Category: Space

Kennedy Space Center 50 and Empty

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Brian Vastag at The Washington Post:

Among the facilities available: A space shuttle launchpad, slightly used; a giant crawler for moving rockets, still servicable; two enormous mobile launch platforms; two space shuttle maintenance hangars; a 15,000-foot concrete runway, one of the world’s longest; and the blocky, 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building, with four soaring rocket assembly bays — and no waiting.

America’s spaceport turns 50 this year, and a wrenching middle-age transition is under way.

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John Glenn Pushes for Mars

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Mike Wall at space.com:

“We’re accustomed to the new things and get used to them, and it’s hard to get excited about something new,” Glenn said today (Feb. 17) during a NASA event commemorating his orbital flight, citing the rapid march of technological innovation as a sort of numbing agent. “I’m sure if we establish bases someplace else, or if we make that flight to Mars, that’ll re-galvanize people again.”

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NASA Launches Open Source Projects

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NASA:

Today we are launching code.nasa.gov, the latest member of the open NASA web family. Through this website, we will continue, unify, and expand NASA’s open source activities. The site will serve to surface existing projects, provide a forum for discussing projects and processes, and guide internal and external groups in open development, release, and contribution.

via The Verge

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Eight Years of Roving

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Mike Wall:

The golf-cart-size Spirit rover landed on the Red Planet eight years ago today (Jan. 3). Its twin, Opportunity, touched down three weeks later, on Jan. 25, 2004. The two robots were originally supposed to spend 90 days searching for signs of past water activity on Mars.

They found plenty of such evidence, dramatically reshaping scientists’ understanding of the Red Planet and its history. And the rovers just kept chugging along, continuing to make observations years after their warranties expired. NASA declared Spirit dead just last year, and Opportunity is still going strong.

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