Space

Space Technology Aids Life on Earth

by Haitham Sabbah July 25, 2004

Earthly spin-offs of technology developed for space travel has long been a bonus for nations launching humans and machines into orbit. Two new machines developed with the help of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have found their way into hospitals on Earth, where physicians have put them to use sniffing out harmful microbes [...]

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Blue Moon

by Haitham Sabbah July 9, 2004

The month of July 2004 has two full moons, which means one of them is a Blue Moon. But will it really be blue? Believe it or not, scientists say blue-colored moons are real. When you hear someone say “Once in a Blue Moon…” you know what they mean: Rare. Seldom. Maybe even absurd. After [...]

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The Sun

by Haitham Sabbah June 30, 2004

On June 21, the Sun reached its northernmost point in planet Earth’s sky, marking a season change and the first solstice of the year 2004. In celebration, consider this delightfully detailed, brightly colored image of the active Sun. From the EIT instrument onboard the space-based SOHO observatory, this picture is a false-color composite of three [...]

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Private Space Travel?

by Haitham Sabbah June 14, 2004

Dreamers Hope a Catalyst Will Rise From the Mojave Desert. One week from today, from a runway in a barren reach of the Mojave Desert 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, Burt Rutan will try sending a pilot higher than anyone has ever flown in a private plane. A longtime designer of innovative aircraft, he [...]

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The Sound of Big Bang!

by Haitham Sabbah June 13, 2004

Universe started with hiss, not bang. The Universe began not with a bang but with a low moan, building into a roar that gave way to a deafening hiss. And those sounds gave birth to the first stars. Cosmologists do not usually think in terms of sound, but this aural picture is a good way [...]

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More Signs Of Water On Ancient Mars

by Haitham Sabbah March 12, 2004

Opportunity rover finds further evidence of wet martian past. NASA’s Mars lander Opportunity has found minerals and rock formations that help to prove that the planet was once very wet. “Liquid water once drenched the surface of Meridiani Planum,” says Ed Weiler, NASA’s associate administrator for space science. “It would have been habitable for some [...]

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Major Sun Flare Today

by Haitham Sabbah October 28, 2003

Sun Kicks Up Biggest Storm in Years. The Sun today unleashed what appears to be the third most powerful flare in recorded history, a storm of charged particles that could hit Earth mid-day Wednesday with more effect than any since 1989, when an entire Canadian province had its power knocked out. Depending on the storm’s [...]

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Los Alamos Wants To Build A Space Elevator

by Haitham Sabbah October 23, 2003

Going Up, WAY Up Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers are proposing an elevator reaching 62,000 miles into the sky to launch payloads into space more cheaply than the shuttle can. “The first country that owns the space elevator will own space,” said lab scientist Bryan Laubscher. “I believe that, and I think Los Alamos should [...]

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