New Science Magazine

Days of ‘gizmo’ launches return: NASA team to test new vehicle-descent technologies

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:03:33 +0000

NASA technologists will get a chance next summer to relive the good old days when Agency engineers would affix space-age gizmos to rockets just to see if the contraptions worked. In what will be the first of four high-altitude balloon flights to begin in the summer of 2013, technologists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., and Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., are preparing to test new deceleration devices that could replace current descent technologies for landing ever-larger payloads at higher elevations on Mars.

Meals, Equipment Top Cargo List for SpaceX spacecraft Dragon

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:03:32 +0000

The Dragon spacecraft built by SpaceX will head to the International Space Station with about 1,200 pounds of cargo during its demonstration mission, including commemorative patches and pins, 162 meals and a collection of student experiments.

Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) flight hardware test

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:03:31 +0000

A NASA flight test designed to demonstrate the feasibility of inflatable spacecraft technology is coming down to the wire. The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) is the third in a series of suborbital flight tests of this new technology. It is scheduled to launch from the Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore this summer.

Unparalleled views of Earth’s coastal zone with HREP-HICO

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:03:30 +0000

Scanning the globe from the vantage point of the International Space Station is about more than the fantastic view. While cruising in low Earth orbit, the space station HICO and RAIDS Experiment Payload-Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean, or HREP-HICO, gives researchers a valuable new way to view the coastal zone.

Hinode mission to capture annular solar eclipse this weekend

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:03:30 +0000

On May 20-21, 2012 an annular eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor along Earth’s northern Hemisphere — beginning in eastern Asia, crossing the North Pacific Ocean, and ending in the western United States. A partial eclipse will be visible from a much larger region covering East Asia, North Pacific, North America and Greenland.

Measuring transient X-rays with lobster eyes

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:03:29 +0000

A technology that mimics the structure of a lobster’s eyes is now being applied to a new instrument that could help revolutionize X-ray astronomy and keep astronauts safe on the International Space Station.

Roots of Racism

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:47:31 +0000

Humans everywhere divide the world into “us” and “them.” Why are we so tribal?

Emotionally intelligent people are less good at spotting liars

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:32:53 +0000

People who rate themselves as having high emotional intelligence (EI) tend to overestimate their ability to detect deception in others.

Emotionally intelligent people are less good at spotting liars

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:32:53 +0000

People who rate themselves as having high emotional intelligence (EI) tend to overestimate their ability to detect deception in others.

Foul-mouthed characters in teen books have it all

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:32:51 +0000

Analysis of best-selling teen novels shows that readers come across seven instances of profanity per hour spent reading, and the characters who cuss are usually rich, beautiful and popular.