Aerospace

January 4th Marks 5-Year Anniversary Of Mars Rover "Spirit"

Spirit (Mars Exporation Rover-A, or MER-A), is the first of two rovers which are part of NASA 's Mars Exploration Rover Mission. Today marks the 5-year anniversary of Spirit 's successful landing on Mars.  Of the hundreds of engineers and scient ...

Article - Kimberly Crandell - Jan 4 2009 - 9:41am

Lack Of Rocket Defense Makes A Ground Operation For Israel Against Hamas Necessary, Says Advocacy Group

Riki Ellison, Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA)  www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org points out in an Alert to the membership of his organization that the situation in the Middle East between Israel and the Hamas is a real life example of ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 4 2009 - 11:08am

Can You Design An Ares V Rocket For The Next Moon Landing?

On Monday, Jan. 5, NASA issued a request for proposal for the Ares V rocket that will perform heavy lift and cargo functions as part of the next generation of spacecraft that will return humans to the moon. The request is for Phase I concept definition and ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 8 2009 - 2:35am

No Hudson River Landings for Planes Powered by THIS Engine

The recent landing of a Airbus A320 on the Hudson was a tragedy narrowly avoided- thanks in no small part to the quick thinking of the pilot after a flock of birds took out both engines on the plane.  But bird strikes unfortunately aren't a new or unu ...

Blog Post - Kimberly Crandell - Jan 18 2009 - 12:32pm

Snarge On The Runway: Birdstrikes, Airplanes And Why We Don't Put Screens In Front Of Engines

Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's heroic Hudson River landing was a good reminder that a twenty pound bird at 200 miles per hour is not so different from a bowling ball shot from a cannon. The results range from minor dents to Flight 15 ...

Article - Stephanie Pulford - Jan 27 2009 - 1:51pm

Mars Rover Seems To Be Losing Its Spirit

The team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit plans diagnostic tests this week after Spirit did not report some of its weekend activities, including a request to determine its orientation after an incomplete drive. On Sunday, during the 1,80 ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 29 2009 - 12:29am

GOCE- An Aerodynamic Satellite That Will Map The Geoid

In physics classes, we are all taught that the acceleration due to gravity on Earth is 9.8 meters/second 2. For the purpose of basic physics education, this value is fine- it represents the average value of the gravitational attraction every object experie ...

Article - Chris Rollins - Feb 5 2009 - 12:05pm

Video: 24 Hours of Air Traffic Worldwide

This is pretty amazing, although I can't help but be reminded of the morning I came downstairs and discovered that ants had invaded my kitchen overnight. After clicking play, make sure you click the little "up arrow" in the lower right corne ...

Blog Post - Kimberly Crandell - Feb 10 2009 - 2:33pm

Want To Find Osama Bin Laden? Parachinar Is Where To Look, Say Scientists

U.S. intelligence officials have spent more than seven years searching for Osama bin Laden but UCLA geographers say that, if he is still alive, they have a good idea of where he was at the end of 2001 — and perhaps where he has been in the years since.  ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 18 2009 - 12:28pm

If Osama Bin Laden Was A Panda, We Could Find Him With Satellites

Thanks to advances in satellite technology, college students are giving government intelligence a run for its money.  A student geography project from UCLA made waves in the Harvard International review for using principles of wildlife diversity to narrow ...

Article - Stephanie Pulford - Feb 18 2009 - 3:16pm