Tag: nasa

NASA revives Voyager-1.

Very cool: “For the first time in five months, NASA engineers have received decipherable data from Voyager 1 after crafting a creative solution to fix a communication problem aboard humanity’s most distant spacecraft in the cosmos.” Read the article for details, but the gist is that they were able to troubleshoot a bum chip, then work around it. From what I can tell from the article, ’twas very cleverly done. The programming seems extra-cool somehow when you’re dealing with a significant light speed delay…

Via Facebook.

Tweet of the Day, I Have Comments about the SpaceX/NASA Moon Thing edition.

Mostly involving variants of Who else here thinks SpaceX will be ready for the Moon shot before NASA is? Hell, if SpaceX can get Starship into orbit, somebody might end up saying Why wait? But never mind me: I’m cranky when I haven’t had my dinner. This is cool news.

Via @IMAO_.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly’s 7% mutation in space.

This sounds… odd.

A new study from NASA has found that astronaut Scott Kelly’s genes are no longer identical to those of his identical twin after spending a year in space.

Preliminary results from NASA’s Twins Study found that seven percent of Kelly’s genes no longer match those of his twin, Mark. Scott Kelly spent one year aboard the International Space Station during the study, while his brother remained on Earth.

Continue reading NASA astronaut Scott Kelly’s 7% mutation in space.

Folks on the East Coast: possible man-made aurora tonight!

[UPDATE: Annnnd they scrubbed.  Too much cloud cover.]

OK, technically, it’s just clouds.  Still, could be interesting.  It’s also a reasonably clear night here, so maybe we’ll even see something.

The launch of a Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket to test a new ampoule ejection system for supporting studies of the ionosphere and aurora is scheduled for June 12 between 9:04 and 9:19 p.m. EDT from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

The launch was postponed during an attempt June 11 due to boats in the launch range hazard area.

The multi-canister ampoule ejection system flying on this mission will allow scientists to gather information over a much larger area than previously able.

Ustream of the event here.

NASA fiddling around with 3-D printed ‘chain mail.’

‘Chain mail’ in quotes because, appearances to the contrary, the stuff isn’t designed for boarding actions. Or battlesuits.  It’s instead a multi-purpose fabric:

The space fabrics have four essential functions: reflectivity, passive heat management, foldability and tensile strength. One side of the fabric reflects light, while the other absorbs it, acting as a means of thermal control. It can fold in many different ways and adapt to shapes while still being able to sustain the force of pulling on it.

Continue reading NASA fiddling around with 3-D printed ‘chain mail.’