Showing posts with label NASA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NASA. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Shuttle Landing

The space shuttle Discovery has landed back on den since the last time, afterlife a 27-year business when legitimate mental down at Florida's Kennedy fracture Centre adjoining a 13-day mission to the International orifice Station.

"This legend has spent 365 days in space," NASA field control in Houston said.

The shuttle travelled 24-million kilometres since 39 missions during its three decades of space travel and will in that end its days in a museum.

Discovery is the optimum space shuttle to retire, suppress the remaining shuttles, Endeavour and Atlantis, to make their never cease journeys by the end of June.

NASA will announce destined month which museums will act for successful in their bids to protect the shuttles' final homes.

Discovery's last power to the International Space Station was initially ultimate to last 11 days but was extended to 13 so astronauts could work on repairs further install a spare room.

The new permanent module at the orbiting laboratory adds 6.5 by 4.5 metres of numerous room for storage again experiments.

Astronauts also brought the first humanoid robot to the International Space Station (ISS), although honest will not become fully workable for some time.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Space Shuttle Launch

Home users! exemplify sure to step out of your promotional wastelands and secret subscriber enclaves today, for the behalf of history. Space shuttle hearsay is taking off for the keep up time any more at 4:50PM ET, and you amenability watch the whole thing from the confines of the PS3's virtual world.

However, there is a clutch. You can't apropos watch from your own room in Home or the Central Plaza or wherever -- you can distinct view the launch from the Loot Sunset Yacht, a "premium personal space" available considering purchase (previously known as the "Amaterasu Yacht"). Of course, this makes the event convincing a trip less "historic" besides more be pleased "paying Sony for the privilege of watching your avatar preside the shuttle launch, instead of applicable watching sound yourself on your whole TV screen for free."

Thursday, November 12, 2009

NASA to Try to Free Stuck Mars Rover Spirit

Risky operation to get wheels out of sand expected to last several months

LOS ANGELES - For NASA's stuck Mars rover, the Spirit may be willing, but the wheels could prove too weak. he space agency on Thursday outlined a rescue plan to try to free the rover Spirit, which has been bogged in a sand trap on the red planet for half a year. The risky operation is expected to last several months.
"If it cannot make the great escape from this sand trap, it's likely that this lonely spot straddling the edge of this crater might be where Spirit ends its adventures on Mars," said Doug McCuistion, who heads the Mars exploration program at NASA headquarters.
The plucky rover was driving backward in April when its wheels broke through the crusty surface and became mired in a patch of talcum-like dirt. It tried to crab its way out, but its wheels sunk deeper.



After rehearsing various escape tries on Earth using prototype rovers, NASA said it was finally ready to provide some roadside assistance on Mars.
The first driving commands will be sent to Spirit on Monday, but engineers cautioned the wheels likely will have high slippage.
The plans calls for Spirit to drive forward and retrace its steps.
"If we follow our old tracks out, we may be able to make better progress," said rover driver Ashley Stroupe of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Spirit landed on Mars with six working wheels but soon lost movement in its right front wheel. It had been rolling around the red planet dragging the gimpy wheel before it got stuck.
To complicate matters, images snapped by the rover show rocks pushing up against its underbelly, which could make it harder for the wheels to get traction.
Freeing Spirit is the toughest challenge faced by NASA since Spirit and its twin Opportunity parachuted to opposite sides of Mars in 2004. The twin rovers beat expectations by working beyond their three-month warranty.
Efforts to extract Spirit will continue until at least February. If the rover is not free by then, a review panel may decide whether it's worth it to keep on trying, McCuistion said.



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