tech e blog

NASA has just approved SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft for an April 30th launch. This capsule will be attached to the company's Falcon 9 rockets and "launch from Cape Canaveral just after noon ET -- from there it'll perform a flyby of the station to check its sensors and flight systems before its inaugural docking with the ISS." Video after the break showing just how the ISS mission will work.

Wanna watch the magic happen? Live video of the launch starts at 11AM on NASA TV, and night owls can watch the docking itself occur May 3rd at 2AM.

Josheph Miller of USC's Keck School of Medicine says: "On the basis of what we've done so far, I'd say I'm 99 percent sure there's life there." In other words, "scientists now believe there is strong evidence of microbial life in the soil samples analysed by Viking 1." In related news, continue reading to see how a spacecraft would land on Mars.

Mathematical analysis of the samples concluded that salts in the soil on Mars 'threw off' initial estimates - and that the soil samples show strong evidence of microbial life. The new analysis looked for 'complexity' in the samples - an indication of life. To the surprise of the scientists, they found it.

The first photo of the Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 spaceship docking with the ISS has been released. This cargo spacecraft "delivered 220 pounds of oxygen, 628 pounds of water, 4.5 tons of propellant and nearly 2.5 tons of dry cargo; among other items, the station crew received experiment hardware, spare parts, food and clothing." Continue reading for two videos.

[via Gizmodo]

Despite having spent decades researching space, humans still have not began scratching the surface of what is really out there. However, it's never too early for kids to start on their astronomy quest. Click here to see more award winning drawings done by kids for the Space Foundation Student Art Contest. Continue reading to hear the most astounding fact about the universe, according to Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

This year's Space Foundation Student Art Contest attracted 1,500 prekindergarten to high school students from the U.S., Pakistan and Turkey with the theme "Space is Infinite - Explore." Astronauts will present the 36 winners at the 28th National Space Symposium later this month in Colorado Springs.

For those who didn't know, Ed White became the first American to go on a spacewalk - which lasted 23 minutes - in June of 1965. He "floated and maneuvered himself around the craft while logging 6,500 miles during his orbital stroll; White was attached to the spacecraft by a 25-foot umbilical line and a 23-foot tether line, both wrapped in gold tape to form one cord." Video after the break.

The visor of his helmet is gold plated to protect him from the unfiltered rays of the sun and his suit was pressurised with oxygen.

NASA recently unveiled "a new atlas and catalog of the entire infrared sky today showing more than a half billion stars, galaxies and other objects captured by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission." Click here to see more funny school pictures, courtesy of Failblog.org. In related news, continue reading to watch an amazing video on the moon's evolution.

For those who don't already know, lo is essentially "the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter and, with a diameter of 3,642 kilometres (2,263 mi), the fourth-largest moon in the Solar System." The red dot you see in the image above shows an active volcano spewing a blue cloud into space. Click here to see more of today's most popular images, courtesy of Imgur.com. Continue reading to watch National Geographic's "Journey to the Edge of the Universe".

Space Shuttle Program staffer Michael Interbartolo recently posted a mind-blowing video of a space shuttle launch, providing views that the public has never seen before. The clip in its entirety will be a bonus feature on the Ascent: Commemorating Shuttle Blu-ray and DVD releases. Video after the break.

The big deal here is the sound--there was some assistance from Skywalker Sound, the company that provides the sound for George Lucas's movies. Watch (and listen) for the splash into the Atlantic in the video.

Similar to the northern lights, its southern counterpart "changes simultaneously with changes in the northern auroral zone and is visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America, New Zealand and Australia." Click here to see more of today's most popular images, courtesy of Imgur.com. Continue reading for a video of the southern lights, captured by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

In a nutshell, Startram is "a $60 billion, 1,000-mile long, 12-mile high, 20,000-miles-per-hour maglev train that starts on the ground and arrives in low Earth orbit." One caveat: tickets begin at $5,000 per person. Continue reading for one more picture

The train will make its way to the stars (or at least, I believe that is what future advertisements will portray) in an 80-mile sealed tube, taking a short while to do so. The proposal will cost around $60 billion (no idea on whether inflation will affect the final figure or not), but it might also use space-based solar power to help it chug along. What do you think of the Startram?