Welcome to Science Saturday on it’s new day of the week! From now on, your favorite science column will be on Saturdays, not Fridays. This week: how Apophis WON’T hit Earth, how to rent part of NASA HQ, how astronomers find exoplanets, plus watch Sir Patrick Stewart’s intro to the latest European mega-science facility. All this and more plus our gadget of the week: The sudoku solving photo app.
Near Earth Asteroid Apophis Back for More
Last January, we reported on Apophis, the 270-meter wide asteroid that was discovered to have a path coming too close to the Earth for comfort. Initial predictions looked like it might impact the Earth in 2029, but further investigation proved that chance to be close to zero. The Russians still decided to start planning for asteroid deflection missions. Now, the Russians have released a new report saying that a “gravitational keyhole” will cause Apophis’s path to deflect in 2029 just enough to send it hurdling toward Earth for a collision on April 13th, 2036. Donald Yeomans, head of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office, says, “Technically, they’re correct, there is a chance in 2036 [that Apophis will hit Earth].” But that chance is, “just 1-in-250,000,” says Yeomans.
Read Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy blog post: Media FAIL *again* (HuffPo and Apophis Edition)
THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN
NASA Launch Pads For Rent
NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building, launch pads, runways, and several other space shuttle related buildings at Kennedy Space Center are up for grabs to the highest bidder. Because of budget constraints, NASA can no longer afford to keep running the Kennedy Space Center (and employing all that work there) as it does now. Hopefully, up and coming private space companies will swoop in to rent these buildings and start getting their products into space.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
A Revealing Interview with the Astronomer Leading the Search for Exoplanets
Hunting for planets outside of our solar system was once “the stuff of Star Trek,” says Geoffrey Marcy, a UC Berkeley astronomer. But, now he’s at the center of one of the most successful astronomy research teams in history – the Kepler group. Watch this great fun interview between Marcy and astronomer Mike Shara from the American Museum of Natural History as they talk about the latest in the search for Earth-like exoplanets.
Patrick Stewart Presents The European Spallation Source
Watch this video where Sir Patrick Stewart present a video detailing the new European Spallation Source, one of Europe’s most advanced and exciting scientific mega-projects. The ESS, which has been being planned for the last two decades, is described as the Hubble Telescope of neutron sources, and will provide the world’s most intense neutron beams for the study of the structure and dynamics of materials at the atomic level. While this video gets pretty headdy at times, just remember: it’s not Treknobabble this time!(Thanks to Ulrich for tip).
Introducing…..The European Spallation Source from Optic Verve on Vimeo.
Gadget of the Week: Google Goggles App Solves Sudokus in Seconds
From Google’s official blog:
Our favorite weekend distraction is a quiet 15 minutes spent solving a Sudoku puzzle. But even that can be an frustrating experience if (like us) you make a mistake and are unable to solve the puzzle. Now, Goggles on Android and iPhone can recognize puzzles and provide answers to help make you faster than a Sudoku champ. So if you ever get stuck, take a clear picture of the entire puzzle with Goggles and weÕll tell you the correct solution. Check out this video to see how it works.
Videos of the Week: The Sagan Series: Life Looks for Life
NASA has created a new set of social media videos called "The Sagan Series" promoting space using quotes from Carl Sagan, combined with NASA footage and a lovely soundtrack.
#FollowFriday
If you are on Twitter, you know there are plenty of amazing people out there tweeting away. And, many of them are scientists! Every Friday I’ll be bringing you a new list of great scientists, techies, and trekkies to follow on Twitter. This week…
- @missmorenab: Actress Morena Baccarin (Inara from Firefly and Serenity)
- @justjenndesigns: Geeky cupcakes and more @ http://justjennrecipes.com/
- @scifri: We make a science radio program heard on NPR and create science content for the web. Got ideas? Write us @scifri and tweet your questions during the show.
Science Bytes
Not enough science for you? Here’s a warp-speed look at some more science tid-bits that are worth your time.
- Yet another hypospray-like device vying for FDA approval via Fast Company
- SDO’s sundog mystery via NASA Science News
- Best of the Ice Caves, Mt. Erebus, Antarctica via Science Friday
I’ve heard of a Russian defection, but a Russian DEFLECTION??
@1
Russia = awesome
So… 1 week after First Contact, we could get hit by an asteroid? Let’s hope Vulcans are generous with their technology.
Hahah well April 2063 could be first contact with a extraterrestrial object in Trek and real life.
Patrick Stewart could read a phone book and make it sound awesome.
The Russian idea of deflecting Aphophis may seem like overkill… until it actually hits us someday. I’m with the Russians in that I agree more research into asteroid deflection needs to be done sooner than later. This is not the kind of thing that should be procrastinated.
The whole ‘aim a few nukes’ at it school of thought is just ridiculous; the same mass would still hit the earth, just spread over a wider area (assuming nukes even break it up in the first place) and the resultant debris would be radioactive to boot!
Asteroid impact with the earth is not a ‘what if’; it’s pretty much a certainty at this point. Jupiter’s been impacted several times over the last two decades (granted, it has a MUCH greater gravity well, but it’s gravity could also flick one our way).
4- Lol… Yeah. I always asumed that if it did happen, it’s be with aliens. Guess Not.
Fun fact: The asteroids named after a villian form the stargate franchise
@8 no, it is named after the ancient Egyptian god of serpents, whom the stargate character is meant to be. but technically you are correct.
Great stuff, as always, Kayla.
Love somebody ripping off the eye sequence from First Contact and using Patrick. Ha!
Here’s something I barely understand, but think is cool:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2048138-1,00.html
Hmmm. in 2045, I’ll be 87. Just in time… if I can afford it.
Sorry to hear NASA has to rent its space to make ends meet. Maybe the discovery of extraterrestrial life would cause an infusion of funding..
@11 – That’s what happens when there is no follow-on program or plan, and there isn’t enough money for it anyway. All of us here on the Space Coast are going to hurt, especially those of us that work at KSC.
Maybe we’ll get lucky and China will buy it all real soon, rather than wait for it to become theirs through reposession.
12 – Then the KSC workers would become KFC workers. ;-(
NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDS!!!
At least April 13th, 2036 is a Sunday and not a Friday, or we’d really be in trouble.
@9, and 8 too. The usual English spelling of the Egyptian god is “Apep.” The Hellenic version is where “Apophis” comes from. And yes you’re right that the discoverers were indeed inspired by the Stargate character. :) But “technically” it’s the Egyptian god, playing by the rules that near-Earth asteroids traditionally are named after gods rather than goddesses. Asteroids such as Apollo, Adonis, and Hermes were the “archetypes”, but there are whole lists at the IAU Minor Planet Center housed at Harvard:
http://minorplanetcenter.net/
I like this list for “dangerous” near Earth ones:
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/Dangerous.html
An asteroid named Mjolnir…. yes.
So much for tax day in 2036, save that money for a going out in style party!!!
Kennedy Space Center was designed for giant moon-bound rockets and is hideously expensive for any other mission. At present, NASA wants to build a new Saturn V-class rocket to start flying late this decade (but there is no money to launch anything on top of it.) Until then, KSC will probably sit idle. The only manned missions we will have until after 2020 are to the Space Station, missions that can be done by existing rockets (Atlas V, Delta IV, Falcon 9) from existing launch pads (Pad 41, Pad 37B, Pad 40) at a tiny fraction of the cost of a new rocket that would launch from KSC. But Congress has demanded we blow more money on a big rocket we don’t need to launch deep space manned spacecraft NASA is vanishingly unlikely to get the funding to build before 2020.
Renting out Kennedy Space Center… how absolutely low have we come?
No love for the Sagan videos? Beautiful combination of visuals, music and thoughtful reflection.
I miss Carl Sagan. He understood what Star Trek, at its best, was about … the human adventure.
Scott B. out.
19: It’s a huge disappointment. We have a government that is more concerned with giving millions to dictators like Mubarak then funding our own space program. Go figure.
#20 – Big Sagan fan here. Loved the videos. Guess I was just so shook up over turning KSC into rent a wreck….
Re: #22 – I feel your pain, but … better to rent it out to private industry than to let it lie idle.
Hopefully NASA can put the rental monies to good use.
Scott B. out.
Speaking as someone who’ll actually use the European Spallation Source, I’m well chuffed to hear Picard talking about it.
Cool stuff
Renting out NASA buildings so we can what, pay for build high speed rail that no one will ride. Stupid, have they heard of airplanes? Its a very sad time for NASA
Well, as long as the place is not in use, there is the possibility of the bus tours from the Visitor Complex going through the VAB like they did between Apollo and Shuttle for a little while in the late ’70’s and early 1980.
At the moment, United Space Alliance is looking into possibly buying 2 of the Orbiters and continuing to fly them as private programs outside of NASA, and the third Orbiter would retire to the Smithsonian or something. It doesn’t seem likely, but there is talk.
Companies can handle low Earth orbit, but it will take something bigger than that to go beyond the moon and on to Mars, that’s where NASA can and should focus–provided there was money available to do so–which sadly, there isn’t.
26… Take a look at the “Nautilus X” proposal. That or something like it is what NASA should have been working on for the past seven years instead of the doomed-to-fail, hopelessly expensive “Apollo on Steroids” Constellation program.
No, we don’t need giant rockets and KSC if we want to explore the solar system. That’s 1960s thinking. The US already has one rocket (Delta IV-Heavy) that can launch over 50,000 lbs at one time, and can have two more with modest investment (Atlas V-Heavy and Falcon 9-Heavy.) There’s no single part of Nautilus-X that weighs more than 50,000 lbs and needs a Mega Rocket to launch it. The propellant constitutes the vast bulk of a deep space mission, and propellant can be delivered by as many launches of smaller, less reliable (read: cheaper) rockets as necessary. Mars launch windows only come once every 26 months anyway, so that is plenty of time to assemble and fuel a spacecraft in Earth orbit or at L2.
I always love Thorny’s posts; knowledgeable and reasonable.
Scott B. out.
Apophis in 2036? Great. Just in time for my social security.
Really got to question how we can all tolerate this article just after the Apophis news item.
JFK where are you now?
He’s over in the Walternate universe! :)
From STVI
“Bill, are we talking about
mothballing the Starfleet?
Commander in Chief
I’m sure our exploration and
science programs would not be
affected.
After watching the Carl Sagan videos and the renting of KSC for “low cost space flight”
its ironic that the global $562 BILLION global MILITARY BUDGET is secure, whilst the $36 BILLION global SPACE programs is under threat.
Gene Roddenberry was right about humanity changing, unfortunately we are allowing ourselves to become subjects of Fear, junkies of nationalism and high-priests of our own self obsession.
Picard can say that “we” are more evolved but with the way things are currently going we are flying toward a “dark mirror” reality
“TO BOLDLY GO with whoever provides the parts for the lowest COST”
#14
And remember us nurdz run this internet & we can block you from using it.
Scary thought, eh ?
– W –
* who’s proud to be of that generation who changed the world into nurdvana *