IPX Entertainment Inc. - Tourism

For those of you that would just like to try out weightlessness for a bit - the going cost is only about $4000 - looks like they are preparing for Zero-G sports too!

What is included in the ZERO-G Experience?

* Inspirational training led by a veteran astronaut
* Weightless Flight with 15 parabolas aboard G-FORCE ONE™
o Martian-G Parabolas (1/3 gravity)
o Lunar-G parabolas (1/6 gravity)
o Zero gravity parabolas
* ZERO-G merchandise
* Re-Gravitation Party with awards presentation

Pausanias

Astronautix Space Blog!

SPACE.com -- Water Could Stay Liquid on Mars

Using a planetary environmental chamber – a tank that mimics the atmosphere, temperature, and pressure of other planets – the team exposed various concentrations of briny water to conditions that match Mars' colder, less pressurized environment. Based on these experiments, salty water, it seems, can exist as liquid on Mars.

"It was thought that any liquid on the surface would evaporate almost immediately," Julie Chittenden, a graduate student with the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences told SPACE.com. "These brine solutions enable water to stay liquid at colder temperatures. If you expose these brine solutions to cold temperatures, they can exist for a very long period of time."

SPACE.com -- Private Supply Ships Vital for Space Vision, NASA Chief Says

Commercial space station cargo ships, crew ferries and other spacecraft will prove a vital cog in NASA’s engine for future space exploration, the agency’s top official said Tuesday.



“We want to be able to buy these services from American industry,” NASA chief Michael Griffin told American Astronautics Society (AAS) during its annual conference here, adding that the first space station resupply proposals are expected this fall. “It will not be government business as usual.”

SPACE.com -- China's Space Aims Strong Despite Lunar Challenges, Expert Says

China’s space program is about three decades from landing astronauts on the Moon, but will make significant strides during that time, according to one expert following the nation’s human spaceflight efforts.

Cyber Cowboys And Virtual Shepherds

Three recently patented CSIRO inventions are set to provide farmers with the ability to monitor and herd their livestock with no more effort than the push of a laptop button.

Pilots At Risk For Cosmic Cataracts

Researchers say they've determined airline pilots are at increased risk of cataracts usually associated with aging as a result of cosmic radiation.

Commercial airline pilots previously were reported to be at increased risk for some cancers, but studies on the biological effects of cosmic radiation exposure were limited, according to the researchers.

Space Burial Services

Space burial is a burial procedure where a small sample of the cremated ashes of the deceased in a lipstick sized capsule are launched into space using a rocket. As of 2004, samples of about 150 people have been "buried" in space.

'Star Trek' Actor's Ashes Grounded As Falcon 1 Faces More Delays

In life, James Doohan was the "Star Trek" engineer who worked miracles on the Enterprise, but Elon Musk's SpaceX-designed Falcon 1 that was meant to blast his remains into space has engine trouble.

Russian Government Approves New Space Center Construction Program

Do not discount the Russian Space Agency!

NASA - NASA's Shuttle and Rocket Missions

Want to know what is being planned for launch (including what, where and how!) - Check this site out for detailed information.

How We'll Get Back To The Moon - Take 1

Before the end of the next decade, NASA astronauts will again explore the surface of the moon. This has some information and videos on the concepts under consideration currently.

NASA JPL Spooky Sounds

Spacecraft instruments record signals that can be converted into sound files. For a late Halloween, check out some of the spooky sounds of space!

The Worst Jobs in Science - Popular Science

Give him an "A" for effort. Earlier this year NASA robot scientist Vladimir Lumelsky unveiled a revolutionary "skin" that will allow robots to sense the presence of astronauts and to move out of the way so that nobody gets hurt. Lumelsky's skin is being developed to assist in NASA's future space-exploration plans—trips that will rely heavily on robots. The current skin uses 1,000 infrared sensors to detect moving objects and then relays the data to the robot's "brain," which instantly signals the robot to skedaddle. Lumelsky envisions future skins with tens of thousands of infrared sensors able to withstand the extreme heat, cold and radiation of space travel. It's serious science, and Lumelsky, being a serious man, gave nary a thought to the fact that his prototype robot bears a striking resemblance to a giant phallus...

Eavesdropping on Titan - 19/01/2005

From Timothy Rosencrans:

Like eerily beautiful alien techno music, sophisticated equipment has allowed us to eavesdrop on the first sounds from Saturn's moon Titan.

The audio data was collected by the microphone component of the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI) during the probe's descent.

The first audio clip, from ESA and the Planetary Society, is a reconstruction of signals generated from the probe's radar altimeter during its descent.