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[AndersTheSwede]

Cassini's recent flyby of Encaladus:

Cassini's March 12, 2008 flyby of Enceladus
On March 12, 2008 Cassini flew within 50 kilometers (30 miles) of Saturn's geyser moon Enceladus. Cassini approached from above Enceladus' north pole, seeing the moon as a crescent. As Cassini departed, Enceladus entered Saturn's shadow, so long exposures were required to see Enceladus' surface by light reflected from Saturn's rings to Saturn and then to the moon. As a result of the long exposures, stars streak the backgrounds of these images, and some of the closest images are blurred as Enceladus shrank in the viewfinder while the shutter was open. The 11 approach images were taken with the narrow-angle camera; the 14 departure images were taken with the wide-angle camera. Credit: NASA / JPL / SSI / animation by Emily Lakdawalla

http://www.planetary.org/blog

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Click For Bigger Image

Birds don't fly as high. Airplanes don't go as fast. The Statue of Liberty weighs less. No species other than human can even comprehend what is going on, nor could any human just a millennium ago. The launch of a rocket bound for space is an event that inspires awe and challenges description. The exhaust column pictured is from the Space Shuttle Endeavour after last week's night launch to visit the International Space Station. Endeavour's rocket engines create the dramatic glow from above the clouds. From a standing start, the two million kilogram rocket ship left to circle the Earth where the outside air is too thin to breathe and where there is little noticeable onboard gravity. Rockets bound for space are now launched from somewhere on Earth about once a week.

 

[Windu]

Thirty Thousand Kilometers Above Enceladus

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What does the surface of Saturn's ice-spewing moon Enceladus look like? To help find out, the robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn was sent soaring past the cryovolcanic moon and even right through one of Enceladus' ice plumes. Cassini closed to about 52 kilometers during its closest encounter to date. The above unprocessed image was taken looking down from the north, from about 30,000 kilometers away. Visible are at least two types of terrain. The first type of terrain has more craters than occur near Enceladus' South Pole. The other type of terrain has few craters but many ridges and grooves that may have been created by surface-shifting tectonic activity. Exogeologists are currently pouring over this and other Cassini images from last Wednesday's flyby to better understand the moon's patch-work surface, its unusual ice-geysers, and its potential to support life. Cassini is scheduled to fly by Enceladus at least nine more times, including an even closer pass of just 25 kilometers this coming October.

Awsome. It almost feels like I'm piloting a Space Ship past it. I wish I was born 200 years from now.

 

[Windu]

M78 and Reflecting Dust Clouds in Orion

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An eerie blue glow and ominous columns of dark dust highlight M78 and other bright reflection nebula in the constellation of Orion. The dark filamentary dust not only absorbs light, but also reflects the light of several bright blue stars that formed recently in the nebula. Of the two reflection nebulas pictured above, the more famous nebula is M78, on the upper right, while NGC 2071 can be seen to its lower left. The same type of scattering that colors the daytime sky further enhances the blue color. M78 is about five light-years across and visible through a small telescope. M78 appears above only as it was 1600 years ago, however, because that is how long it takes light to go from there to here. M78 belongs to the larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex that contains the Great Nebula in Orion and the Horsehead Nebula.

 

[Walshicus]

Just saw this composite image of Titan posted over at Arstechnica. Looks welcoming, no?

 

[Windu]

Just saw this composite image of Titan posted over at Arstechnica. Looks welcoming, no?

heh yeah it does, but knowing our luck the forcast for tommorow probably is 200 degrees with a slight chance of a acid shower.

edit: wikipedia says the temperature is −179.45 °C, yep very welcoming :lol

 

[Windu]

Mercury in Accentuated Color

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The colors of Mercury are subtle but beautiful. At first glance, our Solar System's innermost planet appears simply black and white, but images that include infrared colors normally beyond human vision accentuate a world of detail. One such image, shown above, was acquired by the robotic MESSENGER spacecraft that swung by Mercury in mid-January. Here, most generally, the hot world itself acquires a slightly more brown hue. Many craters that appear on top of other craters -- and so surely have formed more recently -- appear here as bright with bright rays that include a slightly blue tint, indicating that soil upended during the impact was light in color. A few craters, such as some in the huge Caloris Basin impact feature visible on the upper right, appear unexpectedly to be ringed with a dark material, the nature of which is being researched. MESSENGER continues to glide through the inner Solar System and will pass Mercury again this October and next September, before entering orbit around the desolate world in 2011.

 

[Windu]

November 14, 1984. Astronaut Dale A. Gardner holds up a "For Sale" sign refering to the two satellites, Palapa B-2 and Westar 6 that they retrieved from orbit after their Payload Assist Modules (PAM) failed to fire.

Where is HD 189733?

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The star cataloged as HD 189733 is a mere 63 light-years away. Its location is indicated in this deep, wide-angle image of the sky centered on the northern constellation of Cygnus. Considering the many bright stars, nebulae, and star clusters in the region more familiar to skygazers, HD 189733 may not seem to be remarkable, but it is known to have at least one hot, jupiter-sized planet orbiting very close, with an impressively short period of 2.2 days. Because the planet regularly eclipses its parent star, astronomers can study starlight that passes directly through the planet's atmosphere and identify molecules through spectroscopy. Following the discovery of water vapor in the planetary atmosphere, astronomers now report that Hubble Space Telescope data also indicates the signature of methane (CH4). The exciting result is the first detection of an organic molecule on a planet orbiting another star. Although HD 189733's planet is considered too hot and inhospitable to support life, the work is a step toward measuring conditions and chemistry on other extrasolar planets where life could exist.

Out on a Limb

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Anchored to a Canadarm2 mobile foot restraint, astronaut Rick Linnehan participates in the mission's first scheduled spacewalk. During the seven-hour spacewalk, Linnehan and Expedition 16 flight engineer Garrett Reisman prepared the Japanese logistics module-pressurized section for removal from Endeavour's payload bay and installed the tool change out mechanisms on the Canadian-built Dextre robotic system, the final element of the station's Mobile Servicing System.

 

[cress2000]

Umm... fuckin' wow. Quite possibly the most amazing thing I've ever heard.

 

[6.8]

I just happened to do the math: at a distance of 2700 light years, GRB 080319B would have been as bright as the Sun. At that distance, you’d need a telescope to see the Sun at all - it would be about 14th magnitude.

 

[Windu]

Damn, thats fucking awsome.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

heh yeah it does, but knowing our luck the forcast for tommorow probably is 200 degrees with a slight chance of a acid shower.

edit: wikipedia says the temperature is −179.45 °C, yep very welcoming :lol

Compared with the rest of the solar system, where if you ventured outside your blood would boil, it's a damn fine inviting place!

 

[AndersTheSwede]

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The Space Shuttle Discovery lit up the night as it climbed into orbit above planet Earth. From Oak Hill, Florida, USA - about 30 miles north of the Kennedy Space Center - design engineer Andrew Arigema tracked the shuttle and recorded a four minute time exposure of the exhaust plume along Discovery's path against the background of the starry sky. At the upper left, the end of the drifting plume is punctuated by Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka in a vertical line, the belt stars of Orion. To the right of the belt stars, the pinkish jewel in Orion's sword is not a star at all, but the great Orion Nebula. Still farther to the right, at the foot of the hunter, lies Rigel, the brightest star in view. Rigel is a hot supergiant star some 700 light-years in the distance.

This tiny ball provides evidence that the universe will expand forever. Measuring slightly over one tenth of a millimeter, the ball moves toward a smooth plate in response to energy fluctuations in the vacuum of empty space. The attraction is known as the Casimir Effect, named for its discoverer, who, 50 years ago, was trying to understand why fluids like mayonnaise move so slowly. Today, evidence is accumulating that most of the energy density in the universe is in an unknown form dubbed dark energy. The form and genesis of dark energy is almost completely unknown, but postulated as related to vacuum fluctuations similar to the Casimir Effect but generated somehow by space itself. This vast and mysterious dark energy appears to gravitationally repel all matter and hence will likely cause the universe to expand forever. Understanding vacuum fluctuations is on the forefront of research not only to better understand our universe but also for stopping micro-mechanical machine parts from sticking together.

Found a better version of this photo:

What would it be like to explore the surface of another world? In 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission, astronaut Harrison Schmitt found out first hand. In this case, the world was Earth's own Moon. In this recently compiled panorama of lunar photographs originally taken by astronaut Eugene Cernan, the magnificent desolation of the barren Moon is apparent. Visible above and by scrolling right are lunar rocks in the foreground, lunar mountains in the background, some small craters, a lunar rover, and astronaut Schmidt on his way back to the rover. A few days after this image was taken, humanity left the Moon and has yet to return.

 

[Windu]

I'm running out of "OOOOoooo's" and "Ahhhhhhh's", next time I see fire works I won't have any left. Damn this thread.

 

[Windu]

Cat's Eye Hubble Remix

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Staring across interstellar space, the alluring Cat's Eye Nebula lies three thousand light-years from Earth. One of the most famous planetary nebulae in the sky, the Cat's Eye (NGC 6543) is over half a light-year across and represents a final, brief yet glorious phase in the life of a sun-like star. This nebula's dying central star may have produced the simple, outer pattern of dusty concentric shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of regular convulsions. But the formation of the beautiful, more complex inner structures is not well understood. Here, Hubble Space Telescope archival image data has been reprocessed to create another look the cosmic cat's eye. Compared to well-known Hubble pictures, the alternative processing strives to sharpen and improve the visiblility of details in light and dark areas of the nebula and also applies a more complex color palette. Of course, gazing into the Cat's Eye, astronomers may well be seeing the fate of our Sun, destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase of evolution ... in about 5 billion years.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

nowai

:-0

 

[Dark Octave]

Cat's Eye Hubble Remix

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Can you imagine approaching this thing?

 

[KdoubleA]

According to Stephen Hawking: If we remain confined to planet Earth, sooner or later we will destroy ourselves...the only long-term survival plan for the human race is to spread out into space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr5MCbIPPsA

 

[Windu]

That statement should be:

"According to Mr. Obvious: If we remain..."

 

[Walshicus]

Compared with the rest of the solar system, where if you ventured outside your blood would boil, it's a damn fine inviting place!

That's an urban myth isn't it?

 

[Haly]

That's an urban myth isn't it?

It is, but you won't last long in space either way.

 

[Walshicus]

It is, but you won't last long in space either way.

Sounds like fighting talk to me.

 

[Amir0x]

abuh abuh abuh

space fuck me! SO AMAZING every link continues to melt my mind with pure awe

 

[Haly]

Sounds like fighting talk to me.

You want to take this outside the stratosphere?

 

[Windu]

Saturn's Tortured Moon

This false color image of Saturn's moon Mimas reveals variation in the composition and texture across its surface. During its approach to Mimas on Aug. 2, 2005, the Cassini spacecraft's narrow-angle camera obtained multi-spectral views of the moon from a range of 228,000 kilometers (142,500 miles). This image is a color composite of narrow-angle ultraviolet, green, infrared and clear filter images, which have been specially processed to accentuate subtle changes in the moon’s surface materials. Herschel crater, a 140-kilometer-wide (88-mile) impact feature with a prominent central peak, is visible in the upper right of the image. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency.

SuitSat-1 Floats Free

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A space suit floats freely away from the International Space Station in a scene reminiscent of a sci-fi movie. But this time, no investigation is needed. The suit is actually the world's latest satellite and was launched on Feb. 3, 2006. Dubbed SuitSat-1, the unneeded Russian Orlan spacesuit filled mostly with old clothes was fitted with a radio transmitter and released to orbit the Earth.

A Moment Frozen in Time

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On May 19, 2005, Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the sun sank below the rim of the Gusev crater on Mars. This image mosaic was taken around 6:07 on the evening of the rover's 489 Martian day, or sol. Spirit was commanded to stay awake briefly after sending that sol's data to the Mars Odyssey orbiter just before sunset.

The filter combination used to take this image allows false color images to be generated that are similar to what the human eye would see, but with the colors slightly exaggerated. Because Mars is farther from the Sun than the Earth is, the Sun appears only about two-thirds the size that it appears in a sunset seen from the Earth. The terrain in the foreground is the rock outcrop "Jibsheet", a feature that Spirit investigated for several weeks. The floor of Gusev crater is visible in the distance, and the Sun is setting behind the wall of Gusev some 80 kilometers (50 miles) in the distance.

Sunrise in Space

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This view featuring a sunrise dissecting a line of airglow of Earth's atmosphere was photographed by an STS-114 crewmember onboard Space Shuttle Discovery after departure from the International Space Station.

Earth in Perspective

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The STS-114 crew captured this view of Earth from the Shuttle-Station complex on day nine of the mission.

 

[MadOdorMachine]

Just saw this composite image of Titan posted over at Arstechnica. Looks welcoming, no?

Is that real? I didn't know there were any other planets with liquid water on the surface. It also looks like the planet has an atmosphere.

Edit - I'm guessing that's a radar image?

http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2008/03/20/an-ocean-may-decouple-titans-crust-and-core

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Is that real? I didn't know there were any other planets with liquid water on the surface. It also looks like the planet has an atmosphere.

Edit - I'm guessing that's a radar image?

http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2008/03/20/an-ocean-may-decouple-titans-crust-and-core

It's not liquid water. Its liquid methane. Think lakes of natural gas. Titan is the only moon in the solar system to have a heavy atmosphere (~1.5 earth air pressure at the surface). And yes its a radar image as the atmosphere is so think that visible light cant see surface details.

You want to take this outside the stratosphere?

Not advisable:

Vacuums are indeed lethal: Under extremely low pressure air trapped in the lungs expands, tearing the tender gas-exchange tissues. This is especially grave if you are holding your breath or inhaling deeply when the pressure drops. Water in the soft tissues of your body vaporizes, causing gross swelling, though the tight seal of your skin would prevent you from actually bursting apart. Your eyes, likewise, would refrain from exploding, but continued escape of gas and water vapor leads to rapid cooling of the mouth and airways.

Water and dissolved gas in the blood forms bubbles in the major veins, which travel throughout the circulatory system and block blood flow. After about one minute circulation effectively stops. The lack of oxygen to the brain renders you unconscious in less than 15 seconds, eventually killing you. "When the pressure gets very low there is just not enough oxygen. That is really the first and most important concern," Buckey says.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=survival-in-space-unprotected-possible

 

[Norml]

Here is something neat.

TOKYO (AFP) - In an unprecedented experiment, a Japanese astronaut has thrown a boomerang in space and confirmed it flies back much like on Earth.

Astronaut Takao Doi "threw a boomerang and saw it come back" during his free time on March 18 at the International Space Station, a spokeswoman at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said on Friday.

Doi threw the boomerang after a request from compatriot Yasuhiro Togai, a world boomerang champion.

"I was very surprised and moved to see that it flew the same way it does on Earth," the Mainichi Shimbun daily quoted the 53-year-old astronaut as telling his wife in a chat from space.

The space agency said a videotape of the experiment would likely be released later.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080321/tts-us-japan-space-iss-physics-offbeat-3c8ed92.html

 

[Walshicus]

Here is something neat.


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080321/tts-us-japan-space-iss-physics-offbeat-3c8ed92.html

What. the. fuck...

My mind is seriously having trouble coming to terms with the physics behind this.

 

[Windu]

Here is something neat.


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080321/tts-us-japan-space-iss-physics-offbeat-3c8ed92.html

wow, that is awsome. I wouldn't think that it would come back to you. Maybe it came back because there was oxygen in the ship. /shrug

 

[Chittagong]

Saturn's Tortured Moon

RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!

 

[Windu]

RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!

hehe. You know the star that exploded recently? Well I bet it was Saturn's moon that did it.

 

[bigmit3737]

M78 and Reflecting Dust Clouds in Orion

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Amazing.

 

[Windu]

Molecular Cloud Barnard 68

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Where did all the stars go? What used to be considered a hole in the sky is now known to astronomers as a dark molecular cloud. Here, a high concentration of dust and molecular gas absorb practically all the visible light emitted from background stars. The eerily dark surroundings help make the interiors of molecular clouds some of the coldest and most isolated places in the universe. One of the most notable of these dark absorption nebulae is a cloud toward the constellation Ophiuchus known as Barnard 68, pictured above. That no stars are visible in the center indicates that Barnard 68 is relatively nearby, with measurements placing it about 500 light-years away and half a light-year across. It is not known exactly how molecular clouds like Barnard 68 form, but it is known that these clouds are themselves likely places for new stars to form. It is possible to look right through the cloud in infrared light.

 

[Hootie]

Here is something neat.


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080321/tts-us-japan-space-iss-physics-offbeat-3c8ed92.html

Wait...WHAT?! Fucking WHAT.

*1000000000x headexplode.gif*

 

[Windu]

Cassini Spacecraft Finds Ocean May Exist Beneath Titan's Crust

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Cassini spacecraft has discovered evidence that points to the existence of an underground ocean of water and ammonia on Saturn's moon Titan. The findings, made using radar measurements of Titan's rotation, will appear in the March 21 issue of the journal Science.

"With its organic dunes, lakes, channels and mountains, Titan has one of the most varied, active and Earth-like surfaces in the solar system," said Ralph Lorenz, lead author of the paper and Cassini radar scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., "Now we see changes in the way Titan rotates, giving us a window into Titan's interior beneath the surface."

Members of the mission's science team used Cassini's Synthetic Aperture Radar to collect imaging data during 19 separate passes over Titan between October 2005 and May 2007. The radar can see through Titan's dense, methane-rich atmospheric haze, detailing never-before-seen surface features and establishing their locations on the moon's surface.

Using data from the radar's early observations, the scientists and radar engineers established the locations of 50 unique landmarks on Titan's surface. They then searched for these same lakes, canyons and mountains in the reams of data returned by Cassini in its later flybys of Titan. They found prominent surface features had shifted from their expected positions by up to 30 kilometers (19 miles). A systematic displacement of surface features would be difficult to explain unless the moon's icy crust was decoupled from its core by an internal ocean, making it easier for the crust to move.

"We believe that about 100 kilometers (62 miles) beneath the ice and organic-rich surface is an internal ocean of liquid water mixed with ammonia," said Bryan Stiles of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Stiles is a contributing author to the paper.

The study of Titan is a major goal of the Cassini-Huygens mission because it may preserve, in deep-freeze, many of the chemical compounds that preceded life on Earth. Titan is the only moon in the solar system that possesses a dense atmosphere. The moon's atmosphere is 1.5 times denser than Earth's. Titan is the largest of Saturn's moons, bigger than the planet Mercury.

"The combination of an organic-rich environment and liquid water is very appealing to astrobiologists," Lorenz said. "Further study of Titan's rotation will let us understand the watery interior better, and because the spin of the crust and the winds in the atmosphere are linked, we might see seasonal variation in the spin in the next few years."

Cassini scientists will not have long to wait before another go at Titan. On March 25, just prior to its closest approach at an altitude of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), Cassini will employ its Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer to examine Titan's upper atmosphere. Immediately after closest approach, the spacecraft's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer will capture high-resolution images of Titan's southeast quadrant.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The Cassini orbiter also was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries.

Animation (lower resolution - 1.2Mb - Quicktime) | Animation (High-definition 11.8Mb)

This graphic and animation depicts a cross-section of the Saturnian moon Titan. Cassini scientists speculate there may be a layer of liquid water mixed with ammonia about 100 kilometers (62 miles) below the surface of Titan.

The assumption that Titan contains an internal ocean was generated from data gleaned from Cassini's Synthetic Aperture Radar during 19 separate passes over Titan between October 2005 and May 2007. Using data from the radar's early observations, the scientists and radar engineers established the locations of 50 unique landmarks on Titan's surface. They then searched for these same lakes, canyons and mountains in the reams of data returned by Cassini in its later flybys of Titan. What they found was prominent surface features seemed to shift from their expected positions by up to 31 kilometers (19 miles). Since the features could not have really moved, the apparent shift told the scientists and engineers that Titan was spinning about its axis in a previously unsuspected manner. The pre-Cassini model of Titan's spin accounted for the gravitational fields of Saturn and other nearby planets and moons but omitted other smaller less well understood effects. Since the observed spin of Titan does not fit this model, other influences, such as the seasonal changes in the motion of its atmosphere must also be important. It is difficult to explain how such relatively low energy phenomena could have such a pronounced influence on Titan's spin unless the moon's icy crust was decoupled from its core by an internal ocean. If the crust were decoupled from the core, atmospheric fluctuation alone could account the observed spin.

 

[PjotrStroganov]

Wait...WHAT?! Fucking WHAT.

*1000000000x headexplode.gif*

Common sense tells me that the boomerang was thrown within the space station and not in outer space. Considering the fact that there is breathable air in there the aerodynamics should work roughly the same as on earth. Only big difference is that there is no gravity. Therefore I presume the trajectory of the thrown boomerang differs compared to one thrown on earth.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Common sense tells me that the boomerang was thrown within the space station and not in outer space. Considering the fact that there is breathable air in there the aerodynamics should work roughly the same as on earth. Only big difference is that there is no gravity. Therefore I presume the trajectory of the thrown boomerang differs compared to one thrown on earth.

Yeah, it was thrown in the presence of pressurized oxygen so it will have the same aerodynamics, no need for brain explosions.

 

[Windu]

Between Earth and Space

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Astronaut Robert L. Behnken, STS-123 mission specialist, participates in the mission's third scheduled spacewalk. During the 6-hour, 53-minute spacewalk, Behnken and Rick Linnehan installed a spare-parts platform and tool-handling assembly for Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator. Among other tasks, they also checked out and calibrated Dextre's end effector and attached critical spare parts to an external stowage platform. The new robotic system was activated on a power and data grapple fixture located on the Destiny laboratory on flight day nine. The blackness of space and Earth's horizon provide the backdrop for the scene.

The Leading Edge

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A close-up view of the exterior of space shuttle Endeavour's crew cabin, starboard wing and payload bay door was provided by the station's Expedition 16 crew. Before docking with the station, STS-123 commander Dominic Gorie flew the shuttle through a roll pitch maneuver, basically a backflip, to provide the station crew with a good view of Endeavour's heat shield.

Using digital still cameras equipped with both 400 and 800 millimeter lenses, the station crew took a number of photos of the shuttle's thermal protection system and sent them to teams on the ground for analysis. A 400 millimeter lens was used for this image.

The View

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This view out the aft windows on Endeavour's flight deck was one of a series of images recorded by the STS-123 crew during the first full day in space. The end of the Canadian-built remote manipulator system's robot arm (right edge) along with the shuttle's vertical stabilizer and its two orbital maneuvering system (OMS) pods are visible. A heavily cloud-covered area of Earth fills the top half of the frame.

The View From Above

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Visible through a window on Endeavour's aft flight deck, astronaut Rick Linnehan participates in the mission's third scheduled spacewalk. During the 6-hour, 53-minute spacewalk, Linnehan and astronaut Robert L. Behnken installed a spare-parts platform and tool-handling assembly for Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator. Among other tasks, they also checked out and calibrated Dextre's end effector and attached critical spare parts to an external stowage platform. The new robotic system is scheduled to be activated on a power and data grapple fixture located on the Destiny laboratory on flight day nine.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

All this space stuff and no mention of the Drake equation?

alt:

Spoiler

But seriously, there's loads of intelligent life. It's just not screaming constantly in all directions on the handful of frequencies we search.

 

[Windu]

Videos:

Endeavour Night Launch: Booster View

STS-123 Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver

Inside the Hubble Testing Chambers

 

[Thriller]

omfg that video clip was awesome

 

[Souther]

NASA cannot be trusted to give you truthful information or show you photos without them first being doctored and airbrushed to shit(pertains more to planets)

 

[laserbeam]

kinda funny looking at the interior of the space shuttle just how old most of the equipment really is compared to what wed have in a new version now.

I feel like were taking a step backwards kinda in the sense we are doing away with the space shuttle and going back to rockets.

 

[Windu]

More Videos:

Endeavour Launches!

Lift Off!

STS-122 Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver

NASA: The Future of Exploration

Touchdown!

STS-122 Flyaround

STS-122 Flyaround (More views)

STS-122 SRB Separation

 

[Agent Ironside]

alt:

Spoiler

But seriously, there's loads of intelligent life. It's just not screaming constantly in all directions on the handful of frequencies we search.

Heres a nice little article from Rich Deem that I pretty much agree with when it comes to aliens.

Have we been visited by extraterrestrial beings from elsewhere in the universe? First, I would like to eliminate the idea that we have been visited by beings located outside our own galaxy. Andromeda, the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way is 2 million light years distant. This means that if there were aliens in Andromeda, it would take them longer than 2 million years to come to earth.1 Another problem is why they would want to visit our galaxy. The Andromeda galaxy is considerably larger than our galaxy. If life were common in the universe, there should be many times more of it in Andromeda, than in our wimpy galaxy. Why would they even want to visit us? A third problem for potential aliens is detecting us. We have been sending radio waves for less than 100 years. It will be another 2 million years before those signals reach our closest neighboring galaxy. The light (and other electromagnetic signals) that they now see represent the way the earth looked 2 million years ago. Beings in other galaxies would have no way of knowing that advanced life forms existed in our galaxy.

SETI - aliens in our own galaxy?

Scientists have been actively searching for extraterrestrial intelligence in our galaxy for the last forty years. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has extended out to 40,000 light years from earth (in comparison, the galaxy is 100,000 light years across).2 To date, no signal from any extraterrestrial stellar system has ever been detected.

How many alien civilizations in our galaxy?

The Drake Equation (named for Frank Drake, the originator of the equation) is a way to estimate how many intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations might inhabit our galaxy. Below is the Drake Equation:

A most optimistic estimate for the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy is 150. This would mean that each intelligent civilization would be separated by an average of 2,000 light years. Such vast distances make contact unlikely and finding other advanced civilizations improbable. If these civilizations exist, they will not detect our radio signals for another 1900 years. How will they even know we are here? For information on how these results were calculated, see the appendix.

 

[Windu]

Saturn and Titan from Cassini

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Spectacular vistas of Saturn and its moon continue to be recorded by the Cassini spacecraft. Launched from Earth in 1997, robotic Cassini entered orbit around Saturn in 2004 and has revolutionized much of humanity's knowledge of Saturn, its expansive and complex rings, and it many old and battered moons. Soon after reaching Saturn, Cassini released the Huygen's probe which landed on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, and send back unprecedented pictures from below Titan's opaque cloud decks. Recent radar images of Titan from Cassini indicate flat regions that are likely lakes of liquid methane, indicating a complex weather system where it likely rains chemicals similar to gasoline. Pictured above, magnificent Saturn and enigmatic Titan were imaged together in true color by Cassini earlier this year.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

A most optimistic estimate for the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy is 150. This would mean that each intelligent civilization would be separated by an average of 2,000 light years. Such vast distances make contact unlikely and finding other advanced civilizations improbable. If these civilizations exist, they will not detect our radio signals for another 1900 years. How will they even know we are here? For information on how these results were calculated, see the appendix.[/i]

if only faster than light travel were truly possible. I hope we can meet extraterrestrials within my lifetime.

I have so many questions like,

do you pee?
do you pee sitting or standing?
do you pee yellow or green?

 

[Teknoman]

if only faster than light travel were truly possible. I hope we can meet extraterrestrials within my lifetime.

I have so many questions like,

do you pee?
do you pee sitting or standing?
do you pee yellow or green?

Forget that...they better teach me psychokinesis techniques...for free too.

 

[Windu]

Booster Camera Video

Discovery Returns to Florida

California Fires From Orbit

Liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery!

External Tank Jettison

A Successful Separation

Dawn: Liftoff!

Hurricane Dean