Monday, August 29, 2016

Beam Me Up Episode 472 - Expanded Horizons by Gustavo Bondoni

Beam Me Up 472 is up and ready.  

After my opening comments I play all along the watch tower performed by Jimmi Hendrix (again one of my all time favs) 

From the blog I have a sound byte from Elon Musk thanking  Nevada allowing his giga factory to build affordable electric cars.

NASA TV will be showing the latest spacewalk on the ISS.

Nelson sends over links for audio of Asimov's Foundation series.

Expanded Horizons by Gustavo Bondoni is my final offering of #472 

Enjoy


Thursday, August 25, 2016

Asimov's Foundation Series Audio


Listner Nelson has been perusing the archive.org public domain site and came across my favorite series of books.  The "Empire" series by Issac Asimov.  These books were a departure for Doctor Asimov in that there were no robots in the Empire universe but to be honest the story line was every bit as intriguing as a robot novel.
Check out the listing by clicking HERE


Wednesday, August 24, 2016

NASA TV to Air U.S. Spacewalk


On Sept. 1, two NASA astronauts will spacewalk outside the International Space Station for the second time in less than two weeks.

NASA Television will provide complete coverage beginning at 6:30 a.m. EDT, with the six-and-a-half hour spacewalk scheduled to begin about 8 a.m.

Working on the port side  truss, Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins will retract a thermal radiator that is part of the station’s cooling system. The radiator is a backup that had been deployed previously as part of an effort to fix an ammonia coolant leak. They’ll also tighten struts on a solar array joint, and install the first of several enhanced high-definition television cameras that will be used to monitor activities outside the station, including the comings and goings of visiting cargo and crew vehicles.

This will be the 195th spacewalk in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the fifth of Williams’ career and the second for Rubins. As was the case for their first spacewalk together Aug. 19, Williams will be designated as extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), wearing a spacesuit with a red stripe, while Rubins will be EV2, wearing a suit with no stripes.

Monday, August 22, 2016

Beam Me Up Episode 471 Now Online

Beam Me Up episode 471 is now on line

after my opening comments I play one of my fav rock pieces, Dream On by Areosmith.  The piece seems to fit the overall theme.

From the Beam Me Up blog at wrfrbeameup.blogspot.com I read about Hubble which has discovered a new red dwarf system.  Also NASA is putting a good deal of faith in SpaceX by ordering a second crew mission to the international space station.  That and a couple of articles on Rovers, China's yuto and the upcomming Mars_2020 due for launch 2020

This week I start with part one of the story Expanded Horizons by Gustavo Bondoni


Direct podcast link HERE

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Mars_2020 Rover


from NASA-JPL_This image is from computer-assisted-design work on the Mars 2020 rover. The design borrows heavily NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars in 2012.  Though similar in appearance the newest rover adds new science instruments and a sampling system to carry out new goals for the 2020 mission.

Wednesday, August 03, 2016

China's Yuto Rover Dead for Real This Time


China’s lunar rover Yutu has been pronounced dead—for the second and (probably) final time, this time after a bit over two-and-a-half years on the moon.

It’s unlikely that the rover is going to pop back from the dead this time, though. Jade Rabbit (which is Yuto in Chinese) was only meant to last for three months and ended up lasting 31 months. In that time, the rover was slowly losing functionality. Towards the end of the rover's life, it slowly lost the ability to even move away from its current spot. Even so, Jade Rabbit continued to beam back data to researchers

For complete Gizmoto article - click  HERE

Monday, August 01, 2016

NASA Orders Second SpaceX Crew Mission to International Space Station


Friday, NASA took an important step in returning U.S. astronaut launches to U.S. soil.

This came in the form of a second post-certification mission from commercial provider SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. 

This will increase  America’s human spaceflight launch capability and increase the time U.S. crews can dedicate to scientific research, which is helping prepare astronauts for deep space missions, including the Journey to Mars.

Please click HERE for the complete NASA article.