• First it was toilets in space. Then spacesuits. Then the LHC (well, it was already broken—but now it’s even more broken). Leading one to conclude: The science is broke! Fix It!
• Earthquakes not only move us, they move islands too. (More news for Joe Barton.)
• So yeah, the 40th anniversary of the moon landing happened. But what human achievements will top it? Here’s 5 ideas.
• Cool tech video of the day: a Canon 5D shutter in slooow motion.
• Looking to hit the beach in Texas? Beware the basketball-sized blobs of oil.
• Also, we are official fans of this blog. As should be anyone who cares about science.
Most of us have experienced this frustrating situation: Nature is calling, so you rush to the nearest restroom, only to find that it’s sporting an “Out of Order” sign. Annoying, right?
Well, at least you weren’t hurtling through space at the time, hundreds of miles from the nearest plumber. Apparently, the toilet on the International Space Station has broken down, leaving the 13 crew members onboard with just a backup loo, and the crew of the shuttle Endeavour using the W.C. on that spacecraft.
According to BBC:
Mission Control told the crew to hang an “out of service” sign until the toilet can be fixed….
If repairs fail, Apollo-era urine collection bags are on hand, Nasa said. “We don’t yet know the extent of the problem,” flight director Brian Smith told reporters, adding that the toilet troubles were “not going to be an issue” for now.
The main toilet, a multi-million-dollar Russian-built unit, was flown up and installed on the US side of the space station last year. It had broken down once before, requiring a rush delivery of a replacement pump by the shuttle Discovery in 2008.
Another toilet-related problem arose earlier this year. That one was due to regulations that hold that Russian crew members on the ISS cannot use the American toilet.
In any case, let’s hope NASA gets the W.C. situation figured out soon. After all, it’s pretty hard to pull over for a pit stop 220 miles from Earth.
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Image: Wikimedia Commons
In 2004, geologist Phil Christensen flew from Arizona to Ireland to collect volcanic rocks for research on how rocks formed on Mars. While there, he noticed a school nearby and thought it would be brilliant if kids could just collect the rocks and mail them to him.
After the trip, he briefly worked on NASA’s Mars missions and announced at one of their press conferences that he’d welcome packages of rocks from anywhere around the world.
News traveled fast (and this is even before the days of Twitter): The first rock arrived at his home base at Arizona State University in Tempe three days after the request. Two weeks later, 150 rocks came in the mail. Now, five years later, he has received more than ten thousand rocks from children in 80 countries. A full list of the rock types mailed in can be seen here.
ABC News reports:
Each rock has been catalogued, and most have been studied to determine their composition. Every person who sends in a rock gets a certificate, with the rock’s number, signed by Christensen. The Rock Around the World Web site has directions for people who want to send in their prized chunk of earth.
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Not that Star Trek was lacking for an audience to begin with, but it’s now been screened in space, surely spoiling entertainment for astronauts from here on out.
Last week, Paramount Pictures transferred a copy of the movie to NASA’s Houston center, which then uploaded the blockbuster to the International Space Station. Astronaut Michael Barratt then used a laptop to watch it inside the Unity module.
Still no word on whether he found it as uniformly “meh” as we did (well, not all of us).
Related Content:
Bad Astronomy: BA Review: Star Trek
Image: Flickr / culture.culte
Tomorrow, most of America will gather in front of a table to ingest massive quantities of carb- and fat-driven foodstuffs. But what about the few Americans currently in space? Not to worry: Lest the seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavour go without their requisite servings of turkey, stuffing, and candied yams, NASA is providing a Thanksgiving meal.
The six Americans on board and one Russian—who, in the spirit of inclusion, is also joining the meal—will float through their feast (literally), eating their feast from individual pouches with Velcro tags, which they can affix to metal trays that can be attached to their laps or the wall. Each tray is equipped with a tethered spoon, fork, knife, and pair of scissors for cutting open the food pouches.
While the flavor ranges in space are somewhat limited, NASA works hard to engineer a varied menu. Of course, the results aren’t always so successful, according to reports:
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Even P. Diddy hasn’t rapped about science. But that didn’t stop NASA from paying a post-grad student named Jonathan Chase to write a hip-hop song for the European edition of its Astrobiology Magazine. NASA wanted Chase to help make astrobiology reach out to the known life in the universe (us!), rather than unknown life in space.
We can’t help but wonder, did NASA really want a scientific hip-hop song so badly that they asked a British guy to rap? Still, on the science end, Chase is far from unqualified: He studied aerospace engineering and science fiction in college, and is currently studying science communication in graduate school. [Clarification: While folks at NASA's Astrobiology Magazine did invite Chase to contribute the rap, they did not actually pay him for it. In case you were worried about your hard-earned tax dollars going to rhyming limeys.]
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