March 23, 2005
A Solar Eclipse...on Another World
Chalk another one up for the Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity: NASA has just released some very cool videos of their observations of the moons of Mars crossing the sun. So that's a solar eclipse on another world. How cool is that?
[NOTE: I guess that they aren't technically eclipses since the moons of Mars are too small to block out the sun, but I still think it's freakin' cool.]
Posted by baggers at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2005
Smells like... life
The ESA Mars Express spacecraft has been using its Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (shown to the left) to scan the Martian atmosphere for various chemicals including Methane since its arrival. It has found more than would be expected in a lifeless world, and (according to press reports) NASA scientists have compared these methane signatures to those found on earth over caves filled with bacteria, and have found similarities.
To put it more simply: there may be farty bacteria on mars.
But it is perhaps a little too soon to draw too many conclusions. NASA, perhaps after being stung over the fuss over the Martian bacteria meteorite, has issued a press release saying that NASA does not have any observational data from any current Mars missions that supports this claim..
Posted by baggers at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2005
Hubble Trouble
I must admit to mixed feelings about this news report that NASA is now planning to send the Hubble space telescope to a fiery death in 2006. Despite lobbying from a wide range of scientists and space geeks, NASA has decided against sending a mission to upgrade the telescope so it could continue to work after the existing gyroscopes conk out.
My feelings are mixed because Hubble has been a huge success – it has produced an incredible number of pictures that are not only beautiful, but which have taught us lots of things about the nature of the universe. But the fact is that it is getting old, and I’m not convinced that the money a rescue mission would cost is worth it. The fact is that, since Hubble was launched, earth based telescopes have been getting better and better, so now they are nearly as good as Hubble. And if this continues, why bother spending money on an orbiting scope when the cheaper land-based ones are as good?
Posted by baggers at 03:06 PM | Comments (0)