Pop Quiz answer

Several days ago, I posted these two pictures with a vaguely worded question: https://themadspaceball.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/one-of-these-things/ I promised an answer to that question and here it is: the top picture was taken from low earth orbit (LEO), the bottom from geosynchronous (GEO) orbit. How can one tell from just the pictures? Two big telltales exist in them. […]

Missed it, by that much.

In light of the Sakurajima volcanic eruption in Japan, I present to you a picture of the very active volcano. From January 2013. There don’t appear to be any other images yet of Sunday’s eruption. This image comes courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory page. But it initially came to my attention from the Bad Astronomer page, […]

Why space matters: Imaging satellite operations, part 7 (the dishy part)

Last week, we found out that companies flying satellites, especially low earth orbiting (LEOs) need a few ground stations to send and receive data to satellite and payload in a timely manner. How can you tell there’s something space-y going on in your neighborhood? The most visible part of the ground system is the thing […]

Not dead yet!!

To borrow an answer for a different question: I’ve never Kepled. But the Kepler Team sounds like they aren’t going to give up on planet-hunting yet. They’re looking for a few good ideas (at least according to the article). If you have any, maybe you could help them out? http://science.time.com/2013/08/16/the-kepler-space-telescope-may-be-dead-but-its-planet-hunting-mission-continues/ Related articles Planet-hunting scope beyond repair […]

The Grasshopper keeps learning more from it’s master…

What SpaceX is doing with rockets is just too cool! And they make it look easy. Some might remember the trick of balancing a broomstick vertically from the palm of the hand. Now substitute flame and thrust for the hand, and a 100 foot or so tall metal tube for the broomstick. Then control the […]