OnSputnik

The latest addition to the International Space Station life support system, the Water Recovery System, is targeted to launch Nov. 14 on the next space shuttle mission. This new water reclamation system will recycle wastewater from urine and crew perspiration.

Full story

With Google Earth for iPhone and iPod touch, you can fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger. Explore the same global satellite and aerial imagery available in the desktop version of Google Earth, including high-resolution imagery for over half of the world's population and a third of the world's land mass.

More information and download link

Inside your laptop is a small accelerometer chip, there to protect the delicate moving parts of your hard disk from sudden jolts. It turns out that the same chip is a pretty good earthquake sensor, too--especially if the signals from lots of them are compared, in order to filter out more mundane sources of laptop vibrations, such as typing.

Full story

Scientists have recorded the sound of three stars similar to our Sun using France's Corot space telescope. A team writing in Science journal says the sounds have enabled them to get information about processes deep within stars for the first time. If you listen closely to the sounds of each star - by clicking on the media in this page - you'll hear a regular repeating pattern.
These indicate that the entire star is pulsating.

Full story and sound files [Science article]

"Obviously the design criteria for four wheeled vehicles are somewhat different on other planets. This has yielded some of the most bizarre and fascinating vehicles ever proposed, from the giant Mobility Test Article test driven by Wernher von Braun to today’s rovers which have ditched the most expensive component of all, the driver. Here are a variety of some of both classic and unusual space rovers from prototype to flown."

Full story at Oobject

The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge will be held October 24-25 at the Las Cruces International Airport in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Two teams are expected to fly during the competition: Armadillo Aerospace and TrueZer0. The webcast will be live on October 24-25.

Editor's update: According to IPP's Doug Comstock "Armadillo has won 1st place for level 1 of the lunar Lander Challenge and $350k. They will try for Level 2 and $1M tomorrow!"

Streaming video, OnOrbit ColabSpace

The Ministry of Defence is lending the team engines that were used in the flight development programme for the Typhoon. These test engines are beyond combat use but have more than sufficient working time left in them to power Bloodhound. The EJ200 will produce about 20,000 lbs of thrust (90 kilonewtons) and will sit underneath a hybrid rocket engine that produces about 25,000 lbs of thrust (110kN). The rocket will provide most of the power to get Bloodhound close to the speed of sound (Mach 1); the Typhoon engine will enable Andy Green to throttle up to the target speed of 1,000mph (Mach 1.4).

Full story

"Fan of star trek? always wanted to own a prop from the show? well, nows your chance, I recently purchased seasons 3 and 4 of voyager, and have slowly been working my way through them. When i noticed what would make for a great remake, one of the P.A.D.D devices that they use."

More info at Instructables

Finally! The testing has started! We're getting data! Last week, I got to complete a round of testing. Though this didn't involve the fNIRS setup (lasers), it did utilize an EEG. The EEG that we have involves sensors in little watch battery size capsules that have small electrodes touching the scalp, and they are attached to a hair net - like cap. The cap is then cinched onto my head. The senors record electrical impulses that the brain gives off, and transfer that data into a software package on a computer.

Full story

The cool, rocky slopes of Mauna Kea will serve as a stand-in for the moon as researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, NASA and other organizations test a robot designed for lunar prospecting. During the field experiment, Nov. 1-13, the robot called Scarab will simulate a lunar mission to extract water, hydrogen, oxygen and other compounds that could potentially be mined for use by future lunar explorers.

Full story