Caves on the Moon
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has sent back some amazing pictures of some recently discovered caves on the Moon. I like this one the best.
Category: Points of Information
Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
Astronomy near the North Pole
Astronomers have finished the first detailed study, including field trips, for the construction of a telescope on the one of the high mountains near the northern tip of Ellesmere Island, less than 10 degrees from the North Pole.
WhiteKnightTwo trip logs
Scaled Composites has posted the full test flight log for all of WhiteKnightTwo’s test flights, through July 1, 2010. The logs strongly suggest that the company is moving quickly towards its first full flight of SpaceShipTwo.
India launches five satellites in one heave
India successfully launches five satellites in one heave. Even cooler, one of the satellites, STUDSAT, was built by students! Nor is that all. Immediately after the launch, India’s space agency head lobbied for a manned space program for India.
Administration denies Bolden’s claim of Muslim outreach
The White House is now denying Bolden’s claim that Obama gave him the task to reach out to the Muslim world.
Boulder tracks on Mars
Here’s a nice picture from the HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, released July 7, showing the boulder tracks left by rocks bouncing down the escarpment of Kasei Valles in the low gravity of Mars. Fun quote:
Some of these blocks traveled downhill several hundred meters (yards) as they rolled and bounced, leaving behind a trail of indentations or poke marks in the surface’s fine-grained, light-toned soils. The raised borders in some of these poke marks indicate they are relatively recent features, unaffected by wind erosion, or that this soil has cohesive properties, such as if it was cemented.
Space War continues
The space war continues. Several members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board have written a letter to Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland), endorsing in principle the goals of the Obama proposals for NASA.
Scientists complain about Obama government
Scientists are shocked, shocked, to discover that it doesn’t matter whether the Republicans or the Democrats are in power, governments like to interfere with the free flow of information and with scientific research.
Death sentence for suggesting a cartoon
Islam once again demonstrates its tolerance. The cartoonist who first proposed and then backed off from the “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day” has now been threatened with death by an Islamic cleric/terrorist.
The space war continues
The space war between Congress and Obama continues.
Jeff Foust analysis of the New Space business
Jeff Foust of the Space Review has written an excellent analysis today explaining why some new space companies have succeeded (SpaceX) and some have failed (Rocketplane). Key quote:
If your business plan requires hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, and your founders don’t have that money available themselves, it may be wise to reconsider that plan in favor of an effort that can bootstrap itself with much less funding.
Ikaros successfully accelerated by the Sun
The Japanese space agency has announced that their solar sail spacecraft Ikaros has successfully increased its velocity using only the light from the Sun, the first time this has ever been done by an interplanetary spacecraft.