Opening Up A Colorful Cosmic Jewel Box Oct 30, 2009
One of the most spectacular nestles deep in the southern skies near the Southern Cross in the constellation of Crux. See also. (Science Daily)
NASA launches test rocket on second try Oct 29, 2009
The president is currently reviewing the report and is expected to make a decision soon about whether to proceed with the Constellation program, which includes Ares I, or take the agency in a new direction. The report suggested that President Obama consider giving up on Ares I and instead urging private industry to step in and design a low-earth orbit vehicle for humans. (MSNBC -- Technology)
NASA rocket launch advances Moon mission dream Oct 29, 2009
Ares and Orion are part of Constellation, NASA's grand program to send astronauts back to the Moon by 2020, and then perhaps to Mars and other destinations in the solar system ... The test flight comes at a crucial time as the White House is considering a report ordered by President Barack Obama's administration that raises concerns about the whole Constellation project ... The initial budget for the Constellation program was set at 28 billion dollars, but has swollen to at least 44 billion. (Yahoo! Asia News)
NASA launches Ares rocket Oct 29, 2009
It was the first flight test for the Constellation Program, NASA's next-generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system ... The Constellation Program has been developing new vehicles to replace space shuttles, which will be phased out in 2010. (CNN -- Tech)
NASA tests next-generation rocket Oct 29, 2009
Ares and Orion are part of Constellation, NASA's grand program to send astronauts back to the Moon by 2020, and then perhaps to Mars and other destinations. Wednesday's launch represented the first step in NASA's effort to return astronauts to the moon. (Xinhuanet, China)
Does the Final Frontier Have a Future? Debating America's Next Steps in Human Space Flight Oct 29, 2009
The afternoon's second panel, "Heavy Lift and Exploration Beyond Low Earth Orbit," will be moderated by Roger D. Launius, senior curator for the division of space history at the Smithsonian Institute's National Air and Space Museum, and will feature Stephen Metschan, co-founder of the DIRECT shuttle derived heavy-lift vehicle team; Douglas Stanley, principal research engineer, Georgia Institute of Technology; and a representative from NASA's Constellation program office. Edward Crawley, Ford... (NASA Watch)
NASA's Ares I-X Rocket Completes Successful Flight Test Oct 29, 2009
The Ares I-X efforts are led by the Ares I-X mission management office of the Constellation Program, based at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, and NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington. NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland designed and built the vehicle's upper stage mass simulator. (Science Daily)
NASA Launches Ares I-X Test Flight Oct 29, 2009
"Oh, man. Well, how impressive is that," said Jeff Hanley, manager of NASA's space frontier program, known as Constellation ... It was also the first launching in NASA's post-Columbia Constellation program, which calls for development of manned and unmanned Ares rockets, Orion crew capsules and landers designed to support Antarctica-style moon bases in the 2020s, Harwood reports ... But the Obama administration is re-evaluating NASA's manned space program and whether it makes sense to return to... (CBS News)
I-X marks the start Oct 29, 2009
"It's a sense of validation that the course that we had laid out is executable," Jeff Hanley, manager of NASA's Constellation program, said after the flight. "We have a design that will do the country service if it is put into service.". (Florida Today)
The Ares Liftoff: Learning from Space Shuttle Mistakes Oct 29, 2009
Ares I is part of a family of new rockets in NASA's Constellation program, which was propelled by former President George W. Bush's 2005 space initiative to go to Mars or back to the moon ... A report delivered to the White House on Oct. 22 from the Human Space Flights Plan Committee said the Constellation program's goals were underfunded. (Time.com)
Show Transcript: October 29 Oct 29, 2009
We're talking about NASA and its Constellation program, which includes the new Ares I-X rocket. That's the one. (CNN -- US)
Clouds break; NASA launches rocket Oct 29, 2009
Critics have criticized the Ares I, which would be the first Constellation rocket to fly, as too expensive and technically flawed. Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company. (Boston Globe)
NASA scrubs Ares rocket launch Oct 28, 2009
The Constellation Program, of which Ares I-X is a part, has been developing new vehicles that would replace space shuttles, which will be phased out in 2010 ... If the Constellation Program moves forward, the Orion capsule atop the Ares rocket will not be ready to take astronauts into space until at least 2015, leaving a gap of at least five years in which the only way the United States would be able to put humans in orbit would be by hitching a ride with the Russians. (CNN -- Tech)
NASA's Ares rocket set for test flight Oct 28, 2009
Ares rockets could one day lift NASA crew capsules under Constellation program. But future of Constellation uncertain, with U.S. space plans under review ... The Constellation Program, of which Ares 1-X is a part, has been developing new vehicles that would replace the space shuttle. (CNN -- International)
Son of Shuttle? Or Rocket to Nowhere? Oct 27, 2009
This new-generation program is called Constellation, and Jeff Hanley is the man in charge. "Physics hasn't changed much (since Apollo); it still takes big rockets to do these big missions," said Hanley. (ABC News)
NASA counts down for Mars rocket test Oct 27, 2009
The initial budget for the Constellation program, which includes Ares rockets, was set at 28 billion dollars, but has swollen to at least 44 billion. Augustine Commission member Ed Crawley said last week that Ares I was "not the right ship" for post-shuttle space flight. (Yahoo! Asia News)
A boyhood dream nears reality Oct 27, 2009
Davis is deputy manager of the Ares I-X mission management office for NASA as part of its Constellation Program, developing the next generation of rocket that will carry astronauts, exploration vehicles and cargo to the International Space Station, the moon and Mars. Its first space station flight is scheduled for 2015 and lunar mission for 2020. (Albany Times Union)
Nasa's Mars rocket to blast off in key test flight Oct 27, 2009
The initial budget for the Constellation program, which includes Ares rockets, was set at 28 billion dollars, but has swollen to at least 44 billion ... The commission's review of the Constellation program proposed several alternatives, including sidestepping the rocket and going straight to the Ares V family of launch vehicles, which would take astronauts back to the moon and eventually on to Mars. (India Times, India)
Weather threatens historic Ares I-X test flight Oct 27, 2009
The $445 million Ares I-X test flight is a first for NASA's Project Constellation, which is developing two Ares rockets and the Orion crew capsule for missions to the moon, Mars and beyond. (2 of 2). (Florida Today)
Night Sky Viewing for November 2009 Oct 27, 2009
Deep Sky Objects and Constellations to Observe This Month ... It can be found in the Taurus constellation, high in the southeastern sky around 8:00 p.m., a few degrees to the right of Orion's "shield" ... The Orion Constellation. (Suite101.com)
New Nasa rocket prepares to fly Oct 27, 2009
Although the panel supported the Ares I-X test flight, it questioned the need to develop the Ares I rocket, part of the Constellation programme commissioned by the previous administration and intended to return the US to the Moon by 2020 ... However, the decision on the future of the Ares I and the rest of the Constellation programme now rests with President Barack Obama who is expected to give a response in the coming weeks. (BBC News -- Americas)
Will space station keep flying? Oct 25, 2009
That shuttle funding was to be used instead for NASA's next great endeavor -- the Constellation Program, which would take astronauts back to the moon. But that means NASA would no longer have its own spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the space station. (CNN -- Tech)
Looking Up: Double Cluster is double the fun Oct 24, 2009
The next clear night, before the moon gets very bright, look north for the five easily seen stars of the W, the constellation Cassiopeia ... The Double Cluster is among the myriad stars of the Milky Way Band, which passes through the constellations Perseus and Cassiopeia ... You can easily find your own constellations, which are known as asterisms. (Belmont Citizen Herald, MA)
Nebulae & Galaxies Oct 24, 2009
5 light years and is about 650 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius ... 27 spiral galaxy lying about 3 million light-years away in the constellation Triangulum ... The Lagoon Nebula is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Volunteers wanted for simulated 520-day Mars mission... Oct 23, 2009
Volunteers wanted for simulated 520-day Mars mission. Volunteers wanted for simulated 520-day Mars mission. (The Drudge Report)
Astronomers Find Organic Molecules Around Gas Planet Oct 22, 2009
Swain and his co-investigators used data from two of NASA's orbiting Great Observatories, the Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, to study HD 209458b, a hot, gaseous giant planet bigger than Jupiter that orbits a sun-like star about 150 light years away in the constellation Pegasus. The new finding follows their breakthrough discovery in December 2008 of carbon dioxide around another hot, Jupiter-size planet, HD 189733b. (Science Daily)
National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Advisory Board Meeting Oct 22, 2009
Global Positioning System (GPS) Constellation and Modernization Plans. U.S. GPS Technological Leadership and Competitiveness. (NASA Watch)
Upcoming flight, Ares excite Atlantis crew Oct 21, 2009
Ares I-X looks similar to the rocket astronauts would ride into space after the shuttle is retired, if the Obama administration and Congress stick with NASA's Constellation program. (2 of 2). (Florida Today)
Expo offers foot in door Oct 21, 2009
As NASA winds down its shuttle program, the Ares will be part of the space agency future and play a major role in maintaining the link with the business community when Constellation space program kicks into gear. Up to 7,000 space industry workers will lose their jobs, but millions of dollars still will be spent by NASA.. (Florida Today)
Holiday Acres Farm provides fun,educational outing for families Oct 21, 2009
In this area, one can gather moon rocks, experience the difference in the weight of objects on earth versus other planets, learn about the history of the Apollo missions and learn about and form constellation patterns. Holiday Acres Farm also offers hayrides, a petting zoo, an indoor hay maze, a fence maze, Fun Town play area, Farm-to-Market Learning Center, gift shop, pumpkins, hardy fall mums and decorations. (Columbia Daily Herald, TN)
The Milky Way's tiny but tough neighbour Oct 20, 2009
Barnard s galaxy glows beneath a sea of foreground stars in the direction of the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). The image was made from data obtained through four different filters (B, V, R, and H-alpha). (Astronomy Now Online)
John Kelly: Stakes high for NASA's moon program Oct 20, 2009
A presidential committee has delivered a report with options for President Obama to consider and the existing program -- called Constellation -- did not fare well in the committee's analysis. People are beginning to speculate the White House will kill Ares. (Florida Today)
Click to read:Ares I-X Rocket: NASA Unveils its New Baby Oct 20, 2009
The Ares test flight is a key element in NASA's post-shuttle Constellation program, which calls for replacing the shuttle with a safer, lower-cost rocket to ferry astronauts to low-Earth orbit and development of a large, unmanned heavy lift rocket - the Ares V - that would support eventual expeditions to the moon ... Only one of the five options includes the Ares I. But in recent hearings, lawmakers expressed reluctance to scrap the Constellation architecture and it's not yet clear what action... (CBS News)
NASA Photos Show Moon Strike Created Plume Oct 18, 2009
Check out artists' renderings, blueprints and test flight photos from the Constellation Program, NASA's upcoming moon mission. Did the U.S. really land on the moon 40 years ago this month. (Click2Houston, TX)
Galactic Magnetic Fields May Control Boundaries Of Our Solar System Oct 18, 2009
(July 19, 2006) The European Space Agency's spacecraft constellation Cluster has hit the magnetic bull's-eye. The four spacecraft surrounded a region within which the Earth's magnetic field was spontaneously. (Science Daily)
Looking Up: Clouds come and go, but stars shine on Oct 17, 2009
They seem to emanate from the constellation Orion, which at this time of year, only begins to be visible on the eastern horizon around midnight. In the wee hours between midnight and dawn, when Orion reaches high, you will see the most meteors darting across the heavens. (Belmont Citizen Herald, MA)
Orionids Meteor Shower Starts This Weekend Oct 17, 2009
The Orionids are so named because the meteors appear to radiate from near the constellation Orion, aka the Hunter. This easily spotted constellation "kind of looks like an hourglass with a very recognizable belt of stars," said astronomer Mark Hammergren of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago ... In addition, "the constellation is visible from pretty much anywhere in the world, because it appears along a line of sight close to the Equator," he said. (National Geographic)
Hubble joins morning planet round-up Oct 16, 2009
Look high (74 degrees) in the ESE for Mars, which has left the bright stars Castor and Pollux of Gemini behind and entered the dim constellation Cancer, the Crab. Mars will continue getting closer and brighter through the end of the year, but will look nothing like it says in the Internet hoax that seems to make the rounds every year. (Florida Today)
Take a sneak peek at future of space Oct 16, 2009
2 million in modifications to pad 39B, which the shuttle program handed over to NASA's Constellation program in May ... Three lightning masts now surrounding the complex are designed for use throughout the Constellation program, if it survives an ongoing presidential review. (Florida Today)
Strange shapes seen in Milky Ways neighbor Oct 15, 2009
The new image, taken by one of the telescopes at the European Southern Observatory in La Silla, Chile, shows Barnard's Galaxy beneath a sea of foreground stars in the direction of the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). Barnard's Galaxy is a dwarf galaxy that lacks the spiral arms of its neighbors, the Milky Way, Andromeda and the. (MSNBC -- Technology)
The Milky Way's tiny but tough galactic neighbor Oct 14, 2009
In the new ESO image, Barnard's Galaxy glows beneath a sea of foreground stars in the direction of the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). At the relatively close distance of about 1. (EurekAlert!)
Bizarre Galaxy Result Of Cosmic Collision Oct 14, 2009
The product of this dramatic collision, called NGC 2623, or Arp 243, is about 250 million light-years away in the constellation of Cancer (the Crab). See also. (Science Daily)
Will Obama increase funding for NASA? Oct 13, 2009
In time of Constellation the technology is advanced enough to return on the moon to establish there a sustainable base ... Thinking Constellation as something like "Apollo-steroids" is like thinking today satellites are just "Sputniks-on-steroids". (Florida Today)
This Week's Sky at a Glance Oct 13, 2009
There's a growing chill to the October evenings, at least in New England where I live, and by midevening the eastern sky holds harbingers of the winter constellations to come ... Look for a huge, narrow pyramid of light extending up from the eastern horizon at an angle along the constellations of the zodiac ... Learn your way around the constellations. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
* In search of water, NASA prepares to bomb the moon Oct 10, 2009
The carnage is also the first preparatory mission of the Constellation program that aims to bring Americans back to the moon by 2020. We dont anticipate anything about presence or absence of water immediately. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Panel downplays risks of launch Oct 9, 2009
"I have a little trouble conceding that this should not count," said Bohdan Bejmuk, a former Boeing Co. shuttle program manager and chairman of a standing review board evaluating NASA's moon-Mars program, known as Project Constellation ... "It seems to me that (Project Constellation) has a simpler rocket than almost any other rocket and we are not giving it credit," Bejmuk said ... The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee was formed in May to conduct an independent analysis of... (Florida Today)
Moon-Mars chief knocks 'false claims' Oct 8, 2009
In an e-mail obtained by FLORIDA TODAY, NASA Project Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley also says the committee is "dismissive" of the recommendations of Columbia accident investigators ... The panel decided NASA's Constellation program is on "an unsustainable trajectory" and Obama should consider canceling NASA's Ares Icrew launcher and instead fly astronauts on commercial rockets ... Project Constellation is developing Ares rockets and Orion spacecraft as part of that mission, but the... (Florida Today)
Obama puts scientists, engineers in spotlight Oct 8, 2009
Then the president looked through an 8-inch telescope, hauled south from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and focused on twin stars nicknamed that are in the constellation Lyra. The stars are 160 light-years away, which translates to 960 trillion miles. (MSNBC -- Politics)
NASA laying off 550 engineers Oct 7, 2009
The whole craft and missions takes the name Constellation program. But for now, Orion is only a promise of more work for ATK Space Systems. (Pocatello Idaho State Journal, ID)
'Butterfly Nebula' catches Hubble's attention Oct 7, 2009
The Butterfly Nebula is about 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius ... Another image shows Stephan's Quintet, a group of five galaxies -- some of which are 290 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. (CNN -- International)
Hellish Exoplanet Rains Hot Pebbles, Has Lava Oceans Oct 7, 2009
Located about 500 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros, CoRoT-7b by the French and European space agencies' CoRoT space telescope. SHARE RELATED. (National Geographic)
scientists discover hell planet Oct 7, 2009
Computer models of COROT-7b, a planet orbiting an orange dwarf star in the constellation Monoceros, 490 light years away, suggest that the world has a surface temperature hot enough to boil rock. The research, , Missouri, conjures up a vision of hell. (Harper's Magazine)
SPACE PHOTOS THIS WEEK: Mercury Mystery, Eruption, More Oct 7, 2009
October 2, 2009--Like pearls on a cosmic string, cold gas clouds in the Southern Cross constellation reveal intense, unexpected star-making activity in new images from the European Space Agency's Herschel telescope. Scientists color-coded infrared wavelengths in the images to discern extremely cold material (seen above in faint red) and the surrounding, slightly warmer stuff (seen in blue). (National Geographic)
John Kelly: Time runs short on space plan Oct 6, 2009
The single most practical course of action now is to retire the shuttles as scheduled; take the money saved and spend it on speeding up Constellation and training KSC people to carry out that well-conceived program -- all as part of a permanent return to the Moon, fifty years after the end of Apollo. The Obama / Bolden space legacy can be the mustering of a true worldwide partnership of spacefaring nations (probably adding China, India and Brazil to the existing ISS coalition) to go back to the... (Florida Today)
Strange creatures rule October skies Oct 4, 2009
Hence, the constellation represents both aspects of this mythological figure. Rising in the east is the constellation Perseus, the hero. (Casper Star-Tribune, WY)
Moon River, wider than a mile Oct 4, 2009
In an article in the Huffington Post on September 29, Pinaki Bhattacharya writes that ISRO "shone this week, after a few months of that sinking feeling into the darkness of despair. In the early part of the week it conducted a copybook launch of a constellation of nine satellites, including the country's own oceanic remote sensing satellite , Oceansat-2 In the latter part of the week came the news that the ISRO's maiden lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1 has discovered water on the moon". ISRO... (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
New Kind Of Search For Dark Energy: First Light For BOSS Oct 3, 2009
BOSS's first exposure was made after many nights of clouds and rain in the Sacramento Mountains when spectroscopy was obtained of some 800 galaxies and 200 quasars in the constellation Aquarius ... Bhardwaj's teammate, Berkeley Lab postdoc Nic Ross, quipped that given the constellation where first light was obtained, the accomplishment marked the "dawning of the Age of Aquarius.". (Science Daily)
On moonless nights, look for the not-so-bright sights among stars Oct 3, 2009
Altair is the piercing eye of the constellation Aquila, the Eagle ... The Eagle looks to me more like a bat, but with constellations, you take what you can get ... Left of Altair by about a fist-width is the much smaller constellation Delphinus, the leaping Dolphin. (Boston Globe)
Herschel Views Deep-space Pearls On A Cosmic String Oct 3, 2009
On Sept. 3, Herschel aimed its telescope at a reservoir of cold gas in the constellation of the Southern Cross near the Galactic Plane ... Reservoir of cold gas in the constellation of the Southern Cross. (Science Daily)
Iridium will flare tonight Oct 2, 2009
The Iridium satellite constellation originally comprised 66 operational and six spare satellites providing global communications. It's no wonder that there's always one overhead. (Florida Today)
Seeing stars Oct 2, 2009
The telescope was looking towards the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, in the direction of the Southern Cross constellation. The scanning mode works with two of Herschel's three instruments operating in tandem. (BBC News -- Europe)
Your views: Letters to the editor Oct 2, 2009
Augustine panels findings miss markI recently wrote a letter to the president and several members of Congress, because after reviewing information from the Augustine panel about NASAs Constellation program, I became angry ... As for the Constellation program not being technically capable, wrong again ... The government gave hundreds of billions of dollars to banks and billions to car companies and NASA has to beg for $3 billion a year more for Constellation. (Florida Today)
Its fall and a young mans fancy turns to ... Stonehenge? Oct 2, 2009
The first constellation of fall is Pegasus, the flying horse ... Cassiopeia is a circumpolar constellation. (Danvers Herald, MA)
Former VRHS student part of NASA co-op program Oct 2, 2009
Pendleton's next rotation in the summer of 2010 will be in the Constellation Program. Pendleton not only credits her hard work, drive and determination to succeed, but also the constant support and guidance of her teachers and mentors throughout the years, particularly in high school. (Cedar Park Hill Country News Weekender, TX)
Useless Knowledge: Planets align in today's quiz Oct 2, 2009
The Montana Standard. The Montana Standard. (Montana Standard, MT)
