A $15m computer that uses “quantum physics” effects to boost its speed is to be installed at a Nasa facility.
Posts tagged "NASA"
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NASA buys into 'quantum' computer →
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NASA's goggle-eyed SPHERE robots create 3D maps on the fly →
Take the little floating ball that gave Luke Skywalker so much trouble during lightsaber practice, slap a pair of huge welder’s goggles on it and you start to get a picture of NASA’s latest foray into flying robots. Currently being tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS), MIT Space Systems Laboratory’s SPHERES-VERTIGO system is a free-flying robot with stereoscopic vision that is part of a program to develop ways for small satellites to autonomously create 3D maps of objects such as asteroids or disabled satellites.
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NASA-backed fusion engine could cut Mars trip down to 30 days →
NASA, and plenty of private individuals, want to put mankind on Mars. Now a team at the University of Washington, funded by the space agency, is about to start building a fusion engine that could get humans there in just 30 days and make other forms of space travel obsolete.
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Moon mining race under way →
Space exploration has long been about reaching far off destinations but now there is a race to exploit new frontiers by mining their minerals.
Google has offered a $20m grand prize to the first privately-funded company to land a robot on the moon and explore the surface by moving at least 500 metres and send high definition video back to Earth by 2015.
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Planet Mercury Fully Mapped for First Time →
The surface of the planet Mercury has been completely mapped for the first time in history, scientists say.
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Giant NASA spider robots could 3D print lunar base →
The first lunar base on the Moon may not be built by human hands, but rather by a giant spider-like robot built by NASA that can bind the dusty soil into giant bubble structures where astronauts can live, conduct experiments, relax or perhaps even cultivate crops.
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Next Private Spacecraft Launch to Space Station Set for March 1 →
The next private cargo mission to the International Space Station is slated to blast off March 1, NASA announced today (Feb. 14).
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How Humans Will Evolve on Multigenerational Space Exploration Missions →
When space shuttle Atlantis rolled to a stop in 2011, it did not mark, as some worried, the end of human spaceflight. Rather, as the extinction of the dinosaurs allowed early mammals to flourish, retiring the shuttle signals the opening of far grander opportunities for space exploration. Led by ambitious private companies, we are entering the early stages of the migration of our species away from Earth and our adaptation to entire new worlds. Mars is the stated goal of Elon Musk of PayPal fortune; polar explorers Tom and Tina Sjogren, who are designing a private venture to Mars; and Europe’s privately funded MarsOne project, which would establish a human colony by 2023. The colonization of space is beginning now.
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NASA team pushing towards thermal nuclear propulsion systems →
Nuclear-powered rocket engines are not new. In the 1960s, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union developed and tested thermal nuclear rockets fitted with flight-worthy components. However, Project Rover and NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Nuclear Rocket Application) programs were defunded in the early 1970s just before test flights were to start. Now, as part of the Advanced Exploration Systems program at NASA, the Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage team is tackling a three-year project to demonstrate the viability of and to evaluate materials for thermal nuclear propulsion systems for use in future deep space missions.
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Mars Colonists Wanted to Explore Red Planet →
If you think you have the right stuff to help colonize Mars, you’ll soon get your chance to prove it.
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Spikey robot ‘hedgehogs’ to explore Martian moon →
A spike-covered robotic hedgehog is being developed to precisely hop, bounce and tumble across the Martian moon Phobos on a scouting trip for a human mission to Mars, according to a space scientist working on the project.
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Nasa reveals new spacesuit - but was it designed by a fan of Buzz Lightyear? →
Nasa’s next generation of space suit - the agency’s first in 20 years - will look familiar to fans of computer generated cartoon classic Toy Story.
That’s because the new white and green Z-1 suit bears more than a passing resemblance to the interstellar hero Buzz Lightyear.
The prototype suit was revealed in a host of pictures uploaded today to photo-sharing website Flickr, and it boasts trim of the same hue as that worn by the space ranger action figure.
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NASA technologists test ‘game-changing’ data-processing technology →
NASA technologist Jonathan Pellish believes the analog computing technology of yesteryear could potentially revolutionize everything from autonomous rendezvous and docking to remotely correcting wavefront errors on large, deployable space telescope mirrors like those to fly on the James Webb Space Telescope.
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Mars Rover Curiosity Celebrates 1 Year off Earth →
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity marked one year away from Earth Monday (Nov. 26), but the car-size robot’s work on the Red Planet is just getting started.
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How NASA might build its very first warp drive →
A few months ago, physicist Harold White stunned the aeronautics world when he announced that he and his team at NASA had begun work on the development of a faster-than-light warp drive. His proposed design, an ingenious re-imagining of an Alcubierre Drive, may eventually result in an engine that can transport a spacecraft to the nearest star in a matter of weeks — and all without violating Einstein’s law of relativity. We contacted White at NASA and asked him to explain how this real life warp drive could actually work.
