Our Home in 4K Video

Here we have a marvelous, high definition video of the Earth from space over four cycles of day and night. It was taken in May, 2011 by the  geosynchronous Electro-L weather  satellite.

I find myself in awe. The real Earth, the place we live, just seems so beautiful, so full of color, so alive.  It looks vibrant and alive. It doesn't look fragile, not at all... but what you can't see from 23,000 miles in space are the planet's 7.26 billion human residents. What you can't see are the relentless demands we humans put on the Earth's finite fresh water, forest, and  living ocean resources.  What you can't see is just how badly we humans have shredded the planet's living fabric.

When I look at this video, I want to nurture and protect this place. I want to stop people from abusing it.

This Earth is the only home we have...


Here is the link to a gorgeous view of planet Earth... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybh11kcDhfM#t=73
 

The Rosetta Comet Landing

 An amazing thing happened on November 12, 2014.  Humans managed to land a spacecraft on a comet moving through space at 80,000 mph at a distance of 300 million miles from Earth.

The first part of this truly monumental technical achievement came this past August with the European Space Agency's successful rendezvous with a  comet  known as  67 P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Not only did Rosetta rendezvous with this comet, it put itself into orbit around  the 2.4 mile wide celestial object. [ see my blog from August 7, 2014 ]

It got even better on November 12th  when the Rosetta comet orbiter released it's Philae lander vehicle. After a seven hour free fall descent, Philae successfully touched down on the  67 P Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet's surface. 

I believe this comet rendezvous and landing must be counted as one of the greatest human achievements of all time. If we are capable of pulling off technical feats as unlikely as this,  I have to ask myself, 'why can't we thoughtfully address and solve global scale challenges like climate change right here on Earth?  

Here is a link to the European Space Agency website for the Rosetta Mission...  http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Highlights/Postcards_from_Rosetta

Rosetta Rendezvous

An amazing feat of aerospace engineering and celestial navigation has just culminated as the European Space Agency's Rosetta unmanned spacecraft arrived at the comet kinown as  Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Not only did Rosetta rendezvous with this comet, it put itself into orbit around  the 2.4 mile wide  comet.

67P/Churyumov-Gerisimenko

Rosetta was launched on its mission in 2004.  Over its ten year journey, Rosetta travelled 4 billion miles, before 'catching up' and putting itself into orbit around the comet.    Rosetta will soon release a 200 pound lander that will descend to the comet's ice and stone surface.

In a news cycle dominated by reports on the fighting in Iraq, Gaza, and Eastern Ukraine, the brilliant success of Rosetta seems to have been lost in the shuffle. The media coverage of Rosetta's successful rendezvous has been modest thus far. I hope that changes. By any measure, sending a spacecraft hundreds of millions miles to connect with a speeding object just a few miles wide is a historical achievement for all humankind. 

Here is a link to the European Space Agency website for the Rosetta Mission...  http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Highlights/Postcards_from_Rosetta

ESA Video Map of Our Galaxy

This video is amazing.  It is built on a star survey done by satellites launched by the European Space Agency.   What this animated rendering shows is that we earthlings reside on a speck, dwarfed and unremarkable when viewed on a galactic scale.  It is humbling and awe inspiring. How lucky we are to have this place we call Earth.

Milky Way Galaxy

Here is a link to ESA' s very impressive video map of the Milky Way,  our galactic home... http://spaceinvideos.esa.int/Videos/2013/11/Guide_to_our_Galaxy

Rocket Scares Cows

This is a very cool video.  It's a Space X  'Grasshopper'  rocket lifting off from a rural test pad, going up a couple hundred feet, then reversing itself and riding its thrust back to the launch pad. I remember seeing pretend stuff like this in space movies that predate the Star Trek era, but I never thought this kind of thing could actually work.  The proof is in this video.  Obviously, it was unnerving for a herd of cows grazing in a pasture adjacent to the rocket test pad.

SpaceX   'Grasshopper' Rocket

Here is the link to the Space X rocket scaring the cows... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXdjxPY2j_0

Earth from Saturn

The following image was taken July 19th by the NASA Cassini space probe orbiting Saturn.  In this image, our Earth is 900 million miles away, roughly ten times the distance of the Earth from the Sun.

Earth (see arrow)

It's deeply humbling to see an image of ourselves from this perspective. Where the universe is concerned, we are a mere speck on the horizon.

Cassini approaching Saturn

Virgin Galactic

Richard Branson has been a successful entrepreneur since he was a teenager. 

Richard Branson

He started with a record label, eventually built an airline called Virgin Atlantic, and now is the driving force behind Virgin Galactic, a company poised to give customers the chance to travel into space and return safely.

Spaceship Two with Mothership

Famed aeronautical innovator Burt Rutan is the man behind the technology that drives the Virgin Galactic vision.  The goal when Branson and Rutan began was to create a system for delivering a handful of people into suborbital space and bringing them back safely and relatively inexpensively.  It appears that Virgin Galactic is close to delivering on that promise.   They have built a spaceport in New Mexico and expect to begin commercial space travel in the next 24 months or so.

Here is a link to the Virgin Galactic website.. .http://www.virgingalactic.com/

Here is a video that tells the Virgin Galactic story...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRvC9bVMX2k

A Collective Response from Humanity

The UN has just decided to go after asteroids.  More correctly, potentially hazardous objects coming at us from space. Yes, it now seems, given the meteor that exploded over Russia the other day and the 'too close for comfort' passage of a number of large asteroids recently, that world leaders are sufficiently concerned to mount a serious effort to deal with this threat. 

This is not the first time a concerted global effort was focused on a global threat.  It happened when humanity worked together to moderate the threat from 'holes' in the atmosphere caused by ozone depletion.

I applaud this civilization scale focus on this exo-threat looming from space. It is a threat. But, let's put it in perspective. As threats to the planet go, there are a number of others that that are much closer at hand and more likely to happen than getting hit by a rock from space. In fact, some some of these planetary scale threats are already happening. I'm talking about climate change driven by our fossil energy dependence.  I'm talking about extreme human overexploitation of the planet's natural resources, including our oceans, forests, and fresh water supplies.

I'm glad we're coming together to deal with asteroids.  Why can't we give the same kind of thoughtful attention to the very real, human induced threats that are already impacting life on Earth. 

Here is a link to the story about the UN's asteroid warning system initiative. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9888866/Asteroid-early-warning-system-taking-shape-at-UN.html

Another Asteroid Close Encounter

About a month ago - January 13th to be exact - I posted an entry about asteroids and PHOs (potentially hazardous objects).   I wasn't expecting to add another entry on the subject so soon.   However, I just learned of another close encounter - even closer than the one I reported on previously. 

This asteroid is called 2012 DA14. It's about fifty meters across. On Friday, February 15, 2013,  DA14 will miss planet Earth by about 15 minuites, passing within 17,500 miles.  In celestial terms, that is an exceedingly close shave.

Here is a video of science educator Bill Nye talking about asteroid DA14.
http://youtu.be/6Xo-TW_cOOQ

Video Tour - International Space Station

This is a very engaging tour of the International Space Station by the current commander, American astronaur Sunita Williams.

International Space Station

What makes this version so interesting is that astronaut Williams  takes the viewer through the entire orbiting station.

Astronaut Sunita Williams

Here is the link...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRzakuMjd5Y

Close Encounters with Asteroids and PHOs

On this day, January 13, 2013, an asteroid named Apophis will pass the Earth at a distance of just 9 million miles.   Apophis is about 275 meters in size. If it ever struck the Earth, it would release about ten times the energy of the largest hydrogen bomb ever detonated on Earth.   Looks like we'll get a free pass this time. The odds are less certain in 2036 when it shows up in our neighborhood again. At that time, the astrophysicists who keep watch on these celestial objects project that Apophis will pass within 100,000 miles of our planet. That's shaving it pretty close considering the Moon is 238,000 miles away.  Though the odds of Apophis colliding with Earth in 2036 are small, the possibility remains plausible enough to be unsettling.

 

About 65 million years ago, an asteroid six miles wide, hurtling through space at more than 20 miles a second, slammed into the ocean near Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.  The cloud of dirt, dust, and debris it threw into the atmosphere cut off the light from the sun for several years. If you've ever wondered what happened to the dinosaurs, this is the answer scientists provide.  Without sunlight, the food chain collapsed. If you didn't suffocate from all the dust and crap in the air, you froze to death or starved. Of course humans weren't around at that time. If we had been, we would've been wiped out right along with the other large animals.

Up until recently, no one was paying much attention to asteroids. Now we have scientists who specialize in searching out these objects with advanced, automated telescopes.

Asteroids are chunks of material leftover from the  formation of the solar system. There are likely between one and two million in number. Between 500 and  5,000 are thought to have the potential to be hazardous to the Earth. The ones that could do us harm are called potentially hazardous objects or PHOs. Fewer than 30 percent of those have been found.  

Not only do we have people looking for all those missing PHOs. We also have people who are developing ingenious ways to steer those PHOs that become a direct threat off in a harmless direction. 

It's an ugly thought, but we humans are increasingly making a mess of our own dominant time here on Earth. Getting struck by an asteroid would  be catastrophic.  It would wipe out most of us.  In a perverse way, it might also provide the best chance for nature and the biosphere to recover from the unprecedented stress caused by seven billion plus humans,  all seeking a piece of the planet's finite resources.

On a planetary scale, getting struck by an asteroid would hurt, probably a lot, but the Earth would survive and the biosphere would heal itself, just as it did 65 million years ago. 

Here is a link for NASA's  'Asteroid Watch' webpage...http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch/

Here's a NASA video that reports on an asteroid scheduled to pass very close to Earth 1n February, 2013.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwidzVHvbGI&feature=player_embedded

Curiosity

It's an absolute marvel what NASA accomplished with it's latest Mars exploration mission.  The process of sending an unmanned spacecraft 350 million miles to a celestial object hurtling through three-dimensional space at nearly 25 kilometers per second is wonder enough.  NASA's navigation was thread-the-needle perfect.  They landed their Curiosity Mars surface explorer exactly where they intended.   The way they did it was incredibly complex.  The explorer itself weighs almost a ton. Previous methods of depositing an unmanned explorer rover on the planet's surface couldn't work. So, they engineered a complex plan to make it happen. Amazingly, it worked.

So, now NASA has a new car-sized rover named Curosity on the surface of Mars. It's loaded to the gills with cameras, and instruments, and systens for carrying out complex experiments.

I'm really glad we're getting access to all this new knowledge about Mars.  Congratulations to all the scientists, engineers, and technicians who collaborated on this achievement.  Awesome job.

So, now I keep going back to the same thought.  We are seriously screwing up our own planet. The only one we have. Why aren't we applying the same level of  intellect and intense focus on the global scale challenges we have right here on Earth?  It's not because we don't have good science, or because we don't have enough smart scientists and engineers.  They are doing their job.  We understand our problems. We know what global climate change is, and we know what we must do to fix it. The science is already in place. What we don't have here on Earth is the political will and the public policy to make things right.  

Anyway, here is a wonderful piece of NASA animation that shows how they managed to land the Curiosity rover on Mars...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4boyXQuUIw

Middle Ages Tech Support

Here is a bit of quirky humor from Norway.  It's a glimpse on the rendering of tech support before the age of printing. 

The You Tube  link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRBIVRwvUeE&feature=player_embedded

Fearless Felix

Felix Baumgartner is a sky diver. On July 25th, in an effort that had the look of a NASA launch, Baumgartner ascended in a helium filled balloon to 96,640 over Roswell, New Mexico. Wearing a very sophisticated pressure suit, he jumped from the ascent capsule and hurtled back to terra firma. Reaching a speed of 536 mph - mach .80 - in freefall, Baumgartner arrived back on earth about eleven minutes later. Nearly four minutes of that was in freefall, the rest under parachute.

Stuff like this fascinates me. I like the idea of pushing the envelope. In this case, the considerable resources required to mount Baumgartner's audacious freefall mission came from  corporate sponsors like Red Bull energy drink. Too bad most corporations aren't willing to step up in the same way when it comes to truly serious civilization scale challenges like global climate change.


Here is a link to Baumgartner's webpage, including some very cool animation that provides an entertaining glimpse into Baumgartner's experience. http://www.redbullstratos.com/gallery/?mediaId=media1719780923001

Here's an updated video of Felix Baumgartner's adventure... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYw4meRWGd4#t=480

The Known Universe - A Digital Tour

The known universe is enormous. Something on the order of 15 billion light years across.  If time and tangible existence began with a big bang, the result was a colossal  and by all appearnces endless expansion of known space. Billions of galaxies with billions of stars in each, all flying away from eachother as the universe expands outward.

Carter Emmart and his team of astrophysical wizards at the American Museum of Natuiral History have created an amazing digital rendering of what the living universe looks like, beginning on Earth and traveling outward to the edge of known space.

It's a remarkable six minute plus journey, and it can't help but leave one humbled by the awesome scale of it's vision.

Here is a link to Carter Emmart as he presents 'The Known Universe' to a TED audience...

http://blog.ted.com/2010/07/01/a_3d_atas_of_th/

Moons of Saturn

This remarkable image was taken by NASA's Cassini space probe in September, 2011. It includes four of  the planet, Saturn's moons, orbiting along the outer edge of its rings.

Satun's largest moon, Titan (3,200 miles across) is in the background. In the foreground just above the rings is the moon, Diode (698 miles across) . Just beyond the outer edge of the rings on the right is the moon, Pandora (50 miles across), and finally, just in the gap between the first ring cluster and the second is the tiny moon, Pan (17 mles across).

The image above is not an illustration, it is a photograph, made all the more amazing by the fact that Saturn is a billion miles from the Sun... so far, that it takes nearly 30 Earth years for Saturn to make one complete orbit of the Sun.

Here is an illustration of Saturn with the NASA Cassini Probe.

Alien Encounters

The latest sci-fi adventure about a human/alien encounter hit the movie theaters this week. Promethius is another example of human existence being threatened with annihilation.  I haven't seen this one, but it's directed by Ridley Scott, who also directed the first of the Alien series. 

My favorite by far in that series was the second, written and directed by the great James Cameron.

The one I'm talking about, Aliens, starred Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, a genuine,  balls of steel female, who saves a child from the acid-blooded mother alien. Ripley had one of the greatest lines ever in a movie, when she tells the ugly,formidable alien mommy to 'Get away from her you bitch!'

Back to my point,  given the vast distances between potentially habitable places in our own galaxy, it doesn't appear that aliens are a viable threat to life on earth.  Some very smart scientists have been seeking the slightest hint of alien life for several decades. They're using some very sophisticated equipment to identify incoming radio signals.  Thusfar, despite their best efforts, they've found nothing.

Just for the sake of argument, let's say there was an alien civilization that had technology that made interstellar travel possible.  Would they be like E.T.,  or more like Darth Vadar?  

It seems unlikely aliens would  travel light years to come here unless we had something they wanted, like a new place to plant their seed. Jeeze, it's not as if that hasn't happened on Earth before.  The best, most close-to-home example is what Europeans did to the indigenous people of North, Central, and South America, starting in the 17th century.  Indians on this side of the Atlantic were enslaved, pushed aside, or very often, exterminated, because the European newcomers awarded themselves the right to take what they wanted.  The concept was and is called 'manifest destiny'.  It's an incendiary mix of religious animus, greed, and brazen ambition.   White Europeans considered the Indians of the Americas to be vermin with no rights. That's just one cold-blooded and very real example of an alien encounter gone very wrong.  Moreover, it's still happening on a grand scale. Right now, in 2012, the Republican legislators and the governor of the state of Michigan have given themselves the right to victimize and asset strip a number of struggling city and county governments in their state.  What they are doing in Michigan is another damnable example of manifest destiny.

The great cosmologist Stephen Hawking thinks we are foolish to assume alien visitors would behave any way other that rapaciously if they took the trouble to travel light years to get here. And, given the huge advantage they would have in technology, taking what we have would be as easy as engineering a virus that would eliminate humanity in short order, leaving them free to settle in and exploit earth's resources as we have for many millennium.  

Bottom line; where aliens are concerned, if they are out there, probably the best thing would be for them to stay in their own neighborhoods, galactic or otherwise.

Andromeda to hit head on with Milky Way Galaxy

Some headline, huh?  Two astronomical, galactic scale objects are on a collision course. Fortunately for those of us here in the moment, it isn't predicted to happen for another four billion years.  

It's really quite amazing that astronomers are able to recognize and put a timeline on such a colossal scale scenario.  Somehow, using data collected by the HubbleTelescope orbiting our Earth, they figured this out. Oh, by the way, our earth, our Sun, our solar system are part of the milky way galaxy.  So, look out earthlings living four billion years from now. You've been warned.

Here is the link to the article about this phenomenal bit of scientific gymnastics.

http://phys.org/news/2012-05-hubble-milky-destined-head-on-collision.html

Jupiter and Saturn up close

This remarkable video was made using NASA video footage taken during flybys by the Voyager and Cassini space missions. The video was produced by Sander van den Berg. It includes a simple but affecting  music track.

Jupiter

Saturn

Jupiter is the fifih planet from the Sun. It's distance from Earth varies between 392 and 576 million miles.   Saturn is the sixth planet, and is hundreds of millions of miles beyond Jupiter.

Here is a link to van den Berg's remarkable video...

http://vimeo.com/40234826

NASA Cassini spacecraft

NASA Voyager Spacecraft

When you look at van den Berg's video of Jupiter and Saturn, and think about the technology it took to go there and deliver this amazing video imagery, it is truly jaw dropping.  You have to wonder, when humans prove capable of such stupendous technical feats, why can't  we find the committment and the means to take better care of the Earth, the one little planet we all depend on for life.

Carl Sagan

When I was a kid, one of my heros was the great astronomer and science educator, Carl Sagan. I met him once. He was warm and bursting with charismatic intelligence.  I learned so much from reading his books and watching him on television.  He was a very serious scientist, but one of his greatest gifts was his ability to present complex scientific concepts as readily digestible bits of understanding.

Carl Sagan passed away in 1996. Others have stepped forward to pick up his mantle as science educator.  The shoes are difficult to fill. Carl Sagan set a very high standard for communIication about life and the sciences.  Without question, he was one of the greatest influences on my life.

Here is a link to a website maintained by his wife, Ann Druyan.  

http://www.carlsagan.com/