Space NewsNews on Space continually updated from thousands of sources around the net.Cassini Begins Transmitting Data From Enceladus Flyby- August 15, 2008 Shortly after 9:03 p.m. Pacific Time, the Cassini spacecraft began sending data to Earth following a close flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus.http://www.topix.net/tech/space/2008/08/cassini-begins-transmitting-data-from-enceladus-fl... STS-125: Space Shuttle Atlantis to Roll Over to VAB Next Week- August 14, 2008 Technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are putting Space Shuttle Atlantis through a series of standard tests to make sure the orbiter is ready to move to the Vehicle Assembly Building next week. They also are analyzing an insulation blanket on one of the Orbital Maneuvering System pods. STS-125: Space Shuttle Atlantis to Roll Over to VAB Next Weekhttp://www.topix.net/tech/space/2008/08/sts-125-space-shuttle-atlantis-to-roll-over-to-vab... Project Constellation: Program Milestones Realigned.- August 13, 2008 In a news conference on Monday, NASA managers discussed how the agency will be adjusting the budget, schedule and technical performance milestones for its Constellation Program to ensure the first crewed flight of the Ares I rocket and Orion crew capsule in March 2015. The Constellation Program is developing the spacecraft and systems, including the Ares I and Ares V rockets, the Orion crew exploration vehicle, and the Altair lunar lander, that will take astronauts to the International Space...http://www.topix.net/tech/space/2008/08/project-constellation-program-milestones-realigned... NASA's LCROSS Spacecraft to Crash into The Moon in 2009- August 12, 2008 The booster stage for NASA's LCROSS probe will deliberately crash into a permanently-shadowed lunar crater at 9,000 kmhr, producing an explosion equivalent to about 2,000 pounds of TNT (6.5 billion joules). The blast will jettison material out of the crater into broad daylight, where astronomers can search the debris for signs of lunar water. Amateur astronomers may be able to observe the impact through backyard telescopes. The LCROSS robotic satellite will observe the impact, and then also...http://www.topix.net/tech/space/2008/08/nasas-lcross-spacecraft-to-crash-into-the-moon-in-... STS-125: Atlantis Prepared for Rollover to Vehicle Assembly Building- August 11, 2008 Technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida continue processing space shuttle Atlantis for its upcoming move from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The shuttle is targeted to be joined to its external fuel tank and a pair of solid rocket boosters the week of August 17. Launch is targeted for October 8. STS-125: Atlantis Prepared for Rollover to Vehicle Assembly Buildinghttp://www.topix.net/tech/space/2008/08/sts-125-atlantis-prepared-for-rollover-to-vehicle-... Large Hadron Collider: Physicists Prepare for Huge Data Flow- August 11, 2008 University of Nebraska-Lincoln particle physicists Ken Bloom and Aaron Dominguez have teamed up with computer scientist David Swanson to build a computing center for the benefit of scientists at their university and across the country. The center's goal is to manage the flood of information that will pour from the world's next-generation particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), an underground ring 27 kilometers around and located at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN)..http://www.topix.net/tech/space/2008/08/large-hadron-collider-physicists-prepare-for-huge-... The 2008 Perseid Meteor Shower- August 11, 2008 The 2008 Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th, and it should be a good show. The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is far away, currently located beyond the orbit of Uranus, a trail of debris from the comet stretches all the way back to Earth. Crossing the trail in August, Earth will be pelted by specks of comet dust hitting the atmosphere at 132,000 mph. At that speed, even a flimsy speck of dust makes a vivid streak of light when it disintegrates - a meteor..http://www.topix.net/tech/space/2008/08/the-2008-perseid-meteor-shower?fromrss=1 International Space Station On-Orbit Status Report- August 10, 2008 Volkov conducted another session for Russia's Environmental Safety Agency (EKON), making observations and taking KPT-3 aerial photography with the NIKON D2X camera of environmental conditions near Tskhinvala and the Baikonur launch site. Oleg Kononenko conducted another session of the Russian GFI-8 'Uragan' (hurricane) Earth-imaging program. Greg Chamitoff's activities included supporting ground-commanded commissioning preparations in the JAXA Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module). International...http://www.topix.net/tech/space/2008/08/international-space-station-on-orbit-status-report... Phoenix Mars Lander: Soil Studies Continue at Landing Site- August 10, 2008 NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has continued studies of its landing site by widening a trench, making overnight measurements of conductivity in the Martian soil, and depositing a sample of surface soil into a gap between partially opened doors to an analytical oven on the lander. Phoenix's robotic arm delivered soil Thursday from a trench informally named 'Rosy Red' through a narrow opening to a screen above the No. 5 oven on the lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA). A few particles of..http://www.topix.net/tech/space/2008/08/phoenix-mars-lander-soil-studies-continue-at-landi... Phoenix Mars Lander: Ongoing Investigation of Perchlorate Salts- August 10, 2008 Phoenix Mars mission scientists spoke today on research in progress concerning an ongoing investigation of perchlorate salts, detected in soil analyzed by the wet chemistry laboratory aboard NASA's Phoenix Lander. 'Finding perchlorates is neither good nor bad for life, but it does make us reassess how we think about life on Mars,' said Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA), the...http://www.topix.net/tech/space/2008/08/phoenix-mars-lander-ongoing-investigation-of-perch... |