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Engadget

NASA's New Suits Are One Giant Leap for Space Fashion

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 14th 2008 at 6:30PM


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 Space Capsule in 2015. The contract is valued at the government special price of just $745 million. Hey, we have to keep up appearances at the International Space Station, you know. [Source: New Scientist]

Continue reading NASA's New Suits Are One Giant Leap for Space Fashion

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New Lunar Rover Could Build Roads On the Moon

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Mar 27th 2008 at 3:03PM


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 interchangeable attachments, including plows and drills. Scientists have so far been happy with the results, and say it has had no problem handling the moon-like loose surface at the Lunar Yard, which is a good thing since the Chariot is designed to one day build roads or drill for minerals on moon's surface.

Even though the first build has exceeded the engineers expectations, it will undergo further improvements, including wheels that can move up or down independently of one another for greater agility and a smoother ride.

From Engadget and New Scientist

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Japanese Space Probe Beams High-Def Vids of Earth

by Tim Stevens, posted Nov 14th 2007 at 12:31PM



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. With it, the agency has captured some impressive high-resolution footage of Earth rising and setting over the moon.

Unfortunately for us mere Earth-dwellers, JAXA isn't making those high-resolution videos publicly available, at least not yet. The videos the agency has released are instead captured at a resolution of 480x270 (480 pixels high by 270 pixels wide), which is actually a lower resolution than your old standard definition TV. The videos show the Earth gliding upward ahead of the probe and setting behind it.

So, color us disappointed on the HDTV front, but the low-res versions of the videos are still quite spectacular to watch, and the JAXA site does have two images -- Earth-rise and Earth-set -- available in a resolution that equates to HD-quality 1080p, or 1920x1080 pixels. To get the full effect, you'll need a large, high-resolution monitor, like Apple's 30'-inch Cinema Display, or the ability to output your computer to a 1080p-capable high-definition television.

The photos recreate the most famous image taken by the Apollo missions, "Earthrise," which shows a tiny blue earth rising above the lunar surface. Quite a sight, but we can't help but want those vids in 1080p, too ...

UPDATE: It appears Discovery HD will be broadcasting these videos tonight (11/14) at 7:00 PM ET, 8:00 PM PT. Thanks to tok for the heads up!

From SPACE.com

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Google Offers $20 Million to Moon Explorers

by Tim Stevens, posted Sep 14th 2007 at 10:27AM

Google's Moon Shot

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 radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity," according to its Web site. This means it organizes contests for everything from space firsts to genome-sequencing contests.

Now, Google has announced that it is raising the stakes on a new contest. The search giant will chip in an additional $20 million on top of the X PRIZE's $10 million for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, which will be awarded to the first private company to launch a probe that lands on the moon.

But just getting to the moon won't be enough. Assuming competitors' probes survive the landing, they will also need to move at least 500 meters under their own power and send back high-resolution images of whatever they see. This added task makes sense for Google, which an has an app called Google Moon that lets you gaze upon the portions of the lunar surface explored by astronauts in the '60s and '70s. Unfortunately, Google Moon's images are low-res by Google stanards, which is where the lunar probe comes in. The probes will map the moon the same way Google has mapped the streets of New York City and San Francisco for Google Earth, but with something that's a bit more high-tech.


From 'USA Today'

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What It Will Be Like To Land On Mars

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jul 20th 2007 at 5:09PM

Mars Landing Site
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 seems these pesky things called the laws of physics prevent touching down on the red planet from being as straightforward as landing on Earth or even the Moon.

The airbag method used for deploying unmanned probes won't work since we'll probably want our astronauts to avoid death or maiming. The Martian atmosphere is too thin for parachutes or aerobrakes to be effective with such a heavy payload, and the gravity on our sister planet is too strong for a powered descent like that used on the aforementioned Apollo missions.

The best bet so far is to use an inflatable donut with a skin stretched across it in a conical shape that will slow the landing craft from Mach 4 or 5 to Mach 1.

From Slashdot

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