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will now be inspected via cameras, brought to the Earth-facing port of the ISS's Harmony module and bolted into place by commands from mission control

SpaceX says it has 50 launches planned—both NASA missions and commercial flights—totaling about $4 billion in contracts

NASA also has a $1.9 billion resupply contract for the station with Orbital Sciences Corporation, which will launch the first test flight of its Antares rocket from a base in Virginia in the coming weeks

But when we look back at our relationship with wolves throughout history, this doesn't really make sense

the wolf was domesticated at a time when modern humans were not very tolerant of carnivorous competitors.

Most likely, it was wolves that approached us, not the other way around, probably while they were scavenging around garbage dumps on the edge of human settlements.

only the ones that were bold and friendly would have been tolerated.

Domestication gave them splotchy coats, floppy ears, wagging tails.

In only several generations, these friendly wolves would have become very distinctive from their more aggressive relatives.

Changes also happened to their psychology. These protodogs evolved the ability to read human gestures.

the ability of dogs to read human gestures is remarkable

chimpanzees and bonobos-can't read our gestures as readily as dogs can.

Dogs are remarkably similar to human infants in the way they pay attention to us.

People who had dogs during a hunt would likely have had an advantage over those who didn't.

Even today, tribes in Nicaragua depend on dogs to detect prey

Moose hunters in alpine regions bring home 56 percent more prey when they are accompanied by dogs

In the Congo, hunters believe they would starve without their dogs

Dogs would also have served as a warning system, barking at hostile strangers from neighboring tribes

the Dragon could stay on orbit for several additional months if needed

Curiosity has protections against such high-energy disruptions, but the problem was compounded by what appears to have been the location of the strike—in the directory, or "table of contents," of the computer's memory

appears to have caused the computer to get stuck in an endless loop.

previous rovers experienced many so-called "anomalies" during the early part of their treks

Even if the rover is fully operational again in a week, the amount of science it can perform is limited.

the sun comes between Mars and the Earth in early April, partially blocking the path for radio commands for an entire month

The Curiosity team had planned to send back science data from Mars during that period—called "solar conjunction"—but had decided not to send up any commands.

None of the four previous unmanned flights had any thruster issues

appeared to be a glitch versus a major concern.

Engineers for both SpaceX and NASA plan an exhaustive study before allowing the rendezvous to take place.

fresh fruit as well for the six station astronauts

Falcon 9 rocket performed "really perfectly" and that the thruster problem was isolated to the Dragon

On the previous flight in October, one of nine first-stage engines on the Falcon rocket shut down too soon

The capsule is designed to return to Earth with just two good sets of thrusters and, in "a super worst case situation," conceivably just one although it would be "a bit of a wobbly trip."

The newest Dragon is scheduled to spend more than three weeks at the space station before being cut loose by the crew

SpaceX plans to launch its next Dragon to the station in late fall.

uses gene therapy to deliver light-sensitive proteins to damaged retinal nerve cells

The basic idea of optogenetics is to take a light-sensitive protein from another organism, typically from algae or bacteria, and insert it into a target cell, and that photosensitizes the cell

Intense pulses of light can activate nerve cells newly sensitized by this gene therapy approach

researchers around the world are still searching for the best way to deliver the light patterns so that the retina "sees" or responds in a nearly normal way

The plan is to someday develop a prosthetic headset or eyepiece that a person could wear to translate visual scenes into patterns of light that stimulate the genetically altered cells.

The key, they say, is to use a light stimulus that is intense, precise, and can trigger activity across a variety of cells all at once.

The researchers turned to holography after exploring other options, including laser deflectors and digital displays

Digital light displays can stimulate many nerve cells at once, "but they have low light intensity and very low light efficiency

The genetically repaired cells are less sensitive to light than normal healthy retinal cells, so they preferably need a bright light source like a laser to be activated

Lasers give intensity, but they can't give the parallel projection

needed to see a complete picture

researchers have tested the potential of holographic stimulation in retinal cells in the lab

done some preliminary work with the technology in living mice with damaged retinal cells

The experiments show that holography can provide reliable and simultaneous stimulation of multiple cells at millisecond speeds.

implementing a holographic prosthesis in humans is far in the future

holography itself "also provides a very interesting path toward three-dimensional stimulation

More than 38,000 meteorites have been found in Antarctica, but only 30 bigger than 40 pounds (18 kg).

The Russian meteor that burst into fragments above the Chelyabinsk region on Feb. 15 is also an ordinary chondrite

charred black crust stands out

in the

snow, and the cold, dry climate helps preserve any organic chemicals inside the rocks

The expedition collected 425 meteorites in 40 days, with a total weight of 165 pounds (75 kg).

they may have found one Mars meteorite and one piece of the asteroid Vesta among the many discoveries.

A team from Belgium and Japan discovered the

meteorite as the members drove across the East Antarctic plateau on snowmobiles

"safe mode."

, into

safe mode to operational status over the next few days and is troubleshooting the condition that affected operations

The condition is related to a glitch in flash memory linked to the other, now-inactive, computer.

switched computers to get to a standard state from which to begin restoring routine operations

Like many spacecraft

Curiosity carries a pair of redundant main computers in order to have a backup available if one fails

Each of the computers, A-side and B-side, also has other redundant subsystems linked to just that computer

Curiosity is now operating on its B-side, as it did during part of the flight from Earth to Mars. It operated on its A-side from before the August 2012 landing through Wednesday.

While

resuming operations on the B-side, we are also working to determine the best way to restore the A-side as a viable backup

The spacecraft remained in communications at all scheduled communication windows on Wednesday, but it did not send recorded data, only current status information.

status information revealed that the computer had not switched to the usual daily "sleep" mode when planned

Diagnostic work in a testing simulation at JPL indicates the situation involved corrupted memory at an A-side memory location used for addressing memory files

Scientific investigations by the rover were suspended Wednesday

Resumption of science investigations is anticipated within several days

Fragments of the meteorite have been found along a 50 kilometer (30 mile) trail under the meteorite’s flight path

Small meteorites have also been found in an eight-meter (25 feet) wide crater in the region’s Lake Chebarkul

believes there are more to be found, including a possible biggest chunk that he says may lie at the bottom of Lake Chebarkul. It could be up to 60cm in diameter

This video from NASA explains more

Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) based on the summit of Haleakala on the island of Maui

comet brightened ahead of expectations and was first picked up by an amateur astronomer on March 28th of last year

Comet PanSTARRS is already an impressive sight for southern hemisphere observers

Comet PanSTARRS will then begin curving northward during the last week of February

the comet has a hyperbolic orbit inclined 84.2° degrees relative to the ecliptic

On an 110,000+ year orbit, this is more than likely Comet PanSTARRS first journey through the inner solar system

Comet PanSTARRS will reach an altitude of greater than 5° at dusk for northern hemisphere observers based around 30° north latitude looking low to the southwest starting on March 5th.

The comet will then begin gaining altitude

Keep in mind, Daylight Saving Time begins

looking for the comet around 7:00 pm local on the first week of March, it’ll be at 8:00 pm on the second week

After gaining

elevation from our northern hemisphere vantage point

will then begin running roughly parallel to the western horizon on each successive evening for mid-northern latitude observers

This first half of March is also when Comet PanSTARRS will have the potential to appear at its brightest

best case scenario, we’ll have a comet with a -1st magnitude coma and a tail pointing straight up from the horizon like an exclamation point.

worst case situation, we’ll have a +3rd magnitude fuzzy comet only visible through binoculars

if you observe the comet on no other night, be sure to check it out on the evening of March 12-13th

will be joined by a slim crescent Moon just over a day old.

Comet PanSTARRS will then continue its trek northward

for the remainder of March

By May 1st, Comet PanSTARRS will have dipped back down below naked eye visibility

can be used to corroborate age estimates inferred by other means

In the past, analyses of globular clusters and the Hubble constant

yielded vastly different ages for the Universe, and were offset by billions of years

based on the microwave background and Hubble constant, but it must have formed soon after the big bang

Within the errors, the age of HD 140283 does not conflict with the age of the Universe, 13.77 ± 0.06 billion years

Metal-poor stars can be used to constrain the age of the Universe because metal-content is typically a proxy for age

Heavier metals are generally formed in supernova explosions, which pollute the surrounding interstellar medium.

Stars subsequently born from that medium are more enriched with metals than their predecessors

each successive generation becoming increasingly enriched

HD 140283 exhibits less than 1% the iron content of the Sun, which provides an indication of its sizable age.

had been used previously to constrain the age of the Universe, but uncertainties tied to its estimated distance (at that time) made the age determination somewhat imprecise

obtain a new and improved distance for HD 140283 using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), namely via the trigonometric parallax approach

distance uncertainty for HD 140283 was significantly reduced by comparison to existing estimates, thus resulting in a more precise age estimate for the star

The reliability of the age determined is likewise contingent on accurately determining the sample’s metal content

analyses of globular clusters and the Hubble constant yielded vastly different ages for the Universe

discrepant ages stemmed partly from uncertainties in the cosmic distance scale

determination of the Hubble constant relied on establishing (accurate) distances to galaxies

One of the key objectives envisioned for HST was to reduce uncertainties associated with the Hubble constant to <10%, thus providing an improved estimate for the age of the Universe

the mean implying an age near ~14 billion years

Determining a reliable age for stars in globular clusters is likewise contingent on the availability of a reliable distance

the study reaffirms that there are old stars roaming the solar neighborhood which can be used to constrain the age of the Universe

Dryden was the visionary behind NASA's X-15 rocket plane and the Apollo program. Neil Armstrong was the one who flew the spacecraft Dryden envisioned

This is at least the third time since 2007 that the House of Representatives has tried to rename the NASA center after Armstrong

the bill now passed in the House, it will be referred on to the Senate for consideration

Dryden recommended to President John F. Kennedy that the goal of putting a man on the moon within 10 years was achievable and something the American people could rally behind

Neil Armstrong, flying with his Apollo 11 crewmates Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, accomplished Kennedy's goal of landing on the moon

Armstrong died Aug. 25 at age 82 following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures

Dryden was not able to see his dream become reality, as he died in 1965

honor both men's legacies by naming the Flight Research Center after Neil Armstrong and the surrounding Test Range after Hugh Dryden