June 4th, 2016
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Now departing from the “Edge-of-Space Port” is where the Earth to Sky Calculus group release their helium-filled balloons, doing cutting-edge science in a little-explored realm 100,000 feet above the Earth – the stratosphere. About once a week, these young researchers send their experiments aloft using helium balloons to search for new life forms in the […]
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China’s next piloted space mission is progressing forward. Space engineers are final checking the Tiangong-2, the country’s space lab that reportedly will be rocketed into orbit this September. Meanwhile, the still unnamed two-person crew for the Shenzhou-11 mission is in training for their October liftoff. The booster for their fight, the Long March 2F […]
The plan for NASA’s Curiosity rover on the Red Planet is to drill into the targeted “Oudam” bedrock. Now in Sol 1361, Curiosity is to perform a full stint of drilling, followed by taking Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Mastcam images of the new hole. Drill sample transfer Explains Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS […]
NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars is busy at work, carrying out Sol 1359 duties. According to Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona, a the remaining “Okoruso drill sample” was successfully dumped onto the ground on Sol 1358. So the robot is ready for a new drill sample, he notes. […]
A recently released report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) looks at the issues regarding U.S. continued access to space for national security missions. The CRS report — National Security Space Launch at a Crossroads was authored by Steven A. Hildreth, a specialist in U.S. and foreign national security programs. This May 13, 2016 […]
A new proposal is on the table: Build an armed space station capable of tackling both natural and human-made threats to Earth. Nations should cooperate in building the orbiting complex. Its duties would be to deal with space-derived threats to humanity, be they from incoming asteroids to violent solar storms – as well as […]
Now in Sol 1356 on Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover recently completed a drive, placing it on a “nice patch of the Murray formation,” reports Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. That drive put the Mars robot in a good position for a very busy holiday weekend of […]
There are numbers of nations that have Mars in their sights for robotic exploration. So many, in fact, is it time to better coordinate those efforts to enhance the opportunity for eventual human exploration of the Red Planet? The idea of an International Year of Mars (IYM) is anchored in history. Information sharing Retro-fire to […]
“Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me Long as you love me, it’s all right Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me You got the power to turn on the light” — American Breed Success today as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) reached “manual inflation complete” from its docking point […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now in Sol 1353. Landing on the Red Planet in August 2012, the robot has wheeled some 8 miles since touchdown. After a recent drive, the Mars machinery took Sol 1352 imagery that shows there are sandy ripples ahead, and enough rocky patches that the rover should not have any […]
