Left: NASA's original Apollo era abort system. Right: proposed Dragon abort system
A press release this week by SpaceX unveiled a revolutionary abort system integrated into that company's Dragon capsule currently under development:
Due to their extreme weight, tractor systems must be jettisoned within minutes of liftoff, but the SpaceX innovative design builds the escape engines into the side walls of Dragon, eliminating the danger of releasing a heavy solid rocket escape tower after launch. The SpaceX design also provides crew with emergency escape capability throughout the entire flight, whereas the Space Shuttle has no escape system and even the Apollo moon program allowed escape only during the first few minutes of flight.
Smart engineering. Instead of being dead weight on a rocket where every extra pound means big bucks, it can be carried all the way into space, giving the spacecraft enormous maneuvering capability throughout the mission. And, with a few tweaks, the SpaceX idea might even be used to
land a capsule on low gravity, airless worlds as large as the moon.
- Check out the largest intact fossil spider ever found, and it looks like an Orb-weaver complete with the silk producing organs to back it up. Which means 165 million years ago, these gals could have been patiently tending classic spiral webs wide enough to stretch across the Nile.
- Happy birthday to Mr. Hubble's Telescope! If only Edwin Hubble could see the glorious sights his modern day namesake has stolen from heaven and brought to earth.
- Mother Jones has an excellent read on the denier fraud known as Climategate. A small taste:
The press gave the think tanks and pundits a bully pulpit in the form of airtime and headlines—without bothering to dig into the hacked emails and figure out what the fuss was about. While journalists were quick to quote email snippets that were causing a ruckus, it wasn't until December 12—nearly a month after the initial release—that a team of Associated Press reporters finally parsed the entire set of emails and published a more accurate picture ...
- Last but not least, a gorgeous collage of earth photos to celebrate earth day.