by David Todd | Jan 7, 2013 | Science
Hopes are fading for the French COROT payload was no longer in communication with the spacecraft’s main computer and was thus no longer returning data. The failure of this primary communications chain in November was in March 2009. This time, the failure was on...
by David Todd | Dec 17, 2012 | China, exploration, Science
The Chinese Chang’e 2 spacecraft has been used in a follow-up mission to take close up images of the near Earth object asteroid, Toutalis (4179) at an altitude of only 3.2km. The flyby took place at 0830 GMT on 13 December 2012. Chang’e 2 was originally...
by David Todd | Dec 14, 2012 | On a Lighter Note, Science
While experienced pilots and even astronauts have been found to be susceptible to altitude sickness and low blood pressure, there could be a cure via an unusual use of the drug Viagra. Or so the UK Ministry of Defence apparently claims as a riposte to a press story....
by David Todd | Dec 5, 2012 | Satellites, Science, Seradata News
While the joint NASA/DLR mission, GRACE (Gravity-Recovery And Climate Experiment) has been a resounding success since its 2002 launch, a follow on mission called, rather unimaginatively, GRACE Follow-On, is now being planned. To that end Astrium of...
by David Todd | Nov 26, 2012 | Science, Technology
A new Centre for the Study of Existential Risk has been opened at Cambridge University by the Astronomer Royal, Lord Rees, who has previously written at length on threats posed to mankind and the rest of the world in his book Our Final Century...
by David Todd | Nov 21, 2012 | ESA, exploration, Science, Seradata News, Technology
The German Research Agency, the DLR, gave up pushing for a Moonlander spacecraft to be included in European Space Agency’s (ESA) budget proposals currently being discussed at ministerial meeting being held in Naples, Italy. Germany admitted that it could not...
