space

Chances are, most of us will never have the opportunity to walk on the moon, but we might have the opportunity to send a tiny spacecraft in our stead. A Kickstarter project from Pocket Spacecraft wants to launch a moon mission full of personalized space gadgets that would report back to their Earth-bound owners.

Pocket Spacecraft is attempting to raise $440,000 to build out a whole fleet of its tiny spacecraft (called Scouts) and invest in an Interplanetary CubeSat Mothership to transport the little tykes to the lunar surface.… Read more

The Federal Communications Commission has approved Google's plan to operate a database that would allow unlicensed TV broadcast spectrum to be used for wireless broadband and shared among many users.

Google, which was granted commission approval on Friday, is the latest company to complete the FCC's 45-day testing phase. Spectrum Bridge and Telcordia completed their trials, and there are another 10 companies, including Microsoft, which are working on similar databases. The new database will keep track of the TV broadcast frequencies in use so that wireless broadband devices can take advantage of the unlicensed space on the spectrum, … Read more

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Astronaut Buzz Aldrin says he's not very good at handling his personal finances, but he knows the ability to pay for things while in space is an important part of getting humans on Mars.

When asked about his role in PayPal's new galactic money transfers initiative, announced Thursday, Aldrin said he's not taking an active role because he's leaving problems associated with financing and transactions to the experts.

"I probably didn't do too well in those subjects -- my bank account kind of reflects that -- but I do think … Read more

It took 35 years but Voyager 1 is about to cross the boundary from our solar system into interstellar space.

New data revealed today in the journal Science suggest that the craft is now more than 11 billion miles from the sun.

The big moment is still in the offing -- there have been previous false reports -- but this time scientists believe that it is only a matter of time before the spacecraft leaves the region around our sun known as the heliosphere and enters interstellar space. Three papers described the elevated presence of charged particles from outside the … Read more

Space architect John Spencer has a grand vision for the future of space travel -- one with luxury space yachts and hotels, and dune buggy racing on the moon.

It's all going to happen in the "not too distant future," the founder of the Space Tourism Society told CNET recently.

"The more people who go, the more diversity, the more things you can do -- the more they need to buy goods and services," he said. "It's limited to what they can do now because of the cost and limited time on board … Read more

Astronauts and robot sidekicks go together like Dave and HAL 9000, like Will Robinson and B9, like Doctor Who and K9. Soon, that illustrious list will grow longer with the addition of a Japanese astronaut and Kirobo, a conversational robot companion.

Kirobo looks like a cross between Astro Boy and a Power Ranger, all rendered in miniature. Since the bot's job is to be a companion, not a worker. It's very compact in size, just 13 inches tall and a little over 2 pounds in weight.… Read more

Clean Space removes unwanted files and processes from your hard drive in order to protect your privacy, add more space, and clean up unneeded garbage. The program's evaluation version does not allow the use of all features during the seven-day period. It does allow standard deletion, however, of whatever files you choose to clean from your computer.

Clean Space comes in a quite comprehensive and informative package. The program will list the files it can clean, application by application. Therefore, if you want to erase temporary files only in Windows, but not in any of the browsers, you can … Read more

After 33 missions into space over a 30-year career, NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis has found a permanent base close to home. The shuttle is part of a new $100 million visitor center exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex which will immerse visitors in the experience of space travel.

The exhibit opens June 29 and will weave first-hand accounts from astronauts and flight engineers, along with the history of NASA, into 60 interactive displays. The displays will touch on everything from launches and orbits to how a space station is assembled.

But the centerpiece of the exhibit is Atlantis. Visitors will able to get an up-close, 360-degree view of one of the world's first reusable spacecraft. Robert Z. Pearlman of collectSpace.com recently toured the exhibit during a preview of the grand opening this week.… Read more

Vendetta Online for Mac offers a uniquely designed and well implemented MMORPG, and seems like a can't-miss proposition for the avid gamer. If you're new to this type of game, the basics are surprisingly easy to learn, thanks to its introductory "training mission." The download and setup may take a bit longer but are well worth the wait.

The game's download is 250MB large, so expect to wait a while to play if your connection is slow. Once the download completes and the game is launched, another 31MB of updates need to be downloaded, and … Read more