In an internal memo, NASA has stated that it will suspend all interaction with the Russian government, in response to Russia’s violations of Ukraine’s territorial independence. Fortunately for U.S. astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Steve Swanson, both currently orbiting on the International Space Station, the two agencies will still cooperate to transport supplies and personnel to and from the ISS.
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It seems that the International Space Station’s internal cooling system is having problems. While the astronauts are not in danger, ground teams had to move critical electrical systems over to the second loop and turn off other non-critical parts of the station.
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Kirobo is a 13-inch talking robot that will keep Japanese astronaut Kochi Wakata company on the International Space Station. He is now on his way to the ISS after being launched on an H-2B rocket from Japan.
Kirobo is the first talking robot to be sent into space. He’s a pretty adorable robot too. He was launched on board an unmanned spacecraft that’s scheduled to arrive at the ISS on August 9th. Along with the robot, the craft is also carrying drinking water, food, and other supplies.
Wakata will arrive at the ISS in November to take over as Commander. Kirobo will talk to Wakata and even keep a record of their conversations during the mission. Captain Kirk just has a captain’s log. Kirobo is so much neater.
Here’s some footage of the little guy being weighed, packed and shipped like so much space baggage:
If many more robots get into space, we will need to be careful they don’t build a death ray up there and kill us all.
[Kibo-Robo via Geekosystem]
During his 1984 State of the Union speech, President Reagan announced that the U.S. would build a new permanently manned space station within a decade. The Space Shuttle program was underway, and a permanent space station seemed like the next logical step in our bold push into the final frontier. It didn’t hurt that the Russians were already working on Mir, and America didn’t want to look like it was resting on its laurels.
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During his time aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Chris Hadfield has taken and shared some of the most amazing photos of our planet on his Twitter account. And in this video clip, he explains how he snaps those beautiful photos of Earth, and the wonderful camera equipment at his disposal. More »
Astronaut Chris Hadfield continues to make us all insanely jealous of the time he’s been spending on the International Space Station with another video showing what day-to-day life is like orbiting the Earth. Except this time he shows what happens when you wring a soaking wet cloth in zero gravity, and the results are almost magical. More »
While you are sinking into you soft, pillow-top mattress—or pile of trash—there are a handful of human beings in space who take to their nightly respite a little differently, by strapping themselves into a zero-g space coffin. Apparently it’s better than it sounds. More »
If science fiction films are to be believed, when an astronaut needs company in space, a robot can be a good companion. In keeping with that idea, Kibo the robot will soon join the crew of the International Space Station. The robot will be sent up with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and of course it will be able to speak to him in his own language.
The idea is that Kibo will keep everyone entertained by interacting with them and taking pictures and updating his Twitter account back on Earth. Like any astronaut, Kibo has undergone training. He recently practiced in zero gravity, as you can see in the video clip below.
The little robot stands 13.4 inches tall, weighs just 2.2 pounds, and boasts natural language processing technology from Toyota. He also has facial recognition software in his head.
The robot was designed by Tomotaka Takahashi who created Panasonic’s Mr. EVOLTA mascot. Hopefully he fits in on the space station and they have lots of fun.
[via Daily Mail]
Space exploration. We like to pretend it is about all kinds of noble things having to do with mankind’s place in the universe, blah blah blah. We all know it is really about all the cool things that you can do while in space, right? You know, like control a robot on Earth. From Space.
Astronaut Sunita Williams used a specially developed laptop on the International Space Station to control an Internet-connected LEGO robot in Germany. That’s pretty awesome. The technology is called Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN). It works like this: traditional Internet protocol standards assume that there will always be a route of connections available from node A to node B. However, DTN accepts that there will be disruptions in connectivity from where the signal is being sent to where it is supposed to be received.
Aside from having a great time playing with a LEGO robot from space, there was a point to this. NASA sees an opportunity to one day use this technology to control robots on the surface of Mars or some other planet. That sure opens up many possibilities when it comes to exploring (and someday colonizing) other worlds. DTN has been tested for years, but not for robotics applications – for which it now looks promising.
[via Geek]
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.
Normally we try to encourage you to join us around the warm alt-week campfire by teasing you about what diverse and exotic internet nuggets we have for you inside. Sadly, this week that’s not the case. There’s nothing for you here we’re afraid. Not unless you like totally mind-blowing space videos, singing planets and AI / sports commentary-flavored cocktails, that is. Oh, you do? Well what do you know! Come on in… this is alt-week.
Filed under: Misc, Science, Alt
Alt-week 10.6.12: supercomputers on the moon, hear the Earth sing and the future of sports commentary originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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