NASA Weathers Departure, Rumors of Budget Cuts, NPR “Audio for this story will be available at approx. 6:00 p.m. ET Talk of the Nation, March 28, 2008 – Planetary scientist Alan Stern has announced that he is stepping down as NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, the head role in the space agency’s science programs. His departure was unexpected, and the agency gave no reason for the sudden […]

PM urged to veto new coal-fired generators, The Age “Dr Hansen’s letter, written as a private citizen rather than in his capacity as NASA’s top climate scientist and Adjunct Professor at the Columbia University Earth Institute, is similar to the one he sent British Prime Minister Gordon Brown this year. In 2006 he accused the Bush Administration of trying to gag calls for urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, […]

Editor’s note: SMD Chief Scientist John Mather announced this [Wednesday] morning that he is going back to his JWST job full time. Editor’s update: Anyone who seeks to connect the dots, so to speak, and think that John Mather’s decision has anything to do with Alan Stern’s decision to leave would be incorrect.

Space Shuttle Interior, Panoscan “These images were captured last in September 2001 for training purposes. The images were captured inside the high fidelity training mock up at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas. This mock up features the later “glass” cockpit design that was used in the Columbia. To view these images you will need QuickTime 7.”

Challenger Center Webcast with Richard Garriott from Star City, Russia “On April 21, 2008 at 12:00pm ET, Richard Garriott will hold an interactive live webcast with students and teachers. Students of all ages are encouraged to submit a question for Mr. Garriott on the Challenger Center for Space Science Education’s website: http://www.challenger.org. Questions can be submitted in writing or by video. If a question is chosen for the webcast, Mr. […]

From ESA’s ATV Blog: “We’ve come across a cool ATV online tracker gadget which we really want to share with you. Click through for Isana Kashiwai’s GoogleSatTrack which uses Google Maps. Not only is it exciting to get a visualisation of where Jules Verne is flying right now, but you also get an idea of how fast it’s whizzing round the planet up there. And, what’s different about this tracker… […]

A Vector Map of the Unnamed Methane Sea on Titan, io9.com “Peter Minton is a California teacher who loves to make vector maps in his spare time. His favorite places to map are islands and coastlines, and so when the Cassini-Huygens probe sent back images from Saturn’s moon Titan he was happy to discover the geographical features he loves most. There, on the pole of Titan, was a sea full […]

Introducing Iarpa! It’s Like Darpa, But for Spies, Wired “Picture Q as a tall blond woman with an American accent, and you’ve got Porter. Lisa Porter. She’s the first head of America’s new Q branch, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity — Iarpa for short — a fledgling office charged with outfitting US spooks with the highest-tech information-gathering gadgetry.”

SpaceX Conducts First Three-Engine Firing of Falcon 9 Rocket “Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) conducted the first three-engine firing of its Falcon 9 medium to heavy lift rocket at its Texas Test Facility outside McGregor, on March 8, 2008. At full power the engines generated over 270,000 pounds of force, and consumed 1,050 lbs of fuel and liquid oxygen per second. This three-engine test again sets the record as the […]

AIP FYI #41: Bad News/Good News: Congress Takes First Steps in FY 2009 Appropriations Cycle “… the general sentiment in Washington is that the probability of concluding the FY 2009 budget cycle by its start on October 1 is very slim. There is a widespread consensus that Congress and President Bush will find it necessary to use a series of stopgap funding bills to maintain program spending in the new […]