Blender 2.66 Review

Blender 2.66 Workspace Screenshot.
Credit: Bulloony Productions.

Blender is a free 3D Animation and graphics program. After giving it a test  and following some tutorials I was able to generate the following Mars planetary scenes fairly easily.

Download for free here: blender.org

Youtube Planet Tutorial here: How to Create a Realistic Earth in Blender.

Global Mars Render.
Credit: Bulloony Productions.

Crescent Mars Render.
Credit: Bulloony Productions.

Polar Mars Render.
Credit: Bulloony Productions.

Hypothetical ocean and hydrological cycle on Mars.
Credit: Bulloony Productions.

The Sun Viewed By MSL

The Sun as seen from the surface of Mars.

If you’ve ever wondered what the Sun looks like from mars, this is one of the better photographs. Pale and about half the size as the sun we see everyday from Earth.

Holes drilled into martian rock by MSL

Just underneath the dusty surface, Mars is actually a gray planet. Lets’s clean this mess up! Start sweeping everybody!

(Photo Credits: Andrew Bodrov Click for interactive 360 panorama)

Visualizing the Earth’s Water

The largest sphere represents all of Earth’s water, and its diameter is about 860 miles (the distance from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Topeka, Kansas). It would have a volume of about 332,500,000 cubic miles (mi3) (1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers (km3)). The sphere includes all the water in the oceans, ice caps, lakes, and rivers, as well as groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in you, your dog, and your tomato plant. (Credit: USGS)

OTV-3 Launch Highlights

Highlights from ULA’s Atlas V launch of OTV-3 earlier today.

Friday Reads and Videos

History of the Lunar Module from the designers at Grumman Aerospace Corporation.

PART 1

PART2

Credit: NASA

Nasa unveils ‘black marble’ images of the world  (The Telegraph)

What are you watching?

Thursday Reads

Here are my daily Mars reads:

• NASA Scientist: Astronauts Could Absolutely Live On Mars (Business Insider)
• Why Things Fail: From Tires to Helicopter Blades, Everything Breaks Eventually (Wired)
•  Space Cadets: A region that helped power the rocket age is back in the game (Los Angeles Magazine)

What are you reading?

Alpha Centauri B

Credit: Bulloony Productions

 

Astronomers Find Planet Orbiting Alpha Centauri B

 

O, Thomas, will a Race one day stand really tall

Across the Void, across the Universe and all?

And, measure out with rocket fire,

At last put Adam’s finger forth

As on the Sistine Ceiling,

And God’s great hand come down the other way

To measure Man and find him Good,

And Gift him with Forever’s Day?

I work for that.

Short man. Large dream. I send my rockets forth

between my ears,

Hoping an inch of Will is worth a pound of years.

Aching to hear a voice cry back along the universal Mall:

We’ve reached Alpha Centauri!

We’re tall, O God, we’re tall!

-Ray Bradbury, IF Only We Had Taller Been

MSL Descent to Surface of Mars HD

A beautiful, smoothed and full HD movie of the 4fps descent imagery. Truly mind-blowing.

EYES ON THE SOLAR SYSTEM 3D

A great new in-browser program from NASA JPL lets you view the planets and NASA space craft in real time. Check it out here Eyes on the Solar System. Screen shots below.

Mar Science Laboratory on final approach

Solar System view and dashboard controls

 

Solar System zoomed out with labels turned off. Voyager 1, 2 and pioneers seen leaving the Solar System.

 

Shuttle on the High Speed!