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Smithsonian X-rays space suits, shows Savile Row's got nothin' on NASA
Give a national museum a 3D scanner and it'll archive its entire collection. Give it an X-ray machine though, and it'll show you the innards of a space suit. As part of its Suited for Space exhibit, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum ran a series of astronauts' work-wear through a CT scanner. The results (above and below) are more than a little haunting, with all manner of hidden buckles, straps and sensors exposed against ghostly transparent fabrics. Why X-rays? Because according to Wired, the Smithsonian wanted to see how the suits were put together, but deconstructing them without damage wasn't exactly feasible. Seeing the level of detail required to keep our spacewalkers safe on the job via online pictures is one thing, but scoping it out in person is likely much cooler. If you want an up-close look for yourself, you have until December 1st to make the trip to Washington, D.C.
Japanese robots Kirobo and Mirata set for launch, literally
Don't get excited about buying the new robots created by Japanese company Dentsu in conjunction with Toyota and the University of Tokyo -- they won't be hitting stores anytime soon. However, do get excited that one of them, namely the white-helmeted droid Kirobo (shown above, left), will actually be launched into orbit as part of a Japan Space Agency mission to the ISS on August 4th. In fact, he and his backup Mirata were endowed with voice recognition, natural language processing, speech synthesis, realistic body language and facial recognition for that very reason. They'll be participating in the "world's first conversational experiment" between people and robots in space, while also mixing it up with kids on earth with educational activities. Hopefully, the astronauts won't give Kirobo any HAL 9000-like control of the station, though the cute 'bots seem malice-free, saying they "wanted to create a future where humans and robots live together and get along." Check it out for yourself in the video after the break.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter will be combat-free, focus on exploration
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is the recently announced (and kind of creepy) new game from creative lead Adrian Chmielarz, formerly of People Can Fly, where he worked on violence-ridden games like Bulletstorm and Gears of War: Judgement. But while those games celebrated a proliferation of firearms, Chmielarz says his new title will be quite the opposite: There won't be any shooting at all.There will be some death, however. "Take Dear Esther, add gameplay, murder and corpses," Chmielarz said to Eurogamer this week. "That's the closest to what The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is." Dear Esther was a first person exploration game more than anything, but Chmielarz added to expect slightly more interactivity in the new title. Players will play as a detective (presumably researching the titular mystery), and will find clues as the game goes on. Chmielarz said that "the focus is not on mind bending puzzles, but on unsettling discoveries."He also said he was considering supporting the Oculus Rift, and other 3D displays and devices. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is set to launch on the PC later this year.
Astronauts on ISS to shoot the breeze in Google+ Hangout, answer your questions
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station and right here on terra firma are clearing their schedules for a Google+ Hangout on February 22nd, which will be the first NASA-coordinated Hangout with the ISS. Between 11 AM and noon ET, astronauts will answer questions previously submitted via video clips and those streaming in from the space agency's Facebook page, Google+ and through Tweets tagged with #askAstro. NASA isn't saying who'll snag live face-time with the spacefarers during the Hangout, but it is asking folks to upload unique and original questions in clips of 30 seconds or less to YouTube by February 12th. Yearning to have a query answered? Hit the jump for the full submission details.
NASA-sponsored study finds lengthy spaceflight can impair astronauts' vision
NASA has of course long been monitoring the effects of spaceflight on astronauts' health, but a recent study sponsored by the space agency is now shedding some new light on one potentially significant problem: their eyesight. While the study only involved seven astronauts, all reported that they suffered some degree of blurry vision while on the space station for more than six months, and some reported that the effects persisted for months after they returned to Earth. The study also found specific abnormalities in all of the astronauts affected, including changes in tissue, fluids, nerves and other structures in the back of the eye. Those problems are all relatively minor and correctable, but researchers are now also taking the findings and working on ways to determine who might be most resistant to any such changes, which could be critical on something as long as a three-year mission to Mars. Additional details of the study are in the press release after the break, and the full report is published in the latest issue of Ophthalmology. [Image: NASA]
Trojan asteroid caught circling Earth, the Greeks deny involvement
Hide your kids, hide your wife, there's an asteroid circling Earth's orbit and we're all gonna... be just fine? Yeah, no need to stock up those '60s fallout shelters folks, this approximately 1,000 feet wide space rock is sitting pretty and safe in one of our Lagrange points. The so-called Trojan asteroid, known as 2010 TK7, was uncovered 50 million miles away by the infrared eyes of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope, and is the first of its kind to be discovered near our humble planet. Typically, these near-Earth objects (NEOs) hide in the sun's glare, but this satellite's unusual circuit around our world helped WISE and the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope confirm its existence. The finding has our best and brightest giddy with the hope similar NEOs "could make excellent candidates for future robotic or human exploration." Unfortunately, our new planetoid friend's too-high, too-low path doesn't quite cut the space mission mustard. No matter, 2010 TK7 still gets to call "First!"
Film recreation of Soviet cosmonaut Gagarin's historic spaceflight to be shown off next month
If you know anything about the history of spaceflight, you're probably already familiar with the historic journey of USSR cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who flew around the Earth in 1961, making him the first person to ever travel beyond our planet's atmosphere. While audio recordings of Gagarin's observations exist, there are no video recordings except for those recently shot at the ISS following a similar plot of his trip, directed by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, who currently lives on the space station. This video has now been matched up with Gagarin's audio, and made into a film to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his flight, which is on April 12th. The movie will be made available on that date for free download on YouTube.
Astronaut shares amazing Twitpics from space, booze not involved
The same social media-savvy astronaut (and current ISS commander) responsible for the first Foursquare check-in from space is now using his exhibitionist skills on Twitter to share some amazing images of earth. Covering everything from the view of our blue planet outside of the Cupola of the International Space Station, to a night view of the Nile river, or morning breaking over the Andes -- it's pretty surreal stuff and definitely puts your tweets from last night's bar-hopping to shame. We're also glad to see NASA's presence on Twitter be slightly more uplifting than the long, agonizing death of the Mars Phoenix rover. To view some of the shots in question, see the gallery below, or hit the link to Douglas H. Wheelock's (a.k.a @Astro_Wheels) Twitter account to take it all in. Oh and we should also mention he accepts requests, so if there's something you really want to see let him know. %Gallery-107741%
Ion propulsion engine could take you to Mars in 39 days
Ready for some interplanetary exploration? We've had the force shields, currency, and refuel stations all sorted out for a while, and now here come the ion thrusters we've been missing to make manned trips to Mars really viable. Currently, a return journey to Mars can take up to two years, with crew members having to wait a full year for the planets to realign, but with ion propulsion -- which uses electricity to accelerate ions and produce small but longevous thrust -- ships can get there within a reasonably tight 39-day window. Ion propulsion rocket engines were first deployed successfully by NASA in the Deep Space 1 probe in 1998, and the latest iteration's successful Earth-bound testing has led to plans for a flight to the moon and use on the International Space Station as test scenarios for the technology. It's all still very much in the early stages, of course, but should all that testing, checking, and refinement bear fruit, we might finally have a whole new world to colonize and sell sneakers on. [Thanks, Davis]
Open the iPod bay doors, HAL: iPod spotted on STS-125 space shuttle mission
What's nicer than to come back into a nice, cozy space shuttle after a hard day fixing the Hubble Space Telescope, taking off your sweaty space suit, and the listening to some tunes on your iPod?TUAW reader Brandon pointed out a photo (below) from the latest mission that showed Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel grinning in the shuttle mid-deck after the third extravehicular activity (EVA). Plastered to one wall with Velcro are an iPod and some sort of speaker system. A closeup view (below) shows that this appears to be a 4th-generation iPod, either the iPod Photo or iPod Color, with what looks like a Belkin TunePower battery pack. As for the speaker system, I leave that to our readers to let us know what model we may be looking at. Since Astronaut Mike Massimino used the Hubble Servicing Mission to send the first Twitter messages from space as @astro_mike, we wonder when the first iPod touch or MacBook Air wlll be seen in orbit. This isn't the first time we've seen Apple products in space (for example, last year's STS-123 mission also had an AstroiPod on board), and it most certainly won't be the last.
NASA's newest e-nose for ISS thinks you're wearing too much cologne
Electronic noses are nothing new, but it's always interesting when you throw space into the mix. NASA's most recent Endeavor mission has taken with it a third generation e-nose that's the size of a shoebox, where it will act as a detection and warning system for air contaminants. The ISS currently has no system and relies wholly on the astronauts' actual noses. Developed and built by AEMC, the new nose's dynamic range is from less than one part per million to about 10,000 parts per million -- much more sensitive than human honkers. The e-nose has 32 sensors made of polymer films that respond to different chemicals by changing electrical conductivity, and it's capable of both detecting and analyzing what it "smells." The nose is going to be operational on the space station for a beginning trial period of six months, and we have a feeling that its first accomplishment will be to point out that there's something strange about the water. [Via Physorg]
University of Washington's Raven to try surgery in simulated spacecraft
If you thought ASTRO and NextSat were the only two autonomous robots frolicking around in testing environments, Raven would certainly beg to differ, as NASA has recently announced that the University of Washington's mobile surgical robot will soon be off to tackle surgical tasks whilst underwater. The 12th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations test will see the mechanical MD pick up the tools in a simulated spacecraft submerged near Key Largo, Florida, where the "mission will test current technology for sending remote-controlled surgical robotic systems into space." Thanks to a combination of wired and wireless networks, a trio of seasoned veterans back in Seattle will be dictating the movements remotely, as the bot attempts to "suture a piece of rubber and move blocks from one spindle to another." Interestingly, there was no word on whether Raven was scheduled to pick up the night shift at Seattle Grace upon its return from the depths.[Via MedLaunches]
Motion-sensitive "power skins" could generate power in space
Just in case you ever plan on heading up into space to see your soon-to-be-painted logo on the Y*N*I*S satellite up close and personal, you might be interested in this. Devised by researchers at a Cambridge-based venture, dubbed IntAct Labs, the motion-sensitive "power skin" could be used and worn by humans and inanimate objects alike in order to generate electricity, and the concept was derived from our very ears. After investigating how biological organisms are such "ultra-efficient generators of power," the crew homed in on a tiny protein called prestin, which can "convert electrical voltage into motion or produce electrical charges in response to mechanical stresses," and is actually found in the outer hair cells of the human ear. Ideally, networks of these proteins would be linked in order to form skins that could coat people or objects and generate energy from something as simple as walking around or being in the path of wind gusts, and if everything pans out, a prestin-powered research station could be set up on Mars without a manmade perpetual power source in tow.[Thanks, Sparky]
University of Florida scientists build a faster supercomputer for spacecraft
Haven't you ever sat in your space shuttle/module/station and said to yourself, "Gee, I wish that we had faster computers like those terrestrial scientists do." No? Well our actual astronauts apparently have. See, while you've got your current dual-core (soon to be quad- or oct-core) desktop PC, computers in space have to endure a great deal more stress -- you know, like that whole launching into space thing, not to mention cosmic radiation, and a whole host of other rugged requirements, which takes a toll on what processors can be used. Engineers at the University of Florida (including Alan George, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, pictured at right) and Honeywell Aerospace announced late this week that a new supercomputer 100 times faster than any current space-bound computer (that's 20 processors at a combined power of 100 gigaflops) is under development. If all goes according to plan, it'll get hitched to an unmanned NASA rocket aboard a test mission in 2009.[Via Roland Piquepaille]
Video Sandwich: October 17, 2006
It's been a while. It's time for another Video Sandwich. We love looking at PSP ads here, and I would have to say that this "viral" ad is pretty effective. It tells you that you can play your PSP anywhere, any place... but would the PSP function in a low-grav, no-oxygen environment? Something tells me no. MISLEADING AD!!! (Okay, maybe it's just puffery.)Below, you'll see a fan-made parody of one of the earliest PSP ads: you know, the ones where they threw them around, from friend to friend. I was always horrified by that ad, just because I asked: what would you do if you dropped it??? That's $250 down the drain! Well, thankfully, these kids find out so you don't have to.
