The International Space Station may soon have its very own Star Trek food replicator.

Earlier this week, NASA awarded a $125,000 six month grant to the Systems & Materials Research Cooperation to design a 3D printer capable of printing a pizza from 30-year shelf stable foodstuffs.
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© David Dickinson for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: 3d printer iss, 3D printing, 3d printing pizza, 3d printing technology, made in space, mars 2018, Mars One, reprap, space food

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The Dream Chaser space plane atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Image Credit: SNC

It was surely one of those moments where NASA could hardly wait to tear off the shrink wrap. Sierra Nevada Corp.’s privately constructed Dream Chaser spacecraft engineering test article arrived at the Dryden Flight Research Center last week — wrapped in plastic for shipping protection — ahead of some flight and runway tests in the next few months.

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© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: dream chaser, Sierra Nevada

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Sol-X Chief Technology Officer Blaze Sanders wearing a Final Frontier Design space suit. Credit: Solar System Express.

Editor’s note: This guest post was written by Ron Atkins, a life-long supporter of human space exploration and an ardent advocate of “NewSpace” and Commercial Spaceflight. He curates and maintains “The NewSpace Daily” on Scoop.it

Tony Stark has been to a lot of cool places in that Iron Man get-up of his. But low Earth orbit might still be a bit beyond his operational flight envelope. Not so for the developers of the revolutionary RL Mark VI Space Diving suit. A hi-tech ensemble consisting of augmented reality goggles, power gloves, control moment gyros, and a low-cost commercial space suit, the RL Mark VI will allow future thrill seekers and space tourists an experience that up until now could only be imagined in the boldest science fiction.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Space Diving, Space Exploration, Space Flight

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NASA astronaut Sally Ride, who died in 2012. Credit: NASA

Sally Ride was only 32 years old when she flew into space for the first time 30 years ago, in June 1983. She died last year at 61, at an age that many considered very young. In that generation of time, however, the exploits of America’s first woman in space in flight and education touched countless Americans.

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© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: john f. kennedy center for the performing arts, leland melvin, pam melroy, Sally Ride, smithsonian national air and space museum

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Wow – that’s a tail! Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS on May 21, 2013, when its anti-tail (left) had grown to more than 12 full moons in length. Meanwhile, what was once the main dust tail (right) has faded and shortened over the past few weeks. Click to enlarge. Credit: Damian Peach

While comets can’t tell lies, they do sometimes grow long noses. As the weeks click by and our perspective on Comet L4 PANSTARRS changes, its original plume-like dust tail has shrunk and faded while a second tail just won’t stop growing.
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© Bob King for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: anti-tail, Comet L4 PANSTARRS, dust

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We at Universe Today have been wondering, where did Chris Hadfield find the time to do all the great videos he put together during his five months on the International Space Station, all while his Expedition set records for the amount of scientific research performed? Now there’s even more. Hadfield teamed up with Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame, who now are part of the Tested crew, too, to produce three different videos about living in space; specifically about eating and what to do with any free time astronauts might have.

“Working with Adam and Jamie was fun!” Hadfield said via Twitter. “Mutual mustache appreciation.”

In the video above, Jamie and Adam learn about Chris Hadfield’s clever “space darts” invention, and propose a new game for Hadfield to test while he’s on orbit. Spoiler: duct tape is involved.

Below are two videos dealing with food in space:
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Chris Hadfield, International Space Station (ISS), Tested.com

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Making medical diagnoses aboard Space Station can be a tricky business (Image: NASA)

Even though astronauts receive some general medical training in preparation for a stay aboard the ISS, most of them still aren’t medical professionals by any means — and with the inherent difficulties of microgravity and the relatively noisy environment inside the Station, even a simple diagnostic task like listening to a heartbeat can be a challenge.

That’s why engineering students at Johns Hopkins University have developed a special “out of this world” space stethoscope designed to work well while in orbit… as well as down here on Earth.

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© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: ISS, JHU, Johns Hopkins, medical, Space Station, spinoff, stethoscope

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Neil deGrasse Tyson’s new book, Space Chronicles: Facing The Ultimate Frontier, at times, reads like an updated version of some of Carl Sagan’s classic work about the history of astronomy and our place in the Universe. You can read our full review of Tyson’s new book here, but we also have two free copies of this book to give away.

In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Tuesday, May 28 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.

But if you are feeling unlucky, then you can buy the book from Amazon.

© kcain for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Book Reviews, Contests, Giveaways

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For those fans of Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot, there’s finally a successor volume to that.

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Space Chronicles: Facing The Ultimate Frontier, at times, reads like an updated version of Sagan’s classic book about the history of astronomy and our place in the universe. Like Sagan, Tyson talks about the human perception of astronomy over the years, starting from our belief that everything centered around us and then gradually graduating to the more nuanced perception of the universe that we have today.

Find out how you can win a copy of this book here!

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© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Book Reviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson, space chronicles

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Recent Sun Pillar seen near Toronto, Canada. Credit and copyright: Rick Ellis.

Astrophotographer Rick Ellis from Toronto, Canada recently imaged a Sun pillar against a truly fiery sunset. Sun pillars are a vertical shaft of light extending upward or downward from the Sun, usually seen during sunrise or sunset. They form when sunlight reflects off the surfaces of high-altitude hexagonal-shaped or flat ice crystals. The crystals are typically associated with thin, high-level clouds, such as cirrostratus clouds. “Fire and ice,” Rick said via email. “Robert Frost would approve.”

Rick used a Canon A460, 1/100 seconds exposure at f/3.5, ISO 80.

And here’s Robert Frost’s famous poem:
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Post tags: Astrophotos, Sun Pillar

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