Wringing a Towel in Space —
The short answer to the question is that surface tension is an amazing phenomenon, but to understand the short answer you have to watch the video:
Posts Tagged ‘space’
Saturn as Seen by Cassini —
Beautiful shot of Saturn from NASA’s Cassini space craft as it eclipses the sun: This one is Lily who once wanted to be the first princess astronaut on Saturn and still maintains her interest in space and space travel. Thank you, my dear.
Mars Rover Made Here on Earth —
NASA has a history program. Maybe it would be interesting to combine my own research interests with my love of space and explore topics like this: Our Curiosity from Our City, Our Story on Vimeo.
Curiosity’s First Images of Mars —
This image was used to create the larger panorama that is attracting so much attention but what I find compelling about this image is just how, well, how quotidian it is. I’ve walked places on Earth that looked like this. For the first time in a long time, I want to step foot on Mars. [...]
Solar Storms —
ABC Science’s write-up about solar storms is a bit dramatic, but then they throw in this little fact: Now the electrical grids around the world are mostly old, fragile and overloaded. In the USA alone, minor solar storms already cause breakdowns to the grid that increase the cost of electricity by $500 million every 18 [...]
IAMA NASA —
Reddit has spawned a number of genres for and among its community of readers and writers. One of the most compelling of those genres is the AMA, short for “Ask Me Anything.” They are housed under the URL IAMA, which is a pun on the acronym that allows a poster to begin with “I am [...]
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NASA has new spacesuits. Apparently this is the first change in design since 1992. These have their own airlocks, allowing an astronaut to dock with a space station or ship by, it seems, backing up to it, and then climbing out the back of the suit. Now, if only we had a way to get [...]
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We will miss the annular solar eclipse coming up on May 20 — we are too far east and the sun will already have set — but NASA’s map tells you if you are in the right place at the right time.
Get Ready for Transit of Venus —
I can’t quite tell from the NASA illustration how well we will be able to view the transit of Venus across the face of the sun, but we are going to try. Because Venus’ transits occur in pairs, the last time this occurred was in 2004, the year our daughter was born, but it will [...]
Leap Days —
We have them every 4 years, but not every 100 years, except when it’s every 400 years. The Bad Astronomer has the explanation. Here’s what it comes down to: our day is not really 24 hours long.
Dancing Droplets in the Space Station —
Astronaut and chemist Dr. Don Pettit performs a wonderful demonstration using charged water droplets being dropped near a charged knitting needle. The velocity of the droplets makes them first spiral around the needle before eventually landing on it, thanks to the charge.
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Who knew?
Deathmarch on Mars —
I don’t know Warren Ellis’ work, but I like his verve. This Mother Board interview is quite good. His assessment of the political pandering to the current space industry strikes me as the product of a long-time observer who deserves a listen.
Comet Survives the Sun —
The comet Lovejoy flew through the sun’s atmosphere a few days ago and survived. The event was captured by a whole fleet of Terran spacecraft: the comet’s survival was an open question. The NASA story has all the details, as well as Lovejoy’s history.
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Trash bag air craft. Essentially it’s a variation of the weather balloons with digital cameras that a number of schools and individuals have lofted. This one goes the extra mile, in terms of cost savings, and figures out how to get lift out of trash bags. (Go, Manuja Gunaratne, go.)