NASA no longer has a monopoly on US geosynchronous orbit launches More pictures follow. From Space.com: The private spaceflight company SpaceX launched a critical commercial satellite mission from Florida Tuesday…
Category: Space
Comet ISON appears to be toast – goes "poof" in video, then comes back to life
Note: See updates below for the ISON ISOFF ISON nature of this comet that has everybody guessing. Picture at right also updated to reflect the new “zombie” status of this…
Spectacular video: Comet ISON imaged from a Langrange point in space
NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, is monitoring Comet ISON as it approaches the sun. NASA’s twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft are parked in Langrange zones, known…
New Primary GOES-R instrument will provide even better satellite imagery than Gore's old 'Triana' satellite idea
Imager will provide greater detail to forecasters – video follows A key instrument that will fly on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite – R (GOES-R) spacecraft, NOAA’s next-generation of geostationary…
Godspeed Scott Carpenter
Last week, astronaut Scott Carpenter died at the age of 88, and while I was thinking of a suitable way to honor the man, much as I did for Neil…
The sun is about to have a flipping magnetic field reversal
We’ve been watching the progress on the WUWT solar reference page in this plot from Dr. Leif Svalgaard: Solar Polar Fields – Mt. Wilson and Wilcox Combined -1966 to Present…
The Day the Earth Smiled – stunning photo from Saturn by Cassini spacecraft
From NASA: In this rare image taken on July 19, 2013, the wide-angle camera on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has captured Saturn’s rings and our planet Earth and its moon in…
One mystery of the Martian atmosphere solved
From the University of Michigan How Mars’ atmosphere got so thin: New insights from Curiosity ANN ARBOR—New findings from NASA’s Curiosity rover provide clues to how Mars lost its original…
NOAA GOES-13 satellite becomes first ever to recover from a micrometeoroid impact
I had been watching this, as my own weather imaging business was affected by it, and I wanted to wait to see if the fix held before writing about it.…
The Kepler spacecraft has a failure
Two of four reaction wheels seized up, critical for precise photometry Excerpt from the Kepler Mission Manager Update. (h/t to Dr. Leif Svalgaard) At our semi-weekly contact on Tuesday, May…
NASA to fly 'green' rockets
I have to wonder if this is a good idea, what with so many other green ventures not living up to expectations, this might actually end up getting people killed…
Experience 18 minutes of world history, as if you were there, landing on the moon
I still get chills and misty eyes watching this. For those of us that watched the Apollo 11 moon landing live on TV, we had to be content with the…
NOAA retires polar-orbiting satellite
Satellite exceeded anticipated lifespan by eight years April 10, 2013 After nearly 11 years of helping the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predict weather and climate patterns and save…
Earth's orbital debris – it's a drag
From the Global Aerospace Corporation Removing orbital debris with less risk Global Aerospace Corporation (GAC) announced today that the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is publishing an article…
Inverse hockey stick in the lower troposphere – real or not?
Bishop Hill via correspondent Gras Albert noted this event early today: I looked through the entire satellite record, and couldn’t find any similar event. That meant it was either unique,…
Mysterious 'electron stash' found hidden among Van Allen belts
You’d think the science on the Van Allen Radiation belts was long ago considered “settled science”. Nope. And yet, while we discover new things like this, some insist we fully…
New satellite to warn of severe weather by watching lightning
NOAA and NASA’s next generation weather satellite may provide earlier warnings A new satellite that will detect the lightning inside storm clouds may lead to valuable improvements in tornado detection.…
The Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project, Original Data For Science Posterity
Guest post by Dennis Ray Wingo Introduction The foundation of all observational science is data. This is true whether the data is temperature measurements from ground networks, satellites, or any…
Russian Chelyabinsk Meteor largest since 1908 Tunguska event
Image credit: Google Earth, NASA/JPL-Caltech › Larger view From the WSJ (NASA JPL Statement follows): The meteor that crashed to earth in Russia was about 55 feet in diameter, weighed…
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