Space Video of the Day - 071128

It isn't often that I find old movies that have become part of the public domain, particularly a movie that is space-themed. So, I was quite happy to find a classic of the genre - if, by "the genre", one means "really really really bad science fiction". It has everything: a Big Star (Bela Lugosi)! Zombies! Aliens! Zombie Aliens! So, without further ado, allow me to present today's space video of the day: Plan 9 From Outer Space!


This is the Space Video of the Week. Be sure to check out the Space Video of the Day Archive.

Space Video of the Day - 071127

Sorry about the lack of posting over the previous week; I've been busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest. Regular posting of space videos resumes today with a look at the New Horizons spacecraft's closest approach to Jupiter, which took place in late February of this year.


Space Video of the Day Archive

Space Video of the Day - 071120

Today's space video of the day is again from the History Channel's series, The Universe, with this episode entitled the Life and Death of a Star. As an aside, I want to point out that Keith Cowing at NASAwatch has also started posting space videos fairly regularly; be sure to check his videos out.






Space Video of the Day Archive

Space Video of the Day - 071118

Occasionally a large company will realize the value of YouTube. One such company is National Geographic, which has uploaded more than two hundred videos to the site. Today's space video of the day is produced by National Geographic, taking us inside the eye of a solar storm.


Space Video of the Day Archive

space carnival

The Carnival of Space #29 went up yesterday at Riding with Robots on the High Frontier. Check it out.

Space Video of the Day - 071116

Today's space video is taken from the History channel series, Universe. This episode is entitled the Most Dangerous Places, and describes magnetars, black holes, supermassive black holes, galaxy collisions, quasars and blazars.






Space Video of the Day Archive

Space Video of the Day - 071115

An "earthrise" is only visible from objects which orbit the moon. Japan's KAYUGA spacecraft is doing that right now, and prouced this (high definition) video of an earthrise and a setting earth. There's no sound in this space video of the day; in space, no one can hear you giggle.


Space Video of the Day Archive

Space Video of the Day - 071113

On Sunday the Amateur Spaceflight Association in Housoton test fired their 2000 pound thrust liquid-fuelled rocket motor; the test is today's Space Video of the Day. It looks like the only casualty was a camera placed too close to the exhaust.


Space Video of the Day Archive

Space Video of the Day - 071111

Today's space video of the day is a documentary about New Horizons, the mission to Pluto.




Update: here are parts 3 and 4:


Space Video of the Day Archive

Never Forget

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— John McCrae

Space Video of the Day - 071110

Sometimes I think that the only part of NASA that is worth anything is the Jet Propulsion Lab. If you look at the last several years, the majorly cool missions - the ones where the edge of the envelope of science are being pushed - are all being done by JPL. Today's space video of the day shows JPL's latest innovation, a robot platform called ATHELETE. There are several things I like about this ATHELETE robot. First of all, it can easily be envisioned as a common platform for plenty of future robotics missions. The design is so versatile - with the legs useable as wheels or legs or tool actuators - that dozens of future missions could all be accomplished with this same platform as a basis. Secondly, I can see how this design could be packed into a launch vehicle; when all the legs are folded up, one ends up with a hexagonal prism less than a foot tall. Third, there are lots of cameras - at least a dozen pairs of stereo cameras available, surrounding the robot body and one pair on every wheel. This is the sort of thing that all of NASA should be doing: innovating. Why is it that only JPL seems to understand that?


Space Video of the Day Archive

New Comments

A persistent spammer has forced me to shut down the Blogger comments, as there was no way to filter that person out using Blogger. However, I still want legitimate comments, so I have added Haloscan commenting to the blog. I have kept the Blogger comments in my blog template, so people searching through the archives can still read those; however, I am the only one who can post new comments via the Blogger commenting system. Anyone can use the Haloscan comments, but if I get spammers in the future then at least I can filter them out via their IP address. We'll see how it goes.

Space Video of the Day - 071108

Today's space video of the day shows some animations of possible future moon bases, space stations, and cities on the moon.


Space Video of the Day Archive

Space Video of the Day - 071106

This is a little different for the space video of the day. It is a speech by Burt Rutan given in 2005 to the National Space Society, basically tearing NASA lots of new orifices.


This is the Space Video of the Week. Be sure to check out the Space Video of the Day Archive

no more anonymous comments

A spammer from http://www.boxsweeper.com has been leaving a whole bunch of comments on my last few posts. I suspect that it is either a person with way too much time on their hands or else a spambot has found a way around the Captcha system. Well, I had enough of that BS; from now on, only registered users can leave comments on the blog. If anyone wants to leave me a comment without registering with Blogger/Google, then they can find my email address in the sidebar. Note that clicking on the badge in the sidebar doesn't bring up my email address - you actually have to read it and copy it yourself. Die spambots, die.

Update: That spammer from boxsweeper is one persistent expletive deleted. I have disabled all comments for now, at least until I can come up with a new commenting system that will block this spammer.

Space Video of the Day - 071105

In today's space video of the day, Woody Woodpecker explains rocket science (from the 1950 movie Destination Moon).


Space Video of the Day Archive

Space Video of the Day - 071104

Today's Space Video of the Day is the first installment of This Week In Space, produced by the Rockets Away! blog, and hosted by Louise Riofrio of A Babe In The Universe.


Space Video of the Day Archive

Space Video of the Day - 071103

Today's space video of the day shows astronauts performing a tricky repair on a tear in a solar panel array on the international space station. Parts of the video have been sped up to fit what was a more than seven hour spacewalk into this ten minute video.


Space Video of the Day Archive

Space Video of the Day - 071102

Today's space video is a BBC: Horizons documentary on supermassive black holes, and their role in the formation of galaxies.






Space Video of the Day Archive

Space Video of the Day - 071101

This past weekend at the X-Prize Cup, Armadillo Aerospace was the only team to compete in the Lunar Lander Challenge. They came oh so close to winning, too, needing only to hover for a few seconds longer. Today's space video shows their first attempt to win the prize at this year's cup. It looks to me like the Module 1 craft started to oscillate after having hovered for a fairly long time, which probably led to sloshing withing the tanks, which made the oscillations worse, and so on. It ended up crashing from a height of a few feet.


Space Video of the Day Archive