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Lifehacker
With help from its moon photographing probe, the Chang'e 1, China's created the country's first full map of the lunar surface and they're calling it the best one yet. According to the heads of the space program, the map is the most complete image of the moon's surface, as well as the richest in detail, in the world.
NASA is considering re-purposing its successful Cassini-Huygens probe to do something that it wasn't designed for, but is nonetheless amazing: searching for signs of life on Saturns frozen moon Enceladus. Back in July 2005 Cassini observed a huge plume of ice particles and water vapour shooting from the tiny moon, suggesting the possibility that there's a liquid ocean hiding beneath its surface.
On October 19, NASA will launch the IBEX, or Interstellar Boundary Explorer, into a 210km earth orbit to begin mapping the very edge of our solar system. This region of space, also known by the kick arse scientific name "termination shock," is rife with mystery. Only the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft have ventured there, but they weren't armed with the right kind of tech to adequately catalog what's going on at the point where our solar system meets outer space. IBEX is, and from its orbit around our planet it will beam back some of the first detailed measurements of the region.
When the Mars Phoenix Lander touched down on the Martian soil, discovered water ice and microbe-friendly acidic alkaline soil last month, it was quite a feat--for a human-controlled robot. But what if the robots sent to distant worlds could think for themselves, a la Wall-E and his Apple-esque main squeeze, EVE? NASA's betting on it, and has actually already started work on a "tier-scalable reconnaissance" program that would see armies of small probes exploring the outer reaches of our solar system with minimal human intervention, if any at all. Of course, such self-sufficient robots wouldn't be as cute as Wall-E--they'd actually be large hivemind dirigibles controlling an army of autonomous planet-side probes (think: Rush Limbaugh's radio program)--but nevertheless, the possibility for intergalactic robot love stories has never been closer to reality.
Only days after Taser International was found liable in a wrongful death suit, a new study conducted by CBC News/Radio-Canada and the Canadian Press have concluded that one in three people shot by a Taser require medical attention. The information was gathered from RCMP incident reports filed between 2002 and 2007. Of the 3,226 tasings laid down during that period, 910 of the victims went to a medical facility to treat their injuries--and many more potentially serious cases did not seek treatment.
Believe it or not, humanity has never fired a probe directly into the Sun. By 2015, NASA hopes to check that interstellar bucket list item with Solar Probe+ (pronounced Solar Probe plus), a heat-resistant spacecraft "designed to plunge deep into the sun's atmosphere where it can sample solar wind and magnetism first hand." At first the mission sounds like a tough break for the little probe, especially as its older cousins play in a sandbox and tool around Saturn, but once you dig a bit deeper there's actually quite a bit left to learn about our parent star's lingering mysteries.
Our favourite Martian gadget of the moment is experiencing some performance anxiety. While all of Phoenix's parts are working just fine, including the 8-foot scoop arm, the little guy just couldn't seal the deal when NASA scientists gave the green light to scoop dirt and put the bun in the oven. None of the inaugural sample made it into the first oven, you see, and scientists at the University of Arizona are scrambling today to find out why.
The landing thrusters aboard the Phoenix Mars Lander apparently did their job and them some. First, they successfully fired and gently deposited the multimillion dollar probe on the surface of the Red Planet. And then, by doing just that, they blew away three to six inches of Martian soil to reveal the shiny, slick face of what could be a large ice patch. Brendan Fraser's frozen caveman body was noticeably absent from this block of ice, but NASA scientists were elated anyway. The discovery reaffirms that the landing was indeed a bull's eye, akin to the Opportunity rover "hole in one" crater touchdown more than four years ago.
A team at Caltech is working on a MEMS-based robot probe that will be able to slowly creep electrodes into your brain to connect up to specific neurons. Creepy indeed, but with potential uses for advanced control of prosthetic limbs, Luke Skywalker-style. But the idea has greater potential for "state-of-the-art experimental techniques for electrophysiology." according to team-leader Michael Wolf. And that's just got me picturing the neural probes of The Matrix.
As you digest hot dogs or tend to one of your geektastic Memorial Day grilling machines today, take a moment to consider NASA's Phoenix Lander, which is scheduled to touch down on Mars this evening. At about 8 p.m. EST, the multimillion dollar lander will enter the Red Planet's atmosphere and experience what CNN is calling "seven minutes of terror" (worry not, I checked the story and it has nothing to do with the Lander being in a closet with Paris Hilton). Then, during a manoeuvre that puts any earthbound supercar's brakes to shame, Phoenix will slow itself from approximately 21,000 kilometres per hour to about eight in the space of six to seven minutes. Want to follow the probe's wild ride? There are a few sites covering the evening event live listed after the jump.
As you digest hot dogs or tend to one of your geektastic 