Red Planet Hot for Water Find

Decades ago, some of you may have watched a Sesame Street cartoon where a man in the desert says Agua! Agua! as he looks for water. Well, it's been like that for Mars scientists for years. They've been looking for water in the Martian desert but couldn't find it. But, now that they have the Phoenix Mars Lander in the Martian arctic plain, they have the tools needed to see if there really is water on the red planet.

When the news on ice sublimating from the trough made in the Martian soil came out, people hoped for the best. Firstly, that it was water ice. Water on Mars would answer a lot of mysteries, like landscape features thought to have been made by water action in the past. Now that the NASA has just announced that the robot is about to deliver Martian soil to its wet chemistry laboratory, scientists and laymen alike have their fingers crossed. Another major thing scientists hope to find is organic matter, which will up hopes in finding microbial life on Mars.

Click here for a video on the Phoenix Lander.

https://paydotcom.com/r/48199/alvinwriter/18832674/

First Photo of Lunar Surface by Chang'e 1 Unveiled

This is the first photograph made by the Chinese Chang'e 1 lunar satellite of the Moons surface. The unveiling was controversial as the photograph was claimed by some to be the same one taken by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spacecraft in 2005. This was denied by Chinese officials, who said that the same site would naturally produce a similar image. They did, however, note a difference in the number of craters in one part, although the details are sketchy. Jump here to i-Mash for the details.

The 60th Moon of Saturn is "Frank"

The NASA probe Cassini has discovered Saturn's 60th moon and it's been called Frank. But until a really suitable name is given it, it's will have to be identified in the record books as S/2007 S 4. It's only a mile wide and is thought to be made of rock and ice. Frank is thought to be one of the remains of a larger satellite which shattered when another object hit it in a cataclysmic event a long time ago.

The Northern European Hemisphere at Night

This is a composite image made by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe and part of Africa and Eurasia. At the top is the Arctic, which Russian scientists and members of parliament are currently exploring, going down in a submarine called Mir to the bottom of the Arctic Sea, 14,000 feet below the surface. The Russians have laid claim to much of the Arctic, asserting that a seabed ridge called the Lomonosov Ridge, which extends to Northern Canada, is really part of the Russian continent.

Gargantuan Vacuum Chamber to Test Orion Spaceship

This is the world's biggest vacuum camber. This will be used to simulate the conditions in outer space that the Orion spacehip will have to endure as it explores the solar system. The Orion spaceship program is part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Constellation program to send people on a mission of exploration of the solar system, beginning with the Moon, then Mars and beyond. When fully assembled, Orion would stand seventy five feet. Robert Moorehead, director of Space Flight Systems at Glenn Research Center says the vehicle must first demonstrate that "it is capable of withstanding the harsh environment of space." Pictured at left is Kelvin Manning, manager of the Orion spacecraft for the Kennedy Spaceport.

Sauron's Eye is Real and It's in Space

The Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings movies is real and it is in space! Just look at the photo taken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It's watching us! Seriously, this is the young star Fomalhaut (white dot in the middle) and astronomers have discovered a Neptune-size planet orbiting it within the elliptical dust cloud that's part of its early formation. We can only wonder what's on that planet. What's your guess?

For news on movies, go to Hotsup.

"How to Enhance Children's Imagination of the Past When Teaching History"

Kepler to Be Sent on Four-Year Mission to Seek Out Earthlike Planets

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will be sending the Kepler spacecraft out in 2008 to hunt for extrasolar planets, particularly those that resemble Earth. Kepler is actually a telescope that will measure the brightness of a star. Any planet that's just the right size will cause the star to dim. The telescope will be able to detect this reduction in light. The advantage of using this technique for Kepler is that the telescope will not be impeded by the distorting effects of the atmosphere. It's measurements will be reliable since it will be working in outer space. It will be doing its' job for four years, but it's lifespan may be extended with repairs and upgrades just like what's been done with the Hubble Space Telescope.

Antarctica Ice the Size of California Melted in 2005

Scientists have reported that ice in Antarctica, roughly equal to the size of California, had melted in 2005, adding to fears that sea levels will rise and the salinity of the oceans would be drastically altered enough to affect life on Earth. The report is based on satellite data from NASA's QuikScat which detected snowmelt using radar. Konrad Steffen of the University of Colorado in Boulder says "Antarctica has shown little to no warming in the recent past with the exception of the Antarctic Peninsula. But now, large regions are showing the first signs of the impacts of warming as interpreted by this satellite analysis."

Methane Engines for Spaceships Designed

The photo shows a methane engine for future spacecraft being tested in the Mojave desert. If successful, this will be the first time that methane will be used as fuel for space travel. One advantage of using methane fuel is that it is plentiful in the solar system and may be harvested from one planetary object to another as a spacecraft voyages. Upon leaving Earth, the spacecraft would not have to carry heavy fuel, which would lower the costs of a mission. Project manager Terri Tramel of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) says several efforts are underway, including a LOX/methane main engine design by KT Engineering.

Lightning Storms Create Noxious Nitric Oxide Gas

Lightning storms do not produce electricity in the air but also noxious nitrous oxide gases such as nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The former is a toxic air pollutant also produced by automobile engines and power plants, and the latter is a poisonous reddish-brown gas with a sharp odor. Scientists have now taken steps to monitor the level of gases produced by lightning storms in an attempt to determine how these affect the climate and Earth's environment in general. William Koshak, a lightning researcher at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, says that "NOx indirectly influences our climate because it partly controls the concentration of ozone (O3) and hydroxyl radicals (OH) in the atmosphere. Ozone is an important greenhouse gas, and OH is a highly reactive molecule that controls the oxidation of several greenhouse gases."

Nitrous oxide is what is commonly known as laughing gas. In the human body, nitric oxide is a precursor trigger to certain biological functions such as sex. Please see a related article after the post below, i.e., Brazilian Spider Bite Can Cure Erectile Dysfunction. You can only imagine what lightning storms do to our body. What's that tingling sensation, you say?

The Sun in Full 3D Revealed by NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space administration (NASA) has finally released the 3D pictures and movies of the sun made by the STEREO spacecraft. Pictured is a still of the full disk of the sun from one of the movies. You'll only be able to view the 3D effect in a proper venue with a couple of video stereo projectors. To view the STEREO spacecraft in full 3D using red and blue glasses, click here. For directions on how to make your own red and blue 3D glasses, click here.

A Sail to Propel Spaships in Space

This is what spaceships may soon use to sail through the emptiness of outer space. It is actually a sail made of mylar that's even thinner than most trash bags. It is designed to capture solar winds or moving photons from sources like the Sun and even other stars to push a spaceship forward to its destination. The idea is sound and some forms of solar sails had already been tested by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). But it is hard to imagine this flimsy apparatus holding up in an extreme environment. Would it someday take humans to the nearest star? Columbus had a hard time sailing to the Americas. I'm sure whoever will use this sail will also have a hard time getting to his destination. The travel time will be very, very slow. The image is courtesy of David Higginbotham.

Balck Hole Eclipse Viewed in Fornax

Astronomers using the Chandra X-ray observatory of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has photographed for the first time, a supermassive black hole in a state of eclipse with its disk of radioactive gas cloud. The eclipse occured in the galaxy NGC 1365 in the constellation Fornax, the furnace. The event gave them a glimpse into how black holes affect the matter around it.

Terrestrial Planet Finder to Find Earthlike Planets

Pictured are the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Terrestrial Planet Finder space telescopes.

NASA hopes to launch within ten to fifteen years the Terrestrial Planet Finder observatories which will work in space and study all aspects of planets outside the solar system, from their formation to their suitability to support life. The system is made up of two complementary observatories, a visible-light coronagraph (top) to be launched in 2014 and a formation-flying infrared interferometer (below) to launch before 2020.

Southern Ice Cap of Mars Captured in Detail

This is a montage of pictures of Mars by the Mars Global Surveyor. The picture on the top right is the carbon dioxide southern ice cap captured in detail. The spacecraft, was in service for more than ten years and lost contact with NASA last November. Scientists are not sure what happened to it but they think it was caused by processors that misfired, causing overexposure of solar panels to solar radiation.

Thousands of Black Holes Photographed

Starry, starry night? Not really. What appears to be stars or galaxy clusters in this picture are actually black holes colored to identify specific energy levels. This is how the sky may look if you had x-ray vision. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory took most of the black holes pictured here in the constellation Bootes. The inset image of the dark side of the moon is shown for size reference.

Black holes are dead stars that collapsed into themselves. They are hundreds of millions of times more massive than the sun and suck everything around them like a vacuum cleaner---even light.

Big Red Eye in Space

It's looking at you, kid.

This eye-like object is space is the Helix nebula photographed by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. It is the remnant of a sunlike star that went nova to turn into a white dwarf star in the center.