Time Is Now For Human Mission To Mars

by Staff WritersWashington DC (SPX) Mar 15, 2011
MarsDaily

"The time for a human mission to Mars is now," write the editors of "A One Way Mission to Mars: Colonizing the Red Planet," a collection of articles published in book form this month by the Journal of Cosmology. "The overall message of this volume is not just that going to Mars is a worthwhile scientific program and a great adventure worthy of Homo sapiens. It is that we can begin the project now," write the editors, astrobiologists Paul Davies of Arizona State University and Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University.

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NASA spacecraft trying to get into Mercury's orbit

A desk-sized NASA spacecraft is riding the brakes all the way to Mercury, about to pull a tricky maneuver Thursday night to become the first man-made object to orbit the tiny planet.

This image released by NASA shows an enhanced photo image of Mercury from its Messenger probe’s 2008 flyby of the planet. NASA says it was a taste of pictures likely to come after March 17, 2011, when the probe enters Mercury’s orbit. This photo shows the eastern part of the smallest and closest planet in our solar system. The colors in this picture are different than what would be seen with the naked eye, but show information about the different rock types and subtle color variations on the oddball planet. The bright yellow part is the Caloris impact basin, which is the site of one of the biggest in the solar system. Earth is about to get better acquainted with its oddball planetary cousin.



(AP Photo/NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Arizona State University/Carnegie Institution of Washington)

An asteroid the size of a house swoops by Earth

An asteroid the size of a house zoomed by Earth Wednesday, flying within the orbit of the moon just one day after astronomers spotted the space rock in the sky, NASA says. 

But don't worry, danger was small, those at NASA watching space rock say 

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Russian craft brings astronauts back to Earth

by Staff WritersArkalyk, Kazakhstan (AFP) March 16, 2011

 A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying a US and two Russians astronauts Wednesday parachuted amid hailing winds into a snow-swept Kazakh steppe after a five-month mission to the International Space Station.

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Europe agrees 2020 space station

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

Europe has formally agreed to the extension of operations at the International Space Station until 2020.

Member states have also put in place the financing to cover their commitments at the platform for the next two years.

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Super Full Moon

Perigee moons are as much as 14% wider and 30% brighter than lesser full Moons.

by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science@NASA

Huntsville AL (SPX) Mar 17, 2011 Mark your calendar. On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It's a super "perigee moon"--the biggest in almost 20 years.

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Super full moon

Mark your calendar. On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It's a super "perigee moon"--the biggest in almost 20 years.

The Moon looks extra-big when it is beaming through foreground objects--a.k.a. "the Moon illusion."

Credit: NASA

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Shell plans could threaten SKA

Shell plans could threaten SKA: "Shell's plans to prospect for shale gas in the Karoo could affect South Africa's bid to build the world's biggest radio telescope, MPs have heard."

Square Kilometre Array (SKA)

 

Help us bring the SKA project to Africa

	The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be a mega radio telescope, about 100 times more sensitive than the biggest existing radio telescope.
	SKA is a €1.5 billion project, with operating costs of about €100 million a year.
	It will be the first to provide mankind with detailed pictures of the “dark ages” 13.7 billion years back in time.
	This mega telescope will be powerful and sensitive enough to observe radio signals from the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang.
	If there is life somewhere else in the Universe, the SKA will help us find it.
	At least 24 organisations from 12 countries, including Australia, Canada, India, China, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA, are involved.
	The SKA will consist of approximately 4 000 dish-shaped antennae and other hybrid receiving technologies.
	Both South Africa and Australia have suitably remote, radio quiet areas for hosting the SKA and have competing bids to host the SKA.
	If Africa wins the SKA bid, the core of this giant telescope will be constructed in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape Province near to the towns of Carnarvon and Williston, linked to a computing facility in Cape Town.
	Other countries where stations will be placed include Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya and Zambia.
	South Africa is already building the Karoo Array Telescope (MeerKAT) which is a precursor instrument for the SKA, but will in its own right be amongst the largest and most powerful telescopes in the world.
	Why is Africa the best site for the SKA?       Most valuable for science           Low levels of radio frequency interference and certainty of future radio quiet zone.           Significant investment in skilled human resources - bursaries for scientists from across Africa, training for technicians and artisans.       Best imaging           An ideal physical environment (little water vapour, calm stable weather conditions).       Most Affordable           Required land, labour and support services available and very affordable.       Most Reliable           Core basic infrastructure of roads, electricity and communication already in place .           Ideal geographical location, sky coverage and topography.           Safe and stable area with very few people and no conflicting economic activities.       Most Options           The astronomical "richness" of the southern skies & strong tradition of astronomy.           Excellent academic infrastructure to support SKA science and technology.
More info...    Who is the barefoot astronomer?

The Southern Star Party (2011 March, Bonnievale, South Africa)

The Southern Star Party | Suidelike Sterrefees
2011 March, Bonnievale, South Africa

The mere utterance of the words "star party" makes me tingle. As a school kid I read with wide-eyed longing of Stellafane, a mystical place far, far away where all they did at night was look at deep sky objects and spent the days pushing glass. It's taken a while, but the first inkling of a local Stellafane happened this past week-end just outside Bonnievale in the Western Cape.

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•  SSP photo gallery