Published by Kate at August 17, 2009 9:00 pm under Story
By Kate Hennessy
Today I stumbled upon the humbling realisation that I had a lot to learn, professionally, from school-children.
Astronaut, Megan McArthur. Image: NASA
Megan fields some excellent questions at Google HQ today.
I was one in their midst at Google HQ in Pyrmont this morning, listening, agog, as NASA astronaut Megan McArthur talked about working in space. Megan had fronted up in her blue NASA overalls, there to talk primarily about the fifth and final servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope she worked on in May this year.
Published by Kate at August 12, 2009 10:30 am under Story
By Kate Hennessy
It’s in what’s called “the habitable zone” and astronomers believe it’s a candidate for life.
A planet called Gliese 581 d. Eight times the size of Earth, 20 light years away and innocently orbiting its host star whilst messages from Earth (and from YOU!) zoom towards it.
Yes, that’s right. If you’re one of those folk who’ve always yearned to communicate with ETs – here’s your chance. Hello from Earth launches this morning, giving you 160 characters to sculpt your own personal communique to a planet where alien life is possible.
Messages will be collected via the Hello from Earth website until 5pm on August 24 as part of National Science Week, then beamed from the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla.
Since Gliese 581 d is 20 light years away, messages will arrive by around 2029. The first message to be transmitted will be from Senator Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.
Senator Carr, who admits he was fascinated with the stars as a child, will say in his message …
Published by Kate at August 11, 2009 10:33 pm under Story
By Jon Lomberg
10 days of science is thoroughly excited to introduce renowned ‘astronomy-inspired’ artist Jon Lomberg as its special new guest blogger.
Thirty-two years ago something extraordinary happened to me.
It was August 20, 1977 and I was sitting in the viewing stands at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. I was watching the launch of NASA’s Voyager 2 mission to the outer solar system and beyond. Atop the Titan Centaur rocket, the shiny and new Voyager spacecraft was inside the nose of the launch vehicle, packaged as carefully as a Ming vase (though worth a thousand times more!)
Jon Lomberg in 1979 standing next to a replica of the Voyager spacecraft at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Wrapped in its protective cocoon, the spacecraft awaited its fate.
Published by david at July 17, 2009 5:11 pm under Story
By David Finnigan
I’ve been crouched on the internet all morning listening to the gentle crackle of radio static between NASA Headquarters and the Apollo 11 mission.
Occasionally the fuzz is interrupted by Apollo’s astronauts discussing the merits of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a strangely soothing sound yet, in just 59 hours, the Lunar Module will descend to the surface of the Moon.
Lunchtime on Apollo 11. Image: NASA
Yes, it’s 2009, and what’s going on is this: I have a window of my browser tuned to We Choose The Moon, the JFK Presidential Library’s interactive website recreating Apollo 11’s lunar mission, minute by minute, with archival audio, video, photos and “real-time” transmissions. Everything is dated 40 years to the minute after the actual 1969 event, with touchdown scheduled for July 20, 2009.
