NewsTrust - Space - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

The Math Behind the Physics Behind the Universe

Tue, 25 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Discover Magazine - By Pamela Weintraub - May. 25 (Interview) - Shing-Tung Yau is a force of nature. He is best known for conceiving the math behind string theory—which holds that, at the deepest level of reality, our universe is built out of 10-dimensional, subatomic vibrating strings. But Yau’s genius runs much deeper and wider: He has also spawned the modern synergy between geometry and physics

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The Joy of Physics Isn’t in the Results, but in the Search Itself

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Dennis Overbye - Dec. 30 (Opinion) - I was asked recently what the Large Hadron Collider, the giant particle accelerator outside Geneva, is good for. After $10 billion and 15 years, the machine is ready to begin operations early next year, banging together protons in an effort to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang. Sure, there are new particles and abstract symmetries in the offing for those few who speak the language of quantum field theory. But what about the rest of us?

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Space Aged: 10 Spacecraft from Decades Past That Are Still Ticking [Slide Show]: Scientific American

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Scientific American - By Nasa - Jul. 29 (Editorial) - Ulysses, a solar-orbiting spacecraft launched in 1990, was finally retired a few weeks ago by NASA and the European Space Agency after nearly two decades of operation. In a huge elliptical loop, Ulysses swung by Earth, orbiting all the way out beyond the orbit of Jupiter, then back over the sun's poles to characterize our star's effects on its environs, only to begin another lap every six years or so.

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Why NASA's Moon Landing is the Wrong Model for Science in America

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Root - By Dayo Olopade - Jul. 20 (Opinion) - “We are attempting to develop major new systems with ten-year technology, eight-year programs, a five year plan, three-year people, and one-year dollars,” he wrote. What’s more, large, corporate contractors dominate the federal procurement process —hiking up the costs of aerospace technology for taxpayers. The consequences of this lax management can be both embarrassing and deeply wasteful: It took engineers six costly tries to get the shuttle Endeavor, carrying the last Japanese pieces of the International Space Station, into orbit last week.

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World probably will not end next Wednesday

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Policy - Sep. 06 (Opinion) - Next Wednesday, scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Switzerland will switch on the $6 billion Large Hadron Collider, a 27-kilometer particle accelerator that will create physical conditions that haven't existed in the universe since the big bang.

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The new space race

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 07:35:02 -0700

USA Today - By John Lehman - Jun. 06 (Opinion) - NASA has been a favorite punching bag of politicians, pundits and special interest groups. Some decry a lack of devotion to fighting global warming -- a controversy assisted recently by NASA chief Michael Griffin's comment that he was not sure it was "a problem we must wrestle with." Others see in NASA's commitment to manned space exploration a misplaced romanticism, while still others deplore a lack of emphasis on basic science. The question of whether we will remain a leader in the exploration of space, however, is too important to leave to interest groups or pundits. It has been a major engine of technological innovation and is irreplaceable as part of our global image. How, indeed, can it even be an issue for debate? Yet after succeeding in placing humans on the moon, we walked away from the impressive lead we established in the 1960s and withdrew to the confines of orbital velocities and heights first achieved during the Kennedy administration.

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