Star Wars In Real Life Anyone?

Hey there! We haven't seen an article like this one in a while, now have we? But I had to cover this after watching the video on Youtube. Those guys at DARPA sure do like to make a lot of fancy toys, after all, and the V-bat drone is the latest project that has a lot of people, like IGN, thinking this when they see it in action: 

Imperial Probe Droid from Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back 

"Using a stereo vision system in tandem with GPS, the drone is capable of delivering one-pound payloads to various targets -- without the aid of human input." For the most part, the entire video to me was pretty "meh" . . . that was until I saw its claw. Oh, and the drone can carry at least a pound-worth payload of presents the bad guys probably wished could be returned if they had a receipt. Yeesh. "Merry Christmas," indeed. . .  

                                   

A True Champion Among Men

The world is mourning the loss of the man that took mankind to boundaries never known. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died today at the age of 82 due to cardiovascular complications, according to his family. In 1969, Armstrong was a 38 year-old astronaut for NASA when he made the famous "Leap for mankind" declaration during the Apollo 11 mission. However, in spite of making one of the largest contributions to our species, the he tried to live most of his life out of the spot light.



While Armstrong could have lived like Scrooge Mcduck, swimming in his glory for all his days (and who would blame him?), he decided to teach engineering at the University of Cincinnati for nearly a decade after retiring from NASA. Armstrong lived a life of humility, through and through, even noting that landing on the moon was just a part of the job. While there are many lessons to be learned by such a man, the family asked that we could honor Armstrong by trying to practice his modesty and giving a wink at the moon the next time we see it. Here's to you, Neil Armstrong, for thinking big on a galactic level, but always keeping that mellow spirit that kept you down to Earth with the rest of us simple humans. And now, whenever we look up at Luna, our moon, we can actually say, "Yeah. We've been there before." For that, you'll always be a champion among men, and will be dearly missed.

Curiosity Rover Moves Us Forward. . . And No One Was Watching

 

NASA made history with another successful Mars landing this morning when its Curiosity Rover landed on the red planet. This is an unprecedented achievement since this is by far the largest rover to ever land. After investing $2.1 billion dollars into the project, and seven agonizing minutes of terror in which the rover entered the Martian atmosphere, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory erupted with cheers and tears of joy when the rover sent a text message that basically said "I made it," sending its first photos on Mars soon afterwards. 

 

There is a bit of a time lag in regards to transmitting info between us and Mars due to the separation in distance, so while we were giving each other high fives and hugs, the Rover had actually been on ground for seven minutes.

 

Curiosity will be the first 21st Century astrobiology mission since the last ones took place in the 1970's with the Viking probes.

   "Today, the wheels of Curiosity have begun to blaze the trail for human footprints on Mars," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

"It will seek to answer age-old questions about whether life ever existed on Mars," he said, "or if the planet can sustain life in the future.—"

Sounds like a crowning achievement, eh? Sadly, there were only a little over 11 million people watching it. Sure, when you hear 11 million, that sounds like a lot of people, but when you consider that the U.S. has over 400 million people on its own, the number doesn't seem that grand.

My roomie wondered why the landing wasn't on local channels or got as much buzz as he hoped, and there's a simple reason: People aren't interested in space the way we used to be. That drive that we had back in the 60's Space Race is gone, mainly in part due to the notion that there's a "been there, done that" mentality to space exploration. And I say this with the embarrassment of knowing that I would've missed the live landing had my roomie not told me the rover was about to land!

Sure, as I said before, this is what, the 3rd successful Mars landing we've made? This is extraordinary! With government funds being cut, a global economy still shaking. . .  and still being able to land what is basically a lab on a planet 154 million miles away with a 60% chance of failure is something worth celebrating.

Now, I know, the Olympics are going on as well, but aren't the Olympics about a celebration of humanity? Is this achievement, not only an American success, but a global one?

Mankind has always looked to the stars, has always strived in taking crazy risks and leaps. Let's be ambitious again, the way we were back in the 60's. . . or the way we were when we were in kindergarten! Come on, you know what I'm talking about. We wanted to be anything and everything, and I'm sure being an astronaut was on the list for a whole bunch of us. :P While this world seems to spiral downhill, there are still some instances where we can look up to the heavens. . . and smile. I mean hey, we might as well since that's our money (yes, yours too) being put into good use. ^_^

Check out more specs on the landing here at msn . 

Cyborg Jellyfish From the Heart?!

The End Is Nigh!!!
. . .

'Kay, so maybe it's not that bad. . . yet. >.>

Scientists from the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University made an artificial jellyfish with a single pulse of electricity. "It's alive! IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIVE!" Known as the medusoid due to its umbrella shape, the jellyfish made out of silicone uses a rat's heart muscle to recreate the pumping motion familiar to a moon jellyfish. 


So, what does this mean to human beings? Well, this "medusoid tech" can be used to serve as a pacemaker in our body, powered by our natural nutrients. In short, we can might be able to make improved artificial hearts. What does this mean to sci-fi writers? Well, the skies the limit. "Think big on a galactic level," right? :P


As of now, the cyborg has limited movement, but scientists are already working on giving it better maneuverability. Check out more info here at News Scientist. 

Man-made Object About To Leave Our Solar System

Get ready to brainstorm some ideas off of this one, sci-fi people! This past week proved another instance where the genre once again nears sci-fact. I remember reading about Voyager 1 in Astronomy class back in college, and now it's about to make me go "wow" all over again by doing something never done before!

Voyager 1 was built with Voyager 2 in 1977 so we could observe our Jovian planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune when they aligned that year. So, Voyager 1 did its job when it flew by then-9th-planet, Pluto in 88. Needless to say, NASA was quite pleased with the successful mission, and they could all call it a day, right? Ahem,  not exactly.

Just because the probe's mission was done didn't mean it would/could stop. And since then, Voyager 1 has sailed across the system with very minor bumps beyond some systems shutting down. So, on June 14, it was announced that the spacecraft had reached the border of our solar system, and will be in interstellar space by the end of the year. That means Voyager will be beyond 

Now, think about it, everyone. The solar system. SOLAR SYSTEM! Lets put in some figures so we can get an idea. Voyager 1 is moving at around 17 kps. That's about 10.5 miles per second, which would equal to. . . hmm, math, math, math. . . 37,800 mph?! This thing is moving! But Voyager 1 was sent out almost 35 years ago. Why would it take something moving so fast to reach the end of our solar system? Well, it's over 11 BILLION mls/ 17.7 BILION kms away. Fun fact, eh?

Wanna know something else crazy? Voyager 1 is still sending a signal back to Earth! Granted, it takes 16 hours for it to reach us, but that's crazy! And as far as NASA can tell, it will keep on sending a signal until its lifespan depletes in another 8 years in 2020. 

As far as Voyager 2 is concerned, well, it's doing pretty darn good too. According to NASA, it's currently 9.1 billion miles away from the sun, and is still sending back data as well. Both crafts are part of the Voyager Interstellar Mission, which is an extension of the original mission. Now the probes are being used to explore the solar system beyond the neighborhood of our local planets and beyond. Ah, science. Isn't it great when the awesome accidents happen?

Get ready to get some insightful info and ideas from this one sci-fi readers and writers. Be sure to check out the article from Digital Journal for more info. You can also look at the Voyager Mission in its entirety on NASA's site. 

The ISS Caught A Dragon's Tail. So What?

History was made yesterday when the first privately owned company did something that our federal space agancy, NASA, usually does. SpaceX docked its space capsule called Dragon on to the International Space station this Friday in order to supply it with various items from equipment to food. Never in our history has a business been able to deliver supplies to the station. 

"There's so much that could have gone wrong and it went right," said Elon Musk, the man behind SpaceX. "This really
is, I think, going to be recognized as a significantly historical step forward in space travel - and hopefully the first of many to come."


This achievement was possible thanks to the joint NASA and Space X project. NASA astronaut Donald Pittit was the one who used the ISS's 58-foot robotic arm to catch the capsule.

"Looks like we've got us a dragon by the tail," he said, once he was able to lock onto Dragon's docking mechanism.

NASA was just as ecstatic as the young privately owned space company. While Space X, whose employees are around the average age of 30, were debating if it was finally okay to bring out the champagne (it's obviously not a good idea to be tipsy when dealing with a near $400 million project), NASA controllers were dressed-to-impress as they applauded the accomplishment.

President Obama is currently urging privately owned companies into orbit so NASA, who is losing funding, can put more of its focus on the bigger things. How big? How does a trip to Mars or mining an asteroid sound? Sheesh, with all of these advances going on, sci-fi writers might start running out of ideas! These ideas are happening during the end of the Space Shuttle era. Why, the American astronauts on the ISS are currently getting there by hitching a ride from Russia until we get our own wheels. . . um, I mean, thrusters again.

So, here are my final thoughts. A lot of people will overlook this event as just being, "meh." What does this have to do with them? Well, everything! Being a science fiction writer, I find it exhilarating to watch mankind prove a common belief in sci-fi being the mere precursor to sci-fact. While the times are tough here on "ground zero" (Earth), it always seems like space is a beacon of hope for our future. And to me, that's one of the elements I strive to dwell with in my stories. My personal favorite sci-fi stories have always covered the potential of mankind, whether it be good or bad. From post-apocalyptic worlds to thriving utopias, science fiction is a big social question mark. So, it's important for us sci-fi writers to keep up to date with both current progresses and failures. Just a thought. ^_^

Be sure to check out the source of my info here at, phys.org, for those who want more detail in yesterday's events. 

Video Of Annular Eclipse

Sadly, I'm in part of the U.S. that wasn't able to see this, but thanks to Youtube, there's tons of videos on this past's week's annular solar eclipse. Here's one of them. Have a look!

Light Detected From Super Earth

With me being into astronomy for the obvious reasons (:P), this article kinda tickled my fancy when I came across it. We've been finding various planets beyond our own Sol System for not that long actually, so it's always exciting news when we hear of what other bodies are out. Due to our current limitations, we're mainly finding Jovian (gas giant planets), in part due to the fact that these guys are. . . well. . . BIG! So when we find a terrestrial world (solid planets like Earth, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter), which tends to be a lot smaller than what we're normally able to see, I tend to turn my head and go, "Say what? Ooh!" And NASA just did that.

Their Spitzer Space Telescope detected light from Planet 55 Cancri e. It's being called a Super Eath because its estimates indicate that it has 8 times our mass and is twice our size. Now, now. Before you get too excited, no, this doesn't mean we've discovered a planet that is just like Earth. Due too its closeness to its star, I'm guessing it's more likely equivalent to Mercury, even though scientist are saying it could be very similar to Neptune "if you pulled Neptune in toward our sun and watched its atmosphere boil away." This planet orbits its star 41 light-years from Earth, and  a year on it will lasts just 18 hours.

So, this planet was first detected way back in '04, and we've never been able to get actual infrared light from the super Earth world until now. This is a big deal because Spitzer can search for possible worlds that may be habitable for us Earthling in the future. Granted, we still have to find out how to manage FTL (faster-than-light), in the meantime, but hey. No harm in seeing what's good to shop for while we're working on that, eh? ^_^

If you want to read more on the article, which includes future NASA projects and more of 55 Cancri e's specks, then look at the News link.