Solar Chaos?

A Belgian astronomical institute (KSB) issued a warning that the sun had produced an extreme large solar flare that is heading our way. The data is based on the findings of the Belgian Proba-2 satellite. The geo-magnetic storm could possible interfere with GPS signals, cellphones and air traffic control systems. Also satellites and radio communications can expect interference and possibly malfunctions. Car drivers are also warned that there TomTom's can give faulty readings although its expected this will stay within a 10 meter deviation. Nothing on the NASA website (yet). The solar material is expected to reach us on thursday, the 17th of February. More information here.

New NASA Spaceship?

(Oct. 22) -- It might sound like the stuff of science fiction, but a NASA official says that "within a few years" scientists will unveil a prototype for a spaceship capable of taking earthlings to other worlds.

Excerpt from this article. Quite fascinating actually since those words came from NASA director Simon Worden. I'm not getting my hopes up that I can stroll on the moon in a couple of years but stories like these are at least positive. Also not really sure what kind of spaceship they have in the works. It uses microwave energy to ignite hydrogen propellants. No warp drive, damn. As I'm writing this I also feel a bit skeptical somehow about the possibilities of this technology, but who knows.

X-37

It's strange that they canceled the shuttle program yet continue with the basic design in other experiments. Check out the X-37 here. And it's a robotic spacecraft.

Kepler Spacecraft

This should prove interesting. NASA plans to launch the Kepler spacecraft on the 6th of March. It's another telescope in space, fitted with the latest technology so we can expect some nice images, hopefully. The mission is to look for Earth-size planets in the nearby Galactic region, concentrating on those stars similar to our own.

"Kepler is a critical component in NASA's broader efforts to ultimately find and study planets where Earth-like conditions may be present," said Jon Morse, the Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The planetary census Kepler takes will be very important for understanding the frequency of Earth-size planets in our galaxy and planning future missions that directly detect and characterize such worlds around nearby stars."

Help NASA Name Node 3

You can vote for the name of the new Node 3 scheduled to be installed on the International Space Station this year. Here's the website.

Help us to name another important addition to the station - Node 3 and its cupola!
Vote using the poll on the right.

Voting will be open until March 20th, 2009. NASA will announce the winning name in April 2009.

NASA wants your opinion in naming the International Space Station’s Node 3 – a connecting module and its cupola – before the two segments travel to space and are installed on the orbiting laboratory. The name should reflect the spirit of exploration and cooperation embodied by the space station, and follow in the tradition set by Node 1- Unity- and Node 2- Harmony.

Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver the Node 3 components during the STS-130 mission targeted for December 2009. Once the cupola is attached to one of the module’s six ports, it will offer astronauts a spectacular view of both their home planet and their home in space. The cupola’s six rectangular windows and one circular window overhead will show a panoramic view that will be unrivaled by any other spacecraft ever flown. Aside from providing a perfect location to observe and photograph the Earth, the cupola also will contain a robotics workstation, where astronauts will be able to control the station’s giant robotic arm.

I voted "The Can."

Mars Rovers Soldier On

Although designed and expected to work for an estimated 90 days, the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity have been working now for 5 years. It's a great NASA success story and everyone involved in the mission (including the rovers) have performed beyond expectation. The rovers have provided loads of data for scientists to analyse and valuable lessons are being learned such as the behaviour of the Martian atmopshere. There's a lot of dust in the atmosphere of Mars and over time the solar panels of the rovers accumulate that dust which in turn reduces operational power. The strange thing is, on occasion the solar panels receive a gust of wind from the Martian atmosphere which cleans the panels and boosts power. Not many people expected the rovers to last this long but they did. NASA gets a thumbs up on this one.

NASA's Constellation Program: Back To The 60s and 70s

How does NASA plans to reach the Moon again and even Mars? You can forget about Star Trek type ion engines or any of the other stuff you see in sci-fi shows. No new ramjets X-33 Venture-star like vehicles. No, it's back to the 60s and 70s, man.

What a sight for sore eyes. Basicly what they did was combine elements from the Apollo and Shuttle missions to go into the 21th century. Solid rocket booster here, Saturn top section there. 5 year old kids with NASA lego pieces could have come up with this design. A person can argue that NASA sticks to what it knows and what has been proven to work, but come on. NASA plays it safe, you can make a case for that but at this rate of modernization we Earthlings will reach the nearest star in our Galaxy (Alpha Centauri 4 lightyears away) in about a 1000 years.

The Altair Lunar Lander, or as I like to say 'two tanks in a cheap frame for the price of one'. What a piece of crap. Will NASA install a 16 bit CPU in the lander for nostalgia sake as well? Geesh. I think NASA should quit the program immediately and sack the designers on the grounds of poor imagination.