Two items of note from the current issue of The Space Review. A review (sorry) of Robert Zubrin's latest book (on Mount Toberead). And, wither (whither) Constellation?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:56 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 37 words, total size 1 kb.

More suggestions on why the ill-fated Beagle-2 never made it to Mars. Colin Pillinger remains unconvinced.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 20 words, total size 1 kb.

Images of orbiting exoplanets. Images, mind you. MESSENGER visits Mercury (still a bit before it orbits). Images of Venus. Jets on Enceladus.

Just a few of the nifty things we did in space this past year.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.

I wonder if the International Space Station has one of these posted onboard.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:37 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 17 words, total size 1 kb.

If it comes to pass that the one name being bandied about as the next NASA Administrator is nominated and serves...we could see the end of the agency as a functional institution.

Don't believe me? Start digging around and see what disasters he headed.

Update: Lori Garver? Ah, another political hack.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 02:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 59 words, total size 1 kb.

Assuming that the weather holds, space shuttle Endeavour will liftoff at 7:55:39 Eastern today on a mission to the International Space Station. Should be a spectacular site, given the light conditions at the time.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 02:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 36 words, total size 1 kb.

It looks like the Hubble Space Telescope has directly imaged an extra-solar planet. Pretty good for a piece of equipment on "life support"!

Dorsai? Why, everybody knows that the Dorsai are from the Fomalhaut system!

Phil Plait, a.k.a., The Bad Astronomer, has details.

Pictures of the second extra-solar direct image here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:31 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 59 words, total size 1 kb.

While they were derided as being "Battlestar Galactica missions", Cassini and Galileo provided (and in the case of Cassini, still provides) returns up and beyond their original specifications. Jupiter and Saturn are almost solar systems in their own right; sending a single-purpose mission that far is almost a waste.

So it is interesting to hear about plans for future missions of this class. For example, how about dropping a hot-air balloon to explore Saturn's moon Titan?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 82 words, total size 1 kb.

India's Chandrayaan-1 satellite has entered lunar orbit to begin an intensive study of our natural satellite. Instruments onboard include some provided by NASA and the JPL. more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 51 words, total size 1 kb.

The venerable Martian rover Spirit is endangered by dust. On Mars for over 1,725 "sols", dust has cut down the rovers ability to generate power to the point where engineers need to take steps to protect the rover. more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 70 words, total size 1 kb.

Cast your peepers over the names of those who have contributed to the latest Mind Meld at SF Signal!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:32 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 23 words, total size 1 kb.

1 J. Michael Straczynski? Awesome!

Posted by: John D. at October 29, 2008 09:23 PM (A8+6d)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

So apparently today is the day the Federation of Light will appear in our skies.

Hmmm...the Land Down Under is several hours ahead of us...I wonder if they've all been snatched, already, so that is why I don't see any news...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

Geoffrey A. Landis suggests colonizing Venus by floating cities in the atmosphere.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

As one commentator notes, the Xeelee are at it again!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:26 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 16 words, total size 1 kb.

More signs of alien warfare...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 9 words, total size 1 kb.

Those two plucky rovers, Spirit and Opportunity are still going on Mars. Opportunity has finished its year-long exploration of the half-mile wide crater known as Victoria and is back on "surface level" for its next stop. Spirit has sent back the "Bonestell Panorama". Wouldn't it have been wonderful for Chesley to have seen this?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 60 words, total size 1 kb.

It's nice this time of year when it is clear. The sun is done, it is starting to cool off. You can sit outside with a cool beverage and watch the bats. The stars start to pop out. Speed on to Spica. Arc on to Arcturus. If you know the sky fairly well, you can start to pick out constellations: spot two of the stars in the Big Dipper, and you can make the rest of the stars "pop" into existence.

Look there, in the east. It's the full Moon. To the left (well, to the right if you are "upside down" from my perspective) is Jupiter at its brightest. Even a relatively modest pair of binoculars would be handy right now. You could pick out what of the four largest moons are visible around Jupiter and see features on the Moon (although any phase other than full is best, as the craters show up better when the sun is not overhead!).

Check out the satellite tracking sites like Heavens Above. Check out when the ISS will be visible from your location: I caught it the other night and it was spectacular. As it moves through your sky it'll change in brightness and maybe even color. Keep checking when it'll be visible when the shuttle is up...there's nothing quite like seeing the two of them flying in formation or how much brighter the "dot" is when they are docked.

Yep, it's a beautiful night tonight.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:19 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 253 words, total size 2 kb.

Some very nice pictures from Apollo and the (let's hope they don't muck it up) Constellation program.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:37 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 23 words, total size 1 kb.

Have historians gotten the date of Caesar's invasion of the island of Britain wrong?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 20 words, total size 1 kb.

I've read Homer's The Odyssey several times, including once in Latin (high school). One thing that has fascinated me about The Odyssey...as well as The Iliad...is how much "truth" there is to the epic. Amazing to find an occasional bit that has survived the passage of time, countless re-translations and re-interpretations and the like.

And then there's the fanciful side. For example, here's a depiction of the "cosmos" of The Odyssey...as a snowglobe.

Addendum: The scholarly paper (Adobe Acrobat).

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:18 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 83 words, total size 1 kb.