More James Cameron news: Harry of AICN has a wide-ranging conversation with the director which, if you can get past the usual Knowlesisms, reveals that Project 880 is in fact Avatar, and that Cameron has been working with NASA on a “Live Video Stereo Motion Image” (3-D) camera for the next Mars Rover.
Tag: The Solar System
A “Lunar Armada.”
The LA Times examines the beginnings of the second lunar space race, which will involve, among others, the US, Europe, China, and India. “Some researchers even have a name for the first lunar city: Jamestown, in honor of the first English settlement in the New World.“
Stardust Memories / Pluto by Plutonium.
I’ve been extremely derelict in my space coverage around here lately. So, as a quick catch-up: Welcome back, Stardust, and Godspeed, New Horizons.
The Moon and Beyond.
“To become a multiplanet species, we must master the skills of extracting local resources, build our capability to journey and explore in hostile regions, and create new reservoirs of human culture and experience. That long journey begins on the moon — the staging ground, supply station and classroom for our voyage into the universe.” Astrophysicist Paul Sputig eloquently makes the case for a return to manned lunar exploration.
Gravity’s Rainbow.
“Suppose the asteroid is traveling 60,000 miles per hour. You want to make it 60,001.” Concerned by the possible 2036 impact of 99942 Apophis, two clever NASA astronauts have developed a tractor beam of sorts to pull asteroids off a possible collision course. Namely, send a relatively small (20-ton) ion-powered spacecraft to intercept and hover near the offending asteroid, and then let gravity work its mojo. “Even as the spacecraft counters the asteroid’s gravity, he said, its own gravity will pull the asteroid out of orbit.”
Here’s a little ghost for the offering.
Space Adventures, the firm behind Dennis Tito’s 2001 trip to the ISS, is looking for two takers for a $100 million moonshot. Well, that’s a pretty penny and no mistake. But if they’re forced to switch to a lottery system to procure the necessary funds, I’d buy a ticket or three.
Martian H20 and Planet X?
Some intriguing new finds right here in our neighborhood: The ESA posts some very nice images of a frozen Martian lake, and astronomers have found a large object (and its moon) orbiting our sun outside Pluto.
Say Cheese.
Via a friend in the program, Google maps the moon to commemorate the 36th anniversary of Apollo 11.
The Rocket’s Red Glare.
In a day of fireworks the nation over, the most intriguing flash-bang occurred 83 million miles away, with the successful crashing of NASA’s Deep Impact into Tempel 1. (Space.com has gathered together the best pics from the big show.)
Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Twenty-eight years into its tour of the universe, Voyager I reaches the edge of the solar system. “[P]roject scientists, working from models of a phenomenon never before directly observed, finally agreed that data from Voyager 1’s tiny 80-kilobyte computer memory showed that the spacecraft had passed through termination shock to the ‘heliosheath,’ a frontier of unknown thickness that defines the border with interstellar space.“