“Voyager tells us now that we’re in a stagnation region in the outermost layer of the bubble around our solar system,” said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. “Voyager is showing that what is outside is pushing back. We shouldn’t have long to wait to find out what the space between stars is really like.”

An area of space little thought about by most I would assume. While we visualize solar systems, stars, and all the stuff orbiting around them, we often forget about all the open space in between these systems.

In the latest data, the direction of the magnetic field lines has not changed, indicating Voyager is still within the heliosphere, the bubble of charged particles the sun blows around itself. The data do not reveal exactly when Voyager 1 will make it past the edge of the solar atmosphere into interstellar space, but suggest it will be in a few months to a few years.

Fascinating research coming in the next few years I imagine if you are a working at
Veterinary Technician Jobs, or a budding astronomer.

University of Michigan astronomy professor Ted Bergin is a co-author of a paper on the findings published in the Oct. 21 edition of Science.
The researchers used the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) on the orbiting Hershel Space Observatory to detect the chemical signature of water.

“This tells us that the key materials that life needs are present in a system before planets are born,” said Bergin, a HIFI co-investigator. “We expected this to be the case, but now we know it is because have directly detected it. We can see it.”

Now Spitzer has spotted a band of dust around a nearby bright star in the northern sky called Eta Corvi that strongly matches the contents of an obliterated giant comet. This dust is located close enough to Eta Corvi that Earth-like worlds could exist, suggesting a collision took place between a planet and one or more comets. The Eta Corvi system is approximately one billion years old, which researchers think is about the right age for such a hailstorm.

“We believe we have direct evidence for an ongoing Late Heavy Bombardment in the nearby star system Eta Corvi, occurring about the same time as in our solar system,” said Carey Lisse, senior research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., and lead author of a paper detailing the findings. The findings will be published in the Astrophysical Journal. Lisse presented the results at the Signposts of Planets meeting at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., on Oct. 19

Obviously something observers will be very excited to watch. It’s sort of like watching the early years of our very own solar system. Using the Spitzer, which runs on much more than mobile batteries, they had this to say:

“We think the Eta Corvi system should be studied in detail to learn more about the rain of impacting comets and other objects that may have started life on our own planet,” Lisse said.

The SETI Institute works with the only radio telescope array specially designed to detect potential signals from distant worlds. Something that you could argue is a bit of a luxury to even study.

While there are other telescopes that are able to do some of this research the SETI’s Allen array (Named after Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen and chief benefactor) was designed specifically for this purpose of searching the deep galaxy for ET life. It is also the only one that is dedicated around the clock for this purpose.

Astronomers there were anticipating a slew of possible new research targets from the dozens of potentially life-supporting planets newly detected by NASA’s Kepler space telescope orbiting distant stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Time to enroll in a massage therapy program for these guys I guess.

“It’s a frustrating thing to know that there are worlds out there that may have life, intelligent life, and not be able to look for them,” Shostak told Reuters.

The traffic in the area was insane. The launch was at 4:50 PM ET and traffic into Cape Canaveral was backed up as early as 9 AM. Anyone leaving there was lucky to get home by 11 PM. So…the smart thing to do was to wander out to the beach from your hotel and start walking in that direction around 2-3 PM and see how close you could get. Probably about 10-15 miles was a good bet.

Of course the grand old Florida weather does not really cater to your desires on this day and you get hit with a nice overcast about 4 PM and the entire jaunt was rather uneventful.

What I saw was about 20 seconds of the launch before it hit the clouds. This consisted of the bright rocket flames and smoke that you could clearly see, and its ascent into the clouds where we saw no more. Normally, I was told that on a clear day you could see it go a crossed the the sky for a good 30-50 miles, but no such luck. We didn’t get to see the canisters drop, or anything. Rather disappointing. Guess I have to go get a tatoo removal since my “I saw the Discovery’s last launch” tatoo is sort of a lie…lol

Of course it was a good time talking to all the people around as the beaches were packed. We all expected more, but we had a good time anyways.

The NASA-backed mission was designed to try out a new system for delivering cargo, and possibly crew someday, to the orbital outpost. It was the first time a private company launched and returned a capsule from orbit.

Space Exploration Technologies’ Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 10:43 a.m. EST (1543 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying the company’s first operational Dragon capsule.

After two orbits of Earth, it parachuted to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean shortly after 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT).

There are two more test flights planned for SpaceX, who wants to attempt a dock at the station next summer.

SpaceX, which is owned and operated by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, is one of two firms holding a combined $3.5 billion in NASA contracts to deliver cargo to the space station when the space shuttles are retired after two or three more missions

NASA is contributing $500 million to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp to develop and test-fly their spacecraft. Orbital’s Taurus 4 rocket is scheduled to debut next year. Hey man buy me some Murray Feiss lighting or something if you have that kind of cash to give out.

The company intends to upgrade Dragon with a launch escape system and hopes it will serve as a taxi for astronauts and other people wanting rides to the station and other planned outposts in orbit around Earth.

“The vehicle you saw today can easily transport people,” Musk said.

The project will be in conjunction with Virginia-based Space Adventures to market passenger seats on commercial flights aboard Boeing’s CST-100 space vehicle being developed for NASA.

The spacecraft could carry seven people and fly in low-Earth orbit as soon as 2015, Boeing said. The company added that potential customers could include private individuals, companies, nongovernmental organizations and U.S. federal agencies. They say the pricing will be “competitive” meaning that you and I will never be going. About all the adventure we are going to have is the possibility to get doofed by a hoodia scam.

Space Adventures said it had arranged for seven spaceflight participants to fly on eight missions to the International Space Station being built in space by the United States and Russia.

Guy Laliberte, founder of Canada’s Cirque du Soleil, paid more than $35 million to travel into space last year on a Russian spaceship from Kazakhstan. A true bargain as they charge the U.S. about $51 million per seat for a ride on its Soyuz spacecraft. The price goes up to $56 million in 2013.

The 180-foot rocket put a model of its Dragon capsule into orbit about 160 miles up, setting the stage for possible flights to the international space station early next year. The flight came after an initial abort right at ignition.

This is a pretty big deal actually. While it may not mean much to the average Joe, this will have a significant impact on the corporate world and the business of space. These guys are gonna make BANK because they are going to have nothing but government contracts. You take that for what it is worth, and do your own research in the “money” side of things. This isn’t a financial blog. Last thing i want is someone taking a weight loss diet on their portfolio because I half-assed an opinion about looking at something .

For more on this and how it is part of the new Space Program look here.

Unlike a real trip to the Red Planet, the crew on the record-breaking Mars500 simulated flight, housed in Moscow’s Institute of Biomedical Problems, will have gravity and no exposure to radiation.

But as on a true Mars mission, there is an alcohol ban (ouch), no fresh air, vegetables must be grown on board and the only contact with Earth will be via e-mail, with a 40-minute delay.

Oh yeah…there are no women on this flight either so no need for these gents to worry about adult acne.

“When I was a little boy I asked if I could go to Mars and I am now proud that I am part of making this one day happen,” said Frenchman Romain Charles, who added he will bring along his guitar for entertainment.

Wang Yue, who had trained to be an astronaut in China, said he would learn Russian during the 520 days spent closeted away to communicate with the rest of the crew.

Though both English and Russian are official languages on the simulated trip, not everyone has a common tongue.

Led by Russian commander Alexei Sitev, the crew will live and work like astronauts from the $100-billion, 16-nation International Space Station (ISS), and they will split their time between experiments and exercise.

You want Sexism?

While I’m sure this wasn’t intended, and it may be removed at some point I feel it should be shared.

“HARDER FOR WOMEN IN ISOLATION”

Though over a thousand women applied for the venture — which dictates “astronauts” must be under 185cm (6ft 1in) — females are notably absent from the mission.

“It is harder for a woman to be taken out of life and put in isolation,” said Mars500 project director Boris Morukov.

“The most important thing here is motivation, and limitations would upset women. You’re not allowed to talk on a telephone,” he added.

The crewmembers said they would miss women terribly during the simulated trip but that the sacrifice was worth it.

“It will be hard but I just try to recall all the great travelers who found the New World and who were also without their families,” Sitev said.

Last year four Russians, one German and a Frenchman successfully completed a 105-day simulated space trip at the same institute.

Interestingly enough, I see this article out around the time that the nuclear weapons conference in which the U.S. and other nations reaffirm their Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). This year they are looking to reaffirm their anti-testing promises on atomic weapons, as well as possibly making the Middle East a Nuclear free zone.

While this would definitely tip the scales in favor of making the Middle East less of a catastrophic threat, it really doesn’t mean a whole lot to me. When you see things like mentioned in the article up top you realize that these agreements mean little in the grand scheme of things for the destruction we can cause. While we may make less disaster inducing weapons, we certainly know how to work towards designs that are clearly more efficient.