Category — Space

Scientists and Engineers at the National Ignition Facility in California have completed construction of the world’s largest laser system and will be using it to investigate nuclear fusion:

“With NIF, scientists will be able to evaluate key scientific assumptions in current computer models, obtain previously unavailable data on how materials behave at temperatures and pressures like those in the center of a star, and help validate NNSA’s supercomputer simulations by comparing code predictions against observations from laboratory experiments… It could also help scientists better understand the makeup of stars and giant planets both within and outside our solar system.”

Very cool stuff. A proper fusion study facility could help answer all kinds of questions about the processes going on inside of stars, and maybe help move us towards using fusion as an energy source. Once this thing starts firing, expect to hear some squawking from the same people who harbor fears that the Large Hadron Collider is going to create a black hole and destroy us all! (Thanks to Korman for the original link.)

The external camera on the International Space Station is now live on the web! Admittedly, there isn’t much to see most of the time, but since the camera is used to monitor Astronauts during spacewalks, you might catch them doing repairs if you tune in at the right time. The channel (NASA TV) also features occasional updates on the orbital position of the ISS, as well as commentary from Mission Control.

Later this week, shuttle Discovery will be taking off for the ISS, carrying a payload of new solar cells, the last major U.S. addition to the station.  The crew will also include one Koichi Wakata, who will be the first Japanese Astronaut to serve aboard the ISS.  Live shuttle launch info should be available on NASA TV, and is scheduled for Wednesday evening.

Sex in space has always been a bit of a taboo subject, at least as far as the public face of agencies like NASA and the RFSA are concerned.  I’ve always been baffled and disappointed by their singular tactic of deny, deny, deny every time someone brings up the possibility that two Astro/Cosmonauts might have been getting it on.  It’s as if they’re worried that admitting to/allowing sex on missions will somehow  make it seem that they aren’t really in the business of conducting serious science.  I mean, really; putting people in space and conducting experiments on everything from physics to botany to animal physiology isn’t enough?  In-orbit sexual encounters between two consenting adults are somehow going to tear down their image as credible scientific and technological institutions? [Read more →]

Check out these faaantastic satellite images, brought to you by NASA’s Earth Observing System Project Science Office!  Maybe it’s just me, but the one photo of an urban landscape sticks out like the ugly buck-toothed, big-eared bespectacled kid in your kindergarten class photo.  Remote Sensing FTW!

NASA is reporting that methane (CH4) has been definitively detected on Mars.  Because there are several well-known mechanism that remove methane from the Martian atmosphere, its detection means that there is some active process still creating it.  The only natural methane-producing processes known are geological or *gasp* biological!

So NASA is quite proud to announce that they’ve proved Mars is not a dead planet (in their terminology, alive means either geologically or biologically active, or both).  As they should be; not only does this provide further support for the possibility of life on Mars, it gives clues to what kinds of geological processes might be going on under the Martian surface.  We’ve known for a while now that Mars hasn’t had active plate tectonics (like Earth) for a very long time, which led researchers to suspect that all geological activity had stopped.

Now the challenge is to determine what’s creating the methane.  Call me an optimist, but I’m hoping it’s a bit of both – micro-organisms and geological processes!