Subscribe to Gizmag's RSS feed
Follow Gizmag on Twitter
NASA
NASA investigating the SMART shape changing helicopter rotor
By David Greig
20:04 March 26, 2009 PDT
Can you imagine a world full of large, relatively quiet rotorcraft making short hops between cities such as New York and Washington, carrying as many as 100 passengers at a time in comfort and safety? This, amongst other technological improvements, would require helicopters with greatly improved rotor blade efficiency, allowing them to travel much quieter, smoother and further with the same amount of fuel. NASA is currently conducting research in their wind tunnels on the SMART rotor hub, which has rotor blades made with shape-changing materials that could one day make this scenario a reality. Read More
The most violent gamma-ray explosion ever observed
By Kyle Sherer
20:23 March 2, 2009 PST
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space telescope, which was launched on June 11 last year, has borne witness to the most violent gamma-ray burst ever observed – a monster that exceeded the power of 8000 supernovae. The GRB 080916C burst appeared in the Carina constellation, 12.2 billion light years from Earth, and was analyzed by five French teams, which published their results in the February 19 issue of Science Express. Read More
Planet seeking Kepler Spacecraft readies for launch
By Kyle Sherer
16:56 February 25, 2009 PST
On March 5, NASA will launch the largest camera ever sent into space in an attempt to find the holy grail of astronomy: an Earth-like planet. The $591 million Kepler craft will orbit the sun for at least 3.5 years, using an unprecedented 0.95-meter diameter Schmidt telescope packing an array of 42 CCDs, each with 2200x1024 pixels, to scan over 100,000 stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of the galaxy. The craft is seeking planets in the “goldilocks” zone – not too close to the sun, and not too far – but the scope of the project means that no matter what scientists find, our understanding of the universe will be greatly enhanced. Read More
CO2 monitoring satellite fails to reach orbit
18:14 February 24, 2009 PST
In bad news for NASA (and the planet in general), the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellite did not reach orbit as planned yesterday. According to a launch contingency briefing from NASA, the Taurus XL from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 4:55 a.m. EST proceeded normally, with only typical "minor issues" reported as the rocket approached lift-off, but preliminary indications are that the fairing on the Taurus XL launch vehicle failed to separate. Read More
Toilet training the space community
By Darren Quick
16:27 February 15, 2009 PST
When we are born, we soil ourselves and other people clean it up for us. As we mature, we take responsibility for our own excrement. Strangely, as a society, we're not at all good at toilet training ourselves regarding the excrement produced by industry, transport or agriculture. Human beings capacity to eschew short term gain when faced with long term harm is notoriously woeful so it’s not surprising we've done exactly the same thing in space, leaving so much debris that it's now dangerous to be in the orbital band around earth due to the likelihood of being hit by junk traveling at 18,000 mph. The latest evidence: last week saw the first ever accidental collision between two intact spacecraft, a deactivated Russian satellite and an Iridium 33 satellite, which left a fresh cloud of debris 497 miles above the Earth. Read More
Michelin Tweel becomes Lunar Wheel for NASA Lunar Rover
By Mike Hanlon
13:53 February 14, 2009 PST
The Tweel is an non-pneumatic Tire/WhEEL combo which offers an idiot-proof, no-maintenance, easily-retreadable tire for consumers and the holy grail for the military - a tire that can't be “shot out.” You won't see the Tweel on your sandmobile any time soon because it has noise, vibration, heat and wear problems at highway speeds, but its unique construction enables it to be specifically engineered with ideal characteristics for highly specialized low speed applications. The ultimate badge of credibility was bestowed on the design when it rolled down Pennsylvania Avenue on NASA’s Small Pressurized Lunar Rover prototype during the Obama presidential inauguration. Read More
NASA’s Space Observatory to provide global measurements of CO2
By Darren Quick
00:56 February 5, 2009 PST
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory spacecraft and its Taurus XL launch vehicle are undergoing preparations for liftoff on February 23. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory’s mission is to collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important greenhouse gas - important because its the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earth's climate. This improved understanding will enable more reliable forecasts of future changes in the abundance and distribution of CO2 in the atmosphere and the effect that these changes may have on the Earth's climate. Read More
Google Earth goes to Mars
By Darren Quick
00:30 February 5, 2009 PST
Anyone not familiar with Google’s virtual globe program Google Earth would have to have been living on another planet – maybe Mars. But a new initiative by Google and NASA might pique even Martian interest with the advent of a Mars mode in Google Earth 5. Google Mars 3D brings the red, red hills of home to any Earth bound Martian’s desktop and enables users to fly virtually through enormous canyons and scale huge mountains on Mars, higher than any found on Earth. Read More
NASA two years away from full sun visualization
By Kyle Sherer
14:10 January 27, 2009 PST
NASA's two STEREO spacecraft, launched on October 25, 2006, will align on either side of the sun on February 6, 2011, allowing scientists to view the entire sun simultaneously for the first time in history. The Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory is currently providing scientists with a view of 75% of the sun. Read More
Historic pics show worlds beyond our solar system
01:22 November 14, 2008 PST
In two separate scientific show-stoppers, unprecedented direct images of planets outside of our own solar system have been captured by NASA's Hubble space telescope and terrestrial observatories in Hawaii. Over the past two decades astronomers have detected around 300 exoplanets and are rapidly finding more, but these have mostly been observed by methods such as monitoring the gravitational effects of a planet on its parent star rather than seen as a direct optical image. We now have the first visible-light snapshot of a planet circling another star from the Hubble, and the first-ever direct images of an exoplanetary system from the massive 8-meter Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea. Read More
Last call: Mars Phoenix lander mission winds down
16:43 November 10, 2008 PST
The approaching Martian winter has spelled an end to the pioneering Phoenix Mars Lander mission. More than five months after reaching the red planet, the lander sent what is expected to be its final transmission back to Earth on November 2, exceeding its planned operational life-span by two months. Increased cloud, dust and the onset of colder temperatures mean that the robot is no longer receiving enough sunlight to charge its batteries and although engineers will keep the airwaves open, further communication with the lander is not expected. Read More
SpaceX planning DragonLab craft
By Kyle Sherer
14:37 November 5, 2008 PST
SpaceX, the company behind the Falcon series of launch vehicles and the Dragon space capsule, is developing a new free-flying, reusable, commercial craft. To be known as DragonLab, it will transport pressurized and unpressurized payloads to and from space, and will launch aboard a Falcon 9 vehicle. Read More
Solar Power Satellites could broadcast energy to Earth
By Kyle Sherer
15:03 October 29, 2008 PDT
Dusting off an old renewable energy proposal, president of the National Space Society Ben Bova recently published an article in The Washington Post calling for the next president of the United States to commission a US$1 billion solar power satellite from NASA before the end of their second term. The satellite would harness energy directly from the sun and broadcast it back to a receiver on Earth using microwave frequencies. Read More
NASA testing next-gen lunar rover in Arizona
By Kyle Sherer
17:06 October 27, 2008 PDT
NASA’s 12-wheeled Small Pressurized Rover raced (by lunar rover standards) across the moon-like Arizona outback at 6mph this week as part of the 11th annual Desert Research and Technology Studies (RATS). While the buggies on the Apollo missions only provided a 6 mile range, the presence of two or more SPRs on a lunar landing will provide a range of over 150 miles. Read More
NASA launches Interstellar Boundary Explorer
By Kyle Sherer
16:41 October 20, 2008 PDT
NASA has launched the Interstellar Boundary Explorer, which will observe the edge of our solar system from a 200,000-mile Earth orbit and determine whether or not we’re... err, doomed. Over the next two years, the 23-inch high octagonal craft will study the area of space where solar wind hits the wider galaxy – hopefully it will also find out why the solar wind, which shields us from harmful cosmic rays, has decreased by 25% in the last ten years. Read More
Mining the moon: the Scarab lunar prospecting robot
02:16 October 16, 2008 PDT
Plans are afoot to have humans back on the moon by 2020, but if we want to make it more than just a brief visit and truly begin to colonize the solar system, the challenge will be to find ways to extract and exploit local resources that can help sustain a lunar outpost. That's where the Scarab comes in. The four-wheel, 880-pound lunar prospecting robot designed by Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, and soon to be field tested by NASA on the slopes of a dormant volcano in Hawaii, is equipped to drill and collect three-foot samples of soil and rock while operating in one of the harshest environments imaginable - the moon's southern pole. The rover will act as a terrestrial testbed for the development of technologies that it's hoped can be used to find hydrogen, oxygen and possibly even water, that could be mined from beneath the moon's surface. Read More
Richard Garriott enters private astronaut club
By Emily Clark
02:43 October 14, 2008 PDT
Millionaire video game designer Richard Garriott has made history by becoming the world’s first second-generation American astronaut to set off into outer space. Unlike his NASA astronaut father, Owen Garriott, Richard has made his journey courtesy of space tourism provider, Space Adventures. Read More
SpaceX successfully launches Falcon 1 into orbit
By Kyle Sherer
19:48 September 30, 2008 PDT
With the Space Shuttle scheduled to retire in 2010, alternative transport vessels will need to be developed to keep the International Space Station manned, and to keep options open for possible manned lunar missions. After three failed attempts, the SpaceX Falcon 1 has successfully achieved Earth orbit – the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to do so. Read More
Aircraft seat-bed design offers a comfortable journey for all travelers
By Jude Garvey
18:42 September 24, 2008 PDT
Another stand-out entry in the Create the Future Design Contest is the aircraft seat-bed design entered in the transportation section by Mario Martinez Celis from Mexico City. The concept design allows for 594 seats on the Airbus A380 which normally seats 555 but the real beauty of the configuration is that ALL passengers would be given the comfort of seat-beds with more space than ever before. Read More
Power Dam: wireless, plug and play power management concept
By Emily Clark
17:56 September 22, 2008 PDT
Arizona State University student Travis Andren's entry for the Sustainable Technologies category of the Create the Future Design Contest is a plug and play system designed to combat the phenomena known as “vampire power” or “power leakage”, which causes power loss through plugged in appliances. Read More
MAVEN: NASA's post-Phoenix Mars probe
By Kyle Sherer
00:27 September 22, 2008 PDT
After the Phoenix lander has finished scraping away at Martian soil, the MAVEN spacecraft will examine the atmosphere of the red planet. The US$485 million Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN program is the second stage of NASA’s Mars Scout program, following the successful Phoenix mission. The MAVEN craft will study the planet’s atmospheric gases, upper atmosphere, solar wind, ionosphere, planetary corona, solar EUV and SEPS, and investigate past climate change. Read More
Create the Future Design Contest: re-thinking the wheel
22:09 September 18, 2008 PDT
The NASA Tech Briefs Create the Future Design Contest began in 2002 as a platform for encouraging innovation in product design among engineers, entrepreneurs, and students around the globe. The 2008 competition is open until October 17, but already this year's entries have produced some very thought provoking product ideas and we'll be exploring some of the standouts in detail over coming weeks. The first cab off the rank is an attempt, in fact two attempts, to do what else but reinvent the wheel. German student Caspar Schmitz has designed a castor with an additional axis that could see your shopping trolleys glide over bumps instead of grinding to an abrupt halt. Also in Caspar's portfolio is the transformable wheel chair, an application of "the transformable wheel", a concept which allows a wheel made of flexible plastic to take on an ellipsoid shape when circumstances require a lower center-of-gravity. Read More
First images from NASA's Gamma-ray telescope
By Kyle Sherer
09:14 August 31, 2008 PDT
After two months of calibration and testing, NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope has started to deliver the goods, providing scientists with an all-sky image of the Milky Way. The all-sky image combines 95 hours of “first light” observations from the Large Area Telescope, which is 30 times more sensitive than any previous space-based gamma-ray instrument. Read More
NASA Images open to the public
By Tim Hanlon
02:45 July 28, 2008 PDT
July 28, 2008 NASA has partnered with the non-profit Internet Archive to create NASA Images, a publicly-available resource currently featuring 21 NASA image collections. Read More
New insight into Martian environment
By Kyle Sherer
10:27 July 18, 2008 PDT
NASA’s $720 million Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has provided groundbreaking insight into the environmental makeup of the planet during its earliest geological age. Images from the MRO reveal that the Red Planet was originally a muddy brown, with vast lakes and flowing rivers covering a predominantly clay surface. Read More
Freedom Glen
- November 25, 2009 @ 02:47 UTC
