Martian Moon Pics

Wired.com has an awesome pic of the Martian Moon, from the article:



The sharpest images yet taken by the Mars Express spacecraft of Mars’ tiny moon Phobos reveal features as small as 14.5 feet across, the European Space Agency announced March 15.

The Mars Express flybys, which happen every five months, may also determine if Phobos is a fragile pile of rocky fragments stuck together — what planetary scientists refer to as a rubble pile — or solid through and through, says Mars Express scientist Gerhard Neukum of the Free University of Berlin.

Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/mars-phobos-flyby/#ixzz0iMxw7Qdg

Science fiction movies and television make it look so easy to travel about in space when in reality it is very difficult and impressive the strides we have made. I just wish as much money were spent on space studies vs. war and weapons. Maybe one day......

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• Closest Ever Look at Martian Moon (wired.com)

Space Shuttle Retires and 23,000 Jobs will Disappear

Sadly, NASA is going to have the budget cut for manned space flight and this coincides with the retirement of the current space shuttle program which will end this year 2010. This in and of itself is a shame because NASA has led the way in technology for sending people into space, but it looks as if the private sector may begin to work on space craft capable of sending people into space as well as the European Space Agency. Another consequence to this budget cut will be the loss of 23,000 jobs, yes, 23,000 jobs!
From the article:

Revised projections now show that about 23,000 workers at and around Kennedy Space Center will lose their jobs because of the shuttles' retirement and the new proposal to cancel the development of new rockets and spacecraft.
IN-DEPTH SPECIAL REPORT: Shuttle ShutdownThat sum includes 9,000 "direct" space jobs and -- conservatively speaking -- 14,000 "indirect" jobs at hotels, restaurants, retail stores and others that depend on activity at the space center, said Lisa Rice, Brevard Workforce president.
"Our unemployment rate is going to skyrocket," she warned Thursday during a five-hour Brevard County Commission space workshop. Much conversation centered on the future of human space launches from KSC, and attendees heaped criticism on Obama's strategy.

I do not see the economy turning around to the positive side for many years or maybe ever, so I do not know what will happen to space travel. Since I am a science fiction lover and I dream of space travel, meeting alien life, and traveling the Universe, this seems like a big setback, for a while anyways.
Here is the article about the 23,000 jobs to be lost.

Plant Study in Space

When the space shuttle makes its launch to the Space Station on Monday, hopefully because the launch was scrubbed for Sunday, it will take an interesting experiment about how seeds will grow in space. From the article:

NASA scientists hope to better understand exactly how and why plants grow differently in space in an experiment named, Tropi. Future astronauts may be able to grow plants as part of life support systems on long-duration space missions to the moon or Mars.The European Space Agency developed the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS), a facility focused on plant biology research located on the station. Once in orbit, NASA astronauts Jeff Williams and T.J. Creamer will place the experiment containers in the EMCS incubator to conduct the experiment in a temperature, humidity and atmosphere-controlled environment.

Once the experiment begins, the seeds will be spun continuously in centrifuges to achieve varying levels of gravity and provided fresh water. The first three days are considered the "growth phase" of the experiment, when the ECs will be exposed to gravity forces similar to Earth's. After the first 32 hours of the experiment, when the seeds will remain mostly in darkness, they will be illuminated with white LED lights. The last three days of the experiment are called the "stimulation phase," when they will be "photostimulated" - or constantly exposed to red, blue or a combination of red and blue LED lights. During the final phase of the experiment, cameras in the centrifuge facility will take three images per minute to collect the majority of the science data.

You can read more Here.
This kind of story should be on the evening news, in a newspaper, or at least a mention somewhere like on the internet because this kind of study helps us move forward as humans. I wish all forms of science were as important to people as the Superbowl. I know certain sports are fun and a distraction from the day to day things in life, however I wish the amount of money spent on this particular event could be spent on scientific research, but then again that is just me.

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• Clouds force space shuttle delay, next try Monday (thenewstribune.com)

Apophis is heading towards Earth!

Apophis is making its way towards Earth and may arrive by the year 2029, no, not Apophis from Stargate SG1, but a 270 meter asteroid that has a slight chance of impacting Earth. The Russian Space Agency is considering sending a spacecraft in an attenpt to knock the asteroid off of its course. This entire story reminded me of two movies, Armageddon (1998) and Deep Impact (1998) both about an asteroid that will hit Earth and destroy life. Armageddon put me to sleep and the acting was horrible in my opinion. I liked Deep Impact better from the psychological point of view, such as the government lying to the people for as long as possible so as not to "alarm" anyone, how martial law was implemented in the US, people began to commit suicide, rob, panic and try to get picked for this gigantic cave everyone would live in for a couple of years.
Anyway, I find it is interesting the name of the asteroid and Russia may send a spacecraft. From the article:

Russia is considering sending a spacecraft to a large asteroid to knock it off its path and prevent a possible collision with Earth, the head of the country's space agency said Wednesday.Anatoly Perminov said the space agency will hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis, telling Golos Rossii radio that it would invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project once it is finalized.