Skip to main content

Home/ SciByte/ Group items tagged launch

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Mars Base

Voyager 1 may have left the solar system - 0 views

phys.org/...012-10-voyager-left-solar.html

scibyte67 Voyager1

shared by Mars Base on 11 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • there's no official word from NASA
  • the buzz
  • is that Voyager 1 has left the Solar System
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • evidence comes from this graph, above, which shows the number of particles, mainly protons, from the Sun hitting Voyager 1 across time
  • uge drop at the end of August hints that Voyager 1 may now be in interstellar space
  • on July 28, the level of lower-energy particles originating from inside our Solar System dropped by half. However, in three days, the levels had recovered to near their previous levels. But then the bottom dropped out at the end of August.
  • Voyager team has said they have been seeing two of three key signs of changes expected to occur at the boundary of interstellar space
  • drop in particles from the Sun
  • jump in the level of high-energy cosmic rays originating from outside our Solar System.
  • third key sign would be the direction of the magnetic field
  • No word on that yet, but scientists are eagerly analyzing the data to see whether that has, indeed, changed direction
  • Scientists expect that all three of these signs will have changed when Voyager 1 has crossed into interstellar space.
  • Voyager project scientist for the entire mission, who was quoted in early August. "We are certainly in a new region at the edge of the solar system where things are changing rapidly. But we are not yet able to say that Voyager 1 has entered interstellar space."
  • the data are changing in ways that the team didn't expect, "but Voyager has always surprised us with new discoveries."
  • Voyager 1 launched on Sept. 5, 1977, is approximately 18 billion kilometers (11 billion miles) from the Sun
  • Voyager 2, which launched on Aug. 20, 1977, is close behind, at 15 billion km (9.3 billion miles) from the Sun.
Mars Base

For the first time, astronomers have measured the radius of a black hole - 0 views

phys.org/...onomers-radius-black-hole.html

scibyte65 black holes

shared by Mars Base on 30 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • an international team
  • , has for the first time measured the radius of a black hole at the center of a distant galaxy—the closest distance at which matter can approach before being irretrievably pulled into the black hole.
  • scientists linked together radio dishes in Hawaii, Arizona and California to create a telescope array called the "Event Horizon Telescope" (EHT) that can see details 2,000 times finer than what's visible to the Hubble Space Telescope.
  • ...20 more annotations...
  • , the team observed the glow of matter near the edge of this black hole—a region known as the "event horizon."
  • , not everything can cross the event horizon to squeeze into a black hole
  • "cosmic traffic jam" in which gas and dust build up, creating a flat pancake of matter known as an accretion disk
  • disk of matter orbits the black hole at nearly the speed of light, feeding the black hole a steady diet of superheated material
  • Over time, this disk can cause the black hole to spin in the same direction as the orbiting material
  • Caught up in this spiraling flow are magnetic fields, which accelerate hot material along powerful beams above the accretion disk
  • resulting high-speed jet, launched by the black hole and the disk, shoots out across the galaxy, extending for hundreds of thousands of light-years
  • jets can influence many galactic processes, including how fast stars form.
  • . Because M87's jet is magnetically launched from this smallest orbit,
  • astronomers can estimate the black hole's spin through careful measurement of the jet's size as it leaves the black hole
  • Until now, no telescope has had the magnifying power required for this kind of observation
  • team used a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry, or VLBI, which links data from radio dishes located thousands of miles apart.
  • , taken together, create a "virtual telescope" with the resolving power of a single telescope as big as the space between the disparate dishes
  • enables scientists to view extremely precise details in faraway galaxies.
  • Using the technique
  • team measured the innermost orbit of the accretion disk to be only 5.5 times the size of the black hole event horizon
  • According to the laws of physics, this size suggests that the accretion disk is spinning in the same direction as the black hole
  • first direct observation to confirm theories of how black holes power jets from the centers of galaxies
  • The team plans to expand its telescope array, adding radio dishes in Chile, Europe, Mexico, Greenland and Antarctica, in order to obtain even more detailed pictures of black holes in the future.
  • www.eventhorizontelescope.org/
Mars Base

Japan firm launches real-time telephone translation - 0 views

phys.org/...2-10-japan-firm-real-time.html

scibyte68 scibte69

shared by Mars Base on 22 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • application for NTT DoCoMo subscribers will give two-way voice and text readouts of conversations between Japanese speakers and those talking in English, Chinese or Korean with a several-second delay
  • a free application that can be used on smartphones and tablet computers with the Android operating system
  • Customers will also be able to call landlines using the service, it said, adding that voice-to-text readouts will soon be available in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • d the service does not offer perfect translations and has trouble deciphering some dialects
  • launched a separate service that lets users translate menus and signage using the smartphone camera
Mars Base

Soyuz Spacecraft Docks at Space Station with New US-Russian Crew | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/space-station-docking-day.html

scibyte69 iss

shared by Mars Base on 26 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • 25 October 2012
  • Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft docked at the space station's rooftop Poisk module at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT)
  • two-day orbital chase
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • American astronaut Kevin Ford of NASA
  • Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy
  • Evgeny Tarelkin
  • stay until March
  • launched into space on Tuesday (Oct. 23
  • second half of the space station's six-person Expedition 33 crew
  • bringing some fishy friends to the space station
  • ferrying 32 small medaka fish to the space station so they can be placed inside a tank, called the Aquatic Habitat, for an experiment to study how fish adapt to weightlessness.
  • robotic Dragon space capsule
  • depart the space station on Sunday (Oct. 28)
  • will return nearly 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms) of science experiment hardware and other gear back to Earth.
  • Wednesday (Oct. 31), an unmanned Russian Progress spacecraft will launch toward the space station and arrive six hours later to make a Halloween delivery of food, equipment and other Halloween treats.
Mars Base

Soyuz Launches New Crew to Space Station - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...ches-new-crew-to-space-station

scibyte69

shared by Mars Base on 24 Oct 12 - No Cached
Mars Base

Space Shuttle Discovery Enters Smithsonian for Museum Display | NASA Shuttle Retirement... - 0 views

www.space.com/covery-smithsonian-museum.html

scibyte43 shuttle discovery AprMedia

shared by Mars Base on 20 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Mars Base on 20 Apr 12
     
    ted with technological and scientific achievements, including the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit in 1990 and the deployment of the Ulysses solar probe the same year. The fleet leader, Discovery also returned the space shuttle program to flight after the losses of Challenger and Columbia in 1986 and 2003, respectively.
Mars Base

Swiss satellite to tackle space debris (w/ video) - 0 views

www.physorg.com/...llite-tackle-space-debris.html

scibyte34 satellite debris

shared by Mars Base on 17 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Swiss Space Center at EPFL is announcing today the launch of CleanSpace One, a project to develop and build the first installment of a family of satellites specially designed to clean up space debris.
  • NASA keeps close tabs on at least 16,000 of these objects that are larger than 10 cm in diameter
  • After its launch, the cleanup satellite will have to adjust its trajectory in order to match its target’s orbital plane
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • When it gets within range of its target, which will be traveling at 28,000 km/h at an altitude of 630-750 km
Mars Base

SpaceX Aborts Launch of Private Space Capsule to Space Station | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/pace-capsule-launch-abort.html

scibyte47 SpaceX PrivateSpaceTravel iss

shared by Mars Base on 21 May 12 - No Cached
  • countdown reached zero and the engines of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying Dragon ignited, only to be cut off seconds later because of an excessive pressure reading in one of the engines
Mars Base

SpaceX Replaces Faulty Rocket Valve for Space Station Flight | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ate-rocket-engine-repairs.html

scibyte47 SpaceX PrivateSpaceTravel iss

shared by Mars Base on 21 May 12 - No Cached
  • engineers have replaced a faulty engine valve
  • aborted its launch attempt a half-second before liftoff
  • Software did what it was supposed to do, aborted engine five, and we went through the remaining engine shutdown
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Technicians went out to the rocket's launch pad at the Air Force station's Complex 40 Saturday to examine the engines for signs of the issue's root cause
  • During rigorous inspections of the engine, SpaceX engineers discovered a faulty check valve on the Merlin engine
Mars Base

Historic Launch 'Like Winning Super Bowl,' SpaceX CEO Says | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/on-launch-musk-super-bowl.html

scibyte48 SpaceX iss PrivateSpaceTravel

shared by Mars Base on 23 May 12 - No Cached
  • If Dragon performs well during the 10-day mission, the first of SpaceX's contracted cargo flights to the station could lift off later this year
Mars Base

FAA Clears Virgin Galactic to Begin Rocket-Powered Test Flights | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/eshiptwo-rocket-tests-faa.html

scibyte49 VirginGalactic SpaceShipTwo PrivateSpaceTravel

shared by Mars Base on 31 May 12 - No Cached
  • Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital space tourism vehicle has won U.S. regulatory approval to begin powered flight testing of the rocket-propelled craft later this year
  • May 30 announcement that the experimental launch permit from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorizes the Scaled Composites development team "to progress to the rocket-powered phase of test flight
  • flight system consists of two vehicles, SpaceShipTwo and its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • esigned to launch six passengers and two pilots into suborbital spa
  • offer a few minutes of weightlessness, then return to Eath
  • not set a date for beginning commercial service
  • company said May 30 that it expects to begin rocket-powered test flights before the end of 2012
  • SpaceShipTwo will soon return to flight, testing the aerodynamic performance of the spacecraft with the full weight of the rocket motor system on board
  • Integration of key rocket motor components, already begun during a now-concluding period of downtime for routine maintenance, will continue in the autumn
  • expects to begin rocket powered, supersonic test flights under the just-issued experimental permit toward the end of the year."
Mars Base

Private Manned Space Capsule Passes Big Review | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ace-capsule-design-review.html

scibyte54 SpaceX

shared by Mars Base on 14 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • The crewed version of SpaceX's Dragon space capsule has passed a key design review, moving one step closer to carrying astronauts into orbit, NASA officials announced
  • July 12).
  • company officials gave NASA details about every phase of a potential crewed Dragon mission to the International Space Station
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • outlined how it plans to modify its launch pads to support such a mission
  • discussed the Dragon capsule's docking capabilities, living arrangements, weight and power requirements and potential ground landing sites
  • designed to carry seven astronauts
  • also presented studies that showed how its launch abort system, which is known as SuperDraco, would perform if an emergency occurred shortly after liftoff
  • company told NASA how it would attempt to safeguard astronauts if something unexpected occurred on the way to orbit, in space or during the trip home
  • ready to move on to the next phase and on target to fly people into space aboard Dragon by the middle of the decade
  • SpaceX is one of four companies — along with Blue Origin, Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corp. — to receive funding over the last two years from NASA's Commercial Crew Program. CCP
  • NASA hopes at least two of these firms can have vehicles up and running by 2017
Mars Base

Neil Armstrong: First Man on the Moon | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/9-neil-armstrong-man-moon.html

scibyte60 NeilArmstrong

shared by Mars Base on 25 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Armstrong was the pilot of the Gemini 8 mission, launched March 16, 1966. He performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space (Gemini 8 docked with a previously launched Agena rocket).
Mars Base

NASA's Pluto Probe Marks a New Milestone - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...to-probe-marks-a-new-milestone

scibyte24

shared by Mars Base on 03 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • December 2, 2011
  • today New Horizons passed a new milestone: it is now (and will be for quite some time) the closest spacecraft ever to Pluto
  • previous record held by Voyager 1, which came within 983 million miles (1.58 billion km) of the dwarf planet on January 29, 1986
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • launch on January 19, 2006
  • speeding toward Pluto at around 34,500 mph (55,500 km/hr).
  • New Horizons will pass by Pluto and its moons on July 14, 2015
  • It will image Pluto’s surface in unprecedented detail, resolving features as small as 200 feet (60 meters) across
  • will not land or enter orbit around Pluto
  • instead quickly pass by and continue on into the Kuiper Belt
  • team is currently investigating further exploration targets should its mission be extended.
« First ‹ Previous 61 - 80 of 212 Next › Last »
Showing 20▼ items per page