Search Results

Search found 105 results on 5 pages for 'nasa'.

Page 1/5 | 1 2 3 4 5  | Next Page >

• 6 Interesting Facts About NASA’s Mars Rover ‘Curiosity’

  - by Gopinath

  Humans quest for exploring the surrounding planets to see whether we can live there or not is taking new shape today. NASA’s Mars probing robot, Curiosity, blasted off today on its 9 months journey to reach Mars and explore it for the possibilities of life there. Scientist says that Curiosity is one most advanced rover ever launched to probe life on other planets. Here is the launch video and some analysis by a news reporter Lets look at the 6 interesting facts about the mission 1. It’s as big as a car Curiosity is the biggest ever rover ever launched by NASA to probe life on outer planets. It’s as big as a car and almost double the size of its predecessor rover Spirit. The length of Curiosity is around 9 feet 10 inches(3 meters), width is 9 feet 1 inch (2.8 meters) and height is 7 feet (2.1 meters). 2. Powered by Plutonium – Lasts 24×7 for 23 months The earlier missions of NASA to explore Mars are powered by Solar power and that hindered capabilities of the rovers to move around when the Sun is hiding. Due to dependency of Sun the earlier rovers were not able to traverse the places where there is no Sun light. Curiosity on the other hand is equipped with a radioisotope power system that generates electricity from the heat emitted by plutonium’s radioactive decay. The plutonium weighs around 10 pounds and can generate power required for operating the rover close to 23 weeks. The best part of the new power system is, Curiosity can roam around in darkness, light and all year around. 3. Rocket powered backpack for a science fiction style landing The Curiosity is so heavy that NASA could not use parachute and balloons to air-drop the rover on the surface of Mars like it’s previous missions. They are trying out a new science fiction style air-dropping mechanism that is similar to sky crane heavy-lift helicopter. The landing of the rover begins first with entry into the Mars atmosphere protected by a heat shield. At about 6 miles to the surface, the heat shield is jettisoned and a parachute is deployed to glide the rover smoothly. When the rover touches 3 miles above the surface, the parachute is jettisoned and the eight motors rocket backpack is used for a smooth and impact free landing as shown in the image. Here is an animation created by NASA on the landing sequence. If you are interested in getting more detailed information about the landing process check this landing sequence picture available on NASA website 4. Equipped with Star Wars style laser gun Hollywood movie directors and novelist always imagined aliens coming to earth with spaceships full of laser guns and blasting the objects which comes on their way. With Curiosity the equations are going to change. It has a powerful laser gun equipped in one of it’s arms to beam laser on rocks to vaporize them. This is not part of any assault mission Curiosity is expected to carry out, the laser gun is will be used to carry out experiments to detect life and understand nature. 5. Most sophisticated laboratory powered by 10 instruments Around 10 state of art instruments are part of Curiosity rover and the these 10 instruments form a most advanced rover based lab ever built by NASA. There are instruments to cut through rocks to examine them and other instruments will search for organic compounds. Mounted cameras can study targets from a distance, arm mounted instruments can study the targets they touch. Microscopic lens attached to the arm can see and magnify tiny objects as tiny as 12.5 micro meters. 6. Rover Carrying 1.24 million names etched on silicon Early June 2009 NASA launched a campaign called “Send Your Name to Mars” and around 1.24 million people registered their names through NASA’s website. All those 1.24 million names are etched on Silicon chips mounted onto Curiosity’s deck. If you had registered your name in the campaign may be your name is going to reach Mars soon. Curiosity On Web If you wish to follow the mission here are few links to help you NASA’s Curiosity Web Page Follow Curiosity on Facebook Follow @MarsCuriosity on Twitter Artistic Gallery Image of Mars Rover Curiosity A printable sheet of Curiosity Mission [pdf] Images credit: NASA This article titled,6 Interesting Facts About NASA’s Mars Rover ‘Curiosity’, was originally published at Tech Dreams. Grab our rss feed or fan us on Facebook to get updates from us.

  Read the article

• NASA Finds Evidence Of Aliens

  - by Gopinath

  OMG! All those Aliens stuff we saw in movies is not baseless. NASA scientists discovered that we are not all alone in this universe. Many other forms of life is distributed on the planets other than Earth. Aliens are real!! This astonishing claim comes from Dr. Richard Hoover, an astrobiologist at NASA, who says that he found solid evidence of alien life in the form of fossils of bacteria in an extremely rare class of meteorite. In an exclusive interview to FoxNews, the scientist said I interpret it as indicating that life is more broadly distributed than restricted strictly to the planet earth. This field of study has just barely been touched — because quite frankly, a great many scientist would say that this is impossible. The exciting thing is that they are in many cases recognizable and can be associated very closely with the generic species here on earth. There are some that are just very strange and don’t look like anything that I’ve been able to identify, and I’ve shown them to many other experts that have also come up stumped. Read more at  FoxNew: NASA Scientist Claims Evidence of Alien Life on Meteorite cc image flickr/earlg This article titled,NASA Finds Evidence Of Aliens, was originally published at Tech Dreams. Grab our rss feed or fan us on Facebook to get updates from us.

  Read the article

• Does NASA license the software that it develops?

  - by Abe

  NASA provides a visualization software called Panoply. There is a Credits and Acknowledgments page that acknowledges and lists the licenses of software dependencies, but provides no information about its own license. I have looked at other software produced by NASA, including the source code for GISS and can not find any information about a licence. The closest information that I can find is in the FAQ for the global climate model EdGCM Global that says the code is in the "public domain" is it standard practice at NASA to release code into the public domain? are there exceptions? Can I assume that Panoply is public domain and can be used without restriction other than than those imposed by licenses of software dependencies? Is the absence of specific permission to reuse the code a concern (this issue was raised in the answer to a separate question) How common is this practice across government agencies?

  Read the article

• NASA’s can alert you when Space Station is visible from your backyard

  - by Gopinath

  NASA’s International Space Station(ISS) is the third most brightest object visible in the sky after Sun and Moon. If we know exactly when to look up, we will be able to spot Space Station with naked eye and it looks like bright star moving.  On the occasion of 12th anniversary of astronauts living in space station, NASA started a free services dubbed as Spot The Station, that alerts you when Space Station is visible from your backyard. Those who sign up with the free service by providing location details will get an email & text alerts couple of hours in advance so that they can have a glimpse of space station. Here is a sample alert sent to registered users SpotTheStation! Time: Wed Apr 25 7:45 PM, Visible: 4 min, Max Height: 66 degrees, Appears: WSW, Disappears NE. The space station is typically visible right at early morning or evenings when moon is the only one brightest star visible in the sky. The service is available world wide and almost 90 percent of the population on earth would be able to see clearly without using any fancy equipment. Follow the link spotthestation.nasa.gov to register for alerts. Flickr cc image: slideshow bob

  Read the article

• NASA Releases Highest Resolution Photo of Mars Ever Seen

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Whether you’re in the mood for a high-resolution extraterrestrial wallpaper or just want to take a very close peek at the surface of Mars, this 23096 x 7681 resolution image ought to do the trick. Courtesy of NASA and Oppurtunity–the Mars Exploration Rover seen in the photo–the panoramic image was captured during the last Martian winter, between the Earth dates of December 21, 2001 and May 8, 2012. Hit up the link below to grab a full-resolution copy as well as read more about the geologic formations seen in the picture and the activities of the rover. ‘Greeley Panorama’ from Opportunity’s Fifth Martian Winter [Nasa] How to Use an Xbox 360 Controller On Your Windows PC Download the Official How-To Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic

  Read the article

• Inside NASA’s Shuttle Trainer

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  After more than 30 years of service, NASA has retired their full-scale shuttle training simulator. Take a photo tour and learn where you can visit the trainer and crawl around inside for a more hands-on experience. The trainer is currently on display at the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington. For those of us unable to visit the trainer in person, Wired Magazine has a full photo tour at the link below. Get Inside the Replica that Trained Every Shuttle Astronaut [Wired] Why Does 64-Bit Windows Need a Separate “Program Files (x86)” Folder? Why Your Android Phone Isn’t Getting Operating System Updates and What You Can Do About It How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows

  Read the article

• Robbie: A Short Film Made Entirely From NASA Footage [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Neil Harvey artfully took 8 minutes of NASA footage and spliced it together with a musical score and narrative overlay to create the story of Robbie; a self aware robot. If your boss asks why you’re crying in your cubicle, just make him watch it too. [via Neatorama] HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using? HTG Explains: What The Windows Event Viewer Is and How You Can Use It HTG Explains: How Windows Uses The Task Scheduler for System Tasks

  Read the article

• Open source is NASA's next frontier

  <b>Federal Computer Week: </b>"The challenges to government's adoption and participation in open-source communities is often thought to be a simpe culture clash, but in reality it goes deeper than that, accordning to NASA's newly-appointed chief technology officer."

  Read the article

• The Earth at Night [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  This fresh video from NASA provides the clearest view of the Earth at night ever seen, thanks to the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Satellite. Check out the video and accompanying pics to see the stunning views. In daylight our big blue marble is all land, oceans and clouds. But the night – is electric. This view of Earth at night is a cloud-free view from space as acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Satellite (Suomi NPP). A joint program by NASA and NOAA, Suomi NPP captured this nighttime image by the satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). The day-night band on VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as city lights, gas flares, and wildfires. This new image is a composite of data acquired over nine days in April and thirteen days in October 2012. It took 312 satellite orbits and 2.5 terabytes of data to get a clear shot of every parcel of land surface. This video uses the Earth at night view created by NASA’s Earth Observatory with data processed by NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center and combined with a version of the Earth Observatory’s Blue Marble: Next Generation. Hit up the link below for the full NASA press release, including more videos and photos. How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot Our Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 is Now Available Everywhere How To Boot Your Android Phone or Tablet Into Safe Mode

  Read the article

• How Curiosity Took Its Self Portrait [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  There was enough confusion among the public as to how exactly the Curiosity Rover was able to photograph itself without the camera arm intruding into the photo that NASA released this video detailing the process. For those readers familiar with photograph blending and stitching using multiple photo sources, this should come as no surprise. For the unfamiliar, it’s an interesting look at how dozens of photos can be blended together so effectively that the arm–robotic or otherwise–of the photographer can be taken right out. Hit up the link below to read more about how NASA practiced on Earth for the shot and to see a high-res copy of the actual self portrait. Mars Rover Self-Portrait Shoot Uses Arm Choreography [NASA] Secure Yourself by Using Two-Step Verification on These 16 Web Services How to Fix a Stuck Pixel on an LCD Monitor How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot

  Read the article

• How Mars Lost Its Atmosphere [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Scientists have long theorized that Mars once had an atmosphere and surface water–but where did it go? This video showcases one of their theories about Mars’ vanished water reserves. Courtesy of NASA and the NASAexplorer channel: When you take a look at Mars, you probably wouldn’t think that it looks like a nice place to live. It’s dry, it’s dusty, and there’s practically no atmosphere. But some scientists think that Mars may have once looked like a much nicer place to live, with a thicker atmosphere, cloudy skies, and possibly even liquid water flowing over the surface. So how do you go from something like this–to something like this? NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft will give us a clearer idea of how Mars lost its atmosphere, and scientists think that several processes have had an impact. For more information about MAVEN, check out the mission page here. NASA – MAVEN: Mars Atmospheric Loss How to Get Pro Features in Windows Home Versions with Third Party Tools HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using? HTG Explains: What The Windows Event Viewer Is and How You Can Use It

  Read the article

• SpaceX’s Dragon Spacecraft Docks with the ISS [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  This weekend was the first time a commercial space craft successfully rendezvoused with the International Space Station. Check out this video to see the opening of the hatch. From the notes on NASA’s video release: Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit and Joe Acaba of NASA and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers opened the hatch to SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft and entered the vehicle May 26, one day after the world’s first commercial cargo spacecraft was berthed to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module. Dragon will remain berthed to Harmony until May 31, enabling the crew to unload supplies for the station’s residents before it is re-grappled and released to return to Earth for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California. If you’re interested in learning more about the SpaceX program, hit up the link below. SpaceX How To Customize Your Wallpaper with Google Image Searches, RSS Feeds, and More 47 Keyboard Shortcuts That Work in All Web Browsers How To Hide Passwords in an Encrypted Drive Even the FBI Can’t Get Into

  Read the article

• Enjoy 1.3 Billion Pixels of Mars Surface Panoramic Photography from the Curiosity Rover

  - by Akemi Iwaya

  Have you been waiting for more awesome photos of Mars’ surface from the Curiosity Rover mission? Then you are definitely going to love this bit of news! NASA and GigaPan have teamed up to create a truly inspiring 1.3 billion pixel panoramic view of Mars that you can ‘zoom around’ and explore at your leisure. There are two websites that you can visit to enjoy this awesome scenery: NASA’s official website with two viewing options…     

  Read the article

• Curiosity’s Official Self-Portrait

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  NASA has released a high-resolution self portrait of Curiosity. The photo, a composite of images snapped by the rover’s agile arm and MAHLI camera, shows Curiosity in front of Mount Sharp. From the NASA release: The mosaic shows the rover at “Rocknest,” the spot in Gale Crater where the mission’s first scoop sampling took place. Four scoop scars can be seen in the regolith in front of the rover. The base of Gale Crater’s 3-mile-high (5-kilometer) sedimentary mountain, Mount Sharp, rises on the right side of the frame. Mountains in the background to the left are the northern wall of Gale Crater. The Martian landscape appears inverted within the round, reflective ChemCam instrument at the top of the rover’s mast. Self-portraits like this one document the state of the rover and allow mission engineers to track changes over time, such as dust accumulation and wheel wear. Due to its location on the end of the robotic arm, only MAHLI (among the rover’s 17 cameras) is able to image some parts of the craft, including the port-side wheels. HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8 How To Play DVDs on Windows 8

  Read the article

• This company buries Ashes on Space for $3000

  - by Gopinath

  Does Space burials sounds crazy to you? Then you may not be a big fan of science fictions or a Japanese. According to a study conducted by NASA many science fiction fans prefer their final rights to be held on space and you can read more details about the research over here on NASA website. The other people who fancy about space burials are Japanese Buddhists. For those who are not aware of Space burials, it’s a procedure in which a small sample of the cremated ashes of the deceased are launched into space using spacecraft. The spacecraft will remain in orbit around the Earth or other planets  for decades and eventually burning up in the atmosphere. Celestis, an US based company, is pioneer in memorial spaceflight business and so far they have conducted a total of 10 space burials. Few of the famous people buried in space are Gene Roddenberry(creator of Star Trek),  Gerard K. O’Neill (space physicist), Clyde Tombaugh (astronomer and discoverer of Pluto)  and complete list is available on this Wikipedia page In the coming months Celestis have planned for a  launch of its latest memorial spacecraft and you can send your loved one’s remains for just $3000. Once they put the ashes on space they will also let you track the location of the spacecraft in orbit using a real time feed. Story via BBC and cc image credit: flickr/gsfc

  Read the article

• Coronal Mass Ejection Video Captures Stunning Views of the Sun’s Surface

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  This beautiful HD video, courtesy of NASA, captures the Sun’s August 31st Coronal Mass Ejection with multiple angles and techniques–the surface of the Sun can be quite a turbulent place. [via Boing Boing] HTG Explains: What The Windows Event Viewer Is and How You Can Use It HTG Explains: How Windows Uses The Task Scheduler for System Tasks HTG Explains: Why Do Hard Drives Show the Wrong Capacity in Windows?

  Read the article

• The Birth and Life of a Disk Galaxy [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  In this video, rendered over a million CPU hours by the Pleiades supercomputer at NASA’s Ames Research Center, we see the birth and life of a massive disk galaxy. Computer Model Shows a Disk Galaxy’s Life History [via Geeks Are Sexy] HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8 How To Play DVDs on Windows 8

  Read the article

• Challenges of Getting to Mars: Curiosity’s Seven Minutes of Terror [Video]

  - by Asian Angel

  Imagine going from the top of the atmosphere to the surface of Mars in seven minutes starting at a speed of 13,000 miles per hour and decelerating to zero. That is the challenge awaiting NASA’s Curiosity Rover when it reaches the red planet in August… Challenges of Getting to Mars: Curiosity’s Seven Minutes of Terror [via Neatorama] How to Make Your Laptop Choose a Wired Connection Instead of Wireless HTG Explains: What Is Two-Factor Authentication and Should I Be Using It? HTG Explains: What Is Windows RT and What Does It Mean To Me?

  Read the article

• Curiosity’s Self Portrait

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  One space enthusiast couldn’t wait for NASA to release an official on-Mars portrait of the rover Curiosity, so he took 55 partial self-portraits sent back by the rover and stitched them all together into the first complete on-planet photo we’ve seen of Curiosity. Courtesy of Stuart Atkinson, the photos are stitched together from images collected over the initial portion of Curiosity’s mission. Hit up the link below to check out the full size image. Curiosity [via Wired] 6 Start Menu Replacements for Windows 8 What Is the Purpose of the “Do Not Cover This Hole” Hole on Hard Drives? How To Log Into The Desktop, Add a Start Menu, and Disable Hot Corners in Windows 8

  Read the article

• Space Stations as Envisioned in the 1970s

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Boy, they sure were ambitious back in the 70s; while today we’re happy to have a small apartment-sized environment in orbit, back then they were dreaming of entire cities in space. Courtesy of the NASA Ames Research Center archives, we’re treated to artist renderings of the space colonies of the future as imagined from the 1970s. The artwork spans visions of space colonies from 10,000 to 1,000,000 citizens strong–some of them include everything from bodies of water to office buildings. Hit up the link below for more images. Space Colony Art from the 1970s [via The Daily What] 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

  Read the article

• This Week in Geek History: Birth of NACA, Chemical Composition of DNA Discovered, Telephone Introduced

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Every week we bring you new facts and figures from the annals of Geekdom. This week we’re taking a look at the birth of NASA’s forefather, the composition of DNA, and the first telephone. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Learn To Adjust Contrast Like a Pro in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Have You Ever Wondered How Your Operating System Got Its Name? Should You Delete Windows 7 Service Pack Backup Files to Save Space? What Can Super Mario Teach Us About Graphics Technology? Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is Released: But Should You Install It? How To Make Hundreds of Complex Photo Edits in Seconds With Photoshop Actions Access and Manage Your Ubuntu One Account in Chrome and Iron Mouse Over YouTube Previews YouTube Videos in Chrome Watch a Machine Get Upgraded from MS-DOS to Windows 7 [Video] Bring the Whole Ubuntu Gang Home to Your Desktop with this Mascots Wallpaper Hack Apart a Highlighter to Create UV-Reactive Flowers [Science] Add a “Textmate Style” Lightweight Text Editor with Dropbox Syncing to Chrome and Iron

  Read the article

• Curiosity’s Descent to Mars in HD [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Thanks to the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) mounted on the fore-port side of Curiosity we’re treated to a high-resolution video of Curiosity’s descent to Mars. The video from MARDI, combined with the video editing of YouTube user DLFitch, yields the above video. He writes: This is a full-resolution version of the NASA Curiosity rover descent to Mars, taken by the MARDI descent imager. As of August 20, all but a dozen 1600×1200 frames have been uploaded from the rover, and those missing were interpolated using thumbnail data. The result was applied a heavy noise reduction, color balance, and sharpening for best visibility. The video plays at 15fps, or 3x realtime. The heat shield impacts in the lower left frame at 0:21, and is shown enlarged at the end of the video. Image source. Complete MSL Curiosity Descent – Full Quality Enhanced 1080p + Heat Shield impact [YouTube] HTG Explains: Is UPnP a Security Risk? How to Monitor and Control Your Children’s Computer Usage on Windows 8 What Happened to Solitaire and Minesweeper in Windows 8?

  Read the article

• Flame Experiments Aboard the ISS Yield Surprising Results

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  Recent flame-based experiments aboard the International Space Station yielded results scientists simply thought couldn’t happen–combustion in microgravity is a curious thing. Smithsonian magazine reports on the findings: Here on Earth, when a flame burns, it heats the surrounding atmosphere, causing the air to expand and become less dense. The pull of gravity draws colder, denser air down to the base of the flame, displacing the hot air, which rises. This convection process feeds fresh oxygen to the fire, which burns until it runs out of fuel. The upward flow of air is what gives a flame its teardrop shape and causes it to flicker. But odd things happen in space, where gravity loses its grip on solids, liquids and gases. Without gravity, hot air expands but doesn’t move upward. The flame persists because of the diffusion of oxygen, with random oxygen molecules drifting into the fire. Absent the upward flow of hot air, fires in microgravity are dome-shaped or spherical—and sluggish, thanks to meager oxygen flow. “If you ignite a piece of paper in microgravity, the fire will just slowly creep along from one end to the other,” says Dietrich. “Astronauts are all very excited to do our experiments because space fires really do look quite alien.” Hit up the link below for the full article including how NASA is applying the findings. Why Does 64-Bit Windows Need a Separate “Program Files (x86)” Folder? Why Your Android Phone Isn’t Getting Operating System Updates and What You Can Do About It How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows

  Read the article

• Mission 26 Captures Endeavour’s Last Trip in Stop Motion

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  On September 21, 2012 the Space Shuttle Endeavour was delivered to the Los Angeles International Airport and spent the next three days being slowly transported 12 miles to the California Science Center. One dedicated team of photographers captured the whole thing. Lead by Matthew Givot, the group followed the shuttle for three straight days, photographing it around the clock. The Endeavor started on Thursday night and went on until Sunday night, with very little sleep to no sleep. The only thing that kept us going was pure love of the art and adrenaline. One thing that stood out the most for me, while I was shooting, was the people of Los Angeles. It was so powerful to see the excitement on peoples faces and the pride of their home town. No matter how many times I would see the Shuttle it would never get old. This has been an amazing experience that I will never forget. My hope is that this film will show you the amount of dedicated people and teamwork that it took to get the Endeavour to its new home. Enjoy. The end result of their labor is the above video, a beautiful time-lapse video of Endeavour’s journey from the airport to its hanger at the California Science Center. Can Dust Actually Damage My Computer? What To Do If You Get a Virus on Your Computer Why Enabling “Do Not Track” Doesn’t Stop You From Being Tracked

  Read the article

• Can We Survive the Sun’s Death?

  - by Akemi Iwaya

  In the distant future, our sun will begin its descent into death after using up all of the hydrogen fuel in its core. When that happens, the inner parts of our solar system will suffer horrible consequences. But what will happen at that point in time and how quickly will things ‘deteriorate’? Is there anything that could be done to help our planet survive? AsapSCIENCE looks at this ‘hot’ topic in their latest video. Can We Survive The Sun’s Death?     

  Read the article

1 2 3 4 5  | Next Page >