Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project

 awesomeness, history, photography, science, spacecraft  5 Responses »
Dec 192016
 

This is an interesting article, not at all filled with craziness:

Rogue scientists revive lost moon photos inside abandoned McDonald’s

It tells the story of how a few people kept data that NASA planned to toss, in the form of old, unreadable videotapes with Lunar Orbiter imagery, and how those tapes were eventually re-read and re-processed to bring out much more data and vastly better imagery… images that rival the best of modern lunar photography.

It is described in greater detail at Wikipedia:

Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project

And the official, though now no longer updated, website of the project:

http://www.moonviews.com/

And at last, the image gallery :

https://loirp.arc.nasa.gov/loirp_gallery/

Note: I keep getting a “high rez files are being migrated to a new repository” message…

 Posted by at 11:16 am

M-21/D-21 Art on the road

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, photography, Utah  1 Response »
Nov 192016
 

Here’s something I don’t see every day: an RV with a painting of the M-21/D-21 combo on the back:

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As the speed limit was 80 MPH, there wasn’t a whole lot of hanging aroung to try to get details, so what you see here is what I got. Perhaps the RV owner worked on the project; perhaps he/she just liked it.

Nostalgia moment: So, who else here is old and creaky enough to remember that vans are supposed to have airbrushed on their sides wizards, barbarians, warrior women in dubious armor and dragons?

 Posted by at 11:46 am

Today was “Needle Day At The Vet Day”

 cats, photography  6 Responses »
Nov 172016
 

So Raedthinn is informed that it’s time for his annual vaccination shots:

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And then Buttons is informed:

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And then Speedbump. But as he’s kind of a dimwit, he’s initially excited.

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Then he thinks about it for a bit…

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Fingers is not informed. Because unless she is captured unaware, she will run and hide most proficiently.

So then they all end up at the vet.

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These was before the shots. When the crate doors first opened, each cat tried to dash out. They were all caught, poked and prodded by the vet, then cruelly stabbed in the back of the neck with a needle. THEN they each and every one couldn’t get back into the crates fast enough.

Ootini, beeyotch!

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 Posted by at 10:00 pm

SR-71 tire

 aircraft, awesomeness, history, photography, science  10 Responses »
Oct 302016
 

The tires used on the SR-71 had aluminum integrated into the rubber to help reflect the substantial heat produced by cruising at Mach 3. This was fine aluminum powder *in* the rubber, not just *on* the rubber, so as the tires were worn down from use they remained somewhat shiny. The Hill Aerospace Museum has one of the SR-71 tires on display. Enjoy.

dscf4097 dscf4098 dscf4102

 Posted by at 2:58 am

Sad, but impressive:

 AARRRGH, awesomeness, news, photography, science, spacecraft  5 Responses »
Oct 212016
 

The ESA’s Schiaparelli Mars lander failed to land on Mars yesterday. That’s not to say it didn’t make it to Mars… it just made it there a little faster than it should’ve. Ten parachutes were cut loose too soon and the braking rockets didn’t burn long enough, so it fell out of the sky with an Earth-shattering kaboom. Well… Mars craft have had a pretty unfortunate record.

What’s impressive is that there are enough satellites orbiting Mar that the crash site has already been spotted:

Camera on Mars Orbiter Shows Signs of Latest Mars Lander

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted both the parachute and the scorch mark using its low-rez “Context Camera.” The high-rez “HiRISE” camera will be trained on the site in the near future.

 Posted by at 5:10 pm
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