Jack’s not buyin’ what they’re sellin’

Harrison “Jack” Schmitt (Apollo 17 astronaut) doesn’t subscribe to the New Science hubris school of human-caused global warming.

Harrison Schmitt

to those who never made a mistake

Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, I admire your professionalism.  Who among us hasn’t been involved in a situation trying to improve a situation, only to make it much worse?  In your shoes, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to restrain myself to such a tame expletive as “Oh, great!”  But you acknowledged your mistake, kept your composure, and didn’t miss a beat as you continued to execute your job.

I’m reminded of the time I was heating a can of Campbell’s soup on my electronic stove at home, trying to save a few bucks, only to spill the entire can of soup over the electronic panel, thus destroying a $500 stove.

rendezvous maneuvers inside the ISS

Here’s an ingenious use of the ISS as a navigational software testbed in the small.

SPHERES for guidance, nav, and control R&D

a one way ticket to Mars

Buzz Aldrin thinks the first human visitors to Mars should go there to stay.  Affirmative.  Yes.  Absolutely.  This is a very reasonable option that we should seriously consider.

I challenge anyone to name a single benefit of an ongoing risk-averse, toe-in-the-water approach to manned spaceflight.

Mimas the giant, Prometheus the Titan

Saturn continues to dazzle, and Cassini has the best seat in the house.

new images of Phobos released

The European Space Agency (ESA) just released some great pictures of Mars’ larger moon Phobos taken by Mars Express over the last few months.  From the image linked at the bottom of this post, the snaking line of “dents” from the large crater in the upper center down to the dark crater in the lower left is most intriguing.  Surely the curving of this line can’t be an optical illusion caused by the hills and valleys on the moon?  Because I would think that secondary ejecta resulting from the larger Stickney crater (not seen in this new image) would radiate linearly outward from the larger crater?  Or perhaps these are sinkholes exposing a huge crack in the moon itself, possibly caused by the Stickney impact?  I’m no expert on the subject, but wow, what a visually fascinating moon!

north pole of Phobos from Mars Express

better spent here on Earth?

Here’s another perspective on the bailout:  according to this table which currently shows budgetary numbers in 2007 inflation-adjusted dollars, it took NASA 45 years (1958-2002) to spend $700bn!  I’d defend NASA’s enormous accomplishments against that colossal display of Federally-driven fiscal incompetence any day of the week.

If there was any doubt before – no, your tax dollars most certainly wouldn’t have been spent better here on Earth.

Australia In Earthrise

Thanks to Bill over at Riding with Robots for linking up this breathtaking Earthrise, captured on September 30, 2008 by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) and Japan Broadcasting Corporation’s (NHK) “KAGUYA” lunar orbiter.

Australia rising over the north pole of the Moon

This serene movie of the Earthrise is also certainly worth a watch.

MESSENGER Mercury crater map with help from Mariner 10

Mariner 10 sent back detailed pictures of Mercury during its 3 flybys of 1974-75.  This past Monday, MESSENGER sent back pictures from its second flyby of Mercury.  Using simple visual comparisons between Mariner 10 maps (Kuiper, Beethoven, and Discovery quadrangles) and the wide angle image that MESSENGER sent back this week, I labeled the craters that I could positively identify:

Mercury craters using MESSENGER picture, Mariner 10 maps

Falcon 1, Flight 4 achieves orbit!

Congratulations, SpaceX.  I had a good feeling that success was just around the corner for your team.  Here’s a short highlight video of the flight.  The increased delay from first stage separation to second stage ignition is noticeable in this video.

UPDATE, 10/3/08: SpaceX released this rockin’ music video yesterday that shows more of Flight 4, including a restart of the second stage engine.