Space news
Space X Falcon 9 R Explosion on Video
Something went wrong with the launch of a Falcon 9 R rocket last Friday. The video of its explosion was aired this weekend by local TV. The rocket was launched from Space X facility near McGregor, Texas. The American company has not released any technical information related to the causes of the explosion.
Falcon 9 R Explosion Video – KWTX News
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Will the Mars Curiosity Rover Suffer the Phobos Effect?
Up to this point we had been amazed by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) nicknamed Curiosity. Even after the project manager had announced an unprecedented discovery late 2012 and later retracted. [A common attitude of space scientists under the grasp of the official agency and its subsidiaries.] Despite the disappointment, the MSL robot continued its work on the red planet Mars. The project managers had the MSL do test drilling for practice and then they moved on performing the actual drill last February. The sample rock was to be taken inside the robot to be analyzed by its instruments.
So we all thought the MSL was going to have some progress in order to know what Mars soil is made of. But lo and behold, the Mars Curiosity robot has just suddenly suffered a computer malfunction just when expectation had been raised about actually finding something tangible. According to the official press release from the MSL website, the robot suffered a “memory issue”, the main computer was switched to a back up computer so the rover is now working on “safe mode”. As a consequence, “It did not send recorded data, only current status information”, said the JPL team in charge of the MSL. This means the data from the samples being analyzed was not sent. The team states that they are working to fix the “anomaly.”
So far in space exploration when previous probes have been about to discover something of relevance about Mars or its moon Phobos, they have malfunctioned. So we wonder whether the same effect will be suffered by the MSL.
Let’s wait and see what happens to this expensive piece of…. equipment.
You can read more about the Phobos effect here.
Update 3/23/2013
We now know that the MSL team recovered the data. It’s been stated from the analysis of the rocks on the planet that “ancient Mars could have harbored life”. We will wait to see what further analyses are made, and if they are not reverted or discarded as compromised data as has happened with previous Mars missions.
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Planetary Resources, Inc. to Mine Asteroids
It looks amazing that finally there’s someone with a vision towards the future. Planetary Resources, Inc. will officially announce April 24, 2012 their plans to mine near Earth asteroids. The company aims at getting metals that are expensive and hard to obtain on Earth such as Platinum.
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Space View from ALMA
ALMA – The Atacama Large Millimeter Array is operational and according to ESO releases its “first” image.
Good to know government space agencies and astronomers well…. keep shedding light on what’s going on in galaxies far, far away…
As for me… I have to see what’s going on in my own solar backyard… see you… I mean array you…
Watch it on ESO video cast
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Lift off!
Ever since I experienced a major solar eclipse in Mexico during my childhood, my interest in astronomy grew. Later in the decade, when I heard the statements of a world renowned astronomer about changes in our solar system, I was to say the least astonished! Unfortunately, his radio interview was not broadcasted on the mainstream media and it is a shame not many had the chance of paying attention. Sadly, most astronomers did not talk about it despite the fact that each one of his predictions have been confirmed and discoveries [which he had predicted] have been announced in the last decade.
Later on, I was never able to track the interview to its original source and copies of it have not been found on the web or anywhere else. So I cannot verify the identity of the astronomer.
But I have to say people at least need to be paying attention to the stars. Look up at the sky and stand in awe. Space is full of surprises.
This is an interesting educational video for several reasons.
I will let you come to your own conclusions.
J.J. Del Mar
Lead Editor
Rediscovered Astronomy
February 26, 2013
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