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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
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Danish Rocketeers Seek to Fly 2 June 2011
International media is reporting that Copenhagen Suborbitals has set a launch window of June 1-5,2011 with a target launch time set for June 2, 2011 of their spacecraft delayed last year. More from Parabolic Arc,Popular Science and Geekosystem. Spaceports Blog noted the September 2010 launch abort.
Atlantis on Roll to Launch Pad Tonight
STS-135 Atlantis Moves To Launch Pad May 31 For Final Shuttle Launch
STS-134 Commander Tribute to Endeavour
STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly pays tribute to space shuttle Endeavour and the spacecraft's contribution to human spaceflight. Mission specialists Andrew Feustel, Mike Fincke, Roberto Vittori, Greg Chamitoff and Pilot Greg Johnson also share their thoughts and impressions of Endeavour.
Agate Close Ups
I was supposed to go hiking yesterday, but plans changed so I didn't get a chance to get out. So today I'll include some agate pictures.
The first photos were emailed to me by Paul Bledsoe from South Dakota. He is finding these Fairburn agates by extracting them from limestone matrix.
Here are a few shots taken by the photographer for my new agate book, Tom Shearer. By the way, if any of you rockhounds need to hire Tom to take pictures of your favorite agates or rocks, send me an email at karen@agatelady.com and I'll facilitate the connection with Tom.
This first picture is not labelled, but I think it is a Lake Superior agate.
This next photo is a Black River agate from Argentina.
This is a shot of a Condor agate from Argentina.
The first photos were emailed to me by Paul Bledsoe from South Dakota. He is finding these Fairburn agates by extracting them from limestone matrix.
Here are a few shots taken by the photographer for my new agate book, Tom Shearer. By the way, if any of you rockhounds need to hire Tom to take pictures of your favorite agates or rocks, send me an email at karen@agatelady.com and I'll facilitate the connection with Tom.
This first picture is not labelled, but I think it is a Lake Superior agate.
This next photo is a Black River agate from Argentina.
This is a shot of a Condor agate from Argentina.
the greek island of Ios
a few weeks ago i met several friends on the greek island of ios. what an amazing place for a reunion!
we rented scooters to explore the remote places of the island. following the 4-wheelers on the deserted roads made it feel like a real life game of mario cart!
the sunsets and the views were incredible.
at this beautiful place i ate one of the tastiest and most memorable meals of my life.
we realized one evening when asked at a restaurant that we were a group of 12 friends from 10 different countries.
thank you friends. not sure when i'll see you again, but those were some good times!
we rented scooters to explore the remote places of the island. following the 4-wheelers on the deserted roads made it feel like a real life game of mario cart!
the sunsets and the views were incredible.
at this beautiful place i ate one of the tastiest and most memorable meals of my life.
we realized one evening when asked at a restaurant that we were a group of 12 friends from 10 different countries.
thank you friends. not sure when i'll see you again, but those were some good times!
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Monday, May 30, 2011
Cosmonauts turn Diplomats in China
Russian Cosmonauts Jury Lonchakov and Maxim Suraev recently turned diplomats in China and were greeted as space heros with flowers and smiles in China.
Relativistic Phase Displacement Space Drive - Warping Space Time: Phased Standing Waves
A video by Moacir L. Ferreira Jr. providing an explanation about a relativistic space propulsion system which uses a lattice/matrix of Phase Displacement Space Drives, producing crisscrossing pattern of Phased Standing Waves, to generate a sequence of spinning waves for causing a FTL moving force, in order to warp spacetime, enabling fast interstellar travel in an energy-efficient way.
Sunset, Driftwood, and Miscellaneous Nature Photos
I still have not made time to go down to the beach to catch a sunset, but here is another view of the after-glow from my house.
More evidence of spring....
From a distance this growth on the end of a tree overhanging Sable River looked like a face...
These shelf fungi were the biggest I have ever seen. The middle one was almost 8 inches in width.
These little mushrooms were only 2 1/2 inches across.
While I was walking along the bay the other night, I used me camera's zoom to catch the fishing action on the breakwater.
One of the home owners along the bay used a piece of driftwood for decoration.
Endeavour and Space Station Fly In Tandem
The space shuttle Endeavour and the international space station soared through the night sky side-by-side last night following the undocking at 11:55 p.m. EDT Sunday evening, May 29, 2011, ending a stay of 11 days, 17 hours and 41 minutes at the orbiting laboratory. The undocking providing eraly morning Earthly viewers a unique and rare double-flyby scene.
The space shuttle Endeavour is on its last voyage to space. The next to last space shuttle flight is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center at 1:35 a.m. EDT on Wednesday morning June 1, 2011.
The space shuttle Endeavour is on its last voyage to space. The next to last space shuttle flight is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center at 1:35 a.m. EDT on Wednesday morning June 1, 2011.
Blog Readers Prefer Mawrth Vallis for Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Landing Site
The Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity" is nearing a launch date and with it scientists are deciciding which our four candidate landing sites the mission will focus. Some 52% of the Spaceports readers selected Mawrth Vallis. A public announcement on the final landing site decision is expected soon.
Mawrth Vallis is a valley on Mars with an ancient water outflow channel with light-colored clay-rich rocks. It was formed in and subsequently covered by layered rocks, from beneath which it is now being exhumed.
The Mawrth Vallis region holds special interest because of the presence of phyllosilicate (clay) minerals which form only if water is available, first identified in data from the OMEGA spectrometer on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars has identified aluminium-rich and iron-rich clays, each with a unique distribution. Some of the clays recently discovered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are montmorillonite and kaolinite, and nontronite.
Clays minerals easily preserve microscopic life on Earth, so perhaps traces of ancient life may be found at Mawrth.
Mawrth Vallis is a valley on Mars with an ancient water outflow channel with light-colored clay-rich rocks. It was formed in and subsequently covered by layered rocks, from beneath which it is now being exhumed.
The Mawrth Vallis region holds special interest because of the presence of phyllosilicate (clay) minerals which form only if water is available, first identified in data from the OMEGA spectrometer on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars has identified aluminium-rich and iron-rich clays, each with a unique distribution. Some of the clays recently discovered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are montmorillonite and kaolinite, and nontronite.
Clays minerals easily preserve microscopic life on Earth, so perhaps traces of ancient life may be found at Mawrth.
Overview of James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope is the next in the line of NASA's Great Observatories, a scientific successor to both the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. This space observatory will see the first galaxies to form in the universe, and explore how stars are born and give rise to planetary systems. It will study exoplanets, investigating their potential for life.
JWST is optimized to detect infrared light, using a segmeted mirror more than 6 m in diameter and operating a million miles away in the cold, dark environment of Earth's Lagrange 2 point. It will carry four science instruments covering wavelengths from 0.6 to 28 microns.
In the video talk linked above, Dr. Heidi B. Hammel (JWST Interdisciplinary Scientist) reviewed JWST's scientific objectives, its hardware and technology development, and the predicted system performance. She also provided an overview of the review of JWST that was commissioned by Congress, and discuss the current status of the project.
JWST is optimized to detect infrared light, using a segmeted mirror more than 6 m in diameter and operating a million miles away in the cold, dark environment of Earth's Lagrange 2 point. It will carry four science instruments covering wavelengths from 0.6 to 28 microns.
In the video talk linked above, Dr. Heidi B. Hammel (JWST Interdisciplinary Scientist) reviewed JWST's scientific objectives, its hardware and technology development, and the predicted system performance. She also provided an overview of the review of JWST that was commissioned by Congress, and discuss the current status of the project.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Atlantis to Roll to Launch Pad Tue., May 31
The four astronauts for the final space shuttle mission, STS-135, will answer reporters' questions at 8:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 31, as shuttle Atlantis is moved to its launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The question-and-answer session will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.STS-135 Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim will take questions outside Kennedy's news center while Atlantis moves in the background from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to Launch Pad 39A.
Atlantis' first motion out of the VAB is scheduled for 8 p.m. NASA TV will provide live video of the start of the move, known as rollout, and then switch to the crew media event.
Kepler Telescope Data Details Galaxy
NASA's Kepler mission has discovered its first Earth-size planet candidates and its first candidates in the habitable zone, a region where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. Five of the potential planets are near Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of smaller, cooler stars than our sun.
Shuttle Crew Says Farewell, Closes Hatches
At 7:23 a.m. Sunday, hatches were closed between Endeavour and the station 12 days, 22 hours and 27 minutes into the mission. The hatches between the two spacecraft were opened at 7:38 a.m. on May 18 and were open for joint crew operations for a total of 10 days, 23 hours, and 45 minutes.
pendulum waves
this video of a series of swinging pendulums of different lengths is a lot cooler than i thought it would be! the time it takes for a pendulum to go through one swing back and forth (its "period") gets longer as the string length grows. longer string = longer period.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Watch Live IPL Final Match Online For Free
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Pictured Rocks Chapel Loop Hike -- Post 2
Here are the second group of pictures from the Pictured Rocks hike.
From Chapel Beach we walked out and around Grand Portal Point.
We had intended on having lunch at Grand Portal Point, but it was too windy. We continued walking west and finally found an upper level beach that was out of the wind.
The red arrow shows our lunch spot.
The seagulls were every where.
The rocky cliffs are forever breaking away and eroding.
Mosquito Beach....
Mosquito Falls....
From Chapel Beach we walked out and around Grand Portal Point.
We had intended on having lunch at Grand Portal Point, but it was too windy. We continued walking west and finally found an upper level beach that was out of the wind.
The red arrow shows our lunch spot.
The seagulls were every where.
The rocky cliffs are forever breaking away and eroding.
Mosquito Beach....
Mosquito Falls....
brownies in oranges
this year i decided not to have a birthday cake and instead made birthday brownies in oranges! i first got the idea from the cooking for geeks book that i won for the pluto video at dotAstronomy last month! i combined this with a slightly modified version of a brownie recipe from a moosewood cookbook... and voila!
to do this, chop the tops off of several oranges, cut around the edges and scoop out the insides. i used some full sized oranges and cut along the edge where the pulp meets the pith (the white parts), then cut two diagonals along the center and scooped out the edible stuff with a spoon. the juices resulted in a fabulous glass of oranges juice, but the few easy-peel oranges i used were much easier to gut.
make your favorite brownie recipe, or brownie mix from a box, and fill up each orange skin to within 1 centimeter from the top.
place in baking sheets and bake at ~350 degrees fahrenheit (~165 degrees celcius) for ~30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. i ended up cooking mine for almost an hour which worried me, but they ended up tasting fine and quite fudge-like throughout!
definitely keep some of the pulp inside the orange peel if possible because it keeps the brownies moist and tasting of orange! when we arrived home from dinner, the whole place smelled of chocolate oranges. yum!
to do this, chop the tops off of several oranges, cut around the edges and scoop out the insides. i used some full sized oranges and cut along the edge where the pulp meets the pith (the white parts), then cut two diagonals along the center and scooped out the edible stuff with a spoon. the juices resulted in a fabulous glass of oranges juice, but the few easy-peel oranges i used were much easier to gut.
make your favorite brownie recipe, or brownie mix from a box, and fill up each orange skin to within 1 centimeter from the top.
place in baking sheets and bake at ~350 degrees fahrenheit (~165 degrees celcius) for ~30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. i ended up cooking mine for almost an hour which worried me, but they ended up tasting fine and quite fudge-like throughout!
definitely keep some of the pulp inside the orange peel if possible because it keeps the brownies moist and tasting of orange! when we arrived home from dinner, the whole place smelled of chocolate oranges. yum!
Friday, May 27, 2011
EVA4 Caps Flight Day 12 Highlights
The last spacewalk of the space shuttle program was conducted today at the International Space Station.
Paolo Nespoli Talks Soyuz Re-Entry
After more than 5 months in space, Paolo Nespoli talks about with the media in a joint ESA/ASI press conference about the Soyuz capsule re-entry experience, from Houston, Texas. Nespoli also discussed about his space station experience.
Pictured Rocks Chapel Looop Hike -- Post 1
Yesterday three friends and I hiked the 9.8 mile Chapel Loop in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Temperatures were in the high 30s to start with 15-25 mph winds, but it was sunny. Helen from Marquette, Wendy from Grand Marais, and my friend, Clare, who is visiting from Colorado joined me for the glorious hike.
We headed north out of the Chapel Area Parking Lot toward Chapel Falls.
Flowers along Chapel River. I think these are Marsh Marigolds.
From the falls we continued north to Chapel Rock. It is amazing to me with all the incredible storms that we have had as of late that the tree is still standing. What a survivor with its main roots free-spanning it over to the "mainland."
Here are shots of all four of us on Chapel Beach. First me, nicknamed Kaibab Cairn.
Then Clare, also nicknamed the "Colorado Connection," or CC for short.
Then Wendy, nicknamed Gwen Canyon.
Then Helen, nicknamed Kanyon Kelly, or KK for short.
The waves were just pounding the rocks....
We left Chapel Beach and started heading west around Grand Portal Point. From a distance my friends could see Spray Falls. I was not able to see the falls with the unaided eye, but with the telephoto on my camera.....
Here is a shot of "Battleship Row" lining the east side of the trail on the way to Grand Portal Point.
We headed north out of the Chapel Area Parking Lot toward Chapel Falls.
Flowers along Chapel River. I think these are Marsh Marigolds.
From the falls we continued north to Chapel Rock. It is amazing to me with all the incredible storms that we have had as of late that the tree is still standing. What a survivor with its main roots free-spanning it over to the "mainland."
Then Clare, also nicknamed the "Colorado Connection," or CC for short.
Then Wendy, nicknamed Gwen Canyon.
Then Helen, nicknamed Kanyon Kelly, or KK for short.
The waves were just pounding the rocks....
We left Chapel Beach and started heading west around Grand Portal Point. From a distance my friends could see Spray Falls. I was not able to see the falls with the unaided eye, but with the telephoto on my camera.....
Here is a shot of "Battleship Row" lining the east side of the trail on the way to Grand Portal Point.
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