Monday, October 06, 2014

Orion Closer to December Test Flight


In a recent NASA notice, the space agency reported that Orion was moved out of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA also noted that the Delta IV Heavy rocket, built by United Launch Alliance, made its move Tuesday night, to nearby Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It was raised Wednesday from the horizontal position into its vertical launch configuration.


Orion now awaits the installation of  the launch abort system.


Once the launch abort system is stacked on the  crew and service modules,  the Orion spacecraft will be considered complete. It then will wait inside the launch abort system facility until mid-November, when the Delta IV Heavy rocket is ready for integration with the spacecraft.
 
NASA has already tested, processed and attached to each other the three Common Booster Cores of the Delta 4 Heavy,  to form the first stage that will connect to Orion’s service module.

Orion is capable of  providing living quarters for up to 21 days.   An additional habitat module will be made available for longer missions.  This will  provide extra space for crew and equipment.

Read the complete NASA release HERE



Sunday, October 05, 2014

A very funny Kerbal Space Program video!

 
Danny2462's YouTube video


Kerbal Space Program is a pretty awesome program that the user can creature a multitude of crafts from a pretty large selection of parts. The game is a really good sandbox (also the game creators are working on a challenging mode). Instead of the earth, we have Kerbin, home of the green Kerbals. As you might expect, the planets have different names, too.

   One YouTube user by the name of Danny2462 loves to find glitches and has fun creating all sorts of things in the game. In the past he made a "planet buster" of sorts, and in this video he makes another glitch discovery about a device he makes that has properties of a "planet buster". He experiments with the glitchy device he makes and the end result is quite a riot to behold!

More information about Kerbal Space Program can be found here:
https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/

Danny2462's YouTube channel can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Danny2462


Saturday, October 04, 2014

BMU #426 is NOW Online!


hoooooooooo! Yep it's that time of the week again. This week - episode 426. This week in my opening comments I discuss the time paradox in A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Plus the stunning success of the Indian Mars mission.

My first story of the afternoon is by Jason Kahn and his Darke Inspectre series. Because I dropped the ball in September, and for continuity, I rerun episode 28 and continue straight on to episode 29.

Our next stop is the Beam Me Up blog, The first thing this week, what do you get the nero-scientist that has everything? How about a hard to believe demo of the state of CGI in the industry. SNC is calling foul with NASA's choice of Space X and Boeing when one of the selected companies was higher in its bid than SNC!

Finally Crystal Wizard's Wizard's Bane Book 1 ch4,pt1

Listen to the podcast HERE

Almost Sounds Like a Zombie Wedding!


There is an old tradition that not to many engaged couples practice just before marriage. 

It used to be highly popular for the bride and groom to be, to exchange small trinkets or gifts, now for the most part, these "gifts" take the form of wedding rings.  

I read an article where one groom took this tradition to a higher level.  As Michael Mack said recently on his blog:  "I wanted a special gift for my wife on our wedding day," 

It seems both of the soon to be newly weds  are neuro-scientists  at the University of Texas at Austin, studying human memory.

Michael had a 3D printing company,  print a  model of his brain using a scan he had done earlier.  He then put it in a jar, wrapped it up and sent it to her. 

Her maid of honor said that when his wife to be received the gift she exclaimed "Is this his brain? OMG!  Michael reported on his blog that she love the gift.

Read the complete c/net article HERE





Thursday, October 02, 2014

This Is the State of CGI!

Get ready to get your minds blown.....This has to be one of the best demos of high end CGI I have ever seen.