Gadgets Blog

Challenger Center for Space Science Education partnered with Green Trail Energy to bring its portable solar/wind generator aka "Power Droid" (right side, tower) to the 2009 NASA Desert RATS exercise in Arizona. Both NASA's Chariot and Tri-Athelete rovers were recharged by the Power Droid. Desert RATS base camp is to the center and left. To the extreme left you can see the Lunar Electric Rover - its communications gear appears twice again (partially) due to panorama processing. You can view the full GigaPan panorama here at gigapan.org

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, Expedition 20 commander, uses the Russian BAR/EXPERT science payload to take various environmental measurements in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station. high res (0.6 M) low res (108 K)

"We are a group of MIT students seeking to share the artistic aspects of science with others. On Sept. 2, 2009, we launched a digital camera into near-space to take photographs of the earth from high up above. (see "Flight") Several groups have accomplished similar feats (see "Other Launches"), but as far we know, we are the first group ever to: (1) Complete such a launch on a budget of $150 total. All of our supplies (including camera, GPS tracking, weather balloon, and helium) were purchased for less than a grand total of $150. (2) Create a launch vehicle without the use of any electronic hacking. We used off-the-shelf items exclusively (i.e., no electronic chips or soldering) to create our launch vehicle." More

Video caption: On Wednesday September 16, 2009, Masten Space Systems flew our XA0.1B-750 rocket vehicle in the Northrop-Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, Level 1. The flight on the first leg was awesome to watch. This was the second untethered flight of "Xombie" (flight 29). The rocket reached an altitude of 53 meters and moved to the second landing pad 60 meters away with a 92 second flight time. We landed a tiny 19.7cm from center of our target. Upon inspection of the engine before preparing for the return trip, our staff found some minor damage to the engine. It was decided to not take the risk of flying the second leg and living to fly another day. Our next competition window is in early October and that should allow us plenty of time to identify the cause of the damage and make corrections.

A close-up view taken on 1 Sept. 2009 of a Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-6) on the exterior of the Columbus laboratory is featured in this image photographed by a space walking astronaut during the STS-128 mission's first session of extravehicular activity (EVA). MISSE collects information on how different materials weather in the environment of space. MISSE was later placed in Space Shuttle Discovery's cargo bay for its return to Earth. high res (1.3 M) low res (102 K)

Backdropped by a blue and white part of Earth, the unpiloted Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) approaches the International Space Station. Once the HTV was in range, NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk and European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne, all Expedition 20 flight engineers, used the station's robotic arm to grab the cargo craft and attach it to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony node. The attachment was completed at 5:26 (CDT) on Sept. 17, 2009. high res (1.2 M) low res (89 K)

More images below