The Next Threat To Astronauts: Moon Dust
NASA is planning to build a lunar outpost by 2024, but the agency has a nitty-gritty problem to tackle first: jagged, ultraclingy moon dust, which could threaten the entire mission. Apollo astronauts discovered that the dust, with grains roughly ... [... more]
Popular Mechanics |
Plus: Behind The Scenes Of Nasa's Moon Return
The heart of the launch abort system is the abort motor. In case of a problem, this ATK solid-fuel rocket, with four outward-canted reverse-flow nozzles at its apex, will automatically fire for 2 seconds with some 500,000 pounds of thrust ? more ... [... more]
Popular Mechanics |
Plus: Pilot's Perspective On Yankee Crash
And flying the Hudson VFR corridor is one of the most spectacular of all. For pilots taking off from Teterboro, a general aviation airport in New Jersey, 12 miles north of midtown Manhattan, the typical procedure is to head east under the control ... [... more]
Popular Mechanics |
Plus: Jesse James Builds Flying Car, Pm Is There
IT'S DAY FOUR of a five-day build, and the nine-man Monster Garage team has reached its first crisis. The project being tackled is ambitious even by the audacious standards of a show that has turned a Mustang into a 50-mph lawnmower, and a school ... [... more]
Popular Mechanics |
Civilian Uavs Take Flight
Despite all this civilian UAV potential, the operation of unmanned craft is tightly restricted in the United States. For starters, they can operate only within blocked-out zones of airspace, off-limits to civilian aircraft, known as Restricted ... [... more]
Popular Mechanics |
Plus: Boeing Vs. Airbus
THE WEATHER OVER MUCH OF WESTERN EUROPE on Sept. 4 was, in pilotspeak, severe clear?ideal conditions for the first flight of the world's largest passenger airplane with "civilians" on board. Carrying nearly 500 Airbus employees, the A380 took ... [... more]
Popular Mechanics |
Expert: Eyes On Earth In Nasa Mission Statement
There?s a very long list. One example that comes to mind is something called Landsat, which started 35 years ago. Data from these satellites have proved extremely useful to people who study things like deforestation, urban sprawl and changing ... [... more]
Popular Mechanics |
Nasa's New Moon Robot: Dig It!
When we finally make it back to the moon, it would be nice if some air and water were waiting for us. That's the goal of this digger bot, built by Lockheed Martin as part of NASA's PILOT (Precursor In-situ Lunar Oxygen Testbed) program. It will ... [... more]
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Resident Astronaut: Why We Should Fix Hubble
Some argue that repairing Hubble is pointless, since ground-based observatories have overtaken its capabilities. But terrestrial telescopes fall short of HST's resolution by a factor of 10 or more. So would I take the risk to fly to Hubble? Just ... [... more]
Popular Mechanics |
Robot Chopper: The Navy's Smartest Uav
The Fire Scout is arguably the smartest unmanned aerial vehicle ever built. Unlike remote-operated drones such as the Predator, this helicopter is a true robot, with enough computing power to take off, fly and land on its own. Last year a pair of ... [... more]
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New Space: Maverick Rocketeers Aim For The Sky
On one level, the eight men who together make up Armadillo Aerospace are just a bunch of recreational rocketeers, a group of guys approaching middle age who break clear from wives and girlfriends two nights a week to tinker with engine nozzles ... [... more]
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Plus: Killer Asteroid Coming Our Way
The small size of the gravitational keyhole—just 2000 ft. in diameter—is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it wouldn't take much to nudge Apophis outside it. Calculations suggest that if we change Apophis's velocity by a mere 0.0001 ... [... more]
Popular Mechanics |
