Hasta La Gadget!

Laser power specialists Lasermotive has recently demonstrated the ability to keep a flying vehicle powered for up to two hours via a laser beam as its only power source.

Aside from keeping helicopters whirring about, this remote laser power tech has several interesting theoretical applications. Since it can send power infrastructure-free to remote locations, it could bring electricity to rural or underdeveloped communities around the world. It could also be used to aid exploration in hazardous locales–both on and off of the planet.

On a related sidenote, the other day I lamented that NASA had completely run out of ideas as far as getting into space and was just wasting taxpayer money with big stupid rockets.

Apparently I was wrong–NASA is seriously getting behind the idea of space elevators, and it looks like this sort of laser-energy transfer might be a key ingredient.

Sorry for doubting you, NASA. We cool? Don’t send any laser helicopters to come after me.

A corporate propaganda video goes into some of the tech deets after the jump.

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green.

This week we saw the shattering of a new record as NYC’s high-tech One Bryant Park skyscraper achieved LEED Platinum certification, making it the world’s greenest office tower. We also turned over a new high-tech paving stone that can absorb airborne pollution and visited a hyper-efficient solar city in Germany that is able to produce four times the amount of energy that it consumes.

The world of efficient transportation is also heating up as four electric vehicles blazed a trail through Europe in a race to circle the globe in 80 days. We also watched a team of DeLaSalle students unveil the world’s most efficient zero-emissions car and took a look at an incredible electrified Porsche. Finally, sun-powered transportation reached for the stars as NASA unveiled plans to launch its solar NanoSail into space this fall.

Nanotechnology is also changing lives here on earth as researchers revealed a nanotech tea bag that can purify a liter of drinking water for less than a penny. And speaking of liquid refreshment, this week we took a plunge in Manhattan’s new recycled dumpster swimming pools — and brought back tons of photos! But summer won’t last forever, so if you’re gearing up to head back to school next month be sure to check out our top picks for the best solar-powered book bags.

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: nanotech tea, pollution-sucking stones and the world’s most efficient car originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Its been a few years since we last checked in on NASA’s All Terrain Hex Limbed Extra Terrestrial Explorer rover — aka, Athlete. Now a half-scale working prototype standing 15 feet tall, weighing 2.5 tons (about 2,300 kg), and capable of a 1.25 mph (2 kmph) top speed has been set loose for testing by its Jet Propulsion Laboratory creators. Its first task, set to begin next month in Arizona, will be to complete a test circuit of at least 25 miles (about 40 km) in two weeks under its own power. Failing that, we hear Woz is looking for a dance partner. See what we mean in the video of Athlete demonstrating a flare for cargo transport after the break.

Continue reading NASA’s Athlete Mars rover does a little dance, gets down tonight (video)

NASA’s Athlete Mars rover does a little dance, gets down tonight (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 03:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Echo 1, history’s first passive satellite. NASA’s Echo mission began rather poorly. A test launch had exploded so brightly, so spectacularly, that it prompted frightened calls up and down the entire eastern seaboard. More »

When the Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) on its final scheduled mission (STS-133), currently slated for November 1, it will be carrying an unusual assistant: a humanoid robot known as Robonaut 2, R2 for short. Last week, NASA launched R2’s Twitter feed, over which the robot will provide updates from its new home aboard the ISS (presumably tweeted by a human surrogate, despite NASA’s whimsical PR photo).

Robonaut 2 has already been busy fielding questions it’s received from the Twitterverse, revealing for the record: “Robots are non-gender by design. I’m an it.” It would seem that R2 won’t be in the running for cyber-chess champion of the universe anytime soon, as it tweeted: “Like many humans, I’d be great at moving chess pieces around, but I’d need help deciding where to move them.” R2 has taken pains to reassure the public of its benevolent nature: “Nah. We’re not taking over – I’m here to help!” In another tweet, Robonaut 2 has disavowed any relation to HAL, though it wouldn’t be inclined to admit it if there were one.

Robonaut 2, jointly developed by NASA and GM, will be a permanent fixture aboard the ISS, whose mission Congress seems poised to extend until 2020. Although R2 will initially  participate only in operational tests, upgrades could eventually allow the robot to realize its full potential–helping spacewalking astronauts with tasks outside the space station.