Category: Aerospace

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From Discover Magazine: Space firm about to make a big announcement. I take a stab at what it is. | Bad Astronomy

Could it be… asteroid farming?!!  LOL… Time to bring out the ol’ “Asteroid” game!

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I’m overwhelmed with work right now prepping for a half dozen different things, but I had to make some comment on a press release I just got in the mail.

Here’s the important bit [emphasis mine]:

Join visionary Peter H. Diamandis, M.D.; leading commercial space entrepreneur Eric Anderson; former NASA Mars mission manager Chris Lewicki; and planetary scientist & veteran NASA astronaut Tom Jones, Ph.D. on Tuesday, April 24 at 10:30 a.m. PDT in Seattle, or via webcast, as they unveil a new space venture with a mission to help ensure humanity’s prosperity.

Supported by an impressive investor and advisor group, including Google’s Larry Page & Eric Schmidt, Ph.D.; film maker & explorer James Cameron; Chairman of Intentional Software Corporation and Microsoft’s former Chief Software Architect Charles Simonyi, Ph.D.; Founder of Sherpalo and Google Board of Directors founding member K. Ram Shriram; and Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group Ross Perot, Jr., the company will overlay two critical sectors – space exploration and natural resources – to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP. This innovative start-up will create a new industry and a new definition of ‘natural resources’.

Well now, what could that mean? What natural resources are there …

 

from Discover Magazine

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From Engadget: Boeing 787 set for first biofuel-powered flight tonight

Boeing 787 set for first biofuel-powered flight tonight

Biofuel in planes is hardly a new idea, but when Boeing’s latest and greatest aircraft gets in on the green game, we take notice. That’s right, a ANA 787 Dreamliner is currently preparing to take off from Everett, Washington this evening and will make its way across the Pacific to Tokyo powered by biofuel. Well played, Boeing, we’re all for celebrating Earth Day a little early, and it’s always good to see someone giving Sir Richard Branson a run for his money.

[Photo credit: Boeing, Flickr]

 

from Engadget

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From Discover Magazine: Space Station star trails | Bad Astronomy

One of my new favorite sites is Fragile Oasis, a blog where astronauts write about their experiences in space and on Earth. Don Petit, an American who has taken so many of the amazing pictures that have graced not just this blog but have gone viral across the web, posted a nice description of taking star trail pictures on orbit. This one in particular is surpassingly beautiful:

Siiiigggghhhhh.

You can see part of the International Space Station at the top (I think that’s the lab section, with the node Destiny and the JEM facility, but I may be mistaken). The stars are blurred from motion, with the thickening on the right of the Milky Way, the combined light of billions of stars.

The slight motion blurring makes it look like the ISS is moving at warp speed over the planet. The Earth’s atmosphere is the thin green/brown haze over the Earth’s limb, with the top sharply defined by the aerosol layer. The red glow is interesting. That may be an aurora, but it might also be an internal reflection; Don shot this through the cupola window. Reflections …

 

from Discover Magazine