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Space Spin » Opportunity driving away from 'Concepcion'; Spirit has a light winter schedule
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:07:26 -0800
Opportunity finished the circumnavigation campaign around "Concepcion" crater. Numerous targeted images were taken of rocks around the crater but no new rock targets were chosen to be analyzed using the in-situ (contact) instruments of the rover's robotic arm (IDD)....

Space Spin » Proposed mission would return sample from asteroid 'time capsule'
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:05:32 -0800
Meet asteroid 1999 RQ36, a chunk of rock and dust about 1,900 feet in diameter that could tell us how the solar system was born, and perhaps, shed light on how life began. It also might hit us someday. "This asteroid is a time capsule from before the birth of our solar system," said Bill Cutlip of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, ...

Space Spin » Cassini data show ice and rock mixture inside Titan
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:53:43 -0800
By precisely tracking NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its low swoops over Saturn's moon Titan, scientists have determined the distribution of materials in the moon's interior. The subtle gravitational tugs they measured suggest the interior has been too cold and sluggish to split completely into separate layers of ice and rock. The finding, to be pu...

Space Spin » Spitzer detects the 'heartbeat' of star formation in the Milky Way galaxy
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:45:51 -0800
Astronomers have used NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope rather like a doctor's stethoscope to listen in on the "heartbeat" of star formation in our galaxy, a finding that will help trace the "life" of the Milky Way and other galaxies. A key vital sign in people is our heart rate, or the number of beats the heart muscle makes in a given time. Galaxie...

Space Spin » Shocking recipe for making killer electrons
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:37:07 -0800
Take a bunch of fast-moving electrons, place them in orbit and then hit them with the shock waves from a solar storm. What do you get? Killer electrons. That's the shocking recipe revealed by ESA's Cluster mission. Killer electrons are highly energetic particles trapped in Earth's outer radiation belt, which extends from 12 000 km to 64 000 km ab...

Space Spin » Cassini ISS images - March 8-12, 2010
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:11:32 -0800
The following new images taken by the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) on the Cassini spacecraft are now available: A Few Rhea Craters (Released 8 March 2010) The Cassini spacecraft pictures a crescent of Saturn's moon Rhea. Detailing Dark Spokes (Released 9 March 2010) The Cassini spacecraft images dark spokes on Saturn's B ring. Titan's Changing...

The Planetary Society Weblog » LPSC: Wrapping up Tuesday: The Moon, Mars, Mercury, Vesta, and back to Mars
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:27:24 -0800
Well, it's already mid-day on the Friday a week after the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference ended and I'm STILL not done writing up my notes. In the interest of moving on to other things, I am now posting pretty much everything I have left, with minimal editing to make it readable and few of my usual comments; any comments I have will be in it...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Pretty pictures: Europa from Galileo and Voyager
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:24:46 -0800
For some reason both Jason Perry and Ted Stryk took it upon themselves to produce new, pretty versions of Jupiter's moon Europa this week, so I'm hereby featuring them! Europa is picturesque and strange both from a distance, as seen by Voyager, and from close up, as seen by Galileo. There's no landscape in the solar system quite like it. First, a g...

SF Signal » REVIEW: Shadowline (The Starfishers Trilogy, Volume 1) by Glen Cook
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:29:00 -0800
REVIEW SUMMARY: An Epic Space Opera tale. MY RATING: BRIEF SYNOPSIS: An interesting, epic space opera revenge tale that weaves together separate story lines into an excellent read. MY REVIEW: PROS: Shadowline pulls together three distinct story lines, weaving them together over the course of the story, in an interesting universe of interstellar ...

SF Signal » Voice Of The Fans: What Do You Want To See From the New Superman Franchise?
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:25:00 -0800
It's official, after the mess that was the latest Superman movie, Christopher Nolan will be "shepherding" a new rebooted Superman movie to completion. Let's hope that Brandon Routh's metrosexual Supes doesn't make a return and that there are no giant spiders (the fiercest killers in the animal kingdom) for Superman to fight. Nolan won't be writing ...

SF Signal » TOC: Scary Kisses edited by Liz Grzyb
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:16:00 -0800
Angela Slatter has posted the table of contents for a new paranormal romance anthology, Scary Kisses:"The Anstruther Woman" by Nicole R. Murphy"Fade Away" by Ian Nichols"Bread and Circuses" by Felicity Dowker"Black Widow" by Shona Husk"The February Dragon" by Angela Slatter and L.L. Hannett"Growing Silence" by Matt Tighe"The Hidden One" by Astrid C...

SF Signal » Friday YouTube: Batman and Robin Demonstrate Why It's Important to Take Care of Your Teeth
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:15:00 -0800
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SF Signal » Keith Stokes, Vonda N. McIntyre To Be Honored with SFWA Service Award
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:12:00 -0800
From a press release by The Science Fiction Writers of America:Keith Stokes, Vonda N. McIntyre honored with SFWA Service Award CHESTERTOWN, Md. - Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) will honor Vonda N. McIntyre and Keith Stokes with SFWA Service Awards for 2010 during the Nebula Awards® Weekend May 13-16 in Coco Beach, Fla. McIntyr...

SF Signal » SF Tidbits for 3/12/10
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:05:00 -0800
Interviews/ProfilesTeenage Reader interviews Lisa Mantchev.T.J. McIntyre interviews Lisa Hannett.StarShipSofa interviews Norman Spinrad (2008 podcast).Fangoria interviews Brian Keene.Nethspace interviews Blake Charlton.Mark Charan Newton interviews Julie Crisp.Wizads of the Coast Community profiles Erin M. Evans.Matt Staggs interviews Lev Grossman....

The Planetary Society Weblog » Helene has two faces
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:59:18 -0800
Yes, it's yet another post on Helene! I keep on finding new stuff to post. This time it is a really cool montage assembled by Ian Regan, another one of the amateurs who hangs out on unmannedspaceflight.com. Unlike Ted Stryk and Gordan Ugarkovic, who prefer to work with calibrated, archived data to craft beautiful, realistically colored images, Ian ...

Docking@Home » D@H down for maintenance
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:23:00 -0800
At 9:30 today we will shut down D@H because we are doing some adjustements in the sotorage partition. The work won't last more than 1 hour, so we will resume normal operations very soon. Thank you...

SF Signal » REVIEW: Kay Kenyon's The Entire and The Rose (Books 1 - 4)
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800
REVIEW SUMMARY: An undeniable triumph of world building, Kay Kenyon's The Entire and The Rose is a science fantasy tale of two worlds worth exploring despite the gradual pace dictated by occasional prose problems. MY RATING: See individual reviews below. BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Former pilot Titus Quinn returns the universe he left behind seeking the fate o...

SF Signal » A Girl Who Can Identify Star Wars Figurines with her Mouth
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:15:00 -0800
From a German television show... And now I have my pick for ultimate Star Wars fan. Check out the proud parent at 00:15s...And the defeat at 2:40! Gripping, this is, mmmm...? [via Boing^2]...

SF Signal » Baen Books Limerick Contest: Win Free eBooks!
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:11:00 -0800
Baen Books is holding a March limerick contest where winners can receive free eBooks: Describe your favorite Baen author or novel or character in a riddle limerick that the reader has to solve. This is a contest in two parts. EVERYONE who enters the contest by emailing their entries to us will receive an "I READ BAENED BOOKS" button (so be sure to ...

SF Signal » SF Tidbits for 3/11/10
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:05:00 -0800
Interviews/ProfilesStarShipSofa interviews Gene Wolfe (podcast).Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews interviews the 2009 Bram Stoker Awards Nominees.Techland interviews Mark Millar.NewsDavid Anthony Durham's Blog has moved.Australis Imaginarium Call for Recommendations: reprint anthology.Terence Stamp and John Hurt Lead Ultramarines Voice Cast.Graham McNeil...

Space Spin » Kepler Mission Manager update, March 10, 2010
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:23:10 -0800
The Kepler spacecraft has been performing well since the Safe Mode event of Feb. 2, 2010. Engineers on the anomaly response team are continuing to analyze the telemetry from the event to develop root cause and mitigations. Several mitigations are under consideration and are being prepared for implementation. The mitigations should minimize impact...

Space Spin » HiRISE images for March 10, 2010
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:17:34 -0800
The following new captioned and spotlight images taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft are now available: At the Summit of Arsia Mons Volcano Like the other major shield volcanoes on Mars, Arsia Mons has a caldera (large volcanic crater) at its summit. Northern Hemisphere Gu...

Docking@Home » D@H down for maintenance
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:11:00 -0800
In the past few days we had problems with incomplete workunit inputs due to storage sortage in D@H. Tomorrow morning (March 11) we will expand our data partitions but we need to unmount the project temporarily (no more than 1 hour). We will keep you posted...

The Planetary Society Weblog » LPSC: Venus
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:16:07 -0800
Despite the fact that I began my career in science doing research on Magellan images of Venus, I've often avoided Venus sessions at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference because they've tended to be pointlessly contentious. But I decided to attend the one this year to see how things went. It was moderately interesting, but I left with a feelin...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Pointing at Helene
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:40:04 -0800
I posted already some neat images from Cassini's flyby of Helene last week, and commented on how most of the images from that encounter missed Helene entirely or only caught the moon at one edge of the camera field of view. Here's an example of one of those images, which also catches Saturn's cloud tops in the background. The color is fake; I did i...

SF Signal » MIND MELD: SF/F Books That Would Make A Great TV Series
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:29:00 -0800
SF/F fans love to talk about their favorite books being adapted for film. But what about television? Are there books better suited for a television series? We asked this week's panelists (inspired by a suggestion from James Wallace Harris)... Q: What SF/F book would make a great television series? How would you adapt it for the small screen? Here's...

SF Signal » REVIEW: Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded by John Scalzi
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:20:00 -0800
REVIEW SUMMARY: A fun, interesting collection of advice and musings from John Scalzi MY RATING: BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A collection of notable posts from John Scalzi's Whatever Blog, covering just about everything under the sun. MY REVIEW: PROS: Scalzi has an honest, to-the-point manner through which he dispenses all sorts of thoughts on a number of th...

SF Signal » Pyr is Celebrating its 5th Anniversary With an Essay Contest - Win a Trip to Dragon*Con!
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:12:00 -0800
Pyr is celebrating its 5th Anniversary! To celebrate, they are sharing the love by holding a writing contest. Pyr invites readers and fans to submit a short essay on the theme: Five reasons why science fiction and fantasy is important to you. The prizes for the best 3 essays are:3rd Place - a commemorative Pyr 5th anniversary keepsake and five co...

SF Signal » WINNERS: 'Superluminal' (eBook) by Vonda N. McIntyre
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:11:00 -0800
The winners of our Superluminal eBook Giveaway are: Rachel Conlon Gio Clairval Congratulations! Thanks to everyone who entered....

SF Signal » SF Tidbits for 3/10/10
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:05:00 -0800
Interviews/ProfilesRomance Divas interviews Realms of Fantasy.Gail Z. Martin interviews LA Banks and SA Rule (podcast).Temple Library Reviews interviews Kaaron Warren.Seattle Geekly interviews Adrian Phoenix, Eric S Brown, Matthe Flaming, Amy Sterling (podcast).Starship Sofa interviews Gene Wolfe (podcast).NewsHugo Voters! Hugo nomination deadline ...

Space Spin » Biggest, deepest crater exposes hidden, ancient Moon
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:20:41 -0800
Shortly after the Moon formed, an asteroid smacked into its southern hemisphere and gouged out a truly enormous crater, the South Pole-Aitken basin, almost 1,500 miles across and more than five miles deep. "This is the biggest, deepest crater on the Moon -- an abyss that could engulf the United States from the East Coast through Texas," said Noah...

Space Spin » Is that Saturn's moon Titan or Utah?
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:03:47 -0800
Planetary scientists have been puzzling for years over the honeycomb patterns and flat valleys with squiggly edges evident in radar images of Saturn's moon Titan. Now, working with a "volunteer researcher" who has put his own spin on data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, they have found some recognizable analogies to a type of spectacular terrain ...

Space Spin » Lava likely made river-like channel on Mars
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:51:11 -0800
Flowing lava can carve or build paths very much like the riverbeds and canyons etched by water, and this probably explains at least one of the meandering channels on the surface of Mars. These results were presented at the 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference by Jacob Bleacher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Whether c...

Space Spin » Turning up the heat: Finding out how well the Webb telescope's sunshield will perform
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:31:55 -0800
Keeping an infrared telescope at very cold operating temperatures isn't an option, it's an absolute necessity. For the James Webb Space Telescope to see the traces of infrared light generated by stars and galaxies billions of light years away, it must be kept at cryogenic temperatures of under 50 Kelvin (-370°F). Otherwise, sunlight would war...

Space Spin » Herschel-HIFI unveils precursors of life-enabling molecules in Orion Nebula
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:21:30 -0800
ESA's Herschel Space Observatory has revealed the chemical fingerprints of potential life-enabling organic molecules in the Orion Nebula, a nearby stellar nursery in our Milky Way galaxy. This detailed spectrum, obtained with the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) - one of Herschel's three innovative instruments - demonstrates the ...

Space Spin » Mars dunes: On the move?
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:11:02 -0800
New studies of ripples and dunes shaped by the winds on Mars testify to variability on that planet, identifying at least one place where ripples are actively migrating and another where the ripples have been stationary for 100,000 years or more. Patterns of dunes and the smaller ripples present some of the more visually striking landforms photogr...

Space Spin » Bully galaxy rules the neighbourhood
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:57:34 -0800
In general, galaxies can be thought of as "social" -- hanging out in groups and frequently interacting. However, this recent Hubble Space Telescope image highlights how some galaxies appear to be hungry loners. These cosmic oddities have set astronomers on the "case of the missing neighbour galaxies"....

The Planetary Society Weblog » Unbelievably spectacular flight through Candor Chasma
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:53:05 -0800
This is one of the things that came out during LPSC last week and all I could do at the time was Tweet it, which doesn't serve most of my readers, I realize. So here it is in blog form: the most unbelievably spectacular 3D animation of a bit of Mars I've seen yet, produced by Adrian Lark. The flight takes us through part of Candor Chasma, one of th...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Joint replacement operation takes Goldstone 70-meter dish offline until at least November
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:37:22 -0800
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced yesterday that the venerable 70-meter dish at the Goldstone Deep Space Network station is being taken offline so that major surgery can be performed. Part of its "hydrostatic bearing assembly," which allows the enormous dish to rotate horizontally, is being replaced, for the first time since the antenna was b...

Docking@Home » D@H resumes distribution
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:29:00 -0800
Docking@Home is slowly back to normal. Due to storage sortage we will distribute a slightly lower amout of workunits but all the daemons are back...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Phobos has gravity!
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:43:35 -0800
Last week Mars Express had its closest-ever flyby of Mars' larger, inner moon Phobos. They used the close encounter for radio science, to attempt to probe the inner structure of the little potato. It'll be a few weeks at least before they have any kind of reportable results on what that data tells them, but one thing that they can already report is...

PrimeGrid » The Ides of March Challenge
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:15:00 -0800
Less than one week till it's the end for some prime wannabe's. A 24 hour (15-16 March) Challenge is being offered on PrimeGrid's Prime Sierpinski Project/Seventeen or Bust (Sieve) application. Come join us as we quicken the demise for some unlucky k/n pairs.Application builds are available for MacIntel, Linux, and Windows – with a 64 bit advan...

Einstein@Home » Project News March 9, 2010
Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:00:00 -0800
The latest radio pulsar re-discoveries are available here. Our count is now at 59 detections of 40 different known radio pulsars. The latest improvements of the search workflow increased the average processing rate to about 200% of the Arecibo data taking rate. This means we're now able to process the available backlog of data - thanks to our volun...

The Planetary Society Weblog » LPSC: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter results
Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:17:28 -0800
A week later and I am finally getting to the mountains of notes I took on Moon-related talks I saw at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) held in Houston last week. Unlike previous years at LPSC, the Moon was really the leader, with the most talks and posters, even more than Mars, which has never, to my knowledge, happened in the year...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Stephen Hawking Receives Cosmos Award
Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:20:30 -0800
by Louis D. Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society The Planetary Society presented the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science to Stephen Hawking in Cambridge England on February 27. Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan's widow and collaborator, Neil deGrasse Tyson and I presented the award, a beautiful glass sculpture of Satur...

Docking@Home » D@H temporarily suspends work generation
Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:20:00 -0800
Docking@Home will interrupt the distribution of new workunits until the storage pressure is released. This means that tomorrow (March 08), or the day after tomorrow at most (March 09) we will resume with the normal distribution activity. Thank you for your patience!!...

Docking@Home » D@H temporarily suspends work generation
Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:49:00 -0800
We temporarily suspended the generation of new jobs while investigating some issues with the charmm script. Stay tuned .....

QMC@HOME » Project News Mar 4, 2010
Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800
Our new application QASINO is ready to run!...

malariacontrol.net » Project News 2010-03-04
Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:00:00 -0800
We have submitted some work-units for a follow-up experiment....

SETI@home » Video on making a desktop supercomputer
Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:58:52 -0800
Check out a Youtube video about making a multi-GPU desktop supercomputer....