Galactic Suites Space Hotel

Galactic Suites, the first space hotel, is scheduled to open in 2012, a scant 5 years from now. For the low, low price of $4 million you get an unbelievable 3 night stay in outer space.During that time guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and use Velcro suits to crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman. Throw in one of those Las Vegas style directories of intergalactic three-hootered space hookers, and you can count this guy in (and $3,999,984.25 short on payment). Why’s it got to be about them making money, why can’t it be about me makin’ space love?

MIT designs sleek, skintight spacesuit

The folks at MIT have developed a new space suit to allow greater mobility for astronauts called the BioSuit. They expect to have it ready for use in about ten years, and it would be invaluable for missions to someplace like Mars, where current spacesuits are just too bulky.Newman’s prototype suit is a revolutionary departure from the traditional model. Instead of using gas pressurization, which exerts a force on the astronaut’s body to protect it from the vacuum of space, the suit relies on mechanical counter-pressure, which involves wrapping tight layers of material around the body. The trick is to make a suit that is skintight but stretches with the body, allowing freedom of movement.

Key to their design is the pattern of lines on the suit, which correspond to lines of non-extension (lines on the skin that don’t extend when you move your leg). Those lines provide a stiff “skeleton” of structural support, while providing maximal mobility.This thing looks like it was pulled out of a cartoon. If they actually get it to work it’ll completely change the way I look at astronauts. Namely with more boners.

Night owls make the most of the meteors

The Perseids are among the most reliable of the year’s cosmic fireworks displays. In mid-August, Earth passes through a stream of grit left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle in its eccentric 130-year orbit. Flecks of debris burn up as they pass through the atmosphere, at a height of about 60 miles, producing streaks of light — and sometimes leaving behind glowing trails that fade into the night.

 

Astronomers have calculated that Earth will pass through the thickest part of the stream this year around 2 a.m. ET Monday. Theoretically, you could see a meteor or two every minute if you’re watching under optimal viewing conditions at that time.

 

The viewing conditions are what make the difference between a dazzling sky spectacle and a disappointing letdown. This year, the Perseids reach their peak when the moon is completely out of the night sky — which means the meteoric fireworks are facing no competition from the moon’s glare. But that advantage doesn’t do you any good unless you find a clear stretch of sky, far away from the glare of city lights.

 

That’s why I, like the Hornes, traveled more than 80 miles from home in the cloudy Seattle area to Cle Elum in central Washington state. I just happened to spot the Hornes’ truck as I was driving along a country road, and found some unexpectedly good company for Sunday morning’s wee hours.

 

Meteor-watchers have already been filing early reviews on the Meteorobs discussion forum. Some say the Perseids are more than living up to their promise: “This morning presented one of the most impressive skies I have seen,” Robert Lunsford, operations manager for the American Meteor Society, reported from California. “I jumped out of the truck and said WOW.”

 

Other reviews are less glowing: In Oregon, Wesley Stone said Saturday’s display was “nothing to write home about, but nothing to sneeze at, either.”

 

That’s all the more reason to be prepared if you take on your own meteor quest Sunday night or early Monday. Here are my top 10 tips:

• Between sunset and midnight is the best time to look for “Earthgrazers” — seldom-seen but spectacularly long-lived meteors that zoom through the atmosphere near the horizon. It’s also prime time for spotting the international space station as it passes overhead like an ultra-high-flying jet. NASA lists sighting opportunities for locations around the globe.
• All meteor showers are best seen between midnight and dawn, because that’s when Earth is turning directly into the oncoming stream of debris. The projected meteor count rises as the night wears on, all the way up to morning twilight. To get an idea how the night will develop, check out NASA’s Java-based Fluxtimator.
• Where should you go? You’ll want to get out in the country if possible, and make sure the skies are clear. The best online tool for finding such places is the Clear Sky Clock, which graphically shows predicted conditions in astronomical hot spots around the globe.  That’s how I came up with Cle Elum.
• Check around for special viewing events sponsored by the astronomy club in your area. The Clear Sky Clock may link directly to the right club, or you can consult the Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s club listing.
• If you’re heading out into the country, bring something to lie down on, and something to wrap up in if it gets cold. Meteors are best observed when you’re on your back, taking in as much of the sky as possible. Perseid meteors appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus (hence the name), but they can appear anywhere in the sky.
• To get around in the dark, bring a flashlight. It’s better if you put a red filter over the flashlight lens — that way, you preserve your night vision. Give your eyes at least 15 minutes to get used to the dark.
• My indispensable meteor-watching aids also include a thermos of hot coffee — to keep me warm while I watch, and alert for the drive back home.
• Don’t obsess too much over how many meteors you see. The “meteor-per-minute” estimate is just an average for peak conditions. Sometimes one streak follows another after only 15 seconds. But sometimes several minutes pass between sightings.
• While you’re watching, don’t ignore the other sights of the night. Take the opportunity to learn some of the basic constellations. The planet Jupiter is visible during the early part of the night. Later, if you look below the Pleiades star cluster in eastern skies, you should be able to spot Mars as a bright butterscotch star. The Heavens Above Web site is a good resource for such sky lore.
• Although the Perseids reach their peak late Sunday and early Monday, you can still catch replays of the show on succeeding nights. Astronomers say another meteor shower, known as the Aurigids, should build to a rarely seen crescendo on Sept. 1 this year. Then there are the Orionids in October, and the Leonids in November, and the Geminids in December, and so on. … Meteor Showers Online provides the whole schedule.

 

NASA adds 3 days, 4th spacewalk to shuttle mission

Washington – The ongoing of the US space shuttle Endeavour at the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) has been extended by three days, the US space agency NASA announced Sunday.

 

The revised schedule has allowed a fourth, extra spacewalk by shuttle astronauts on Friday.

 

The decision was made after the successful operation of a new electricity hookup allowing the shuttle to draw power from the ISS. The Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System allows the Endeavour crew to conserve the shuttle’s battery power.

 

Under the new schedule, the shuttle mission will now be 14 days in orbit. Endeavour is to decouple from the space station on August 20 and to land on August 22.

 

After completing a spacewalk Saturday to install a trust on the expanding ISS, the shuttle crew spend Sunday conducting an inspection of Endeavour’s heat-shielding tiles.

 

Astronauts used a camera system mounted on the shuttle’s robotic arm to study the underside for possible damage inflicted during Wednesday’s takeoff. NASA teams at mission control in Houston are studying images from the shuttle.

 

Initial concerns about one damaged spot on Endeavour’s underside seem to have faded. A final decision about possible repair efforts or other actions was expected by Monday, when the second scheduled spacewalk is expected.

 

Mission specialists Dave Williams and Rick Mastracchio are to replace a faulty ISS gyroscopic control.

Spitzer Finds Evidence for Planets with Four Parents

How many stars does it take to “raise” a planet? In our own solar system, it took only one — our sun. However, new research from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope shows that planets might be forming in systems with as many as four stars.

This artist’s concept illustrates one such quadruple-star system, called HD 98800. The system is still relatively young, at 10 million years old. One of its two pairs of stars is known to be circled by a dusty disk, which contains materials that are thought to clump together to form planets. When Spitzer set its infrared gaze on the disk, it detected gaps. How did the gaps get there? One possible answer is that planets are growing in size and carving out lanes in the dust.

Spitzer found two gaps in the disk. The inner gap is about as far away from its central stars as Mars and the asteroid belt are from our sun. The outer gap is about as far away from its central stars as Jupiter is from the sun.

HD 98800 is located 150 light-years away in the constellation TW Hydrae.

The Sun Loses its Spots. Maybe it’s the Calm Before the Storm !

While sidewalks crackle in the summer heat, NASA scientists are keeping a close eye on the sun. It is almost spotless, a sign that the Sun may have reached solar minimum. Scientists are now watching for the first spot of the new solar cycle to appear.
The 11 year long solar cycle is marked by two extremes, solar minimum and solar maximum. Solar minimum is the period of least solar activity in the solar cycle of the sun. During this time sunspot and solar flare activity diminishes, and often does not occur for days at a time.
When spots begin to appear on the sun once again, scientists know that the sun is heading into a new season of extreme solar activity. At the cycle’s peak, solar maximum, the sun is continually peppered with spots, solar flares erupt, and the sun hurls billion-ton clouds of electrified gas into space.
Solar maximum is often compared to the hurricane season here on Earth. Violent solar events, like flares and coronal mass ejections, are the hurricanes of space weather. These solar storms are capable of wreaking havoc with satellites, power grids, and radio communication, including the Global Positioning System.
NOAA’s Space Environment Center, Boulder CO, forecasts that the next solar cycle should begin in March 2008 and should peak in late 2011 or mid 2012.

 

Echoes from the Edge

Variable star V838 Monocerotis lies near the edge of our Milky Way Galaxy, about 20,000 light-years from our sun. Still, ever since a sudden outburst was detected in January 2002, this enigmatic star has taken the center of an astronomical stage. As astronomers watch, light from the outburst echoes across pre-existing dust shells around V838 Mon, progressively illuminating ever more distant regions.

This stunning image of swirls of dust surrounding the star was recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope in September 2006. The picture spans about 14 light-years. Astronomers expect the expanding echoes to continue to light up the dusty environs of V838 Mon for at least the rest of the current decade. Researchers have now found that V838 Mon is likely a young binary star, but the cause of its extraordinary outburst remains a mystery.