China launches 5th satellite in its own GPS system
China successfully launches the fifth satellite in its own GPS system.
Category: Behind The Black
Cooling system failure on ISS
A failure in the cooling system on the International Space Station yesterday has forced the astronauts to shut down some of their systems while ground control troubleshoots the situation.
Undersea adventure by robots
Undersea adventure by robot. An unmanned probe completed its first dive beneath the Arctic ice this week.
Burt Rutan on future of space
At an airshow on Thursday, July 29, in Oskosh, Wisconsin, Burt Rutan, designer of SpaceShipOne, made some interesting remarks about the past and future of private space flight. Key quote:
Rutan said NASA should give 10 to 15 percent of its budget to new space companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX without regulating how to spend the money. “That would allow them to not (have to) beg for commercial investment, while still working in an entrepreneurial mode.”
The winds of Titan
Scientists are beginning to unravel the wind patterns on Titan.
Spirit appears dead
After more than six years, it appears that the Mars rover Spirit has finally died. The rover was originally designed to only operate 90 days.
Muppets: Playing the Sax
An evening pause:
Rube Goldberg machine, part 1
An evening pause: We’ve had animated machines and actors pretending to be machines. Now, let’s have a Rube Goldberg machine.
Who are the racists?
Who are the racists? Readers (and one former editor) respond with dismay because Essence magazine has hired a fashion editor who happens to be white.
Paperwork nightmare of healthcare
Law of unintended consequences strikes again. The new healthcare law has a provision, unrelated to healthcare, that involves a paperwork nightmare for small businesses.
Steny Hoyer and taxes
A political note: my Congressman happens to be Steny Hoyer, who waxed poetic recently about taxes and the coming expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Hopefully, this man will free Hoyer from such concerns.
House bill stalled?
The space war over NASA continues. The pushback from commercial space advocates and industry proponents seems to be having an effect. House aides have indicated that the House NASA authorization bill will not be voted on until September.
Hayabusa on display
The Japanese space agency JAXA has put Hayabusa’s heat shield, outer capsule, and parachute on public display, to large crowds.
The non-face on Mars
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter takes a picture of the non-face on Mars.
Eddi Reader singing Willie Stewart
An evening pause: Not only does Eddi Reader probably have one of the most beautiful voices in the singing world today, she links that voice to some of the best Irish instrumentalists in the game. Watch her and her band bring down the house in this live performance of “Willie Stewart”.
Foust reports on space war
The space war continues. Jeff Foust has two reports today on the political state of NASA’s budget. First, Congress has approved language that requires continuing funding of Constellation. Second, it looks like the House may vote on the new NASA authorization bill this week.
Opportunity sees its first dust devil
The Mars rover Opportunity has spotted its first dust devil after six-plus years of travel.
Poor leadership by Obama on NASA
Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit today said the following (in recognizing Jeff Foust’s op-ed for Technology Review):
CONGRESS BLOWS IT: Commercial Spaceflight, We Have A Problem. Congress will always choose short-term pork over long-term development unless there’s strong Presidential leadership. But while the Obama space policy is good, the White House hasn’t provided the kind of legislative push it takes to make it work. Without strong leadership, a good policy will always lose out to pork.
Didn’t someone say this already? In fact, didn’t that someone say this more than once?
Your Show of Shows: the clock skit
An evening pause: Yesterday we had a modern animation of a machine that made music. Tonight let’s watch a very different take on a vaguely similar idea, this time to produce comedy. This is a classic skit from Your Show of Shows, Sid Caesar’s variety show from early television. The four performers are, left to right, Sid Caesar, Imogene Coco, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris.
Themis satellites transferred to Moon
Two NASA probes, originally launched to study the Sun and having completed their mission, have had their orbits adjusted so that they can study the Moon instead.