Space & Spaceflight

Man’s first space civilization envisioned in this INCREDIBLE Lego city

Andrew Hamilton and Tim Goddard have shared the most kick ass micro build of a place they call Panduro City. Heavy use of Mindstorms automates all sorts of things in this build. You can not fully appreciate it in just photo form, the video must be watched! You’re reading Leg Godt, the blog with the…

Yes, Time Travel Is Possible; Here’s How

Time travel’s been one of man’s wildest fantasies for centuries. It’s long been a popular trend in movies and fiction, inspiring everything from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine to the Charlton Heston shrine that is The Planet of the Apes. And with the opening of Interstellar today—n0t to spoil…

How Astronauts Use Laptops on the International Space Station

When the ISS was being designed, its architects wisely concluded that installing physical interfaces into the structure of the ISS was not a good idea. It’s very hard to upgrade and/or repair interfaces that are part of the vehicle, whereas if laptop computers are used, upgrading or repair is as simple as launching a CD-ROM,…

Watch What Would Happen If Two Black Holes Collided in the Milky Way

If you’ve ever wondered what the end of the Milky Way might look like, then perhaps it’s a little like this. You’re looking at a simulation of what would happen to our galaxy if two black holes somehow collided within it. Created by the Simulating Extreme Spacetimes (SXS) project, the animation models how two black…

The Soviet History of the Failed Antares’ Engines

Turns out, the Antares launch vehicle that exploded during lift-off last week was riding on refurbished disco-era rockets that not even the vaunted Soviet Space Program could manage to get off the ground. The Antares itself is a product of the Orbital Sciences Corporation. Designed to launch a Cygnus spacecraft with an 11,000 pound payload…

Saturn’s two largest moon—Rhea and Titan—line up for the Cassini orbiter. Rhea’s pock-marked surface provides a beautiful contrast to the golden glow of Titan—though they’re both actually made up of largely similar material. [ESA]

A New Material Uses the Cold Darkness of Outer Space To Cool Your House

In today’s awesomely brutal-sounding material science news, Stanford engineers have created a building material that exploits that “cold darkness of the Universe” to cool itself—even when the sun is shining. Stanford calls it a “cosmic fridge,” and it could replace air conditioning. In a fascinating paper published yesterday in Nature, Stanford’s Shanhui Fan and Aaswath…

Watch the Biggest Sunspot in 24 Years Traverse the Sun

You’re looking at the largest sunspot since 1990 as it crossed the surface of the Sun. Captured between October 17th and 29th, the spot was big enough to see without a telescope. Interestingly, despite its size and production of lots of flares, it “did not produce any significant coronal mass ejections,” according to Alex Young…

Why Space Travel Matters More Than Ever

Yesterday, somewhere in the Mojave desert, investigators began the long process of understanding the events that led to the tragic accident that killed one pilot and left another injured. And even after they finish, plenty of questions about the future of the commercial space industry will remain. But the one we’ll always know the answer…

Show Us Your Science-Themed Pumpkin Carvings

What awesome science-themed pumpkins have you found to celebrate the most hallowed of eves? Top image: a rocket, ringed planet, and collection of stars on three wee pumpkins are gracing my steps this most halloweed eve. Credit: Mika McKinnon Every year, Will Gater makes a delightfully elaborate space-themed pumpkin. This year’s space lantern is a…

Don’t Panic: The Ozone Hole’s Holding Steady

Despite research suggesting that the ozone layer is still being chewed apart, NASA’s most recent study of the Antarctic ozone hole reveals it isn’t getting any larger. https://gizmodo.com/the-earths-ozone-layer-is-still-being-chewed-apart-1624876534 Analysis of the hole reveals that the hole reached its peak size on September 11th, reaching a size of 9.3 million square miles. That’s virtually identical to…

Land Chris Hadfield’s Space Photography on Your Coffee Table

Is there a person left on the internet who hasn’t yet swooned over astronaut Chris Hadfield’s jaw-dropping images from space? Here’s a chance to have them in your home: The former ISS commander has collected some of his photographs into a book. Hadfield had been taking photos from the space station since the beginning of…

This Documentary Explains the Crazy Reality of Living on Mars

Do you want to go to space? Of course you do, and the fun thing is you (probably) can—if you have a shitload of money. The good news is that space tourism is getting cheaper and easier, so it’s entirely likely that you might be able to afford it one day. But you probably don’t…

Good morning! Sadly, you don’t get to see the new day in in quite the same way as NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman. He snapped this sunrise from the International Space Station just the other day. You’re allowed to be jealous. [NASA]

Unlucky Kids Lost Their School Projects in the Antares Rocket Explosion

Watching the unmanned Antares rocket explode after lift-off last night was devastating, but the loss was especially tough for a handful of school-kids across the US and Canada. In addition to the thousands of pounds of supplies onboard were projects they designed for the space journey. As more information becomes available about the cause of…

There’s a hole in Jupiter! No, just kidding: that’s actually just the shadow of the Jovian moon, Ganymede, above the planet’s Great Red Spot. [NASA]

Space Station Resupply Rocket Explodes Right After Launch [Updated]

An Antares rocket carrying over 5,000 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station exploded right after launch at the Orbital Sciences Corp.’s launch complex on Wallops Island. All ground personnel is safe. NASA says that none of the supplies were urgently needed at the ISS. [Update 2] Update At the NASA press conference that’s…

If These Shuttle Slippers Aren’t NASA Standard-Issue, They Should Be

There are very strict weight limitations on what astronauts can bring with them when they blast off into space. But in addition to a few creature comforts, we sincerely hope that NASA, and other space agencies around the world, will be equipping their brave space farers with these adorable plush Space Shuttle slippers. After all,…

Right in the center, you’re looking at Mars’s Atlantis basin—now 4 billion years old—and the delightfully named Chaos that surrounds it. The Chaos is in fact hundreds of flat-topped hills, stretching 170 kilometers away from the flat basin. [ESA]

Space Whiskey Safely Returned To Earth

Back in 2011, a group of alcoholics masquerading as scientists managed to somehow persuade their bosses that sending (very small) vials of whiskey to space was a viable ‘experiment’. Four years on, the whiskey has eluded the clutches of the ISS astronauts, and has landed safely back on Earth. The idea behind the experiment, a…