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Now You See X-37B, Now You Don’t

This sounds a lot more intriguing than it probably is: US military’s top secret X-37B shuttle ‘disappears’ for two weeks, changes orbit

Since then, the X-37B been arguably the least-secret secret project on the planet, as fellow backyard astronomers joined in the scrutiny, aided by how-to video guides and apps such as the Simple Satellite […]

More Mars on Earth

Finally getting the time to post more of my Iceland pictures on Flickr. Aside from the clouds and the sparse moss, one could picture a vista like this on Mars:

As I upload the pictures, I’m also adding any especially un-Earth-like shots to a separate set which I will publish here later. The set […]

James Cameron’s 3D Mars Camera

If James Cameron is so passionate about restoring the 3D camera to MSL/Curiosity, then…instead of lobbying, and urging, and taking his concerns to the NASA administrator, why didn’t he just pay for it out of pocket?

I don’t know that he didn’t, or didn’t offer to do so (the article doesn’t say), but it seems […]

STS-131 Shuttle Launch – Longer Version

Finally got the time to upload the longer version of the video of Monday’s launch.

STS-131 Launch

In Florida today to watch the STS-131 launch, which went off without a hitch this morning. More later, but I need a nap, and then I have to drive back to Orlando for the return flight to Denver. Video now added below (at least, one little clip – I’ll try to add more later).

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NASA Gives Opportunity Free Will

Okay, not really. But they are giving it the ability to autonomously select science targets based on general guidelines:

The new system, which NASA uploaded over the past few months, is called Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science, or AEGIS and it lets Opportunity’s computer examine images that the rover takes with its wide-angle navigation […]

Not Much Opportunity for Shuttle Extension

I’m at Michoud this week on business, and had the opportunity to visit the factory today for the first time in nearly a year.

What a change ten months can make.

While last year, the dome tooling was still mostly in place (a few of the mechanical assembly pedestals had been pulled up), most of […]

One Good Use for ISS

Whatever else good eventually comes out of the ISS, demonstrating VASIMR — and then using it to routinely reboost the station — might just be its best sci/tech achievement.

[h/t: Instapundit]

More Then-Now Photos from KSC

Finally found some time yesterday to put together four more then-now comparisons using my grandparents’ old slides from early 1965 and some pictures I took last month while at KSC on business.

This one shows the access road into LC-14, the Atlas site from which (among other things) John Glenn’s first orbital […]

Barely Scratching the Surface

John Scalzi takes on the bad science/design of the Star Trek franchise.

I actually used to like ST:TNG when it was first broadcast. Nowadays, I find any manifestation of the franchise insufferable. Bad acting, lazy writing, trite speechifying, cross-episode amnesia re:new discoveries/innovations, Patrick Stewart, etc.

That said, I caught a bit of Star Wars: Episode […]