ArsGeek

SpaceX did it! Falcon 1 achieves orbit right on target

This is a pretty great day for any space enthusiast.  Another private company has gotten off of this planet.  I'm still of the opinion that while NASA's research and their achievements shouldn't be overlooked, what is going to get us off of this planet and into a permanent position in our solar system is going to be the private corporations.

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SpaceX Falcon 4 static fire goes well, nothing exploded

In a refreshing change of pace, the Falcon 4 static fire went well with no large booms or expanding mushroom clouds.  They did decide to replace a component on the maxim of better safe than sorry.  A 2nd stage engine LOX supply line is being  changed out, which will move the for real firing to somewhere between September 28th and October 1.

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Ever wanted to track satellites in real time from your computer for free?

Well you're in luck!  NASA has a neat little tool called J-Track, which you can access at the link below.  Note that you'll need Java to run it (which you probably have installed) and that when you visit the link, it will launch the java app.

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The planet Mars enters the ’90s with it’s new web cam

That's right, the ESA has gotten into the web cam business with a simple little camera pointed at none other than Mars!  While I feel the whole "look at my webcam" thing has blown over some time ago, this one is worth a gander.

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Apollo 14 astronaut says “aliens are real”, pats Mulder on the back comfortingly

Edgar Mitchell is not only an astronaut, but someone who's interested in paranormal phenomena.  While on Apollo 14, in addition to doing cool back flips and science stuff, he conducted private ESP experiments with friends back on Earth.

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Beautiful water on Mars – Echus Chasma

Mars never seems to disapoint when it comes to amazing images.  Here's a stereoscopic image grabbed from the Mars Express spacecraft of Echus Chasma.  Here you can see where liquid water was present on the surface of Mars at some time in the past.

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Help SETI save Arecibo

Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest radio telescope and the source for the SETI@home data that your computer analyzes, faces massive budget cuts that will END its ability to continue the search for life beyond Earth. The decision to ensure full funding currently rests upon votes in Congress on Senate Bill S. 2862 and House Resolution [...]

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Sins of a Solar Empire – easily the best space strategy game in a long time.

Sins of a Solar Empire is one of those rare games that has the ability to really capture my attention, draw me in and keep me in front of the PC for long periods of time. I'm a sucker for galactic expansion games and even though I don't go bonkers over RTS games in general, this one in particular has just the right blend of strategy and real time to keep me happily clicking away. Sins is really an RT4X Game – Real Time, eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate.

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Alien Civilization found! And it’s not from a Russian paper, so it must be true!

We all know about Abell 1835 IR1916 (not pictured above). That galaxy that just happens to be the furthest and thus oldest galaxy ever seen by Hubble. It’s just about 13.25 million light years away – far even compared to driving through Texas, and this galaxy’s been around for about 97% of the time the [...]

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