Back in November, NASA launched the latest version of its PhoneSat into orbit. The PhoneSat 2.4 satellite launched at 8:15pm on November 19 hitching a ride into orbit using a Orbital Minotaur I rocket. PhoneSat 2.4 built on the successful flights of other small satellites that used smartphones for their brain. The goal of the […]
How do you understand something you can barely see, never visited and is light years away from us? By being really, really smart at connecting dots. In this video, NASA explains its process in figuring out what alien planets are like with the limited information it has.
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The NASA Van Allen twin probes launched last year have revealed that the Earth is a giant particle accelerator. Recently it was reported that particles in the magnetosphere sometimes accelerate across distances of a few hundred meters. But the newer discovery shows the acceleration can occur across hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The data will […]
NASA is always out to find new way to propel their rockets. One enterprising geek apparently took it upon himself to send NASA a proposal to power a rocket with a “shit load of Coke” and a bunch of Mentos. Clearly, the letter was meant as a joke, but NASA Associate Administrator Steven Malkovich took the time to respond.
Malkovich told the sender, one Mr. Jones, that it had no interest in his rocket proposal. NASA says there is no practical use for the tech, even if they used a “shit load” of Coke as Mr. Jones suggested. My favorite part of the NASA response is where they point out it takes years of training to become an astronaut.
Mr. Jones had apparently said that he wanted to be a “spaceman” and that it appeared to be so simple even a chimp could do it. You can click the image of the letter to get a better look at the text for yourself. I’m now crafting a much better plan to fuel rockets involving feeding astronauts a steady diet of Taco Bell Chilitos and a flatulence capturing apparatus.
[via Reddit]
One of the biggest challenges we face when it comes to exploring our solar system and spending time away from Earth is food and water. A spacecraft taking humans to explore the moon and beyond has to be able to carry the crew, air, fuel, water, and food to serve the entire mission. Finding ways […]
Wearing a spacesuit is definitely no fun at all, especially if you are one who feels claustrophobic. Well, it seems that there is a new generation of spacesuits that are in the making, where engineers over at Kansas State University are hard at work, developing a prototype suit which is able to monitor an astronaut’s vital signs through the provision of power to integrated electronic components. The thing about this prototype spacesuit that makes it extra special is this – power is obtained from the astronaut’s body heat, now how about that for innovation?
The new prototype spacesuit happens to be a replica of the spacesuit that is used in the discontinued space shuttle program. Batteries happen to be too dangerous to use with spacesuits due to the amount of oxygen generated, so body heat is an ingenious method when it comes to an alternative energy source, don’t you think so? There will also be sensors embedded within that will measure just how one’s body changes when one is in space, and the data recorded include one’s pulse rate, blood oxygen levels, and respiration. Could such developments actually usher in a new era of space exploration? Perhaps this advancement might eventually see the light of day when humankind populate the Red Planet. [Press Release]
New Prototype Spacesuit Powered By Body Heat original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Signs of water on five distant planets have been spotted using the Hubble Space Telescope, with scientists finessing their measurements so as to better differentiate which stand the best likelihood of potentially supporting life. Evidence of water had been initially spotted on several Jupiter-like exoplanets previously, but the team led by the University of Maryland […]
Astronomers ranging from the professional level down to the amateur sky watcher are all disappointed with comet ISON. The comet had the potential to be the brightest in hundreds of years and was called the comet of the century by some. Unfortunately, the comet didn’t make it around the sun intact. NASA says that the […]
NASA may have a very tight budget for space travel and exploration, but it is still thinking big. NASA has outlined its plan to put astronauts on the far side of the moon by 2028. NASA also has plans to put spacecraft into orbit at the earth-moon L2 Lagrange point. That Lagrange point is 60,000 […]
We humans can form curious attachments to non-living things, so when Comet Ison veered recklessly toward the sun, naturally we rooted for the plucky iceball. Unfortunately, scientists feared the worst after seeing it mostly vanish when it brushed past the sun’s corona. Cue the heroic music, though, as new footage released early today (after the break) shows that at least part of the 1.4 mile-wide comet has emerged from the brutal encounter. It’s looking a bit ragged after all that, so astronomers will have to wait a bit more to make a final call on its health. Hopefully it’ll still be classed as “comet” rather than “scorched hunk of rock.”
Source: BBC
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