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Andrew Clark

Space and astronomy news

What a Relief! New Space Toilet Being DesignedYesterday

New space toilet? Credt: Pink Tentacle

The International Space Station's toilet has had its troubles, and Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has decided they want to "eliminate" this problem for future astronauts and procure a new way to deal with human waste in space. They formed a space toilet research group and came up with an idea that is sure to revolutionize space travel. The wearable toilet. "Clean and easy to use, the envisioned space toilet is designed to be worn like a diaper around the astronaut’s waist at all times," says an article on Pink Tentacle. Engineers hope to have this next-generation space toilet available to use in space within the next five years.

How does it work?
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Want to know the answer for the WITU Challenge?Yesterday

Don't forget to check out the answer to this week's totally original Where In The Universe Challenge, by checking out the original post.

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Latest Images From HiRISE (More Eye Candy)Yesterday

I don't know about the rest of you, but I could look at images from the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter all day…and there are days I have spent a great deal of time perusing through the gorgeous, high-resolution images. Here are just a few of the latest images the HiRISE team has released. This first one is one of the most stunning yet. It's part of a dune field in a crater called Russell Crater (53.3S and 12.9E.) The dune field itself is roughly 30 kilometers long, and appears to have formed from windblown material trapped by the local topography. The image was taken in October 2008, during the Mars' southern hemisphere’s deep winter, where temperatures are low enough to allow the carbon dioxide frost to be stable. Looking closely, you can see the frost, visible on the slopes that don't get full sunlight. The team says this region is the target of a long term monitoring program by HiRISE.

And there's

A Cheap Solution for Getting to Mars?Yesterday

Two shuttles on the pads in September 2008.Credit: NASA

The space shuttles are slated to be retired in September of 2010. NASA put out a call recently to ask what should be done with the shuttles post-retirement, and many think they should be put in museums or on display in rocket parks. But futurist and entrepreneur Eric Knight, (founder of UP Aerospace and Remarkable Technologies) has a somewhat novel idea of what to do with the shuttles after they are done with their current duties: Send them to Mars. He says his formula is simple and will allow humans to travel to Mars in years, not decades.
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Cosmic Radio Noise Booms Six Times Louder Than ExpectedJanuary 7

The balloon-borne ARCADE instrument discovered this cosmic static (white band, top) on its July 2006 flight. The noise is six times louder than expected. Astronomers have no idea why. Credit: NASA/ARCADE/Roen Kelly

Loud sounds tend to startle us. But imagine being surprised by a sound six times louder than you expect. A balloon-borne instrument called ARCADE, (Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission) was supposed to be used to search for heat signature from the first stars to form after the Big Bang. Instead it found an unexplained "booming" radio static that fills the sky.
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