For anyone who has ever dreamed of being an astronaut, the sight of ‘average bloke’ James May of Top Gear fame training with NASA and getting a chance to see earth from the edge of space on BBC TV last week was bittersweet. This week’s blog digest asks: “What is the stars Joxer, what is the stars?”
NASA’s LCROSS spacecraft is on a mission to explore far-flung regions of the moon, including a permanently shadowed crater at its south pole.
Scientists estimate that the temperature on the dark side of the moon is about -230ºC.
The aim is to find out more about lunar soil, which when lifted from the crater will see sunlight for the first time in one or two billion years!
This trip will hopefully determine the source of hydrogen that has been measured at the lunar poles. Hydrocarbons? Solar protons? Maybe even water ice.
Knowing space is all about understanding the laws of physics. Is the universe infinite? It depends, but Albert Einstein figured: “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”
So make sure that you decrease the chance of falling into that latter category by having a read of Dublin Institute of Technology’s Physics Blog, which illustrates that physics, and science in general, impacts on all aspects of human life.
Trinity College Dublin’s Science Gallery is the perfect way to meld science and society for a more accessible view on this tiny planet of carbon-based life forms.
Ian Brunswick, communicator and Tweeter for the Science Gallery, maintains a lively blog reporting on all things science – from the creation of a new element called ununoctium to plastic bag-munching bacteria.
From the Tower of Babel to Arthur C Clarke’s ingenious concept of the space elevator, humanity has been obsessed with the idea of reaching for the stars, and not necessarily using expensive rocket fuel to do so.
The Space Elevator Blog is a compendium of all things related to inexpensive space travel and ranges from the expert and scientific opinion to the quirky, including the hilarious Elevator2Space.com series following the (non) adventures of four intrepid astronauts taking a long boring ride to the top floor, aka space.
By Marie Boran