thebigpicture
Latest
The Big Picture: Recovering NASA's flying saucer
Despite Independence Day being right around the corner, what you're seeing up above shouldn't get your hopes up about welcoming any aliens to Earth. Besides, everyone knows that the government would likely never release pictures of that sort of thing anyhow. What's pictured is actually the result of NASA's first Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) test-flight that took place over the weekend, and the image was captured a few hours after the vessel touched down over the US Navy's Pacific Missile Test Range. Currently there are plans to test the aerospace outfit's not-a-UFO at least two more times ahead of its ultimate goal: a trip to Mars. [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech]
The Big Picture: Exploring Mexico's abandoned railways in a homemade 'spaceship'
When artists Ivan Puig and Andrés Padilla Domene decided to explore Mexico's abandoned railways, they wanted one vehicle that could ride on road and track. The result is the Sonda de Exploración Ferroviaria Tripulada, aka SEFT-1 (above). The vehicle allows Puig and Padilla to travel on between, and on the tracks while taking pictures, recording video and interviewing locals. The goal of the project is to highlight the impact that the failed railway between Mexico City and the Atlantic had on local communities, many of which are now extremely isolated. SEFT-1 will be presented at an exhibition in London until July 27th. Much of the media and journeys are also documented on a the project's website.
The Big Picture: Sauron in the stars
Nope, that isn't a grainy leaked photo from a new Lord of the Rings spin-off up above; it's actually an image of a space-dust ring surrounding nearby star HR 4796A. The star is part of the Centaurus constellation, and this picture was taken by the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope that's been recently outfitted with a SPHERE instrument. What's the SPHERE? According to the ESO, it's the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research tool that has a main objective of studying extra-solar planets that orbit nearby stars. As Space notes, not only does this picture capture a very Eye-of-Sauron vibe overall, but it's also a showpiece for just how powerful the SPHERE tool is. Namely, it's able to kill enough of the glare to make the actual fiery ball of gas visible, something Space says is essential to discovering more and more celestial bodies.
The Big Picture: Creating technology with amphibious ambitions
The first practical hovercraft, the Saunders Roe SRN1, was designed by Sir Christopher Cockerell. The first trials took place 55 years ago to the week, near the Isle of White, UK. The Saunders Roe SRN1 experimental hovercraft above is shown floating on the Thames near Westminster. The new transport technology was so unusual at the time, the BBC reports it was often referred to as a "man-made flying saucer." [Image credit: Getty Images]
The Big Picture: Imagining NASA's IXS Enterprise conceptual 'warp ship'
The image above is Dutch designer Mark Rademaker's CGI design concept; created to illustrate how NASA engineer Harold White's IXS Enterprise "Warp ship" might look. White has been researching into possible methods of propelling space craft beyond the speed of light. The strongest theory involves the disruption of space-time in front and behind the craft. White claims he has calculated a plausible method that improves upon an earlier theory by physicist Miguel Alcubierre, and is working towards a proof of concept for the idea. Rademaker's design shows large rings that would be used to create a "warp bubble" and was originally submitted for the Star Trek "Ships of the Line" 2014 calendar. [Image credit: Mark Rademaker]
The Big Picture: Beijing's urban e-waste economy
Head out of Beijing in a north-westerly direction, and you might pass Dongxiaokou village. Perched on the outskirts of town, the Dongxiaokou is where a lot of Beijing's electrical waste goes to be forgotten about. Not by everyone, though. The village has become a hub for immigrant workers that make a living plundering the e-waste for scrap materials or repairable items. Despite the tough living conditions and low income they receive, residents are concerned that plans to urbanize the area could mean an end to their livelihood. [Image credit: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters]
The Big Picture: Delivering crew to the ISS
The Soyuz-FG rocket booster and Soyuz TMA-13M space ship are shown here on a long exposure image of the launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. The cargo? Three astronauts headed to the International Space Station. Russian commander Maksim Suraev, American flight engineer Gregory Wiseman, and European astronaut Alexander Gerst will join Steve Swanson and Russians Oleg Artemyev currently aboard the ISS.
The Big Picture: Preparing for the Moon
During the Apollo program, NASA sent many of its astronauts to Hawaii's Big Island for field training in the run up to missions. The surface of the Moon isn't an environment that's easy to replicate, and the volcanic island chain's barren, rocky terrain is as close as it gets on earth. The picture above shows astronauts from Apollo 17 -- the last manned mission to the lunar surface -- test driving the Moon buggy in 1971. It's one of a series of recently rediscovered images documenting these training exercises, which can be viewed in its entirety here.
The Big Picture: Exploring the deep blue in a wearable submarine
Developed and built by Nuytco Research, this exosuit is made from hard metal and allows divers to operate safely down to a depth of 1000 feet. The suit has four 1.6 horsepower propulsion thrusters, fiber optic gigabit ethernet, and a host of telemetry devices. The "Exosuit atmospheric diving system" (ADS) will allow wearers to work in deep water without facing problems with decompression. While still in testing right now, diver Michael Lombardi will be taking it out for its first full exploration mission later this summer, at a location called Canyons, approximately 100 miles off the coast of Rhode Island.
The Big Picture: NASA's 3.2-gigapixel global selfie
"Where are you on Earth Right Now?" That's the question NASA posed the public on Earth Day recently. The twist? NASA wanted you to answer, not with words, but with a selfie. 36,422 of you replied with images that were then stitched together to form the mosaic you see above. To fully enjoy the image, there's an interactive 3.2-gigapixel version that lets you get up close and personal with all the submissions (or, if you participated, try to find yourself).
The Big Picture: Accurately replicating Tutankhamun's tomb
The image above isn't Tutankhamun's tomb, but the most accurate large-scale facsimile ever made. The replica was created by Factum Arte, from Madrid, Spain, in conjunction with the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt. The real tomb has been open to the public for many years, and suffered gradual decline as a result. The replica has recently opened to the public, and will soon take all the tourist foot-fall strain, while the original is retired for conservation purposes. Factum Arte used a low intensity red light laser with a resolution of 100 microns, a 3D white light scanner (250 - 700 microns resolution), along with hundreds of man hours (and patience) to take detailed scans of everything in the chamber. A milling machine then used the data to carve out incredibly detailed 3D surfaces of the walls and sarcophagus. High resolution cameras, color-matching and digital stitching techniques were used to re-create the art and imagery on the walls. The same techniques will also be used to create replicas of the Tombs of Seti I and Nefertari -- both of which currently closed to the public.
The Big Picture: Stormtroopers return to Tatooine
Oung Jmel in Nefta, Tunisia, is better known by many as an outcrop of Tatooine called Mos Espa. The above image was taken on location in preparation for a parade organized by the local tourist board as part of "Star Wars day" celebrations over the weekend. May 4th has been adopted by fans as a day to celebrate the movie franchise, but this year was of particular significance, as just days earlier the cast for Episode VII was confirmed to include a number of actors from the first three movies, and a recent crowdfunding campaign has been launched to save the location from being swallowed by the sands. The Big Picture is a series of short features where the image takes center stage. [Image credit: REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi]
The Big Picture: Photographer uses drone to create military-style landscapes of America
Tomas van Houtryve is a photographer with an eye for reframing perspectives -- particularly those we're more used to seeing in modern conflict. The image above is taken from a 16-page photo essay featured in April's Harper's Magazine (incidentally, the magazine's longest photo essay ever). Van Houtryve attached a camera to a small drone "bought on Amazon," (he doesn't specify which) and crossed America shooting above weddings, prayer gatherings and funerals -- locations van Houtryve solemnly points out are frequent targets during foreign military drone attacks. The essay's name -- Blue Sky Days -- was inspired by one such event. "I no longer love blue skies," is the quote van Houtryve uses on the web page outlining the project. The words come from Zubair Rehman, whose mother was killed by a military drone attack in Pakistan in 2012. "In fact, I now prefer gray skies. The drones do not fly when the skies are gray."
