Jan 02
The Best Lego Builds of the Year [Bestof2010]
Posted in: lego, NASA, Today's Chili, top
We’ve seen some remarkable and imaginative projects this year employing the iconic blocks, here are a few of our favorites. More »
Dec 31
Authentic NASA artifacts, Buzz Aldrin’s dinner set for auction
Posted in: NASA, space, Today's Chili
Your long-held desire to own some authentic, Apollo-era vacuum-sealed, freeze-dried pot roast is about to be fulfilled. That’s right: RR Auction is, well, auctioning artifacts from the Golden Age of the space program this upcoming January, including Gordon Cooper’s father’s gold and diamond 32nd degree Masonic ring and some random part of a Mercury capsule that’s been mounted on a commemorative plaque. But that ain’t all! To see a complete list of all five hundred items, or to get in on the action yourself, hit the source link.
Authentic NASA artifacts, Buzz Aldrin’s dinner set for auction originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Dec 2010 02:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Dec 29
NASA Developing Flying Wind Turbines
Posted in: NASA, Today's Chili 
When it comes to wind energy, NASA is taking to the skies.
Aerospace engineer Mark Moore has received a $100,000 grant from the federal government to research various types of airborne wind turbines — everything from turbines attached to floating blimps to kites. So what makes the sky better than ground? According to Moore, there’s a lot more power to be had.
“At 2,000 feet (610 m), there is two to three times the wind velocity compared to ground level,” he explained. “The power goes up with the cube of that wind velocity, so it’s eight to 27 times the power production just by getting 2,000 feet (610 m) up, and the wind velocity is more consistent.”
Via NASA
Dec 27
The Best of the Year in Space [Bestof2010]
Posted in: NASA, space, Today's Chili, top
It’s been a big year for the space sciences. The first privately-held spacecraft orbited our world, the blackest material in history was created, researchers expanded the list of possible sources of life threefold; and that was just in December. More »
Dec 21
Satellite-borne lasers tracking woodland happenings, who knows what else
Posted in: laser, NASA, satellite, science, space, Today's Chili
It may shock your senses, but this actually isn’t the first time we’ve heard of lasers being used to track birds and their habitats. But this go ’round, an Idaho University team is using a satellite-borne laser in an effort to “predict in which part of a State Forest the birds might be living.” In particular, the crew is developing methods that’ll help them track the North American pileated woodpecker, namely because these creatures are pegged as being great indicators of overall bird diversity. Currently, the laser is only capable of analyzing vital characteristics of a woodland, but scientists are using this information to take a stab as to where the aforementioned birds would be. Essentially, this laser spotting approach enables gurus to spot highly dense sections of forest — plots where the pileated woodpecker loves to hang — from above, dramatically cutting down the hide-and-seek that would previously take place on foot in much larger areas. Now, if only they could get lasers onto the birds, we’d have an all new brand of rave to consider.
Satellite-borne lasers tracking woodland happenings, who knows what else originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 06:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dec 20
NASA Green Flight Challenge proposes ‘pocket airports,’ invites you to fly ’em all
Posted in: NASA, Today's Chili
Soon we’ll be hopping on a jet plane, heading to Vegas, living the life, playing with gadgets, and not getting a lot of sleep. Flying to Nevada for CES on a plane is easy, but getting to the airport can be a challenge if you live out in the country. NASA wants that fixed as a sort of spin-off of its Green Flight Challenge, a prize awarded to an aerial vehicle that can manage 200mpg at 100mph while emitting only 78db of noise at 250 feet. It would also need a very short takeoff and landing, something that would allow it to land on what’s being called a “pocket airport.” These rinky-dink runways would fit on just two acres of land and would launch or receive an (ultimately autonomous) aircraft every 30 seconds. The idea is that such strips could be scattered about suburban areas and provide quick, convenient shuttling to real airports and, presumably, to other pocket airports. Now, we wonder, will we still need to empty our pockets before boarding?
NASA Green Flight Challenge proposes ‘pocket airports,’ invites you to fly ’em all originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dec 16
What were you doing on August 1st, 2010? Well, if you were the Sun, you would have been experiencing a hemisphere-wide eruption.
Back in August, half of the Sun was rocked by a series of nuclear-fueled explosions that sent shock waves across the stellar surface, shedding billions of tons of charged materials into space over a 28-hour period.
It was a massive event that shattered old ideas about solar activity.
The whole series of explody events was captured in unprecedented detail by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite, giving astronomers new insights into the volatile inner workings of the Sun.
To explain what happened, solar researchers Karel Schrijver and Alan Title spent three months researching the event they have “The Great Eruption.” The entire episode may overturn the notion of solar eruptions as localized events, rather than a body-wide phenomenon.
These findings are more than mere ivory tower musings and may prove significant for researchers who predict solar “space weather,” which has the very real potential to disrupt communications, airlines, and power grids here on Earth.
via NASA
Dec 14
Voyager 1 will exit solar system soon, is so close to the void it can taste it
Posted in: NASA, space, Today's Chili
Endurance: it’s important in every race, including the space race, even though many pundits would argue that it kind of fizzled a long time ago. Thirty-three years prior to now, NASA‘s Voyager 1 began its journey to check in on the outer planets. It accomplished that goal in 1989, and has since moved on to bigger and better things — you know, like leaving the solar system. Ten billion miles away, Voyager 1’s Low-Energy Charged Particle Instrument is spitting out “solid zeroes,” which means it’s not detecting any more outward movement from solar winds. The heliopause (read: the official edge of the solar system) is just a few short years away for the radioactive-powered spacecraft, which is frightening to think about regardless of your experience in Space Camp. What will happen once it enters interstellar space? We’re not sure, but we’re trying to set up radio comms with its earth-bound synthesizer progeny for some kind of freaky space jam. We’ll keep you posted.
[Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech]
Voyager 1 will exit solar system soon, is so close to the void it can taste it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Dec 12
SpaceX Dragon’s secret payload revealed: Le Brouere cheese (video)
Posted in: launch, NASA, space, Today's Chili, video
It looks like the Air Force isn’t the only organization with its secrets. While we still don’t know the exact nature of the testing the X-37B space plane underwent during its seven months in orbit, we have learned what, exactly, the SpaceX Dragon was carrying during its time spent in low-earth orbit. That’s right: a wheel of Le Brouere, a French variant of the Swiss Gruyere, a hard yellow cheese made from cow’s milk. It’s also a reference to a Monty Python sketch — but you probably knew that already. You’ve seen the launch, so how about checking out the sketch that so amused Elon Musk? Well, you’re in luck — it’s after the break.
Continue reading SpaceX Dragon’s secret payload revealed: Le Brouere cheese (video)
SpaceX Dragon’s secret payload revealed: Le Brouere cheese (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Dec 12
NASA’s Space Shuttle launch videos are spectacularly incredible, incredibly spectacular
Posted in: film, NASA, photography, science, space, Today's Chili, video
Did you know that it takes nearly seven and a half million pounds of thrust to get a Space Shuttle off the ground and into the final frontier? NASA opts to generate that power by burning through 1,000 gallons of liquid propellants and 20,000 pounds of solid fuel every second, which as you might surmise, makes for some arresting visuals. Thankfully, there are plenty of practical reasons why NASA would want to film its launches (in slow motion!), and today we get to witness some of that awe-inspiring footage, replete with a silky voiceover explaining the focal lengths of cameras used and other photographic minutiae. It’s the definition of an epic video, clocking in at over 45 minutes, but if you haven’t got all that time, just do it like us and skip around — your brain will be splattered on the wall behind you either way.
NASA’s Space Shuttle launch videos are spectacularly incredible, incredibly spectacular originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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