Misc. – Page 18 – astroengine.com

Astroengine.com Now Featured in Alltop.com!

Astroengine.com is now listed in the Alltop web directory! This ranks in the upper echelons of “coolness” as Astroengine now features alongside space news behemoths such as the Universe Today, Bad Astronomy, Space.com, Discovery, New Scientist, Space.com, Space Examiner and loads more besides!

From the Alltop homepage: Alltop is an “online magazine rack” of popular topics. We update the stories every hour. Pick a topic by searching, news category, or name, and we’ll deliver it to you 24 x 7. All the topics, all the time.

Be sure to check out Alltop.com, I’ve used it a lot. I like the format as you can access all your favourite space and science news websites on one page and organize it as you see fit. I suppose it’s like an RSS feed reader, only easier. That seems to be the trend of social media these days, speed and ease of use… perhaps I need to start cutting back on some of my gadgets…

Astroengine Live Show #14: Bats ‘n’ Books

Today’s Astroengine Live will be LIVE from Woodland Hills, California, to bring you the goings on behind the scenes of some of the most important developments in space. Of course I am referring to the tragic demise of one free-tailed bat and the announcement by Astroengine and the World of Weird Things that we have teamed up and decided to do something audacious and write a book. I think some other stuff has been going on and I’m sure I’ll report on that too, but hey, this is my show and I can be as biased as I like! So, tune in at 7pm EST (4pm PST) to listen to another action/music/information packed Astroengine Live. Today!

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 the Paranormal Radio player. Or, pick up the podcast feed to activate your favourite audio software.

In the Event of ISS Naming Dispute, the Brian Bat Foundation Lodges Node 3 to be Called “Brian”

bbf_prop_11

As of Monday night (March 23rd), NASA had yet to officially announce the name of the upcoming Node 3 to be attached to the International Space Station. There is some controversy with the voting process as Stephen Colbert, presenter of the Comedy Channel’s “Colbert Report”, used his significant media presence to secure a win of the vote after appealing to his audience to vote for “Colbert”. NASA allowed the name to remain as a candidate and it went on to win the competition. Naturally, this outcome drew some surprise and doubt as to whether NASA will keep “Colbert” at all. In second place is the far more palatable “Serenity”, more suitable on so many levels.

However, should NASA go with the popular vote and name Node 3 “Colbert”, it might be seen as setting a bad president that celebrities can use their TV presence to force the outcome of what should be a scientific vote (and therefore get some stellar free advertising). If NASA decides not to use “Colbert” in favour of the second official choice of “Serenity”, NASA will suffer accusations of preventing the democratic process, thereby making public participation in mission naming a farce. Either way, although fairly minor, there could be some trouble ahead, and possibly bad press for NASA.

Therefore, as the Brian Bat Foundation‘s first official business, we are putting forward a proposition that in the event of a Node 3 naming dispute, NASA should consider using another, more suitable name for Node 3. It is not the name, it is the memory that is important, the memory of Brian the Discovery Bat who lost his life during the launch of the most recent shuttle mission to the ISS, STS-119. The Node 3 voting process was nearly over on that fateful Sunday night at Cape Canaveral, so voting for the name “Brian” wasn’t a possibility.

It’s about time Brian and all the other animals that have sacrificed their lives in the name of human space exploration are remembered in space as well as on the ground. Perhaps a component on the orbiting manned outpost could be the ideal location for such a memorial. Now that would be awesome!

A special thanks to @Barstein for suggesting the new possible name for Node 3 and to the ever watching spirit of Brian, @DiscoveryBat

It was Only a Matter of Time…

With the looming retirement of the space shuttle, the ascension of space tourism and hopes of returning to the Moon by the year 2020, this is an exciting and uncertain time when it comes to space travel and exploration. But with uncertainty and excitement also come opportunities that could change the way we look at space for decades to come and give rise to brand new ways of doing business and spawn dozens of new companies. Flying excited passengers to the edge of space could be just the beginning of a whole new industry that serves scientists, explorers and even the worlds’ military powers.

Dr. Ian O’Neill, a veteran contributor to Universe Today and avid space blogger and Greg Fish, a popular science and business writer who’s work regularly appears on BusinessWeek.com, have joined forces to identify target markets for space minded entrepreneurs as well as lay out what issues need to be resolved along the way in Astroeconomics: Making Money From The Vacuum Of Space. Combining science with marketing and the basics entrepreneurship, O’Neill and Fish take a new look at the economics of space exploration to find business opportunities for space minded companies and put many long popular ideas about the future of space travel under the microscope to separate fact from fiction.

Ultimately, the writers argue, we’ll need to rethink our priorities in space and rather than focus on politics, flag planting and living in fear of taking on new and exciting projects, we should be trying our best to transition space travel to a market-driven system which serves government agencies with assets in space, scientific institutions and private enterprise. Commercialization of space is slowly but surely beginning to happen and Astroeconomics will help space minded entrepreneurs to complete this shift and make the most of it.

See World Of Weird Things »

Twitter Hearts Space Science Blogging

It’s ~~Friday~~ Saturday [get comfortable, this turned into a long post], and I’ve been bogged down with a HUGE project I’ve been keeping under wraps for a couple of months (you will find out what that’s about on Monday), so I’ve been blogging in fits and starts. All going well, I’ll be back up to speed on the growing list of space news on Astroengine.com and the Universe Today very soon. However, as it’s the end of the week, I feel like posting my thoughts on Twitter, a microblogging platform that has become an invaluable tool not only for my science writing, but for meeting wonderful, like-minded people…
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What Will Happen When the Sun Turns into a White Dwarf?

Strong tidal interactions are thought to shred any asteroids or comets as they get too close to a white dwarf (NASA)

All the way back in January, I had the great fortune to attend the American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) conference in Long Beach, California. I had a lot of fun. However, between the free beer and desperately searching for wireless Internet signal, I also did some work. During my travels, I spent some time browsing the poster sessions, trying to get inspiration for an article or two. You’d think that when presented with hundreds of stunning posters that inspiration wouldn’t be that far away. However, I was repeatedly frustrated by information overload and defaulted to a clueless meander up and down the pathways walled with intense science debates.

But then I saw it, right at the end of one of the poster walls, a question that got my imagination bubbling: “Will The Sun become a Metal Rich White Dwarf After Post Main Sequence Evolution?” The Sun? After the Main Sequence? Metal rich? To be honest, these were questions I’d never really pondered. What would happen when the Sun turns into a white dwarf? Fortunately, I had Dr John Debes to help me out with the answers…
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The Brian Bat Foundation

“Remembering the voluntary and accidental endeavours of animals in human spaceflight” — BrianTheBat.org

Just in case you haven’t heard, one little free-tailed bat from Florida caused quite a stir this week. Brian the Bat, who hitched a ride with Space Shuttle Discovery, captured the hearts and minds of the Twitter and blogging community, eventually spilling into the international stage. Although it was widely reported that “a bat” had been involved in the STS-119 launch, it seemed that the world reacted even more strongly to the fact I had personalized him by naming the little fella.

First, a major Norwegian publication referred to “Brian the Bat” (in wonderful articles written by Geir Barstein), followed swiftly by the UK’s Sun (reported by the excellent Paul Sutherland) and the Daily Mail.

So what was leant from the sad loss of Brian? The world has an appreciation/concern for the endeavours of animals in spaceflight. Therefore, today I have launched the Brian Bat Foundation (BrianTheBat.org), a section of Astroengine.com set up to keep track and celebrate the endeavours of animals in space flight. I have covered articles about mosquitoes, monkeys, dogs, spiders, butterflies and even tardigrades involved in space experiments, but there should also be an awareness that other animals are impacted by our spaceflight activities too. I hope The Brian Bat Foundation will do this, reporting on the funny, interesting and often tragic world of animals in space…

Visit BrianTheBat.org for more information »

Nominations

Know of a worthy space animal that needs a mention? Leave your suggestions in the comment box below and I’ll do some research, hopefully ending up with an article about the space pioneer.

When the Sun is So Boring, Anything Becomes Interesting

Caption: So boring it doesn't deserve a caption (NASA/SOHO)

You know when you have those unremarkable days, those periods of time you experience you know you’ll forget tomorrow? It’s either “just another” day at work, another commute, or a Sunday where you had a beer, fell asleep, only to wake up again to realise it was too late to get up so you stayed in bed till Monday? (And no, I don’t make a habit of that. I’m sure to have at least two beers.) Most days aren’t like that for me, usually I can think of one noteworthy event that sets apart one day from the next, but sometimes it’s as if Stuff Happens™ doesn’t.

It would appear the Sun is having an extended period of time where Stuff Happens™ is at a premium, so you have to make the most of when something really does happen. In this case, the Sun released a crafty CME, thinking we wouldn’t see it…
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In Memory of Brian, the Discovery Bat

The bat, clinging to Discovery’s external tank on Sunday’s shuttle launch (©NASA/Collect Space/Brian the Bat)

As the Sun set over Florida, NASA ground staff hurried to complete preparations for space shuttle Discovery’s launch just before 8pm EST on Sunday. Fortunately, the countdown went as planned and Discovery is now on its way to install the remaining solar panels in the International Space Station’s solar array. The launch itself was strangely captivating, probably because this was the sixth launch date that has been set (continuously postponed due to valve problems and, most recently, a hydrogen leak). However, there was another reason that interested me, a bat had been discovered, hanging onto the the shuttle’s external fuel tank, refusing to budge…

Carnival of Space Week 94 – Out of the Cradle

earth_night

For the 94th week of the greatest carnival in the blogosphere, the Carnival of Space is being hosted by Lunar Librarian Ken Murphy over at the superb space blog Out of the Cradle. He has done an astounding job with this edition as there are yota-tonnes of asteroids, exoplanets, stars, galaxies, dark matter and all sorts of space exploration goodness.

For Astroengine’s part, I geeked out and threw my musings about virtual reality being physical reality and how future astronauts might be exploring a virtual representation of a physically accurate… physical Mars… or something. That didn’t make a whole lot of sense, so go to “Reality, Virtual” for more.