Category Archives: Space

Messenger from Earth

September 5, 2005 – 9:12 pm
Launched little over a year ago, the Messenger spacecraft sped by the Earth last month on its way to Venus and Mercury, using Earth’s gravity like a slingshot to pick up speed. Scientists assembled into a short movie a series of photos from the spacecraft, in which a glistening Earth recedes in the distance.
By filosofo | Also posted in Messenger, Spacecraft | Please write a comment

Mars Pic

September 3, 2005 – 12:34 am
Check out this image taken from the Spirit Mars Rover. Having landed in January 2004, Spirit’s still trucking along, and it’s just beamed back this picture from atop “Husband Hill.” Both rovers have lasted about 17 months beyond their original mission. And Spirit is in especially fine form, operating at a power level of 950 [...]
By filosofo | Also posted in Science, Technology | 1 comment

Spaced Out

August 18, 2005 – 11:01 am
I think Michael Belfiore has it right: When the United States beat the Soviet Union in the first race to the moon, it confirmed the view, to many, that capitalism rules and communism sucks. But the state that President Reagan called The Evil Empire learned its lesson and embraced capitalism wholeheartedly, in space at least, while [...]
By filosofo | Please write a comment

It’s Been a Long Long Time, but Something Brought Them ‘Round

August 2, 2005 – 1:05 pm
This is good news. For its next generation of space vehicles, NASA has decided to abandon the design principles that went into the aging space shuttle, agency officials and private experts say. Instead, they say, the new vehicles will rearrange the shuttle’s components into a safer, more powerful family of traditional rockets. The plan would separate [...]
By filosofo | Please write a comment