space exploration
gregladen | May 4, 2017I've been enjoying Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar: A Guided Tour of the Solar System by Bonnie Buratti.
Burratti is a planetary astronomer at NASA's JPL, and is the head of the Comets, Asteroids and Satellites Group. She was a key player in the Voyager program, and in the research done with the Cassini-Huygens, and New Horizons space ships.
Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar: A Guided Tour of the Solar System is a personal exploration of what it is like to personally (via robots) explore our solar system, and at the same time, a systematic accounting of the solar system. The story is…
carlyo | December 18, 2014The ‘Nifty Fifty (times 4)’, a program of Science Spark, presented by InfoComm International, are a group of 200 noted science and engineering professionals who will fan out across the Washington, D.C. area in the 2014-2015 school year to speak about their work and careers at various middle and high schools.
Meet Nifty Fifty Speaker Dr. Erica Ellingson
Her research is key to shedding further light on how the cosmos began and its future development.
"My work focuses mostly on topics concerning the evolution of galaxies and quasars, and observational cosmology-- the origin, contents and…
milhayser | December 2, 2014On Pharyngula, PZ Myers criticizes a stirring new short film imagining humanity's presence on the far-flung worlds of our solar system. PZ writes, "There’s nothing in those exotic landscapes as lovely and rich as mossy and majestic cedars of the Olympic Peninsula, or the rocky sea stacks of the nearby coast." So let's not get ahead of ourselves in turning Earth into a dust bowl. On Respectful Insolence, Orac considers the demerits of a new monograph on 'integrative oncology,' saying it's a false dichotomy polarizing aspects of actual science and pure wishful thinking. And on Uncertain…
carlyo | April 7, 2014By Rick Ambrose, Executive Vice President, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company
It’s time to let the next generation in on a secret.
The fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) aren’t just where the jobs are. They’re where the excitement is as well.
I’ve spent the past 30 years leading aerospace and technology teams, and I think we have the best jobs in the world. Who designs spacecrafts that speed from Earth toward distant planets? We do. Who builds satellites that save lives by tracking global weather patterns? That’s us, too.
We often talk about STEM in terms of…
esiegel | April 17, 2013“We are much closer today to being able to send humans to Mars than we were to being able to send men to the moon in 1961, and we were there eight years later. Given the will, we could have humans on Mars within a decade.” -Robert Zubrin
Of all the planets in the Solar System beyond our own, none has captured our imagination quite like Mars has.
Image credit: NASA, via http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA02570.jpg.
From science-fiction fans to scientists and everyone in between, our understanding of the red planet is presently greater than it ever has been in the past. With multiple…
esiegel | July 23, 2012"Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known." -Ronald Reagan
Earlier today, Sally Ride, the first American woman ever to fly in outer space, passed away at the age of 61 from pancreatic cancer. To many different people, her life, her achievements, and her death means a great diversity of things. To anyone with a love of outer space, human exploration, and achieving your dreams, her story will likely resonate with you, too. I'd like to share with you what are,…
krandall | December 1, 2010By Dr. Rosalba Bonaccorsi
Environmental Scientist at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
Rosalba, what first sparked your interest in science?
I've always had big dreams -- even as a young girl. As soon as I started to walk, I took an interest in conducting experiments with whatever was available around such as household plants and various chemical compounds. I'm lucky I didn't end up poisoned or otherwise hurt! I remember dismantling alarm clocks. I was so curious!
As a young girl, I was in poor health and as a result spent a lot of…
grrlscientist | May 23, 2010tags: Shuttle Launch Preparation Choreographed Like Ballet, Space Shuttle, space exploration, space flight, NASA, Scott Andrews, Stan Jirman, Philip Scott Andrews, photography, time-lapse video, streaming video
This video is simply stunning and the photography is masterful. In this video, we are looking at time-lapse photographs by photographers Scott Andrews, Stan Jirman and Philip Scott Andrews, who decided to demonstrate the process of launching a shuttle in a new and innovative way. Using time-lapse photography, they turned the 6 week process of prepping a shuttle into this gorgeous four…
grrlscientist | April 1, 2010tags: Wonders of The Solar System, space exploration, astrophysics, spoof, parody, satire, humor, funny, fucking hilarious, Dr Brian Cox, BBC, television, streaming video
Here is an inspirational video trailer from BBC's television program, "Wonders of the Solar System", where series host, Dr Brian Cox, exclaims; "That's why I love physics so much, cuz physics is all about tryin' to work out WTF is goin' on."
grrlscientist | March 31, 2010tags: NASA, space debris, Space Junk, space exploration, streaming video
Humans and garbage .. after you watch these videos, you'll ask yourself if humans can do anything -- even go into space -- without creating a huge trail of garbage? This space garbage is extremely dangerous, too. For example, 10-gram piece of debris can generate a collision force in space equal to the crash of a car traveling at 100 km per hour. Because of our trashy ways, it won't be long until space vehicles cannot leave earth because of the thickening belt of garbage circling planet.
The news story:
Or maybe you…
razib | February 11, 2010The End of the Space Age:
It's important to recognize, though, that the decision in question belongs to all of us, and not just to Barack Obama. The administration wouldn't be cutting the manned spaceflight program if Americans were still enthusiastic about going to the stars -- if space exploration still occupied a privileged place in our imagination, if our jocks still wanted to be astronauts and our nerds still wanted to build rockets. Obama is simply bowing to our culture's priorities: Our geeks want to build a better XBox, and our jocks want to buy it to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare…
grrlscientist | February 9, 2010tags: NASA, Endeavour, International Space Station, spaceship launch, STS-130,Kennedy Space Center, space exploration, physics, astronomy, engineering, streaming video
Space shuttle Endeavour, carrying Commander George Zamka, pilot Terry Virts, and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Bob Behnken, Steve Robinson and Kay Hire, successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in the early hours of February 8, headed for its 13-day STS-130 mission to the International Space Station.
razib | January 27, 2010NASA to Review Human Spaceflight:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is preparing for a major evaluation of its human spaceflight program, even as many who will conduct the survey have yet to be informed of the agency's revised mission.
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The administration might also enlist the help and financing of other nations to handle parts of space exploration -- perhaps giving the European Space Agency the job of building a lunar lander, for example.
Perhaps China vs. the world? Fodder for near-future science fiction.
gregladen | May 15, 2009It was May, 1992, and I was in a stupor of post thesis-completion cortisol letdown and alcohol-induced lethargy, and Mark Pagel was talking to me as I slouched in a large comfortable chair in the Peabody Museum's smoking lounge.
"It's obvious what they need to do," he was saying, and I could tell from the look on his face, even in my foggy state of mind, that a morsel of wisdom marinated in humor was about to be served up.
I swear this stuff works great. "Hrmphsmeh," I replied, indicating that he should continue, I was interested.
"They need Ross Perot."
"Hrmph???," I knew Mark (and…