Designing the perfect aircraft is impossible. For takeoff and landing (arguably the most important parts of flying), you want something with wide, broad wings. But to fly fast and efficiently, you want wings that are swept back and as small as possible. Variable sweep wings are a compromise, but this concept (just funded by NASA) proposes something, um, different. (via NASA funds concept aircraft that rotates 90 degrees to go supersonic | DVICE)

A jackpot of previously unknown black holes across the universe has been discovered by the infrared eyes of a prolific NASA sky-mapping telescope. The cosmic find comes from data collected by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey (WISE) telescope, which scanned the entire sky in infrared light from December 2009 to February 2011. The full catalog of observations by WISE during its mission was publicly released in March, and astronomers are still poring through this celestrial trove for discoveries. “WISE has found a bonanza of black holes in the universe,” astronomer Daniel Stern of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., said during a news briefing today (Aug. 29). WISE turned up about three times as many black holes as have been found by comparable surveys in visible light, offering up a total of 2.5 million new sources across the sky. (via Black Hole ‘Bonanza’: Millions Found by NASA Space Telescope | WISE | Space.com)

Hoping to inject new life into low-cost space exploration, NASA’s ‘PhoneSat’ program will launch a series of Google Nexus One–controlled mini-satellites into space later this year. While most of the recent media attention on NASA has understandably focused on the Curiosity rover on Mars, that’s not the only experiment that the space and aeronautics research agency has in the works. A team at NASA’s Ames Research center in Moffett Field, California, is working on the future launch of miniature satellites constructed with Android-powered Nexus One smartphones at the helm. Dubbed “PhoneSat,” this project is part of a larger experiment called the Small Spacecraft Technology Program that incorporates small consumer electronics into working nanosatellites. The PhoneSat launch has no firm date, but three PhoneSat units will be rocket-bound sometime in late 2012. (Hopefully, we’ll start seeing Tweets from PhoneSat’s currently quiet Twitter account.) However, there’s much to be excited about with the launch fast approaching. Here’s what we know so far. (via Android Phones Will Power NASA’s New Fleet of Mini-Satellites | PCWorld)

If all goes well next month, Curiosity, NASA’s latest mission to Mars, will land in the Gale crater, a 3.5-billion-year-old, 96-mile-wide depression near the planet’s equator. Out will roll a car-size rover to search for signs of life, among other things. It will drill into rocks and sample the contents, using a mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph and a laser spectrometer. In the unlikely event that the project finds evidence of life, then what? In particular, who is in charge of deciding what we should do if we encounter living Martian creatures? Please note that the chances of Curiosity finding actual microbes look very small. They probably lie deep beneath the surface, out of range of lethal radiation and beyond the reach of the rover’s probes, and even then they will be rare, if they exist at all. A new paper, however, hints that there’s a chance of finding organic molecules that may be characteristic of life. Alexander Pavlov of NASA and colleagues have calculated that simple organic molecules, such as formaldehyde, could survive as little as 2 inches below the surface of Mars, while in young craters more complex molecules like amino acids could be found at such depths. But none of this would be actual life. (via Matt Ridley on Mars, the Curiosity Mission and Alien Life | Mind & Matter – WSJ.com)

Satellites use solar energy to power their electronics, but they rely on gas to maintain orbit or change position. Once tapped out, dead satellites become space junk, which threatens new orbital ventures. To prevent this, NASA is testing the feasibility of using robots to fuel and repair satellites on the fly or tow them to a new job site. (via NASA Tests Robotic Gas Station Attendant for Outer Space | Wired Science | Wired.com)

Nasa has launched an augmented reality iOS app that allows users to get a feel for what it’s like to manoeuvre one of the space agency’s robotic spacecraft. The nifty Spacecraft 3D app — available free on the iPhone, iPad and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch devices — uses augmented reality and 3D animation to put the Curiosity rover (slated for a Mars landing in August 2012) and the moon-orbiting Ebb and Flow probes in a locale of the player’s choosing. Using simple controls, they can then manipulate the spacecraft’s sensors and components, such as its antenna. Users need to print out a photo or image of their desired backdrop, then focus the device’s camera on it and wait for the spacecraft to appear, ready to trundle along at their command. (via Nasa’s augmented reality app lets you control Curiosity Mars rover (Wired UK))

In a video with the bleak title “We Stopped Dreaming,” astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson makes the case for space exploration—and not just because it may help us find a new planetary home someday. “We went to the moon, and we discovered Earth,” he says, tying the famous photograph Earthrise to the birth of the environmental movement and even Doctors Without Borders—because, he says, it was the first time we saw the planet without “color-coded boundaries.” (via Neil deGrasse Tyson and the Penny4NASA campaign to increase NASA’s budget. [VIDEO])

Ever wonder exactly where grizzly bears live on this continent? Or where you might find Myotis lucifungus, the fuzzy, adorable little brown bat that is currently threatened with extinction because of white-nose syndrome? Now you can track them on Google Maps, thanks to a new program that aims to plot the location of every single living thing on Earth. It’s kind of like the Gawker Stalker, only with lemurs instead of Malcolm Gladwell. This ambitious project, called the Map of Life, uses a Google Maps platform to map the known distribution of 30,000 species of terrestrial vertebrates. Many more are still being added, with the eventual goal of curating hundreds of thousands of plants, birds, fish, reptiles and everything else under the sun. Meanwhile, there’s still plenty to search. The project just opened to the public. “It is the where and the when of a species,” said Walter Jetz, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University, who leads the project.

“Map of Life” Shows the Location of All Organisms, Large and Small | Popular Science

View from space shows Earth in a state of flux (Credit: NASA) The Earth’s appearance has transformed over the course of millions of years. Obviously, for much of that time scientists weren’t around to track the Earth’s shifting face. The Earth’s appearance has transformed over the course of millions of years. Obviously, for much of that time scientists weren’t around to track the Earth’s shifting face. But with the advent of the space age in the second half of the 20th century, it became possible to view the planet from afar and get a sweeping perspective. Indeed, an updated NASA gallery published in conjunction with Earth Day 2012 features more than 160 comparison views demonstrating in sharp relief the very real changes that have taken place during the Earth’s recent history. (via View from space shows Earth in a state of flux: Scientific American)

Over the past several decades, there’s been a stunning revolution in how we view the prospect of life on other planets. Starting with the Voyager missions in the 1970s, it became clear that the Solar System had a number of bodies that were geologically active. Evidence for oceans of liquid water and hints of Mars’ watery past soon followed. Meanwhile, back on Earth, we began to discover that life could survive in some extremely harsh conditions: high radioactivity, near-boiling water, even under blood-red ice in Antarctica. (via NASA Needs New Plan to Avoid Contaminating Other Worlds | Wired Science | Wired.com)

NASA | New Eye on the Sun Delivers Stunning First Images

NASA information technology summit.

NASA held its first information technology summit. Speakers at the second day included Internet pioneer and Google Vice President Vint Cerf, who shared his thoughts about the past and future of the Internet, including the possible creation of an interplanetary network. Also speaking were Jack Blitch from Disney Imagineering, on how his company designs and implements it attractions, and some of its plans for the future.

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H\T to O’Reilly Radar

Here is R2: NASA and GM Take a Giant Leap Forward in Robotics

NASA and General Motors are working together to accelerate development of the next generation of robots and related technologies for use in the automotive and aerospace industries.

Engineers and scientists from NASA and GM worked together through a Space Act Agreement at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to build a new humanoid robot capable of working side by side with people. Using leading edge control, sensor and vision technologies, future robots could assist astronauts during hazardous space missions and help GM build safer cars and plants.

The two organizations, with the help of engineers from Oceaneering Space Systems of Houston, developed and built the next iteration of Robonaut. Robonaut 2, or R2, is a faster, more dexterous and more technologically advanced robot. This new generation robot can use its hands to do work beyond the scope of prior humanoid machines. R2 can work safely alongside people, a necessity both on Earth and in space.

“This cutting-edge robotics technology holds great promise, not only for NASA, but also for the nation,” said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “I’m very excited about the new opportunities for human and robotic exploration these versatile robots provide across a wide range of applications.”

for more go to: Robonaut at NASA

Transistors in Space

NASA tests new radiation-proof chips

clipped from spectrum.ieee.org Space Test: New radiation-resistant transistors, attached to the International Space Station for evaluation, orbit Earth. Mission planners for future flights to the moon, Mars, and beyond rightly worry about how to keep astronauts safe from the hazards of high-energy protons, neutrons, and ions streaming through space. These particles can cause cancer and brain damage, but they can be just as damaging to a spacecraft’s electronics. NASA is now testing how well a new type of transistor, shown to be radiation-resistant on Earth, will hold up in space. The transistors went up on the space shuttle Endeavor, and astronauts placed them in a test setup on the outside of the International Space Station on 22 March. After a year, researchers will check how radiation affects the transistors’ operating voltages and currents. A typical transistor is made up of a gate separated from the channel between the source and the drain by an insulating dielectric, usually silicon dioxide

NASA’s Climate TimeMachine

clipped from www.dailygalaxy.com NASA’s Climate TimeMachine visualization shows the changes in annual Arctic Sea ice, sea surface height, carbon dioxide emissions, and global surface temperatures. Arctic sea ice minimum is shown from 1979 to 2007.� At the end of each summer, the sea ice cover reaches its minimum extent, leaving what is called the perennial ice cover. The area of the perennial ice has been steadily decreasing since the satellite record began in 1979. Sea surface height variations are shown, observed by the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 missions from January 1996 through December 2005.� These variations between what we see and what is normal for different times of year and regions are called anomalies, or residuals. Annual carbon dioxide emissions produced by the top 12 nations or regions from 1980-2004 is graphically illustrated.� Units are given in thousand metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted from fossil fuel consumption.� NASA Climate TimeMachine