I'm currently sitting in Frankfurt Airport waiting for my KLM flight back into the UK, and on my way back home from a very successful HTN workshop in Göttingen, Germany...
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Heatwave and NO2
The BBC reports on the current heat wave in the UK seems to have resulted in a heavy build up of NO2 over the UK. I guess that the air just isn't going anywhere right now, and all that pollution we're pumping out is just sitting there...
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| CREDIT: BBC News/KNMI, Netherlands |
| Data from NASA's Aura satellite shows a build-up of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels over part of southern and north-western parts of England, as well as Belgium and the Netherlands. For comparison the NO2 pollution levels are shown for the 15th of July (top) and 18th of July (bottom). |
Here I come to save the day!
Engadget is reporting that Apple has, at very long last, filed with the FCC for a Mighty Mouse with bluetooth support. About time...
The new Bluetooth Mighty Mouse
Update: Now available from the Apple Store UK...
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| CREDIT: Apple (via Engadget) |
Update: Now available from the Apple Store UK...
Monday, July 24, 2006
Brad goes to OSCON
Brad has gone to OSCON, and I must admit to being somewhat jealous. I've been out to OSCON every year for the last three now, but this year it clashed with the 2nd HTN workshop in Göttingen so I'm in Germany instead.
While I'm having a lot of fun with telescopes out here, and it looks like the workshop is going to be really useful, I'm still going to be following Brad's posts from OSCON with interest...
While I'm having a lot of fun with telescopes out here, and it looks like the workshop is going to be really useful, I'm still going to be following Brad's posts from OSCON with interest...
Friday, July 21, 2006
In transit, again...
I'm back in transit, and on my way to the 2nd HTN Workshop at the Institut für Astrophysik in Göttingen, Germany.
The world
I'm visiting my wife in Leeds this week and was being introduced around the department when Gemma found a huge balloon left over from the graduation ceremonies, and of course had to rescue it before it was popped. However, after finding the balloon everyone seemed far more interested in it, than finding out who this strange guy wandering around the halls was...
Gemma and the world...
It was a bit freaky, almost all of them immediately checked to see if Hawaii was visible, and then complained that the balloon only had two colour printing and, as such, the designers had seen fit to leave off Antarctica. Geographers eh?
Gemma and the world...
It was a bit freaky, almost all of them immediately checked to see if Hawaii was visible, and then complained that the balloon only had two colour printing and, as such, the designers had seen fit to leave off Antarctica. Geographers eh?
Wash me...
Ever had "wash me" written by someone on the back of your car? Scott Wade has taken the traditional past time and created a new type of ephemeral art...
Dust art...
I'm not sure what I do if someone did that to my dusty old car? Take lots of pictures and hope it doesn't rain perhaps..?
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| CREDIT: AutoBlog/Scott Wade |
I'm not sure what I do if someone did that to my dusty old car? Take lots of pictures and hope it doesn't rain perhaps..?
Thursday, July 20, 2006
The interesting stuff...
As Discovery lands in Florida after the second successful return to flight mission, we should now see the resumption of construction flights to the ISS, with the next launch of Atlantis (STS-115) scheduled for August 28th, set to deliver the second left-side truss segment (ITS P3/P4), a pair of solar arrays (2A and 4A), and batteries to the space station.
With firm plans for a 2010 retirement date for the space shuttle fleet, from next year there is set to be an much increased European role in the ISS with the first launch of the ESA ATV. Although only five ATV cargo flights to the space station are currently scheduled before 2015, with the shuttles' retirement that may no longer be enough. NASA is already looking into transferring cargo originally earmarked for the shuttle to other craft, including both ESA's ATV, and Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV).
However the really interesting stuff is actually happening elsewhere. On July the 12th the first in a series of launches by Bigelow Aerospace put the first inflatable space module into orbit with remarkably little press coverage considering the possible implications. Yes I know the launch made Slashdot, but it's hardly the 9 o'clock news.
The launch did get coverage in the specialist press, with articles in both New Scientist and Nature and after a bit of digging I did run across an older Popular Science article which talks about Bigelow Aerospace. But apart from a few articles there seems to be a remarkable lack of interest.
Which is odd, because this launch is historic, certainly it's as big a milestone as the X Prize. This is the first time a private company has launched living creatures into space, and it's the first privately built space habitat. Big news, so why no coverage?
It could have something to do with Bigelow's obviously poor media relations, you only have to look at their website to see that these people don't really know how to present themselves to the media, or the public in a "professional manner". Some people were even questioning whether the launch was for real, or just a practical joke.
Well it's definitely for real, you can track Genesis-1 in real time, and grab the first images and video of Genesis-1 from the Bigelow website. Big news, even if Bigelow themselves aren't shouting about it...
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| Shuttle commander Steve Lindsey's view of the landing strip through a head-up display during the final approach into Kennedy Space Center. | ||
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| Discovery landing on Runway 15 at NASA's Shuttle Landing Facility on the 17th of July. Mission elapsed time was 12 days, 18 hours, 36 minutes and 54 seconds. Main gear touchdown occurred on time at 9:14:43 EDT, wheel stop was at 9:15:49 EDT. |
With firm plans for a 2010 retirement date for the space shuttle fleet, from next year there is set to be an much increased European role in the ISS with the first launch of the ESA ATV. Although only five ATV cargo flights to the space station are currently scheduled before 2015, with the shuttles' retirement that may no longer be enough. NASA is already looking into transferring cargo originally earmarked for the shuttle to other craft, including both ESA's ATV, and Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV).
However the really interesting stuff is actually happening elsewhere. On July the 12th the first in a series of launches by Bigelow Aerospace put the first inflatable space module into orbit with remarkably little press coverage considering the possible implications. Yes I know the launch made Slashdot, but it's hardly the 9 o'clock news.
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| The Bigelow Aerospace Genesis-1 expandable module being packed into the nose cone of the Dnepr booster, a converted SS-18 ballistic missile, which was launched yesterday by ISC Kosmotras out of a silo at the Yasny Launch Base, an active Russian strategic missile facility. |
The launch did get coverage in the specialist press, with articles in both New Scientist and Nature and after a bit of digging I did run across an older Popular Science article which talks about Bigelow Aerospace. But apart from a few articles there seems to be a remarkable lack of interest.
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| The full-scale S-1A demonstrator, approximately 45 feet long with a 22 foot diameter, with former NASA engineer William Schneider who designed the modules for Bigelow Aerospace. | ||
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| The Bigelow Aerospace prototype is based on NASA's TransHab inflatable module concept, shown here during testing at the Johnson Space Center in 1998. |
Which is odd, because this launch is historic, certainly it's as big a milestone as the X Prize. This is the first time a private company has launched living creatures into space, and it's the first privately built space habitat. Big news, so why no coverage?
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| CREDIT: Bigelow Aerospace |
| The first images from Genesis-1 |
It could have something to do with Bigelow's obviously poor media relations, you only have to look at their website to see that these people don't really know how to present themselves to the media, or the public in a "professional manner". Some people were even questioning whether the launch was for real, or just a practical joke.
Well it's definitely for real, you can track Genesis-1 in real time, and grab the first images and video of Genesis-1 from the Bigelow website. Big news, even if Bigelow themselves aren't shouting about it...
Sunday, July 09, 2006
.Mac and the iPhone
Rui Carmo has an interesting post about Apple's missed opportunities with it's .Mac service. You know what? It's the first convincing argument for the much rumoured iPhone I've heard yet...
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Back in transit...
I'm back in transit again and sitting in the departure lounge of Albuquerque airport waiting for my flight to Chicago, where I catch my flight back to Heathrow. It's been a while, but I'm finally going back home...
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