Here We Go Again!

Germany’s ROSAT (Roentgen Satellit) Satellite is expected to fall back to the earth at the end of October.  The odds of a fragment of the ROSAT hitting a person, upon making landfall, are worse than that of the UARS satellite: 1 in 2,000.  The UARS odds were 1 in 3,200.

The odds of being struck by a ROSAT because ROSAT was built with heat-resistant mirror structures; much of UARS burned up upon re-entry, meaning only 20-40% of UARS actually reached the Earth’s surface. 

Source:

http://www.inquisitr.com/146297/another-satellite-falling-to-earth-could-hit-someone/

Planet Hunters

Ever want to try your hand at astronomy?  www.PlanetHunters.org is giving you that opportunity.  Dedicated to finding planets among a sea of stars, Planet Hunters hosts a website where 40,000 users around the world help professional astronomers analyze 150,000 stars’ light in search of an orbiting planet.  The data being analyzed is from NASA’s Kepler mission.  Does the website work? 

Since its launch in March 2009, two exoplanets have been found beyond our solar system.

“Citizen Scientists” on Planet Hunters have currently discovered 1200 candidates, which are then further investigated by astronomers.  So far, two findings have been classified as planet candidates.  Will you be the one to find the next planet candidate?

Interested in teaching your students more about telescopes? Check out SSR's Vol 40 DVD, episode: Telescope: New Eyes on the Cosmos and X-Ray.  Interested in speaking to students about telescopes? E-mail Fallon@ssrvideo.com

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110922093321.htm

NASA Comes Calling for Virgin Galactic

The US space program is far from gone, after the retiring of the shuttle program.  Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Aabar Investments PJS have been selected by NASA to provide sub-orbital flight opportunities for NASA engineers.  By using Virgin Galactic, NASA will soon be able to provide researchers access to space.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo is the only suborbital vehicle conducting test flights today that is capable of carrying a crew.  Additionally, SpaceShipTwo has a large sized cabin that is able to meet the needs of researchers.  Formerly thought to be a space tourism company, NASA’s interest in Virgin Galactic is shining a new light on Branson’s project.

Source:

http://www.virgingalactic.com/news/item/nasa-selects-virgin-galactic-for-suborbital-flights/