How Will We Safely Send The First Humans To The Red Planet?

The Top 5 Biggest Threats To Science Under the Trump Reich

The Top 5 Biggest Threats To Science Under the #Trump Reich

The Top 5 Biggest Threats To Science Under the Trump Reich by Guest Author Siserough

The Republican party has widely been considered anti-science for years, due mostly to their collective denial of climate change, large contingent of fundamental Christian Creationists, and hostility to progressive ideology.  On January, 20th, however, the country was taken over by someone far more dangerous than…

View On WordPress

Dr. Lauri Grossman, Homeopath

Meet Dr. Lauri Grossman, homeopath. Let’s first take a look at ‘Dr.’ Grossman’s educational background, shall we? Teleosis Institute: Berkeley, California; Leadership in Green Heath Care, Certified Green Health Care Provider, 2008 Hahnemann College of Homeopathy: Point Richmond, California; Diploma Recipient, 1999 New England School of Homeopathy: Amherst, Massachusetts: Completion of Course for…

View On WordPress

Solar System: From TED Talks to Data Releases

Let us lead you on a journey of our solar system. Here are some things to know this week:

1. NASA-Funded Research

It’s all just a click way with the launch of a new public access site, which reflects our ongoing commitment to provide public access to science data.

Start Exploring!

2.  Red Planet Reconnaissance 

One of the top places in our solar system to look for signs of past or current life is Mars. Through our robotic missions, we have been on and around Mars for 40 years. These orbiters, landers and rovers are paving the way for human exploration.

Meet the Mars robots

3. Three Moons and a Planet that Could Have Alien Life

In a presentation at TED Talks Live, our director of planetary science, Jim Green, discusses the best places to look for alien life in our solar system.

Watch the talk

4. Setting Free a Dragon

Tune in to NASA TV on Friday, Aug. 26 at 5:45 a.m. EDT for coverage of the release of the SpaceX Dragon CRS-9 cargo ship from the International Space Station.

Watch live

5. Anniversary Ring(s)

Aug. 26 marks 35 years since Voyager probe flew by Saturn, delighting scientists with rich data and images. Today, thanks to our Cassini spacecraft, we know much more about the ringed planet.

Learn more about Cassini’s mission to Saturn

Learn more about Voyager 2

Discover the full list of 10 things to know about our solar system this week HERE.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Successful Launch of Orbital ATK’s Cygnus Spacecraft

Successful Launch, #FlatEarth crowd!

At 11:05 p.m. (EDT) on March 22 the Atlas V rocket successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

  Included in the 7,500 pounds of cargo aboard the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft are numerous science payloads to support experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science.  (more…)

View On WordPress

Religious Fundamentalist Ken Ham Battles US Constitution on Twitter

Religious Fundamentalist Ken Ham Battles US Constitution

This morning, Ken Ham, of Answers in Genesis, took to Twitter to release a barrage of tweets insisting that public schools have the right to plan and execute school trips to his newly-opened Ark Encounter biblical theme park which teaches, among other things, that the Earth is no older than 6,000 years and that evolution is false.

It seems that Mr. Ham is blissfully unfamiliar with the…

View On WordPress

Getting to Mars: 4 Things We’re Doing Now

We’re working hard to send humans to Mars in the 2030s. Here are just a few of the things we’re doing now that are helping us prepare for the journey:

1. Research on the International Space Station

The International Space Station is the only microgravity platform for the long-term testing of new life support and crew health systems, advanced habitat modules and other technologies needed to decrease reliance on Earth.

When future explorers travel to the Red Planet, they will need to be able to grow plants for food, atmosphere recycling and physiological benefits. The Veggie experiment on space station is validating this technology right now! Astronauts have grown lettuce and Zinnia flowers in space so far.

The space station is also a perfect place to study the impacts of microgravity on the human body. One of the biggest hurdles of getting to Mars in ensuring that humans are “go” for a long-duration mission. Making sure that crew members will maintain their health and full capabilities for the duration of a Mars mission and after their return to Earth is extremely important. 

Scientists have solid data about how bodies respond to living in microgravity for six months, but significant data beyond that timeframe had not been collected…until now! Former astronaut Scott Kelly recently completed his Year in Space mission, where he spent a year aboard the space station to learn the impacts of microgravity on the human body.

A mission to Mars will likely last about three years, about half the time coming and going to Mars and about half the time on the Red Planet. We need to understand how human systems like vision and bone health are affected and what countermeasures can be taken to reduce or mitigate risks to crew members.

2. Utilizing Rovers & Tech to Gather Data

Through our robotic missions, we have already been on and around Mars for 40 years! Before we send humans to the Red Planet, it’s important that we have a thorough understanding of the Martian environment. Our landers and rovers are paving the way for human exploration. For example, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has helped us map the surface of Mars, which will be critical in selecting a future human landing site on the planet.

Our Mars 2020 rover will look for signs of past life, collect samples for possible future return to Earth and demonstrate technology for future human exploration of the Red Planet. These include testing a method for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, identifying other resources (such as subsurface water), improving landing techniques and characterizing weather, dust and other potential environmental conditions that could affect future astronauts living and working on Mars.

We’re also developing a first-ever robotic mission to visit a large near-Earth asteroid, collect a multi-ton boulder from its surface and redirect it into a stable orbit around the moon. Once it’s there, astronauts will explore it and return with samples in the 2020s. This Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) is part of our plan to advance new technologies and spaceflight experience needed for a human mission to the Martian system in the 2030s.

3. Building the Ride

Okay, so we’ve talked about how we’re preparing for a journey to Mars…but what about the ride? Our Space Launch System, or SLS, is an advanced launch vehicle that will help us explore beyond Earth’s orbit into deep space. SLS will be the world’s most powerful rocket and will launch astronauts in our Orion spacecraft on missions to an asteroid and eventually to Mars.

In the rocket’s initial configuration it will be able to take 154,000 pounds of payload to space, which is equivalent to 12 fully grown elephants! It will be taller than the Statue of Liberty and it’s liftoff weight will be comparable to 8 fully-loaded 747 jets. At liftoff, it will have 8.8 million pounds of thrust, which is more than 31 times the total thrust of a 747 jet. One more fun fact for you…it will produce horsepower equivalent to 160,000 Corvette engines!

Sitting atop the SLS rocket will be our Orion spacecraft. Orion will be the safest most advanced spacecraft ever built, and will be flexible and capable enough to carry humans to a variety of destinations. Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.

4. Making it Sustainable

When humans get to Mars, where will they live? Where will they work? These are questions we’ve already thought about and are working toward solving. Six partners were recently selected to develop ground prototypes and/or conduct concept studies for deep space habitats.

These NextSTEP habitats will focus on creating prototypes of deep space habitats where humans can live and work independently for months or years at a time, without cargo supply deliveries from Earth.

Another way that we are studying habitats for space is on the space station. In June, the first human-rated expandable module deployed in space was used. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is a technology demonstration to investigate the potential challenges and benefits of expandable habitats for deep space exploration and commercial low-Earth orbit applications.

Our journey to Mars requires preparation and research in many areas. The powerful new Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft will travel into deep space, building on our decades of robotic Mars explorations, lessons learned on the International Space Station and groundbreaking new technologies.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Huckster of the Month: AntiVaxxer 'Dr' Sherri Tenpenny

Meet ‘Dr’ Sherri Tenpenny. The Encyclopedia of American Loons describes her as follows:

“Sherri Tenpenny, an osteopath who doesn’t appear to practice medicine in any recognizable way anymore, is an abysmally crazy promoter of woo, antivaxx views and conspiracy theories.”[1]

Upon investigation, we were not let down. The reality lived up to the expectations set by that glowing review. (more…)

View On WordPress

The 363-foot-tall Apollo 12 Saturn V rocket rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral, September 8, 1969. (NASA)

http://www.sciencedenierhallofshame.com/flat-earth/disproving-6-through-10-of-eric-dubays-200-proofs/

'Proofs' 6 though 10 of Eric Dubay's '200 Proofs the Earth is Not A Spinning Ball' refuted.

Tri-State Freethinkers to Protest Ark Encounter

Tri-State Freethinkers to Protest Ark Encounter

Tri-State Freethinkers to Protest Ark Encounter and Rally for Science and Reason Afterwards

Tri-State Freethinkers will protest the grand opening of the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, KY on July 7 at 10am.  Joining them will be American Atheists, Secular Coalition of America, Freedom from Religion, United Coalition of Reason, Secular Student Alliance, Kentucky Secular Coalition, and Young…

View On WordPress