Category Archives: Space

Neil Armstrong, First Man on the Moon: 1930-2012

Posted on August 25, 2012 by

UPDATE: As a boy of 11 years old, I watched much of this in utter awe as many of you did on that Sunday in July, 1969. It is well worth watching again. I get choked up just watching. America … Continue reading →

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Posted in Space | Tagged , | 189 Comments

NASA seeing sprites

Posted on August 15, 2012 by

From the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center High above the clouds during thunderstorms, some 50 miles above Earth a different kind of lightning dances. Bursts of red and blue light, known as “sprites,” flash for a scant one thousandth of a … Continue reading →

Posted in lightning, Space, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Earth, with some MSG added

Posted on August 8, 2012 by

PR 25 2012 – Today, the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) instrument on MSG-3 captured its first image of the Earth (August 7th). This demonstrates that Europe’s latest geostationary weather satellite, launched on 5 July, is performing well … Continue reading →

Posted in Space, Technology | Tagged , , , | 46 Comments

NASA’s 7 minutes of terror tonight – more than a curiosity

Posted on August 5, 2012 by

UPDATE: Touchdown confirmed! Congratulations NASA JPL! First image received. See below. ======================================== I thought I”d take a minute to advise you that some real science and engineering that will be see from NASA tonight rather than the politically motivated science … Continue reading →

Posted in Space, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 183 Comments

NASA: High-Altitude Haze and Vortex At South Pole of Saturn’s Moon Titan

Posted on July 11, 2012 by

PASADENA, Calif. — Images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft show a concentration of high-altitude haze and a vortex materializing at the south pole of Saturn’s moon Titan, signs that the seasons are turning on Saturn’s largest moon. “The structure inside the … Continue reading →

Posted in Space, Vortex | Tagged , , , , , , | 18 Comments

30 years of soil moisture imaged from satellite data

Posted on June 19, 2012 by

From the Vienna University of Technology, a first. A very cool video follows. Since soil moisture is an indicator of evapotranspiration, I’d love to see a closeup around Mount Kilimanjaro, whose ice cap loss is said to be more related … Continue reading →

Posted in Earth, Science, Space | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

CryoSat repurposed from sea ice to bathymetry

Posted on May 30, 2012 by

From the European Space Agency: CryoSat goes to sea CryoSat was launched in 2010 to measure sea-ice thickness in the Arctic, but data from the Earth-observing satellite have also been exploited for other studies. High-resolution mapping of the topography of … Continue reading →

Posted in Oceans, Space, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 55 Comments

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