Category: Space
First orbital collision – US and Russian satellites get a little too close
In the first reported orbital collision ever, a US and a Russian communications satellite have accidentally collided 780km above Siberia. A “massive cloud of debris” has been produced, and NASA is tracking the hundreds of bits resulting from the crash, in the hope that they won’t interfere with the ISS and the shuttle, which is due to launch later this month.
It’s comprehensively answered the question of “how much stuff can we stick up there without it hitting each other?”, as 6,000 satellites have been sent into orbit since the first in 1957. Only about half are still in use, with the others having become defunct over the years.
The satellites in question belong to Communications firm Iridium, based in Bethesda, Maryland, and Russia’s civilian space agency, Roscosmos. The former was launched in 1997 and only weighed 560kg, so probably came off rather worse in the collision than its one-tonne Russian rival from 1993.
Place your bets in the comments below as to when the second collision will occur. The closest wins a bit of charred satellite, dug out of the tundra of Siberia.
(via BBC)
RAF told to shoot down UFOs – ex MoD employee spills the space beans
A gentleman who used to work for the Ministry of Defence has said that the RAF has been trying, unsuccessfully, to shoot down UFOs for years.
Nick Pope, who worked on the MoD’s UFO desk for three years, told the Sun:
“We know of cases where the order has been given to shoot down – with little effect to the UFO.”
According to Pope, pilots only open fire if they consider the UFO to be a threat to UK airspace…
Watching the inauguration from space
Watching the inauguration yesterday from the ground, it was almost impossible to get a proper sense of scale of the proceedings. It was clear it was massive, but how massive? Well, click the image above to get a bird’s eye view of the scene in Washington from 681km up in the atmosphere.
You see those brown blobs? Those are massive crowds of people. Millions, in fact. The image is courtesy of Google’s (well, it’s not really theirs) GeoEye-1 satellite. More awesome satellite images over the break.
Sci-fi world devastated – Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montalban pass away
Patrick McGoohan, made famous by his role in bewildering 60s sci-fi escapology show The Prisoner, died on Tuesday, aged 80.
He was great in Danger Man, made his name in The Prisoner, then continued to deliver entertainment beyond the call of duty by directing and starring in numerous episodes of Columbo between the 1970s and his last directorial appearance in 2000…
Humans and Klingons brought together via the medium of the Cherry Klingon Language Wired Keyboard
Turns out we have a lot more in common with our Klingon friends than we first thought.
Klingons like a nice big Enter key on the right to make typing easier, just like us. They also enjoy a big Space bar, plus it looks like they have evolved a similar aesthetic of placing the ‘Esc’ key at the top-left and sticking a range of Function keys that go from about F1 to F12 along the top for easy access to features.
Klingons also like to use a separate numeric keypad…
Japanese space researchers design handy combined toilet/underpant system
Demand a toilet AND underpants in one handy device? The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has got it covered!
The clichéd slightly wacky Japanese scientists have built the amazing below gadget, which could eliminate toilet trips for good. Poo and wee are sucked out by a pump, with a built-in washer/dryer system cleaning up the resulting mess, leaving you relaxed, fresh and dry. It’s genius. Especially if the suction pump also comes with optional ‘entertainment’ attachments.
Might not be the most comfortable thing to wear about the place, but it’ll definitely…
Microsoft stole the Xbox 360 logo from a bunch of 17th century alien visitors
The full, bewildering explanation of that headline is as follows. A 1997 documentary entitled Area 51: Alien Interview featured the sketch reproduced below, which some people on the internet on a slow news day like today, have taken to be a representation of the Xbox 360 logo (inset).
The sketch portrays the supposed events of November 4, 1697, when the people of Hamburg saw “two glowing wheels” in the sky and, presumably, got a bit annoyed because they were hoping to get a Wii for Christmas not an Xbox 360.
We don’t believe this to be a true version of events. The Xbox 360 logo was actually…
International Space Station astronauts indulging in urine-drinking party tonight
You wouldn’t think people would ever be pleased to hear they can start drinking their own urine – but the astronauts on the International Space Station are currently over the moon about it.
“There will be dancing later,” Mission Control said, after ISS commander Mike Fincke told Earth that the the orbiting station’s faulty urine processor – which filter space wee, condensation and SWEAT and turns it into lovely drinking water – was finally fixed.
This raises two important questions – how do you dance in zero gravity? And before…
International Space Station flushes rubbish down the world's toilet
Floating miles above the Earth in the International Space Station must really put things into perspective. The world is such a small, fragile place compared to the rest of the universe – from above, all conflicts must seem pointless, and it must be pretty clear that humanity must put aside its differences in order to ensure the survival of this small blue and green marble.
Or at least, that’s what I thought it must be like until I learnt that astronauts are as bad as the rest of us. Apparently they dump their rubbish without a care into the unsuspecting environment too. Yesterday, a “refrigerator sized” Ammonia tank, which was thrown overboard from the ISS in July 2007 landed in the Tasman sea, to which a NASA spokesman responded by rubbing his hands together and saying “It’s Australia’s problem now”, before walking away nonchalantly.
New Moon Rover has red stripe to boost street cred
Pictured above isn’t a new concept car from Ferrari or whoever, but a new Moon rover designed by Carnegie Mellon University. And it looks pretty damn cool. It even has a cool name – the Scarab.
Whilst Mars may have Spirit and Opportunity plodding along like dorks, collecting samples and taking photos, the Moon may soon have this beast tearing up the craters – and I don’t just mean that in the hyperbolic sense, as it is designed to get at the minerals a metre below the surface on the dark side of the moon.
