The ice and snow of Mars

February 8, 2013 TopSpacer

The latest Planetary Society hangout featured

Dr. Paul Hayne from JPL. Dr. Hayne studies snow and ice on Mars, extreme temperatures of the Moon, and is on the Cassini science team. He also founded the group Young Scientists for Planetary Exploration to help organize early-career scientists to be aware of the politics of space.

Rockets

Project Morpheus – “Hard at work”

February 8, 2013 TopSpacer

NASA JSC’s Project Morpheus, which suffered a dramatic crash last summer of their vertical takeoff and landing vehicle, has been busy “preparing for this year’s series of tests and building the new Morpheus 1.5B and 1.5C vehicles” : Hard at Work – Project Morpheus Blog.

Testing the new Morpheus engine:

Update: Here is a video they just posted:

Astronomy, Space participation

Team of amateur and professional astronomers creates beautiful galaxy portrait

February 7, 2013 TopSpacer

A collaboration between an amateur and a professional astronomer creates a grand image of a spiral galaxy using a mosaic of Hubble images:

February 5, 2013: Working with astronomical image processors at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., renowned astrophotographer Robert Gendler has taken science data from the Hubble Space Telescope archive and combined it with his own ground-based observations to assemble a photo illustration of the magnificent spiral galaxy M106.

Gendler retrieved archival Hubble images of M106 to assemble a mosaic of the center of the galaxy. He then used his own and fellow astrophotographer Jay GaBany’s observations of M106 to combine with the Hubble data in areas where there was less coverage, and finally, to fill in the holes and gaps where no Hubble data existed.

Space Science

Video: OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission

February 7, 2013 TopSpacer

Here’s a video about the NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission to an asteroid:

In an effort to better understand Near-Earth Objects, NASA is sending the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to asteroid 1999 RQ36, a remnant of the early solar system. OSIRIS-REx will study the asteroid’s composition and the evolution of its orbit, and it will return a pristine sample of the asteroid to Earth for further study. Includes interview with Dr. Joseph Nuth, NASA Deputy Project Scientist, OSIRIS-REx Mission.