Space and astronomy news
Following today’s departure of the three man crew of Expedition 21 aboard the Soyuz TMA 15 capsule, staffing on the International Space Station (ISS) is now temporarily reduced to a skeleton crew of just 2 men for the first time since July 2006. The ISS had hosted a complete 6 person and truly international crew …
[/caption] What would happen if humans could deliberately create a blackhole? Well, for starters we might just unlock the ultimate energy source to create the ultimate spacecraft engine — a potential “black hole-drive” — to propel ships to the stars. It turns out black holes are not black at all; they give off “Hawking radiation” …
Continue reading “Black Hole Drive Could Power Future Starships”
(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is in Florida for Universe Today covering the launch of Atlantis.) Space Shuttle Atlantis and her six person crew roared into space on Monday precisely as planned at 2:28 PM EST from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The yellow exhaust flames grew into a nearly blinding intensity as Atlantis ascended …
The Space Age was an era of unprecedented technological development. In addition to developing the rockets and modules needed to put astronauts into space, considerable resources were also dedicated towards testing the effects spaceflight would have on the human body. In order to do this, test subjects needed to be selected that were physiologically similar …
[/caption] Russia’s space agency chief is proposing to build a new spaceship with a nuclear engine. Reportedly, Anatoly Perminov told a government meeting Wednesday that the preliminary design could be ready by 2012. It would take about nine more years and 17 billion rubles (about $600 million or 400 million euros) to build the ship. …
[/caption] Need to get away from it all? If you have a background in medicine, computers or engineering and can speak a little Russian and English, this might be just what you are looking for. The European Space Agency and the Russian Institute of Medical and Biological Problems are still looking for volunteers to participate …
Continue reading “Volunteers Still Needed for Simulated Mars Mission”
The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft launched today at 07:14 GMT (2:14 CDT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. On board were Soyuz Commander Max Suraev, NASA Flight Engineer Jeff Williams and spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleil . They will arrive at the International Space Station on Friday. If you’ve ever wondered about …
[/caption] Have you ever noticed that astronauts float around in the space shuttle and in the International Space Station, while space travelers on television and in the movies keep their feet firmly on the ground. That’s because it would be very difficult (and expensive) to have your actors floating around in every scene. So science …
The British Ministry of Defense released 4,000 pages of documents detailing hundreds of UFO sightings between 1981 and 1996. A summary of the documents by UFO expert David Clarke comes as no surprise to scientists and skeptics: many of the sightings coincide with the release of popular sci-fi movies or television shows. 609 UFO sightings …
Continue reading “Report: UFO Sightings Coincide with Popular Sci-Fi Films, TV”
[/caption] I’m classifying this one under “Extreme Geek.” But very cool Extreme Geek. Remember the computer on the Apollo 11 Eagle lander that kept reporting “1201” and “1202” alarms as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin approached landing on the Moon? Well, now you can have one of your very own. Software engineer John Pultorak worked …
Continue reading “Build Your Own Apollo 11 Landing Computer”