NASA After the Space Shuttle

Now that the final space shuttle has landed, many thousands involved with it have lost their jobs, and budget cuts loom, I thought it would be interesting to have a look at the other projects NASA has been working on recently, and what will be keeping the agency busy in the coming years. There has been a flurry of discoveries and firsts just this year alone, as scientists have discovered a fourth moon around Pluto, and a spacecraft has entered orbit around the asteroid Vesta for the first time. Earlier this month the spacecraft Juno launched toward Jupiter, while workers prepared the next Mars rover, Curiosity, for launch by the end of this year. All of this on top of supporting existing missions to the sun, Mercury, Earth, Mars, Saturn and more. Collected here is just a small recent sampling of NASA's far-reaching projects and missions. [33 photos]

Rising from fire and smoke, NASA's Juno planetary probe, enclosed in its payload fairing, launches atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Leaving from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, on August 5, 2011, the spacecraft will embark on a five-year journey to Jupiter. The solar-powered spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere and investigate the existence of a solid planetary core. (NASA/Scott Andrews)  

 

Welcome Home, Atlantis

Today marks the end of an era. Three decades of missions came to a close this morning as the Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down in Florida after a 13-day trip to the International Space Station. All told, the 135 space shuttle missions have racked up more than 542 million miles in low earth orbit. Commander Chris Ferguson piloted the Atlantis to a safe landing at 5:52 a.m., and the spacecraft will soon undergo processing and decommissioning. It has been an emotional experience for residents and workers along Florida's Space Coast -- some 9,000 shuttle engineers, technicians, and other staff are being laid off, and the main tourism draw for the area has come to an end. Shown here, for one last time, is a look at a full shuttle mission, STS-135, the final flight of Atlantis. Also, be sure to see The History of the Space Shuttle, an earlier entry on In Focus. [39 photos]

A view of the space shuttle Atlantis and its payload on July 10, 2011, seen from the International Space Station. At the rear of the cargo bay is the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module, packed with supplies and spare parts for the ISS. (NASA) 

10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Stealth Bomber

 

Photograph by Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III/USAF

Northrop Grumman’s B-2 Spirit, more affectionately known as the Stealth Bomber, is one sexy, sneaky and sophisticated piece of technology. More an alien spaceship than US Aircraft, the Stealth Bomber’s iconic design is instantly recognizable… unless of course it’s on a stealth mission. Below are ten things you might not have known about the world’s most expensive boomerang.

The History of the Space Shuttle

From its first launch 30 years ago to its final launch scheduled for next Friday, NASA's Space Shuttle program has seen moments of dizzying inspiration and of crushing disappointment. When next week's launch is complete, the program will have sent up 135 missions, ferrying more than 350 humans and thousands of tons of material and equipment into low Earth orbit. Fourteen astronauts have lost their lives along the way -- the missions have always been risky, the engineering complex, the hazards extreme. As we near the end of the program, I'd like to look back at the past few decades of shuttle development and missions as we await the next steps toward human space flight. [61 photos]

Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, on April 12, 1981. Commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen were onboard STS-1, the first orbital flight of the Space Shuttle program. (Reuters/NASA/KSC)  

Construction of the Eiffel Tower

 

Construction of the Titanic

 

Birth of a chicken

 

Summer Solstice 2011

Yesterday was the summer solstice (in the northern hemisphere), known to humans for thousands of years as the longest day of the year. In ancient times, people celebrated this day as the center point of summer. Some still observe the solstice with ceremonies and prayers, gathering on mountaintops or at spiritual landmarks. Others greet the day with parades, or by simply going outdoors and soaking in the sunshine. Collected here are images of people observing yesterday's solstice in the northern hemisphere -- and in the southern hemisphere, where it marked the darkest day of winter. [26 photos]

A couple celebrates summer solstice at the Kokino megalithic observatory, on June 21, 2011. The 3,800-year-old observatory was discovered in 2001 in the northwestern town of Kumanovo, 70 km (43 miles) north from Skopje, and is ranked the fourth oldest observatory in the world, according to NASA. (Reuters/Ognen Teofilovski) 

Is weather becoming more extreme?

Extreme weather events have always been with us, and always will be. One can't point to a single severe storm, or even an entire harsh winter, as evidence of climate change. But a trend of weather intensity, and oddity, grows. Droughts linger longer. Hurricanes hit harder. Snowstorms strike long after winter should have ended. World record hailstones fall. China endures a crippling drought, and then punishing floods. Millions are displaced in a flood of historic proportion in Pakistan. The U.S. sees the Mississippi River reach historic flood crests, and then sees the largest wildfire in Arizona history. None of these events on their own mean anything. Collectively, do they mean we're seeing the earth's climate change before our eyes? -- Lane Turner (47 photos total)

A huge swath of the United States is affected by a winter storm that brought layers of dangerous ice and blowing snow, closing roads and airports from Texas to Rhode Island in this February 1 satellite image. The storm's more than 2,000-mile reach threatened to leave about a third of the nation covered in harsh weather. Ice fell first and was expected to be followed by up to two feet of snow in some places. (NOAA/AP) 

A Trip Around Our Solar System

Robotic probes launched by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and others are gathering information for us right now all across the solar system. We currently have spacecraft in orbit around the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Saturn; several others on their way to smaller bodies; and a few on their way out of the solar system entirely. On Mars, a rover called Spirit has just been officially left for dead, after two years of radio silence from it -- but its twin, Opportunity, continues on its mission, now more than 2,500 days beyond its originally planned 90-days. With all these eyes in the sky, I'd like to take the opportunity to put together a photo album of our Solar system -- a set of family portraits, of sorts -- as seen by our astronauts and mechanical emissaries. [38 photos]

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite captures an image of the Earth's moon crossing in front of the Sun, on May 3, 2011. (NASA/GSFC/SDO)

Space Shuttle Endeavour's final voyage

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Endeavour's astronauts accomplished the No. 1 objective of their mission last Thursday,
installing a $2 billion cosmic ray detector on the International Space Station to scan the invisible universe for years to come.
This is the next-to-last shuttle mission and the final spacewalks of the program scheduled, meant to leave the space station
in the best condition possible for the next decade. The 30-year shuttle era will end in July with the flight of Atlantis.
On Monday, three of the six space station residents will head home in their Russian Soyuz capsule after a five-month mission.
In a unique photo op, the departing crew will photograph Endeavour parked at the space station. Then on Wednesday, Fincke
and Feustel will venture back out for spacewalk No. 3. Endeavour, under the command of Mark Kelly, husband of wounded
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, will remain at the orbiting outpost for another week. Landing is scheduled for June 1. (30 images)

 

This Thursday, May 19, 2011 picture provided by NASA shows the space shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station as the space station's robotic arm transfers the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 from the shuttle for installation on the ISS. AP

Another Week on May

Another end of the week means another set of coolest or most newsworthy pix from the week. Which is your favorite?

 

Architecture, That Talks to Your Emotions

Architecture represents one of the ancient forms of fine arts and there is absolutely no doubt about this. Just like any other art, architecture itself as well as the results of an architect’s creative process is targeted at human feelings and emotions. Among all the art forms, architecture is unique because it combines perfectly the practical role and functionality of the art piece (for example, a building, bridge, or street layout) with the clearly artistic or aesthetic value of the latter. Such emotional architecture is at the center piece of our today’s showcase at Cruzine.

Unique, unlike others, fancy – these are only a few attributes, which appear in mind while looking at the photographs of some interesting architecture works, which we have gathered here within one gallery. The emotional trace of such architecture is distinct – it amazes, surprises, and astonishes from the very first glance. Even looking at the pictures of the architecture masterpieces the idea and desire of an architect to communicate a particular message through his work gets clear and obvious. Unfortunately, buildings do not speak any human language. That is why, architects use a particular language to enable communication between buildings and people; and this language uses geometric shapes, dimensions, colors, and textures to express the idea and arouse necessary emotions in the human soul.

La casa-arbol by Ramón Durán

Space Shuttle Endeavour On Its Way

1 The space shuttle Endeavour STS-134 sits on launch pad 39A after the rollback of the Rotating
Service Structure at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida May 15, 2011. Endeavour
and its six-man crew will deliver a unique astronomical and particle physics experiment to the
International Space Station. The $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is designed to illuminate
dark matter and other exotic forms of nature that so far have eluded scientists' grasp.
REUTERS/Scott Audette

When We Tested Nuclear Bombs

May 6, 2011 | 85

Since the time of Trinity -- the first nuclear explosion in 1945 -- nearly 2,000 nuclear tests have been performed, with the majority taking place during the 1960s and 1970s. When the technology was new, tests were frequent and often spectacular, and led to the development of newer, more deadly weapons. But starting in the 1990s, there have been efforts to limit the future testing of nuclear weapons, including a U.S. moratorium and a U.N. comprehensive test ban treaty. As a result, testing has slowed -- though not halted -- and there are questions about the future. Who will take over for those experienced engineers who are now near retirement, and should we act as stewards with our enormous stockpiles of nuclear weapons? Gathered here are images from the first 30 years of nuclear testing. See also "Can We Unlearn the Bomb?" and "Atomic Weapons on Film." [36 photos]

Upshot-Knothole Grable, a test carried out by the U.S. military in Nevada on May 25, 1953. A 280mm nuclear shell was fired 10km into the desert by the M65 Atomic Cannon, detonating in the air, about 500 feet above the ground, with a resulting 15 kiloton explosion. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Robots at Work and Play

Advancements in robotics are continually taking place in the fields of space exploration, health care, public safety, entertainment, defense, and more. These machines -- some fully autonomous, some requiring human input -- extend our grasp, enhance our capabilities, and travel as our surrogates to places too dangerous for us to go. NASA currently has dozens of robotic missions underway, with satellites now in orbit around our moon and four planets -- and two more on the way to Ceres and Pluto. Gathered here are recent images of robots and those who work with them. [33 photos]

At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA's Robonaut R2A waves goodbye as fellow Robonaut R2B launches into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on February 24, 2011. (NASA/Joe Bibby)

At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA's Robonaut R2A waves goodbye as fellow Robonaut R2B launches into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on February 24, 2011. (NASA/Joe Bibby)

2

Workers assemble a robotic King Kong creature in preparation for the show "King Kong: Live on Stage" at the Creature Theatre Company workshop in Melbourne, Australia. (AP Photo/Boneau/Bryan-Brown, Simon Schluter) #

3

An unmanned U.S. Army vehicle developed by the Croatian company DOK-ING searches for IEDs set by insurgents in Banadar Corridor, Garmsher District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on April 20, 2011. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images) #

4

Technicians monitor the MIS (Inspection Machine in Service) robot, which inspects the inside of the reactor's tank during programmed servicing and maintenance at the Bugey nuclear power plant in Saint-Vulbas, near Lyon, France, on April 19, 2011. (Reuters/Benoit Tessier) #

5

U.S. President Barack Obama steps in to prevent a small robot from falling off a table during a demonstration of robotics at Miami Central Senior High School on March 4, 2011. Obama visited the school with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Education Secretary Arne Duncan for an event on the future of education funding. (Reuters/Jason Reed) #

6

HRP-4C, a five-foot humanoid robot developed at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, sings and dances with performers at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo on October 17, 2010. The robot runs entertainment software called Choreonoid, a name formed from the words "choreograph" and "humanoid." (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images) #

7

An unmanned vehicle helps secure the runway at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) #

8

Professor Cesare Santanini from the engineering high school Sant'Anna in Pontedera, Italy, displays a lamprey-like robot at the Engineering-Ecole des Mines in Nantes, France, during a bionic robots workshop on April 7, 2011. (Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images) #

9

Children manipulate robotic arms during the Science and Engineering Expo on the National Mall in Washington on Saturday, October 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) #

10

An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator completes its first flight at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in this U.S. Navy photo dated February 4, 2011. The demonstration program will establish the capability of an autonomous, low-observable unmanned aircraft to perform aircraft carrier launches and recoveries. (Reuters/US Navy/Northrop Grumman/LTJG Shawn P. Eklund) #

11

A robot produced by the electrical engineering department of the National Taiwan University mimics human facial expressions at the Taipei International Robot Show on October 19, 2010. The yet-to-be-named robot, which consists of a life-sized head and torso, was designed to show basic emotions for a more interactive experience. (Reuters/Nicky Loh) #

12

A remote-controlled robot called Packbot opens a door inside the crippled Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima, Japan, on April 17, 2011. The robot's capabilities include maneuvering through buildings, taking images, and measuring radiation levels. (Reuters/Tokyo Electric Power Co) #

13

An unmanned transporter carries debris through the tsunami-crippled Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima, Japan, on April 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.) #

14

When Israeli entrepreneur Amit Goffer was paralyzed in a car crash in 1997, he began a quest to help other victims walk again. He invented an alternative to the wheelchair: robotic "pants" that use sensors and motors to allow paralyzed patients to stand, walk and even climb stairs. "ReWalk," a device that helps paralyzed patients stand and walk, is displayed on an office chair in the northern Israeli town of Yokneam on November 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) #

15

The fingers of Hao Liu, Professor of Biomechanical Engineering at Japan's Chiba University, hold a bionic hummingbird at the International Workshop on Bio-Inspired Robots in Nantes, France, on April 7, 2011. Some 200 bio-robot technicians from 17 countries participated in the three-day event, displaying robots inspired by the animal world. (Reuters/Stephane Mahe) #

16

A robotic dinosaur is put through its paces as Nick Snyder, left, and Michael Olson, right, observe its movements on August 19, 2010. The dinosaur is part of a stage show called Walking With Dinosaurs at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Erik Hill) #

17

The "face" (or Mast Camera) of Curiosity, NASA's newest Mars rover, is seen at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on Monday, April 4, 2011. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) #

18

NASA engineers display the Mars rover Curiosity at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on April 4, 2011. Curiosity is scheduled to be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the fall of 2011, and land on Mars in August 2012. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) #

19

A hand lens imager is mounted on the arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on April 4, 2011. The imager will take extreme close-up pictures of the planet's rocks and soil, as well as any ice it may find there. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) #

20

A mannequin's dilated eye is revealed during a demonstration at the Clinical Simulation Lab at Ivy Tech Community College in Columbus, Indiana, on February 23, 2011. Computerized mannequins are being used more and more often to augment training with live subjects in medicine and safety-related education. (AP Photo/The Republic, Joe Harpring) #

21

At the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis on September 1, 2010, physical therapist Ryan Cardinal watches six-year-old Anna Good walk in a Hocoma Lokomat lower-extremity robot. The hospital's Robotic Rehabilitation Center is using robots to help youngsters with cerebral palsy and other movement disorders improve the use of their arms and legs. (AP Photo/The Indianapolis Star, Joe Vitti) #

22

A bi-rotor micro helicopter from the Marseille National Center for Scientific Research is displayed at the Bionic Robots Workshop at the Engineering-Ecole des Mines in Nantes, France, on April 7, 2011. (Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images) #

23

Computer scientist Sebastian Bartsch directs a Space Climber -- a free-climbing robot designed to scale the inclines of extraterrestrial craters -- at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence in Bremen on November 22, 2010. (DAPD/Joerg Sarbach) #

24

A man watches a piano-playing robot in action during the Taipei International Robot Show on October 19, 2010. Some 300 exhibitors from 66 companies took part in the four-day exhibition.(Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images) #

25

The robot AILA (Artificial Intelligence Lightweight Android) is featured at the CeBIT IT fair on March 3, 2011, in Hanover, Germany. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images) #

26

A bomb-disposal robot inspects a jacket containing a pipe bomb near the Al-Hamra checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley on March 25, 2011. An Israeli army spokesperson said soldiers discovered four pipe bombs on two Palestinian men, both of whom were arrested. (Reuters/Abed Omar Qusini) #

27

At the NTT Research and Development Forum in Tokyo on February 22, 2011, a staff member tickles the ear of a robot to demonstrate "tactile illusions" -- simulations of ticklishness relayed by sound signals. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) #

28

A bomb squad robot in Huron, Ohio, carries a suspicious object through the Kalahari Resort parking lot on April 14, 2011. Authorities later concluded that the item was a child's abandoned science project. (AP Photo/The Sandusky Register, Luke Wark) #

29

Hailey Daniswicz, a sophomore at Northwestern University in Chicago, flexes muscles in her thigh as electrodes instruct a computer avatar to flex its knee and ankle on April 13, 2011. Daniswicz, who her lost her lower leg to bone cancer 12 years ago, is training the computer to recognize slight movements in her thigh so she can eventually be fitted with a bionic leg: a robotic prosthesis she can control with her own nerves and muscles. (Reuters/John Gress) #

30

In this U.S. Air Force photo dated March 30, 2010, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle taxis on the flightline during testing. The X-37B is a 29-foot unmanned robotic spacecraft designed to reenter Earth's atmosphere intact. The vehicle spent 220 days in orbit during its first mission, returning on December 3, 2010. (Reuters/U.S. Air Force) #

31

A robot is piloted off the field after throwing out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, April 20, 2011, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) #

32

Student Jeremy Schafer takes part in a Lego robot competition at the Lincoln Community Center in Mankato, Minnesota on December 4, 2010. Students used laptops to program wheeled robots to complete scored objectives. (AP Photo/Mankato Free Press, Pat Christman) #