lunar
Music
Moonbell Creates “Beautiful Music” From The Lunar Surface
2:20AM John Herrman | Moonbell, a surprisingly complex MIDI composer and visualiser that draws inspiration from lunar topographical data, poses a pressing question: Is there music hidden on the moon’s surface? The answer depends heavily on your definition of the word “music”. More »
Science
5:59AM Jesus Diaz | Suck it up, conspiracy theorists, because soon your cuckoo stories about the US simulating the Moon landings will be over forever. NASA has confirmed to Gizmodo that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will take photos of all the Apollo landing sites: More »
NASA To Take Photos Of Lunar Landing Sites, End Conspiracy Theories
5:59AM Jesus Diaz | Suck it up, conspiracy theorists, because soon your cuckoo stories about the US simulating the Moon landings will be over forever. NASA has confirmed to Gizmodo that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will take photos of all the Apollo landing sites: More »
Science
NASA’s Ares 1 Rocket in Trouble Again: Could Crash Into Launch Tower
3:45AM Kit Eaton | NASA’s Ares 1 rocket may be facing another large technological hurdle before it can take part in the future lunar missions: it’s apparently in danger of banging into its own launch tower if the wind is up. Actually, the wind needs only be a gentle-sounding 20kph from the south-east to cause problems, and it’s all to do with how the rocket’s solid fuel motor causes it to “hop” on ignition, before it powers upwards. More »
Vehicles
First Look At New Russian-Euro Lunar Capsule
11:30AM Matt Hickey | Here it is, fellow space-geeks, the first official image of the new joint Russian-European manned spacecraft, and we’ll be damned if it doesn’t look like something out of the Ikea Kitchen Collection. It’s made to ferry up to four people (cosmonauts or astronauts?) to the moon and back, with a two-stage orbiter-and-lander design much like the original American lunar missions. What’s interesting is that the craft uses thrusters to slow its descent to the moon’s surface as well as to launch itself off the surface. The Russians state that they expect a launch in 2018, though a launch could happen sooner if stock rockets currently available are modified, which sounds perfectly and totally safe to us. [BBC] More »
Science
NASA’s Bad-Ass Manned Moon Rover Prototypes
4:30AM Brian Lam | To mark the new mission to the Moon, here’s a collection of wonderful manned lunar rovers from the future and past from Apollo days gone by. I wish I knew more about these vehicles but Big Picture’s source linking policy is kind of bizarre to me. [Big Picture] More »
Robots
NASA’s ATHLETE Hex-Legged Lunar Robots Now Work in Pairs
8:00AM Gizmodo US Edition | We’ve shown you NASA’s neat ATHLETE robots before and it looks like the little hexapod machines have been getting more sophisticated. This vid of two ATHLETEs collaborating to lift a heavy habitat load onto the ground sent faint Matrix-esque shivers down my spine. NASA is taking development of the robots seriously, as it turns out their multiple-wheeled dexterity make them perfect for carrying mobile habitats across the rocky, uneven lunar terrain. They’ve even been discussed in the most recent mission planning, so they really might be trotting-rolling across the Moon’s surface in a short bunch of years. Next up for ATHLETE: a mock mobile lunar base trial. [NASA and New Scientist] More »
Vehicles
NASA Lunar Chariot Tested by NYT Earthling (Verdict: Best Rims in Outer Space)
9:00AM Haroon Malik | NASA’s Lunar Chariot, which costs a reported US$2 million to build, has just been tested by the NYT. The top speed of 24 kph may not set tarmac on fire, but it sure as hell can burn a truckload of astro stuff, all with it’s six-wheeled wackiness trailing closely behind. The front driving “turret” houses the primary control; a joystick for steering, as well as various cameras and sensors, the feedback of which is relayed to the onboard screen. John Schwartz, the NYT reporter sent out to run the test, didn’t get to drive the buggy itself, but he was offered the passenger’s seat / stand, and here’s what he made of it.
Science
NASA Releases New Footage Of The Moon
5:00AM Mark Wilson | NASA has just released new imaging data from the moon’s south pole—the area they believe to be best suited for future landings and even colonisation. Gathered from a 70-metre radar dish, scientists assembled a precise topographical map of a 640 by 400 km area (we’re not certain how much of that we see here). In the first video (above), NASA recreated a day passing on that spot by adding shadow detail to their model. (It looks neat, we promise.) More »
Networks
Lunar Astronauts To Have Mobile Phone Service
6:40AM Gizmodo US Edition | NASA will definitely beat the Mt. Everest phone calls when they launch mobile phone service on the moon around 2012. Their MoonLite system will link astronauts, the lunar base and Earth via satellite. Even though there is over four years until launch, the service will only have a speed of 3kbps down/2kbps up. One small call for man…ah forget it. [Silicon.com via Newlaunches] More »
Science
