made in the private sector and asks when NASA will make use of it. I think they are to a certain extent (with COTS and agreements), but they are stuck on Ares.
Written on February 23, 2007 | Posted in New Space | No comment
Mars Rovers on their Own
NASA is trying out some new software on the Mars rover Opportunity. It will allow the little robot to explore autonomously, with little to no human intervention.
The new software, called D*, allows the rover to plan its out routes up to 50 meters long. Previously it planned 3 or 4 meter routes [...]
Written on February 22, 2007 | Posted in Mars | No comment
