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Minecraft Modded: Off with his Head! – Hermitcraft Mod Sauce #6 – Video

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Minecraft Modded: Off with his Head! - Hermitcraft Mod Sauce #6
Minecraft Mod Pack - Today I #39;ll get back to the space station and prepare to move it to a location at the hermit spawn base. Enjoy! This Hermitcraft ModSauce Mod Pack will be available for...

By: Monkeyfarm #39;s Minecraft

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Minecraft Modded: Off with his Head! - Hermitcraft Mod Sauce #6 - Video

Race to Build NASA Space Taxi Down to the Wire

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A three-way race to build a commercially operated spaceship to shuttle astronauts -- and other paying customers -- to and from low-Earth orbit is close the finish line, with NASA aiming to award development and flight service contracts as early as next week.

So far, two companies favoring capsule designs -- Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX -- have won the lions share of NASAs Commercial Crew program funds. The effort, which began in 2010, is intended to provide a U.S. alternative for flying crews to the International Space Station, which orbits about 260 miles above Earth.

Since NASA retired the space shuttles in 2011, the only human transportation system flying to the station is owned by Russia, which charges about $70 million per person for rides on its Soyuz capsules. NASA hopes to change that before the end of 2017.

NEWS: Space Taxi, Please! NASA Investing $1.1 Bln

Along with Boeing and SpaceX, NASA has been funding space taxi design work at a third company, Colorado-based Sierra Nevada Corp., though its contracts have been about half of what Boeing and SpaceX received.

Sierra Nevada eschewed the capsule design in favor of a small winged spaceplane called Dream Chaser, which resembles a miniature space shuttle. The company has signed partnership agreements with more than 30 companies, nine universities, nine NASA field centers and three international space agencies, a strategy that could provide some flexibility if it is not selected for additional NASA funding.

Weve always looked at this as a system, with the space station being a mission. There are other missions that we are looking at. Having this wide group of companies allows us to look at construction, repair missions, the ability to do short- and long-duration science missions independent of the space station, Mark Sirangelo, Sierra Nevada Space Systems president, told Discovery News.

For us, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars less at the start of the competition put us at a schedule disadvantage -- we couldnt do as many things -- but it made us be a lot more creative in how we were going to manage the last two years, Sirangelo said.

PHOTOS: Dragon's Bounty: SpaceX Mission Complete

Showing that you can manage to a very tight budget is a pretty big thing, he added.

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Race to Build NASA Space Taxi Down to the Wire

Algal Growth A Blooming Problem Space Station To Help Monitor

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August 30, 2014

Image Caption: A Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) image of western Lake Erie, Aug. 15, 2014, taken from the orbital perspective of the International Space Station. Credit: HICO Team/Naval Research Laboratory

Jessica Nimon, International Space Station Program Science Office NASAs Johnson Space Center

The green stuff that clouds up fish tanks its not just an aesthetic annoyance. In fact, if youve been watching recent news of algal bloom concerns in Lake Erie, you know that the right conditions for algae can lead to contamination of local water sources, potentially impacting aquatic life and humans. What you might not have known is that among the resources to help study this problem you will find the International Space Stations Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO).

This instrument, mounted to the exterior of the orbiting laboratory, provides a way for researchers to see 90 wavelengths of light not visible to the human eye. This can help with research on harmful algal blooms (HABs) because they, along with other organic materials, have a spectral signature. The biological matter emits a unique wavelength as it absorbs and scatters solar energy, resulting in fluorescence and backscattering. Essentially the light reflects back to HICO, which reads the data like a fingerprint.

Researchers can use the information from HICO to see what theyre missing with their own senses. With it they study biological and chemical signatures for aquatic and terrestrial materials. This can reveal the presence of microscopic plants, organic compounds, suspended sediments and other factors controlling water quality.

HICO was first designed and built by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for the Office of Naval Research to assess water quality in the coastal ocean. HICO continues to operate beyond its original one-year mission, having moved past the initial three-year mission when NASA took over the support of operations in January 2013. Researchers continue to use HICO for science around the world.

To address water quality issues, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) partnered with the NRL at NASAs Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Mississippi to enable the study of HABs, including those in Lake Erie.

Historically, blooms have been visually observed by the naked eye due to the discoloration of the water, said Ruhul Amin, Ph.D., principal investigator for the HICO CASIS-NRL project. Now optical sensors can detect these changes in the color of the water and quantitatively measure the spectral radiance changes due to algae blooms.

In the Lake Erie area researchers are looking at phytoplankton and algal blooms that occur regularly in summer months, often in the harmful quantities found this year. Of particular concern are blue-green algae Microcystis spp., which can cause health concerns in humans such as nausea, numbness or dizzinesspotentially leading to liver damage. Once airborne in sea spray, the brevetoxin producing HAB Karenia brevisknown as red tidecan go beyond irritating the eyes and lungs of coastal visitors, according to Amin, as it is capable of killing fish, birds and marine mammals. No human fatalities are directly attributed to brevetoxins, he goes on to say, though it is possible to reach fatal toxin levels during K. brevis blooms.

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Algal Growth A Blooming Problem Space Station To Help Monitor

Whiskey Particles Stored on International Space Station Headed for Earth

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A Scottish distillery that enlisted the help of astronauts to develop whiskey particles on the International Space Station is now preparing for touchdown.

Ardbeg, a whiskey distillery in Scotland, partnered with a Houston-based space research company to launch some micro-compounds of their liquor into outer space in 2011.

According to the distillery's website, 20 vials of the unmatured whiskey particles were sent along with pieces of charred oak that they were treated with when they arrived at the International Space Station. The vials only contained microbes that will later be used to brew whiskey, rather than the liquor itself.

UIG via Getty Images

PHOTO: Ardbeg Distillery, Islay.

"This is indeed a research program to help us understand terpenes, which are the building blocks for flavorings, paints and yes, whiskey -- so to us, this is a very solid research project for a consumer-based company," Jeffrey Manber, the CEO of Houston-based company NanoRocks, told ABC News. "NASA approved the project since terpenes have never been grown in zero-gravity conditions."

If a difference is noted between the vials kept in zero gravity as compared to those in "control" vials in Scotland, the implications could lead well out of the liquor cabinet.

"The absence of gravity may well create a new generation of consumer products and help us understand materials, biologicals and products that are right here on Earth," Manber said.

Once the out-of-this-world particles return to Earth -- they are expected to land in Kazakhstan on Sept. 12 -- the vials will be shipped to Texas, where they will be compared to similar vials made in Scotland in 2011 to test what effect gravity had on the maturation process.

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Whiskey Particles Stored on International Space Station Headed for Earth

Mississippi and Louisiana Students Get Out-of-This-World Start to the School Year

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Students from Mississippi and Louisiana will gather at the INFINITY Science Center in Pearlington, Mississippi, for a long-distance call with NASA astronauts currently orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station. The special back-to-school education event will take place Tuesday, Sept. 2, at 1:20 p.m. EDT (12:20 p.m. CDT).

The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agencys website.

More than 300 fourth to eighth grade students will have an opportunity to ask Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman questions about life, work and research aboard the space station. Prior to the 20-minute Earth-to-space call, the students will spend time learning about the orbiting laboratory, rockets and NASAs new deep space exploration spacecraft, Orion, which is set to make its maiden spaceflight in December.

Media interested in covering the event must contact Paul Foerman in advance at 228-688-1880 orpaul.foerman-1@nasa.gov. INFINITY Science Center, which also serves as the official visitor center for NASA's Stennis Space Center, is located at 1 Discovery Circle in Pearlington.

Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides an authentic, live experience of space exploration, space study, the scientific components of space travel and the possibilities of life in space.

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.

For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit:

NASA TV Live

For information about NASA's education programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/education

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Mississippi and Louisiana Students Get Out-of-This-World Start to the School Year


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