The Official Space Exploration Thread

[Nicklab]

Pluto Demoted: No Longer a Planet in Highly Controversial Definition

The controversy is apparently pretty substantial.  Only some 400 plus Astronomers took part in this conference, while there are some 10,000 plus professional astronomers worldwide.  The minimal voting pool is certainly controversial since there are now the means to get a large number of votes from acredited scientists from all over the world.

The situation gets more convoluted when you take into account the criteria that this scientific body used to come to this conclusion.  They've stated that these dwarf planets are bodies in the solar system Pluto and by definition a dwarf planet  "has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite."  Where the situation becomes questionable is regarding Earth and Jupiter.  Both Earth and Jupiter do not have clear orbital paths, with numerous asteroids in the vicinity of both planet's orbits.  And what reasonable person would argue that either Earth or Jupiter should be classified as dwarf planets?

An interesting side note to all of this news, there were other bodies in the solar system that were being considered for planetary status.  One is Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt.  Unfortunately for Ceres, it's now a dwarf planet.  Oh well.

[Deanpaul]

Unfortunately for Ceres, it's now a dwarf planet.  Oh well.

Poor Ceres.  Not being a planet is going ruin their tourism campaign.

[Rob]

The controversy is apparently pretty substantial.  Only some 400 plus Astronomers took part in this conference, while there are some 10,000 plus professional astronomers worldwide

I could be remembering wrong, but I'm pretty sure that today on CNN they reported that it was 2,500 astronomers at the conference.

[DSJ™]

Yes, 2500 were at the conference but the vote involved just 424 who remained for the last day of a meeting according to both links I posted.

Maybe the rest had better things to do! 

[Matt_Fury]

Attack of the Show and G4's website have some pretty funny stuff about Pluto's demotion.

As of today, I'm starting the campaign to make Pluto a planet again!!  Who's With me?! 

[DSJ™]

Shuttle launch delayed till Monday



Remote cameras captured a lightning strike at the launch pad on Friday, Aug. 25, 2006. Photo credit: NASA.

They launch on my moving day, guess I'll have to catch up later on in the mission. 

[DSJ™]

Another delay for the launch of Atlantis.

From Nasa.gov:

NASA Working 'Competing Objectives' on Atlantis Launch

NASA is keeping an eye on Hurricane Ernesto as engineers continue to analyze data following the lightning strike at the shuttle Atlantis' launch pad on Friday. The next launch attempt is currently set for Tuesday, Aug. 29, at 3:41 p.m. EDT.

The orbiter and external tank teams have cleared their systems of any concerns from the strike, and shuttle engineers are now working together, looking at all elements as combined system, according to Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier. The combined data should help the solid rocket booster team determine if their system is clear as well, he added.

Meanwhile, with Ernesto tracking towards central Florida, NASA has to start preparing to roll Atlantis back to the Vehicle Assembly Building before high winds hit Cape Canaveral.

"We have really two competing objectives," Gerstenmaier said. "One, we want to get the vehicle ready to go fly. The other objective is we want to get the vehicle ready to roll back to the VAB ... At some point in the sequence you have to give up on either one or the other. That point hasn't occured yet, but it's coming this evening and we're going to have to make a decision."

The Mission Management Team will meet again tonight at 6 p.m. to consider both issues. A briefing will follow live on NASA TV, no earlier than 8 p.m. EDT.

[DSJ™]

Well now that the move is done, I can catch up on the mission. 

From NASA.gov

Aug. 29, 2006.

Shuttle Atlantis Rolls Back to Launch Pad to Ride Out Ernesto:

NASA managers decided early Tuesday to move the Space Shuttle Atlantis from its launch pad into the Vehicle Assembly Building for protection from approaching Tropical Storm Ernesto, but later in the day, when the weather forecast improved, they reversed the decision and began moving Atlantis back to the pad.

Launch preparations resumed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39B on Thursday, as mission managers set Sept. 6 as the new date for the launch of the space shuttle on Mission STS-115 to the International Space Station. Liftoff time is 12:29 p.m. EDT.

I'll have to catch the replays after work.

The SMART-1 European lunar orbiter is set to crash into the moon this weekend, should be interesting. 

[DSJ™]

Can't wait to see this pic that the Hawaiian observatory captured.

Europe's spacecraft hits the moon

[DSJ™]

The lunar impact of the SMART-1 robotic probe on Sept. 3, 2006 is seen as an infrared flash in the upper right of this image from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Credit: CFHT, Christian Veillet.

[Darth_Anton]

Atlantis delayed again. 

[Darth_Anton]

Interesting blurb about extra solar habitable planets.

[DSJ™]

NASA scrubs shuttle launch, hopes for better luck Saturday

Better luck tomorrow, launch is now set for 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 GMT) tomorrow, with weather forecasts offering an 80 percent chance of favorable flight conditions, NASA said.

[DSJ™]

Atlantis flawlessly roars into space



Image above: Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Photo Credit: NASA.

[DSJ™]

The shuttle's robot arm is maneuvered into position over Atlantis' payload bay prior to the attachment of the orbiter boom sensor system. Photo Credit: NASA TV.

Inspection Shows No Damage to Atlantis.
By Mike Schneider, Associated Press.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Early results from an inspection of space shuttle Atlantis using sensors attached to a boom showed no evidence of damage to the shuttle's thermal skin as it soars to the international space station, a flight director said Sunday.

"I have not seen a single problem with the vehicle,'' said flight director Paul Dye. "So far, everything has gone exactly according to plan except for the fact that we're a little bit early.''

A decision won't be made for a couple of days on whether NASA will use an extra day to do a "focused inspection'' on areas of the space shuttle that could look suspicious, Dye said.

"I haven't seen anything that's caught my eye,'' Dye said.