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Watch the first full-color HD videos of Earth from space
It's no longer a challenge to get astonishingly sharp photos of the Earth from space, but video? That's another matter. UrtheCast is about to open the floodgates, however. It just released the first batch of full-color, high-definition video of Earth recorded from the International Space Station. In many ways, the extremely sharp footage (with detail down to 3.3 feet) of Barcelona, Boston and London is like an internet mapping site come to life -- all those pathways are suddenly full of moving boats and cars. The Iris imaging system that recorded these movies won't be fully operational until the summer, but the preview suggests that its customers will get plenty of insights into traffic and other activity that's harder to track from the ground.
Should this be the flag for planet Earth?
What's going to happen when astronauts finally land on Mars? In all likelihood, the expedition will be a joint effort between multiple nations and space agencies. So when a perilous explorer steps out onto the red planet, we might need a new flag. One that represents Earth. Such a mission is unlikely to happen any time soon, but already one designer has drawn up a potential flag design. It features a blue background and seven interlocking rings, which creator Oskar Pernefeldt says forms a flower. It was made for a graduation project, so there's nothing to suggest it'll be adopted, and oddly NASA is listed among the project's contributors. Do you think it does the job? Let us know below. Update: NASA has confirmed it wasn't involved in the creation of the flag design. "When we go to Mars, we will carry an American flag," a spokesperson told Engadget.
Watch gravity waves ripple through Earth's atmosphere
You might think of gravity as an invisible force here on Earth, but that's not entirely true... if you have the right computer simulation, that is. Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research have developed a climate model that shows the gravity waves in the upper atmosphere, where their amplitude is strong enough to create huge ripples. The trick is a higher-resolution model that replicates the waves at their source, and follows them on their way up. As you can see here, the results are dramatic -- gravity is virtually invisible near the surface, but it's impossible to miss when you're 60 miles up.
Russia's broken ISS supply vessel burns up in the atmosphere
An out-of-control Russian spacecraft has finally met its demise after re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. Progress M-27M was supposed to perform a resupply mission with the ISS, but ground control quickly lost contact after its launch on April 28th. Since then, the craft has been orbiting and slowly descending towards the Earth due to natural atmospheric drag and the planet's gravitational pull. Now, Russia's Roscosmos space agency has confirmed that Progress M-27M broke through over the central Pacific Ocean on Friday morning (May 8th). Most of the craft is expected to have burnt up during re-entry, but there's a chance some debris survived. Engineers are still trying to work out why they lost control in the first place -- it occurred after separation with the Soyuz 2-1A rocket, although reports suggest the rocket, rather than Progress, was to blame. Thankfully, no-one was hurt and the ISS is in no immediate danger, given the crew still has plenty of supplies.
Russia lets anyone use Earth-sensing data from its civilian satellites
The US government has been willing to loosen its grip on satellite data, but what about the info from other countries? Don't worry, that's opening up as well. Russia has declared that the Earth-sensing data it collects from civilian satellites is now available to the public, not just the government -- if you want to track St. Petersburg's urban sprawl, you probably can. Officials are keen to tout the advantages for Russian businesses that rely on maps, but the move should also help anyone who wants a more complete picture of how the world works. [Image credit: AP Photo]
EVE Evolved: What does Thera mean for EVE?
If you've been keeping up with the recent news updates on EVE Online, you've probably heard about the upcoming Rhea update scheduled for December 9th. This mega patch will introduce the new tech 3 Tactical Destroyer ship class, Sleeper incursions into normal space, hands-on WASD flight controls, and 101 new wormhole systems (including 25 that are limited to small ships). The new wormhole systems have had all of their planets shattered by an as-yet unknown stellar phenomenon, and clues as to what transpired there will be hidden in the rubble. This infusion of new content and story will mark the first time the wormhole storyline and gameplay have been significantly expanded in over four years. Each of the new shattered star systems is guaranteed to have at least one outgoing wormhole leading to normal space at all times, increasing the likelihood that pirates will catch you exploring or farming them. And since these systems won't have any in-tact moons, you won't be able to put up a permanent starbase to retreat to if hostiles appear. I'm pretty excited for exploring this new lawless frontier, but it's a unique shattered star system called Thera that I'm most looking forward to finding. Thera will be the first and only wormhole system to have fully kitted NPC stations and will serve as neutral ground for anyone who wants to live there. It's been described as the Mos Eisley of EVE, a permanent home to pirates, PvP corps, and smugglers looking to make some quick ISK. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I look at how the Thera system could revolutionise EVE for a lot of players and where the EVE storyline could go as a result.
Here's what a year's worth of carbon dioxide looks like
It's easy to talk about carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their effect on our planet, but visualizing them? That's hard. Thankfully, NASA has stepped up to the plate with a computer model that shows how CO2 travels across Earth's atmosphere in the space of a year. As you'll see in the clip below, a lot of gas in the northern hemisphere originates in major pollution centers across Asia, Europe and North America before it drifts across the globe. The abundance of plant life in the spring and summer quickly cuts down on CO2 levels, but the chemical comes roaring back once fall arrives -- and the concentrations are higher than NASA would like to see.
Life on the ISS as seen through social media
Being hip to PR is certainly part of the job description for NASA astronauts, but some are especially social media-savvy. Take fresh ISS resident Gregory "Reid" Wiseman: the man knows he's in a privileged position to take photos and videos, and holy crap has he shared. Via Twitter, Reid has provided nearly 500 stunning images of Earth, the ISS, his fellow astronauts and even a prosaic toilet repair -- sorry, space toilet repair. Wiseman was also the first astronaut to post a Vine in space, and has so far posted subjects like a massive lightning storm over Texas and the sun going around in a circle and never setting. Wiseman isn't quite as chatty as Canadian colleague Chris Hadfield yet, but he's only been aboard for 45 days. Anyway, if we had his view (as shown in the gallery and Vines below), we'd be speechless too.
As the Cassini Spacecraft takes a faraway Earth picture, you can follow along
Earth will get a very not-too-close closeup today from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, now on the far side of the planet Saturn. The photo session will take place between 2:27 PM and 2:42 PM PDT. The Earth will be seen from 900 million miles away. It won't be a detailed image, but it is the longest-range photo ever taken of the Earth. This will likely be the one and only image the spacecraft takes of the Earth. You can follow along with a couple of iOS apps that will virtually take you there. First, SkySafari has just had an update to the iOS and Mac apps they offer. SkySafari's basic version will be free on the iTunes Store from July 19th through July 21st; it's normally US$3 at the iTunes Store. With SkySafari, observers around the globe can easily use their iPhone or GPS, compass and accelerometer to easily locate Saturn in the sky. A brand-new release of SkySafari Plus ($9.99 sale price) and Pro (3.8.1) ($29.99) lets mobile app users fly to Saturn, and simulate the view from Cassini. These powerful apps will be offered at up to 25 percent off regular price today, the day of the event, through Sunday, July 21st. Meanwhile, another great Astronomy app, Distant Suns (Classic) for iOS is having a half-price sale today at $1.99. Distant Suns Max is $3.99 down from a regular price of $9.99. Distant Suns can take you for a virtual view of the Earth from Saturn just as it will appear to the Cassini spacecraft. The Cassini mission has been pretty awesome. People around the world are gathering at planetariums and other public places to wave back at Saturn when the images of Earth are being taken. After the moon, I think my first views through my telescope when I was young were of Saturn. It's a beautiful sight. If you want to get a look at Saturn today and tonight here's a guide to help you. Saturn will be in the southwestern sky tonight from North America. With powerful binoculars or a small telescope, you should be able to see the rings. Here's another bit of trivia: Our own Steve Sande's wife Barbara was on the Cassini launch team. Well done! %Gallery-194190%
Google refreshes Maps and Earth with 800,000 megapixels of new satellite imagery
It's not easy being a satellite; permanent imaging gear becomes outdated mere months after launch, and Mother Nature is constantly caught photobombing close-ups, throwing naughty clouds between a lens and the shot. All that makes for some pretty inconsistent online viewing. Fortunately, Google's stepped in to set things straight, combining the magic of photo stitching with the capture power of a brand-spanking-new Landsat 8. The result is a cloud-free planet, enabling millions of web-equipped "explorers" to realize improved aerial views as seen from 438 miles above sea level. It's pretty spectacular, and it's about friggin' time.
Daily iPad App: NASA's Earth As Art shows us our beautiful planet
NASA has a series of excellent educational iOS apps that appeal to adults and kids alike. Most have a strong scientific bent, but if you lean more towards art than science, NASA has an iPad app for you, too. Mixing a little bit of earth and planetary science with a keen eye for art, NASA has created its Earth As Art app, an iPad title that shows off the unseen beauty of our planet. NASA's Earth As Art app picks the best images of Earth from the Terra, Landsat 5, Landsat 7, EO-1 and Aqua satellites. It also adds in some choice photos from the USGS Landsat image gallery. The satellites used to take these photos can measure light outside the visible range. The resulting images show you the Earth as you have never seen it before. The images are presented in gallery format, allowing you to see a thumbnail of each stunning photograph. You can also switch to list format, which is sorted by geographical location. When viewing an image, you can pinch and zoom to look closely at a specific section. Each image has a brief and only slightly scientific description that you can access by tapping on the "i" in the corner. You may not understand the scientific reasons why each photo looks the way it does, but this is an art-centric app. You are expected to sit back and enjoy the images, not necessarily dissect them. Besides stunning images, the app also has a several time-lapse photos that show changes in a specific location. I particularly enjoyed the Dubai series that shows the creation of its artificial palm islands and the rapid development of the area. The changes in just a short 11 years is unbelievable. The NASA Earth As Art app is available for free. It's an iPad app and requires iOS 4.3 or later.
Google Earth 7.1 for Android introduces Street View and improved location search
Google Earth's desktop version added Leap Motion controls in version 7.1, and now its Android counterpart has picked up a few new features. Available today, version 7.1 introduces Street View which lets users take Pegman from space to your neighborhood with the power of a double tap. Search is also enhanced with updated location suggestions and improved directions that displays routes for transit, walking, biking and driving in 3D. Rounding out Earth's new feature set is a revamped interface that lists layers like Panoramio Photos, 3D buildings and Wikipedia on a slide-out pane. So, if you're having trouble figuring out where your good friend Waldo is, perhaps this refreshed app will assist you with your quest. Swing by the source link below for more details.
Google Earth gets Leap Motion support, lets you explore the planet with touch-free control
How are you celebrating Earth Day? If you're one of 10,000 Leap Motion devs with an early unit, you could very well be exploring Mount Everest or venturing through the Amazon, just by waving your hands. Google's Earth app, which has reportedly been downloaded more than a billion times, just scored a refresh today -- version 7.1 -- delivering Leap Motion gesture control to your desktop. Both the free and paid versions now support touch-free navigation through the USB desktop device, which is expected in stores next month. The update, however, available for Windows, Mac and Linux, is yours for the taking now.
Visualized: an Earth-year through stunning NASA imagery (video)
Our planet had kind of a rough year in 2012, but thanks to its array of satellites and a certain floating lab, NASA documented every divine and terrifying moment from afar. On top of the usual beauty shots and time-lapses rendered by the ISS and true-color satellites, NASA also showed some spectacular data and modeling visualizations of atmospheric movement, storms and ocean salinity. That helps even the densest of us understand how hurricanes form, gulf streams flow and arctic ice breaks off and drifts seaward. But enough talk -- if a picture equals a thousand words, there are three million of them in the two minute video, after the break.
NOVA's Earth From Space documentary shows a super-connected planet (video)
We've already had a meteorite shower to remind us that Earth is just a small part of a much, much larger universe. If that wasn't enough perspective for you, PBS is offering a follow-up through NOVA's newly streaming "Earth From Space" documentary. The two-hour show illustrates how our planet's individual climates and ecosystems are really part of one larger unit, with ripple effects that we didn't always anticipate until an abundance of earth observation satellites made them clear. You'll have to be an American to watch before the documentary, at least before it arrives in disc form on April 2nd. Every Earth citizen can still watch the trailer after the break.
Bungie confirms leak of story info, concept art for Destiny
An IGN reader has provided the site with a bundle of Destiny art and story materials that it says were compiled by an ad agency. Destiny is the long-rumored secret project that will serve as Bungie's followup to the Halo series. The art shows an Earth in a future "littered with the ruins of man's Golden Age," according to the materials, with a huge alien ship sitting above the planet. There are also shots of various soldiers and war vehicles, along with a more final logo similar to the one we've seen before.And now Bungie has added to the collection with its own official piece of concept art above. On the official Bungie blog, the company vaguely confirms the leaks, saying, "Go ahead. Take a peek. It's alright. We weren't quite ready, but we will be soon, and we can't wait to finally show you what we've really been up to."The leaked documents describe Destiny as "fun and accessible to all," and say the property's goal is "to create a universe as deep, tangible and relatable as that of the Star Wars franchise." That leaked contract between Bungie and publisher Activision about the project suggests that this title will involve four games, as many DLC releases, and stretch across the next console generation, so it's possible that this art reveals the very first step in what might be a long journey forward.
Alt-week 27.10.12: ancient texts, super-Earths and special-ops mice
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. If, like us, you struggle to read the front of the Corn Flakes box of a morning, you likely gave up any hope of cracking ancient codes long ago. If you didn't, however, then your time might be now -- as one of the oldest scripts know to man is still up for grabs. Prefer just to observe? No problem, as we've got super-Earth-searching satellites, military mice and vertical farms, all for your viewing reading pleasure. If you hadn't guessed already, this is alt-week
Japan's LED-stacked cubesat will burn Morse code into the heavens
If you thought cloud writing was cool, then how about a message from space burnt into the night sky? A group of unassuming cubesats recently left the comfort of the ISS and joined Earth's orbit -- among them was FITSAT-1 (aka Niwaka), a four-inch-cubed Japanese satellite covered in high-powered LEDs. Its mission is to broadcast the message "Hi this is Niwaka Japan" in Morse code, using bursts of intense light to draw dots and dashes across the heavens. FITSAT-1 was originally planned to appear only over Japan, but a flurry of interest means it'll be touring the globe, starting next month. It'll also find time for its studies, beaming VGA images snapped with an onboard camera back to Earth, to test a high-speed data transmitter. While its creator, Professor Takushi Tanaka, has said the Morse broadcast has "no practical aim," we think it would make a good emergency beacon for natural disasters (or, more worryingly, alien invasions). FITSAT-1 will try and fulfill all requests for appearances, but it can't control the weather, so you'd better hope for a clear night if it visits your part of the world. If you're as excited as we are to see it in action, bookmark the source links below, which should be updated with its orbit schedule in the near future. And, even if you don't speak Japanese, the video after the break will give you an idea of what to expect.
Google offers up more high-res places in Maps / Earth, intros additional 45-degree imagery
Google's mapping offerings are getting a little bit better this week. The software giant's announced the addition of a slew of high-res aerial and satellite images for 17 cities and 112 countries / regions -- it's a long list, so your best bet is accessing the source link below to check out all of the offerings. Google's also adding 45-degree imagery in Maps for a total of 51 cities -- 37 in the US and 14 outside -- letting you check out the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the buildings of Madison, Wisconsin from an all new angle. Forget the plane tickets -- all you need for your next vacation is a browser and an overactive imagination.
Crysis series 75% off on Steam this weekend
The Crysis franchise is 75 percent off this weekend on Steam. Crysis and its semi-sequel, Crysis Warhead, are only $5 apiece. Crysis 2 is currently $10, while all three games are also available as a bundle for $17.50.The discounts will deactivate on Monday, September 10. The latest game in the series, Crysis 3, should be available in February 2013.%Gallery-127228%
