Tour Space With Microsoft

It’s okay, Bill Gates hasn’t bought NASA, at least not just yet, but Microsoft is giving away a free virtual tour of space with a new web-based application called Worldwide Telescope. Be warned, you’ll need a reasonably quick PC, preferably with a dual-core CPU, and ideally running Vista, though it will still plod along under XP. The images are stunning and based on actual ground and spaced based telescopes, you can zoom in on astronomical features, explore the solar system and warp across the Milky Way. Okay, so it’s a bit like Google Sky, but there’s a bit more depth to it, better controls and it looks like it could become a very useful educational tool.

Don’t Watch This Space

Microsoft, Google. HP, Philips, Samsung and Intel are amongst the big names behind the White Space Coalition, which is looking at ways to provide high-speed wireless Internet access using the gaps between TV channels. The gaps, which are designed to stop channels clashing with one another, are essentially wasted space, but until recently it was thought that any attempt to use them would result in interference and broadcasters are naturally against the idea. Read More »

Next Generation Space Telescope

Named in 2002, after NASA’s second administrator, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a planned space infrared observatory, which will be created as an improvement of the aging Hubble Space Telescope. The telescope is planned to be launched in 2013, from an Ariane 5 rocket, and is the result of the collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

The primary mission of the future space telescope, will be to search light from forming stars and galaxies after the Big Bang, the study and evolution of galaxies, the understanding of the stars and planetary systems and the study of the origin of life.

The JWST will be placed in space at a location called Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, meaning that the Earth and the Sun will occupy relatively the same position in the telescope’s view. The future telescope will have a reflective collective area six times larger than Hubble’s, and will operate in the infrared spectrum. Read More »