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International Space Station || STS-123 - Endeavour || Space Backgrounds || Space Forum || Technology Forum
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Thursday, 24 July 2008
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 With a price tag of $420 million, NASA’s Phoenix lander has just thirty days until its original 90-day mission ends on August 23. Mission controllers have submitted a request for an extension of up to 30 days for Phoenix so that the lander can continue to study Mars’ arctic soil. Thirty days, however, is just about all the more that the mission could get, as the Martian winter is on its way. Phoenix landed above Mars’ Arctic Circle, so once the winter begins the sun will dip below the horizon for several weeks. With no sun, Phoenix will not be able to power itself with its solar arrays.
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
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 It’s one of those things that’s straight out of Star Trek. Cell phones, quantum teleportation, cloud cities. The last hasn’t happened just yet, but according to Geoffrey Landis of NASA’s Glenn Research Center, it could be possible on Venus. The planet, which essentially Earth with a runaway greenhouse effect going, has a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere that rains sulfuric acid and reaches 480° C (900° F). Oh, and the atmospheric pressure on the surface is so powerful that it has crushed every probe we’ve managed to land on the surface. Apart from that, Venus isn’t that different.
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
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 If a star explodes and nobody’s watching, does it light up? It’s not quite the tree in the forest quandary, but it’s a question to be asked nonetheless: what can we learn from novas that we missed? The ESA’s XXM-Newton x-ray telescope happened upon such an event late last year. The orbital observatory was turning to face a new target and passed over a bright source of x-rays that nobody had expected, seen, or cataloged, but was bright enough to be immediately noticeable.
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Monday, 21 July 2008
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 It’s pronounced “mahkay-mahkay,” for the record. Just last month, the International Astronomical Union introduced the new subcategory of dwarf planets: the plutoid. Making full use of the new category, they’ve named the dwarf planet 2005 FY9 such an object and given it the name Makemake: the Polynesian creator of humanity and the god of fertility. Makemake is covered in red methane ice and is slightly smaller and dimmer than Pluto. It was discovered in 2005.
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Sunday, 20 July 2008
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 (From July 17, 2008) Just two months ago, we told you about a third Earth-sized red storm (Mini-Red) that had cropped up near Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. There were three options as the two storms converged: Mini-Red would either be eaten, destroyed, or move on intact. As it would turn out, the smaller storm was quickly gobbled up by the Great Red Spot, which is about six times larger.
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Sunday, 20 July 2008
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 Studying observations from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists have discovered evidence that huge swaths of Mars’ southern highlands were extensively altered by water billions of years ago. The orbital images revealed the southern hemisphere to be covered in phyllosilicates, rocks formed only in water, such as clays rich in iron, magnesium, aluminum, mica, and kaolinite. The phyllosilicates were formed between 4.6 billion and 3.8 billion years ago.
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Sunday, 20 July 2008
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(From July 16, 2008) So, Phoenix has been busy in the past month. First up is that sticking dirt that got stuck on top of the grate leading into one of the lander’s oven. Having gotten that soil finally into the oven, heating it up revealed no signs of water. The gasses given off by the 175° C (350° F) soil were sent into the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA). With no water vapor detected, the sample was then heated to a scorching 1000° C (1800° F) to vaporize any water-formed minerals in the soil. Nada.
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Sunday, 20 July 2008
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 (From July 10, 2008) Prompted by the botched reentry of the previous two Soyuz craft leaving the International Space Station, two Russian cosmonauts ventured into space to remove a faulty explosive bolt blamed for the mishaps. Oleg Kononenko and Sergei Volkov cut into the insulation of the Soyuz spacecraft docked with the ISS and removed the bolt. While there was no chance of their actions triggering the explosives, if activated, the M-80 firecracker force could have blown of their hands. The bolt was immediately secured inside a blast-proof canister.
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Sunday, 20 July 2008
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 (From July 9, 2008) For the first time ever, water has been conclusively uncovered in samples Apollo astronauts brought back from the moon. Found inside volcanic glass beads, formed from magma in the interior o of the early moon, the discovery of water was a surprise even to the researchers who came across it. The assumption has always been that the moon is and was always dry, a consequence of it’s violent birth.
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Sunday, 20 July 2008
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 (From July 7, 2008) With the space shuttle fleet due to retire in 2010, NASA’s making the most of their remaining time. The space agency recently set the dates for the last shuttle missions in 2009 and 2010. All will be to the International Space Station, carrying the last modules for the orbital outpost, as well as crew and supplies.
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Science & Tech 
