A closeup shows the spacesuit-clad figure sitting in a Tesla Roadster that’s destined to be launched into deep space. (SpaceX Photo via Instagram / Elon Musk)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — When SpaceX launches a Tesla Roadster sports car into deep space atop its very first Falcon Heavy rocket, the driver’s seat won’t be empty.
The company’s billionaire founder, Elon Musk, posted a photo on Instagram overnight showing the Roadster in its payload adapter, as he did in December, but this time with a figure clad in a SpaceX spacesuit added to the mix.
“Starman in red Roadster,” said Musk, referring to the David Bowie song that goes, “There’s a Starman, waiting in the sky….”
Russian cosmonauts today conducted their nation’s longest-ever spacewalk to replace an electronics box for a high-gain antenna on the International Space Station’s Russian-made Zvezda module. The old box was thrown outward on a trajectory that’s not expected to imperil the station, but it took some doing to get the new box installed and working properly.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, sending the GovSat-1 satellite to space. (SpaceX via YouTube)
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket sent a telecommunications satellite into orbit today for Luxembourg’s government and the SES satellite venture, setting the stage for next week’s maiden launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.
The GovSat-1 spacecraft is the first component in a NATO satellite constellationthat’s designed to provide secure communications for tactical operations, maritime missions or over areas affected by humanitarian crises. It was built by Orbital ATK, with anti-jamming and encryption systems, and is meant exclusively for governmental and institutional security applications.
A sequence of images shows the progression of the lunar eclipse, captured by photographer Mike Massee from Tehachapi, Calif. (Mike Massee Photo)
Cloudy weather blocked Seattle’s view of the “super blue blood moon” early today — but as a consolation, skywatchers from Vancouver to Siberia shared their images of the total lunar eclipse.
Total lunar eclipses arise when Earth’s shadow falls fully over the moon, and the long-wavelength light that’s refracted by our planet’s atmosphere turns the full moon’s disk a sunset-like shade of red.
The event received an extra burst of hype because it took place during a time when the moon is closer to Earth than usual (qualifying by some definitions as a “supermoon”), and because it was the second full moon in the course of a month (a so-called “blue moon”).
Putting all these features together results in the super-blue-blood label, which NASA readily adopted. “Sounds like an opportunity for vampires,” University of Washington astronomer Julie Lutz joked.
Whatever you call it, the lunar eclipse is totally worth a recap …
A total lunar eclipse gives the full moon a reddish tinge in 2015. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)
Geographically speaking, the Pacific Northwest is one of the best places in America to see tonight’s super-hyped total lunar eclipse. Meteorologically speaking? Not so much.
Seattleites might have to go as far east as Ellensburg to get a clear view of what’s touted as a “super blue blood moon.” And in reality, the moon won’t be bloody, or blue, or even all that super.
Before we go into full sour-grapes mode, let’s acknowledge that if there’s a chance of seeing the full moon fade to red between 4:51 a.m. and 6:07 a.m. PT Jan. 31, it’s definitely worth getting out of bed.
“Set your alarm early and go out and take a look,” NASA’s Gordon Johnson says in the space agency’s preview of the eclipse.
He touted “easy viewing” of the scheduled liftoff from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which previously served as the site of liftoffs for moon rockets and space shuttles.
Amy Resnik, sister-in-law of Challenger astronaut Judy Resnik, and Kristy Carroll, family friend of Columbia astronaut William McCool, embrace by the Space Shuttle Columbia and Challenger Memorials at Arlington National Cemetery on NASA’s Day of Remembrance. (NASA Photo / Bill Ingalls)
The last Thursday of January is NASA’s time to pay tribute to fallen astronauts, including 1967’s Apollo 1 astronauts and the Challenger shuttle astronauts who were lost in 1986. Today, there’s an added emphasis on the shuttle Columbia’s last crew, due to the 15th anniversary of that tragedy.
The International Space Station has been continuously occupied since 2000. (NASA photo)
White House budget plans are zeroing in on zeroing out federal funding for the International Space Station by 2025, to free up money for a Deep Space Gateway in lunar orbit.
The plan is already generating opposition from those who want to leave the door open for continued government involvement in the space station beyond 2025, including Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
“If the administration plans to abruptly pull us out of the International Space Station in 2025, they’re going to have a fight on their hands,” Nelson, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said in a statement.
What would an R-rated “Star Trek” movie directed by Quentin Tarantino look like?
We may find out someday soon: The director of “Kill Bill,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Inglorious Basterds” and other violence-laced neo-noir films is reportedly working with “Revenant” screenwriter Mark L. Smith and producer J.J. Abrams on a harder-edged version of the Starship Enterprise’s saga.
An artist’s conception shows the light of an alien star shining through a planet’s atmosphere. (NASA Goddard via YouTube)
Is the presence of oxygen in the atmosphere of an alien world the only sure-fire sign that life is present? Not necessarily: Scientists say the chemical signature of biological activity is likely to be more subtle, involving a mix of gases that might seem out of whack.
In a paper published today in Science Advances, researchers say future observatories such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope should look for the signature of atmospheric gases that would be in disequilibrium if it weren’t for biological processes.
The study’s lead author, Joshua Krissansen-Totton of the University of Washington, says looking for oxygen alone shouldn’t be the sole strategy in the search for life on extrasolar planets.
“This idea of looking for atmospheric oxygen as a biosignature has been around for a long time. And it’s a good strategy — it’s very hard to make much oxygen without life,” he said in a news release. “But we don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket. Even if life is common in the cosmos, we have no idea if it will be life that makes oxygen. The biochemistry of oxygen production is very complex and could be quite rare.”
