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NASA says International Space Station is now 'essentially' complete
The news got a bit overlooked among the hubbub of Discovery's final flight and the first humanoid robot sent into space, but the recently completed shuttle mission also marked another significant milestone: it delivered the final room to the International Space Station. While there are still some additional components to be added, the new room dubbed the "Permanent Multipurpose Module" is NASA's final contribution to the actual assembly of the station and, according to the agency, it means that it has "essentially completed" all that it had planned. The two remaining shuttle missions will just be carrying supplies and spare parts, along with a little $1.5 billion experiment called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which will be used to search for fun stuff like antimatter galaxies and dark matter.
Robonaut 2: the trailer
In a world where the space shuttle program was in its last days... one robot answered the call to serve... persevered... and found that... just maybe... he had the right stuff too. Now... the mission is set... the countdown is on... and the ticket is one-way. Thursday, February, 24th. 2011. Robonaut 2: The Beginning. [Thanks, Joe B.]
Robonaut 2 will Tweet from Space, oust HAL as mayor
Robonaut 2, the humanoid offspring of NASA and GM, is set to blast off to the International Space Station next month. The highly dexterous anthropomorphic robot is designed to ultimately assist crews with dangerous and repetitive tasks like space walks and uh, managing the Twitter feed. R2, as it's affectionately known, is still a prototype, and will be hitching a ride aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery to test performance in microgravity. While there, R2 (or at least the team operating it) will be Tweeting live updates from the man cave via the @AstroRobonaut (hashtag #4R2) Twitter account. But please, for the love of humanity, somebody get that bot a Bumper... the last thing we need is a frustrated robot within arms' reach of 12.5 million newtons of liquid lightning.
