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Mars

Mars-Bound Probe Serves as Radiation Guinea Pig->

Submitted by
sighted
sighted writes "This week's huge solar storm will benefit future astronauts, thanks to the rover Curiosity, now on its way to Mars. The rover is equipped with an instrument that measures the radiation exposure that could affect a human astronaut en route to the Red Planet. Scientists are just starting to pore over the data from the blast of particles. Don't worry about the poor robotic geologist, though: 'No harmful effects to the Mars Science Laboratory have been detected from this solar event,' says NASA."
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Mars

Successful Trajectory Maneuver for Next Mars Rover->

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sighted
sighted writes "NASA reports that the spacecraft carrying the Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover, has just reached an important turning point on its way to the Red Planet. A three-hour series of thruster firings changed the ship's velocity by just 12.3 mph (5.5 m/s)--enough to compensate for an intentional misdirection at launch that will send the mission's booster rocket safely off into space while the rover now heads for the intriguing Gale Crater."
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Idle

A Cloaked Alien Spaceship Orbiting Mercury?->

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes "A viral YouTube video is doing the rounds apparently depicting a "cloaked" alien spaceship in orbit around Mercury. The video, composed of observations from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), appears to show a UFO glow after being hit by a coronal mass ejection. Sadly, this is in fact a very well known artifact that appears in the data after background noise calculations are made. There's no Klingons off Mercury's starboard bow."
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AI

NASA's "Software of the Year Award" Goes to Roboti->

Submitted by
sighted
sighted writes "NASA is calling attention to a system that autonomously captures scientific images on Mars. The AEGIS software, developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, directs Opportunity's cameras to interesting science targets. 'With AEGIS, the rover software analyzes images onboard, detects and prioritizes science targets in those images, and autonomously obtains novel, high-quality science data of the selected targets, within 45 minutes, with no communication back to Earth required.'"
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NASA

New Close-Ups of Saturn's Geyser Moon->

Submitted by
sighted
sighted writes "Over the weekend, the robotic spacecraft Cassini buzzed Saturn's moon Enceladus and its intriguing geysers. Cassini flew just 62 miles above the moon's surface--and right through its jets of water vapor and ice--both capturing pictures and 'tasting' the geyser plumes. Cassini makes another pass by Enceladus later this month. Even more pictures can be seen in the stream of raw images sent by the probe."
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Comment: Re:False Color (Score 3, Informative) 90

by sighted (#37559684) Attached to: Mercury Turns Out To Be a Weird Little World
The images are enhanced (stretched) color, not false color. According to the official release, the hollows are "very bright and have a blue color relative to other areas of Mercury." As one image caption from NASA explains, "the enhanced-color locator image emphasizes the high reflectance and relatively blue color."

Comment: Re:blueish? (Score 4, Informative) 90

by sighted (#37559642) Attached to: Mercury Turns Out To Be a Weird Little World
The images you're referring to are enhanced (stretched) color, not false color. According to the official release, the hollows are "very bright and have a blue color relative to other areas of Mercury." As one image caption from NASA explains, "the enhanced-color locator image emphasizes the high reflectance and relatively blue color."
Space

Mercury Turns Out to be a Weird Little World-> 1

Submitted by
sighted
sighted writes "The robotic spacecraft MESSENGER, now orbiting the first planet, has found odd features on its surface, including unexplained, blueish 'hollows' that may be actively forming today. The new findings will be published this week in Science. One scientist said, 'The conventional wisdom was that Mercury is just like the Moon. But from its vantage point in orbit, MESSENGER is showing us that Mercury is radically different from the Moon in just about every way we can measure.'"
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Moon

New Moon Mission Launched-> 1

Submitted by
sighted
sighted writes "The twin lunar Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral this morning. GRAIL-A is scheduled to reach the moon on New Year's Eve 2011, while GRAIL-B will arrive New Year's Day 2012. The two solar-powered spacecraft will fly in tandem orbits around the moon to measure its gravity field. Lunar explorers hope the mission will answer longstanding questions about the moon 'from crust to core.'"
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Prepare for tomorrow -- get ready. -- Edith Keeler, "The City On the Edge of Forever", stardate unknown