Updated : Sun, 20 May 2012 14:20:24 +0000
What Will Happen During Tomorrow?s SpaceX Launch:
With less than a day left before SpaceX’s historic launch of the first commercial vehicle to the ISS, slated for 4:55 am EDT on Saturday, May 19, here’s a video of what will happen once the Falcon lifts off. (Part of me really wishes that they’ll be pumping out some dramatic music when it launches!) [...]
Publ.Date : Fri, 18 May 2012 19:00:55 +0000
The Awesome Complexity of Hypersonic Flight
Researchers at Stanford University are working on solutions to the inherent difficulties of hypersonic flight — speeds of over Mach 5, or 3,000 mph (4828 km/h) — and they’ve created one amazing computer model illustrating the dynamics of air temperature variations created at those intense speeds. (…)Read the rest of The Awesome Complexity of Hypersonic [...]
Publ.Date : Fri, 18 May 2012 18:04:45 +0000
Watch Jupiter as a ?Space Invader?
This great video created from images taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on May 13 and 14 show Jupiter as it comes close to the Sun (from our vantage point) in a solar conjunction. But what it really looks like is the old “Space Invaders” video game, with Jupiter marching across the screen. [...]
Publ.Date : Fri, 18 May 2012 16:03:25 +0000
T-0 Launch Abort for Dragon
SpaceX’s attempt to launch their Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spacecraft was aborted by the computer at T-0 due to a high pressure reading on engine 5 of the first stage. The rocket’s nine main engines were ignited, but were automaticalaly shut down before liftoff. The vehicle was safed with no apparent other issues. [...]
Publ.Date : Sat, 19 May 2012 09:34:03 +0000
Launch Day Timeline for SpaceX?s Dragon
Saturday morning?s launch window for SpaceX’s historic test flight to the International Space Station lasts just one second. Company President Gwynne Shotwell predicted they have ?better than a 50-50 shot on whether we lift off tomorrow,? she said at a press conference today, adding, ?If we lift off, we?ll get to orbit.? Shotwell and NASA [...]
Publ.Date : Fri, 18 May 2012 19:43:29 +0000
On The Hunt For High-Altitude Microorganisms
The United States Rocket Academy has announced an open call for entries in its High Altitude Astrobiology Challenge, a citizen science project that will attempt to collect samples of microbes that may be lurking in Earth’s atmosphere at the edge of space. (…)Read the rest of On The Hunt For High-Altitude Microorganisms (274 words) © [...]
Publ.Date : Sun, 20 May 2012 00:42:37 +0000
Meteor Shower Timelapse Seen from the Space Station
Just as the Lyrid Meteor Shower was peaking on April 21, 2012, astronaut Don Pettit captured this incredible timelapse sequence from the International Space Station. Of course you can see the familiar view of cities sweeping beneath the station as it orbits the Earth, but if you watch carefully, you can see the bright flashes [...]
Publ.Date : Sat, 19 May 2012 15:56:56 +0000
Doomed Mercury-Sized Exoplanet May Be Turning to Dust
The old saying of the universe being stranger than we can imagine definitely applies to a newfound exoplanet orbiting a star about 1,500 light years from Earth. Researchers using the Kepler space observatory have detected what appears to be a planet about the size of Mercury literally turning to dust. A long tail of debris [...]
Publ.Date : Fri, 18 May 2012 21:00:25 +0000
SpaceX Engineers Race to Repair Engines for May 22 Launch
Today?s (May 19) historic launch of the first ever privately developed rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS) was very surprisingly aborted at the last second when an engine glitch forced a dramatic shutdown of the Falcon 9 rockets 1st stage firing already in progress and as the NASA launch commentator was in the [...]
Publ.Date : Sun, 20 May 2012 04:46:14 +0000
SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Poised at Pad to Open New Space Era
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is now poised at the launch pad and set to open a completely new era in spaceflight. Hopes are sky high that Saturday mornings Falcon 9 launch represents the dawn of the commercial era in spaceflight akin to the startup of the commercial airline industry early in the 20th Century [...]
Publ.Date : Sat, 19 May 2012 02:35:02 +0000
