Image Credit:
NASA TV
FALCON FLIES: Early afternoon we watched the launch of a SpaceX mission. Atop the Falcon rocket was a Dragon capsule, full of of cargo destined for the International Space Station.
Thankfully, this time, the launch went without a hitch (after having been delayed from Monday due to a helium leak). One thing making this launch interesting - it was a recyclable rocket with legs delivering legs to a robot on board the ISS!
I have to admit, watching the launch live, I thought something was terribly wrong at the moment of ignition. I'd never seen such dark/black clouds billow from beneath a rocket. I mentioned it to Christian after work and he said he thought the same thing! As I read comments online tonight from other launch nerds, we weren't alone in our observation. Some attribute it to the rocket kicking up dirty water when the engines ignited. Others suggested a more serious problem, saying the rocket should have had trenches under it. SpaceX's Elon Musk apparently called the mess 'embarrassing' at a post launch press conference.
All that aside, if you haven't seen it before, check out film from a test flight (and landing) of a Falcon 9 rocket. ...
http://youtu.be/0UjWqQPWmsY
And here's a great video from SpaceX about the importance of the resuability of rockets.
http://www.spacex.com/news/2013/03/31/reusability-key-making-human-life-multi-planetary
The Dragon capsule is set to connect with the ISS early Easter morning - around 7:30 a.m. East Coast time, before my upping Seattle time. ;)
UNDER THE KNIFE: Preparations for CJ's birthday continue. Yesterday I baked three layers of chocolate cake. Today, it was three layers of vanilla, and a couple dozen cookies. He has changed his mind about the Dora cake, opting instead for My Little Pony. Given that, today we made 17 different colors of fondant (yes, SEVENTEEN) for the ponies.
Meanwhile, we're also working on a Barney the dinosaur pinata. The pinata is Barney, becaue I explained to the kids, I've never understood why people get pinatas of something they love, and then beat the crap out of them. Instead, why not pick something that drives you nuts and beat that, right?
And so, we're building Barney.
REST IN PIECES: As planned, NASA's robotic moon explorer, LADEE, is toast. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer was purposely crashed on the dark side of the moon. The dramatic end comes three days after LADEE survived a lunar eclipse - a period of dark and cold it wasn't designed to endure. So good on LADEE, going out like a champ!
Speaking of NASA constructs going above and beyond, how about that Opportunity rover? Launched in 2003, and still going strong on the surface of Mars, 10 YEARS after its planned end of mission.
A primary reason it's still running the on board solar panels powering the rover.
NASA just released this interesting side-by-side selfie of Opportunity, taken in late March of this year.
On the left is a self portrait showing a coat of dust covering its panels in Jan. 2014. However, a windstorm cleared them off by the time the second selfie, on the right, was taken by the rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) in March. Per NASA, Opportunity now has cleaner solar arrays than it has had in any of the Martian winters it has endured. With clean panels, Opportunity's energy has been boosted, and it can do more work! So now on its 'to do' list is inspecting Murray Ridge, on the western rim of Endeavour Crater, to learn about wet environments on ancient Mars. Roll on, Opportunity!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: We watched a short video today featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about overcoming obstacles and stereotypes to become a scientist. Leave it to him to turn a STUPID question about 'chicks in science' into something so deep and meaningful.
http://youtu.be/KEeBPSvcNZQ
Ditto the pinatas. And Barney.
ReplyDeleteNdGT's comments were so spectacularly illuminating they should be put on billboards until we all take them to heart.