Hydrocarbons, Necessary For Life, Found On Saturn's Moon Hyperion

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has revealed for the first time surface details of Saturn's moon Hyperion, including cup-like craters filled with hydrocarbons that may indicate more widespread presence in our solar system of basic chemicals necessary for life. Hyperion yielded some of its secrets to the battery of instruments aboard Cassini as the spacecraft flew close by in September 2005. Water and carbon dioxide ices were found, as well as dark material that fits the spectral profile of hydrocarbons.

Apollo 1 Astronauts Remembered

This week marks the anniversary of one of NASA's worst accidents.

Three astronauts died in a horrifying launch pad fire 40 years ago this week.

It was Jan. 27, 1967, with only three years left to meet President John F. Kennedy's challenge of going to the moon before the end of the decade.The three crewmembers of Apollo 1 strapped in for a realistic launch pad test for the first launch of the Apollo moon ship when their sealed spacecraft caught fire inside and they were trapped.

The fire was believed to be caused by a spark from a frayed wire and fueled by the pure oxygen inside the Apollo capsule. Grissom, White and Chaffee were dead in 17 seconds.It took rescuers five minutes to open the hatch and when they did, they found the astronauts had struggled to get out, but the hatch was too cumbersome to operate.

posted by Shaun A. Saunders

NASA planing an asteroid mission

Progress is being made on defining a human mission to an asteroid. A feasibility study to stage a human mission to an asteroid is underway, said Carlton Allen, Astromaterials Curator and Manager of the Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC). “It would involve flying people to one of the NEOs and, among other things, collect samples and bring them back,”

Edward Lu, veteran shuttle and International Space Station astronaut, is a member of the JSC study team. They are looking into use of Orion technology earlier than 2020, as well as utilizing Delta or Atlas Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles.

“There are many asteroids that have very low relative velocities with respect to Earth,” Lu observed. Identifying an “ideal” NEO is one that’s both slow moving and comes close to Earth – sort of a match made in heaven. “Those are easy targets, they wouldn’t require a lot of rocket oomph to rendezvous with," he said.

Lu also said that the question now is 'How can already existing or currently planned Constellation hardware be used or minimally changed to permit other exploration agendas?'

Constellation boosters and spacecraft hardware are now geared to support NASA’s return to the Moon and onward to Mars plans.

FilmCritics's list of the top 10 sf movie Spaceships

From the blog SF Signals we have: FilmCritic's Top 10 Movie Spaceships

FilmCritic lists The Top 10 Movie Spaceships

1. Millennium Falcon (Star Wars series)
2. U.S.S. Enterprise (various versions) (Star Trek series)
3. Nostromo (Alien)
4. Heart of Gold (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
5. Apollo 13 (Apollo 13)
6. Discovery One (2001: A Space Odyssey)
7. Klingon Bird of Prey (Star Trek series)
8. Mothership (Independence Day)
9. Gunstar (The Last Starfighter)
10. The Thunder Road (Explorers)