91 posts
Early this morning the ISS and a piece of debris from an old Russian weather satellite almost gave one another a bro-like chest bump. Astronauts had an hour and a half to secure as many of the ISS’s individual modules and get themselves hun
YouTube user Daveachuk has created a late-night, where-do-I-fit-in-the-universe, pondering-life-late-at-night video from over 400,000 photos as well as data taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The resulting video is almost mesmerizing and
Back in 2006 the New Horizon space probe left Earth on mission to visit Pluto. On July 14th of this year, New Horizon will finally reach its destination and give us a closer look at the piece of rock that was once on the a-list of planets i
Since the first announcement of the Mars One program, people have either picked up the story and hailed it with headlines trumpeting our colonization of the red planet or they’ve been standing there with confused looks slapped on their face
What was supposed to be a hopeful three month mission has quietly stretched into an unbelievable journey. Opportunity bounced onto Mars back in 2004. During that time the little rover has traveled twenty six miles and transmitted a lot of d
For those that haven’t seen it or listened to the last episode of WeirdThings where we discuss what happened. Here’s the video of the Falcon rocket going all Hollywood explosion-ish during its attempted soft landing on the autonmous barge a
The jury’s out on what’s causing the sound (which is far, far below the level of human hearing) and a whole lot of theories are being tossed around about it. Everything from magnetic fields to ionization of particles shearing themselves fro
There’s always that one house on your street. You know…the one that looks like the sun is continuously exploding each night during December? In China that person is a 60 year-old farmer who: A. Is a HUGE fan of the space shuttle B. A little
The totals are in for all the people who are ready to get off this rock and get to colonizing Mars. Mars-One, the program that’s planning on getting people to Mars to begin the colonization process in the very near future, have tallied the
SpaceX keeps coaxing their Grasshopper rockets into longer jumps as they continue to develop their reusable rocket program. In the latest test, shown in this video, SpaceX’s Grasshopper rocket takes another leap into the history books by ma
3D printng is the ‘it’ thing right now. It seems like nothing can’t be printed. We can print plastic toys, metal parts and even cell tissues using additive manufacturing. So what’s next? Food…3D-printed food. A Texas company is partnering w
NASA plans to put a line for $100 million in an upcoming budget for an asteroid snatching mission with a total expected cost of $2.6 billion. The goal is to grab an asteroid and move it into a lunar orbit so we can get a closer look. What d
It’s green and came from outer space. While scientists haven’t completely ruled out a Kryptonian origin, they think this rock may in fact be the first piece of the planet Mercury ever found on earth. Sheared away in a collision billions of
Dream big kids as you check out this retrotastic video from NASA on building colonies in space. Besides the awesome music, my favorite part is NASA’s recommendation for getting a better growing season from your crops on the space station –
If you’ve been following WeirdThings for any length of time now, you know that every time space exploration is mentioned we grab our big, pointy-fingered, foam hand and start fist-pumping toward the heavens. Most of us are never going to ge
Centuries ago, in AD 774, some guy in Britain is keeping a written record of life’s goings-on. In that year he mentions witnessing something strange…a weird “red crucifix” hanging in the sky. Fling yourself forward in time. Researchers are
The zebra spider is unique in that it jumps to kill prey instead of spinning a web. But what happens when you remove gravity. How will the spider adapt. Will it realize it now has amazing John Carter of Mars powers and jump all over the pla
In my country there is problem. And that problem is dead antelope. Three major die-offs of the antelope population have occurred in the past three years due to mysterious causes. In fact, each death boom happened almost exactly one year apa
It’s asteroid fever! Catch it. Folks are trying to mine ’em and now NASA is talking about landing on one. The Telegraph reveals today that the US space agency will reveal their plan next month. The mission will including the first British a
Blue Origin, the space exploration company founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos is ready for it’s close up. Although notoriously secretive in comparison to companies like SpaceX, May is a huge month for Blue and now they’re ready to tal
The future seems closer today than it did yesterday. People are talking about mining asteroids that contain more platinum than we’ve ever dug up on Earth and finding water that could be the key to permanent space habitation and long distanc
SpaceX founder and CEO, Elon Musk talks to WIRED magazine’s Jason Paur about the upcoming mission to the International Space Station. (Thanks to Daniel Connors for the link)
Still confused about all that asteroid mining talk yesterday? Here is a really simple explanation on the whole announcement from the folks making it happen. [Planetary Resources]
One average asteroid, half the size of the conference room they made their announcement in, can contain enough resources to power every space flight in the history of the NASA space program When asked during Q and A how many resources can b
Space blog superstar Phil “Bad Astronomer” Plait has a prediction about a news conference set to take place next Tuesday. It will feature Peter Diamandis, leading commercial space entrepreneur Eric Anderson, former NASA Mars mission manager
We aren’t quite sure how this was the conclusion he reached but Ronald Breslow, Ph.D has a theory. In a new report he tries to shed light on the age-old mystery of why terrestrial amino acids (the very building blocks of life) exist in only
Boeing tested it’s CST-100 capsule by dropping it from 11,000 feet in the air from a helicopter into the desert. According to reports, the test seemed to go fine, but what’s interesting is who footed part of the bill for the testing: Bigelo
Lake Vostock, a body of water concealed under 2.2 miles of ice in Antarctica has been contacted by Russian researchers who began drilling for it more than two decades ago. The subglacial lake has not been touched in over 20 million years. W
There is no reason all newly discovered planets shouldn’t immediately be given science fiction inspired names. None at all. It would be easier for scientists to remember and reference, capture the imagination of those that find this kind of
New findings by a Russian scientist may in fact prove that there is life on Venus, and we aren’t talking microscopic organisms in the soil either. But in his article, published in the magazine Solar System Research, Ksanfomaliti says the Ru
The first private craft set to dock with the International Space Station will have to wait a little longer. An unmanned capsule to be launched by WeirdThings’ favorite SpaceX will not happen on February 7th as initially planned. The delay i
If you listened to the most recent podcast, Andrew discussed the Phobos Grunt. It was supposed to be a probe that landed on the Martian moon of Phobos and sent us back soil samples, due to arrive in 2014. Instead, it’s going to be a REALLY
Listen folks, let’s face facts. Space stuff is trying to get all up in our atmosphere all the time. Most of it burns up on the way in but some actually makes it to the surface of our precious Earth. It would be really nice if we knew more a
HBO’s suburb hockey documentary series 24/7 debuted last night. It will cover the behind the scenes action of the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers in the lead up to their outdoor game on New Year’s Day. But the real star of the show
UPDATE: Two key points missed in the initial post. First, this will indeed the largest plane ever built. Second, the rockets launched into orbit will be built by Weird Things darlings SpaceX. Paul Allen and Burt Rutan have teamed up once ag
Get door to door from London to Sydney in under three hours, one hour 45 minutes of flight time to be exact, and you get to call yourself an astronaut when you land. That is the dream of Michiel Mol. The 42-year-old Dutchman who co-owns the
At a National Press Club luncheon today, Elon Musk, head of SpaceX announced plans for a reusable rocket that could dramatically lower the cost of going into space by a factor of 100. By amortizing the hardware costs over a lifespan of 1,00
Along with announcement for an Elon Musk appearance at the National Press Club, SpaceX revealed new conceptual images laying out their vision for the future of spaceflight. One image gives us our first look at what is probably the ‘Grasshop
Those ambitious folks at SpaceX aren’t going to let American enterprise sit out the new space race. They’ve requested permission to test out a vertical take-off and landing rocket system at their test site in McGregor, Texas. Although build
Thirsty? Astronomers have discovered a reservoir containing 140 trillion times the amount of water in all the Earth’s oceans, making it the largest mass of water ever detected in the universe. “The environment around this quasar is unique i
CASSINI MISSION from Chris Abbas on Vimeo. We have posted stitched together footage from Cassini before, but this video goes above and beyond. Now with 100% more NIN. [daily grail]
They call them hot Jupiters. A series of gas giant planets in far off solar systems that appear to circle their star in two very peculiar ways. First, it swings perilously close. Second, a quarter of them seemingly do it backwards compared
Elon Musk’s Space X promised a big announcement today and it was the unveiling of the Falcon Heavy. The short list of features: it can put 100,000 – 120,000 lbs. in orbit, has the thrust capacity of 15 Boeing 747s combined, is 30% the cost
SpaceX is promising something big April 5th, but isn’t saying much else. The announcement probably has to do with Falcon Heavy rockets, but I am excited to see what this is all about. [Gizmodo]
You’re in space. But not for long. The capsule you was unfit to leave Earth and you knew it before you left. Power failed and your orbit trajectory is about to send you screaming to your death. Atmospheric reentry will turn your body to goo
Remember all those pieces of space debris just floating around the Earth with nowhere to go and all day to get there? Remember when we were introduced to the term Zombiesat? Well now NASA is researching new ideas for using lasers to prevent
This software looks amazing; watch as Space Fence monitors the skies. [Lockheed Martin via Gizmodo]
A natural event that inspired some of the most awesome Norse mythology ever will make an epic return to it’s homeland tomorrow. Two beasts of Norse mythology are set to trouble the skies of northern Europe on Tuesday for the world’s first s
India’s space agency experienced its second launch failure of the year when a rocket carrying a communication satellite exploded shortly after takeoff. Yashpal, a retired Indian scientist and independent commentator, said he was very disapp
Finally, we can protect the planet while fleeing it. A team of Swedish scientists discovered a new molecule that could increase the power of rocket fuel 20% to 30% while leaving less of a carbon footprint. [Fast Company]
The Democratic Republic of Congo (not to be confused with the Republic of Congo immediately to the west…. Seriously) has a surprisingly rich history of space programs and rocket launches. The story first begins back when the DRC was known a
NASA engineers have proposed a system comprised of a two-mile-long rail gun and a scramjet to launch a spacecraft into orbit. The rail gun would have a 240,000- horsepower motor that would convert 180 megawatts into enough force to accelera
Scientists claim that the planet Wasp-12b has such a high carbon-to-oxygen ratio that the planet may literally be littered with diamonds and the core of the planet could have diamonds as well. It is the first carbon-rich planet observed and
The Croatian Astronomical Society Vidulini is planning on putting a rover on the moon by the end of 2012 near where Apollo 17 last landed in 1972. The rover is called Histrohod and will only cost 20,000 Euros to build. The Astronomical Soci
Here are the pictures of Cassini’s flyby of Saturn’s moon Hyperion stitched together in an awesome video. [Discover]
Scientists have studied a centuries worth of comet data and come to the conclusion that at least 20 percent of visible comets were kicked out of the Oort Cloud by a Jupiter-sized object lurking at the solar system’s outer edge. Eighty perce
The Cassini space probe recently scanned the atmosphere of Saturn’s second largest moon, Rhea, and discovered that it is comprised of 70% oxygen and 30% carbon dioxide. In the past the Hubble Space Telescope has detected thin oxygen layers
One more milestone in private sector space exploration has been crossed. The FAA granted SpaceX the first-ever commercial license for reentry for its Dragon capsule. This means that SpaceX can offer round trip voyages to the ISS and beyond.
Scientists have discovered a Jupiter-like planet inside the Milky Way that once belonged to another galaxy. This smaller galaxy was swallowed up by the Milky Way between six and nine billion years ago and belongs to a group of stars left ov
Dust off that old jingoism and get your down payment’s ready, the Space Race is back and this time we’re getting all private sector up in this piece. Russian companies are facing off with US competition to get a privately owned space statio
Launching gigantic shuttles into orbit (although awesome) is costly. So what if we just threw that bad boy as hard as we could like a paper airplane and then fitted it with some super sweet rockets to blast that sucker into the cosmos? An e
A crimson rainfall in India at the turn of our most recent century has been rumored to feature properties that we’ve never seen on Earth before or since. New research demonstrates that the cells of the rain can replicate in extremely hostil
A Portuguese professor believes force fields enveloping space ships that take us to Mars could be a reality. …a mini-magnetosphere stretching a few hundred metres beyond the craft could be used in conjunction with the heavy shields that wou
Here is one paragraph for you to read: “Accordingly, our own Universe may be the interior of a black hole existing in another universe.” So concludes Nikodem Poplawski at Indiana University in a remarkable paper about the nature of space an
There’s some kooky stuff going on inside the rings of Saturn. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has identified distinctive giant propellers that could be created by a new class of moon. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft spotted the distinctive structures i
In 1996 a team of NASA scientists published a study saying the they’d found signs of life on a Martian meteorite that crashed to Earth in 1984. They were summarily dismissed by many. 14 years later, as science has caught up, their findings
It’s either that or we’ve begun principal photography on the long-awaited Ghost Busters spin off Slimer Goes To Space. [Daily Mail via NASA]
So you find a totally sweet cone-shaped rock but can’t shake the idea that it’s somehow special. Where to do you go to get clarity on what the geological oddity really is? If you are Oregon couple Donald and Debbie Wesson you haul it down t
In case anyone was worried. Scientists from the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, and Boston University suggest that the ribbon of enhanced emissions of en
Launched in 1977 and containing the ultimate Carl Sagan mixtape, The Voyager probes have represented our message in a bottle to alien races and civilizations unknown. But for the first time, some believe they are talking back. NASA installe
We are proud to introduce our new YouTube series, WeirdThingsTV. If you dig this, please feel free to subscribe on YouTube so you don’t miss an episode. Next clips will come out Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
There has long been a school of thought that bacteria from Earth could contaminate possible life on Mars should be take a man made trip to the Red Planet. However, a new study out of the University of Central Florida says no matter how many
Everything dies. Somethings just die, only to be reborn as a deadly threat to those still living. Everyone say hello to the Zombiesat, a term used by engineers to describe satellites which have lost communication with the ground are now jus
Not going to lie to you folks, space is big. Like really big. To get from one point to another you’re going to need more than just a full tank of gas and a Snapple pinched between your thighs because someone decided to use the cup holders f
The Japanese are going to launch a new solar-powered space ship which will harnass the power of the sun for its energy with huge sails that are thinner than human hair. They are dubbing the project Ikaros. I am assuming this means the engin
A space plane designed to demonstrate the sustainability of a reusable, military-operated vehicle designed to orbit the earth will launch soon from Cape Canaveral, Florida. What happens after that is not of your GD business. But whether the
Hey space fans, don’t be blue that Mean Ol’ Obama said we aren’t sending men to the moon anytime soon. Because once we get there… our pad is going to be totally sick thanks to a new 3-D printing technology that could turn boring lunar dust
After the discovery of Neptune in 1846 astronomers began to wonder if there were other planets beyond its orbit. The discovery of Pluto (now not a planet) seemed to answer the question, but others wondered if even further out a larger earth
According to Spaceflight Now, NASA researchers are about to release new evidence that a Martian meteorite shows evidence for life. The research team originally announced the discovery of the meteorite back in 1996. There was a lot of contro
According to NewScientist, Researchers examining the data from 1000 galaxy clusters streaming in one direction are puzzled by what is causing this. One interpretation of the data suggests that we’re looking at the effect of a neighboring un
In Michael Crichton’s 1969 novel Andromeda Strain (and subsequent film and recent TV mini-series) the premise is about an extra-terrestrial microorganism that threatens to wipe humanity off the planet through truly horrific blood clotting.
Killjoy Sally Younger at Popular Science says: Despite its gusty reputation as a “gas giant,” Jupiter’s blood-red clouds hide a dense, rocky core that’s perhaps 20 times as massive as Earth. That core blocks any spacecraft’s passage through
Ever wonder what it looks like to see a spacecraft land in the middle of a field? Wonder no more. NASA has posted a great Flickr set of photos showing the return to earth of Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté and Commander Gennady Padal
Mr. Show had it first… Real story.
photo credit: aresauburn™ Space.com posted an article last week about a boy being hit in the hand with a meteorite. Since then the online community has been abuzz, some excited, some crying fraud. The details of the event itself are sketchy
Saturn’s North Pole (Cassini-Huygens, 2007 and 2008) In November 1980, planetary scientists eagerly examined transmissions received from the Voyager 1 spacecraft as it sped past Saturn. And with good reason! Amid those transmissions was the
A five-part series that tries to explain how to make the science of Star Trek real… In an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation called the “The Chase” a long running problem in Star Trek was finally solved – Why do all the aliens in Star
A five-part series that tries to explain how to make the science of Star Trek real… Time Travel stories generally suck. There are some noteworthy exceptions – specifically stories that deal with the problems of time travel and not just time
A five-part series that tries to explain how to make the science of Star Trek real… The transporters in Star Trek are an exciting concept. Recent developments in quantum physics have made the possibility of teleporting matter a theoretical
photo credit: thedimka Calls poured in to 911 dispatchers in Virginia on Sunday describing an unexplained loud boom and a streak of light across the sky. A space.com article published Monday called a Russian rocket falling back to earth the
Astronomers have identified two massive balls of ice, orbiting a dwarf planet on the fringe of our solar system. According to sciencenews.org: You’d need a mighty tall glass to hold two space objects that researchers have now identified as