Hmmm...why hasn't there been more coverage of this part of NASA's Phoenix mission?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:33 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Just when you thought you knew somebody...it looks like Regulus is a binary star! Time to start rewriting a lot of science fiction stories!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Our solar system on a t-shirt, using fonts of relative sizes. Neat!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You've heard of LGM's, Little Green Men? How about BGM? What the heck is this thing?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Earthrise as seen by JAXA's Selene lunar orbiter. Insert your favorite theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Some good news from Mars. After several days of failed attempts at obtaining a soil sample that can be analyzed from the clumpy regolith of the Martian Arctic, the Mars Phoenix Lander shook a sample into its "oven." Now we wait for about a week to receive the results of the probe's thermal and evolved-gas analyzer. More here and here.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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After a major storm passed, I looked up to see the ISS and the space shuttle, sailing quietly overhead.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And the news flashes Earthwards...it appears the toilet is working again on the International Space Station!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A Falcon IX test of all five engines!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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...will be one of these! What else can I add to my "basket"? more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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We've landed a probe on the northern polar region of Mars and it is beaming some great pictures back to Earth. A spacecraft in orbit snapped a photograph of a spacecraft landing on Mars. We're about to launch a shuttle to deliver a huge laboratory to the ISS. So what was the coverage on the news I saw today and what subject dominated the NASA pre-launch press briefing.

The toilet on the ISS is malfunctioning.

Sigh.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:02 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A while back I came across a list of movies, books and other entertainment items on the International Space Station. I forwarded that list to Baen Books, as I noticed that a good chunk of the titles involved were from that publisher.

Somewhat jokingly I suggested that, in the spirit of their programs to give free books to members of the military and free books to disabled readers, they ought to give free books to the crew of the ISS.

Gee...maybe I should have suggested they give me a book contract. Because it appears they listened to me!

(I can't complain. They get free books, and I got a free Baen Books apron and a bunch of bookmarks and a sheet of autographed bookplates!)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:47 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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They've gone and planted a flag on another planet. Again!

Seriously folks, take a look at this image. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took a shot of Phoenix as it was landing!!!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The first pictures are coming in from the Mars Phoenix Lander (only on television nothing on the web yet). From the looks of things, Phoenix managed to miss any rocks and the area that we've seen (so far) actually looks very flat. Can't tell if the surface is ice and dirt mixed, ice covered by dirt, dirt-colored ice or what. One picture being displayed is of a landing pad, it does not appear to have sunk into the ground much (if at all).

UPDATE: Raw image, taken directly from television, now available.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Ernst Stuhlinger, one of the last members of Werner von Braun's original rocket team has passed away.

Stuhlinger was a key inventor of ion propulsion, a system that has been used successfully on several missions to the Moon, the asteroids and one comet. Probably more of the public know him than they realize, thanks to his work in the 1950's Walt Disney television shows which featured realistic depictions of voyages to the Moon and Mars.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Mars Phoenix Lander has successfully landed in the northern polar region of Mars. Waiting on the first pictures.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Fred's Reading Report (April 200

O.K., it's that time of the month again!

Eighteen books YTD! 187 short works!

Which is to say...there's good news and there's bad news. For short works, if the goal is one short a day, I needed to be at 121 stories by the end of April. So, I've exceeded that goal. For long form, 18 books is better than one book a month for a year, so I'm way ahead of 99.99% of the people I know (many barely manage a book a year, for all love). more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So what do the astronauts do in the off time on the International Space Station? Governmentattic.org has come up with a list of books, movies, music, etc., on the ISS (Adobe Acrobat file).

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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NASA has launched (har har) a new website dedicated to showing its work in the various fields of science.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The course for the Phoenix Mars Lander has been fine-tuned. Landing is expected for May 25, 2008. The landing area has been named "Green Valley."

The landing area is an ellipse about 62 miles by about 12 miles (100 kilometers by 20 kilometers). Researchers have mapped more than five million rocks in and around that ellipse, each big enough to end the mission if hit by the spacecraft during landing. Knowing where to avoid the rockier areas, the team has selected a scientifically exciting target that also offers the best chances for the spacecraft to set itself down safely onto the Martian surface.

Ouch. Who got to count all those rocks?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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