May 03

Avatar Director, NASA Building 3-D Mars Rover Camera

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of Avatar and Titantic, has linked up with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to build a high resolution 3-D camera for Curiosity, the next-generation Mars rover, Discovery News reports.
Malin Space Science Systems, the company behind the fixed-focal-length lens cameras for the rover, will build the actual 3-D mast camera as well, with Cameron listed as “co-investigator,” the report said.
Back in 1999, Cameron produced a TV mini-series and an IMAX film depicting the first humans to live on Mars. No word yet on what kind of glasses we’re all going to need to see the 3-D images coming down from the rover for the first time.
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Apr 30

NASA Refutes Claims of Life on Mars

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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NASA is strongly refuting claims circulating in the intertubes that it has just discovered life on Mars.
On Wednesday, the U.K.’s “The Sun” newspaper ran an article entitled, “NASA: Evidence of Life on Mars,” saying that the agency had discovered “compelling evidence” for organisms, Space.com reports.
NASA officials and veteran Mars scientists alike are all saying that it’s not true. “This headline is extremely misleading,” said Dwayne Brown, a NASA spokesperson, in the report. “This makes it sound like we announced that we found life on Mars, and that is absolutely, positively false.”
The piece reported that the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity discovered pond scum, which the paper said contains “the building blocks of life as we know it.” But Steve Squyres, the mission’s principal investigator, disputed the claim. “I can only assume that the Sun reporter misunderstood,” Squyres said in the report. “What Spirit and Opportunity have found is sulfate minerals… not organic materials, not pond scum, and not the building blocks of life as we know it.”
Back in 1996, NASA did announce that they found evidence of life on Mars on a Martian rock, but over the course of the following decade, many scientists found non-living explanations for the rock’s various markings, as the report points out. (Image credit: NASA)
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Apr 30

James Cameron convinces NASA to use 3D camera on next Mars mission

Posted in: camera, NASA, space, Today's Chili

What do you do once you’ve broken your own record for the world’s highest-grossing picture film? Well, you go offworld, of course. James Cameron, in his infinite benevolence and multidimensional wisdom, has convinced NASA bigwigs not to forgo the inclusion of a high-res 3D camera on the Curiosity (aka Mars Science Laboratory) rover, which is set to depart for the red planet in 2011. Budget overruns had led to the scrapping of the autostereoscopic idea, but the director-man — who has been involved with this project for a good few years now — felt the results of the mission would be far more engaging if people could see them in 3D. Hey, if he can make us watch the Blue Man Group reenactment of Fern Gully, don’t bet on Cameron failing to make extraterrestrial rubble interesting with his 3D voodoo.

James Cameron convinces NASA to use 3D camera on next Mars mission originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 05:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 29

NASA to Amp Up Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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Alien life is making news lately, and now NASA looks to lead the charge.
The agency announced eight possible missions Wednesday that would closely examine tiny microorganisms and minerals, according to CNN.
“Astrobiology and the search for life is central to many of the most important missions that we are studying,” Steve Squyres, the Cornell astronomer leading the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, said on a conference call with reporters.
The missions include robotic soil sample-and-return missions to Mars, and looking for life in water on distant moons, the report said. Specifically, they include sending landers to Mercury, analyzing methane on Mars, probing Europa’s oceans, searching for organic materials on Titan, and more closely examining comets.
None of the missions have been approved, according to the report. Separately, Squyres announced Wednesday that in an effort to maximize newly limited budgets, NASA is considering a plan to stretch out missions to return samples from Mars into three parts, Reuters reports. (Image credit: NASA/Terrestrial Planet Finder concept)
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Apr 29

Frosty Asteroid Points to Origin of Earths Oceans

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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It’s well known that comets are made primarily of ice. But the recent discovery of frost on an asteroid–the first ever–has scientists looking for clues that icy rocks could have been the source of the Earth’s oceans, Scientific American reports.
Two studies in the journal Nature detail how scientists have used an infrared telescope to spectroscopically examine asteroid 24 Themis’s surface, the report said. The resulting chemical signature looked like a match for water ice.
Previously, asteroids were thought to be free of ice. 24 Themis first attracted attention because all of its neighbors are icy comets.
The asteroid is one of the largest in the belt just outside Mars, with a diameter of 129 miles. Let’s hope that one stays away from Earth. (Artist concept credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle)

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Apr 28

Scientists: Some Moon Craters May Be Electrified

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili

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New NASA calculations show that the moon’s north and south poles may be a little more interesting than previously thought–and perhaps even dangerous.
Solar winds streaming over the craggy lunar surface may be strong enough to electrically charge polar crater on the moon, Space.com reports. That’s despite the presence of water ice; scientists believe it’s because of the moon’s orientation to the sun, which keeps the craters shielded and brings temperatures down to minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit, the report said. 
That’s enough to store water for billions of years, but the addition of solar winds presents additional problems for astronauts, said NASA lead author William Farrell in the article.
“Our research suggests that, in addition to the wicked cold, explorers and robots at the bottoms of polar lunar craters may have to contend with a complex electrical environment as well, which can affect surface chemistry, static discharge, and dust cling,” Farrell said.
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Apr 28

NASA Broadens Space Station Lab Research

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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NASA announced that it is seeking research ideas from private entities that may want to perform experiments on board the International Space Station, according to NetworkWorld.
The agency wants to expand the ISS’s role in technology development, basic and applied research, and industrial processing for commercial firms, non-profits, and academia, the report said.
Specifically, NASA listed two areas of expansion: Payload Integration and Operations Support Services, and Support Equipment and Instrumentation. The goal is to aid development of applications in biotechnology, energy, engineering, and remote sensing, according to the article.
The subtext here is that NASA is looking to give the ISS more to do. So far, during the course of nine years of ISS-based research, about 550 experiments have either already been completed or are still underway.
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Apr 28

NASA’s robot submarine achieves perpetual motion, of a sort

Posted in: government, NASA, robot, Today's Chili

The Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangrian Observer Thermal Recharging (SOLO-TREC) autonomous underwater vehicle is, well, quite a mouthful. It’s also the first submarine that can run a sizable percentage of forever without requiring a charge. When the 183-pound buoy dives, cooler water temperature causes a liquid wax-like substance inside to solidify, squeezing out oil that drives a hydraulic generator; when it surfaces, the wax softens once again, ready for another round. Every dive produces 1.7 watt-hours of electricity, enough to power all the instruments, GPS and buoyancy-control pump on board. It’s like a drinking bird that never runs out of water. Designed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Scripps researchers, the thermal engine is envisioned as an oceanography tool… but since the US Navy also has a finger in the pie, don’t be surprised if it plays a minor role in the coming robot apocalypse as well.

NASA’s robot submarine achieves perpetual motion, of a sort originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 23

Researchers: Exoplanet Contains Unusual Atmosphere

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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As technology improves, scientists are beginning to pick up clues of Earth-like exoplanets, or planets orbiting other stars.
One possible stepping stone to finding those is a Neptune-sized exoplanet near a star about 33 light years away. The exoplanet’s surface could be as hot as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. But its atmospheric composition has turned out to be much different than expected.
“GJ 436b is the smallest exoplanet whose direct light we’ve been able to measure,” said Kevin Stevenson, the University of Central Florida‘s first planetary sciences doctoral student and lead author of the study, which will be published Thursday, April 22, in Nature.
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Apr 22

NASA Unveils First Solar Dynamics Observatory Images

Posted in: NASA, science, solar, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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NASA has unveiled the first series of images from the agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which had launched back in February.
The photos are striking images of looping flares and massive explosions on the sun’s surface. As Popular Science reports, the goal of the mission is to help scientists gain a better understanding of how various processes on the sun affect our lives on Earth.
In particular, SDO will provide a “wealth of solar data” to help researchers improve solar weather forecasts. The observatory carries four telescopes, views the sun with a resolution an order of magnitude higher than what is possible with an HD video camera, and also contains instruments for measuring magnetic motions and ultraviolet energy output, the report said.
Click here for NASA’s complete SDO photo gallery.
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