MVAS

I've now posted the answer in the original post.

Check back next week for another Universe Puzzle!

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Representing what may be the first long term lunar environmental impact study, recent laser ranging data from the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico suggests the Lunar Ranging Retro Reflectors (LRRRs) left on the Moon by Apollo missions 11, 14 and 15 are beginning to shows signs of age.(...)
Read the rest of It’s Not Just The Astronauts That Are Getting Older (470 words)

© Steve Nerlich for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Apollo misisons, distance from earth, Moon

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An artist's representation showing outflow from a supermassive black hole inside the middle of a galaxy. Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

Scientists have found evidence of a catastrophic event they believe was responsible for halting the birth of stars in a galaxy in the early Universe. According to their findings, just 3 billion years after the Big Bang, a massive galaxy exploded in a series of blasts trillions of times more powerful than any caused by an atomic bomb. The blasts happened every second for millions of years. "We are looking into the past and seeing a catastrophic event that essentially switched off star formation and halted the growth of a typical massive galaxy in the local Universe," said lead author Dr. Dave Alexander from Durham University.
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Read the rest of Massive Repeated Explosions Halted Star Formation in Early Universe (325 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Screenshot of the Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday. Credit: Spaceflightnow.com

Updated at 9:40 EST Tuesday:

SpaceX just released the official word on what happened with Tuesday's 3.5 second test-fire of the Falcon 9 rocket. The test aborted immediately after it started, and a a spin start system failure forced the early shutdown. The Falcon 9 sits on Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and from the Kennedy Space Center press site, (about 4 miles away) a muffled bang was heard at the time of ignition, 1:41 pm EST. "Today SpaceX performed our first Static Fire for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle," said Emily Shankin from SpaceX in a press release. "We counted down to an T-2 seconds and aborted on Spin Start. Given that this was our first abort event on this pad, we decided to scrub for the day to get a good look at the rocket before trying again. Everything looks great at first glance."
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Read the rest of SpaceX Falcon 9 Test Fire Ends with Abort (370 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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The Martin Jetpack in flight. Image courtesy Martin Jetpack

Step right up — you can now get your very own jetpack. That's right, a real, not-science-fiction-honest-to-goodness jetpack. New Zealander Glenn Martin has been working on perfecting his jetpack for 30 years, and in 1998 created the Martin Aircraft Company to develop and market his idea. Now, the jetpack has become a reality. The 200-horsepower, dual-propeller is designed to fly average-sized person for 48 km (30 miles) in 30 minutes on 18 liters (5 gallons) of gas. The newest model can also reach heights of 2,400 meters (about 1.5 miles). Price? $100,000. "They are a helluva lot of fun to fly," said Martin.
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Read the rest of Where's My Jetpack? Right Here (288 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 26 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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This week's Carnival of Space is hosted by Ian O'Neill over at Discovery News/Space, (and formerly of Universe Today!) who has given the Carnival the "Red Carpet" treatment.

Click here to read the Carnival of Space #144.

And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to carnivalofspace@gmail.com, and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, let Fraser know if you can be a host, and he’ll schedule you into the calendar.

Finally, if you run a space-related blog, please post a link to the Carnival of Space. Help us get the word out.

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
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Details from the Ascraeus channel (red), meandering across the surface of Mars. The insets in the black boxes show close-ups of some of the structures that lava can form: (left) branched channels, (middle) a snaking channel and (right) rootless vents; the rootless vents are also marked by yellow spots on the main image. Credit: Jacob Bleacher

Images of Mars taken from orbit show a massive system of riverbeds and canyons etched by water. Or maybe not. A new study of one channel shows that it was formed by lava flow and not water, and the results make "a strong case that fluid lava can produce channels that look very much like water-generated features," said Jim Zimbelman from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, one of the researchers. "So, we should not jump to a water-related conclusion when we see such channels on other planets."
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Read the rest of Possibility of Past Water on Mars Takes a Hit (746 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Mars, Water on Mars

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President Obama will travel to Florida to unveil an "ambitious plan for NASA that sets the agency on a reinvigorated path of space exploration," according to a press release from the White House. The President will host a conference on April 15, inviting space officials and leaders to discuss the new budget and plan for NASA and the future of U.S. leadership in human space flight. The location was not yet disclosed, but it likely will be at Kennedy Space Center.
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Read the rest of Obama to Unveil "Ambitous" Plan for NASA (360 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 33 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: NASA, Obama

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As with last week's Universe Puzzle, something that cannot be answered by five minutes spent googling, a puzzle that requires you to cudgel your brains a bit, and do some lateral thinking. This is a puzzle on a "Universal" topic – astronomy and astronomers; space, satellites, missions, and astronauts; planets, moons, telescopes, and so on.

What's the next number in the sequence? 401, 172, 85.2

There are no prizes for the first correct answer – there may not even be just one correct answer – posted as a comment (the judge's decision – mine! – will be final), but I do hope that you'll have lots of fun.

Post your guesses in the comments section, and check back on Wednesday at this same post to find the answer. Good luck!

UPDATE: Answer has been posted below.
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Read the rest of Universe Puzzle No. 4 (42 words)

© Jean Tate for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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NGC 4490/4485 – T. Grossman, D. Hager and R. Johnson

Way out yonder some 40 to 50 million light years away in the constellation of Canes Venetici is a pair of interacting galaxies sometimes referred to as "The Cocoon". These two mis-shaped blobs of star stuff have already made their closest approach to each other and are now parting ways. Between them stretches a trail of stars that spans some 24,000 light years as they face each other showing off their numerous star-forming regions. But where there is life… There is death. Let's put our finger right on the pulse of a supernova. (...)
Read the rest of Taking The Pulse Of A Supernova – NGC 4490 (801 words)

© tammy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Florida's Space Coast braces for layoffs, Buzz Aldrin muses on the next steps for NASA and his upcoming stint on "Dancing with the Stars," plus other headlines from This Week In Space.

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Short on fuel, but good at astrophysics? It is possible to tour the solar system on less than 30 Altairian dollars a day by using the Interplanetary Transport Network (ITN).(...)
Read the rest of Astronomy Without A Telescope – The Hitchhikers Guide To The Solar System (571 words)

© Steve Nerlich for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Mars Gorilla. Credit: NASA/JPL, inset Io9

Classify this one under the same nonsense as the "Bigfoot on Mars" the wooden plank on Mars, or perhaps even the "Face on Mars." Just an optical illusions, folks from a very, very zoomed in image from the Mars rovers. The Sun newspaper seemingly started this foolishness on what must have been a slow news day.
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Read the rest of Gorilla On Mars? (121 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 21 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Garver and Bolden after they were sworn into office. Credit: NASA

Several news sources reported Thursday that NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden had asked senior managers to come up with an alternate plan for the newly proposed NASA budget after members of Congress indicated they wanted to reject a White House proposal to cancel the Constellation program and hire private companies to bring astronauts to the ISS. But today, Bolden issued a memo saying there is no "Plan B" and that he only asked two agency directors to help develop an accelerated plan for research and development on a heavy lift launch vehicle. The lack of heavy lift capability is one of the big sticking points for many on the new plan.

"I have not asked anyone to develop an alternative to that budget and plan," Bolden wrote, "and I don't want anybody to do so. Rather, I have asked – and am asking – for input on how the exceptional talents and capabilities we have developed in our organization can best be applied going forward to advance the elements of our new plan."
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Read the rest of Bolden: There is No "Plan B" In Development (476 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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A mosaic image of Phobos composed by 53 pictures. Credits: ESA/ DLR (S. Semm, M. Wählisch, K.Willner)/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, there was some speculation that Mars' moon Phobos could possibly be hollow due to the its unusual orbital characteristics. While scientists now agree that the moon is very likely not hollow, vast caverns may exist within the moon, and it might be a porous body instead of solid. The Mars Express spacecraft made a close flyby of Phobos on Wednesday to help provide more data on the interior of Phobos, and all indications are the event was a big success. The spacecraft skimmed smoothly over the odd-shaped moon at just 67 km, the closest any manmade object has ever been. No images were taken from this flyby. Instead all the instruments were turned off so that ground stations could listen for a pure radio signal of how Phobos "tugged" on the spacecraft. Scientists say the data collected could help unlock the origin of Phobos and other ‘second generation’ moons.
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Read the rest of Could Phobos Be Hollow? (292 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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The answer is now available for this week's Where In The Universe Challenge. Find it back on the original post. Thanks to Jason Major for submitting the image for this week!

And check back next week for another test of your visual knowledge of the cosmos.

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
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Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for the weekend? Then let's spend it "stellar" as we take a look at a great series of open galactic star clusters. Gathering a few photons will enrich both the spirit and the mind! If you're ready for some history, science and challenges, then follow me… (...)
Read the rest of Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast: March 5-7, 2010 (1,179 words)

© tammy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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The view from the KSC TV control room looking out at the press auditorium where press conferences are held. Image: Nancy Atkinson

Listen to the audio of this podcast at this link.

You can also read the interviews below.

Hi, this is Nancy Atkinson from Universe Today. Right now I'm at Kennedy Space Center, and I've had the opportunity to see a couple of launches and cover other events that normally, I'd be back home watching on NASA TV. Since NASA TV is part of my daily diet of space media, I was very interested to see the newsroom, step in the auditorium where all the press conferences are held, and also talk with some of the people who work at NASA TV at Kennedy Space Center, or KSC TV as they call it, to find out about the work that they do, and also what it's like to provide some of the most unique and exciting coverage anywhere on — and off — the planet. I chatted with producers, directors, technicians and other people who work behind the scenes, plus I also had the good fortune to talk with one of the voices of NASA TV, George Diller.

Here are some of our conversations.
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Read the rest of Podcast: Behind the Scenes at NASA TV (5,218 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: kennedy space center, NASA TV

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GOES-P launches from Kennedy Space Center. Image Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.

A Delta IV rocket rumbled and roared off launch pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Thursday evening, sending the GOES-P satellite soaring into a crisp and clear night sky. With liftoff at 6:57 p.m. EST, the rocket could be seen for several minutes after launch, and booster separation was clearly visible to observers on the NASA Causeway. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-P, or GOES-P, is the latest in a series of meteorological satellites designed to watch for storm development and weather conditions on Earth as well as detect hazards with its emergency beacon support and Search and Rescue Transponder. It will take ten days for the satellite to maneuver to its geostationary equatorial orbit at 35,888 km (22,300 miles). Once there, GOES-P will get a new name: GOES-15.
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Read the rest of GOES-P Goes to Space (190 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Delta IV rocket, GOES-P, Satellites

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Over the years, scientists have debated the cause of the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Now, a panel of 41 international experts says it's official: a massive asteroid around 15 kilometers wide slamming into Earth at Chicxulub, Mexico is the culprit. After surveying a wide variety of evidence for the competing theories, the panel said the telling evidence was the structures preserved in the interior of the crater. Computer models predicted how much rock was vaporized or ejected by the impact. "Our work lets us visualize the astonishing events of the few minutes after impact," said Dr. Penny Barton, who led the group. "The front of the asteroid hit the Earth while the far side was still out in the upper atmosphere, punching a hole though the Earth's atmosphere."
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Read the rest of Scientists Come to a Conclusion: Asteroid Killed the Dinosaurs (366 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 29 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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