Hasta La Gadget!

When I attended Star Wars Celebration earlier this year, Star Wars series creator George Lucas sat down with TV’s Jon Stewart and promised a full Blu-ray disc set of the entire six-film series next year. Brilliant idea, George. Now, Lucas, who loves new technology and had to use the best available at his own Industrial Light and Magic special effects house to enhance the original three films and make cold, impersonal messes of the last three, is now ready to enter the next digital dimension. 3D.

That’s right director, writer, entrepreneur, one-time Star Wars cameo actor George Lucas wants to rerelease the entire saga in three dimensions, starting in 2012. According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter Lucas was, apparently, only waiting for enough 3D movie screens before he pulled the trigger on adding three dimensions to all six films.

Lucas will start with the newer films and while some Star Wars critics think at least Revenge of the Sith was watchable, 3D could actually help the flat, emotionless Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. On the other hand, films that have been converted to 3D after the fact, like Clash of the Titans, typically do not fare well in visual quality or at the box office. Lucas’ reported plan could turn the classic A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi into muddy messes.

Obviously Lucas is also thinking of revenue (studios usually charge a premium for 3D movie viewing) and of the 3D home viewing market. Early 3D TV shipments sold out and major manufacturers are still bringing new models to market. By the time Star Wars 3D makes it in and out of theaters, we may even see 3D TV’s that do not need special glasses. Perhaps in-home viewing will make the Star Wars 3D experience less painful. As a fan, I somehow doubt it.

Thanks a bunch Avatar.

NASA is finally looking to dump rockets. Yes, rockets did some impressive things–back in the day. But now everyone is using them to get to space. The Chinese. The Indians. Even some Danish yahoos with spare parts they found in their garage. NASA is correct. Rockets are officially lame. So, what is a fashionable national space program with a multi-billion dollar budget to do?

How about hitting the rails?

That’s exactly what NASA’s new Advanced Space Launch System program (which will hopefully get a sexier
name at some point) is looking to do. Railgun technology has been around for nearly a century. It works by creating a strong magnetic field that accelerates a projectile along a set of horizontal metal rails, like train rails. And it can generate some real power. In 2008, the US Navy tested a railgun that launched a projectile 2.4 km per second.

That’s seven times the speed of sound.

We’re not yet at the point of development that we can railgun it into orbit. Not yet. But NASA is looking to tweak these existing technologies to see if they can make a feasible prototype. The ASLS has created a 10-year plan that would begin launching drone-like vehicles, followed by more advanced models that would eventually be able to launch a small satellite into orbit.

Choo choo to where no man has gone before.

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.

That would be both frightening and awesome! But there’s only one way to find out. That’s why NASA engineers are all set to test their version of a “solar sail” called the NanoSail-D this fall.

The concept of a solar sail has been around for decades. It’s long been touted as a viable means of interplanetary (and even interstellar) travel. The idea works much the same way a traditional sailboat does, but instead of wind, it is propelled by charged particles from the sun (called “solar wind”) which flow all the way to the outer reaches of the solar system. These futuristic space yachts could harness this solar wind with huge sails; starting slow but steadily building speed through the frictionless seas.

To rev up to Star Trek-ish velocities, a “solar sail” would have to cover a huge area (some theorize 6 million square feet). But the NanoSail-D will start with a relatively modest 100 square feet made of a polymer no thicker than single-ply tissue paper.

The NanoSail-D is scheduled to hitch a ride on a Minotaur IV rocket as part of the payload aboard the Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite (or FASTSAT) and will be compacted into a container smaller than a loaf of bread before unfurling to full mast. The NanoSail-D will remain in orbit for 17 weeks and will hover at around 400 miles above the earth’s surface. The relatively low altitude means the NanoSail-D will probably not reach very high speeds due to drag created by the earth’s outer atmosphere, but this is really a proof-of-concept mission that will be a first step to making the universe a tiny bit smaller–and to bringing the dream of one day being a space pirate closer for us all.

A video description from NASA nerds it up after the jump.

Via physorg

Today, in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, eight high school students from the California Academy for Math and Sciences will attempt to put a 29-foot, 500-pound rocket into orbit, using the skills they picked up in an crash course in rocketry and a 17-inch Sony Vaio CW and F-series laptops with Intel Core i5 and i7 processors under the hood.

The operation is called The Rocket Project, a collaboration sponsored by Sony and Intel to give high school students proficient and dedicated to math, science, and technology the opportunity to put a rocket into orbit. The catch is that the students had only 60 days to design, build, and launch it. The students were ready to launch at the 60 day mark, but weather conditions delayed the launch. Today the students will try again, with clear weather and the approval of the FAA. If the launch goes well, amateur astronomers and radio operators will be able to see the satellite and pick up its radio signal in-orbit, and the students that launched the rocket will have eternal bragging rights.