History People Space

50 Years since Apollo 13 – Lessons in leadership and planning

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/feb/29/apollo-13-how-teamwork-and-tenacity-turned-disaster-into-triumph In approaching this crisis, their delegation of authority and deference to expertise is almost total. In the face of high-stakes scenarios, it is tempting to wrest control from more junior colleagues. But in 1970 the approach of mission control was quite different. They empowered their most junior team members, giving them total ownership of […]

Science! Space

Interstellar Space

This is fascinating: IN THE BLACKNESS of space billions of miles from home, NASA’s Voyager 2 marked a milestone of exploration, becoming just the second spacecraft ever to enter interstellar space in November 2018. Now, a day before the anniversary of that celestial exit, scientists have revealed what Voyager 2 saw as it crossed the threshold—and […]

Space

Nano-spacecraft: Alpha Centauri in 20 years?

Fascinating idea: Breakthrough Starshot’s spacecrafts, which they call “nanocrafts,” will be gram-scale computer chips that will include “cameras, photon thrusters, power supply, navigation and communication equipment,” Avi Loeb, a Harvard scientist involved in the operation, told reporters. A rocket would deliver a “mother ship” carrying a thousand or so of the nanocrafts into space. Once […]

Space

APOD: 2015 October 2 – Charon: Moon of Pluto

A darkened and mysterious north polar region informally known as Mordor Macula caps this premier high-resolution portrait of Charon, Pluto’s largest moon. Captured by New Horizons near its closest approach on July 14, the image data was transmitted to Earth on September 21. Always wondered what Pluto and Charon looked like, incredible to actually see […]

Space

Looking back on Sunlit Pluto

Wow: The latest images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft have scientists stunned – not only for their breathtaking views of Pluto’s majestic icy mountains, streams of frozen nitrogen and haunting low-lying hazes, but also for their strangely familiar, arctic look. Source: Pluto ‘Wows’ in Spectacular New Backlit Panorama | NASA

Space

The Cliffs of Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko

I can’t stop looking at this photograph. These kilometre high cliffs are part of the nucleus of the comet 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko, as observed by the Rosetta spacecraft. I think it’s because I didn’t expect to see such details on a comet – plains, cliffs, boulders… it’s like earth, but very alien. There’s something awe-inspiring about […]