Thought Patterns

(insert sexy Monroe singing Happy Birthday)

Sent into space on April 24, 1990, Hubble is now old enough to be drafted, but not old enough to drink. Would it want to drink, given that it is already so high and aimed toward the wonders of the universe? Or is that a good enough reason onto itself?

At any rate, the best thing about Hubble, and the fact it is operated by NASA, is that the images it takes are public domain.

much larger version which shows the wonder and awe of Hubble

Linkage:
Space.com - All About Hubble Telescope | Complete Hubble Coverage
LiveScience.com's Space - Hubble Photographs Dozens of Colliding Galaxies
Wikipedia - Hubble Space Telescope | List of Hubble links
Wikimedia Commons - Hubble images
Space Telescope Science Institute - HubbleSite.org
NASA - Main Hubble page | Multimedia

Messenger sent back an excellent photo of Mercury already.

link to much much much larger (1024×1024px) version

I first saw the image in a Wired News article. It had a link to the news release page for the spacecraft. Oh, and it was on today's APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day).

Personally, I think it is awesome. Perhaps we can exploit other planets just before we officially kill our own. Yeah, sarcasm is today's theme.

At any rate, here's linkage:

Messenger home page | image gallery | news center
NASA's Messenger site
Astronomy Picture of the Day | Messenger and Mercury (1/16/08) - this has a bunch o' links in it

Voyager 2 Crosses T-Shock, Finds Solar System is "Squashed"

Voyager 2 has followed Voyager 1 into the heliosheath, a vast region the far edge of our solar system, and surprised its team with new discoveries, Voyager scientists reported today at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting being held in San Francisco. Now both of the legendary spacecraft are headed for the real Final Frontier — interstellar space.

(snip)

Since both Voyager spacecraft are traveling about a million miles a day through this realm where Sun's influence begins to 'fade to the blackness' of space, the current models predict that Voyager 1 will cross into interstellar space in "about seven to 10 years," Stone told The Planetary Society. "Voyager 2 will follow Voyager 1 out of the heliosheath and into interstellar space about three years later" or in 2017-2020, he said.

Unlike Voyager 1, which crossed the termination shock in December 2004 and is leaving the solar system rising above the ecliptic plane, at an angle of about 35 degrees, at a rate of about 520 million kilometers (about 320 million miles) a year, Voyager 2 took a different path into this boundary region.

Diving below the ecliptic plane at an angle of about 48 degrees Voyager 2 cruised into the area where the solar wind hits the thin gas between the stars, at a rate of about 470 million kilometers (about 290 million miles) a year. The path less traveled in this case revealed something Voyager scientists had been suspecting for a while now -– that that our solar system is asymmetrical or "squashed," that it is dynamic, changing shape and structure as it moves through space, and not a static sphere as some theories long held.

What all this means is — we — everything on Earth and in our solar system — resides in a shape-shifting bubble that zips through interstellar space. The Voyagers are about to break on through the bubble — to the other side.

article from Planetary Society

Great fodder for SF and F writers. Good article chock full o' links.

However, if the article makes your brain hiccup, here's some links:
Planetary Society - Voyager topics
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) - Voyager site (news page)
Wikipedia - Voyager Program

"Sulu" gets an asteroid named after him. How cool is that?

From Wired News:

Asteroid Named for `Star Trek' Actor

By SAMANTHA GROSS
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A piece of outer space named for George Takei is in kind of a rough neighborhood for somebody who steers a starship: an asteroid belt.

An asteroid between Mars and Jupiter has been renamed 7307 Takei in honor of the actor, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original "Star Trek" series and movies.

"I am now a heavenly body," Takei, 70, said Tuesday, laughing. "I found out about it yesterday. … I was blown away. It came out of the clear, blue sky - just like an asteroid."

The celestial rock, discovered by two Japanese astronomers in 1994, was formerly known as 1994 GT9. It joins the 4659 Roddenberry (named for the show's creator, Gene Roddenberry) and the 68410 Nichols (for co-star Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura). Other main-belt asteroids have been named for science fiction luminaries Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov.

link to article

###

WTF is going on with Shrub? If anyone needed to take Prozac, he should be given it via IV until he either croaks or wakes up to pull his head out of his ass. At least someone has said aloud what so many Americans have already said or thought. Sad that the someone happened to be the one Shrub wants to "strike".

From BBC News:

Iran says US too tied up to fight

Washington's military commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan would hamstring an attempt to wage war on Iran, the Iranian foreign minister has said.

"Our analysis is clear: [the] US is not in a position to impose another war in our region, against their taxpayers," Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.

He warned Washington against making such a "mad decision".

Iran rejects accusations that it is seeking to build atomic weapons under the cover of a nuclear power programme.

Despite its conviction that the US would find launching another military assault extremely taxing, Iran was making preparations for such an attack, Mr Mottaki said on the fringes of a UN General Assembly session in New York.

He said information had been received which gave specific details of planned strikes.

The US says it is pursuing a diplomatic resolution but has refused to rule out a strike against Iran.

link to article

##

Back to science and away from madness…

Wired News was chuck full o' Sputnik articles.

Sputnik's Grandchildren: Satellite Technology 50 Years Later

Sputnik Stunned the World, and Its Rocket Scared the Pentagon

Secrets of 1957 Sputnik Launch Revealed

The BBC News site also had a Sputnik article:

Russia marks 50 years of Sputnik

It has been THIRTY years since they were launched. THIRTY years. Amazing. And still going.

Wired News has a series of photos from the two Voyager spacecraft.

NASA has a listing of all missions (past, current, and future) and links to their websites.

Linkage:
NASA | NASA missions | current missions | Voyager I and II

Wikipedia | Voyager program | Voyager I | Voyager II

And of course, let's not forget V'ger from the Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

In related news, 28 Jet Propulsion Lab scientists are suing to be excluded from the Department of Homeland Security's background check as stipulated in "Directive 12".

From Wired Science:

JPL Scientists Sue Federal Government and Caltech for NASA's Background Checks
Over his four decades at the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dennis Byrnes worked on the Apollo 7 spacecraft, set the Galileo probe on a course to Jupiter and received a NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Award.

But because Byrnes won't let federal investigators snoop into intimate details of his personal life, he could lose his job.

Byrnes is one of 28 Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) senior scientists and engineers who today sued NASA, the Department of Commerce and CalTech over background checks required of all federal employees by the Department of Homeland Security.

"We're talking about the best and brightest scientists in the world. We're talking about jet propulsion, the Mars probe, the lunar landing, Galileo, the comet landing project," said Dan Stormer of Hadsell & Stormer, the civil rights law firm representing the scientists. "And they're being asked to give up their constitutional rights in order to keep their jobs."

(snip)

Beyond the legal issues, the scientists say that the background checks will discourage researchers from working for NASA and are irrelevant to their jobs.

"I can fly a spacecraft to any planet in the galaxy, and I'm being judged by people who don't have a clue as to my technical qualifications whether I'm suitable for government service," said Byrnes.

He continued, "It's already an extremely rigorous process when the labs hire someone. We check your degrees, whether you worked where you said you did. All that is normal and fine. This is something else. This is McCarthyism."

link to article

(also note, as you visit the NASA websites, that since NASA is part of the U.S. gov't, the images are considered public domain and therefor available for use.)

From BBC News - Science/Nature:

Galileo firms miss key deadline

The private consortium asked to run Europe's satellite navigation system, Galileo, has missed a key EU deadline for moving the project forward.

The European Commission (EC) said the companies had made "insufficient progress", resulting in unacceptable delays and risks for public finances.

This is likely to mean European taxpayers stepping in to cover an advance payment for construction costs.

The EC is expected to present new plans to overhaul the project on 16 May.

These will be sent for approval by the EU's transport ministers in June.

link to full article

From BBC News Science/Nature:

Galileo system 'in a deep crisis'

Europe's proposed satellite-navigation system, Galileo, will need more public funds if it is to be built.

Hope is receding that a private consortium asked to run the system can end its infighting and meet a 10 May deadline to move the project forward.

This is likely to mean European taxpayers stepping in to cover costs.

German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, speaking on behalf of the EU, said: "Galileo is going through a deep and grave crisis."

He added: "We're in a dead end street. The cardinal problem is that the companies still have not been able to agree on the way forward. We need to find an alternative solution."

The consortium comprises leading aerospace and telecom concerns: EADS, Thales, Inmarsat, Alcatel-Lucent, Finmeccanica, AENA, Hispasat, and TeleOp.

The European Commission (EC) set the May deadline for them to come forward with a single company structure to run Galileo, a chief executive and common negotiating position.

But with little sign of the target being met to the Commission's satisfaction, the EC is now expected to present new proposals to overhaul the project on 16 May.

link to full article

Politics and business will always be around. This would be an interesting twist to science fiction novels.