Moon Dust-DNA Watch Made From Actual Moon Dust and Parts From Apollo 11

Romain Jerome's Titanic DNA Watch was such a success that the company has decided to take the concept to the moon (literally) with their new Moon Dust DNA watch. Like the Titanic version, the moon watch will feature actual artifacts. The face includes dust from a rock retrieved during our first mission to the moon, the case is made from steel from the Apollo 11 spacecraft and the strap will be made up of fibers from a spacesuit worn during the ISS mission. Okay, that...is...awesome. But now for the sticker shock—a symbolic quantity of 1969 watches will be made to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. Several different versions will be available at prices that range from $15,000 to $500,000 apiece. [Romain Jerome via The Age via Born Rich]

NASA's First Solar-Sail Powered Craft Set to Ride on a Stream of Photons Next Week

NASA's getting set to launch the NanoSail-D next week, its first solar-sail powered spacecraft which catches photons like wind on a 10 square-meter sail made of a thin metallic polymer. The craft uses a crazy Rube Goldberg-like method to deploy the sail that involves burning fishing line at critical moments to release the spring-loaded sail, which is getting shown off in the video here. More »