This weekend NASA published an awesome time-lapse flyby of planet Earth taken from the International Space Station. Awesome, but jerky—until now. Someone interpolated the original frames to achieve this smooth as silk motion film. It’ll leave you stupefied. More »
The HEXAGON satellite spied on America’s Cold War foes for over a decade, taking extremely detailed (film!) photographs from space. It was 60 feet long—bigger than a bus. And the public never, ever saw it. We did. More »
We just learned of NASA’s end-of-decade plans to rocket astronauts into deep space for exploratory missions to Mars and beyond. Now, we’re getting a peek at the Purdue University-designed lander tech that’ll plant our space fleet’s feet firmly on terra incognita. What originally started as a senior research project for grad students Thomas Feldman and Andrew Rettenmaier, has now blossomed into a joint research endeavor for the federal space agency’s Project Morpheus — a think tank for trips to heretofore unexplored celestial bodies. The in-development propulsion tech, now undergoing testing at the university’s Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories, is required to “meet stringent design and performance” standards, but most importantly, needs to lift the fuel-depleted lander post-descent. You’d think scientific work of this magnitude would come with a hefty paycheck, but the student team behind it all’s just doing it for the hands-on knowledge. Sure beats your summer internship at that magazine, huh?
Purdue University grad students give NASA lander tech a boost, do it for the experience originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The folks in charge of our final frontier have just taken the wraps off their latest rocket design, dubbed the Space Launch System. Unimaginative moniker aside, NASA’s prepping the SLS to take future astronauts aboard its Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle beyond Low Earth Orbit, and out into the vast reaches of our solar system. The launcher’s design, as shown off in the agency’s video render, was chosen specifically for its flexibile architecture, allowing engineers to adapt and evolve its build based on mission requirements. The rig, which’ll serve as a backup transport system for commercial and international trips to the ISS, is expected to handle a payload of up to 130 metric tons, and gains lift from a combo of liquid hydrogen and oxygen. When the SLS finally lifts off at the end of 2017, NASA claims it’ll be the “first exploration-class vehicle since the Saturn V took American astronauts to the moon over 40 years ago.” That’s a heady legacy to follow, and while we’ve still got a few years to wait for the real thing, you can always check out the video below for a simulated take.
NASA’s Space Launch System to rocket into deep space, unravel the universe’s mysteries (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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NASA got a new deep space exploration system, the Space Launch System. A new heavy rocket designed to take astronauts well beyond planet Earth’s orbit. It’s beautiful. It’s like the Saturn all over again, but better. More »
Sure, that TwitPic you posted was dope, but could it ever be as snazzy as a photo taken from space? Although doubtful, now at least there’s the NASA Photography Training Program handbook to help you achieve such levels of awesomeness. The guide provides tips on operating the official camera of the space agency, the Hasselblad 500 EL/M, responsible for some of the most extraterrestrial shots this side of Pluto. Pointers on how to best operate the electric film lunar surface data camera include what type of lens to use and how to best use available light. Study up at the source — after all, privatized space travel is just around the bend.
Visualized: NASA’s Hasselblad photography manual originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 06:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
In a moment of profound candidness, Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos has revealed that the mid-air failure of his unmanned spaceship 11 days ago was “not the outcome any of us wanted.” The searing truth of his statement is certainly borne out by the fact that NASA has poured millions of dollars of funding into Bezos’s space company, Blue Origin, in the hope that it will one day ferry people to the ISS and replace the scuttled shuttle program. Indeed, Blue Origin’s latest craft looked every inch a shuttle-beater until it suddenly went berserk at 45,000 feet, forcing the Asimovian onboard computer to cut power and nose dive into the ground in an effort to avoid civilian casualties. Not an ideal result, to be sure, but Jeff is hardly likely to give up on his starry ambitions — everybody knows he has a thing for thrusters.
Amazon CEO’s flying water tank crashes, leaves dent in his space travel dream originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Back in 1999, MIT professor David Miller showed Star Wars to his students on the very first day of class. After showing the scene where Luke jousts with a floating droid, the professor told the class that he wanted them to build those droids. Lo and behold, they did, and thanks to the Department of […]
Google’s Android platform is shooting for the moon.
NASA sent two Android-powered Nexus S smartphones into space with the last manned space shuttle, Atlantis, on the STS-135 mission. The duo of smartphones were used to test and investigate how humans and robots can coexist in space more efficiently.
In the mission, the phones were used to control SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites), small robotic satellites that were originally developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The SPHERES are used to do things like record video and capture sensor data, errands that once required astronauts. The phones are used to help control the SPHERES, which have their own power, computing, propulsion and navigation systems. The robotic devices have built-in expansion ports that allow a variety of additional sensors and devices, like cameras, to be attached.
Another group of researchers from Great Britain hope to send a smartphone powered satellite into lower Earth-orbit before the year’s end. This experiment differs from NASA, however, in that it’s primarily testing how well the guts of the smartphone can stand in the extreme conditions of space. And last year, a pair of Nexus Ones were sent 30,000 feet into the air as the payload of a small rocket. One was destroyed when its parachute failed, but the other safely glided to Earth, capturing two and a half hours of video footage.
In the future, the phones will be used to navigate and control the SPHERES using the IOIO board and the Android Open Accessory Development Kit.
Why Android over iOS, or another smartform platform? NASA thought an Android device would be a good fit since it’s open source. Google’s engineers even wrote a sensor logging app that NASA ended up using on the mission (and it can be downloaded from the Android Market, if you’re interested).
Check out the video below to see the Nexus S and the SPHERES in action.
The last time Google’s jet-setting smartphone took to space, it wasn’t exactly flying in style. Well, the Nexus S has ditched its styrofoam trappings for more respectable digs — specifically, NASA’s last manned space shuttle, Atlantis. Its mission: “explore how robots can help humans experiment and live in space more efficiently.” Affixed to a series of three robotic satellites, known as SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites) the phones engaged in tasks usually done by their human travel companions, like recording sensor data and capturing video. A special sensor-logging app was customized by NASA to capture sensor data and is now available for download in the Android Market. To see the space traveling smartphone at work, hop on past the break, or hit up NASA’s project page at the coverage link below.
Continue reading Nexus S takes to space aboard Atlantis, does astronauts’ dirty work
Nexus S takes to space aboard Atlantis, does astronauts’ dirty work originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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