Space Shuttle Endeavour's Launch Delayed at Least 72 Hours.

An issue with Endeavour's Auxiliary Power Unit 1 heaters forced the postponement of launch. The APU system provides power to the hydraulic system for the shuttle, the heater's prevent the system from freezing in orbit. The earliest possible launch time would be Monday, May 2 at 2:33 p.m. EDT, but an actual launch time appears tenuous. NASA launch director Mike Leinbach confirmed in an interview on NASA TV that it would take at least 72 hours for engineers to turn things around. “Today the orbiter is not ready to fly and we always say in this business we will not fly until we are ready and unfortunately we just aren’t ready,” Leinbach said. NASA TV launch commentator George Diller explains, “There’s not a way to do the kind of troubleshooting we need to do and still be able to stay in...

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Posted in Delayed,Endeavour,Space News,Space Shuttle 25 comments

SETI Setback

Allen Telescope Array. (Credit: ATA) SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence has been hit by a budget crunch. The result is that one of their best tools, the Allen Telescope Array, has been mothballed. The CEO of the SETI Institute, Tom Pierson told donors in a letter on April 22 that the ATA has been put into "hibernation." To elaborate the letter explained, "starting this week, the equipment is unavailable for normal observations and is being maintained in a safe state by a significantly reduced staff." The hope is that this is a temporary shuttering while the ATA operators search for a way to fund its continued use. The...

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Posted in astrobiology,SETI,Space News 20 comments

Reminder: Endeavour Launch

A view of the shuttle launchpad at Kennedy Space Center as seen by astronaut Mick Fincke flying in his T-38. The Space Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled for liftoff at 3:47 P.M. EDT Friday and everything looks like a "Go" for launch. Endeavour is on the launch pad, prepping for its final flight. The flight crew of the mission, STS-134 is on sight, also prepping for flight. U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is there, after recovering from being shot in the head at a public event in January in Tuscon, AZ. She is supporting her husband and mission commander Mark Kelly. President Obama is also going to attend the launch. The forecast calls for an...

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Posted in Endeavour,NASA,Space Shuttle 21 comments

D.C.'s Public Observatory

I used to volunteer at the Public Observatory at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. Yes, there is an observatory right in the middle of D.C.! It is a little dome right next to the National Air and Space Museum and I definitely recommend it as a must see if you are ever in D.C. I still hear from them every once in awhile and I thought I would share their work with you all. The normal public hours for the observatory are Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM, Fridays and Saturdays from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM, closed Mondays and Sundays. These hours may vary depending on weather (and closed if it's overcast/raining) and occasionally they do night activities. Since this is open to the public during the day, what you are going to see is the Sun. And boy do...

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Posted in Outreach,Smithsonian,Sun,Technology 14 comments

Astro-Lesson: Asteroids

So the poll was a tie between the Sun and asteroids. I just picked asteroids, and will do the Sun next week while I think of new topics to populate the poll. Honestly, I might go back to the question and answer format I did when I started the blog, at least temporarily. It's funny though, even though I've been wanting to do the asteroids, I am having some problems on thinking of how to get started... Artist Concept of the Asteroid Belt. (NASA) Astronomers have been studying asteroids for a couple hundred years. The first asteroid discovered was Ceres, in 1801. Now there are over a million asteroids that have been observed flinging like crazy...

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Posted in Asteroids,Astro-Lesson,Ceres,Vesta 24 comments

Chocolate Creme Egg Cosmology

I'm sure a few of you had a Cadbury creme egg this Easter. They are pretty delicious, and if not, well, they are about to be on sale so that stores can clear their stock. (I'll probably have to grab some, YUM!) Anyways, this video is part of the University of Nottingham’s Sixty Symbols science video series, this week they have been featuring eggs for Easter. The video explains the possibility of tiny eggs from other dimensions, essentially a way to view the fifth and sixth dimension when dealing with the cosmological constant. I hope you enjoy, but take heed of the warning! P.S.: Poll Closed, Asteroids Won!...

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Posted in Cosmology,Eggs,Science 20 comments

Space Bunny!

HAPPY EASTER or Passover, or Ēostre, or Zombie Day, or Sunday, or Nothing, or Something... Just enjoy the space bunny! From one of my favorite Webcomics: Natalie Dee Also! Happy Birthday to the Hubble Space Telescope!...

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Posted in Space Bunny 20 comments

Animals in Space

Since it is Earth Day weekend and Caturday (well it was when I started writing this, then I got seriously distracted), I decided what would a better way to celebrate then to talk about some of the animal we've sent to space. Human's aren't the only animals from this planet to have gone to space, we have often sent animals to test conditions or for scientific research. Most people know this and tend to think of dogs and chimps, but really the list is a lot more diverse then that. And there are those who proclaim animal cruelty, but it is part of the process for ensuring safe travel in the future. Most of the time these days, animals are put in...

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Posted in Animals,astrobiology,Life,Spaceflight 11 comments