THEY'RE BAACK!: October is no more, so that can only mean one thing ... it's DINO-vember! It's a month full of mischief from the toy dinosaurs that mostly gather dust the other 11 months of the year 'round here.
Not surprisingly, the dinos' first stop this year was raiding the bowl of Halloween candy, no doubt in search of chocolate.
Last night, the dinos engaged in some modern warfare, Nerf style.
Looks like it was big dino v. the little guys.
Who knows what they'll be up to tonight?
Rosetta has been circling the comet for a few weeks now, honing in on the best place for its little lander to touch down. The ESA just released a great animated short about that landing. If successful, it will be a spaceflight first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvkPFXdpOQQ&feature=youtu.be
Why bother landing on a comet? Well, as the ESA points out in a FAQ about the Rosetta mission, "Comets are of great interest to scientists because, to our knowledge, they are the oldest, most primitive bodies in the Solar System, preserving the earliest record of material from the nebula out of which our Sun and planets were formed. Planets have gone through chemical transformations, but comets have remained almost unchanged. Furthermore, comets brought ‘volatile’ light elements to the planets and likely played an important role in forming oceans and atmospheres. Comets also carry complex organic molecules that may have been involved in the origin of life on Earth."
Sounds like compelling reasons to visit a comet to us!
Rosetta will deploy Philae on November 11 at 11:35 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Confirmation of the landing is expected to arrive at ground stations around 8:03 PST the following morning.
Here's a (non cartoon) summary of the mission so far. ...
http://youtu.be/IiEjQSNUiG4
All this comet landing talk had us excited, and we decided to try our own comet landings. The practice was made possible by an online, interactive BBC game. Check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29746430
ORBITAL UPDATE: Last week we watched Orbital Sciences Corporation's rocket explode shortly after lift off in Wallops, Virginia, a spectacularly failed resupply and science mission to the International Space Station.
When it was determined the rocket was heading off course, range safety officers detonated the vehicle. It wasn't the kind of rocket fire we expected to see that day, that's for sure.
Word about the root of the trouble is starting to trickle out. An Orbital press release yesterday pointed to "a probable turbopump-related failure in one of the two Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ26 stage one main engines." Given that, Orbital expects to discontinue use of these engines for the Antares vehicle. A Reuters article we read yesterday pointed out that mothballing the Soviet-era rocket engines Orbital has been using, leaves them with three options - two U.S. launch providers and one in Europe.
Somehow, I just can't quite picture competitor SpaceX selling Orbital a rocket engine ...
Despite the trouble, Orbital said in a press release they plan on fulfilling its contract commitments under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program as well as to accelerate an upgrade of the Antares medium-class launcher’s main propulsion system.
MASKED: Our art and language arts enrichment today included reading the November 2014 issue of Scholastic Art. It's a wonderful little magazine, full of gorgeous photos and examples of art from around the world. The November issue is all about masks - from artistic gas masks to carved African masks to cast metal headpieces from India, mosaic Mexican masks and more. There was also a 'Great Art Jobs' profile of John Piper, a production designer who works on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons.
COOKED: Today, Christian had a chili cook off at work. It became a bit of a family project. The kids helped me shop for ingredients yesterday, we assembled it all last night, and Annabelle even made a cute sign for his entry.
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