NASA is pretty renowned for screw ups that only it can manage to pull off and after re-recording on the moon landing tapes its reputation has been on a one way trip down the spiral. With the International Space Station (ISS) in eternal need of repairs and pare parts and the space shuttles at NASA’s disposal only operation for another year or so, it is now pretty desperate to launch the Atlantis into orbit on the scheduled Monday afternoon.

Atlantis will carry a cargo weighing 27,000 pounds that include spare parts a couple of refurbished gyroscopes, pumps, tanks for ammonia and nitrogen and a piece called the “trailing umbilical system reel assembly” for the railway system that moves the station’s robotic arm. (Yup, it is almost as if they are building the whole thing again!)

Atlantis will not just carry a heavy payload but will also bring back to earth a balky toilet system that recycles urine into drinkable water. Apparently there is more than enough water for the guys up there at the moment! The 11-day mission is commanded by Col. Charles O. Hobaugh of the Marines, and the pilot is Capt. Barry E. Wilmore of the Navy and if all goes to plan then NASA will be pretty relieved as time is running out quickly for their space shuttles.

Nytimes

Nasa’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) had made an impact into Cabeus crater near south pole of Moon on 9th October and had kicked up debris as high as one mile. Scientists have analyzed the plume of the debris and concluded that it was frozen water. It seems quite a significant quantity of water was thrown up when LCROSS crashed into the crater. This finding would herald a new era of solar system study and space exploration, after all water is an important resource and it also gives a promise of sustenance of life.

It would be too early to conclude the implications of this finding but nevertheless it does give a lease of life to hopes that there could be life elsewhere and in future human beings could colonize the moon. With water resource readily available researchers can now hope to set up lunar base for future lunar and space exploration. The only hitch could be budget required for such ambitious projects. As of now study of the debris seems to unlocked important mystery about lunar surface which was believed to be devoid of water.

Via Telegraph

The best, smartest, and coolest thing built in 2009, according to TIME, is ‘a machine that can launch human beings to cosmic destinations we’d never considered before.’ This is called NASA’s Ares Rockets. Previous to this invention, astronauts had not been able to move ‘beyond the harbor lights of low-Earth orbit in nearly 40 years.’ The Ares 1 had its first unmanned flight on October 28.

The rocket is ‘a slender white stalk that looks almost as if it would twang in the Florida wind. But up close, it’s huge: about 327 ft. (100 m) tall, or the biggest thing the U.S. has launched since the 363-ft. (111 m) Saturn V moon rockets of the early 1970s. Its first stage is a souped-up version of one of the shuttle’s solid-fuel rockets; its top stage is a similarly muscled-up model of the Saturn’s massive J2 engines.’

The Ares 1 ‘has lightweight composites, better engines and exponentially improved computers giving it more reliability and power.’ Possibly by 2015, it will launch an ‘Apollo-like spacecraft with four crew members.’

On the other hand, the Brobdingnagian Ares V rocket that NASA is also developing at the moment is ‘a 380-ft. (116 m) behemoth intended to put such heavy equipment as a lunar lander in Earth orbit, where astronauts can link up with it before blasting away to the moon.’

Not to be outdone is the Ares Lite, ‘a heavy-lift hybrid that could carry both humans and cargo and is intended to be a design that engineers can have in their back pockets if the two-booster plan proves unaffordable.’

Via TIME

When you talk of planes such as the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, which stay in the sky for a whole day without needing to refuel, have a range of over 3400 miles and can hit altitudes of up to 20,000 meters, you would think they would be used to spy on enemy nations, drop a couple of missiles and help build structures such as International Space Station. But the nice folk at the military have been kind enough to lend a couple of these aerial emperors for environmental research and those concerned about the planet’s health are really happy at this sudden ‘lift’.

Officially handed over to NASA for environment research and collecting data from the global skies, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) now opens up new avenues for scientists across the globe. These UAVs are a lot better for high-altitude data collection compared to the U2s that were earlier at NASA’s disposal as they do not require a pilot, which keeps men safely on ground and even reduces fuel consumption that tad bit more.

With the first scientific flight of the Global Hawks scheduled to take place in January, NASA is all excited about its latest venture into climate study… Let’s just hope this does not end up like the moon landing tapes!

Discovery

The U.S space agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had recently announced that, it was in the process of carrying out an experiment that would give an insight into the effects of space travel. NASA plans to expose about 18 to 28 squirrel monkeys to low levels of radiation in an effort to determine the effects of prolonged stay of astronauts outside earth’s protective magnetic field.

Though NASA stated that, this project is in the name of ‘science‘, yet, several animal rights groups are infuriated with the idea of ‘radioactive monkeys’. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), which is one of America’s biggest anti-animal testing group has infact initiated a campaign to spread awareness of the dangers that these animals face from the radiation and is urging the public to protest against this inhumane act and for NASA to scrap the project.

According to the organization,

“Radiation experiments involving nonhuman primates commonly involve restraint and other cruel procedures. Monkeys, like other primates, are highly intelligent, have strong family bonds, demonstrate empathy, and, most importantly, suffer.”

The PCRM also asserts on the fact that, along with the strapping of the animals and other cruel methods involved in such tests, there is considerable difference in the genetic make up of a primate and a human. This difference will become a hindrance to the experiment and no conclusive result can be extracted from such an experiment. The international animal rights organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA has also expressed its concerns towards the proposed NASA experiment and has stated that, even though NASA administration has assured that, the monkeys won’t be unethically treated, the fact remains that, previous such experiments have caused fatal cancers, including brain tumors in primates.

Via The Register.

The ever increasing pace at which the outer space is slowly turning into a junkyard, not only poses great perils of our planet, but has also become a reason for concern for the scientists, as this space junk is going to become the number one cause for failed deep missions. The debris from previous rocket launches, destroyed satellites and other waste material that is left behind after a space mission is complete is going to significantly add to the risk of collisions and crashes. As per the research the near collisions of space bound vehicles and orbiting platforms with the space junk are expected to be 50 percent in the next decade and could easily rise to a staggering 250 percent by 2059, amounting to 50,000 close calls in seven days.

Keeping in mind the gravity of the situation, the U.S air force has stated that, as of now it has the capability of monitoring 800 satellites in the orbit and that, it should be able to track and monitor in all 1,300 satellites by the end of this year.

According to Hugh Lewis (University of Southampton),

“The time to act is now, before the situation gets too difficult to control. The number of objects in orbit is going to go up, and there will be impacts from that.”

However, experts believe that, in the future collisions and crashes won’t be a big reason of worry, as the technology by that time, would have given us the capability to safely navigate our way from the space junk. But they have also warned the space junk could prove very costly as the cost to manufacture technologies that would help avoid this cosmic menace would be quite high.

Via Reuters.

The realm of sci-fi is finally merging with the aspects of reality and the technology we witnessed in some of the greatest science fiction flicks like, Star Trek and Mission To Mars is all set to come true. The Russian Space Agency today announced, that it is planning to build a nuclear powered spaceship. As per the estimates released by Anatoly Perminov, the Russian Space Agency chief and the driving force behind this project, a detailed design of the nuclear powered ship could be ready as early as by 2012. If and when the deigns are approved, the program will require $600 million and a span of 9 years for such a ship to take its stand in the launch pad.

According to Perminov,

“The implementation of this project will allow us to reach a new technological level surpassing foreign developments.”

Even though the it is a brilliant and a very bold idea, the fact remains that the Russian Space Agency is currently cash strapped and will have to find various means to raise funds for this projects, that can include a coalition of NASA, ESA and the RSA. Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, praised the bold initiative and has urged the Russian cabinet to take this extremely seriously and find ways to make money for this dream to turn into reality.

If this proposed nuclear power space vehicle comes into existence, it will end of woes of the current fleet of space rockets that use Soyuz booster rockets, whose technology is now 40 years old and will be able to replace and change the way Russians look out into the universe. According to Perminov, this ship will be built around a megawatt-class nuclear reactor, that will be much advanced than the ones, that power Russian satellites and limit their operational life span for one year.

Via Associated Press.

The Ares I-X prototype rocket, that is considered to be one of the biggest accomplishments of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) finally took off from the Kennedy Space Center launch pad after multiple weather delays. The Ares I-X rocket is expected to be the much awaited replacement for NASA’s space shuttle program and with its launch, the launch pad wrote a new piece of history in its books, as the pad had never launched any other space vehicle, besides the space shuttles in the year 1981.

The launch of the brand new prototype rocket took place at 11 a.m local time and the vehicle cleared the launch pad without any undesired events. The first stage of the Ares I-X rocket was initiated after two minutes of flight time, when the rocket separated itself with the fuel tank at an altitude of 25 miles. As this was a prototype, the Ares I-X rocket did not have a second stage, but according to NASA scientists, the actual version, will indeed be comprised of second stage engine, that will propel the rocket capsule carrying for astronauts into space and rendezvous with the international space station.

The Ares I-X rocket test flight was comprised on 700 on board sensors, that had been embedded in the vehicle for the scientists to gain crucial and valuable flight data, enabling them to make necessary corrections to the actual rocket. The entire test flight has been estimated to have a price tag of $445 million.

The initial time scheduled for the test flight was yesterday, but due to continuous bad weather, NASA had to delay the launch. What worried the scientists even more about the weather conditions was the danger of loss of communications with the spacecraft. As this was a whole new design and completely different from the space shuttles, the weather parameters were more strictly followed.

According to Jeffrey Hanley (Constellation Program, NASA) before the test launch, “

“As the rocket climbs its way through the atmosphere, what are the loads and the environment that it has to see? That’s what Ares I-X is going to inform us most about.”

Via New York Times.

While India is under its worst drought in 20 years, the desert city of Jodhpur also known as Blue City, long a popular tourist spot, is slowly flooding because of the Indira Gandhi canal, a massive irrigation infrastructure that ‘diverts water from the northern “breadbasket” state of Punjab down to Haryana and Rajasthan.’ Jodhpur, the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan, is geologically a catch basin of excess water, but the state of Rajasthan, itself, is suffering from depleted ground water in this time of drought. ‘Recent NASA satellite imagery suggests a foot a year is being lost.’

The monsoons are extremely important to India, a hugely agricultural country. With the monsoons providing 80 percent of the country’s water, approximately 450 million Indian farmers depend on these seasonal rains. Only two thirds of the average rainfall expected this year did arrive. And with the monsoons being delayed as they were, it was ‘far too late to save much of the crops.’

Only an hour outside Jodhpur, farmers are resigned to the fact that only 5 to 10 percent of their millet, mung, and mothbean crops will survive. This means that their staple food will have to be purchased.

But what nature cannot provide, the local government’s political will can. ‘Nearby villages are due to be connected to the canal.’ To even out the water supply, large pipes are being readied to siphon off Jodhpur’s rising waters to nearby villages. Such a plan will be both beneficial to flooding Jodhpur and its drought-stricken environs.

Image

Via globalpost

An upcoming film entitled ‘2012’ feeds on the current paranoia of some people that the world will end on December 2012 as predicted by the Mayan calendar, that a rogue planet called Nibiru will collide with Earth, and that solar flare will consume the planet in flames. These are all highly-imaginative fiction, of course. NASA refutes the notion. Even modern-day Mayan descendants, themselves, have stated that the 2012 end of the world idea is false.

“I don’t have anything against the movie. It’s the way it’s been marketed and the way it exploits people’s fears,” says NASA scientist David Morrison at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. He has launched a counter-attack through an online column.

The movie ‘2012,’ with John Cusack playing the lead character, has employed various marketing strategies to hype up its promotion through feeding alarmist propaganda into people’s fears and collective paranoia. ‘Sony Pictures is behind a particularly viral campaign to build publicity for its upcoming apocalyptic movie which debuts on November 13.’

Morrison believes that the film’s producer, Sony, ‘has crossed a line with promoting “2012”.’ He adds, “I think people are really, really worried about the world coming to an end. Kids are contemplating suicide. Adults tell me they can’t sleep and can’t stop crying. There are people who are really, really scared. People are very gullible. It is a sad testimonial that you need NASA to tell you the world’s not going to end.”

Via Discovery Channel