The Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa screenshot of the week has been revealed. This week's release is called Atta under the Microscope and shows off some an Atta as it gets examined by the Bane. To see the screenshots for yourself, head on over to the full article.

After showing you a solar tsunami as it occurs, we bring you this horse-shaped image from your left. See it? That's the Horsehead Nebula from the Orion constellation. Using only a small telescope, the Star Shadows Remote Observatory from New Mexico, USA was able to photograph its entire surroundings. Head over the full article to see the Horsehead Nebula in its fullest majesty.

NASA is aiming high with several new missions planned out after forwarding its request for the fiscal budget of 2009. These include three new robotic missions to the Moon, two new Earth science missions, and an ambitious mission to the outer solar system. You can take a look at more details on these ambitious new plans in the full article after the jump!

New contracts for the next-gen space systems have landed at NASA's Michoud Facility in New Orleans which will provide a boost to the state's current economy that's still being rebuilt after hurricane Katrina ravaged the land and its people. The new contracts will bring more jobs and higher wages to New Orleans. Check out the rest of the details at the full article.

 

Erik Bethke, known for his participation in the development of classic franchises as Starfleet Command, has been selected as one of 80 speakers to tackle issues at the 2007 Online Game Development Conference, as stated in an official press release. The 2007 OGDC will take place in Seattle, Washington starting May 10, 2007.

Bethke, while being one of those responsible for putting out Interplay's Starfleet Command 1 and expansion Neutral Zone, SFC II: Empires at War, SFC: Orion Pirates and Starfleet Command 3, can also be attributed to the controversial and utterly unique classic I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream from CyberDreams.

As current CEO for GoPets Ltd., the people behind GoPets and its online 3D virtual pet community, Bethke is expected to take the podium on May 11, Friday, to tackle current and relevant issues as placed by the 2007 OGDC agenda that was revealed recently.

OGDC director Peter Freese was honored to have added a man of Bethke's reputation and caliber to the list of speakers. He also assures that Bethke's knowledge and experience will be successfully endowed upon the attendees of the conference.  The 2007 OGDC is currently organized by the Evergreen Events and is co-sponsored by Seoul-based GoPets Ltd.

 

If you like star gazing and mythology (like this writer), then you're going to enjoy this one. The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters, have been captured in infrared by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Take out your telescopes and binoculars.

If you're not so into the heavenly bodies geekiness, a bit of a primer. In mythology, the Pleiades are the seven daughters of Pleione and Atlas, the titan: Alcyone, Electra, Maia, Merope, Taygeta, Celaeno and Asterope. Now, when Atlas was asked to carry the sky on his shoulders, the hunter Orion started pursuing the Pleiades. King of the gods Zeus stepped in and turned them into doves - when that didn't work, he turned them into a cluster of stars.

That cluster of stars is on the constellation Taurus and they're going to be very visible in the night sky, both for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. A couple of days back, they shone just above Venus (it's like they're having a photoshoot). On April 19, the crescent moon will join them and cut in between the Pleiades and Venus. The heavenly show will also be visible to the naked eye on clear nights.

The picture on the left is the one taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The yellow, green and red in the background of the stars is made up of dust. The star cluster travels through cloud that may explain the dust. The parent star Atlas is also visible in the picture along with other stars in blue.

The Spitzer also gathered some data on "brown dwarfs" or failed stars plus some planetary debris. The telescope gives astronomers a better view of cooler, smaller stars and lets them study the faint stars better. (Of course if the star has lower mass and cooler, it is less visible.) According to John Stauffer of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope mission, the Pleiades are perfect for the study of the evolution of stars.

Based on a report from Space.com, NASA wants to make a "slight" detour on the way to the Moon. NASA is now analyzing plans to use the Constellation system, including the Moon-bound Orion spacecraft, to be the first to land a man on the Moon an asteroid and get him back safely.

Of course, this is all in the name of science, and the said mission might involve taking back samples of space rock back to Earth for analysis. And the physics of an asteroid precludes man actually setting foot on one; the astronauts are more likely to pilot a remotely-operated spacecraft to study the said lump of space rock.

But the name of science often gets morphed into practical applications, and here the story writers for Deep Impact and Armageddon should pat themselves on the back. In view of the threat that large near-Earth objects (NEOs) pose to Earth, NASA is also looking at such a mission as a sort of "tech demo" in the endeavor to flying a crew to an asteroid, which may probably turn out to be the first step in stopping one. Next step: call up Bruce Willis and whistle up a couple of nukes.

Trekkies men and women alike, this serves as your last call before we head out to the final frontier. Please see to it that your belongings are all complete and are in order: Script by legendary writer DC Fontana, check; music score handled by seasoned composers Rod Abernethy and Jason Graves, check; game information, check; various screenshots, check; trailer video, huh?! Now that's missing.

Well, no need to worry because we've got you covered. Available for download below is the trailer for Bethesda Softworks' Star Trek: Tactical Assault. Expected to come out on October 3, this newest addition to the series allows gamers to play two campaign modes, whether as part of the Federation or member of the warrior race Klingon. Other playable races include Romulan, Orion and Gorn.

Star Trek: Tactical Assault is a strategy/action real-time spaceship combat battle game that allows for both single and multiplayer mode. It is also being developed for the Sony PSP.

Dowload: [Star Trek: Tactical Assault Trailer]
Buy: [Star Trek: Tactical Assault]

The Orion will be the bigger, but younger, brother of Apollo. It will have the same multistage rocket, crew vehicle, and lunar lander--but bigger and more high tech of course. When asked why there are similarities between the two shuttles; Patrick McKenzie, the Business Development Manager for the Orion Project at Lockheed Space Systems, said that the Apollo shuttle got the aerodynamic shape of the capsule dead on; the shape has been proven safe by NASA.

However, there will be some major upgrade in technology under the hood. They are planning to build an automated rendezvous and docking capability. It will also have a new design and material for the heat shield. They'll be using materials such as PICA [phenolic impregnated carbon ablator] and SLA [a cork-based ablative material].

They're also looking forward to developing better landing-impact systems. The capsule will be bigger than Apollo's: it can seat six crew members. The cockpit has been replaced by a modern "glass cockpit" design. The avionics systems will be up to current technology.

No more "Houston, we have a problem." The Orion will have a "dual fault tolerance" element. Two failures in the system? The Orion will still run safely. The system constantly monitors the other; if one fails, another takes its place. It may add more weight to the vehicle, but it'll make it safer.

When asked about the gap between the last moon mission and 2020, Patrick answers that the budget for lunar missions these days aren't that big as the last mission. He added that they are still in the process of developing the lunar lander, the Earth-departure stage, and lift vehicles.

So in 2020, we'll be grooving and jiving to the 60's Apollo look-alike Orion as it pushes itself from Earth's atmosphere to the moon.

NASA have launched their official Orion Moonship website, containing videos and 3D models of the upcoming moonship being built by Lockheed Martin. The new Orion moonship is the replacement for the Space Shuttle program and has it's first flight scheduled for 2020. A hot NASA fact from the website states that The Orion spacecraft will have more volume than the Apollo capsules, reducing development time, boosting stability, and permitting safe travel for up to six crew members.

The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle will be capable of travelling to the International Space Station, lunar landing on the moon and could even be chosen for a trip to Mars and back again. Orion will be capable of transporting cargo and up to six crew members to and from the International Space Station, with the capacity for 4 crew members on lunar landings.