NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman is pictured while floating freely in the Unity node of the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman has been living and working on the International Space Station since May 28.
Wiseman is constantly conducting research to benefit us on Earth and posting images on social media to entertain us on Earth.
Now you have a chance to ask him a question while he orbits the Earth in a laboratory 240 miles in space.
NASA will host an in-flight social media event live with the International Space Station between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. CDT, Tuesday, Sept. 23.
This event will connect NASA's social media followers with Wiseman as he orbits the Earth.
NASA's social media followers may submit video questions prior to the event. During the event, several video questions will be selected and answered by Wiseman.
Unique and original questions are more likely to be selected.
The deadline to submit video questions is Sept. 15. To be considered, video clips must be no longer than 30 seconds and must be uploaded to YouTube and tagged with #askAstro.
Submitters should introduce themselves and mention their location before asking their question.
Peter Visscher of Ontario Drive and Gear
presented this talk titled "Critical Mobility Technologies to Enable
Long Term Lunar Surface Activity" at the 2012 Canadian Space Summit.
Peter's company has been funded by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to work on
lunar rover prototypes.
NASA has expressed an interest in using one of
Canada's lunar rovers for a future moon mission as part of a Canadian
contribution.
A long-awaited data set is finally public (well, long-awaited by me, at least). The Rosetta team has now published their data from the July 10, 2010, flyby of asteroid (21) Lutetia.
This data set is absolutely stunning, and my friends in the amateur image processing community wasted no time in creating art out of it. First, I give you a movie of Rosetta's flyby, processed by Ian Regan.
The flickering occurs because Rosetta was cycling through different-color filters as it flew past. I had to play this one a few times. Wow.
ESA's Metop-B lifts-off the launch pad at 18:28 CEST from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
Europe will receive nearly infallible weather data and save almost $7 billion in weather-related damage annually thanks to this trio of bus-sized spacecraft. This is what the atmosphere will look like in HD.
The three MetOp satellites are nearly identical. They weigh slightly more than 4000kg and measure 17.6m × 6.5m × 5.2m with their solar panels fully extended, making them the second largest Earth-observation satellite produced by the Europeans.
They will each travel a 820km polar low Earth orbital trajectory during each of their five-year operations.
The individual MetOp satellites are not in orbit together but are instead being launched in five-year increments.
MetOp-A launched back in 2006, Met-Op-B launched on Monday from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and MetOp-C is expected to launch some time between 2016 and 2018.
Each MetOp is packed with sensors from Europe, the US, Canada and France that are designed to monitor everything from atmospheric humidity to wind speeds over the ocean to levels of ozone and solar activity.
It shares eight instruments with its partner NOAA satellites, including microwave sounding units, very high-resolution radiometers, a search and rescue processor/repeater and a high-resolution infrared radiation sensor.
It can scan the atmosphere and measure the temperature and humidity to within 1C and relative 10 per cent respectively for every horizontal kilometre of the air column.
“These crucial instruments will be used for weather forecasting and to help us all gain a better understanding of the Earth’s systems,” said Gene Martin, POES Project instrument manager.
A new way to see the world. Give NASA seven minutes, and they’ll show you the Earth’s most impressive landscapes — as seen from space, in HD.
The coasts of Namibia, Tunisia and Madagascar, they’re all on the itinerary, along with Sicily, China, Iran, and Utah. Plus you will see a giant hurricane over the Atlantic ocean. Not to be missed.
A stunning discovery by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) soil scientist Marek Zbik of nano particles inside bubbles of glass in lunar soil could solve the mystery of why the moon's surface topsoil has many unusual properties.
Dr Zbik, from Queensland University of Technology's Science and Engineering Faculty, said scientists had long observed the strange behaviour of lunar soil but had not taken much notice of the nano and submicron particles found in the soil and their source was unknown.
Dr Zbik took the lunar soil samples to Taiwan where he could study the glass bubbles without breaking them using a new technique for studying nano materials call synchrotron-based nano tomography to look at the particles. Nano tomography is a transmission X-ray microscope which enables 3D images of nano particles to be made.
"We were really surprised at what we found," Dr Zbik said.
"Instead of gas or vapour inside the bubbles, which we would expect to find in such bubbles on Earth, the lunar glass bubbles were filled with a highly porous network of alien-looking glassy particles that span the bubbles' interior.
"It appears that the nano particles are formed inside bubbles of molten rocks when meteorites hit the lunar surface. Then they are released when the glass bubbles are pulverised by the consequent bombardment of meteorites on the moon's surface.
"This continuous pulverising of rocks on the lunar surface and constant mixing develop a type of soil which is unknown on Earth."
Dr Zbik said nano particles behaved according to the laws of quantum physics which were completely different from so called 'normal' physics' laws. Because of this, materials containing nano particles behave strangely according to our current understanding.
"Nano particles are so tiny, it is their size and not what they are made of that accounts for their exceptional properties.
"We don't understand a lot about quantum physics yet but it could be that these nano particles, when liberated from their glass bubble, mix with the other soil constituents and give lunar soil its unusual properties.
"Lunar soil is electro-statically charged so it hovers above the surface; it is extremely chemically active; and it has low thermal conductivity eg it can be 160 degrees above the surface but -40 degrees two metres below the surface.
"It is also very sticky and brittle such that its particles wear the surface off metal and glass."
Dr Zbik said the moon had no atmosphere to cushion the impact of meteorites like Earth had.
"When they hit the moon there is a very violent reaction. Huge temperatures are generated which melts the rock. The pressure goes and a vacuum is created. Bubbles occur in the molten glass rock like soft drink bubbles trying to escape the bottle.
"Our work now is to understand how those particles evolve from this process. It may also lead us to completely different way of manufacturing nanomaterials."
Dr Zbik and his research team's study was published in the International Scholarly Research Network Astronomy and Astrophysics.
To find out more and also view a 3D image from inside the lunar bubble using transmission X-Ray microscopy go to http://youtu.be/omRoS2SntMU. You can see what is inside the lunar bubble with 3D glasses.
The International Space Station Weekly Recap for April 2-6, 2012. Questions? Ask us on Twitter @NASA_Johnson and include the hashtag #askStation. For the latest news about the space station, visit www.nasa.gov/station.
He followed instructions in the silica TMOS recipe from http://www.aerogel.org and successfully produced some small pieces of aerogel in my home shop.
The two main difficulties are: 1. Getting TMOS or TEOS (the key chemical ingredient), and 2. Building a supercritical drying chamber. The components for the chamber can be bought from http://www.mcmaster.com or another source of industrial pipe fittings.
You'll also need a supply of liquid carbon dioxide. I used a 20-lbs cylinder, which I bought from a local welding store. Most of the cost is in the cylinder itself, since a refill costs only $20 to $30. You may find a welding supply shop that will rent the cylinder.
Getting the TMOS is difficult since chemical suppliers are generally unwilling to sell to individuals.
The process to make aerogel is:
Mix TMOS, methanol, and ammonium hydroxide. Pour this mixture into molds, and wait for a gel to form.
Submerge the gel in methanol, and wait a day for the remaining water in the gel to diffuse into the methanol.
Discard the methanol, and replace with fresh methanol. Wait a day, and repeat. Repeat this process a few times over three days.
Transfer the gel into the supercritical drying chamber, and fill the chamber with methanol.
Add liquid CO2, then open the chamber's bottom valve to remove the methanol. Make sure the gels are always covered with liquid CO2.
Wait a day for methanol to diffuse into the liquid CO2.
Open the bottom valve and remove more methanol.
Repeat the methanol draining procedure while making sure the gels stay submerged in liquid CO2. Repeat the CO2 draining/exchange a couple times over 2-3 days.
Raise the chamber temperature to cause the CO2 to become supercritical. Slowly vent the chamber while applying heat to ensure the CO2 moves from the supercritical phase to the gas phase.
Continue venting the chamber slowly, then remove the finished aerogels.
The terrifying scene of a collapsing Antarctic iceberg has been captured by tourists.
Seeing icebergs in the Antarctic region is a common phenomenon, but seeing a huge iceberg self-destruct, with icy chunks flying out close to passengers in an inflatable boat, has left them shaken and horrified.
Some of the passengers, who saw the last moment of the iceberg with the flying debris of ice, screamed out with fear.
Dutch video editor Lex Coppoolse, who captured the footage in Wihelmina Bay, Antarctica: "The thing just exploded very close to our boat - or I should say imploded! It spat big chunks of thousands year old ice to our heads."
Seeing the video, some people left comments saying, "It is a natural occurring event", or "It must be warning of 'global warming'."
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver helped announce a new series of Women@NASA during a Women's History Month event at George Washington University in Washington.
The Women, Aerospace, and Innovation event showcased new videos from the Women@NASA website highlighting the role of women in science, technology, engineering and math at the agency.
Check out the Women@NASA website. Also, NASA successfully conducted another drop test of the Orion crew vehicle's entry, descent and landing parachutes in preparation for its orbital flight test in 2014, engineers at the Stennis Space Center have moved a J-2X engine to the A-2 Test Stand in preparation for another round of testing, SpaceX completes a "Wet Dress Rehearsal" for its upcoming Falcon 9 demonstration flight to the International Space Station, NASA helps release "Angry Birds Space" and more!
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Chief Financial Officer Beth Robinson outlined the president's Fiscal Year 2013 budget proposal for NASA during a February 13th news conference at NASA Headquarters.
The proposed budget would enable NASA to continue the space exploration program envisioned by President Obama, one that creates jobs and spurs the American economy well into the future while sending us farther into space than ever before.
Also, the year's first test of the J-2X rocket engine, the 30th Russian Spacewalk for The International Space Station, a milestone handshake in space between humanoid and an astronaut, Science Off the Sphere, the 50th Anniversary of John Glenn's historic flight and more.
This fly around of the International Space Station (ISS) is displayed in the "Moving Beyond Earth" exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Displayed as a 30ft x 18ft projection, the HD animation highlights the major components of the ISS.
A 1960 film from the "Physical Science Study Committee" (PSCC) series on the laws of physics, inertia, and special relativity in different frames of reference.
Producer & Director: Richard Leacock
Cinematography: Abraham Morochnik
Narration: University of Toronto professors Donald Ivey and Patterson Hume
Tour the Cygnus X star factory. This video opens with wide optical and infrared images of the constellation Cygnus, then zooms into the Cygnus X region using radio, infrared and gamma-ray images. Fermi LAT shows that gamma rays fill cavities in the star-forming clouds. The emission occurs when fast-moving cosmic rays strike hot gas and starlight.
Canadian software developer Matthias Wandel enjoys spending his spare time creating wooden contraptions that combine a childlike sense of wonder with an engineer’s knowledge of mechanics.
One of his most popular creations so far is this six-bit binary adding machine, which has tallied nearly one and a half million views on YouTube.
As Rick Regan explains at Exploring Binary, the machine functions like a low-tech integrated circuit.
“It uses wood instead of silicon, gravity instead of voltage, and marbles instead of current,” he writes. “We don’t need no stinkin’ CMOS!”
“It had occurred to me,” he writes on his woodworking site, “that perhaps with an insane amount of perseverance, it might be possible to build a whole computer that runs on marbles.”
To illustrate the point Wandel built the adding machine, which stores the binary states of six bits and can add numbers from one to 63.
The result may be more cool than practical, writes Regan, “but it certainly is educational. It illustrates basic principles of binary numbers, binary arithmetic, and binary logic.”
The Mars500 experiment is about to end after almost 1.5 years. Six men have been isolated in their interplanetary spacecraft mockup since early June 2010, faithfully simulating a mission to Mars.
During the whole trip and, even before the crew has been conducting a suite of science experiments, with themselves as subject, and they will continue doing these for some time after the end of their isolation.
In this final video Diego and Romain describe what were the best and least liked experiments for the crew. Then the European crewmembers say their bittersweet goodbye to Mars500's video diary followers.
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden took media members on a tour of the newmobile launcher at the Kennedy Space Center that'll be used to help send astronauts and cargo beyond low-Earth orbit. Also, Endeavour's title; picture pitches; Mars rover movie; and more.
A 3D presentation of the Galileo satellite navigation system, a joint development by the European Union and European Space Agency. This constellation of satellites will allow users to pinpoint their location anywhere on Earth -- their launches commencing on 20 October 2011.
Posts
