If you thought current media-darling Curiosity is where all the martian action is right now, think again. Its elder sibling, Opportunity, is still rolling up there too. In fact, it’s just wheeled its way into a little page of NASA history: the longest distance one of its vehicles has traveled on a body beyond Earth. A recent short (by our standards) trip of 263 feet took its total to 22.22 miles covered on Mars’ surface since landing in January 2004. The previous title holder was a Lunar Rover, part of the Apollo 17 mission over 40 years ago, that covered (if you hadn’t guessed) 22.21 miles. Opportunity’s not beat the world galaxy record though. That honor goes to the Soviet Lunokhod rover, which totted up a total of 23 lunar-based miles back in 1973. In relative terms, Curiosity’s barely stretched its legs.

Filed under: Science, Alt

Comments

Via: CNET

Source: NASA

Continued here:
Opportunity breaks 40-year old NASA space-drive record, reminds Curiosity who’s boss

The International Space Station has been a font of good news and scientific progress since it received its first human residents at the start of the millennium, but now it may be starting to show its age. The current crew reported seeing damage to the vessel’s truss structure yesterday and NASA has since confirmed there’s been a leak of ammonia from the station’s cooling system. The Agency says the problem isn’t dangerous and that regular ISS-style activities are continuing as normal while earth-bound helpers figure out a way of re-routing power channels before part of the cooling system shuts down. If you want to hear what unflustered voices sound like at an altitude of over 200 miles, check out the audio of Commander Hadfield’s initial report of the leak at the source link below.

Update: Commander Hadfield has also confirmed on Twitter that there’s been a “big change in plans,” and that astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will perform a spacewalk today to fix the leak.

Filed under: Transportation, Science

Comments

Via: SlashGear, Spaceflight Now, CBC News

Source: NASA

See more here:
NASA reports ammonia leak on ISS, says inhabitants ‘in no danger’

The International Space Station has been a font of good news and scientific progress since it received its first human residents at the start of the millennium, but now it may be starting to show its age. The current crew reported seeing damage to the vessel’s truss structure yesterday and NASA has since confirmed there’s been a leak of ammonia from the station’s cooling system. The Agency says the problem isn’t dangerous and that regular ISS-style activities are continuing as normal while earth-bound helpers figure out a way of re-routing power channels before part of the cooling system shuts down. If you want to hear what unflustered voices sound like at an altitude of over 200 miles, check out the audio of Commander Hadfield’s initial report of the leak at the source link below.

Update: Commander Hadfield has also confirmed on Twitter that there’s been a “big change in plans,” and that astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will perform a spacewalk today to fix the leak.

Filed under: Transportation, Science

Comments

Via: SlashGear, Spaceflight Now, CBC News

Source: NASA

See the rest here:
NASA reports ammonia leak on ISS, says inhabitants ‘in no danger’

The International Space Station has been a font of good news and scientific progress since it received its first human residents at the start of the millennium, but now it may be starting to show its age. The current crew reported seeing damage to the vessel’s truss structure yesterday and NASA has since confirmed there’s been a leak of ammonia from the station’s cooling system. The Agency says the problem isn’t dangerous and that regular ISS-style activities are continuing as normal while earth-bound helpers figure out a way of re-routing power channels before part of the cooling system shuts down. If you want to hear what unflustered voices sound like at an altitude of over 200 miles, check out the audio of Commander Hadfield’s initial report of the leak at the source link below.

Update: Commander Hadfield has also confirmed on Twitter that there’s been a “big change in plans,” and that astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will perform a spacewalk today to fix the leak.

Filed under: Transportation, Science

Comments

Via: SlashGear, Spaceflight Now, CBC News

Source: NASA

See more here:
NASA reports ammonia leak on ISS, says inhabitants ‘in no danger’

The International Space Station has been a font of good news and scientific progress since it received its first human residents at the start of the millennium, but now it may be starting to show its age. The current crew reported seeing damage to the vessel’s truss structure yesterday and NASA has since confirmed there’s been a leak of ammonia from the station’s cooling system. The Agency says the problem isn’t dangerous and that regular ISS-style activities are continuing as normal while earth-bound helpers figure out a way of re-routing power channels before part of the cooling system shuts down. If you want to hear what unflustered voices sound like at an altitude of over 200 miles, check out the audio of Commander Hadfield’s initial report of the leak at the source link below.

Update: Commander Hadfield has also confirmed on Twitter that there’s been a “big change in plans,” and that astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will perform a spacewalk today to fix the leak.

Filed under: Transportation, Science

Comments

Via: SlashGear, Spaceflight Now, CBC News

Source: NASA

Originally posted here:
NASA reports ammonia leak on ISS, says inhabitants ‘in no danger’