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[Kevin]

While I am disappointed to see that Obama wants to take money from NASA and put it into education, I will admit that education is the most important aspect of running and maintaining a country with intelligent citizens. I wish Obama would take it from the money saved when he pulls out of Iraq (if he keeps his word) instead but what can you do. As for McCain... does he even have plans for these things?

 

[ManaByte]

While I am disappointed to see that Obama wants to take money from NASA and put it into education, I will admit that education is the most important aspect of running and maintaining a country with intelligent citizens. I wish Obama would take it from the money saved when he pulls out of Iraq (if he keeps his word) instead but what can you do. As for McCain... does he even have plans for these things?

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806060342

John McCain said he would support flying space shuttles beyond 2010, when NASA plans to retire the fleet.

But the Republican presidential candidate said the country needs to rethink the way it communicates with Americans about the space program.

"We need to do a better job of getting support of the American people and outlining specific missions for NASA," McCain responded to a question from FLORIDA TODAY executive editor Terry Eberle.

About 6,400 jobs could be lost at the Kennedy Space Center after the shuttles retire. NASA's next human spacecraft is not scheduled to fly until 2015.

Eberle asked if McCain would spend taxpayer money to extend shuttle missions another year or two, noting the U.S. will have to rely on Russia to maintain the International Space Station. McCain said yes.

"Of course I'm disturbed when we have to rely on the Russians or any other country. As you know, the Chinese are getting also very big into the space business," McCain said.

McCain, who spoke at the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors/Florida Press Association convention, also supports for human missions to Mars.

"I am intrigued by a man on Mars and I think that it would excite the imagination of the American people if we can say, 'Hey, here's what it looks like. We know that now, and here's what may be there and let's all join in that project.' "

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Click For Bigger Image


Full color panorama from Phoenix.

 

[Quazar]

While I am disappointed to see that Obama wants to take money from NASA and put it into education, I will admit that education is the most important aspect of running and maintaining a country with intelligent citizens. I wish Obama would take it from the money saved when he pulls out of Iraq (if he keeps his word) instead but what can you do. As for McCain... does he even have plans for these things?

Interesting google results.

America's Space Program

"Let us now embark upon this great journey into the stars to find whatever may await us."

-John McCain

John McCain is a strong supporter of NASA and the space program. He is proud to have sponsored legislation authorizing funding consistent with the President's vision for the space program, which includes a return of astronauts to the Moon in preparation for a manned mission to Mars. He believes support for a continued US presence in space is of major importance to America's future innovation and security. He has also been a staunch advocate for ensuring that NASA funding is accompanied by proper management and oversight to ensure that the taxpayers receive the maximum return on their investment. John McCain believes curiosity and a drive to explore have always been quintessential American traits. This has been most evident in the space program, for which he will continue his strong support.

and

Former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe has publicly endorsed McCain:

"His leadership during a challenging time in the rich NASA history helped put our nation's quest for exploration on track. ."

". . .I can assure you that the McCain campaign will be saying more about space and its importance to not only the American economy and science, but to our very view of our selves."

Posted it on last page.

 

[Windu]

Click For Bigger Image


Full color panorama from Phoenix.

Fucking awesome. Thanks.

 

[harSon]

While I am disappointed to see that Obama wants to take money from NASA and put it into education, I will admit that education is the most important aspect of running and maintaining a country with intelligent citizens. I wish Obama would take it from the money saved when he pulls out of Iraq (if he keeps his word) instead but what can you do. As for McCain... does he even have plans for these things?

The money being used in Iraq is theoretically not there, we're currently borrowing money to fund the campaign. While redirecting the money to something like NASA or our education system would be a hell of a lot better, all we'd be doing is adding to the national debt.

 

[fallout]

1.-why is mars red?

The soil is rich in ferric oxides.

2.-couls jupiter be pulling earth towards it?

The orbits of the planets are fairly rigid. We've been sort of settled into these paths and that's where we'll most likely stay. Things do happen, but we're talking on timescales of millions, or even billions of years.

That said, most of the planets in the solar system act on each other all the time (hell, the planets in our solar system cause a gravitational wobble in our very own Sun ... we've even used this effect to discover other planets orbiting other stars). They cause perturbations (wobbling, basically) in the orbits of the planets. In fact, these perturbations are what led to Neptune being discovered.

(warning: history lesson)

For a long time, the only planets that were known were the ones that had been knowing since ancient times. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Early on, people didn't know entirely what they were, but they knew that these bodies were different than the stars, because of their strange paths across the sky ("planet" is derived from the Greek word for "wanderer"). With the invention of the telescope, people began to really study these planets (and by this time, had a rough idea that they were similar to our own Earth), and began to accurately determine their orbits. They noticed that Saturn had this inexplicable wobble over a long period of time. The most they could do was chalk it up to instrument-related error.

In the spring of 1781, William Herschel, using some of his excellent hand-crafted optics, noticed a fuzzy ball in his eyepiece. He changed magnifications and noted that it grew and shrunk in comparison to the stars around it (this happens because they're so distant). After further observation and comparisons with older observation logs led to the discovery of a new planet (the object had been seen and recorded, but had looked no different than any others star). This planet is what we now call (and joke about) ... Uranus.

Quickly, they realized that the gravitational effect of Uranus was causing the perturbations in the orbit of Saturn and everything began to make sense. But then, over years of observations, they noted that Uranus had a wobble! In Europe, two mathematicians independently realized that it would have to be another planet-sized object in order for it to cause those sizes of perturbations. They then set out (with no knowledge of what the other was doing) to determine where the object causing that wobble was. Amazingly, both mathematicians, Urbain Le Verrier and John Couch Adams, managed to accurately predict the location of the planet. Le Verrier was more proactive with his results and was initially credited with the discovery. The Royal Astronomical Society in England wanted to try and keep things quiet so they could make the discovery an English one. This led to a bunch of fighting, but eventually, both mathematicians and the German astronomer (Johann Galle) who used Le Verrier's coordinates were credited with the discovery of Neptune.

THEN, they found perturbations in the planet of Neptune! Unfortunately, these are caused by an area of frozen objects known as the Kuiper Belt. Interestingly enough, this did lead to the purely accidental discovery of Pluto, but they realized that Pluto was much too small to be causing any sort of wobble in Neptune's orbit.

3.-why are all other moon called with a name while ours is just called moon?

The word "moon" is related to the Latin "mensis", which means month. The Moon has historically been a timekeeping device (many societies use a lunar calendar, as opposed to solar calendar), so that's how it got its name. As for why ours is called that and others are "moons" with other names, that's a historical thing. Nobody knew that other things orbited other planets, so when they were first discovered, they had to call them something and I guess they went with what seemed natural.

Technically, the more scientific term is "natural satellite".

 

[speedpop]

Anyone have any idea if the New Horizons mission includes close flybys of Uranus and Neptune?

I know Voyager 2 was able to use an alignment of the planets from Jupiter onwards, something that only happens once every 176 years or something ridiculous. So I don't really have any hopes of New Horizons hitting either planets - plus hitting Pluto seems a bit more important this time.

Also this site is awesome:

http://heavens-above.com/solar-escape.asp?/

Shows the trajectories and distance of Voyager 1 & 2 as well as Pioneer 10 & 11 away from our solar system.

 

[speedpop]

Actually never mind, I answered my own question:

 

[fallout]

Heavens Above is a great little site. I always use it to check for Iridium Flares (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_flare) whenever I head out observing.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

NGC 602 and Beyond

Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies the young star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by natal gas and dust, NGC 602 is featured in this Hubble image of the region. Fantastic ridges and undulating shapes strongly suggest that energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation moving away from the cluster's center. At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the picture spans about 200 light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are also visible in the sharp Hubble view. The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of light-years or more beyond NGC 602.

 

[Teknoman]

1.-why is mars red?

2.-couls jupiter be pulling earth towards it?

3.-why are all other moon called with a name while ours is just called moon?

Doesnt our moon have a name? Same with the Sun.
Earth Moon = Luna
Sun = Sol

Right?

EDIT: Earth's "voice"

http://www.space.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=080627-earth-sounds

Also I thought it was intresting that our days of the week are actually named after Norse Gods.

 

[Walshicus]

Also I thought it was intresting that our days of the week are actually named after Norse Gods.

Look at the French ones;

Lundi - Lunar
Mardi - Mars
Mercredi - Mercury
Jeudi - Jupiter
Vendredi - Venus
Samedi - Saturn

Roman gods.

 

[Teknoman]

Look at the French ones;

Lundi - Lunar
Mardi - Mars
Mercredi - Mercury
Jeudi - Jupiter
Vendredi - Venus
Samedi - Saturn

Roman gods.

Learn something new everyday

 

[davepoobond]

presidents dont make bills or propose laws personally, do they?

 

[Mr. Durden]

presidents dont make bills or propose laws personally, do they?

In France they do

 

[Hootie]

Look at the French ones;

Lundi - Lunar
Mardi - Mars
Mercredi - Mercury
Jeudi - Jupiter
Vendredi - Venus
Samedi - Saturn

Roman gods.

Huh, very similar to Italian:

Lunedi
Martedi
Mercoledi
Giovedi
Venerdi
Sabato
Domenica (not sure this stands for any planet)

 

[fallout]

Huh, very similar to Italian:

Lunedi
Martedi
Mercoledi
Giovedi
Venerdi
Sabato
Domenica (not sure this stands for any planet)

French, Italian, Spanish, etc. are all evolved from Latin. They're known as "Romantic Languages".

"Sol" is the Latin name for the Sun and "Luna" is the Latin name for the Moon.

 

[speedpop]

monchi-kun over on the Gaming side created a thread (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=11869501) about a Universe sandbox. I was thinking it was going to be some el cheapo application to fiddle around with, maybe blow up a few man-made planets in a man-made solar system. Which it can do.

But the beauty of this is when you open up the systems that the designers have thrown in this application and practically everything you want to know, and see, is done excellently. i.e. At this current moment I am watching Mars and its two moons unfold in real time - it's showing the orbits of both Phobos and Deimos, the distance they are from Mars, the velocity speed at which it orbits, etc etc.

It's unreal. And the best part about it is I've barely touched it for more than 5 mins.

http://universesandbox.com/

Universe Sandbox is a physics and particle simulator that simulates applied gravity to planetary bodies. This educational toy for Windows based computers can run scale simulations of our solar system while giving you the power to control gravity, time and everything in it.

Kudos again to monchi-kun!

 

[Teknoman]

Glass Beads From Moon Hint Of Watery Past

"Scientists have found water in some tiny beads of volcanic glass that Apollo astronauts collected on the moon decades ago, raising new questions about how the moon was born.

It wasn't a lot of water. The beads had only up to 46 parts per million. But from this, the researchers estimate that the interior of the moon once probably contained an amount of water equal to that of the Caribbean Sea.

Scientists have seen hints of ice at the moon's poles, in cold, shadowed craters. But because the moon was assumed to be dry, researchers thought this ice had to come from meteorite impacts.

Now there's a small but real possibility that some of that ice — if it exists — may have come from inside the moon. "There is a chance that there might be some very old water of the type that they discuss in the paper," Bussey says.

If the moon does have ice, Bussey says, scientists could figure out where it came from, but only if a rover or an astronaut goes to get a sample."

 

[fallout]

Reviving thread for awesome picture of Saturn:

Explanation: Soft hues, partially lit orbs, a thin trace of the ring, and slight shadows highlight this understated view of the majestic surroundings of the giant planet Saturn. Looking nearly back toward the Sun, the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn captured crescent phases of Saturn and its moon Rhea in color a few years ago. As striking as the above image is, it is but a single frame from a recently released 60-frame silent movie where Rhea can be seen gliding in front of its parent world. Since Cassini was nearly in the plane of Saturn's rings, the normally impressive rings are visible here only as a thin line across the image center. Although Cassini has now concluded its primary mission, its past successes and opportunistic location have prompted NASA to start a two-year Equinox Mission, further exploring not only Saturn's enigmatic moons Titan and Enceladus, but Saturn herself as her grand rings tilt right at the Sun in August 2009.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080720.html

 

[Hootie]

WOW.

 

[Laurentius]

NO THREAD SHALL NOT DIE

Awesome cliff on Mars.

Apparently a time-lapse photo, but holy crap is this awesome.

 

[Nooreo]

NO THREAD SHALL NOT DIE

Awesome cliff on Mars.

Mars? more like planet namek

 

[Like the hat?]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080730/sc_afp/usspacesaturn

Liquid on Titan

 

[bachikarn]

I just got an email about this. Looks like there is a really awesome site with tons of pictures.

http://www.nasaimages.org/

To: NASA News
Subject: NASA and Internet Archive Launch Centralized Resource for Images

July 24, 2008

David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1730
david.steitz@nasa.gov

Paul Hickman
Internet Archive
415-462-1509, 415-561-6767
paul@archive.org

RELEASE: 08-173

NASA AND INTERNET ARCHIVE LAUNCH CENTRALIZED RESOURCE FOR IMAGES

WASHINGTON -- NASA and Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library based in San Francisco, made available the most comprehensive compilation ever of NASA's vast collection of photographs, historic film and video Thursday. Located at www.nasaimages.org, the Internet site combines for the first time 21 major NASA imagery collections into a single, searchable online resource. A link to the Web site will appear on the http://www.nasa.gov home page.

The Web site launch is the first step in a five-year partnership that will add millions of images and thousands of hours of video and audio content, with enhanced search and viewing capabilities, and new user features on a continuing basis. Over time, integration of www.nasaimages.org with http://www.nasa.gov will become more seamless and comprehensive.

"This partnership with Internet Archive enables NASA to provide the American public with access to its vast collection of imagery from one searchable source, unlocking a new treasure trove of discoveries for students, historians, enthusiasts and researchers," said NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale. "This new resource also will enable the agency to digitize and preserve historical content now not available on the Internet for future generations."

Through a competitive process, NASA selected Internet Archive to manage the NASA Images Web site under a non-exclusive Space Act agreement, signed in July 2007. The five-year project is at no cost to the taxpayer and the images are free to the public.

"NASA's media is an incredibly important and valuable national asset.
It is a tremendous honor for the Internet Archive to be NASA's partner in this project," says Brewster Kahle, founder of Internet Archive. "We are excited to mark this first step in a long-term collaboration to create a rich and growing public resource."

The content of the Web site covers all the diverse activities of America's space program, including imagery from the Apollo moon missions, Hubble Space Telescope views of the universe and experimental aircraft past and present. Keyword searching is available with easy-to-use resources for teachers and students.

Internet Archive is developing the NASA Images project using software donated by Luna Imaging Inc. of Los Angeles and with the generous support of the Kahle-Austin Foundation of San Francisco.

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

For more information about Internet Archive, visit:

http://www.archive.org

 

[mr.beers]

NO THREAD SHALL NOT DIE

Neva

Apparently a time-lapse photo, but holy crap is this awesome.

Wow.... If only our eyes worked better in the dark we could see this every night....

Fucking beautiful.

 

[Windu]

Thread back from the dead again. Awesome.

 

[fallout]

I just got an email about this. Looks like there is a really awesome site with tons of pictures.

http://www.nasaimages.org/

Holy shit. Awesome.

 

[The Librarian]

Apparently a time-lapse photo, but holy crap is this awesome.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0807/scenicmilkyway_hepburn_big.jpg

That's so fucking awesome.

 

[kkaabboomm]

i dont know if this is the right thread, but...

SpaceX is trying their 3rd Falcon1 flight, like, right now. countdown is on a hold with T-16, they have 3 satellites on it

yesterday they did a full Falcon9 engines test yesterday sucessfully, and have announced their intention to do a launch of Falcon9 by the end of 2008 down in Florida.

original launch time - 4pm PDT, moved to 5pmPDT, now, well, yeah, chilling at T-16.

link:
main site - http://www.spacex.com/index.php
current LIVE webcast - http://www.spacex.com/testcast.php
neat live-blog - http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/

so yeah, anyone else interested in this type of thing?

edit: most recent update --
"Hold is due to extended time needed to cryochill the helium.

Falcon 1 is at 98% helium mass load, but as we all know, that last 2% is a bitch. (Asymptotically approaching the limit of the heat exchanger)."

 

[kkaabboomm]

they just got to t-0, but the computer auto-aborted because 'a parameter is out of bounds' - so i guess ill find out later if it launches or not -- last launch they tried, something similar happened, and then 70 minutes later they launched, so it could be a minor fix.

c'est la vie, the path towards private space flight is hard

 

[AndersTheSwede]

They're saying the countdown will probably be restarted in 10 minutes.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Oh shit.

I hope anomaly means "low orbit" and not FAIL

Edit: Initial indications are that it blew up.

Guess those rocket-dev growing pains continue for SpaceX

 

[Hootie]

EPIC fail. =(

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Well, hopefully SpaceX can recover, though the loss of actual paying customers' payloads is a big blow. Especially the first ever solar sail. Why the fuck did they not do one successful launch before loading it with customers?!?!?!? Alt.Space just took a step back.

Here's something that will take the mind off of failures:

 

[kkaabboomm]

i just finished a movie, anyone got details on what happened? All i have is:

"Waiting for more information.

We have two more Falcon 1's right behind this one, no matter what happened."

"Rocket is lost

More information as I get it."

"Posted August 2, 2008 - 20:38 PDT

We have heard from launch control that there has been an anomaly. More details will be posted to the website as available.

Posted August 2, 2008

T+140s: Vehicle switching to inertial guidance mode. 1050 m/s, altitude of 35 km
T+69s: Approaching Max-Q - the time of maximum dynamic pressure on the vehicle
T+56s: Approaching Mach 1 - the vehicle is now supersonic"

"There was an issue in the separation stage. A glitch resulted in the engine exploding."

it made it to at least 35km, then something happened that caused it to be lost. good to know they have 2 more no matter what happened, but still, a major blow, especially since this was their 3rd try.

 

[The Elite]

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=286893986&mt=8

Those of you with an iphone might appreciate this app. It lets you access a directory of updated NASA images directly from your iphone.

.99 cents.

 

[Macam]

NASA abandons plan to fly new spaceships by 2013

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - NASA has abandoned plans to get its replacement for the retiring U.S. space shuttles into service by 2013 because of a lack of additional funds and technical issues, officials said on Monday.

The U.S. space agency had hoped to fly astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a new spaceship called Orion as early as September 2013, well before its formal deadline or goal of March 2015.

"The window of opportunity for us to accelerate Orion has closed," program manager Jeff Hanley at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston told reporters during a conference call.

The United States will be without a means to transport people to and from space after the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010 until the new ships are ready to fly. It intends to rely on Russia to ferry crews to the space station and on private companies to deliver cargo during the gap.

NASA had hoped to minimize the gap, but additional funding to do so has not been approved by the U.S. Congress.

The agency now hopes to be able to fly an Orion crew to the International Space Station by September 2014.

The delay will force NASA to renegotiate several contracts with companies developing equipment and providing services under the "Constellation" program, which has the overall goal of landing astronauts on the moon by 2020.

Prime contractors include Lockheed Martin Corp, which is developing the Orion spacecraft; and Alliant Techsystems' ATK Launch Systems; The Boeing Co; and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a United Technologies Corp company, which are working on new rockets.

Also involved are Oceaneering International, which is developing new spacesuits, and SGT Inc, which is providing support services.

 

[Windu]

NASA abandons plan to fly new spaceships by 2013

Damn. It probably won't get any better if Obama is elected too. Although I don't know McCain's stance on Nasa though so he could be just as bad. 2011 - 2013/14 is going to suck.

 

[SovietStriker]

Surprised no one posted this yet
http://thefutureofourworld.ytmnd.com/

 

[Scum]

Holy fucking crap! How did I miss this thread?!?! I'm astounded and yet a little down, while I stare at the Pale Blue Dot.

Truly awesome! This thread should be accompanied by Agnus Dei. I'm off to play Homeworld now. :lol

 

[C.Dark.DN]

why cant we land on the moon tomorrow?

 

[Teknoman]

NASA abandons plan to fly new spaceships by 2013

Damn...

 

[fallout]

why cant we land on the moon tomorrow?

Lack of funding and public interest.

 

[PjotrStroganov]

Just wait until the Chinese get to the moon. Suddenly the race is on.

 

[Lucky Forward]

NASA abandons plan to fly new spaceships by 2013

The United States will be without a means to transport people to and from space after the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010 until the new ships are ready to fly. It intends to rely on Russia to ferry crews to the space station and on private companies to deliver cargo during the gap.

Considering the crisis in Georgia...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26142758/

[Bush] said Russia's escalation of the conflict had "raised serious questions about its intentions in Georgia and the region" and had "substantially damaged Russia's standing in the world." "These actions jeopardize Russia's relations with the United States and Europe," Bush said. "It's time for Russia to be true to its word to act to end this crisis."

...won't it make it rather difficult for America to talk tough against Russian military adventures when Russia will be our only ticket for manned space flight for five years or more?

 

[Macam]

Considering the crisis in Georgia...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26142758/

...won't it make it rather difficult for America to talk tough against Russian military adventures when Russia will be our only ticket for manned space flight for five years or more?

Possibly, but, frankly, I doubt it.

 

[fallout]

...won't it make it rather difficult for America to talk tough against Russian military adventures when Russia will be our only ticket for manned space flight for five years or more?

Russia gets paid for it, so I don't think it'll be that much of a problem.

 

[half a moon]

can you buy land on the moon in a 100% legit non novelty way?