Space news topic and space related news

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

just think how it will be, if all the ice and the snow completely melts. Oceans will form. I read some place if all snow and ice melts at the poles. It will give Mars 11 meter with water Mars will once more be like it was billion years ago.

[Clarke]

So what are we going to smash into them to convince them to melt? 

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

There is actually a proposal to create a new atmosphere on Mars by building a plant there that makes CFC's and vents them into the atmosphere. The theory is that the CFCs would trap a lot of heat and make Mars habitable. It would also melt all that pesky ice, and give Mars plenty of water. But an CFC-oxygen-CO2 atmosphere? That could be interesting. CFCs are quite inert until they break down....

Meanwhile, last week some scientist somewhere claims that the underground water ice we are supposedly seeing on Mars is actually lava. It seems to me that this would be exceptionally easy to disprove.

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

Space.com are saying something else, about the evidence of snow on Mars

http://www.space.com/17583-mars-snow-carbon-dioxide-discovery.html


A spacecraft orbiting Mars has detected carbon dioxide snow falling on the Red Planet, making Mars the only body in the solar system known to host this weird weather phenomenon.

The snow on Mars fell from clouds around the planet's south pole during winter about five years ago during the Martian winter spanning 2006 and 2007, with scientists discovering it only after sifting through observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The Martian south pole hosts a frozen carbon dioxide — or "dry ice" — cap year-round, and the new discovery may help explain how it formed and persists, researchers said.

"These are the first definitive detections of carbon-dioxide snow clouds," lead author Paul Hayne, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. "We firmly establish the clouds are composed of carbon dioxide — flakes of Martian air — and they are thick enough to result in snowfall accumulation at the surface."

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

Here is some totally amazing discovery, never scientists have ever imagined

Now, it's been discovered 2 planets, gas giants, orbiting many sun-like stars in a star cluster, called Beehive Cluster, located 550 light years from Earth
So, not orbiting 2 stars, but many, many more other stars, they believe it might be more other planets in other star clusters
So, now the hunt of planets in star clusters, are beginning

http://www.space.com/17609-alien-planets-sun-like-stars-cluster.html

A star cluster, contains over 1000 stars, some star clusters can contain millions of stars, and can be from 10 to 30 light years across.

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

Starship Symposium, is again discussing interstellar travel
They tell that about 100 years, interstellar travel will be possible

http://www.space.com/17617-interstellar-spaceflight-100-year-starship.html


HOUSTON — Launching a mission to another star could teach us not just about space, but about Earth as well, experts argued here today at the 100 Year Starship Symposium.

"I believe space exploration is a human imperative," said Mae Jemison, the first female African American astronaut. "It didn't begin in 1957 with Sputnik, it's been a part of us" all along.

Jemison is heading the 100 Year Starship initiative, which aims to mount a mission to another star within 100 years. Toward that end, scientists and thinkers from a variety of disciplines gathered for a public symposium here from Sept. 13 to 16 to discuss the motivations, challenges and possible solutions for pursuing interstellar spaceflight.

I'm excited for the opportunity we have to pioneer tomorrow's technology and to reimagine our future," former President Bill Clinton, who is the symposium's honorary chair, said via a video address today (Sept. 14). "I only wish I could be here 100 years from now to make the trip."

The 100 Year Starship project was founded with seed money from the Defense Advanced Research Projects agency (DARPA), and is now being run by Jemison's Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence. The program's leaders aim to recruit not just scientists and engineers, but psychologists, sociologists, religious leaders and philosophers to help solve the problems posed by interstellar travel. [Gallery: Visions of Interstellar Starship Travel]

Because the nearest star is more than 4 light-years away, the fastest spacecraft ever built, Voyager 1, would take 75,000 years to get there. A realistic mission to another star system will require novel propulsion methods, as well as new life support, habitat technology and social structures to support what could be multiple generations of astronauts making the journey.

[Niri Te]

 I was either born too late, (I should have been a WW2 Fighter Pilot), or far FAR too soon. Oh well, "life" SUCKS, and then you die.

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

I was either born too late, (I should have been a WW2 Fighter Pilot), or far FAR too soon. Oh well, "life" SUCKS, and then you die.

Would be epic that, if you have been a WW2 fighter pilot
If I will live a normal life, I will possibly die by the end of the century, around the 2090s, If I'm lucky, maybe I can get a moment in the 2100s
Oh damn, I wonder how the world will be by then
Overpopulation is my biggest concern

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

This is a great idea. But why is this being funded by DARPA? With all the other spending problems our government has, they are funding what at this time could be considered a pipedream.  And why is DARPA interested? Conquest of space? An RDA-like military-industrial complex. Maybe be this frivolity is something my Senators and representative should know about.

[Niri Te]

 Oh, they probably already DO, that is who is supplying them with the gratuities to just leave it alone. That kind of power corrupts pretty thoroughly before long, which is why Texas has another pretty cool idea, the PART TIME LEGISLATURE. All of those people have REAL JOBS that they do for most of their terms. 

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

More news about the interstellar travel

http://www.space.com/17628-warp-drive-possible-interstellar-spaceflight.html

Warp drive might come into real

A warp drive to achieve faster-than-light travel — a concept popularized in television's Star Trek — may not be as unrealistic as once thought, scientists say.

A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent anything from moving faster than light. A concept for a real-life warp drive was suggested in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre, however subsequent calculations found that such a device would require prohibitive amounts of energy.

Now physicists say that adjustments can be made to the proposed warp drive that would enable it to run on significantly less energy, potentially brining the idea back from the realm of science fiction into science.

"There is hope," Harold "Sonny" White of NASA's Johnson Space Center said here Friday (Sept. 14) at the 100 Year Starship Symposium, a meeting to discuss the challenges of interstellar spaceflight.

An Alcubierre warp drive would involve a football-shape spacecraft attached to a large ring encircling it. This ring, potentially made of exotic matter, would cause space-time to warp around the starship, creating a region of contracted space in front of it and expanded space behind.

Meanwhile, the starship itself would stay inside a bubble of flat space-time that wasn't being warped at all.

"Everything within space is restricted by the speed of light," explained Richard Obousy, president of Icarus Interstellar, a non-profit group of scientists and engineers devoted to pursuing interstellar spaceflight. "But the really cool thing is space-time, the fabric of space, is not limited by the speed of light."

With this concept, the spacecraft would be able to achieve an effective speed of about 10 times the speed of light, all without breaking the cosmic speed limit.

The only problem is, previous studies estimated the warp drive would require a minimum amount of energy about equal to the mass-energy of the planet Jupiter.

[Clarke]

Oh, they probably already DO, that is who is supplying them with the gratuities to just leave it alone. That kind of power corrupts pretty thoroughly before long, which is why Texas has another pretty cool idea, the PART TIME LEGISLATURE. All of those people have REAL JOBS that they do for most of their terms. 

I don't really see how the government could gain advantage by spending billions on interstellar space programs. There's nowhere to go, for one thing.

[Niri Te]

 The biggest reason Clarke, is unique to our Species on this planet. One of the first words we learn to say as toddlers, is WHY   (Probably the reason you strove for the job that you have).

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

I don't really see how the government could gain advantage by spending billions on interstellar space programs. There's nowhere to go, for one thing.

Although there is plenty of research the government should be funding, building a hyperdrive is not one of them. They should be focusing on realistically achievable goals, like energy independence, or going to Mars. But for some reason, there are lawmakers out there who feel the American people are a source of money so vast that it exceeds the mass-energy product of Jupiter. 

[Niri Te]

Well if we would just harness the HOT AIR generated under the Capitol Dome, we would be half the way to Alpha Proximi by now.
Niri Te

[Yaknun]

Well if we would just harness the HOT AIR generated under the Capitol Dome, we would be half the way to Alpha Proximi by now.
Niri Te

wow - if we have the energy from german-administration, we can go back also 

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

So, this is how a solar eclipse looks like on Mars
it's taken by Curiosity rover

how beautiful could it have been, to sit on the ground, or in a hilltop. looking up on the sky, on the sun from Mars, and see the moon Phobos shadowing the light
And also solar eclipses here on Earth, are also beautiful, I saw it for the first time last year, 6th of june, it was nearly a total solar eclipse

http://www.space.com/17640-mars-solar-eclipse-curiosity-rover.html


As I am speaking of solar eclipse, it's coming a new solar eclipse, 13th of november this year
it will be visible from Australia, Antarctica and New Zealand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_November_13,_2012

[Clarke]

I don't really see how the government could gain advantage by spending billions on interstellar space programs. There's nowhere to go, for one thing.

Although there is plenty of research the government should be funding, building a hyperdrive is not one of them. They should be focusing on realistically achievable goals, like energy independence, or going to Mars. But for some reason, there are lawmakers out there who feel the American people are a source of money so vast that it exceeds the mass-energy product of Jupiter.  

Well, energy independence is just a matter of having the political clout to build a few dozen more nuclear reactors. (You, at least, have the space for them! ) Or fusion, but that's still a few decades away.

Also, from what I remember of reading various people saying, "Look at how unbalanced the budget is," a ridiculous amount of the Federal budget actually goes into "Defense". (From who, you have to wonder? ) Maybe if someone could draw a few trillion out of that, you'd get somewhere.

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

Faster way to detect life on other planets

http://www.space.com/17657-alien-planets-methane-meteorites-atmosphere.html

In recent years, astronomers have detected hundreds of extrasolar planets. Many of these exoplanets lie within habitable zones, the zones around their stars warm enough for liquid water to persist on a planet's surface, raising hopes that life as we know it might live on these distant worlds.

Ground-based observatoriesand proposed-but-cancelled spacecraft such as the European Space Agency's Darwin project or NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder could scan the atmospheres of exoplanets for signs of extraterrestrial life. Molecules each absorb specific types of light, resulting in patterns known as spectra that allow scientists to identify what the molecules are. Some chemicals or combinations of chemicals might be unique to life as we know it, and could thus serve as strong evidence of aliens.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

Well, energy independence is just a matter of having the political clout to build a few dozen more nuclear reactors. (You, at least, have the space for them! ) Or fusion, but that's still a few decades away.

Also, from what I remember of reading various people saying, "Look at how unbalanced the budget is," a ridiculous amount of the Federal budget actually goes into "Defense". (From who, you have to wonder? ) Maybe if someone could draw a few trillion out of that, you'd get somewhere.

Clarke, unfortunately, the majority of our budget goes to entitlements. While there is a legitimate need for some of these entitlements, it has gotten out of hand. The military budget (when we are not at war) is small compared to this entitlement budget. Until we turn over a lot of these entitlements to private sector folks (who generally do a lot better job, and correct the root problem in the process), it is going to be hard to pursue research. research also needs to be 1.) something that in the long run, benefits people, or is heavily supported by the people, and 2.) Something that only a government can do.

Overall though, our government budget needs to shrink. Drastically.

Nukes are not the full answer, either, as these work best for a base load. And they do little for transportation, which is a huge energy user. We need a mix of a number of forms of energy, and the more renewable energy that is in that mix, the better.