Tag: MOON

While NASA's plans to return a human to the Moon may have died when budget cuts killed its Constellation program, the space administration reportedly intends to send the next best thing to the lunar surface: a humanoid. Spearheaded by engineer Stephen J. Altemus, NASA's Project M robot moon-walker mission conceivably involves launching "a humanoid-like machine" into space and then onto the Moon, ...

Technology, particularly the Internet and social networking, allows NASA to engage space enthusiasts through an expanding assortment of entertaining and educational interactive programs. Space geeks can read tweets from astronauts, launch their face into orbit, help map the moon, participate in research projects and -- now -- earn virtual moon rocks, spacesuits, shuttles and (awesomely absurd) ...

Japan apparently didn't get the memo that the whole Space Race is so last century, so it's going ahead with a project that will confirm just about every hard sci-fi stereotype about Japanese innovation: they're going to put massive, intelligent humanoid robots on the moon. The Japanese space agency JAXA is moving forward with the $2.2 billon project that aims to get the robots to the lunar ...

It's not quite as good as walking on it, but amateur space enthusiasts can now help scientists learn more about the moon by studying detailed, super high-resolution photographs. In fact, the pictures transmitted by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) are so fine and multitudinous that there is simply too much information for scientists to handle. According to NPR, Oxford University ...

There's a load of great tech news happening out there every day, and, unfortunately, we just can't cover it all. Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web. Steve Jobs has been answering e-mail from the Mac faithful left and right lately, and the most recent response from the turtlenecked one promises a new and improved ...

Do androids dream of lunar landings? NASA seems to think so. Its Project M would send robotic avatars to the moon in place of flesh-and-blood astronauts. These robots would be controlled by scientists on Earth wearing motion capture suits, thereby allowing researchers to study the lunar surface nearly in real time. (A three-second communications delay exists between Earth and the moon.) The ...

When we were kids, we loved to slap old motorcycle helmets on our heads and run around the neighborhood pretending to be astronauts. Our own obsession with outer space faded some with age, but for many, space, and the moon in particular, never loses its luster. If you count yourself as a space junkie, you might want to peep this Apollo Lunar Lander from Space Toys. All you need is a fat wallet ...

A newly released recording reveals that the Soviet Union made a last minute attempt to beat the United States back to Earth with the first samples of the Moon's surface. The recording, made by astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, has Lovell tracking and narrating the unmanned Russian craft Luna 15's journey and eventual crash onto the Moon's surface, just hours before ...

It's been almost two years since we first told you about the Japanese probe KAGUYA, which is currently orbiting the moon. Fortunately for us, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was prescient enough to equip KAGUYA with a pair of HD cameras that have managed to collect some stunning footage. Until now, JAXA has only posted low-res versions of its videos and high-def-quality still ...

NASA just awarded its future spacesuit contract to Oceaneering International. The US firm must now design, test, and produce two suits -- the default suit (pictured after the break) worn on-board for launch and landing and a second, more versatile, cheese-proof suit worn during space walks and upon the surface of the moon. The suits must be ready for the first scheduled launch of the Orion ...

If you've been wondering what your tax dollars are being spent on over at NASA just take a quick look at this video. The new lunar rover, dubbed Chariot because astronauts ride it while standing on the back, is getting put through its paces at the Lunar Yard at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The six-wheeled Chariot tops out at 20-miles-per-hour and can accept a range of ...

While our space agency is off roving around Mars, collecting soil samples, filming twisters, and studying blueberries, Japanese astro-scientists are engaging in more techno-centric pursuits. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) recently launched a spacecraft called Selene (or, confusingly, also known as KAGUYA) to orbit the moon and saw fit to grace it with a high-definition camera. ...

It wasn't all that long ago -- just about three years -- that aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and his company, Scaled Composites, won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for being the first private corporation to reliably launch a manned spacecraft twice in two weeks. It was a monumental achievement, but it turns out that the X PRIZE Foundation that awarded the $10 million exists solely to "create ...

Landing on another world seems like an equally exhilarating and terrifying proposition. Exactly 38 years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were probably shaking in their space boots saying to themselves "I hope this works," as they descended to the surface of the moon. Well if an article in Universe Today is to be believed, landing on Mars may be an even more terrifying endeavor. It ...