Blogs

What is the hottest volcano of them all? It depends on how you define “hottest,” but a fascinating new analysis crunches the numbers in a few different ways, using satellite observations of 95 of Earth’s most active volcanoes since 2000. In terms of total energy radiated, the prize goes to Hawaii’s Kilauea (shown above), which has been […]

The Expedition 42 crew is getting ready for a delivery aboard the Dragon commercial cargo craft as well as next month’s departure of Europe’s fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5). The weather looks favorable for Saturday’s planned launch of Dragon aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 4:47 a.m. EST. Dragon will arrive at the …

SpaceX-5 Status: Yesterday, SpaceX announced they needed additional time to work the actuator problem and officially moved the next launch attempt to Saturday, January 10th at 3:47am CST with berthing taking place on Monday, January 12th.  As a result of the slip, SpaceX unberth will move to February 10th.   A delta Launch Readiness Review is …

SpaceX engineers swapped out a suspect thrust vector control actuator in the second stage of their Falcon 9 rocket that halted Tuesday’ s launch of its Dragon commercial cargo craft. Dragon’s launch atop the Falcon 9 is now set for Saturday at 4:47 a.m. EST with live NASA Television coverage scheduled to begin at 3:30 …

The six-member Expedition 42 crew had the day off and relaxed Wednesday for the Russian Christmas holiday. Meanwhile, SpaceX engineers in Florida worked to troubleshoot an issue in the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that halted Tuesday’ s launch of its Dragon commercial cargo craft. Dragon’s launch atop the Falcon 9 rocket is …

It’s human nature to get excited by novelty in science…to gravitate to the sexy headlines and the tales of new discoveries and the flashy imagery. But so much of science is a slow slog, an anonymous labor in ordinary looking labs and cinderblock office buildings. Most scientists know that the fundamental advances do not often come […]

Two fireballs were seen in the night sky on January 5th, both in the Nashville area. Here are details on the first one: There was a fireball just to the west of Nashville at 5:46:55 CST tonight. Creating a streak of light brighter than the planet Venus, the object weighed about one pound and moved …

SpaceX-5 Launch Aborted:  SpaceX-5 launch was aborted shortly before liftoff this morning, after ground teams observed an unexpected telemetry indication associated with an upper stage actuator. The next launch attempt is scheduled for Friday, January 9th at 4:08am CST.  Dragon will deliver more than 5,000 pounds of food, supplies and science experiments to ISS.  Binary …

Expedition 42 will wait a few more days for a delivery from the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft. Its launch aboard the Falcon 9 rocket was aborted Tuesday morning with one minute, 21 seconds left on the countdown clock. SpaceX is evaluating the issue and will determine the next opportunity to launch the company’s fifth …