Archive for August, 2005

By August 3, 2005 Read More →

More shuttle fears?

There are fresh fears that there could be further problems with the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Apparantly there is some concern about a thermal blanket below the cockpit. Experts believe that this may have been damaged during lift off when the orbiter stuck a bird. It is feared that the thermal blanket could tear off during re-entry.

Flight director, Paul Hill, said a decision would be taken once engineers had finished studying images of the blanket.

What does that mean? If they don’t like the look of the blanket images they leave the orbiter up there and parachute home?! Could they possibly send another unmanned orbiter up to return the crew and return Discovery at a later date?

The shuttle has to be manned for re-entry doesn’t it?

Matt

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By August 3, 2005 Read More →

Shuttle repair successful

Shuttle astronaut Stephen Robinson has successfully removed two ceramic strips protruding from the heatshield on the Discovery orbiter’s underside.

The astronaut rode the robotic arm from the ISS in order to reach the underside of the shuttle and was able to remove the strips with his finger.

Nasa was concerned the strips could have caused Discovery to overheat as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.

So what are these gap fillers for? If they are that easy to remove and they can work lose during launch (as they have done on previous missons) and the shuttle can re-enter safely without them installed why are they fitted in the first place?

Matt

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By August 2, 2005 Read More →

A blog every second!

The blog community is continuing to grow at an exceptional rate. According to blog trackers Technorati one new blog site is created every second!

The current number of blogs tracked by Technorati is 14.2m blogs, up from 7.8m in March.

It suggests, on average, the number of blogs is doubling every five months.

Blogs, the homepages of the 21st Century, are free and easy to set up and use. They are popular with people who want to share thoughts online.

They allow for the instant publication of ideas and for interactive conversations, through comments, with friends or strangers.

Technorati is like a search engine that keeps track of what is happening in the blogosphere, the name given to the universe of weblogs.

It relies on people tagging – giving keywords to – their blogs or blog posts so that its search engine can find them.

Thirteen percent of all blogs that Technorati tracks are updated weekly or more, said the report, and 55% of all new bloggers are still posting three months after they started.

I started my blog just three weeks ago and I must admit its becoming something of an addiction. I keep thinking ‘I must blog that’ when ever I see something news worthy. Im blogging an average of two items per day but some days I get a bit carried away and have a blogging frenzy!

Matt

(Sources: BBC News and Technorati)

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Posted in: News
By August 2, 2005 Read More →

Shuttle to be repaired in space!

Astronaut Stephen Robinson will make a space walk underneath the Shuttle Discovery to remove strips that are sticking out between heat shield tiles on Discovery’s belly.

Nasa is concerned the dangling material – called gap fillers – could cause part of the shuttle to overheat as it re-enters the atmosphere.

Nasa confirmed that debris did indeed strike the shuttle during launch but Nasa officials say this is not related to damage from foam debris. Instead, the fabric could have been shaken loose by the vibrations during launch.

The International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm will position Discovery mission specialist Robinson underneath the shuttle so he can pull the gap fillers out.

This will be the first time that a space walk has been made underneath an orbiting shuttle.

See also Mark’s Article

(Source: BBC News)

Matt

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