Category Archives: space

ENVISAT declared dead in space

Posted on May 9, 2012 by

ESA declares end of mission for Envisat From the European Space Agency: PR 15 2012 – Just weeks after celebrating its tenth year in orbit, communication with the Envisat satellite was suddenly lost on 8 April. Following rigorous attempts to … Continue reading →

Posted in space, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 36 Comments

No hiding this decline – NAS/NRC report: ‘U.S. system of environmental satellites is at risk of collapse.’

Posted on May 3, 2012 by

The National Research Council via the National Academies Press, released a report yesterday that summarized the state of environmental satellite monitoring: Earth Science and Applications from Space: A Midterm Assessment of NASA’s Implementation of the Decadal Survey USA Today reports … Continue reading →

Posted in space, Technology | 59 Comments

Crippled ENVISAT imaged in orbit, still incommunicado

Posted on April 25, 2012 by

From the European Space Agency: Investigation on Envisat continues Optical, radar and laser observations of the Envisat satellite show that it is still in a stable orbit. Efforts to regain contact with the satellite have been under way since 8 … Continue reading →

Posted in space, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

How We Nearly Lost Discovery

Posted on April 18, 2012 by

Reblogged from Wayne Hale's Blog: Now that Discovery is safely delivered to the Smithsonian, I think I can tell the story of how we nearly lost her in July of 2005, and how well-intentioned, highly motivated,  hard-working, smart people can … Continue reading →

Posted in space, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | 51 Comments

Envisat’s satellite failure launches mysteries

Posted on April 12, 2012 by

I’ve been watching with interest and concern some of Steve Goddard’s postings on Envisat on the abrupt changes in their recent sea level data. To me, something didn’t seem quite right, and I expressed concerns privately along those lines that … Continue reading →

Posted in sea level, space, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 125 Comments

Mystery cloud spotted on Mars by amateur astronomer

Posted on March 28, 2012 by

Here’s something fascinating and puzzling, maybe WUWT readers can help figure this one out. There’s also a neat flipbook animation below the read more line. Wayne Jaeschke writes: Here’s a stumper for any Mars experts. While processing my Mars images … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Citizen science, Curious things, space | Tagged , , , , , , , | 155 Comments

Information on the GOES-15 outage

Posted on March 22, 2012 by

If you watch storms on the USA west coast, then you have probably been wondering why GOES WEST satellite imagery has not been updating. The reason is that the satellite is down, and is being recovered to operational status. Here’s … Continue reading →

Posted in space, Technology | Tagged , , | 25 Comments

‘First Light’ Taken by NASA’s Newest CERES Instrument, includes stunning “blue marble” image

Posted on February 3, 2012 by

Western Hemisphere + web view | + hi-res image Eastern Hemisphere + web view | + hi-res image A ‘Blue Marble’ image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA’s most recently launched Earth-observing satellite – Suomi NPP. … Continue reading →

Posted in earth, Science, space, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 96 Comments

Phobos-Grunt demise shows BBC’s (and Daily Mail’s) bad science tendency

Posted on January 15, 2012 by

OK, The “Grunt heard round the world” is no more, apparently burning up over the Pacific. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the probe and what fragments made it through the atmosphere fell about 775 miles west of Wellington Island. In looking … Continue reading →

Posted in media, ridiculae, space, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 103 Comments

Grunt work

Posted on January 14, 2012 by

UPDATE: 1/15/2012 11:30AM PST The probe is down, but see how the BBC fouled up the reporting of it here -Anthony Look up in the air, it’s a bird, its a plane, no it’s Phobos-Grunt! Video follows. From Sky News: … Continue reading →

Posted in space, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 82 Comments

Spaceballs – the debris

Posted on December 23, 2011 by

Curious story in AFP yesterday: Full story here – Click the image above for a large view of the object. Me thinks it is from either of these spacecraft:

Posted in Curious things, space | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 93 Comments

Another satellite re-entry and burnup expected, this one may have been brought down by hackers

Posted on October 16, 2011 by

This is interesting. The ROSAT X-ray observatory is expected to burn up in about a week and it has quite a checkered and colorful history. According to Wikipedia, ROSAT was originally planned to be launched on the Space shuttle but … Continue reading →

Posted in space, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 38 Comments

Mars had temperatures as high as 64°F in the past

Posted on October 12, 2011 by

Wet and Mild: Caltech Researchers Take the Temperature of Mars’s Past The meteorite called ALH84001 is sliced to show its interior. Found in the Allan Hills ice field in Antarctica in 1984, the four-billion-year-old rock is one of the oldest … Continue reading →

Posted in space | Tagged , , | 58 Comments

Ozone layer discovered on Venus

Posted on October 7, 2011 by

From the European Space Agency: ESA finds that Venus has an ozone layer too ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft has discovered an ozone layer high in the atmosphere of Venus. Comparing its properties with those of the equivalent layers on Earth … Continue reading →

Posted in ozone, space | Tagged , , | 40 Comments

Comet water discovered to be nearly identical in composition to Earth’s oceans

Posted on October 6, 2011 by

 Suggests comet bombardment contributed to forming oceans From the European Space Agency: Did Earth’s oceans come from comets? ESA’s Herschel infrared space observatory has found water in a comet with almost exactly the same composition as Earth’s oceans. The discovery … Continue reading →

Posted in earth, oceans, space | Tagged , , | 118 Comments

In space, there are no Jiffy Lubes

Posted on October 4, 2011 by

Dr. Roy Spencer reports that AMSR-E shut down today, too much torque on the rotating element, and all it needs to keep going is a lube job. AMSR-E Ends 9+ Years of Global Observations by Roy W. Spencer, Ph. D. … Continue reading →

Posted in space, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 61 Comments

UARS is down, but NASA doesn’t know where

Posted on September 24, 2011 by

UPDATE: a later statement from NASA below says N. Pacific off the U.S. West coast, teleconference scheduled. See below. NASA confirms that the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) has entered Earth’s atmosphere and burned/broken up. Some Twitter reports say debris … Continue reading →

Posted in space | Tagged , | 90 Comments

It’s all UARS

Posted on September 23, 2011 by

UPDATE from NASA 11:PM Fri: NASA says it continues to wait for final confirmation of re-entry. “If debris fell on land (and that’s still a BIG if), Canada is most likely area,” the space agency just said. Update #12 Fri, … Continue reading →

Posted in space | Tagged , , , | 60 Comments

Impressive timelapse movie from the ISS shows active thunderstorms & city nightlights

Posted on September 19, 2011 by

This was featured on Slashdot, and I thought I’d share it here since it is so impressive. From the description on YouTube: A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. … Continue reading →

Posted in space | Tagged | 33 Comments

NASA unveils powerful new rocket system

Posted on September 14, 2011 by

Since we are all bored to tears with the “Climate Reality Project” I figure If I don’t want WUWT’s ship to go down with Gore’s I had better provide something interesting to read. This fits the bill nicely as it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in space, Technology | Tagged , , | 58 Comments

Astronomers find extreme weather on an alien world

Posted on September 12, 2011 by

Alternate title: How long before Bill McKibben says: this brown dwarf has a middle name, and it’s global warming. Cosmic oddball may harbor a gigantic storm TORONTO, ON – A University of Toronto-led team of astronomers has observed extreme brightness … Continue reading →

Posted in Curious things, space | Tagged , , | 31 Comments

Precautionary Principle Memo – ready for transmission

Posted on August 30, 2011 by

Guest post by Reed Coray Two members of the Penn State University faculty (Seth D. Baum and Jacob D. Haqq-Misra) and one employee of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman) have taken valuable time to address the … Continue reading →

Posted in satire, space | 103 Comments

Space Storm Tracked from Sun to Earth for First Time

Posted on August 19, 2011 by

by Dr. Tony Phillips NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center For the first time, a spacecraft far from Earth has turned and watched a solar storm engulf our planet. The movie, released today during a NASA press conference, has galvanized solar … Continue reading →

Posted in solar, space | 22 Comments

Bizarre, craptastic theory from the Guardian, Penn State, and NASA: “ET will kill us because global warming will tip them off that we are a bad species”

Posted on August 18, 2011 by

UPDATE: co-author admits it is a “horrible mistake”, see below – Anthony From the you’ve got to be effing kidding me department. First, I apologize to my readers for the headline. Read on and I think you’ll see it is … Continue reading →

Posted in GLOC, space | 357 Comments

NASA squelches comet Elenin fears

Posted on August 17, 2011 by

NASA got tired of answering doomsday questions, so issued a statement and FAQs to deal with the nonsense. Comet Elenin Poses No Threat to Earth Often, comets are portrayed as harbingers of gloom and doom in movies and on television, … Continue reading →

Posted in space | 43 Comments