Hasta La Gadget!

It’s time to get cute with science as NASA is working with Mattel toys to create none other than the Mars Curiosity Rover for their newest Hot Wheels lineup. This little beast of a vehicle is a 1:64 scale replica of the actual NASA Mars Curiosity Rover that’ll be touching down this Saturday Night on the red planet. This machine will be a mix of plastic and hardcore metal and will be landing approximately one month after the real deal makes its mark in just a few days.

This little toy shows off what’s basically the same set of pieces that the actual final rover is made up of, and die-cast quality will be in the mix as this legendary toymaker creates its newest in a line of officially licensed space-age vehicles. This toy will cost you right around $1.09 when it finally hit stores while the real six-wheeled rover cost NASA a cool $2.5 billion USD.

Back in 1997, Mattel worked with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as well as the California Institute of Technology to create the Curiosity Rover’s distant cousin Sojourner. The Sojourner rover was much smaller than the Curiosity Rover and was part of a three-pack of toys that included the rover, it’s lander, and its spacecraft cruiser. The Curiosity Rover and the Sojourner were both part of Mars missions by NASA.

The Action Pack, as it was called, sold out several times as several different editions were released to stores over the years while JPL’s Commercial Technology Office manager made it clear that, “we hope this does indeed turn out to be a big hit” – referring to the toys, not the actual lander, of course. This newest release of the 2-inch long by 1.5-inch high by 1.25-inch wide (5 by 3.8 by 3.2 centimeters) toy is the only official model to have been announced by NASA thus far.

Check out our timeline below to catch up with Curiosity in all its many fabulous angles, from 3D cameras to landing sequences to how you can catch it on video as it happens!

[via Collect Space]

Mars Curiosity Rover reaches for youth audience with Hot Wheels is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

State news agency Xinhua is reporting that China is planning to launch a probe to the moon in the second half of 2013. The Chang’e-3, named after the Chinese moon goddess, will deposit a lander and rover on our natural satellite to survey its bumpy surface. It’ll launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province and is a sign of the continuing ambition of the nation’s space program — after it deposited a crew on its Tiangong-1 space station two months ago.

Filed under: Transportation, Science

China sending a probe to the moon next year to look for Moonbase Alpha originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We all know that NASA put men on the moon in the 1960s during the Apollo program. Each one of the landing sites on the moon from the Apollo missions has its own American flag standing proudly. One question that many fans of space exploration in the US have wondered is, are those flags still standing after all these years.

Scientists have been pouring over the moon photographs taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera and have determined that most of the flags are still standing after all these years. According to the scientists, all the American flags are standing with one exception. The flag from Apollo 11 has fallen over.

“From the LROC images it is now certain that the American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11,” LROC principal investigator Mark Robinson wrote in a blog post today(July 27). “Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported that the flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during liftoff of Apollo 11, and it looks like he was correct!” The one flag that is no longer standing was blown over before the Apollo 11 mission ended.

It’s really not much of a surprise that all of the flags are still standing considering the moon has little gravity and no wind. The image you see here is of the Apollo 11 landing site showing no flag shadow. The scientists studied photographs taken at various times of day looking for shadows cast by the flags from various angles to confirm that they were still standing. Maybe one day we will go back to the moon and see these flags in person.

“Intuitively, experts mostly think it highly unlikely the Apollo flags could have endured the 42 years of exposure to vacuum, about 500 temperature swings from 242 F during the day to -280 F during the night, micrometeorites, radiation and ultraviolet light, some thinking the flags have all but disintegrated under such an assault of the environment,” scientist James Fincannon, of the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, wrote in the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal.

[via Space.com]

LRO photos show most American flags on the moon still standing is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Felix Baumgartner’s upcoming and record setting 22.7-mile skydive has been hyped and promoted to the point that most of us just want him to jump already. But here’s one bit of hoopla we’re actually nerding out over—a look at all the wonderful camera gear that will be documenting the free fall. More »

NASA has announced plans to livestream the full Curiosity rover landing, as the exploratory vehicle makes its innovative and difficult approach to the surface of Mars. Expected to kick off at 8:30pm PT on August 5, the landing will see Curiosity deploy a supersonic parachute to slow itself as it hurtles at 1,000 mph toward the Martian rock.

The first images from the surface of Mars are expected to be shared live, meanwhile, between 12:30am and 1am PT on August 6. That’s assuming the rover lands successfully: NASA has been forced to automate the whole process, since the delay between signals leaving Earth and reaching the craft is around seven minutes.

In short, before even the first pictures of the descent start hitting the livestream, Curiosity will be on the ground: it’ll just be a case of how many pieces it’s in. If all goes to plan, it will use its nuclear battery to begin exploring the red planet.

NASA Curiosity lander overview:

The rocket carrying Curiosity has been en-route to Mars for several months now. In fact, it took off in November 2011, beginning a 354m mile journey from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rover has cost around $2.5bn to develop, and will look for evidence of ancient habitable environments, among other things.

You’ll be able to choose between two feeds on August 5, with the NASTA TV Media Channel and the NASAJPL2 Ustream having the uninterrupted footage with mission audio. A second version, on the NASA TV Public Channel and NASAJPL Ustream will add in commentary and interviews.

NASA to livestream Curiosity’s big Mars landing is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.