July 2009 - Posts
NASA |
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An artist's conception from 1971 shows an orbital fuel depot in action.
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The panel reviewing NASA's long-range plans is giving a new boost to the old idea of setting up orbital fueling stations for spaceflight. If the space agency and the White House go down that route, it would mark a dramatic change in direction for future journeys beyond Earth orbit.
Some would say that's just what the nation's space effort needs.
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Mike Solontoi / Univ. of Washington |
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A long-period comet called 2001 RX14 (Linear) streaks across the sky in an image
captured in 2002 by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's telescope in New Mexico.
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The black eye that Jupiter suffered this month has sparked a host of questions for astronomers as well as for the rest of us: What exactly hit the giant planet, and why didn't we see it coming? Why is Jupiter's bruise expanding? How often do these things happen, and how vulnerable are we to a similar cosmic pummeling? Astronomers are closing in on the answers - and helping the public get a better sense of perspective.
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Francois Xavier Marit / AFP - Getty Images |
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Germany's Paul Biedermann edges out American Michael Phelps in the men's
200-meter freestyle final on Tuesday at the FINA World Swimming Championships
in Rome. The outcome added to a yearlong controversy over swimsuits.
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This month's crackdown on slick swimsuits marks a rare retreat in the technological arms race (and legs race) that has dominated international sports - but it doesn't mean the multimillion-dollar quest for a high-tech edge is over.
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Odyssey Moon via X Prize |
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This artist's conception shows Odyssey Moon's lunar lander touching down.
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Forty years ago, moon landings were exclusively the province of superpowers - but today, commercial ventures are trying to turn lunar missions into profitable businesses. Do such dreams represent one small step for high-tech entrepreneurship, or do they require an overly giant leap of faith?
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Carolin Cardamone and Sloan Digital Sky Survey |
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A "Green Pea" galaxy, at left, isn't like the typical galaxy at right.
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Galaxy Zoo's legions of mouse-clicking citizen astronomers have chalked up another discovery: "Green Pea" galaxies that look more like garden vegetables than the traditional spiral galaxies we all know and love. Read more about the research, to be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in this announcement from Yale University posted to the EurekAlert Web site.
I'm out of the office today, putting the finishing touches on "The Case for Pluto" and dealing with other matters, but here's more must-see science to peruse while I'm semi-gone:
H. Hammel (SSI) / NASA / ESA / Jupiter Impact Team |
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The Hubble Space Telescope's brand-new Wide Field Camera 3 took
this picture of the expanding black spot on Jupiter on Thursday.
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Even though it's in the middle of a post-makeover checkout, the Hubble Space Telescope was turned toward Jupiter this week to capture a picture of the bruise left behind by a comet or asteroid - and it's a real beaut of a shiner.
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Duane Hoffmann / msnbc.com |
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Open-source communities may suffer from "an overabundance of connections,"
an information policy researcher suggests in the journal Science.
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Are geeks guilty of groupthink? A network expert argues that less social networking would produce more radical innovation on the Internet.
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Galileoscope.org |
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The Galileoscope kit costs $15, plus shipping, and requires some assembly.
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Low-cost Galileoscopes are making their way to buyers after months of buildup. So is the view worth the wait? The answer is "yes ... but."
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CERN |
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A worker makes preparations for closing up one of the sectors in the
Large Hadron Collider's underground tunnel.
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The scheduled restart of the world's biggest particle accelerator has been delayed another few weeks, until mid-November, due to vacuum leaks in two sectors of the Large Hadron Collider's underground tunnel.
Word of the fresh delay came on Monday via the CERN Bulletin, which is published by Europe's particle-physics center. And if the past year is any guide, this may not be the last postponement.
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Piyal Adhikary / EPA |
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Indian scientists check their telescopes on the grounds of a science
museum in Patna, on the eve of this week's total solar eclipse. Prime
time for viewing the event on the Web is 8:45 to 10 p.m. ET Tuesday.
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Ninety years ago, a total solar eclipse provided the first solid confirmation that Albert Einstein was right about a little thing called general relativity. Today, eclipses may not be as much of a draw for astronomers as they were in the days before sun-observing satellites, but they still serve an important scientific purpose. Looking beyond the science, there's something elemental, even spiritual, about experiencing totality.
Nothing can take the place of seeing today's Asian eclipse in person, but if you can't be in Shanghai or Bhopal, scientists are still willing to bring you a taste of totality via the Internet. Here's a mini-guide to the Webcams, plus some pointers to the science behind the spectacle:
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Courtesy of Bob Bickers |
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The Bickers family sits around the television on July 20, 1969, in
their home in Memphis, Tenn. From left are Bob, William, Linda
and Alice Fay Bickers. Robert Sr. took the picture.
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Even the highest-resolution camera in orbit around the moon can't make out the mark left behind by Neil Armstrong's "one small step" 40 years ago - but NASA's giant leap left a huge mark on men and women around the globe. For proof, all you have to do is page through the more than 1,400 messages answering the question posed 10 days ago: "Where were you when Apollo flew?"
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This was a day for untold stories about NASA's glory days, and reflections on the road ahead. Here's a last-minute selection of Web links relating to Apollo 11's lore and its legacy:
NASA |
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Concept art shows what NASA's next-generation Altair lunar lander may look like.
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At the same time that NASA is celebrating its biggest triumph - Apollo 11's first human landing on the moon, 40 years ago - the space agency is facing its biggest wave of uncertainty since the Apollo program ended.
The space shuttle era is winding down to its scheduled end next year, and the successor to the shuttle is facing a hail of questions over cost and safety. Five years after the Bush administration set a course back to the moon, the Obama administration hasn't yet decided whether it will stick to that course. NASA is just now getting a new leader after six months in limbo, and an independent panel is in the midst of assessing the options for the nation's future in space: Return to the moon? Target Mars or one of its moons instead? Land on an asteroid?
"I would say they're all in the mix," the panel's chairman, retired aerospace executive Norm Augustine, told reporters today, "and I wouldn't want to make a forecast one way or another."
Ever since astronauts went to the moon, NASA has never had the money to match its aspirations, he admitted. "That puts NASA in a terrible position," he said.
From decade to decade, presidents, lawmakers and members of the public voice strong support for space exploration. Just today, Gallup released a poll indicating that a gradually increasing number of Americans believe the space program has brought enough benefits to justify its costs. But does that translate into the political will to support a space initiative anywhere nearly as dramatic as Apollo, particularly when it's not clear what the initiative will turn out to be?
Augustine said it all "depends on how the question is asked sometimes."
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I can't let the day go by before paying tribute to longtime CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, who passed away today at the age of 92. In his day, Cronkite served as the bellwether of the American spirit - and millions trusted him when he said "that's the way it is."
President Lyndon Johnson knew he was in trouble in 1968 when Cronkite declared that the Vietnam War would end in a stalemate. "That's it," Johnson reportedly said. "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America."
But for folks like me, who were in our mid-teens at the time, Cronkite will be remembered chiefly for his coverage of the space effort. How strange it is that he passed away just short of 40 years since men first landed on the moon! When he took off his glasses after watching the Apollo 11 landing on July 20, 1969, and said, "Whew, boy!" ... the whole country breathed a sigh of relief and amazement with him.
Uncle Walter, you are missed.
More on Cronkite's space connection:
NASA / GSFC |
Click for video: A side-by-side comparison shows a frame from NASA's archival
video of Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong making his way down the lunar module's ladder
at left, and a restored version of the same frame at right. Click on the image to
watch a video in which NASA's Dick Nafzger explains the differences in depth.
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That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for video restoration.
Forty years after the fact, some of the most historic moments of Apollo 11's televised moonwalk have been brought into sharper focus using computerized image processing techniques.
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NASA |
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Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin pose for their official
portrait before the Apollo 11 mission of July 1969. All three men were born in 1930.
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Every five years, the three men of Apollo 11 get together to face the cameras and answer questions about the greatest adventure of the 20th century: humanity's first landing on the surface of another world. Now it's been 40 years since that historic touchdown on July 20, 1969, and the spotlight is once more shining on the famous trio.
The biggest stars of NASA's glory days aren't getting any younger. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins are all a year or two away from turning 80. Some might wonder when the "last hurrah" for the space effort's Greatest Generation will come, but the astronauts of Apollo 11 still seem hale and hearty. I wouldn't bet against all three of them living to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their most famous flight.
So what have they been doing since their last stint in the spotlight, five years ago?
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Oli Scarff / Getty Images file |
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Shoppers in London queue up for a vintage-clothing sale at the Angels theatrical
costume shop in 2008. Researchers say waiting in line, and other types of
turn-taking behavior, may be hard-wired into a wide variety of species.
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Taking turns isn't just a nice idea. It may be as much a part of the theory of evolution as survival of the fittest - at least that's the conclusion that British researchers reached after running a genetic simulation through thousands of generations of evolutionary change.
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NASA / CSC / CfA / CFHT / Coelum |
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Composite photo shows optical and X-ray views of Stephan's Quintet, a galactic
collision that has generated a powerful shock wave (indicated here in light blue).
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A shockingly beautiful image of a galactic smash-up known as Stephan's Quintet highlights the powerful shock wave created by a cosmic bullet.
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Co Rentmeester / Time Life Pictures via Getty Images |
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Gamblers watch moonshot coverage at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas in July 1969.
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On July 20, 1969, I was an Iowa farmboy watching every black-and-white move of a fuzzy-looking, spacesuited figure on our living-room television set. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was doing pretty much the same thing in New York City (though he was a mere 10 years old, four whole years younger than I was).
Sen. John McCain was sitting in a Hanoi prison - and wouldn't even find out that someone landed on the moon until a year and a half later. But for myriad millions of people around the world, even for McCain's Vietnamese captors, the Apollo 11 landing and that "one small step" on another world was a red-letter day that would be remembered through the decades.
Now it's your turn to share some moonshot memories: Where were you when Apollo 11 flew? Even if you're took young to have been around when the first moon landing took place (which is the case for more than half of the U.S. population), you can still feel free to comment on the past, present and future of space exploration.
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Charlie Neibergall / AP file |
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Barack Obama listens to Dr. Mark Anderson while touring a University of
Iowa cardiology lab in 2007 during the presidential campaign. Obama has
pledged to make scientific integrity a priority for his administration.
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Whatever happened to the war on science? During the Bush administration, many scientists felt as if they were on the outs when it came to issues ranging from global climate change to stem cell research and even evolutionary biology. President Barack Obama came into office pledging to "restore our commitment to science" - and some of the scientists who were once on the outs suddenly found themselves in the inner circle.
Today, Obama is leading the charge on climate policy and stem cells, and he's got a Nobel-winning physicist pushing for energy alternatives. Sounds like the war is over, right?
"The war is not over," says Chris Mooney, author of "The Republican War on Science" and co-author of a new book titled "Unscientific America." The gap between scientists and society at large may have shrunk, but there's still a disconnect that transcends political parties. That comes through loud and clear in "Unscientific America" as well as a new 98-page study analyzing how scientists and the wider American public view each other.
Fortunately, there are some prescriptions for shrinking the gap further - although history suggests that skirmishes over science will be as perennial as death and taxes.
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NASA / JPL-Caltech |
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After commanding a test rover to drive forward through a sandbox filled with fake
Martian dirt at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, rover driver Paolo Belluta
measures how much the rover slipped sideways during the maneuver.
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An earthbound rover is finally spinning its wheels in fake Martian dirt - marking one small step in NASA's efforts to get the real thing out of a Red Planet sand trap.
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An influential panel has issued a new long-range prescription for what ails NASA, and the space agency is testing a next-generation Internet protocol on the international space station. Meanwhile, the Rocket Racing League announces a new round of investments and a shift in its top management. Read on to glimpse the future of the final frontier:
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Clemens Bilan / AFP - Getty Images |
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Fans of Michael Jackson weep in the German city of Cologne on Tuesday as they
watch the public memorial service for "The King of Pop" on large video screens.
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Chastened by Inauguration Day's online video breakdowns, Web sites bulked up their capacity to handle the crush of traffic for pop star Michael Jackson's memorial service on Tuesday - and statistics showed that the bits flowed at mostly manageable levels.
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Eric Thayer / Reuters |
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Michael Jackson fan Leandro Lapagesse of Brazil clutches a handful of
memorabilia outside the Forest Lawn Mortuary in Los Angeles on Monday.
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Why do celebrities such as pop star Michael Jackson exert such a pull, especially when they’ve just passed away?
For decades, psychologists have been studying the one-way relationships we create with celebrities. Some researchers say such connections are merely a fact of life in a media-saturated age. Others suggest that celebrating dead celebrities offers a way to come to terms with our own mortality - and reach for a kind of immortality as well.
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I'll be taking a few days off over the Fourth of July weekend, and that means I'll be staying away from the keyboard as much as possible. As always, blog postings may pop up if there are news developments, and if I have enough time and bandwidth to follow through. I'll be resuming the regular schedule on Tuesday, just in time to gear up for the shuttle Endeavour's next launch attempt. In the meantime, here's an extra dose of Web links (some serious, some not) to see you through the long weekend:
NASA / GSFC / ASU |
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This image shows a cratered region near the moon's Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds)
region, as photographed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. Click on
the image for a larger version from NASA's Web site.
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Today's first images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter provide a fresh perspective on the moon, just weeks before the 40th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing.
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Chad Mirkin / Northwestern University |
Click for video: Nanoscale rods of gold can be coaxed to assemble themselves
into spheres, as seen in this photomicrograph. The gold nanospheres, developed
by Northwestern University's Chad Mirkin and his colleagues, are used in medical
testing devices. Click on the image to launch a video about Mirkin and his work.
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What do tiny circuits, medical tests and a $500,000 prize have in common? They all fall into the domain of one of the world's foremost nanotech researchers. Last week, Northwestern University chemist Chad Mirkin received this year's $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for "his revolutionary discoveries and sizable contributions" in the field of nanotechnology.
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