Tag: Space
NASA picks a new spacesuit maker for next round of lunar landings
In 2020, humankind is going back to the moon (baby), and what’s more we’re going to be looking goooood. NASA has picked out a new organisation, Oceaneering International, and awarded it a contract to design and build a next-gen space suit, boringly entitled the Constellation Space Suit System, or CSSS.
That's no moon! It's a plutoid
For today’s little nugget of space news, we turn our eyes away from the red planet to one a bit smaller, darker and colder: Pluto…
NASA scientists celebrate as Mars Lander successfully soils itself
Now I know that none of you were even remotely interested in what has been happening in the world of mobile telephony, so I bring you another report from the icy depths of space. Scientists are jubilant this morning because it seems yesterday’s desperate battle against Mars’ fiendishly ‘clumpy’ soil has been won and samples are now being delivered to the lander’s Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA).
Phoenix Lander in pitched battle with Martian soil
Thanks to announcement of some important kind of shiny phone handset, it seems that there’s little earth-bound technology news left to report. We expect a good three days before we can stop ourselves from spontaneously typing ‘IPHONE!’, ‘3G!’ or wasting the whole opening paragraphs of our posts providing a connection between utterly unrelated news and said handset announcement. We appreciate your patience.
European manned spaceship shown off in Berlin – Patrick Moore still in with a chance before he dies
It’s only a prototype, but the new EADS Astrium design here is based on the existing unmanned Jules Verne pod already flying about up there, so it could easily take scientists and paying billionaires up into the ionosphere with a bit of tweaking.
Very handy if you’ve recently applied to be an astronaut or are just generally excited about space things…
The great SMS rip-off: Texting is the most expense data charge
If anyone saw last week’s Channel Four documentary “The Mobile Phone Rip-Off” then none of this will come as much of a surprise to you. If you didn’t, then prepare to be stunned.
I’ll cut to the chase and give you the maths in a minute. Data sent via text costs around £374.49 per MB and that’s at a generous rate of 5p per text. You don’t have to be a genius to work out that’s an absolute con…
First Korean astronaut proud to be endorsed by the Samsung NV series
Lucky old Yi So-yeon has just popped up into space today making her the first South Korean to hit escape velocity, courtesy of the latest Russian Soyuz mission to the International Space Station.
She’s been sponsored by the proud company of her homeland, with Samsung kitting her out with a couple of cameras for the journey. So she gets space AND free camera. If she comes round here the lucky cow will be greeted by a stony, jealous silence…
MY FINAL WISH: Sprinkle bits of me on the moon
Forget leaving money to the kids. They’ll just waste it on cars and holidays. The gentlemanly to spend your life savings post-death is clearly having your ashes dumped on the surface of the moon.
Yes. Having your ashes dumped ON THE SURFACE OF…
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, renowned Sci-Fi author and futurist, dies aged 90
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, author of almost 100 books including 2001: A Space Odyssey, passed away at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Wednesday. He was 90.
“He had been taken to hospital in what we had hoped was one of the slings and arrows of being 90, but in this case it was his final visit,” Scott Chase, the secretary of the nonprofit Arthur C. Clarke Foundation, revealed in a statement on his official website…
For sale on Craigslist: homemade spaceship ($3,500 or best offer)
Looking for a second hand motor? Excellent condition, one owner, never crashed, bubble glass windows and only 300 million intergalactic miles on the clock. May need a recharged flux capacitor.
