After a one month hiatus, the Carnival of Space is back. Nextbigfuture will be working with Universe today on the organization of the Carnival of Space. There are hosts signed up into April.
1. the Planetary Society has Amateur image processor Daniel Macháček took five images of Phobos from Mars Express’ recent flyby and produced an amazing animation of the potato-shaped moon rotating.
2. Parallel Spirals has – ISRO was present at the annual Indian Science Congress 2011. This was ISRO’s first presence after the loss of the GSLV. It presented about various projects it was working on in the field of satellite development.
3. Cheapastro revels in the arbitrary symbolism that was its 100th podcast episode.
4. Music of the Spheres reviews and compares two books on “rocket science” for the non-specialist. Both are excellent, but the older, sadly out of print one gets the nod for people who intend to fly (real or simulated) spacecraft.
5. Steve (astrocorner blog) looks at the crazy and complex world of cataclysmic variables. There is always something going on with these dynamic players. When it comes to some of these little systems; a supernova could be just around the corner!
7. Kentucky Space has – California high school designs and flies, via the Japanese HTV-2, a plant growth experiment using an innovative micro-g mini-lab called “CubeLab.” Kentucky Space is working hard to make many more of these opportunities available to high schools, particularly in the commonwealth.
9. Astroswanny discusses the relevance of “In season” variable stars and this week has been working on FS Aur which went into outburst, and has been the subject of an energetic campaign.
The meeting and the DARPA funding is about creating an organization that could last for 100-years, rather than about the technological and sociological advancements necessary to eventually create starships. In fact, the funding is not allowed to be spent on any research or educational activities related to interstellar flight, but instead can only be used to define that organization. As much as I really like the name, “100-yr starship,” this study should instead be called the “100-yr organization study.”
12. Universe Today has Was the Apollo Program an Anomaly?
Nancy Atkinson talked with space historian and author Andrew Chaikin about the legacy of the Apollo program, and instead of Apollo being the template for how to get a space program going, Chaikin believes it was an anomaly.
13. Weird Warp has Improvements in technology, solar power and electronics in recent years have allowed a new type of satellite to be developed. A satellite called cubesat has simplified the design making the cost of building a satellite as cheap as $100,000. This includes development, launch and the operation of the satellite which is a staggeringly low price when compared to previous prices.
Cubesate kit
16. Spacecraft on a chip can enable new propellantless space missions.
17. Two mini-magnetospheres can protect a spaceship and its crew from solar storms
Their first target is to make better IEC thrusters for satellite maneuvering.
Here is a review of IEC fusion for space work by George Miley and others
24. Bruce Cordell at 21st Century Waves has State of the Wave: 10 Trends for 2011.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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