Hasta La Gadget!

The Curiosity rover was sent to Mars to document a lot of different things, but one of the things it will be examining on are the weather patterns on the surface of Mars. Today NASA tells USA Today that it’s expecting mostly clear – if not a bit chilly – conditions on the red planet, with NASA scientist Manuel de la Torre saying that Curiosity can expect “balmy, minus-20-degree temperatures” during the day. At night, that already low temperature will plummet, eventually ending up around “minus-200 degrees Fahrenheit.”

If Curiosity only had the cold to deal with, it would be something of a pleasant getaway. These calm conditions aren’t expected to last much longer, however, as dust devils will begin to wreak havoc on the planet’s surface as the seasons change from winter to spring and then eventually summer. The dust devils aren’t even the worst of it either, as they can grow into massive dust storms that swallow the entire planet.

It’s those dust storm that de la Torre is interested in, and the Curiosity is well-equipped to study them. It comes loaded with tools that can measure wind speed and direction, air temperature, humidity, ground temperature, and air pressure. This weather data that’s collected on the surface will help NASA scientists determine if Mars is suitable for life, or if it ever was at some point in the past.

Ever since the Curiosity rover landed on the surface of Mars at the beginning of the week, we’ve been treated to one exciting news piece after another. True, talking about the weather on Mars may not be as exciting as seeing images of the surface, but this research is going to do a lot in helping us understand the red planet, and that is definitely something to look forward to. Be sure to check out our story timeline below for more posts on the Curiosity rover!

NASA’s Curiosity expecting dust storms on surface of Mars soon is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The stargazers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have released a huge three-dimensional map of outer space, a core part of its six-year survey of the skies. Encompassing four billion light-years cubed, the researchers hope to use the map to retrace the movements of the universe through the last six billion years. Using the latest Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III), the center says the data will help improve their estimates for the quantity of dark matter in space and the effect that dark energy has on the universe’s expansion, “two of the greatest mysteries of our time” — if you’re an astrophysicist. Even if you’re not, you’ll still want to board the animated flight through over 400,000 charted galaxies — it’s embedded after the break.

Continue reading Scientists release biggest ever 3D map of the universe, lacks turn-by-turn navigation (video)

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Scientists release biggest ever 3D map of the universe, lacks turn-by-turn navigation (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As noisy as we found Project Morpheus’ tethered flight test, its untethered follow-up was far, far louder. Yesterday, the experimental lander suffered a hardware component failure, which NASA says “prevented it from maintaining stable flight.” This caused it to crash into the ground and well, explode. On the upside, the space agency says that these kinds of failures were anticipated, stating that they are a normal part of the development process and will be used to build better systems moving forward. You didn’t think Curiosity made its touchdown on Mars without learning from a few mistakes, did you? Click onwards to check out the test — and its aftermath — in 5, 4, 3, 2, er…

Continue reading Morpheus lander crashes, burns and explodes in untethered flight test, NASA remains optimistic (video)

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Morpheus lander crashes, burns and explodes in untethered flight test, NASA remains optimistic (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 07:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to Thursday folks, just one more work day before arriving at the weekend. Today we had next to nothing about the Apple vs. Samsung trial, except for the news that a similar South Korean trial has been frozen for fear of it becoming too similar to the one being held here in the US. The lack of Apple vs. Samsung news leaves room for far more interesting things, however, like space! The Curiosity rover sent back a color panoramic shot of the surface of Mars along with its first full resolution image, and it’s a pretty awesome sight. Sadly, it wasn’t all exciting news for NASA today, as the Morpheus moon lander failed during a flight test and exploded into flames. Luckily no one was hurt, but this is still a pretty big setback for the folks at NASA.

OUYA’s Kickstarter campaign wrapped up early this morning, and if you missed your chance to pledge, you’ll be pleased to know that the Android-based console is available for pre-order starting today. Google was hit with the largest FTC fine in history today over its breach of Apple’s Safari browser, and we tell you why Google’s new Gmail Search feature won’t result in your more private emails being shown to everyone in view of your computer screen. The Google Translate app for Android added image translation functionality today, and the makers of Cyanogenmod 9 have officially released the stable version for the Galaxy Nexus.

Apple Stores will now price match on the iPhone 4 and all models of the iPhone 4S, and a new Microsoft job listing seems to suggest that the next Xbox will be arriving within the next 18 months. The ASUS Transformer Pad TF300TL may be launching with 4G LTE capabilities in Germany and Austria within the month, Samsung has unsurprisingly denied any interest in acquiring RIM once again, and the Sony Xperia tablet suffered yet another leak today. Finally, the international community is considering outlawing cyber-attacks in times of war, the Nikon 1 J2 camera became official (and subsequently became available for pre-order), and HTC may be announcing a Windows Phone 8 device next month, so keep an eye out for more news on that.

As is typically the case, we’ve also got a handful of original articles for you to peruse this evening, with Chris Davies examining the problems with Windows 8 tablets, and providing a warning to those who think that they’re actually purchasing a product when they pledge money to a Kickstarter. Chris Burns has a review of the new Samsung Galaxy Beam, and he also goes hands-on with Google’s official Nexus 7 cover, so be sure to have a look at those. Enjoy the rest of your evening, everyone!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: August 9, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Curiosity rover sent to Mars this week by NASA has been collecting an ever-growing collection of photos from the Red Planet, the newest being the 360 degree panorama you see before you. This photo was taken with the vehicle’s highest-resolution navigation camera and is color-accurate to an unknown degree. We’re currently in the process of prodding NASA for their deep cover information on the cameras outside of what we already know – James Cameron is onboard!

In addition to the color photo you see above (and in larger “full size” format in the gallery below), you’ll be able to see some “3D” photos taken by the craft too. Head to this post from earlier this week to see photos taken with the vehicle’s dual camera setup and put on your red/green glasses for a thrill. Of course you know this means we’ll be seeing martians in three dimensions too – soon!

Thus far all we’re seeing is a bunch of rocks save for the machinery above and below the camera’s vision. The metal and plastic you see is actually part of the Curiosity rover, of course, and the cameras are able to look down further to make sure the rover is all there should a space monster come to take a swipe of it. While you’re at it, have a peek at the landing video NASA has provided of the beast heading towards the planet from earlier this week:

“The movie begins with a global image from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, then switches to views from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. As we zoom closer and closer into Gale Crater, the components of Curiosity’s landing system come into view: The heat shield was the first piece to hit the ground, followed by the back shell attached to the parachute, then the rover itself touched down, and finally, after cables were cut, the sky crane flew away to the northwest and crashed” – NASA

Then have a look at a collection of relatively high resolution shots coming from the machine this week. NASA will continue to provide us all with shots such as these as they explore the crater in which they’re sitting right this minute on Mars for all of the months that they’ll be there. Stay tuned as this space program continues to blast its way into the future. Stay steady!

New Mars Photos from Curiosity bring 360 color panorama is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.