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 A black hole wreaks all sorts of havoc in its cosmic neighborhood, pulling in and stretching out matter, spewing jets and slowing time to a near stand-still. Now astrophysicists have added a new phenomenon to the black hole's list of tricks: Light echoes.
Black holes are often surrounded by spinning discs of burning gas that can emit X-ray bursts. Because the black hole warps the surrounding space-time so intensely, though, the photons from a single one of these bursts don't always arrive at the same time. Read more on the new phenomenon, announced at this week's American Astronomical Society Meeting, here.—Gregory Mone
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As best we can tell, this pup's legit. It's a prototype from the Sky Commuter program that Boeing evidently sunk $6 million into back in the 1980s. The program was dismantled—presumably because the concept didn't, er, fly—and this is the only surviving piece of hardware. Of all the flying car concepts that we see here at PopSci—and believe me, we see a lot—this one appears to be one of the most viable designs. It's lightweight, compact, and looks nicely balanced, with a single horizontal fan out front and two aft. The seller offers no explanation as to why the program failed, but most likely it had to do with technological limitations in both power and control, the two essentials of vertical-takeoff and landing vehicles. The craft evidently conducted hover tests, but not much more. The seller implies that it might be flyable, but the buyer would be a fool to attempt it. The same limitations that existed then exist in that hardware now, so all you'd achieve is a low hover and the strong likelihood of a crash. All that aside, this thing's a beauty—elegant, seemingly very well-built, and rich in history. That canopy alone is a work of art. Check the pics to see the cartoonishly white-suited Air Force Thunderbird pilots checking it out. Let's hope it lands in a museum someplace... —Eric Adams
 While we're certainly not going to criticize the world's richest man for using so many of his billions to try to solve humanity's most pressing health problems, it's nice to see that he's got a little left over for the cosmos, too. Bill Gates donated $10 million —and former Microsoft colleague Charles Simonyi dished out $20 million—to the finance three large mirrors for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, a massive observatory being built in Chile.
The $400 million project will help astronomers spot asteroids and supernovae, map galaxies, and find out more about dark energy and dark matter, the invisible stuff that scientists say dominates most of our universe.—Gregory Mone
Via PhysOrg
(Image credit: Kevin Hand / NASA)
 The PAL-V, or personal air and land vehicle, would drive like a car, take off like a plane, and fly like a gyrocopter. Drawn up by a Dutch firm called Spark Design Engineering, the PAL-V would feature a foldaway rotor and propeller, and a 213-horsepower engine that runs on regular.
But don't get ready to make a down payment just yet. The designers are still waiting for the funding to build a prototype, but they say it would be easy for the average driver to handle, and would fall under the FAA's sport pilot certification category, which means potential owners wouldn't need endless hours of training to operate it legally.
IEEE Spectrum, which reviews the design in a recent issue, suggests that this flying trike, which first turned up a few years, may not get off the ground.—Gregory Mone
 2007 was a notable year for exploration of the Red Planet, but this year should prove to be just as exciting. Discovery News has a nice round-up of what to expect. Spirit and Opportunity, the twin rovers, are still hard at work, and three orbiters are still studying the planet from up high.
A new probe, Phoenix, is also slated to land on Mars' north pole on May 25. Researchers are hoping the lander will study samples of water ice and help them find new clues about the planet's history. Phoenix will look for evidence of organic molecules, too. And if you just can't wait until May, you can track the spacecraft's journey to Mars here.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: Corby Waste/JPL)
 NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), an observatory that was launched in 1991 and decommissioned in 2005, may have collided with another large object in space, according to a report on LiveScience.
U.S. Air Force Space Command first cataloged four pieces from the satellite in November. Around that time, debris from Russia's Cosmos 1275 was headed towards it. A collision wasn't a given, but the objects were close enough to raise suspicion. We've written about the dangers and oddities of space junk before, but it might become a more important issue in the future.—Gregory Mone
Sure, astronomers have witnessed plenty of galactic collisions, which can be pretty intense events, but the latest cosmic conflict is of a different breed.
Using a variety of space- and ground-based observatories, scientists discovered a supermassive black hole shooting a jet of particles at a neighboring galaxy. It's located 1.4 billion light years from Earth, and they're calling it the Death Star galaxy because of the powerful beam.
The eventual outcome of this long-distance shot could be positive, however. The jet might fry any planets in its path in the short run, the scientists say, but in the long run, the energy it deposits could lead to the formation of stars and planets.—Gregory Mone
(Credit: Illustration: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss)
Real estate prices may be dropping domestically, but on the Moon they're still climbing. The investment bank UBS released a report concluding that lunar land prices have risen 40 percent since the start of 2007. The costs vary, with some sources claiming the high was $37 per acre in December 2005 and others saying a chunk of land will cost you as little as $56.
Whether anyone will really be able to lay claim to these plots one day is a big question, but apparently that hasn't stopped people from buying them. The king of space real estate, Dennis Hope, of the Lunar Embassy USA, claims to have sold 3.5 million parcels on the Moon and other planets.—Gregory Mone
Via Reuters UK
 Jupiter's moon Europa was a hot topic at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. Europa has received renewed attention in recent years, as scientists have used new data to clarify their assumptions about the intriguing moon.
There's a clear consensus now that Europa hides an ocean beneath an icy shell, and now scientists are planning new experiments designed to discover more about the alien world. For example, a radar survey conducted by an orbiter could tell them whether the ice above that ocean is thick or thin. This, in turn, might help them plan future missions down into the watery depths.
This sort of robotic adventure still appears to be a long way off, but that hasn't stopped some researchers from planning ahead. For the ultimate Europa payoff, though, take a look at the end of James Cameron's documentary Aliens of the Deep.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: NASA/JPL)
 Two weeks. The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has until Christmas to make it to a nice, sunny slope of a nearby plateau, where it will point its solar panels towards the Sun and park for the winter. Unfortunately, Spirit can't just drive. A recent dust storm on the Red Planet drained much of the rover's energy, so at this point it needs a day of rest for every day of travel.
Engineers knew this energy problem would come eventually. Solar panels need to be clean and free of debris to soak up sunlight. But the Red Planet hasn't been cooperating. Those massive dust storms deposit a fine layer of dirt on the panels, vastly reducing their energy-generating capacity.
Some stiff winds blew much of the dust off Opportunity's panels, but Spirit hasn't been so lucky. Spirit is down to 42 percent capacity. Still, though, it's amazing that they're even roving at all at this point. They were supposed to run out of juice several years ago.—Gregory Mone
Via FoxNews
 Yesterday NASA announced that it will delay launching the shuttle Atlantis until at least January 2nd. Atlantis was supposed to take off on Thursday, but one of its four fuel sensors started malfunctioning prior to the flight.
For now engineers are going to try to fix the problem while the shuttle in on the pad, but if they can't figure out the error that way, they'll have to move Atlantis to the hangar, which would cause further delays.
The good news, though, is that the agency says there's still enough of a time cushion to keep its February launch, which includes parts of the Japanese Kibo module, on track.
For our PPX crowd, this news does indeed spell a halt on our SHUTL proposition. Payout will happen January 1st, but it's clear NASA's plan for four flights to the ISS this year was just slightly too ambitious.—Gregory Mone
 NASA scientists are now saying that Martian clouds may retain less water than expected. Planetary scientist Tony Colaprete reports that the clouds they are studying form at much colder temperatures than the ones here on Earth. It turns out that it's harder to start the cloud formation process at these temperatures—the cloud particles become larger and drop out of the sky more quickly, resulting in a drier atmosphere. Understanding its clouds, which play a key role in carrying water away from the ice cap at the north pole, helps scientists like Colaprete make sense of the larger water cycle on Mars and, in turn, its overall climate.—Gregory Mone
 There are only ten shuttle missions to the International Space Station remaining, and trunk space is pretty tight. This week, NASA plans to launch the $1 billion Columbus module, a scientific laboratory that will enable scientists to conduct a variety of materials science and biological research.
But that doesn't mean space researchers and scientists are entirely happy. Some are still lamenting the expected loss of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a $1.5 billion cosmic-ray detector that probably won't ever find its way up to the station. NASA looked into different ways of delivering the AMS as late as last year, but each option proved too expensive.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: ESA)
Via The Washington Post
Got $20k? If so, you may be able to purchase the 166-page Ph.D. dissertation written by German rocket scientist Wernher Von Braun in 1934. Von Braun was the technical director of Germany's V-2 rocket program during World War II and later became the first director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, where he led the development of the Saturn V rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon. He also wrote regularly for Popular Science.
The dissertation, which includes hand-written notes and charts, is recognized as an important milestone in modern rocketry. It was originally classified as "top secret" and remained unpublished until 1960.
The auction will take place on December 4 at Bonhams New York.—Dawn Stover
Image: Bonhams
 The latest issue of the journal Nature has a focus on Venus, the hellish twin to our lovely planet. Nine papers reviewing the first major findings from Europe's Venus Express spacecraft reveal that Earth and Venus have a number of remarkable similarities, including size, mass and amounts of carbon dioxide.
Fortunately for us, Earth is a good deal further from the Sun. Because of its close proximity, Venus lost most of its water, its clouds are filled with sulfuric acid, carbon dioxide fills its atmosphere, creating an extreme greenhouse effect, and, of course, it's ridiculously hot on the surface.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: ESA)
It's not too late to check out the "exploding" comet, 17P/Holmes. Discovered in 1892, the comet grew about half a million times brighter in late October of this year. It's the largest known outburst by a comet.
17P/Holmes is now larger than the sun and visible to the naked eye in the constellation Perseus. Viewed through binoculars or a small telescope, it looks like a fuzzy ball. Sky & Telescope has continuous updates on the comet and how to spot it.—Dawn Stover
Image: John Lanoue
 For decades scientists have been speculating about the origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays, the incredibly powerful charged particles that travel across the cosmos, then set off a series of reactions as they smash through Earth's atmosphere. They're extremely rare, showing up only once per century for a given square mile.
Now astrophysicsts using the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina, which has detectors spread across 1,200 square miles, recently reported that they traced the rays back to their source. It appears likely that cosmic rays are born within active galactic nuclei. These galaxies, which have massive black holes at their centers, are busily churning up stars, gas and dust, generating hugely energetic reactions. The ultra-high energy rays are just one of the products. The work is published in the latest issue of the journal Science.—Gregory Mone
 Last week, Japan's KAGUYA lunar explorer—the mission formerly known as SELENE—shot the first-ever high-definition clips of the Moon. KAGUYA is designed to help scientists learn more about the origin and evolution of the Moon, and to develop technology for further exploration in the future. It's actually a series of three spacecraft: two small satellites in polar orbit, and a larger one hovering 62 miles above the surface.
Filming from about 62 miles away from the surface, the camera system inside the biggest spacecraft recorded two clips, one near the Moon's north pole, the other of a western region known as Oceanus Procellarum. It's actually pretty amazing, and so much sharper than traditional images of the lunar surface that it makes you think it's an animation, and not video.—Gregory Mone
Via LiveScience
 Astronomers have discovered an unprecedented fifth planet orbiting a Sun-sized star. Located 41 light years from Earth, the star, dubbed 55 Cancri, is roughly the same size and age as our own Sun. Previously, they knew about four of the planets looping around it, but the latest find is particularly exciting. It's 45 times more massive than Earth, and about 72.5 million miles from its star. More exciting, though, is the fact that its existence implies that there could even be more planets nearby.
To study this far-off solar system, astronomers have been using a technique that measures the gravitational tug planets exert on the local star. The trick is that this planet-hunting method doesn't work as well when you're looking for smaller, Earth-sized worlds, since the gravitational tug they'd exert would be tinier. (For an explanation of the other popular search method, see the video here.) The group thinks 55 Cancri might have smaller planets in its system. We just haven't seen them yet.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: NASA/CalTech)
 It might not sound like much, this 78 mile flight, but the recent journey by the Pterosaur Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was actually a record-breaker.
Powered by hydrogen fuel cells, the Pterosaur flew 28 miles farther than the previous record for micro-UAVs, which weigh in at around 11 pounds or less, and its developers say it only used a fraction of the fuel in its tank. Eventually they claim it should be able to go 310 miles. Singapore-based Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies developed the propulsion system in conjunction with scientists at several U.S. universities.—Gregory Mone
Via Aero-News
 NASA's planned effort to repair a torn solar panel on Saturday was slow, daring and ultimately successful. The ISS's robotic arm held tight to one end of a 50-foot-long boom. At the far end of the boom, astronaut Scott Parazynski's boots were locked into an extension, and the spacewalker stretched out as far as he could to sew together the ripped panels.
Crew members inside the station operated the robotic arm, while another spacewalker, Colonel Douglas Wheelock, looked on from a different vantage point outside the ISS. As if this facet of the operation weren't complex enough, the repair job itself was far from simple: there was a risk of electric shock from the live panels. The success is yet another testament to the ingenuity of the space community, but it's also a reminder that setting up an outpost on the Moon or Mars is not going to be easy.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: NASA)
 NASA is planning an emergency repair of the damaged solar panel astronauts discovered recently outside the International Space Station. Set to take place on Saturday, just a few days before the shuttle returns home, the plan will require two spacewalking astronauts, and it's risky but necessary.
If NASA does nothing, the tear could worsen and the entire panel might have to be jettisoned. Yes, the ISS does have a few more at its disposal, but this panel provides 15% of the station's electricity, and the ISS needs every bit of that to incorporate the planned new modules. The fix will require some ingenuity, as the ripped panel is far from an anchoring point for the spacewalking repairman. But NASA has pulled off plenty of feats like this before.—Gregory Mone
 Astronauts working outside the International Space Station just noticed a tear in one of its solar panels. Two of these 110-foot-long panels were due to be unfurled, and the first unrolled without a hitch, but NASA halted the second one when its spacewalkers saw the damage.
This caps a tough few days for the station, as astronauts also confirmed a problem with one of the motorized joints that turns the panels to face the Sun. NASA had suspected there was a problem, and astronaut Dan Tani confirmed it up close, noticing shards of metal scrapings throughout the joint. Next up: figuring out where they came from.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: NASA)
On day two of the 2007 X Prize Cup, between dealing with Armadillo Aerospace’s faltering attempts to win the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge and serving as master of ceremonies for the day’s events, X Prize founder Peter Diamandis took a few minutes to talk to PopSci about the future of his organization’s marquee event. Read the interview after the jump.—Seth Fletcher
Image Courtesy Zero-Gravity Corp
Continue reading "Peter Diamandis on the Future of the X Prize Cup " »
That tiny speck in the distance is Armadillo Aerospace's MOD 1 aircraft, right before not quite winning the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge at the X Prize Cup in Alamogordo, New Mexico on Saturday. To win Level One, the lander has to rise up to 150 feet in the air, hover for 90 seconds and land on a pad 100 meters away. Then it has to do the same thing in reverse. MOD 1 nailed the first part, but failed in the final stretch of its reverse trip. A nozzle failure knocked the lander off balance with only seven seconds to go, causing it to miss the landing pad. As a result, the $350,000 prize is still unclaimed. —Seth Fletcher
Update: Sunday morning's attempt failed, too, again on the reverse trip. Sounds like the problem this time was a crack in the MOD 1's engine—MOD 1's new engine, which the Armadillo team installed after yesterday's failed try. Word is they'll try it Level One again this afternoon.
Another update: No dice for Armadillo this year. Their afternoon attempt failed; there was talk earlier today of a possible third attempt this evening, but according to an X Prize spokesperson, Armadillo founder John Carmack decided against it. That means it'll be this time next year, at the earliest, before anyone wins the prize.
Look, I'll be honest. Sitting down with a hyper-intelligent scientist and discussing his or her work for a few hours isn't always the most socially comfortable situation. Fascinating? Absolutely. But there can be quite a few awkward silences as well.
Astrophysicist Gaspar Bakos, one of this year's Brilliant Ten, eased my pre-interview jitters right away when he suggested we leave his tiny office in Harvard's Center for Astrophysics and head up to the roof. Up there, standing around the corner from what was one of the world's great observatories a century ago, he proceeded to clearly and comfortably explain the intricacies of his technique for hunting down extrasolar planets. So I went back with a camcorder, to capture him using his water bottle as a stand-in for a planet, a star and even a telephoto lens. Enjoy. —Gregory Mone
Hauntingly fascinating is this speech by William Safire (most famous these days for his "On Language" column in the New York Times), drafted for President Richard Nixon to read in the event of a mishap during the Apollo 11 mission that would have stranded Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon:
Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is
no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for
mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be
mourned by the nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world;
they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons
into the unknown.
Read the full text here [via kottke.org]. —John Mahoney
At long last, the long-delayed A380 has finally made its first commercial flight—over 18 months behind schedule but still early enough to meet the conditions of our PPX proposition. A380FLIES has been delisted and paid out at POP$100 per share.
Personally I was skeptical, but the market was leaning toward success all along, with the proposition trading above $80 for the last few months. It closed at POP$99.75—doesn't get much more certain than that!
Above is a video of the historic touchdown in Sydney, courtesy of the UK's Telegraph. —John Mahoney
 As the space shuttle Discovery was on its way to the International Space Station, China successfully launched its first lunar probe.
The Chang'e-1 spacecraft, named after a mythical Chinese goddess, should begin orbiting the Moon on November 1. It will spend a year studying the lunar surface. China says that this latest mission is part of a program that will place an unmanned vehicle on the Moon by 2012. You can watch a video of the launch here.—Gregory Mone
Scientists have described a black hole that's nearly 16 times the mass of the Sun. Dubbed M33 X-7, the enormous object is known as a stellar black hole because it formed after the collapse of the core of a massive star. But scientists say M33 X-7 isn't just interesting because of its size. It's part of a binary system, orbiting a star that's 70 times the mass of the Sun. The two are in a tight orbit: the star eclipses M33 X-7 twice per week. Eventually it will go supernova, exploding outwards and collapsing into a second massive black hole.
M33 X-7 was actually discovered in 1981, but the companion star wasn't spotted until 2004, and even then many questions remained. Some thought a neutron star might have been in the mix.
Now we all just have to wait around to see what happens next with this massive, and only slightly less mysterious pair.—Gregory Mone
 Last year's crash of a $6.5 million Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, and the safety concerns it raised, is not going to stop Homeland-security from expanding the use of the drones for border patrol applications. The Arizona Republic is reporting that two Predator B robots, which have cameras and other sensors that help operators search for smugglers, are currently working the border with Mexico, but by next year that should increase to six. This week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) ruled that human error caused the April 2006 crash. The operator at the time, who was trying to manipulate the camera, accidentally shut off the plane's engine. Yes, I'd call it human error. You really can't blame that one on the robot.
One NTSB official said the fact that the group came up with 22 suggestions for improving the safety of these UAV operations suggests that there are some real issues to deal with here. Clearly, training the handlers on the ground is one of them.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: National Transportation Safety Board)
 Yes, Arthur C. Clarke is still alive, and, at 89 years old, he's just as sharp as ever, if this interview in IEEE Spectrum is any indication. Popular Science sat down with the legendary science fiction writer and futurist at his Sri Lankan home in 2004, but that was before the private spaceflight industry transformed from a dream into reality.
Clarke is a big fan of Bigelow Aerospace, and he believes his concept of a space elevator will be realized in the coming decades. He also hopes to be a customer when the space tourism business really gets running.—Gregory Mone
 Scientists with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute switched on the Allen Telescope Array, a field of 42 radio dishes that will listen for signs of alien life. Eventually, a total of 350 such devices will be deployed around the world.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen contributed $25 million to the $50 million project, which just might solidify his status as the coolest space junkie on the planet, since he was also the wallet behind SpaceShipOne.
Scientists say the telescopes could help them learn more about how galaxies evolve, but honestly, don't we have enough observatories busy with that business? Stay focused on the aliens, guys.—Gregory Mone
 The Dawn spacecraft might have a 3-billion-mile journey ahead of it, but that doesn't mean NASA engineers are rushing to get the trip started. The mission control team has been communicating with the craft since its September 27th launch, and this past weekend, the scientists finally fired up one of Dawn's three ion propulsion engines.
They ran the system for 27 hours, burning only a soda-can-sized portion of Dawn's xenon fuel, and the spacecraft passed all its tests. The first stop on the mission, in 2011, will be the asteroid Vesta. Then Dawn will move on to the dwarf planet Ceres in 2015.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: NASA)
 The alien microbes are supposed to be discovered when spacecraft return to Earth, not before they've left, right? Not according to a new study of several NASA clean rooms—the supposedly sterile environments in which engineers assemble and test the components of various spacecraft before launch.
By sampling the air and surfaces in clean rooms at the Jet Propulsion Lab, Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Flight Center, scientists uncovered nearly 100 types of bacteria. And about 45% of them are believed to be novel. The study should help scientists improve the clean room environment, which will in turn reduce the risk of interplanetary spacecraft dropping our organisms on far-off worlds.—Gregory Mone
Via NY Times
Little known Peter Diamandis fact: back in 1987, he was one of three founders of something called the International Space University—an institution devoted to the study of—you guessed it—all things space.
Now, to raise some funds for its scholarship program, the ISU is throwing a massive auction on eBay starting tomorrow, the 50th anniversary of Sputnik's launch. If you’re looking for a gift for the space nerd that has it all, this is the place: on offer is everything from lunch with a former astronaut to Sputnik-shaped lawn ornaments. Other wares include space art, coffee table books and the chance to fly one kilogram of stuff into the space. You can justify the memorabilia to your significant other since the auction’s proceeds will allow more luck souls to become "Masters of Space Management" (an actual ISU program) themselves. Now that's a degree worth holding on to. —Saba Berhie
ISU Auction - [via LiveScience]
Calling all fashionista-engineers: NASA is looking for a tailor to create a flexible and strong spacesuit for astronauts working on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). The suits have to protect the astronauts from cabin tears and the weightless flight. In addition the suits have to be able to handle moonwalks over an extended period of time. All aspiring spacesuit designers should apply soon; NASA will be awarding the contract in June 2008. The Orion CEV will put the new outfits to use on the first crewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS) no later than 2015 and on the moon by 2020. —Saba Berhie
Solar storms affect Earth occasionally, if indirectly. The flares and tsunami-like waves that sweep over the sun's surface can disable satellites and down power grids. Now it seems they can have a more concrete impact on objects that cross their path. For the first time ever, NASA scientists captured images of a comet colliding with a coronal mass ejection and losing its plasma tail in the process. In the comet's case, the same ejections that disrupt radio communications triggered magnetic reconnection, shoving together opposing magnetic fields surrounding the comet and causing the tail to rip off during the subsequent burst of energy.
The image above isn't much to look out, but researchers spliced together a series of pictures taken by NASA's STEREO satellite into a terrific movie of the collision, check it out here.—Abby Seiff
I recently flew Virgin America, the new airline from Sir Richard Branson's Virgin group of companies. The airline is targeting the young and tech-savvy—power outlets adorn every seat; purple "mood lighting" attemts to makes your plane feel like the inside of a downtown lounge; and personal entertainment centers in the seatbacks let you play anything from DirecTV Dish Network (free), a good selection of movies ($8 each), or recent episodes of TV shows like 30 Rock ($2 each). You even order your food and beverages—paid for, like everything else, with a credit card swipe—through the entertainment center's touchscreen.
And that's where the trouble started. Though a recent post at Wired Science lauded the experience ("As I walked into their new Airbus 320 . . . all the stress of getting to the airport melted away," the author wrote), perhaps Virgin made sure not to fill the plane during that inaugural flight. Why? The airline has subscribed to the worst idea to hit the airline industry since Atlanta-Hartsfield became a hub: touchscreens in the seatbacks. Imagine sitting in front of a toddler who keeps kicking your seat throughout a six-hour flight, except that toddler is really a middle-aged sales rep who channel surfs. Every 30 seconds, a poke pushed me forward. Turn on the TV. >Poke< Order a drink. >Poke< Try to get a little sleep. >Poke< >Poke< It was incessant, and the unresponsive and sometimes frustrating interface the gentleman in back of me was trying to pound his way through couldn't have helped matters much.
I was eventually forced to get up and move from my aisle seat to a center seat that didn't have anyone sitting immediately behind. I couldn't relax, and it's not like you can politely ask the person in back of you to stop changing the channel. Maybe next time I'll bring $8 and offer to buy him a movie. A small price to pay for two hours of peace, mood lighting notwithstanding.—Michael Moyer
Today, the deep-space asteroid-studying spaceprobe Dawn was successfully launched on schedule, satisfying the requirements of DAWNOK. After a few false starts, NASA's mission to study the origins of the solar system is now officially under way, headed for
the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The unmanned
spacecraft will begin its exploration of Vesta in 2011, and Ceres in
2015. By comparing the two asteroids, scientists hope to learn more
about how the solar system formed and why Vesta and Ceres failed to become full-size planets.
Back on this planet, our stock was halted at a price of POP$78.75, and will pay out at POP$100 immediately. Onward and upward! —John Mahoney and Dawn Stover
Meet the Superjet 100 (in triumphant rendering form)—the newest entrant into the sub-100 passenger regional jet arena. This one's notable, however, for being the first new passenger jet designed and built in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Russia's legendary civil aircraft design bureaus—Mikoyan, Yakovlev, Tupolev, Ilyushin—just barely survived the chaotic privatization that followed the end of the USSR. Basically, they survived in name only, as none had the resources to focus on anything but military projects. The Superjet marks the latest step in the process to revitalize the industry—a process that began last year with the massive restructuring of practically every major Russian aviation firm into the monolithic United Aircraft Building Corporation, placing all of them comfortably back under the wing of the Russian government which will retain a 75% stake. Notably, one of President Vladimir Putin's likely successors, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, was picked to run the new military and civil aviation conglomerate, ensuring his financial health for the foreseeable future.
The Superjet 100 is expected to begin flight tests before the year is up before entering into what Russia hopes will be stiff competition with the regional jet leaders—Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier. —John Mahoney
 NASA says its Mars Odyssey spacecraft has spotted seven possible cave entrances on Mars. These dark features, several hundred feet across, have a more constant temperature from day to night than the ground surrounding them (as shown in the infrared images at center and right). If the "Seven Sisters" holes turn out to be caves, it's possible they could provide a protected niche for past or present life on Mars—or serve as underground shelters for future human colonization.—Dawn Stover
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/USGS
First there was Google Earth, now there's Google Moon, a lunar mapping platform anyone can use. The website has maps embedded with panoramic images and links to audio and video clips from moon missions.—Dawn Stover
Image: NASA
 At an average temperature of -392 degrees Fahrenheit, Neptune is a pretty chilly planet, but astronomers reported this week that it's south pole is a good 18 degrees warmer than the rest. Orbiting 30 times farther away from the Sun than Earth, Neptune only gets about a thousandth of the sunlight our planet receives, but this does makes a difference. At the south pole, the warmer air creates a channel for methane gas to escape, and leak out of the atmosphere. Still, it doesn't sound like that great of a place to live if we ever wear out this planet. Surely we're going to need something a little warmer than a few hundred degrees below zero.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: VLT/ESO/NASA/JPL/Paris Observatory)
 Talk about an aviation buff. A passenger reportedly bid over $100,000 for a luxury seat on the first commercial flight of the Airbus A380, on Singapore Airlines. The inaugural round-trip will run from Singapore to Sydney and back. Singapore Airlines opted for an aircraft with a 480 seat configuration instead of the 555.
The auction was conducted through eBay's Singaporean Web site, and the proceeds will go to charity.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: Airbus)
 A large meteorite supposedly fell from the sky over the weekend, excavating a 65-foot-wide crater in a remote area of the Andes. But whether the space rock really gave off fumes that caused hundreds of people to become ill is another issue. Some scientists are wondering whether it was a meteorite at all, or if, on the other hand, some kind of hydrothermal event produced the fumes.
Others speculated that the water collected in the crater may have boiled for up to ten minutes, and this could have emitted some vapors. One official reportedly experienced nose and throat irritation upon approaching the crater even though he was wearing a mask. According to the AP, though, doctors that visited the area uncovered no evidence of a stomach bug. Clearly, none of these Peruvians have seen Smallville. They should really be testing the locals for superpowers. Duh.—Gregory Mone
 As if launching a space tourism company and stocking seats with Linux computers weren't enough, Virgin has now truly endeared itself to the tech community, as the company is going to start offering inflight Wi-Fi and seat-based Ethernet jacks starting in 2008. If passengers don't feel like pulling their notebooks out, they can access the Internet through the entertainment system built into the seat-back. Impressed by the WiFi news, Tech blog Gadgetell has named Virgin Air "Geeks Airline of 2008."—Gregory Mone
 Aubrey de Grey and, for that matter, anyone else who plans to live forever, is probably feeling very relieved today. Astronomers announced that they have observed a planet that survived the fiery ballooning of its local star. This outcome is inevitable: Eventually, even our Sun is going to run out of hydrogen and blow up to 100 times its present size, transforming into what's known as a red giant. As a result, scientists figured that Earth has only about 5 billion years left.
Now, though, it appears that our lovely little planet could survive the Sun's transformation. That said, it probably wouldn't be a very nice place to live. Any of our kind who are still around at that point will probably have moved to another locale.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: ESA)
This year, the X Prize Foundation is pointing its magic wand squarely at the Moon. The Peter Diamandis-led group announced the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize today, a competition for privately funded robotic lunar exploration. The foundation hopes that this largest-ever X Prize purse will see the development of multiple new, low-cost methods of robotic space exploration, as well as begin capitalizing on the moon's potential as "a source of solutions to some of the most pressing environmental problems that we face on Earth—energy independence and climate change."
Competitors will need to land a robotic rover on the Moon that is capable of, among other things, roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to the Earth.
The purse has multiple tiers, including a $20 million grand prize, a $5 million second prize and $5 million in bonus prizes. To win the grand prize, a team must rove on the lunar surface for a minimum of 500 meters and transmit a specific set of video, images and data back to the Earth. Second prize involves simply landing, roving, and transmitting data, without the specific parameters of the grand prize. The bonus prizes will award roving longer distances (more than 5,000 meters), imaging manmade artifacts (e.g. Apollo hardware), discovering water ice, and/or surviving through a frigid lunar night (approximately 14.5 Earth days). Deadlines: December 31, 2012 for the grand prize and December 31, 2014 for the Second Prize.
Of course, since the competition is sponsored by Google, the participating lunar spacecraft will be equipped with high-definition video and still cameras that will transmit live to the Google Lunar X Prize Web site.
We can hear university labs around the world revving up right now . . . —Eric Adams
 The Opportunity rover, still crawling around Mars after surviving a potentially deadly dust storm this summer, is starting a trip into the Victoria crater.
There's an interesting band of rocks 40 feet down from the rim of the half-mile-wide crater, and engineers plan to slowly pilot the robot down to that spot. NASA has said this latest mission is a risky one, but worth the potential science payoff. And considering that the rover, originally slated to last for 90 days, has already been tooling around for 1,291 Martian days, or sols, they might as well take the chance.—Gregory Mone
(Image credit: NASA)
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A black hole wreaks all sorts of havoc in its cosmic neighborhood, pulling in and stretching out matter, spewing jets and slowing time to a near stand-still. Now astrophysicists have added a new phenomenon to the black hole's list of tricks: Light echoes. 
