If you think Star Trek’s USS Enterprise is just science fiction, think again. BTE Dan of the Build the Enterprise website has proposed a full-sized, ion powered version with 1G of gravity and he says we can build it over the next 20 years with existing technology. The “Gen1″ Enterprise could travel to the moon in 3 days or all the way to Mars in 90 days. He has worked out all the details, including full schematics and funding. Of course, the biggest challenging building it may be getting NASA to include it in their budget, but he’s even figured out how to do that as painlessly as possible. If it happens, he plans to build a new ship every 33 years, each more impressive than the last.
Think it can’t be done? In response to the naysayers he says, “If someone can convince me that it is not technically possible (ignoring political and funding issues), then I will state on the BuildTheEnterprise site that I have been found to be wrong. In that case, building the first Enterprise will have to wait for, say, another half century. But I don’t think that anyone will be able to convince me it can’t be done. My position is that we can – and should – immediately start working on it.” I agree. Engage!
See more images and a video after the jump…
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LEGO pro Ryan McNaught (aka The BrickMan) constructed a ridiculously impressive 19-foot tall Saturn V rocket replica (with gantry) out of 120,000 bricks over the course of 250 hours. It’s the largest LEGO model in Australia.
Check out more images after the break to see some of the little details McNaught added in.
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Technically these are Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne space shuttle engines that are destined to be repurposed in NASA’s next-gen Space Launch System (SLS)—but maybe that’s just what the Daleks want you to think.
(NASA via io9/Image via Dimitri Gerondidakis)
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I wouldn’t say it’s enough to make up for the disappointment many feel after the grounding of NASA’s shuttle program, but free ringtones are free ringtones!
NASA has made historic sound bites like Neil Armstrong’s “The Eagle has landed” and Apollo 13′s “Houston, we’ve had a problem” available for download to cellphones and computers to be used as ringtones, alarms and notifications.
“NASA has been making historic sounds for over 50 years,” Jerry Colen, NASA App project manager at the agency’s Ames Research Center, said in statement. “Now we’re making some of these memorable sounds easy to find and use.”
NASA claims the sounds will be updated regularly and they can be downloaded here in MP3 and M4R (iPhone) formats.
(via The LA Times)
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In a bit of news that will surely have the attention every Star Wars fan, a team using data from NASA’s $600 million Kepler telescope have discovered a planet that has two suns. Although its official title is “Kepler-16b”, scientists at NASA and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute [SETI] have informally named the planet “Tatooine” – a nod to George Lucas and the Star Wars universe. According to SETI’s Laurance Doyle, who led the team of researchers:
“When we first discovered it … I sent around a message, ‘Hey, you know guys, we should ask George Lucas if we can nickname this guy Tatooine. Suddenly and unexpectedly after years of looking for a circumbinary planet – we got a beauty.”
Doyle also reported that a double sunset on the real Tatooine would be much more dramatic that what we see in “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.” For someone standing on the planet’s surface, one of the suns would appear orange and the other red. If you’re hoping for a trip to the newly discovered planet, it’s probably not going to happen. It is located about 200 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. Getting there would take about two centuries if you were going at light speed, or 186,282 miles per second.
Check out the video after the break to learn more.
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Some people think about space and are inspired to create needle felted tributes. That or they are participating in an Etsy craft competition. Whatever the reason, @flyingjenny made this crafty representation of the NASA Hubble Servicing Mission 4. I’m confident that she has boldly taken needle felting where it’s never gone before.
(via Make)
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The following story has got to be in the top ten of all bizarre/hilariously nerdy crimes ever committed.
Ben Mezrich’s (the author behind the movie The Social Network) has a new book out called Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History. It chronicles the true story of Thad Roberts, a 25-year old NASA intern that somehow managed to circumvent tight security to steal a 600-pound safe full of moon rocks so he could impress a girl he had been dating for all of three weeks. To celebrate the heist, Roberts and his girlfriend jammed the rocks under a hotel mattress so they could become “the first couple to have sex on the moon”.
Roberts spent over seven years in federal prison for what is undoubtedly the nerdiest thing a nerd ever did to try and impress a girl. Interestingly, it did get him laid (food for thought).
The amazing thing is how little media attention this story grabbed when Roberts was arrested in 2003. If it happened today, you could be certain that it would be plastred on every news channel and blog in the country. At any rate, you can read all about it now that the book has hit store shelves.
The book is available in hardcover on Amazon for $14.82 or on the Kindle for $12.99.
(CTV via blastr)
NASA’s new Atlas V rocket will begin its five year journey to Jupiter today with three tiny aluminum passengers on board—the Roman god Jupiter, his sister Juno, and the Italian astronomer Galileo in Lego Minifig form.
Lego saw the project as a way to promote children’s education and STEM programs. They even underwrote it at a cost of $5000 per figure. NASA, on the other hand, saw the project as an awesome opportunity to play with Lego and blast them into space.
Upon its arrival to Jupiter, the Atlas V will orbit the planet and take photos for a year, after which it will purposefully crash into the planet’s surface. You can follow the progress of the probe and its payload online at Legospace.com.
(via GeekDad)
If you are a space junkie with some coding, circuitry and soldering skills, you can build your very own ISS Notify lamp. It glows whenever the space station is passing over your location.
From the project page:
The International Space Station (ISS) is a marvel of current technology and humanity. Sadly, we often forget it’s there.
This light sits on a desk and lights up when the space station passes overhead. It stays lit as long as the station is more than 10 degrees above the horizon.
Being reminded that there are astronauts doing science over our heads every day helps reconnect us with our space program.
Indeed, it is important to remember that brave men and women risk their lives every day in the name of science and exploration. It’s also good to have an ISS warning system…just in case. You never know what conspiracies NASA is cooking up to bring you down. I’m on to you ISS astronauts! Where is my tinfoil hat?
Check out a video of the lamp in action after the break.
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Being an astronaut has its perks—free travel, weightlessness, food in pouches—but none of these benefits can compare to getting a personalized wake up call from Captain Kirk.
Check out the video after the break.
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