Hubble malfunction forces NASA to delay Atlantis launch until January (Hubblesite.org)
The fifth and final service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope is to be postponed until January as a mystery malfunction on Saturday crippled the observatory’s ability to transmit data to Earth. The STS-125 mission was set to launch in two weeks so essential upgrades to Hubble could be carried out, but Space Shuttle Atlantis will have to be stood down from her Cape Canaveral launch pad until NASA engineers can get to the root of the malfunction… Continue reading “Hubble Malfunction Pushes Atlantis Service Mission into 2009”
The Large Hadron Collider is now officially safe in the eyes of the law (and no, that's not because it broke down). Credit: CERN
Oh no! It’s all over. The US Large Hadron Collider lawsuit filed by Walter Wagner and Luis Sancho has failed. On Friday, Hawaiian Federal Judge Helen Gillmor officially declared that the American judicial system has no jurisdiction over the largest experiment ever devised by mankind. Although Wagner and Sancho were suing the US partners in CERN, it would seem this convoluted and inaccurate attempt at proving the LHC will destroy the Earth was a bridge too far for the Honolulu court to entertain.
This decision ends the seven month battle for Wagner, following quickly behind Otto Rossler’s eleventh-hour failed attempt at the European Court of Human Rights last month to convince lawmakers that the LHC was going to turn the Earth into a dot.
So in the eyes of the law (and every other sane person on the planet), the LHC is safe and the claims about the production of micro-black holes, strangelets, monopoles, bosenovas etc. etc. are totally unfounded.
The second stage of Falcon 1, functioning perfectly with the curvature of the Earth below (SpaceX)
Today marks the day when the first ever commercial space vehicle was launched into orbit. SpaceX will be relieved that Flight 4 of the Falcon 1 rocket was successful; the previous three had failed. Flight 3, last month, was carrying a commercial payload when an anomaly with the first stage separation brought disaster to the mission. So, the pressure was on the Californian company and its founder Elon Musk, should this flight have failed it might have been the last… Continue reading “Falcon 1 Launch Success! SpaceX Makes History (Video)”
An artist impression of one of the most intensely magnetic phenomena in our known Universe, the magnetar (ESO/L. Calcada)
It was identified as a gamma-ray burst, resulting from a massive explosion in a distant, young galaxy. Then astronomers realised that this flaring object was much closer to home, in fact it was a gamma-ray source within the Milky Way. Astronomers detected 40 visible-light flashes, only for the source to vanish as quickly as it mysteriously appeared. So what generated this huge firework display for astronomers to originally mistaken it for a gamma-ray burst?
It seems we have an answer, and it has surprised many.
One of the rarest objects ever observed may have sprung to life in our galaxy after a long period of calm. This object is a young neutron star with a magnetic field a billion billion times stronger than the Earth’s, otherwise known as a magnetar… Continue reading “Enigmatic Magnetar Blasts to Life Inside Our Galaxy”
Artist impression of Cassini orbiting Saturn (NASA)
In a previous Astroengine article, I explored the possibility that the variation in radioactive decay rates may be synchronised with Earth’s orbital variations in distance from the Sun. Naturally, this would be a huge discovery, possibly questioning the fundamental law that nuclear decay rates are constant, no matter where the material is in the Universe. One of the conclusions in the original decay rate research suggested that we should attach a sample of a radioisotope onto an interplanetary mission far beyond the orbit of Earth. By doing this, the relationship between decay rates and distance from the Sun should become obvious, and terrestrial decay rate variations can be tested.
But wait a minute, let’s have a think about this. Haven’t we already sent radioactive material on board interplanetary missions? What about all that plutonium we use to power interplanetary probes like Voyager, Pioneer, Galileo or Cassini? Plutonium is pretty radioactive… isn’t it? Continue reading “Using Cassini to Test Radioactive Decay Rate Variation”
It’s that time of the week, time for the rampaging hoard of space writers to voice their views across the blogosphere. This week, we are presented with a great variety from my fellow bloggers dotted over the planet by Jennifer Ouellette at Twisted Physics. She had the misfortune to be called for jury duty, but had the fortune to be selected as this weeks CoS host, so at least she had some entertaining reading to do whist in court! For Astroengine this week, I entered the exciting news that our Sun is alive! Well, it has shown off a Cycle 24 sunspot anyway…
The Long-March II-F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-7 spaceship plus three crew blasts off (Xinhua/Li Gang)
China has high hopes to be the third nation to successfully carry out a spacewalk after launching three taikonauts into orbit today. According to officials, the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft has successfully completed its first orbital manoeuvres and is currently orbiting 343 km above the Earth. The world now waits for news that the first Chinese astronaut has successfully left the capsule to explore the vacuum of space for the first time. It all sounds rather exciting doesn’t it?
But this feat pails into insignificance when compared with another stunning achievement. The Chinese authorities have shown that not only can they blast man into space – following in the pioneering footsteps of Russia and the USA – they also have the ability to foresee the future. Either that, or they’ve found a way to travel through time. Amazing as it may sound, it really did happen; transcripts of a “future” conversation between the Shenzhou-7 astronauts, whilst in orbit, were published on the official Chinese news website hours before the rocket engines had even ignited…
So far, so good. A static fire test for the upcoming Flight 4 is a success for SpaceX and Falcon 1 (SpaceX)
The run-up to Flight 4 of SpaceX Falcon 1 appears to proceeding nicely. Scheduled for a late-September launch, the rocket has been rolled out onto its South Pacific launch pad and prepared for launch. Today saw the successful static fire test of the Merlin 1C engines (pictured above), and according to the SpaceX press release, “no major issues came up.” However, after detailed analysis of test data, engineers decided to replace the second stage engine LOX supply line as a precaution. Apparently, Falcon 1 should operate fine without the replacement, but SpaceX will be extra cautious ahead of launch some time over the next couple of days.
For now, the exact launch time is being kept secret, and in light of last month’s Flight 3 failure, Flight 4 will be critical to the future of the private space company. Our hopes are high for the first successful commercial launch very soon…
Thar she blows! Solar Cycle 24 sunspots make their first appearence since January (SOHO MDI image showing Cycle 24 polarity)
This day has been a long time coming. Ever since the beginning of Solar Cycle 24 back on January 4th 2008, solar physicists have been eagerly awaiting the fireworks to begin… alas, the Sun decided to take a break and stay blank for nine months, keeping any Cycle 24 sunspot activity hidden. That’s not to say there have been no sunspots. Due to a strange quirk in solar activity, the previous cycle took some time to wind down and continued to send groups of spots to the surface, occasionally unleashing some surprise flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
However, it has now been confirmed that the sunspot group seen today by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and international amateur astronomers do in fact belong to Cycle 24.
A rare sight. Atlantis has been rolled out to its launchpad for the October 11th Hubble mission, whilst Endeavour will remain on standby in its capacity as the STS-400 rescue mission (NASA)
This is a historic photo opportunity. Rarely do we see two shuttles rolled out onto different launchpads at the same time, but this scene has an extra poignancy to it: this is the last time two shuttles will be rolled out at the same time, ever.
All set for the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission on October 10th, Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-125) will carry the crew of seven to install two new instruments on the 18-year old orbiting telescope. They will also give the observatory an in-orbit overhaul; replacing the Fine Guidance Sensor and six gyroscopes to boost the operational lifespan of Hubble till 2013.
However, due to the unusual orbit of Hubble, Atlantis must have a back-up plan that doesn’t include the International Space Station. The October mission will call up a standby rescue mission called STS-400 – in this case Endeavour – that will be readied for launch in preparation for the unlikely event of an emergency during the STS-125 Hubble repair… Continue reading “Sibling Shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour: Different Launchpads, Same Time”
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