So much in love with shiny new toys, it's unnatural.
Tip your editors:
tips@gizmodo.com
Editor:
Brian Lam | Email
Features Editor:
Wilson Rothman | Email
Senior Associate Editor:
Jason Chen | Email | AIM
Jesus Diaz | Email | AIM
Associate Editors:
Mark Wilson | Email | AIM
Addy Dugdale |Email
Matt Buchanan | Email
Adam Frucci | Email
Contributing Editors:
Haroon Malik | Email
Sean Fallon | Email
Kit Eaton | Email
Columnist:
Brendan I. Koerner
Editorial Assistants:
Adrian Covert | Email
Benny Goldman | Email
NASA wants to get you in bed, and if that wasn't luring enough, she wants to pay you $17,000 for 90 days. Sadly, there is no French lingerie involved: their Bed Rest Project wants to study the effect of long-term microgravity in humans, putting you in a sightly-tilted bed, with your head down and feet up:
More »
NASA is opening the door to anyone wanting to go to the moon as part of their next lunar mission—all without requiring years of tests, training, or smoking astroturf. Sadly, only your name will go, which is actually good because the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter—set to select landing and outpost sites for the Constellation program—is not returning. Ever. Just submit your name to the mission site, and it will be added to a chip that will orbit for eternity around the biggest cheese in the Universe, and you will get a certificate from NASA.
More »
spirit rover
Eighteen years ago today, the Hubble Telescope was launched into space by the Space Shuttle Discovery. To celebrate its coming of age, NASA has released 59 high-definition breathtaking pictures of galaxies colliding across the universe. Above is ESO 99-4, a weird-shaped galaxy (probably the result of another collision) situated in the Triangulum Australe, around 400-million light years away from earth. [Wired]
Stop looting supermarkets and get back to your homes, because NASA is saying that "doomsday" asteroid Apophis doesn't have any significant chance of impacting Earth in 2036, basically classifying the 13-year-old German student as a moronic smartypants. In fact, even if it hit, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. Or that's what we would like to believe, looking at all the information we have compiled:
More »
nasa
NASA's Lunar Chariot, which costs a reported $2 million to build, has just been tested by the NYT. The top speed of 15 mph may not set tarmac on fire, but it sure as hell can burn a truckload of astro stuff, all with it's six-wheeled wackiness trailing closely behind. The front driving "turret" houses the primary control; a joystick for steering, as well as various cameras and sensors, the feedback of which is relayed to the onboard screen. John Schwartz, the NYT reporter sent out to run the test, didn't get to drive the buggy itself, but he was offered the passenger's seat / stand, and here's what he made of it.
Sad news today from NASA: Spirit, the Mars rover, is perfectly functional and waiting for instructions that it'll never receive on a sunny hillside on the red planet. It's being left to die due to budget cuts. UPDATE: Looks like NASA has changed their mind. Physorg reports that "it has rescinded a letter that recommended budget cuts in the Mars Rover program to cover the cost of a next-generation rover on the Red Planet." Yee haw!
A TUAW reader has managed to spot an iPod onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which is currently floating around in a giant vacuum. The hawk-eyed reader spotted the iPod from official NASA photos, which showed the device, barely visible, through a cabin window. Interestingly, iPods cannot be taken into space willy-nilly. In fact, the usual lithium battery must be replaced with specially designed alkaline alternatives to ensure safety standards are met. That seems like a lot of planning to us, which is part of the reason we won't be leaving planet Earth anytime soon. Another equally valid reason is because we are not qualified astronauts. If you are having difficulty recovering from the shock of this new information, please sit down and drink some water. Jump for a zoomed out shot of the space shuttle, which indicates the founder was either very bored or has awesome Superman-like eyesight. You decide.
More »
robots
Would you go on a mission to Mars? What about if it was a one-way mission? And you were by yourself? Yeah, that changes things a bit. Well, that's exactly what former NASA engineer Jim McClane suggests, saying that it's worth considering and removes many of the hurdles keeping us from the Red Planet now.
More »
According to Flight Global, DARPA is close to awarding a contract to build an unmanned aircraft that can stay in the air for up to 5 years at a time. DARPA describes the "Vulture" project as a "persistent pseudo-satellite capability in an aircraft package." In other words, the aircraft can hover over a single area, narcing, communicating, or surveying for years at a time.
More »
This amazing photo was captured late last month by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it flew over the north pole of the red planet. It shows fine-grains and chunks of ice falling down the side of a 2,300-foot-high cliff and then creating a huge dust cloud on the gentle slopes below. Click through for more detailed photos and shots of the orbiting robot that took them.
More »
Gizmodo
