Oh, you didn’t know? Humans truly entered the digital age in 2002. That’s when “worldwide digital storage capacity overtook total analog capacity.” It’s also the year Triple H won the Royal Rumble, but that’s hardly relevant.

That stat comes from a article in the February 10 issue of Science Express. The article, the handiwork of professors from the University of Southern California and the University of Catalonia in Chile, describes how the role of information has changed in society as it’s become digitized.

For example, if you were to burn to CD all of the earth’s information, and there’s 295 exabytes of information out there, that stacks of CDs would reach beyond the moon. (And your next question is likely , “Well who put the moon there?” Calm down, Bill. It’s nap time.) How about this one: if you were to all all of the world’s information, and had each bit represented by a star, then you could say that there’s a galaxy’s worth of information floating around the planet. (Not that all galaxies are created equal with respect to the number of starts they contain, but you get the idea.) But that’s still less information than is stored on a human’s DNA molecule.

People sent 1.9 zettabytes of information over the air in 2007, which would be like each person on the planet reading 174 newspapers every day.

Considering our newspapers are now digital, who know how long this little analogy will be relevant?

We reported about the plans last year and again just a few months ago, and now they are getting more concrete: Japan seems to be finally ready to send robots to explore the moon. An advisory panel launched by the Japanese government has spent one year preparing a report that proposes a lunar exploration program that will cost no less than $2.3 billion.

As a first step, a robotic vehicle will be sent to the moon by as early as 2015. Then, an unmanned base will be set up that will be used by a team of robots (by 2020 at the latest). The role of the robots is to explore the planet’s natural resources, set up solar panels to generate energy and collect geological samples, amongst others.

Japan’s Transport Minister Seiji Maehara, who is also the country’s head of “space development”, is expected to receive the report “soon”. One justification for the robot mission is that with countries like China or India catching up quickly, Japan is currently in danger of losing ground in the Asian space race.

Via 47 News [JP]

I love seeing the shots that NASA has been releasing from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter! The latest is from the Apollo 16 site, and they really timed this one right. The LRO was passing over the site exactly at noon (local time of course) so there’s a minimum amount of shadowing, and a maximum amount of contrast.

The resolution on the picture is truly amazing, you can see where the lunar module landed, where they parked the LRV, and even trails where the astronauts walked across the surface. There’s even a mark leading to where the astronauts conducted moonquake experiments by setting off explosives! This picture is much cleaner then the previous shot, which showed the Apollo 14 site, but was taken at a different time of day and had significantly more shadowing.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter also has more instruments aboard and one of them, the Diviner Lunar Radiometer developed and operated by the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is sending back some wild info about the Moon’s surface temperature.

The contraption works by measuring the infrared radiation’s intensity that’s emitted by the lunar surface. The hotter the surface, the great the emitted infrared radiation’s intensity. The map generated by Diviner will likely be used to help plan future manned Moon missions – whenever the hell that might be. But even still some of the info sent back is still of scientific value.

Apparently some spots on the lunar surface are always in a shadow and can nearly reach absolute zero. It’s thought that these spots can hold frozen water and might be some of the coldest spots in the galaxy including Pluto. These cold traps as they are called have been theorized about for nearly 50 years so you can imagine geek-types getting excited about the possible confirmation.

The unit will take about six months to complete its survey. The instrument was first turned activated on July 5 though, so it’s about 50% done.

Hopefully John Hodgman was correct in calling Obama the first nerd president. If not, humans might not reach the Moon anytime soon because we all know a jock wouldn’t fund a science project. The current target is 2020 and the development is already underway of the vehicles needed to get people there. But there is one small issue: Money. NASA needs lots of money.

NASA had $3 billion cut from its budget back in February, but according to a committee setup by Obama, that’s just a drop in the bucket. In order to keep NASA on the current timetable, the agency is going to need $50 billion more added to its budget. But this is Washington we’re talking about and they want solutions, not begging – unless you’re Wall Street. The committee is going to present alternatives including new vehicles and different space targets.

So as it stands today, manned missions to the Moon seems like a pipe dream. Everyone knows our country is broke.

Fundamentally both the old and new tire are similar. Both utilize a wire mesh surface that can hold up very well in extreme temperatures unlike rubber. But the first generation used a weave of wires, where the new one is made up from springs hand-woven together. This new design allows for nearly all the energy expelled on the tire to be reclaimed, which dramatically cuts down on heat. Plus the springs are durable and and redundant if damaged, as there are 800 of them within each tire.

The Goodyear and NASA team had to go back reconstruct the Apollo tires with help from the original designers as most of the documentations was reportably destroyed thanks to the Cold War mentality. But once the old tires were remade, the team set out to design the next generation. Unlike the older ones, these new tires can sport a snazzy five-star rim because each wheel doesn’t have an electric engine within each wheel.

NASA was so impressed with the new tires that the agency took it as a show and tell item to the recent “Day on the Hill” event in Washington. Who knows, maybe someday Goodyear will find a way to incorporate the design into tires that can be used here on Earth.

AutoEvolution & NASA

Oh, and the photos of the pen are locked down by a bulletproof copywrite to SpacePen.com so what you’re looking at is not the actual pen. SpacePen.com apparently doesn’t want anyone using this thing called the “Internet.” But I love you all and thought I would post the neat pen despite the dick move.[PSGallery=92tycm8o03]

This is the very first photo that shows an astronaut’s face while on the Moon as their faces are hidden behind a visor in every other picture. This one is actually a single frame from a video that was being shot from the Lunar Lander and has been converted from film to high-def by Spacecraft Films for Andrew Chailkin’s new book, Voices from the Moon.

As it turns out, Neil Armstrong was the one generally with the camera and most of the photos from the Apollo 11 missions are of Buzz, the second man on the Moon. It’s a good thing that this newly released image will probably go down in history as one of the top, iconic images from that first mission.

The LA Times is keeping the buzz alive with a fantastic article about the construction of the Saturn V rocket that shot the astronauts to the Moon.

“What set us apart was our ability to build a very big rocket to get us to the moon,” said Roger Launius, the Smithsonian Institution’s space historian, reflecting on the U.S.’ race with the then-Soviet Union to reach the moon first. “The Russians were never able to do that.”

If you think about it, that’s about as accurate as it gets. Our engineers who were backed by a massive budget, out-developed the Soviets with the Saturn V rocket. Well done, boys. Well done.

As soon as the new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter sent back the first high-res photos of the moon a few days ago, I was eager to see the Apollo landing sites. It’s not that I didn’t believe that man walked on the moon 40 years ago, but rather out of simple nerd curiosity. Well, NASA made good on its promise and just released images showing the landing sites of Apollo 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17. I just wish that the pics could show a bit more. These are still impressive though considering the LRO is around 30 miles up and the descent stage module’s deck is only 12 feet in diameter. And yes, we know that these could have been photoshopped by a 10 year old, conspiracy nut. Move along.

Click through for two more clips.

[via Boing Boing Gadgets]

NASA is gearing up for a trip back to the moon and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is one of the first steps. This satellite will orbit the moon at only 50 km and send back high resolution, 3D  images of the lunar surface to map out potential landing sites . And yes, it will be able to get clear photos of the Apollo gear left behind, which will no doubt send conspiracy idiots scrambling for more excuses.

NASA,

“Our first images were taken along the moon’s terminator — the dividing line between day and night — making us initially unsure of how they would turn out,” said LROC Principal Investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University in Tempe. “Because of the deep shadowing, subtle topography is exaggerated, suggesting a craggy and inhospitable surface. In reality, the area is similar to the region where the Apollo 16 astronauts safely explored in 1972. While these are magnificent in their own right, the main message is that LROC is nearly ready to begin its mission.”

Click for larger versions.

North Korea’s public portrayal of the event as a complete success was similar in its celebratory tone to the happy note it struck in 1998 after having failed to loft a satellite into orbit.

A general rule of engineering is that failures reveal more than successes. If so, North Korea — which has now test-fired three long-range rockets, each time unsuccessfully — is learning a lot about limitations.

This experience is fairly consistent over in North Korea – a great deal of posturing followed by an engineering failure. However, experts believe that continued launches will eventually prove fruitful and the next Taepodong-2 may break the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of the moon, provided, as this Onion article suggests, they bring the moon to Pyongyang.

http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/onn_embed/embedded_player.swf
Kim Jong Il Announces Plan To Bring Moon To North Korea

Buy your own North Korean missile launcher here.