A little over five years ago the principal investigator for NASA’s New Horizons mission, Dr. Alan Stern, visited our corner of cyberspace to brief us on the probe’s design and progress. Now we’re mere months way from our first close-up encounter with distant, mysterious Pluto! But there’s more: the plucky little spacecraft now has several destinations beyond Pluto, if NASA gives the go ahead.
A team of researchers led by John Spencer has discovered three possible targets, all in the Cold Classical part of the Kuiper belt. New Horizons will most likely visit one named “PT1″ for “[New Horizons] potential target 1.” PT1 has gives been imaged four more times by Hubble since its discovery, and those followup images have provided enough information on its orbit for four independently working teams to determine that New Horizons will be able to fly close past it in …
- Not that long ago, in geologic time, monstrous 500-pound kangaroos loped, not hopped, on two legs across Australia.
- So, Air Force, or whomever … what’s up with the top-secret mini space shuttle?
- I maintain that dogs are, hands down, the most awesome, loyal, loving creatures on Earth, and that there’s even some science to back my admittedly subjective opinion up. But you cat lovers aren’t going to like what some behavioral researchers have to say this week about those furry little demons incarnate.
- This is sort of an inside joke—and it’s hilarious if you know the inside story: my buddy Mike Gold of Bigelow Aerospace was commenting on an inflatable hab soon to fly to the ISS … and he apparently just could not resist getting in yet another shot at the ITAR:
After gravity, Gold said, ITAR is the second-greatest barrier to getting something off Earth. China, in particular, is the “third rail” of ITAR, Gold said, urging other companies to help him speak to government officials in an attempt to make changes.
- Your morning science-y Zen via Occupy Democrats on FB:
