nasa

The Next Space Race: Elevator Rides Into Orbit

BY Kit EatonWed Nov 4, 2009 at 7:08 AM

Remember how the Ansari X-Prize resulted in the nascent commercial space trip business, with Virgin Galactic in the lead? Now there's a similar push to innovate space technology, but of a different sort: Space elevators, making the ...READ»

NASA | Comment

NASA Declares Successful Ares Launch 'Friggin' Fantastic!'

BY Clay DillowWed Oct 28, 2009 at 8:51 AM

Delay followed delay followed delay yesterday, but this morning the NASA's new Ares I-X finally lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a bang. With massive smoke plume trailing, the rocket soared into the atmosphere at ...READ»

SMARTPHONE APPS | Comment

NASA Rides the Moon-Bomb Wave and Releases an iPhone App

BY Chris DannenFri Oct 23, 2009 at 4:57 PM

We were all pretty tired of NASA and its endless shuttle missions--until, of course, it bombed the moon. Now the agency is capitalizing on that good PR with a new iPhone app, perhaps hoping that some more public interest will help it ...READ»

NASA | Comment

NASA's 'Moon Bombing' A Smashing Success

BY Clay DillowFri Oct 9, 2009 at 8:14 AM

This morning, around 7:31 EST, NASA's "moon bombing" went off without a hitch as the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite captured footage of its Centaur counterpart impacting a crater on the moon's south pole at 5,600 ...READ»

MOON SHOT | 2 comments

Tomorrow NASA Bombs the Moon

BY Kit EatonThu Oct 8, 2009 at 11:04 AM

Update: NASA's 'Moon Bombing' A Smashing Success NASA's always trying to push the envelope, and tomorrow the space agency's got a really big push: It's going to bomb the Moon. Seriously, and it's all in the name of science, the ...READ»

MICHAEL CANNELL | Comment

Design Challenge of the Day: What Should Quarantine Look Like?

BY Michael CannellThu Oct 8, 2009 at 9:59 AM

In the wake of swine flu and body scans, designers reimagine isolation.READ»

AR | Comment

Astronauts Get Augmented Reality Headsets

BY Chris DannenTue Sep 22, 2009 at 2:13 PM

Dutch AR developer Layar announced a 3D API today--but this AR headset dwarfs their Android app. The Wearable Augmented Reality (or WEAR) headset was developed for astronauts to view schematics and specifications while ...READ»

FC CALENDAR | Comment

The 31st International Electric Propulsion Conference

BY Clay DillowThu Sep 17, 2009 at 5:00 PM

NASA recently leveled with the Obama administration: without a lot more funding, we're not going back to the moon. It's straight to Mars for the United States, and that's not going to be a cheap trip either. With that news in mind, ...READ»

SPACE TELESCOPE | Comment

First Images From Revamped Hubble Space Telescope

BY Kit EatonWed Sep 9, 2009 at 10:51 AM

The Hubble Space Telescope has always been an amazing machine, but it was recently made even more amazing with some repairs and optical upgrades in daring spacewalks. The first pics are out now, and they're stunning. The HST was ...READ»

MOON SHOT | Comment

NASA's Too Broke to Reach the Moon, What's Next for the Constellation Program?

BY Kit EatonWed Sep 9, 2009 at 10:12 AM

NASA's ambitious Constellation human space exploration program has been under an Obama-steered spotlight to see how it's going. That investigation has come to a stunning conclusion: NASA can't get to the moon if things stay as they ...READ»

SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY | 2 comments

Helping a Billion People in 10 Years: Singularity U's First Graduating Class

BY Kit EatonFri Aug 28, 2009 at 8:45 AM

How would you tackle the problem of helping a billion people in ten years? That was the question posed to Singularity University's first graduating class, who formed four teams to tackle it. Their visions have just been unveiled, and ...READ»

DECEMBER 21 2012 | Comment

12.21.2012: How to cope with Apocalypse

BY VJ MisraThu Aug 27, 2009 at 10:04 PM

Ancient Mayans have prophesized December 21, 2012 to be the end of the world. How can we find out what is to come?READ»

GREEN BUILDING | Comment

NASA to Break Ground on Super-Green "Sustainability Base"

BY Cliff KuangThu Aug 6, 2009 at 11:20 AM

The new office will set a high bar for intelligent, self-monitoring building design.READ»

NASA | Comment

NASA's Green Flight Challenge: The Ultimate Flying Car Competition

BY Ariel SchwartzWed Aug 5, 2009 at 2:15 PM

Instead of waiting for the inevitable aircraft X Prize, engineers can bring their sustainable plane ideas to NASA and the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency Foundation's Green Flight Challenge. The contest, which comes with $1.5 ...READ»

FC CALENDAR | 2 comments

How to Build Your Own Spaceship

BY Fast Company CalendarTue Jul 28, 2009 at 1:00 AM

When Piers Bizony was 10, his father asked him to keep a scrapbook of space travel. Four decades later, the science writer, still hooked, created this DIY manual for rocket jockeys. Though the book's structure is a weak conceit, it ...READ»

THE MOON | Comment

How You Can Land on the Moon Today, July 20 2009

BY Kit EatonMon Jul 20, 2009 at 12:06 PM

It's forty years since Neil Armstrong sundered humankind's history in two: The era before the Moon landings, and after. Here are a couple ways for you to get involved in Lunar fever online today. Walter Cronkite's Famous TV ...READ»

FC CALENDAR | Comment

40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

BY Clay DillowFri Jul 17, 2009 at 5:19 PM

Forty years to the day after astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin made their giant leap for mankind, that first moon landing stands as a monument to human innovation. Of course, hoax theories still abound: one claims ...READ»

MOON MISSIONS | Comment

Detailed Pics Of Apollo Landing Sites: NASA 1, Conspiracy Theorists 0

BY Kit EatonFri Jul 17, 2009 at 1:06 PM

Another Apollo celebration event just hit, and boy it's a biggy: NASA released in-orbit photos taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that show the Apollo landing sites on the Moon, complete with amazing detail.The LRO is ...READ»

MOON MISSION | Comment

Restored Apollo 11 Moonwalk Video Looks Good--Could Be Better [Updated]

BY Kit EatonThu Jul 16, 2009 at 11:40 AM

NASA's getting into the swing of celebrating 40 years since Armstrong and Aldrin strolled on the Moon, and the latest party piece is some restored TV footage of those famous moments. It's all very nice, but we must do better next ...READ»

SPACESUITS | Comment

How to Dress Like an Astronaut

BY Mary-Louise PriceTue Jul 14, 2009 at 4:45 PM

On July 16, 1969, Americans watched on their TVs as Michael Collins, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong took to the skies. "Spacesuits: Within the Collections of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum" provides an in-depth look into the development of the garb outfitting the crews of the lunar missions.READ»

NASA | Comment

Will NASA Reinvent Its Lunar Rocket Program?

BY Kit EatonWed Jul 1, 2009 at 8:21 AM

NASA's ambitious design to return humans to the lunar surface has been controversial right from the get-go. It calls for ditching the Space Shuttle entirely and abandoning nearly all of its technology except for the solid rocket ...READ»

FC CALENDAR | 2 comments

50th Anniversary of Space-Monkey Success

BY Fast Company CalendarWed May 27, 2009 at 10:52 AM

Fifty years ago, two girls, Able and Baker, went to space. After their brief spaceflight on May 28, 1959, the two pioneers were hailed as heroes and made the cover of LIFE, which lauded them as America's Space Travelers. Able, a ...READ»

NASA | 3 comments

The Tools You Need to Fix the Hubble Telescope

BY Cliff KuangThu May 14, 2009 at 3:31 PM

Today, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis spacewalked to the Hubble Telescope and kitted it with a new camera. Should everything go right--and so far, the mission has been a success--the Hubble should be good until ...READ»

NASA | 8 comments

NASA Coaxes Biofuel From Bags of Sewage

BY Ariel SchwartzTue May 12, 2009 at 4:53 PM

There are lots of creative ways to produce biofuel from algae, but NASA's takes the cake. The space agency is growing biofuel in plastic bags of sewage floating in the sea. The Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae (OMEGA) ...READ»

ROCKET WOES | 1 comment

Obama Team to Revise NASA Moon-Shot Program, May Delay Shuttle Launches

BY Kit EatonThu May 7, 2009 at 10:08 AM

NASA's plan to replace the Space Shuttle and return astronauts to the Moon and possibly Mars has been controversial right from the start. And now there's a strong hint that the Obama administration will directly intervene and ...READ»