Mission Impossible Timid people, back away from your radio now. You won't like it here... Right then, still here? Don't say we didn't warn you. Mission Impossible is a science show that likes to throw its weight around. It gives you the latest science news and tells it as it is. Largely because telling it like it isn't is a waste or your time. And ours. The show is a production of the Science Communication MSc. Yes, we're doing a masters in this stuff so we know what we're doing. Well, erm we will when the format beds down a bit... Previous Broadcasts Choose a date to see show notes and track listings, or click the “Replay” link to hear it again! Continue reading →
Time Event L-7:30:30 Vehicle Power Up (Dragon and Falcon 9) L-3:50:00 Liquid Oxygen Loading L-3:40:00 Rocket Propellant 1 Loading L-3:15:00 Taking complete LOX Replenish L-1:40:00 Strongback Umbilical Tower Retraction L-0:13:00 COUNTDOWN HOLD POINT L-0:13:00 Launch Director Poll T-0:10:00 Terminal Countdown T-0:09:43 First Stage Merlin Egnine Chilldown T-0:07:00 Dragon to Internal Power T-0:06:17 Align Flight Computers T-0:05:30 Dragon Configuration for Solar Array Power Generation Dragon Countdown Auto Sequence T-0:05:00 Second Stage Nitrogen Loading Termination T-0:04:46 Transfer to Internal Power T-0:03:11 Flight Termination System Armed T-0:03:02 LOX Topping Termination T-0:03:00 Second Stage Thrust Vector Actuator Test TEA-TEB Ignition System Activation T-0:02:30 Status Check T-0:02:00 Range Verification T-0:01:35 Helium Loading Termination T-0:01:00 Flight Computer to start-up Pad Deck Water Deluge System Activation T-0:00:50 First Stage Thrust Vector Actuator ... Continue reading →
Solar eclipse – in pictures Eyes have turned skywards across Asia and North America to watch an annular solar eclipse – last seen on US soil since 1994 and not due to happen again until 2023. The 'ring of fire' eclipse only happens when the Sun, Moon and Earth to be in a specific point of their orbits Continue reading →
Point a camera at a particular patch of sky for more than 50 hours and what do you get? This image of Centaurus A, a galaxy 12 million light years away: New image of Centaurus A. See bottom of post for link to bigger version. Credit: ESO Well, for “camera” read (after taking a deep breath) “Wide Field Imager of the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile”. But don’t let that put you off. You can also make out the galaxy with a pair of binoculars – in the night sky you’ll find it in the southern constellation Centaurus. If you fancy a closer look, and a bit more history, keep on scrolling. Zooming in on the strange ... Continue reading →
Translation: "I just can't understand how we as cats started eating watermelon in the closet. Om nom nom. Lord have mercy. Om nom. This is called the heart. Nom nom. You know, It makes me feel so bad sometimes when I see my cat brothers and sisters, and they see me eating a piece of watermelon like this here...OM NOM NOM NOM... and they go, and they go to frown their faces 'Oh man that's despicable'. But it's good!" gd01skorpius 7 hours ago Continue reading →
This slideshow requires JavaScript. Long before each exhibition opens at Wellcome Collection, we begin the process of designing the gallery to display the objects, taking multiple sources of inspiration, including the objects themselves. Museum and exhibition designer Calum Storrie explains how our Brains exhibition came to look the way it does. Very quickly after reading the brief for the Brains exhibition and meeting the curators I revisited an old idea lifted shamelessly from the work of the Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck. This was the sculpture pavilion designed for the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo in 1966, composed of a series of parallel walls in concrete block. By pushing and pulling the shapes of the wall van Eyck suggested individual rooms and spaces for the sculptures. ... Continue reading →
