lander

NASA tests newest free-flying robotic lander: Mighty Eagle

When NASA's Mars rover Curiosity began its entry, descent and landing sequence two weeks ago, the success of the mission hinged on what was known as the "7 minutes of terror" -- a period during which NASA was out of touch with the vehicle, relying on its autonomous landing sequence to successfully touch down on the surface.

That mission has been an outstanding success thus far, and today NASA announced another successful landing. The Mighty Eagle lander -- equipped with next-generation automated rendezvous and capture technology that contains a camera -- allows the vehicle to locate its … Read more

NASA's Morpheus moon lander crashes and burns

While the world is still basking in the glow of NASA's successful landing of its Curiosity rover on Mars, a flight of the space agency's experimental Morpheus lander had a much more unfortunate ending today.

According to Space.com, the lander crashed and burned at Kennedy Space Center this afternoon after its first free-flight test went badly awry.

"The @MorpheusLander experienced a failure, causing it to catch fire," NASA tweeted. "No one was injured. Information will be released as soon as possible."

But Space.com added that in a statement, NASA said that, "… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1235: Build your own freakin' genome (podcast)

If you don't like broad patents on potentially world-changing scientific developments like scientific genomes, well, then, build your own! Also, does the $97 iPhone 3GS mean the 4G model will be on sale at launch? And we find out why five inches just isn't enough. Sorry.

NASA's Phoenix Mars lander damaged, down for count

NASA's Phoenix Mars lander, subjected to extreme low temperatures and crippling ice buildups it was never designed to endure, apparently suffered severe damage during the Martian winter that ended any chance of additional science operations, officials said Monday.

Designed to operate for just three months, Phoenix exceeded expectations, beaming back a steady stream of scientific data for five months before waning sunlight and the approaching Martian winter prevented its solar arrays from generating enough power to keep the craft warm and electronically conscious.

Engineers did not believe the lander could survive a northern latitude winter on Mars, but the … Read more

Relive your gaming past

Commodore 64 is an app that emulates the iconic '80s home computer of the same name, giving you access to some free games as well as an in-game store to buy more.

The interface looks lovely, with a nostalgia-inducing splash screen and a slick, faux-wooden shelf for your games. The app comes preloaded with several titles (although even if you owned a C64, you might not have heard of them), and by choosing the "Shop" tab, you can browse through more than 30 other games, including quite a few free ones. Each game has screenshots and a short … Read more

A wild ride on NASA's massive flight simulator

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--There I was, staking my claim to a pilot's slot in one of NASA's next-generation lunar landers, and to be perfectly frank, I think I'd better not quit my day job.

"I think we probably walked away from that," said NASA aerospace engineer Eric Mueller, after one rough touchdown. It was an overly charitable assessment of my performance. I'd hate to know what he was really thinking.

If you've been paying attention, you're probably aware that there are no current missions to the moon, and so you know that … Read more

Rescue the little dudes

Retro is an affordable, slickly produced cave-flyer game, similar to arcade classics such as Lunar Lander and Gravitar. You pilot a small ship that must navigate through increasingly tortuous caverns to rescue stranded scientists, tilting left and right while making judicious use of your main thruster to control your trajectory and overcome gravity's pull.

The interface makes smart use of your iPhone or iPod Touch's accelerometer for the game's core mechanic: you tilt the device to steer, and you tap the screen to thrust. You have to make a series of safe landings on each increasingly intricate … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 850: Cooley hates space

We try to get all sentimental about the demise of the Mars Phoenix lander, but Brian Cooley ruins it with his outlandish assertions about the uselessness of space. Plus, he loses his mind about the crappiness of the BlackBerry Curve. In sum, a good time is had by all.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 850

Mars Phoenix Lander completes its mission http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10092897-52.html http://www.urbanhonking.com/universe/2008/11/interview_marsphoenix.html http://gizmodo.com/5082385/this-is-my-farewell-transmission-from-mars

Flat-panel TV shipments begin their decline http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10093153-1.html

FCC OKs digital workaround for … Read more

Mars Phoenix Lander completes its mission

The last Twitter post said it all: "01010100 01110010 01101001 01110101 01101101 01110000 01101000."

For those of you who aren't fluent in binary, the post, from NASA's Mars Phoenix Twitter account, translates as "triumph."

According to NASA, the space agency is no longer receiving communications from Phoenix, its Mars lander, after more than five months of operation. The not unexpected event came after the lander moved into an area, NASA said in a release Monday, where "seasonal decline in sunshine at the robot's arctic landing site is not providing enough sunlight for … Read more

'Doom' creator wins first stage of lunar challenge

Armadillo Aerospace, a team led by Doom video game creator John Carmack, has won $350,000 in prize money in a contest to improve lunar flight.

The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is a $2 million contest that challenges teams to build a lunar vehicle and then simulate a 90- to 180-second moon flight and landing. The event is hosted by the X Prize Foundation and sponsored by NASA. And the end goal is to open the door for developing a fleet of lunar ferries that could carry people and payloads between lunar orbit and the moon's surface.

The … Read more