Gavinsblog.com

Category: Science

  • Dodging a space bullet

    This story from Slashdot, on a new system that could be used to try and take out a rogue asteroid headed for Earth. A killer asteroid, the kind of space rock that did in the dinosaurs, is on a collision course with Earth. A fleet of nuclear-powered robots races to the rescue. Humanity’s survival hangs…

  • Space station crew spots bits of debris

    Seems that bits of the ISS have been seen floating away. I hope its nothing too serious. The latest sighting was mentioned in Monday’s daily status report from NASA Headquarters: “Yesterday, the crew observed another small piece of debris floating away from the ISS, apparently of Russian origin.”

  • Europe joins race to send humans to Mars

    So the ESA might be interested in getting men (or women) to Mars. “We think it is technically feasible to have a manned mission to the moon between 2020 and 2025 and then to Mars between 2030 and 2035,” said Franco Ongaro, project manager of the European Space Agency’s Aurora space exploration program. “We need…

  • Helium-3

    Will Helium-3 be the energy source of the future? This article from the Daily Cardinal talks about researchers who think that mining on the moon could pay huge dividends for humanity. Some staggering figures: UW-Madison nuclear engineering Professor and Director of the Fusion Technology Institute Gerald Kulcinski and Fusion Technology Institute Professor John Santarius said…

  • Nasa rover breaks down on Mars

    D’oh! Spirit has broken down, and it ain’t looking good.

  • UPI Exclusive: Bush OKs new moon missions

    This UPI article goes into greater detail than most on the plans for the Moon and Mars. I didn’t see any of these details in other news reports. Where or if they go to Mars, they will initially only orbit the planet and then come straight home, much the same as the Apollo program. Under…

  • Bush to Announce New Missions to Moon, Mars

    I’ve been waiting a few months for this announcement, since it was first reported in the Guardian in the middle of last year. George Bush is expected to announce a major reinvigoration of NASA, with planned manned missions to Mars and the Moon. His father made similar speeches, so is it true ambition or election…

  • William Safire: In space, we're getting along just fine

    William Safire comments on the US successes in space. Interesting views i guess. In the 20th century, stung by the triumph of the Soviet Union in putting the Sputnik into orbit, President John F. Kennedy said America had “tossed its cap over the wall of space” to be first to land a man on the…

  • Dusty disc may mean other Earths

    Astronomers say they have evidence for Earth-like planets orbiting a nearby star, making it more like our own Solar System than any yet discovered.

  • Biggest solar flare goes off

    The Sun has just released the biggest flare ever seen – It was so energetic that it overloaded the detectors on satellites monitoring the Sun’s surface. The blast was accompanied with a gigantic gas cloud of billions of tonnes of superhot gas being ejected into space – some of it directed at Earth. Researchers are…