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Dying Satellites Could Lead to Shaky Weather Forecasts
The looming gap in satellite coverage, which some experts now view as almost certain to occur within the next few years, could result in shaky forecasts about storms like Hurricane Sandy, which is now expected to hit the northeast seaboard early next week."
Glitch halts South Korea's third attempt at rocket launch
Glitch halts South Korea's third attempt at rocket launch | Reuters: "South Korea called off the launch of a space rocket on Friday after a glitch in the Russian-built booster halted preparations five hours before the scheduled lift-off.
It was South Korea's third attempt to put a satellite into orbit and comes after North Korea succeeded in launching a rocket in April that it said was carrying a satellite, only to abort the mission early in its flight.
Friday's failure also puts South Korea far behind economic rivals China, India and Japan.
South Korean officials at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) that is conducting the launch said Russian engineers had found a leak in the sealing while injecting helium gas into the first-stage booster."
It was South Korea's third attempt to put a satellite into orbit and comes after North Korea succeeded in launching a rocket in April that it said was carrying a satellite, only to abort the mission early in its flight.
Friday's failure also puts South Korea far behind economic rivals China, India and Japan.
South Korean officials at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) that is conducting the launch said Russian engineers had found a leak in the sealing while injecting helium gas into the first-stage booster."
Fomalhaut b regains planetary status
Fomalhaut b regains planetary status | TG Daily: "The nearby star Fomalhaut does host a massive exoplanet after all, say NASA scientists following a second look at Hubble data.Back in 2008, astronomers announced that they'd discovered a planet, named Fomalhaut b, shrouded by dust as it orbited Fomalhaut some 25 light-years away.
More recent studies, though, have claimed that this interpretation is wrong. Based on the object's apparent motion and the fact that NASA's infrared Spitzer Space Telescope failed to detect it, they argue that the object is a short-lived dust cloud unrelated to any planet.
Now, though, NASA says that the original theory was probably correct."
Cassini Sees Huge Burp at Saturn After Large Storm
NASA - NASA Spacecraft Sees Huge Burp at Saturn After Large Storm: "NASA's Cassini spacecraft has tracked the aftermath of a rare massive storm on Saturn. Data reveal record-setting disturbances in the planet's upper atmosphere long after the visible signs of the storm abated, in addition to an indication the storm was more forceful than scientists previously thought.
Data from Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) instrument revealed the storm's powerful discharge sent the temperature in Saturn's stratosphere soaring 150 degrees Fahrenheit (83 kelvins) above normal. At the same time, researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., detected a huge increase in the amount of ethylene gas, the origin of which is a mystery. Ethylene, an odorless, colorless gas, isn't typically observed on Saturn. On Earth, it is created by natural and man-made sources. "
Data from Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) instrument revealed the storm's powerful discharge sent the temperature in Saturn's stratosphere soaring 150 degrees Fahrenheit (83 kelvins) above normal. At the same time, researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., detected a huge increase in the amount of ethylene gas, the origin of which is a mystery. Ethylene, an odorless, colorless gas, isn't typically observed on Saturn. On Earth, it is created by natural and man-made sources. "
Secret X-37B Mini-Shuttle Launch Postponed
While the mission successfully placed the GPS satellite in a precise orbit, a lower than normal chamber pressure was observed on the Delta IV RL 10 upper stage engine.
Although the Atlas V that will launch OTV-3 utilizes a different model of the RL10 engine, ULA leadership and the Air Force have decided to postpone the currently schedule launch to allow an additional two weeks for the flight data anomaly investigation to progress to a point that will enable a thorough crossover assessment for the OTV launch to be completed."
European Robotic Mini-Space Plane Project Could Fly by 2020
The Innovative Space Vehicle (ISV) would be Europe's civilian equivalent of the U.S. Air Force's unmanned X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, a robotic miniature space shuttle that has flown on two missions since 2010. The unmanned space plane would be much smaller than the Air Force vehicle, however."
Frost on Mars? Curiosity uses its laser to probe mystery
The goal? To find out whether frost accumulates on Mars' surface at night, according to Roger Wiens of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
"The idea was to take one measurement of Crestaurum at night and one during the day for comparison," the scientist and principal investigator for Curiosity's ChemCam instrument told the Los Angeles Times."
SpaceX Dragon OK'd to come home despite computer glitch
Station mission managers unanimously gave a “go” for the departure to proceed despite a glitch that may make one of Dragon’s three flight computers unavailable.
The computer was knocked out of sync with the other two when it automatically reset itself without commands from the ground, but officials said the problem would not limit the spacecraft’s ability to fly home safely."
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