Category Archives: Transhuman News

Civilization V: A Brave new world multiplayer Session 2 part 11
Terproerg Yes the info blurb was taken from wiki Gameplay[edit] The expansion adds nine Civilizations, eight Wonders (the Parthenon, Broadway, Globe Theatre...

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Civilization V: A Brave new world multiplayer Session 2 part 11 - Video

The A-Musing Show, Episode #3 "Royal Rumble Pregame Spectacular"
Original air date: 01/22/14 A very special episode where my special guest and I make our WWE Royal Rumble 2014 predictions and analysis. Also discussed is wh...

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The A-Musing Show, Episode #3 "Royal Rumble Pregame Spectacular" - Video

Image Caption: The International Space Station, seen here from the vantage point of the crew of the 2010 STS-130 space shuttle mission, completed more than 1,500 investigations during its first 15 years in orbit. Credit: NASA

April Flowers for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

For nearly everything on Earth, a little room to grow can make all the difference. That is true in space, as well. The Obama Administration has announced support for extending the International Space Stations (ISS) mission to 2024, giving the project room to flourish. The extra decade will allow the ISS to continue its already fruitful microgravity research mission offering scientists and engineers the time needed to ensure the future of exploration, scientific discoveries and economic development.

As NASA Administrator Charles Bolden stated in a January 8 blog post, The [space station] is a unique facility that offers enormous scientific and societal benefits. The Obama Administrations decision to extend its life until at least 2024 will allow us to maximize its potential, deliver critical benefits to our nation and the world, and maintain American leadership in space.

By prolonging the testing timeframe for essential technologies related to long-duration journeys, the extension will provide more traction for space exploration such as to an asteroid or Mars. Designs for future spacecraft will be refined by the optimization of systems like the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS).

I really see the space station as the first step in exploration, NASA Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier told Jessica Nimon of International Space Station Program Science Office. It is gaining us operational experience in a distant location, well beyond the Earth, at 75,000 km off the surface of the moon. Those are the kind of experience, technology and hardware that we need to go to Mars, so all that feeds forward.

ISS researchers are showing that space exploration is hardly limited to space travel with microgravity research. The next decade will allow those scientists time for research planning and to make the most of facilities being built today. The ready-to-use suite of facilities already aboard the ISS opens opportunities to run studies that will include extended chances for follow-up investigations enabling results from station science not formerly possible and increasing the collective knowledge in various disciplines. The impact of science results typically emerge over a five to ten year period, making this an attractive incentive for new researchers.

For 14 years, the space station has had a continuous human presence, allowing breakthroughs in science and technology not possible on Earth, said Sam Scimemi, NASAs International Space Station director. The ability to extend our window of discovery through at least 2024 presents important new opportunities to develop the tools we need for future missions to deep space while reaping large benefits for humanity.

A wide variety of investigations will begin, continue and complete over the next ten years in orbitfrom advancements in astrophysics from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) to climate studies using the Earth remote sensing instruments, which can also assist with disaster recovery efforts.

Researchers also anticipate developments from the upcoming 1-year mission and biology studies, such as T-Cell Act in Aging, which will help people with related health concerns on Earth as well as the scientists. There will be favorable advances for industries as well, with applications to fundamental physics investigations, such as microgravity fluid physics and combustion tests.

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Space Station Extension Expands Research Horizons

NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio has been living and working on the International Space Station since November. On Friday (Jan. 31), the veteran astronaut will speak with SPACE.com about his life in space, the 2013 Olympic Games and the upcoming Super Bowl from his post on the orbiting laboratory.

Mastracchio will connect with SPACE.com at 10:45 a.m. EST (1545 GMT) Friday, and the conversation will be streamed live. We'll find out what it's like to watch sports in space and if there are any friendly international rivalries that might crop up because of the upcoming Olympic Games. We'll also ask what team Mastracchio is cheering for in the Super Bowl. You can watch the cosmic conversation live via NASA TV.

But we also want questions from you, readers! What do you want to ask an astronaut floating through space more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) above the surface of Earth? We'll have about 10 minutes to ask Mastracchio questions, but we'll use some of that time to fit in as many reader questions as possible. Leave your questions in the comments below this story, or send them to Staff Writer Miriam Kramer via Twitter using @mirikramer or @SPACEdotcom. [See Amazing Photos from Rick Mastracchio on the International Space Station]

Mastracchio, 53, hails from Waterbury, Conn., and has flown on three previous space missions with NASA. He joined the space agency in 1987 and was selected for astronaut training in 1996. His first three spaceflights were all short-duration space-shuttle missions to the space station between 2000 and 2010. During those missions, he clocked nearly 40 days in space and ventured into the vacuum of space on six spacewalks.

This will be the second time a SPACE.com staff member has spoken with Mastracchio in a little more than a month. Managing Editor Tariq Malik chatted with Mastracchio on Dec. 13, 2013, about spacewalking and what it's like to be in space for Christmas.

Over the Christmas season, Mastracchio and fellow NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins completed two successful spacewalks to install a space ammonia pump module on the outside of the station, fixing a problem with the orbiting outpost's critical cooling system. Mastracchio now has 51 hours and 28 minutes of spacewalking time under his belt.

Mastracchio is set to fly back to Earth with fellow crew members Koichi Wakata, of Japan, and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin in May of this year. They are currently joined by Hopkins and cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy, who round out the Expedition 38 crew.

What do you want to ask Mastracchio? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

Cosmic Quiz: Do You Know the International Space St...

The International Space Station is the largest structure in space ever built by humans. Let's see how much you know about the basics of this science laboratory in the sky.

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Space Station Astronaut Rick Mastracchio to Speak with SPACE.com Friday

Scott Larson just survived a particularly stressful month during which the equipment he sent to the International Space Station sat in limbo.

His startup, the Canada-based UrtheCast, created special still and video cameras able to withstand space radiation and extreme temperatures in order to record earth from space in high resolution. The cameras arrived at the space station last fall, and after an eight-hour spacewalk on Dec. 27, they were installed. Only they didnt appear to work right, Larson says.

Courtesy UrtheCastUrtheCast High Resolution CameraSo the cameras were taken down. A station-related issue was fixed over several days, and the equipment was finally mounted during a six-hour spacewalk on Tuesday. There have been a lot of tense moments, says Larson, whose company raised $68 million for the project. Its space, and stuff happens in space, and you never quite know. There are always technical issues in any kind of engineering project. But because there are people out there, they can fix them. Thats been a huge asset.

From here on, UrtheCast hopes for smooth travels as the space station orbits the earth 16 times every day. The nearly 70-employee company will spend several weeks calibrating the cameras, which will send their first image back to earth in February. We hope its spectacular, we dont know what its going to be, Larson says.

Once initial tests are wrapped up, UrtheCast expects to start selling space imagery to clients in farming, urban planning, media, and other industries at the end of the second quarter. The company has already signed distribution agreements for $21 million annually, according to Larson, and will also begin streaming images onto the Web in the third quarterin effect challenging Google Earth with a free video-imaging service.

A 4.5-foot-long camera will record 90-second videos 150 times a day as the station circles the planet, Larson says, while a second camera will continuously snap still photos. Together, the stills will cover a 47.3-kilometer-wide swath of the planet and generate 2.5 terabytes of data a day, the equivalent of about 270 full-length movies. UrtheCasts engineers will condense and post the visuals to the companys website within a few hours.

I think everyone in the world will want to come to the website at least once, Larson says.

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UrtheCast's Eye on the Space Station Can Finally See

After four spacewalks and a series of glitches, the International Space Station now sports a pair of cameras pointing at Earth.

The fourth spacewalk from Expedition 38, performed by Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy, wrapped up the installation of two high-definition cameras that experienced connectivity issues last month. A spacewalk on Dec. 27 tried to resolve the issue, but ongoing technical problems kept them from finishing.

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After exitingthe Pirs docking compartment, the men headed to the Zvezda service module, where they installed a high-resolution video camera and a medium resolution still camera to capture Earth imagery. The high-res camera checked out, but the medium-resolution camera again experienced telemetry issues.

Dr. Kotov and Dr. Ryazanskiy also retrieved scientific gear outside the stations Russian segment.

Their spacewalk lasted for 6 hours and 8 minutes, wrapping up at 3:08 p.m. EST yesterday (Jan. 27). The spacewalk a month before lasted two hours longer, clocking in at 8 hours and 7 minutes. Though they failed to complete the cameras' installation, they did set the record for the longest Russian spacewalk. The previous record-holders were Expedition 36 Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin, who conducted a 7 hour and 29 minute excursion on Aug. 16.

On Dec. 27, Kotov and Ryazanskiy installed the cameras, but then had to remove them when Russian flight controllers on the ground reported that they could not receive necessary telemetry information.

The cameras are part of a commercial agreement between a Canadian firm and the Russian Federal Space Agency. Their goal is to provide views of Earth from the ISS for Internet-based subscribers. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation notes that the still camera has a resolution of five square meters, and the video camera has a resolution of one square meter.

The spacewalkers also retrieved a cassette container attached to Pirs, part of a materials exposure experiment. They then removed a worksite interface adapter attached to a portable data grapple fixture on the Zarya cargo module. The adapter removal work should ensure that future operations with the Canadarm2 robotic arm will not be impeded.

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Say cheese! Space station cameras now looking at us in high-def. (+video)

After four spacewalks and a series of glitches, the International Space Station now sports a pair of cameras pointing at Earth.

The fourth spacewalk from Expedition 38, performed by Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy, wrapped up the installation of two high-definition cameras that experienced connectivity issues last month. A spacewalk on Dec. 27 tried to resolve the issue, but ongoing technical problems kept them from finishing.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

After exitingthe Pirs docking compartment, the men headed to the Zvezda service module, where they installed a high-resolution video camera and a medium resolution still camera to capture Earth imagery. The high-res camera checked out, but the medium-resolution camera again experienced telemetry issues.

Dr. Kotov and Dr. Ryazanskiy also retrieved scientific gear outside the stations Russian segment.

Their spacewalk lasted for 6 hours and 8 minutes, wrapping up at 3:08 p.m. EST yesterday (Jan. 27). The spacewalk a month before lasted two hours longer, clocking in at 8 hours and 7 minutes. Though they failed to complete the cameras' installation, they did set the record for the longest Russian spacewalk. The previous record-holders were Expedition 36 Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin, who conducted a 7 hour and 29 minute excursion on Aug. 16.

On Dec. 27, Kotov and Ryazanskiy installed the cameras, but then had to remove them when Russian flight controllers on the ground reported that they could not receive necessary telemetry information.

The cameras are part of a commercial agreement between a Canadian firm and the Russian Federal Space Agency. Their goal is to provide views of Earth from the ISS for Internet-based subscribers. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation notes that the still camera has a resolution of five square meters, and the video camera has a resolution of one square meter.

The spacewalkers also retrieved a cassette container attached to Pirs, part of a materials exposure experiment. They then removed a worksite interface adapter attached to a portable data grapple fixture on the Zarya cargo module. The adapter removal work should ensure that future operations with the Canadarm2 robotic arm will not be impeded.

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Say cheese! Space station cameras now looking at us in high-def.