Ian O'Neill

SpaceX Falcon 9 Fully Integrated at Cape Canaveral

As the first post of 2009, I couldn’t think of a more worthy topic: SpaceX. Elon Musk’s private spaceflight company is accelerating its progress ever since the successful launch of the Falcon 1 (Flight 4) in September. Just last week, it was announced that NASA had signed a $1.6 billion contract for 12 SpaceX launches to resupply the International Space Station over the next decade. As if that wasn’t enough, we start the New Year with some more great news, the heavy-lift rocket, Falcon 9, has just been assembled at Cape Canaveral in preparation for it to be hoisted vertically so it can begin preparations for its first launch.

Falcon 9 is now fully integrated at the Cape! Today we mated the 5.2 m payload fairing to the Falcon 9 first stage (see below). This was the final step in the integration process—one day ahead of schedule.

With Falcon 9 integrated, our focus shifts to the big launch mount and erector. All the pieces have been delivered, and the coming days will see a tremendous amount of welding to join them all together.

The long hours put in by the SpaceX team over the last several weeks, particularly the folks on the ground at the Cape, are certainly paying off. Once the launch mount and erector are complete, we’ll transfer Falcon 9 on to the erector and raise it to vertical early in 2009. Happy New Year!

—SpaceX press release (Dec. 30th)

And just in case you wanted to see just how quickly this company ships and assembles their rockets, check out the image below. This is the same Falcon 9 first stage as the one above pre-paint-job, before being shipped from the Hawthorn facility in LA, during my visit in October. How time flies…

Falcon 9 1st stage in the SpaceX rocket-manufacturing facility in Hawthorn, CA (© Ian O'Neill)

What an exciting year 2009 is shaping up to be. We are living in historic times for commercial spaceflight, with SpaceX spearheading a new age for space travel…

Astroengine Live #6: Happy New Year!

First of all, apologies for having to cancel last week’s Christmas show, but you’ll be glad to hear that today’s New Years Eve Astroengine Live is ready to go! Actually, this was going to be a recording as we were hoping to be partying in San Diego, but like all great New Years plans, we couldn’t make the trip down there due to other commitments. So, bad news for me, good news for you, at least Astroengine Live will be on the air.

Astroengine Live airs at 4pm Pacific, 5pm Mountain, 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern or Midnight GMT!

2008 has been an incredible year for astronomy and space exploration, and 2009 promises to be even bigger. The International Year of Astronomy is upon us, with a vast number of space exploration projects planned worldwide. If you’re a space enthusiast, and you are not involved, something is terribly wrong! I’ll be detailing some of the ways in which you can become involved in today’s show. Naturally, I’ll also be giving a brief rundown of what’s fresh and new in the space blogosphere, plus a few other topics you’ll certainly find interesting. If I have time I’ll also give you an exclusive peek into the Top 10 Space Science Endeavours according to the readers and writers of the Universe Today. In short, there will be a lot to listen in to!

Get Involved!

Have any articles or stories you want to contribute? Have an opinion on anything in the world of space? Email me on astro@wprtradio.com and I’ll be sure to give it a mention. Eventually, I hope to have telephone call-ins, but for now, email will do.

Listen to Astroengine Live using your default streaming audio player.

Check out Paranormal Radio’s live streaming vidcast too, Captain Jack will be airing my show on his website too.

HiRISE Mars Digital Elevation Models: Difficult to Build, Easy on the Eye

DEM images of Columbia Hills on Mars (USGS/HiRISE)

If there’s one instrument that should get the Mars Orbiting Science Award of 2008 it’s the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). Flying on board NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), HiRISE has been taking some astonishing imagery of the Martian surface since 2006. In fact, the HiRISE image gallery has become the staple of my high resolution Mars photo collection, and the studies being carried out by this fantastic instrument have formed the basis of many articles.

However, the most useful images to come from HiRISE are also the rarest. Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) come from the use of stereo image pairs (more commonly seen in anaglyphs generated by the HiRISE team to give the viewer a 3D impression of the Martian landscape). In the case of DEMs, some pretty neat science can be done, generating images of the Red Planet’s terrain in unrivalled precision. Seeing the Victoria Crater DEM is a particular joy…
Continue reading “HiRISE Mars Digital Elevation Models: Difficult to Build, Easy on the Eye”

2009: The International Year Of Astronomy

Four centuries after Galileo Galilei first pointed his telescope at the night sky, the international community will not only be commemorate Galileo’s momentous discoveries, we will celebrate mankind’s continuing scientific endeavours in space. Back in 2007, the United Nations decided 2009 should be dedicated to astronomy and named it the “International Year of Astronomy”. It is going to be a huge year for all astronomical disciplines, intended to educate, celebrate and enjoy the wonders of the cosmos. Many events are planned throughout the coming twelve months, in the 135 nations participating. You won’t be far away from an IYA2009 participating group or organization, so be sure to embrace this landmark year, it could change the way you view the Universe forever…

The Universe, yours to discover.

Continue reading “2009: The International Year Of Astronomy”

I Wish Office Work Was This Interesting

Having just stumbled around the space blogs, I was enthusiastic that I would find some inspiration toward my next Astroengine.com article. Along the way, I found this rather entertaining short film on Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy website. As Phil points out, “black holes don’t work this way.” Although, that is a shame.

There’s a strong moral to this story: don’t photocopy alone, as you never know when your Xerox machine will print out a singularity. Well, not really, perhaps the guy should have stopped at stealing a snickers bar, a lesson we could all learn from. Actually, I might have walked off with just one wad of cash… actually, maybe two… you get the picture.

Needless to say, this isn’t actually how a black hole works… it’s not even how a wormhole would work. But take the short film at face value and get some entertainment from it, I thought it was quite good fun.

Climate Change, More Human Than We Thought

The Aztecs caused it too! (Getty) — The Aztecs, affected atmospheric carbon levels? (Getty)

Global warming anyone? I ask as I don’t want to upset anybody. Forget it, I’m going to talk about it anyway.

Climate change is an important subject worthy of debate. But for a debate to develop into something constructive, all sides need to have some scientific merit. Clearly, if we listen to Leo DiCaprio, Al Gore and the world’s carbon-cutting politicians, we might be led to believe we are damaging the environment… hell, we might even be warming the whole planet through carbon emissions! So, strip the Hollywood glamour and political spin from the debate, does the global warming debate have any science linking human activity with increased global temperatures?

In a new study, focusing on Central and South America, scientists have uncovered possibly one of the earliest recorded cases of human-induced climate change, possibly amplifying (or even triggering) the Little Ice Age in Europe throughout the 16th century and beyond…
Continue reading “Climate Change, More Human Than We Thought”

MRO Spots Mars Dust Storm in the Making

Wind whipping up a dust storm on Mars (NASA)

One of the overriding features in the Martian atmosphere is the troublesome dust storm. Sometimes, these storms can last months and can span the entire planet. As testified by the solar panels on rovers Spirit and Opportunity, dust storms block sunlight from passing through the atmosphere and can deposit a thick red layer over the robots, amplifying the dust storm’s damaging effects.

In the stunning image above, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured the dust being blown up from the Red Planet’s surface. In short, this is the source of a growing dust storm from a canyon system, injecting a huge amount of material into the skies…
Continue reading “MRO Spots Mars Dust Storm in the Making”

Tonight’s Astroengine Live Cancelled

It's sad, but the next show will be awesome...

Sorry everybody, but if you’re listening in to Astroengine Live for your weekly space news updates, you’ll notice a recording is currently being re-broadcast on WPRT Radio (thank you Jack!). Due to unforeseen circumstances I am currently stuck in Palm Desert and can’t return to LA in time for the show. Very frustrating, as I had a lot of Christmas goodies for you… however, they can wait until next week!

I will keep you posted about what I have planned for next week in the next couple of days. For now, check out the Astroengine Live pages, and remember, if you have any topics you want to be discussed on the show, please drop a message to astro@wprtradio.com.

Sorry for the break in service, but I’ll be back next week… For now, have a wonderful Christmas with your families and stay warm!

Cheers, Ian