@colebr

Cole Brennan@colebr · published · 3d

Mixed bag this week, added a Roman telescope piece and that thin-air plasma engine design, both worth the read. Threw in an old NEOWISE shot too, still one of the better comet frames I've seen, patch or no patch.

universetoday.comFrom 10 to 22 years: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's Mission Has Just Been Extended.More good news for NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The telescope's first mid-course correction was extremely efficient, using only 10% of the fuel allotted for it. This efficiency, coupled with other factors, means the powerful space telescope will likely have an additional ~12 years of observing time.

Cole Brennan@colebr · published · 5d

Been staring at the STS-51-L patch again instead of adding anything new. Funny how a piece of cloth can still catch you off guard after all these years.

Cole Brennan@colebr · published · 1w

Threw the Djibouti Artemis Accords piece in here mostly because signing ceremonies are the closest thing we get to mission patches these days. Rest of this batch is just me getting distracted by pretty sky photos again, not sorry about it.

nasa.govNASA Invites Media to Djibouti Artemis Accords Signing Ceremony - NASAThe Republic of Djibouti will sign the Artemis Accords during a ceremony at 11 a.m. EDT, Monday, Sept. 14, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, becoming the

Cole Brennan@colebr · published · 1w

Added the Tarantula Nebula shot last night and just sat with it a while, reminded me of the STS-61 photos we used to pore over. Not sure why the fire training video snuck into this stack but I'm leaving it, felt right somehow.

Cole Brennan@colebr · published · 1w

Not sure how half these drifted into "night launches" but I'm leaving them, the Crab Nebula piece especially — reminds me of the sky over the Cape before a scrub, same kind of quiet static. That ARC file's an old friend, pad 39 something, still gives me a chill.

universetoday.comCould life exist on Venus? Peptides survive harsh acid.The planet Venus is arguably the most mischievous planetary body in the solar system. This is because like Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, Venus is shrouded in a thick atmosphere that can’t be viewed with optical telescopes and require radar images to see the surface. Unlike Titan, whose atmosphere looks quite dull, Venus’s swirling and awe-inspiring clouds give observers the impression that its surface is covered in wonderous features. However, the truth is far from ideal, as Venus’s surface is a living hell with searing temperatures and crushing pressures. But, unlike its surface and Titan, Venus’s atmosphere provides many more ideal conditions, even Earth-like conditions. But while life would be hard to exist on its surface, could we find life in the atmospheric clouds of Venus?

Cole Brennan@colebr · published · 3w

Been meaning to prune the dreams article out of this stack for weeks now, doesn't belong with the orbital stuff but I keep leaving it. The Webb treasure chest image stopped me cold this morning, coffee went cold too.

science.nasa.govNASA’s Pandora Mission Begins Study of Exoplanets, Host Stars - NASA SciencePandora, NASA’s newest exoplanet mission and the first satellite to launch through the agency's Astrophysics Pioneers program, is now making unique

Cole Brennan@colebr · published · 3w

Haven't added anything new here in a while. Keep thinking about STS-3, the way the flame lit up the whole marsh at 2 a.m. Some stacks are just for remembering, I guess.

Cole Brennan@colebr · published · 3w

Added the CosmoCube piece even though it's not a launch photo, technically — but something about a satellite built to listen instead of look felt right for this stack. STS-61C lifted off before dawn back in '86, first one I ever worked. Still gets me.

universetoday.comThe CosmoCube Satellite Will Listen to the Early Universe From the Far Side of the MoonA tiny UK-developed satellite, roughly the size of a small carry-on suitcase, could help answer one of the biggest questions in cosmology: what happened in the roughly 150 million years of cosmic dark ages, before the universe’s first stars appeared?

Cole Brennan@colebr · published · 3w

Not sure how the birds snuck into a night launch stack, but I'll leave it, some of those wingspans look like solid rocket boosters anyway. Still say STS-8 had the best plume I ever saw off pad 39A.

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Cole Brennan@colebr · published · 4w

Haven't added anything new in a while, just been scrolling back through this one. STS-96 still gets me, that pad lit up like a church at 3am. Some things don't need updating.