Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100711/21375810163/dailydirt-space-shuttle-stories.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100711/21375810163/dailydirt-space-shuttle-stories.shtml

Wayne Hale, a retired Space Shuttle Flight Director, explains how Columbia was damaged by the loss of insulation foam -- by finding out that Discovery was almost damaged in the same way. It wasn't due to improper foam installation, but instead thermal cycling from filling and re-filling the cryogenic fuel. [url]

On its way to a museum, Enterprise sustains damage to its wingtip after hitting a bridge. The NASA prototype spacecraft never flew in space, and it suffered only cosmetic damage while being transported to its final destination at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in Manhattan. [url]

Caenorhabditis elegans worms actually survived the Columbia disaster, and their descendants flew into space in 2011 on the Endeavour. Worms on a m*********ing spaceplane! [url]

To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.


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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100711/21375810163 Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110926/02112516094/dailydirt-missions-to-mars.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110926/02112516094/dailydirt-missions-to-mars.shtml

Landing equipment on Mars that weighs anywhere near 40-80 tons (on Earth) is just out of the question using current technology. The Mars Science Laboratory weighs about a ton and it's about as big as we can go right now... and we'll see how it does later this year. [url]

SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk wants to send people to Mars in 10-20 years. It would be interesting if a private company lands on another planet before any nation does. [url]

Studying 12 generations of worms on the International Space Station could help us better understand how humans will survive indefinitely long trips in space. So Caenorhabditis elegans could be the first animals sent to another planet, instead of dogs or chimps. [url]

To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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