Is Ending NASA’s Constellation Program a Bad Move?

Many former astronauts believed that Constellation was an accident waiting to happen.
Obama did the right thing by killing a poorly conceived program.

Share on Facebook

March 3, 2010 Tags: NASA, Rocketry, Space Missions Posted in: Rocketry, Space Missions No Comments

A Major Setback in Global Warming Science – OCO Launch Fails

Orbiting Carbon Observatory launch fails …

Share on Facebook

March 1, 2009 Tags: carbon dioxide, climate change, greenhouse gases, NASA Posted in: Climate Change, Environment No Comments

Global Energy Balance Explained

NASA’s Earth Observatory explains the Earth’s energy budget.

Share on Facebook

February 16, 2009 Tags: climate change, greenhouse gases, NASA Posted in: Climate Change, Environment No Comments

NASA Image of the Day

Snapshot of the International Space Station

On March 13, 2008, the International Space Station passed across the field-of-view of Germany's remote sensing satellite, TerraSAR-X, at a distance of 195 kilometers, or 122 miles, and at a relative speed of 34,540 kilometers per hour, or more than 22,000 mph. In contrast to optical cameras, radar does not 'see' surfaces. Instead, it is much more aware of the edges and corners which bounce back the microwave signal it transmits. Smooth surfaces such as those on the station's solar generators or the radiator panels used to dissipate excess heat, unless directly facing the radar antenna, tend to deflect rather than reflect the radar beam, causing these features to appear on the radar image as dark areas. The radar image of the station therefore looks like a dense collection of bright spots from which the outlines of the space station can be clearly identified. The central element on the station, to which all the modules are docked, has a grid structure that presents a multiplicity of reflecting surfaces to the radar beam, making it readily identifiable. This image has a resolution of about one meter (about 39 inches). In other words, objects can be depicted as discrete units--that is, shown separately--provided that they are at least one meter apart. If they are closer together than that, they tend to merge into a single block on a radar image. Since this image was taken, the station has expanded and is more than 90 percent complete, including a full complement of solar arrays. Image Credit: DLR
Read More

Earth Sky Stars

blog for earthskystars

Is Ending NASA’s Constellation Program a Bad Move?

A Major Setback in Global Warming Science – OCO Launch Fails

Global Energy Balance Explained

Archives

Social Networks

flickr

NASA Image of the Day

What I'm Doing...

Blogroll

Links