Posts tagged: nasa
When Galaxies Collide
Felicia Day *swoon* (and Sean Astin) try to educate the public about colliding galaxies in this hilarious NASA PSA for the Spitzer Space Telescope.
There are a lot of great little inside jokes in there. “What in the name of Joss Whedon?” And Felicia makes a wonderful point:
It just goes to show you don’t have to make up explosions or doomsday scenarios to make science interesting. Astronomy is pretty interesting on its own.
Via: The Bad Astronomer
Happy Birthday, NASA!
50 years ago today, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act.
NASA began operations on October 1, 1958, with a staff of 80 spread among four laboratories. The agency now consists of 15 facilities that employed more than 17,000 people in 2006.
Happy birthday, NASA! I wish you all the best in the years and missions to come.
A Reasonable Alien Discussion
After Apollo 14 astronaut Ed Mitchell went on record as believing in alien visitations to Earth, its nice to know our other astronauts have not lost the ability to think rationally. Mark Kelly, the U.S. commander of space shuttle Discovery, briefly discussed the topic during a Tokyo news conference.
We have seen some evidence that there is a possibility of some life on Mars in the past, so there is probably life all over the universe.
From our experience, it is very difficult to travel through space, and I personally think aliens have not visited our planet.
The Discovery recently delivered Japan’s Kibo orbital laboratory to the International Space Station in June.
Via: Reuters
Mechas On The Moon
Those giant human-carrying robots of science fiction may soon become science fact.
NASA engineers are testing out a giant, six-legged robot that could pick up and move a future Moon base thousands of kilometres across the lunar surface, allowing astronauts to explore much more than just the area around their landing site.
This massive robot called ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer) was designed by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, US and is about 7.5 meters wide with each leg more than 6 meters long.
What’s so awesome about this design is the way the legs and wheels work together to address unknown or difficult terrain. The ATHLETE has wheels that can be locked in place mounted as feet on each of its legs. When the terrain is rough or jagged, ATHLETE walks around and over it like a spider. When terrain is more barren and flat, the wheels can be used to make for a smoother journey for the inhabitants of the living courters mounted right on its back.
They don’t transform into humanoid ninjas just yet but throw in a couple laser guns and a missile pack or two and you’re at least halfway there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im90efP5hts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhZp3pR014g
Via: New Scientist Space
