September 8th, 2008 by
Filed under: Networking
We knew the US military was looking to hook up space with a WLAN router, and lo and behold, WiFi has finally launched well above the stratosphere. According to a status log from the International Space Station over the weekend, the Joint Station LAN network was transitioned to “new Netgear wireless APs, which provide the ISS with WiFi connectivity.” The official report details the crew using it for very official and politically correct things (you know, testing and whatnot), but we’re pretty darn sure a deathmatch or two went down as well. Or maybe those guys we saw yesterday just had some sort of gravity hack going on…
[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of LowPings]
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Posted in wifi, space, internet, galaxy, space station, SpaceStation, iss, international space station, InternationalSpaceStation, planet | No Comments »
August 8th, 2008 by
Filed under: Transportation
Ad Astra’s VASIMR plasma rocket is about ready for testing, only problem is it requires the vacuum of space to do it in. NASA is now considering taking the rocket up to the International Space Station, clipping it on and firing her up — perhaps even using it to reposition the station. Formerly of NASA, Franklin Chang Diaz left to form Ad Astra and perfect his plasma rocket, which he hopes will be able to take space vehicles from low-earth orbit to the moon. The rocket draws its own power from solar cells, and then uses radio waves to heat argon into plasma, and directs that plasma using magnets. Pretty fancy stuff, and since the rocket is reusable and can propel payloads double the size of equivalent chemical engines, there could be cost savings in the long run. Right now it seems the main hang ups for NASA are where to attach the rocket to the ISS where it won’t be interfered with, and how to get it into space after the space shuttle is retired in 2010
[Via Newlaunches.com]
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Posted in plasma, iss, international space station, InternationalSpaceStation, ad astra, AdAstra, plasma rocket, PlasmaRocket, vasimr | No Comments »
June 11th, 2008 by
Filed under: Transportation
Google co-founder Sergey Brin is about to join an extremely short list of space tourists, according to reports. The search engine-kingpin just dropped a $5 million dollar “investment” on the company Space Adventures, which all but guarantees him a seat on the outfit’s next flight in 2011. The trip aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket will take Brin to the ISS in the first-ever private flight to the station (Ubuntu head Mark Shuttleworth has made the trip, though not on a private mission). The company stresses that the ride will be less about tourism and more about commercial exploration, with passengers bringing aboard experiments and taking part in flight operations. Now the only riddle left to solve is whether the last Cylon is Brin or Bezos.
[Via Gear Diary]
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Posted in Google, space tourism, SpaceTourism, iss, international space station, InternationalSpaceStation, soyuz, sergey brin, SergeyBrin, space adventures, SpaceAdventures | No Comments »
June 3rd, 2008 by
Filed under: Household
In what is becoming a fascinating space-poop drama, the International Space Station had a fresh toilet pump delivered today by space shuttle Discovery. For the past couple weeks, astronauts were forced to perform manual flushes, but this pump promises to make things go down a bit easier. We’re still under the impression that the toilet will be replaced in the Fall, so more relief is sure to come.
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Posted in Funny, problem, space, NASA, toilet, bathroom, iss, international space station, InternationalSpaceStation, space shuttle discovery, SpaceShuttleDiscovery | No Comments »
May 28th, 2008 by
Filed under: Household
It’s amazing how quickly humans can remedy problems when really placed in a bind, and rather than waiting for supplies to come up with Discovery next week, crew members aboard the International Space Station were able to solve their little dilemma already. Reportedly, cosmonauts were able to cure whatever was ailing the temporarily non-functioning john, enabling those stuck in space to urinate freely. Thankfully, the seven-year old toilet is due to be replaced with a fresh new one this Fall, and we’d say the replacement couldn’t arrive soon enough.
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Posted in Comedy, Funny, problem, space, NASA, fix, space station, SpaceStation, solution, toilet, bathroom, iss, international space station, fixed | No Comments »
May 28th, 2008 by
Filed under: Household
You think it’s bad when computers on the International Space Station get spazzed — just imagine the chaos when the primary commode decides to stop functioning correctly. As of now, crew members are being forced to urinate in a “jury-rigged system” that’s connected to the seven-year old (!!!) can, but thankfully, the solid waste collecting part has yet to act up. Still, we can imagine that folks on board are already fearing the worst. NASA officials have stated that they are currently mulling the idea of tossing a few parts on the Discovery just before it lifts off next week for a planned docking trip, which we can only hope pans out. Godspeed just took on a whole new meaning.
[Image courtesy of Nohoz, thanks System48]
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Posted in Comedy, Funny, problem, space, NASA, space station, SpaceStation, toilet, bathroom, iss, international space station, InternationalSpaceStation | No Comments »
March 18th, 2008 by
Filed under: Robots
Apparently, the folks aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour aren’t wasting any time piecing Dextre together (or jamming to their iPods), as just days after we first heard about this creature’s future in space, now we’re hearing that he’s totally assembled and ready to rock. The bot, which is formally known as the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator, has been fitted with various tools and cameras and is all set to “undergo a series of tests and trials before it is asked to do major tasks.” Godspeed, young Dextre — hopefully you’ll have more success than Ted and Gadget.
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Posted in space, NASA, robot, space station, SpaceStation, iss, dextre, Endeavour | No Comments »
March 7th, 2008 by
Filed under: Robots
It may be not be the only bot on the block for long but, for now at least, the Canadian-built Dextre robot has the spotlight to itself, with it set to blast off Tuesday on board the shuttle Endeavor for delivery to its new home on the International Space Station. As USA Today reports, the robot has been some ten years in the making (at a cost of $210 million), and is designed to handle many of the tasks that would otherwise be done by astronauts on spacewalks. Those astronauts will still have a job for a while yet, with one of the main tasks during Endeavor’s mission obviously being the assembly of Dextre, which is currently broken down into nine parts. Even after that’s done, however, Dextre apparently won’t start work until sometime in 2009, at which point it’ll be able to replace nearly 140 parts on the ISS, and be controlled either by mission control or the crew on the space station.
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Posted in space, space station, SpaceStation, iss, dextre, international space station, InternationalSpaceStation | No Comments »
December 21st, 2007 by
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Home Entertainment
It looks like Clarion is about to get some considerable new bragging rights (shared only by the likes of Tang), as some of its automotive A/V gear has recently been approved by NASA and is now awaiting deployment into space. That includes the company’s RX935VD in-dash multimedia center and VCZ625 6-disc DVD changer, each of which have been fitted into a specially designed unit and will soon be used to entertain crew members on the International Space Station. As Clarion points out, that makes those the first car A/V components to be installed in the ISS, with their reliance 12 volt automotive systems (the same voltage as the space station) working largely in their favor. No word on an exact launch date just yet, but the gear is now ready and waiting in Star City for the next available spot to free up.
[Via audiojunkies]
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Posted in space, clarion, space station, SpaceStation, iss | No Comments »
