Japanese artist makes fly Bonsai tree and plants high above Earth

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Could life survive in the harshness of space? What would it mean to send plants from Earth beyond, well, the Earth? According to multiple media reports, a Japanese artist recently explored these questions by launching a bonsai tree and other plant arrangements high into the atmosphere via high-altitude balloon. The Exobiotanica project saw a bonsai tree launched to 30,000 meters.

Credit image: azumamakoto.com

According to the Huffington Post, artist Azuma Makoto and his team sent the arrangements aloft from Black Rock Desert, Nevada (where the Burning Man festival is held). He did several practice runs under low-temperature conditions, checking out the camera angles and other parameters. The highest altitude was reportedly 30,000 meters. While that’s technically not high enough for space, at that altitude the air is thin enough that you can see black sky instead of blue.

More picture of the project

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Alert meteors: Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight

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The Delta Aquarid meteor shower is peaking from yesterday night, July 28th into July 29th, and even if you can't catch the cosmic show in person, you can still see live views of the annual shower online.

The online Slooh Community Observatory will host a webcast featuring the Delta Aquarid meteor shower as seen from Arizona and the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa, weather permitting. Experts will also be on hand to discuss the celestial sight. You can watch the Delta Aquarid webcast here at Space.com, or you can check it out directly through +Slooh. The live show will begin at 10 p.m. EDT tonight (02: 00 July 29th GMT). Moreover, you can participate in the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #SloohShower. NASA will also host a meteor shower webcast, if weather allows, on July 29 starting at 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 July 30 GMT). The space agency's Delta Aquarid live stream will feature views of the shower from NASA's Marshall Space flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. You can also watch through NASA directly.

Astronomers predict that the peak of the shower will produce about 16 meteors per hour, Slooh representatives said. While the Delta Aquarid shower usually isn't spectacular, this year it falls during a new moon, meaning the dim "shooting stars" should stand out against the dark night sky. Slooh is planning to use special equipment for the webcast to show as many meteors as possible.

Annual meteor showers are created when Earth passes through a field of debris left in a comet's wake. The particles sloughed off by the cosmic body burn up in the atmosphere, creating the shooting stars people see from dark places on the ground.

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NASA publishes 3D-printable models of asteroids and satellites

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Do you have a favorite NASA satellite? There's a small chance that you can now make a tiny figurine out if it using a 3D printer, as NASA has transformed a number of spacecrafts, asteroids, and features of Mars and the Moon into 3D-printable models. NASA has actually provided free 3D models for years now, but it appears that just recently it updated its modeling site with 22 files designed for 3D printing. The printable models have all been scaled down to a size that can actually fit inside a printer, so each one should measure no more than  10 centimeters long at its widest point.

Gale crate: Credit image: NASA

The available models include the spacecrafts Cassini, Kepler, and Voyager, parts of Mars including the Gale Crater and Valles Marineris canyons, and parts of the Moon including scans of its near and far side. Even if you don't own a 3D printer, the models come from NASA, so you should be able to send a favorite off to a printing service to have it made. 

Cassini spacecraft: Credit image: NASA

That said, NASA doesn't make it sound as though these models are necessarily perfect for printing just yet, and it's looking for comments on whether any of its currently published models need to have adjustments made to them for a successful print.

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Gecko sex satellite back online as Russia restores contact

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Russia’s space agency has re-established communication with its Foton-M4 satellite in Earth’s low orbit, three days after losing contact. The robotic spacecraft contains geckos participating in experiments on how space conditions impact reproduction. Foton-M4 will be following its current orbit until Monday, while scientists discuss whether their experiments require the original trajectory, which is further from Earth, and engineers try to analyze what may have led to the communication failure. The two main versions considered by Roscosmos are mechanical damage through contact with space debris, and an internal fault in the equipment.

“We have conducted several communication sessions, and the link is stable,” said Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko. 

Credit image: Oleg Voloshin

The satellite, the latest in a series that commenced in 2002, is meant to return to Earth in a controlled manner two months after its launch with Soyuz from Baikonur cosmodrome exactly a week ago. 

Credit image: Roscosmos

If, upon its return, it is discovered that the Foton-M4 was damaged by space debris, it will raise concern at the increasing pollution of the atmosphere. There are an estimated 22,000 man-made objects 10 centimeters or larger in orbit – big enough to penetrate the outer covering of the International Space Station ISS.

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