The $24 billion solar panel market could use a good dusting. The benefits of solar energy are well-known, but what’s rarely mentioned is its nemesis: dust. Even a little bit—one-seventh of an ounce per square yard—can weaken a panel’s power conversion by 40%.
To tackle the problem, scientists looked to Mars, where similar technology was developed for space missions to the planet. NASA, along with Boston University, originally developed the self-cleaning technology for its Mars missions, to battle the planet’s red dust. Some of the rovers and other vehicles are solar-powered, and the self-cleaning coating on their solar panels helps them explore more effectively. → Read More
Remember the Robonaut? It’s (he’s?) a joint project between NASA and GM aimed at creating a robot that can perform many of the tasks humans do in space. The funny thing is, though, he’s being sent into space as if he’s a crate of eggs. If this guy is going to stand up to heat, vacuum, and micrometeorites, shouldn’t he be able to handle a rocket launch? When they send him up, he’ll be wearing mittens, wrapped in foam, and supported in the back and shoulders, because he’s had some tenderness there and asked for it. Some astronaut! → Read More
This is what I like to see, homebrew space equipment. It’s a spacesuit that was invented by the two gentlemen at Final Frontier Design, one that made its debut at the Eyebeam Center for Art + Technology in New York last week. (Wonder why we weren’t invited?) Besides merely looking neat, it provides all the protection and functionality of a Nasa spacesuit, but only costs about one-fifth of what Nasa usually has to pay. Consider Nasa has approximately $17.50 to its name these days, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to put the designers on some sort of retainer? → Read More
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 → Read More
OK, this is great. It’s an updated version of Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope, and t’s all about Mars. Microsoft spent three years developing this new version of the application, with its engineers put together after studying super high-resolution Nasa photos. The result is, much like Google Earth, you can zoom around the Red Planet, taking in the sights and sounds right from your computer. → Read More
And now Nasa hates the Jabulani. Wonderful. I suppose Nasa has nothing better to do now that it has less money than your little sister has in her piggy bank. The former space agency says that the ball becomes “unpredictable” at speeds greater than 44 mph, and that the high altitude that many of the games were played only exacerbates the problem. → Read More
The very last Space Shuttle flight will take place on February 26, 2011. After that, American astronauts will have to bum rides with the Russians if they want to visit the International Space Station. Shame. → Read More
You’re looking at the possible future of space flight. It’s known as the Supersonic Green Machine, and the rationale behind it is was to create a spacecraft that minimizes the effect of sonic booms. The craft, designed by Lockheed Martin for Nasa, incorporates what amounts to a spoiler. The “inverted V” should improved airflow over the craft, thereby lessening that destructive boom. → Read More
First off, let me say that neatorama.com could be my favorite URL ever. Moving on… A Massachusetts high school science teacher recently put his three best students on a special assignment. They were told to imagine a world where some sort of spacecraft was hurtling toward Earth, and that it was up to them to figure out how they would record the event while onboard a separate aircraft. As you might expect, the teacher then REVEALED THAT HE WAS THE HIGHER POWER~! Wait, no. The teacher then revealed that their little science experiment was, in fact, an actual mission that would be carried out in conjunction with NASA. → Read More
We, and by “we” I mean all life on Planet Earth, owe our very existence to the Sun. It’s nothing more than a typical star, really, but without it, this planet would be as barren as the day is long. (CG: Your home for old-timey phrases.) With that in mind, here’s what could become a pretty important story as we move forward. NASA now believes that, for much of the modern era, the Sun has been, for lack of a better term, “asleep.” What happens, then, to our electricity-based infrastructure when the Sun “wakes up”? The Solar Wind has already blown away the atmospheres of planets lacking a magnetosphere, so what else does the Sun have up its sleeve? → Read More
The Voyager 2 transmission hiccup appears to have been identified. The problem? “A value in a single memory location was changed from a 0 to a 1,” said JPL’s Veronia McGregor. As I’ve said countless times to end users complaining about “computer problems”: computers are all ones and zeroes inside, and who can tell what will happen when a one unexpectedly becomes a zero, or vice versa? Kudos to everyone at NASA for identifying the problem, and making plans to reset Voyager’s memory so that its on-going mission may continue! → Read More
Isn’t she beautiful? The 25-year old Space Shuttle Atlantis is ready for her last mission. She has made the journey into space 31 times and this will hopefully be her last. After returning from delivering a mini research station to the Internation Space Station, she will be kept in a state of readiness in case there is an accident aboard the ISS. It’s a big day for NASA geeks. → Read More
Our Gadgets of Days Gone By series is over, and it focused pretty much on consumer goods that made our lives more entertaining or more bearable. But there’s an awful lot of technology from decades past still in use today. Take for example the Voyager spacecraft from NASA. Launched more than 30 years ago, Voyager 2 completed its primary mission in 1989 but has continued to provide invaluable scientific data and shows little signs of obsolescence. With something as useful and irreplaceable as Voyager 2, a small glitch in communications is not cause to scrap the program, but instead a reason to scramble the brightest folks available to resolve the problem — no easy feat when communications with the probe take more than half a day to reach their target! → Read More
While we have our own ideas about what should constitute a slow motion film, I guess this one from NASA is okay. I mean, if you like explosions and enormous hulks of metal rising into the air, and flames.
Okay, okay, it’s totally freaking awesome. → Read More
It was 20 years ago today that NASA (working in conjunction with the European Space Agency) launched the Hubble Space Telescope into the heavens—well, a low Earth orbit, at least. I recall some of the buzz back then along the lines of “What a giant waste of money!” Once they fixed that mirror, it was smooth sailing. → Read More
In what seems to me a rather unexpected partnership, it looks like one of the USA’s most endangered car companies is teaming up with one of the USA’s most underfunded programs to create… I know not what. Chrysler is hoping to get some tips on battery technology and composite materials from the space program, and I’m guessing NASA will take what it can get when it comes to partnerships, as long as there’s money in it. → Read More
Look at it. Isn’t it beautiful? NASA says there are more than 10 million stars in that cluster, most of which are older than than our Sun. Just makes you think doesn’t it? → Read More
Look at that pic. Take a real good look. Got an idea? Well, you’re probably wrong. → Read More
Where do you live? Columbus? Miami? Paris? Lisbon? Cool, good for you. And I bet you have a nice view of your city’s park or monument, too. That’s fine, but your view doesn’t even compare to this. It’s a photo from the shiny, new observation deck of the International Space Station. That’s the Sahara Desert down there. → Read More
Sit back, relax, and enjoy this extensive HD video tour of International Space Station. You better enjoy the ISS while you can. There’s a good chance it’s going to crash into Planet Earth within the next couple of years because of budget issues unless the ESA can save it. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
