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Worlds Without End Blog

Falcon Heavy Launch Imminent Posted at 4:47 PM by Rico Simpkins

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UPDATE: The launch has been scrubbed for today (April 10) due to high wind shear in the upper atmosphere. Dang bomb cyclone! It is now (as of this edit) scheduled for tomorrow, April 11, at 6:35 EST. 

SpaceX is launching its Falcon Heavy tonight at 6:35PM as of this posting. Of course, it could go later in the evening or even be scrubbed. At any rate, it appears that the livestream of the event starts around 6:35 on the East Coast. You can see the event here:

Fun fact: Not only will be the first time a Falcon Heavy has launched with a commercial payload (Arabsat-6A), it will also be the first Heavy to use all Bloc 5 boosters.

Solar FREAKIN’ Roadways! Posted at 12:15 PM by Dave Post

Dave Post

We’re living in a sci-fi world… or at least, we could be.  I don’t know how I missed this but I don’t want you to.  It’s freakin’ brilliant!  These folks have an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for further development and you have 9 days to contribute to our sci-fi future.

MAVEN to launch any minute now! Posted at 11:57 AM by Rico Simpkins

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Live streaming video by Ustream

The MAVEN launch is happening now (as of this posting, of course). Above is the live feed. MAVEN is the Mars orbiter that is going to find out why Mars lost all that water. It’s rather important that it launches relatively soon, as that rather big storm that caused trouble in Illinois is pushing winds toward Florida. If NASA misses its window, MAVEN will have to wait two more years before Mars gets close enough to try again.

Good luck, MAVEN!

Java the Cup Posted at 1:25 PM by Rico Simpkins

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Like most WWEnders, I want to go to space.  It doesn’t have to be now, which is good, because who can afford the $20 million that it takes today?  Some day, however, a journey to low Earth orbit will cost considerably less.  When that happens, I want to stay up there for as long as feasible.  Because the primary cost of such a trip will be the journey itself, I figure that the length of the trip will matter much less.  It costs a lot less to stay there than to get there, after all.  That got me to thinking what any red blooded American would think.  If we’re going to be up there for days or weeks at a time, how are we going to get a good cup of joe? We have to be ready.

Here’s my plan, so far:

Read the rest of this entry »

Mars Descent in Beautiful HD Posted at 3:49 PM by Rico Simpkins

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Remember that very cool, but highly pixelated postage stamp sized video of the heat shield separating from our latest Mars lander?  It didn’t look so crappy because NASA couldn’t afford good cameras.  Rather, they didn’t have the bandwidth to send all those frames on the first day.  Several dozen MRO, Mars Express, and Odyssey pass bys later, we have a spectacular HD video.

Make sure you maximize this video before watching it.  Better yet, port it to your television.  It’s THAT awesome.

Addled by the Adler Posted at 1:31 PM by Rico Simpkins

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Those of you who are attending this year’s Worldcon in Chicago probably already know about the opening night event at the Adler Planetarium.  If you don’t, then maybe this news will be enough to entice you to come join us.  If you do attend, please come visit us at the fan tables section!  In the meantime, enjoy this little video I found about the attraction.  Although the Adler is stuffed with state-of-the-art shows and interactive exhibits, the main attraction to me is the history of the building itself.  It is the oldest planetarium in North America, and has an impressive collection of antique observational equipment.  Steampunk fans, rejoice!

From the Chicon 7 web site:

Chicago, Illinois, USA – Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”), will offer its members a spectacular opening night event at the Adler Planetarium.

On Thursday, August 30, Chicon 7 will be taking over the Adler Planetarium for an evening reception for convention members. This exclusive event will run from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m., during which time the museum will be closed to the general public.

During the reception, Chicon members can view the museum exhibits. In addition, the Grainger Sky Theater will be running the show “The Searcher” every 30 minutes. This show was written by Nick Sagan (son of astronomer Carl Sagan) and follows the story of a visitor from another galaxy as he searches for his lost civilization. It features stunning visualizations of the formation of our universe, the collision of galaxies, a spectacular supernova explosion, and a supermassive black hole. (Seating in the theater is limited, so there will be a $5 charge for admission to this performance.) Weather permitting, the museum will also host a sky-viewing session on its exterior deck, with telescopes and docents provided to members so they can see the wonders waiting in the night sky.

Museum campus parking will be available, and shuttle buses will run between the Adler Planetarium and the Hyatt Regency throughout the evening.

About the Adler Planetarium:

The Adler Planetarium was the first modern planetarium in the Western Hemisphere and first opened to the public on May 12, 1930. The museum houses extensive exhibits on space science including one of the world’s most important antique astronomical instrument collections. The Adler is also a recognized leader in science education, with a focus on inspiring young minds to pursue careers in science. The museum sits on the extreme edge of Chicago’s “museum campus” and is located on an artificial island.

Curiosity Advances Science Fact, Tomorrow Posted at 11:27 PM by Rico Simpkins

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If, like us, you plan to stay up bleary-eyed, watching Curiosity land and deploy on the surface of Mars, you may want to catch up on what it is you’ll be watching for.

We’ve all probably read about the seven minutes of terror, during which the rover will be perilously hurtling toward the planet surface, hopefully decelerating to a gentle landing.  When those seven minutes are over, we should be getting information from several sources. MSNBC describes the three different ways Curiosity will communicate with Earth:

Controllers on Earth will have three ways of hailing Curiosity as it trundles around Gale Crater. Two are direct links through NASA’s Deep Space Network, a worldwide collection of antennas. It provides both a fixed low-gain antenna, best for basic commands and emergencies, and a pointable high-gain antenna for complex commands.

Curiosity also has a higher-speed ultra-high frequency (UHF) communications system that can send signals to spacecraft orbiting Mars, which in turn would relay them to Earth.

To send back imagery, Curiosity must stay in touch with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey spacecraft, two probes orbiting Mars that each can talk to the rover twice a day. (Odyssey is currently recovering from the loss of one of its three reaction wheels.)

Business Insider scored a geektastic inventory of Curiosity’s space-age toolset:

For two of these special instruments, NASA turned to Honeybee Robotics, a development firm headquartered in Manhattan. Building on previous work for the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, Honeybee developed the Sample Manipulation System (SMS) and the Dust Removal Tool (DRT). These tools are critical to investigating Mars’ ability to sustain life — in the past and present.  

Natalie Wolchover, of the The Christian Science Monitor, wonders whether we might be visiting distant relatives:

If life exists on Mars, then we might be ethnic Martians ourselves, scientists told Life’s Little Mysteries. They explained that the small coincidence of having two life-bearing planets right next door to one another gets cleared up if one of the planets actually seeded life on the other — a concept called “panspermia.” According to Pavlov, hundreds of thousands of Martian meteorites are strewn across Earth. These were hurled into space during past planetary collisions (such as the bash that left Mars with a crater covering nearly half its surface). One of these chunks of Mars could feasibly have contained spores that lay dormant during the interplanetary commute to Earth, and then blossomed upon arrival, some 3.8 billion years ago.

The main event should happen around 12:31 p.m. Central Standard Time. The NASA webcast starts at 8:30 p.m. PDT on NASA TV.  If you want to be twitter friends with the rover (who wouldn’t!) follow @MarsCuriosity on Twitter (while there, follow us, @WWEnd).

We Stopped Dreaming Posted at 8:17 PM by Rico Simpkins

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SpaceX’s Dragon Spacecraft Connects to the International Space Station Posted at 9:15 PM by Rico Simpkins

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Watch live streaming video from spaceflightnow at livestream.com

Skynet Has Infiltrated the Past Posted at 7:55 PM by Jonathan McDonald

jynnantonnyx

Remember learning in school about how the Middle Ages were a time without intelligence, technology or a sense of humor? Consider the curious case of Juanelo Turriano’s (AD 1500-1585) mechanical monk, described here by Elizabeth King:

Slowly the monk comes to life. He turns his head to single out one among the company. Left foot stepping forth from under the cassock hem, then right foot, the monk advances in the direction of his gaze, raising the crucifix and rosary before him as he walks. His eyes move: turning his head, he looks to the raised cross and back to his subject. His mouth opens, then closes, affording a glimpse of teeth and interior. He bends his right arm and with the gathered fingers of his hand he strikes his breast. The small blow is audible. And now he is lowering and turning his head as he walks: the elbow and shoulder in synchronized motion he brings the cross higher, up to his lips, and kisses it. Thirty seconds into the act, he’s taken eight steps, beat his chest three times, kissed the cross, and traveled a distance of twenty inches. At what seems like the last moment—for doubtless the subject of his attention has backed away from the table’s edge—he looks away, arms still aloft, executes a turn to his right, and makes a new appointment. He will make seven such turns and advances in his campaign if the mainspring has been fully wound. The uninterrupted repetition corresponds exactly to a trance-like performance of prayer, incantation.

Found at The Lion and the Cardinal.