Digital Trends Live: NASA’s all-female space walk, Apple AirPods Pro, and more
On this episode of Digital Trends Live, hosts Greg Nibler and Adrien Warner break down the biggest trending tech topics of the day, including NASA’s first all-female space walk, Facebook won’t ban political ads, Apple AirPods Pro are coming, get paid to watch Disney+, and more.
Watch NASA astronauts conduct the first-ever all-woman spacewalk
NASA astronauts and International Space Station residents Christina Koch and Jessica Meir are making history by performing the first-ever all-woman spacewalk. Starting at 7:50 a.m. ET, the pair ventured outside the International Space Station in order to perform repairs to the station's power system.
How to watch NASA’s first all-female spacewalk on the ISS online
NASA's first all-female spacewalk will take place outside of the International Space Station on Friday, October 18 -- and you can watch the whole thing live right here on Earth. Here's how to watch it live, and what you need to know about pioneering astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir.
Bosch will test its A.I.-powered, sound-seeing technology in space
SoundSee will ride around the International Space Station on a floating robot called AstroBee. It will perform sound checks, and monitor some of the onboard equipment using a microphone and artificial intelligence. "Sound has a lot of stories to tell, and we are not extracting them enough," Bosch told Digital Trends.
Digital Trends Live: Netflix’s numbers, Ford’s charging network, and more
On this episode of Digital Trends Live, hosts Greg Nibler and Adrien Warner discuss the biggest trending tech topics of the day, including Netflix’s numbers, Ford’s nation-wide electric charging network, NASA’s first all-female space walk, a Rubik’s Cube-solving A.I., and more.
Digital Trends Live: Tech in politics, AMC streams, Dell XPS 13, and more
On this episode of Digital Trends Live, hosts Greg Nibler and Drew Prindle discuss the biggest trending stories in tech, including tech in politics, AMC’s on-demand streaming service, new spacesuits for Virgin and NASA, and more.
NASA shows off the new spacesuits that astronauts will wear to the moon
NASA is pushing ahead with its plans to go back to the moon by 2024, and today showed off its new spacesuit for the first time. The Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit is designed to protect astronauts against temperatures ranging from minus 250 degrees to plus 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
New images reveal more about the history of water on Mars
Two new images reveal more about the history of water on Mars. Scientists believe that billions of years ago, Mars had a thick atmosphere that trapped heat and allowed liquid water to exist on the surface. They want to learn more about this period to see if liquid water might still exist there today.
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover practices its crucial descent separation
When the Mars 2020 spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere in two years' time and prepares to land, the rover will need to detach from the rocket-powered descent stage. This delicate operation was recently practiced here on Earth, with engineers at NASA performing a successful separation test.
NASA uses a plane to launch a craft to the very edge of space
NASA has launched a new spacecraft, the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), for exploring the border between our planet's atmosphere and space. The ICON spacecraft was carried aboard a Stargazer L-1011 aircraft, which took it to an altitude of 39,000 feet. The craft was then deployed on a rocket.
SpaceX could launch NASA astronauts on the Crew Dragon in 2020
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine made a visit to the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, on Thursday to get a firsthand look at the progress on the Crew Dragon rocket and provide updates on the important partnership between the space agency and the company.
NASA’s experimental all-electric X-57 aircraft is a step closer to flight
NASA has taken delivery of its first all-electric X-57 experimental aircraft, nicknamed Maxwell. The agency said it intends to share findings from upcoming testing to help boost the growing electric aircraft market, which is focusing increasingly on small aircraft for urban mobility.
Can you locate India’s crashed lunar lander in this image?
Last month, the Indian Space Research Organization attempted to land the Vikram lander on the moon but lost communication during the final descent. Now, NASA's orbiting lunar spacecraft, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped a picture of the area where the crash is believed to have occurred.
Hear the sounds of Mars with these incredible audio samples from InSight
NASA's InSight lander may be struggling with its stuck drill, but while it's sat in place on the Martian surface it's still collecting a ton of useful scientific information about the planet. This week NASA released a unique set of sounds collected by the lander from its time on the red planet.
First all-female spacewalk is back on for ISS astronauts this month
Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, are set to perform the first all-female spacewalk in history later this month. Their work will be part of a slew of upcoming spacewalks in an ongoing project to upgrade the batteries on the space station.
Can the InSight lander free its stuck drill and continue exploring Mars?
NASA's InSight lander is equipped with a drill designed to tunnel up to 16 feet beneath the surface. Unfortunately, earlier this year the drill stopped moving in an issue caused by the drill getting stuck in the soil. Now the team is trying to rescue the stuck drill using the lander's robotic arm.
Juno performs longest-ever propulsive maneuver in a race against the sun
NASA's Juno mission, launched in 2011, has collected a wealth of information about Jupiter since it arrived in 2016. And this week the craft it pulled off a feat of precision engineering, performing its longest-ever propulsive maneuver in a race against the setting sun.
Upcoming space telescope can pick out distant exoplanets against glare of stars
For the last few years, NASA has been working away a new space telescope even more advanced than Hubble. The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope was announced in 2016 and will have 100 times the field of view of the Hubble. Now, NASA has shared an update on WFIRST and how its coronagraph will operate.
Autobots, roll out: NASA creates transforming robot for exploring Titan
Finally, the future that children of the '80s want to see is on its way. NASA is working on its very own Transformer -- a bot called Shapeshifter made up of smaller robots which can combine into different configurations to roll, swim, fly, and float. It is a prototype for exploring Saturn's moon Titan.
See what a black hole looks like up close in NASA’s incredible new visualization
NASA released a visualization of what a warped black hole might look like, and it’s mesmerizing to see. The video simulates how a black hole’s dense gravity would distort our view, resulting in a warped image that resembles a reflection in a carnival mirror.
First astronaut from the UAE launches with crew to International Space Station
Three astronauts launched Wednesday to the International Space Station, including the first astronaut from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Hazza Ali Almansoori is one of only two astronauts in the Emirati Space Agency and will make the UAE the 40th country to fly a citizen to the ISS.
NASA taps Lockheed Martin to build Orion spacecraft for decade-long moon mission
NASA awarded Lockheed Martin the Orion Production and Operations Contract, which tasks the company to design and prepare six to 12 Orion spacecraft to go to the moon. The contract lasts until September 30, 2030 and includes the production of Orion spacecraft as part of NASA’s Artemis missions.
NASA develops autonomous drill to search for life beneath the surface of Mars
One of the challenges of investigating Mars is how to collect samples from beneath the surface. Current projects like the Insight lander have a drill to place probes. But now NASA is trying a new approach: An autonomous drill which can go several feet deep and which can adapt to different environments.
NASA’s troubled next-generation rocket is finally assembled
NASA's Space Launch System should be the next generation of rocket, suitable for launching heavy payloads and traveling to deep space. But the project has been troubled, suffering from delays and ballooning costs. Progress is being made, however, and recently NASA shared an update on the rocket.
NASA wins 2 Emmy Awards for InSight Lander, Demo-2 mission coverage
NASA just joined the ranks of Game of Thrones by winning two Emmy awards for its coverage of the InSight Lander and Demonstration Mission 1. NASA received the awards on Sunday from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in the Outstanding Original Interactive Program and Outstanding Interactive Program categories.
NASA chooses a CubeSat project to test orbit route around the moon
NASA's ambitious Gateway program aims to send four astronauts to an outpost in orbit around the moon by 2025. But before this, a safe and stable orbit needs to be chosen. To that end, NASA has awarded a contract to the Advanced Space company to send a small satellite into the orbit planned for Gateway.
Astronomers discover hungry black hole that demands three square meals a day
We all know we should be getting three square meals a day. And now astronomers have found a black hole which seems to share this preference -- it consumes material on a regular schedule once every nine hours. Researchers are wondering why it emits bursts of X-rays which repeat in a regular pattern.
Spin me right round: Mars 2020 rover gets its balanced checked
NASA's Mars 2020 rover recently entered its final year of engineering before it is launched on its journey to the red planet, and it has been subjected to a battery of tests to ensure it is ready to touch down. The latest test was a spin on a rotating table to check its weight distribution.
NASA shares a stunning Hubble Space Telescope photo of Saturn’s rings
NASA and the European Space Agency shared the newest photo of Saturn taken by the Hubble Space Telescope -- and the planet's rings are on full display. The photo is one of the clearest photos ever taken of Saturn, and reveals some intriguing details about the gas giant and its rings.
Hubble space telescope finds water vapor on ‘Super-Earth’ exoplanet
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered water vapor in the atmosphere of a distant Earth-like exoplanet known as K2-18b, meaning it might be habitable. The so-called "Super-Earth" is located about 110 light-years away in the Leo constellation.
Mars was once an ocean-covered planet with a thick atmosphere like Earth’s
Today Mars is a cold, arid desert. But billions of years ago, it could have been a lush planet covered in surface water, not so different from Earth. The difference between then and now is the atmosphere, which is thin and spare but was once thick enough to retain heat and allow liquid water.
NASA teams with European counterparts to stop asteroids from hitting Earth
Asteroid researchers and spacecraft engineers from around the world are meeting in Italy next week to discuss plans for an ambitious space mission that aims to test technology designed to change the orbit of a large asteroid. If successful, it could form the basis of a system to protect Earth from such a threat.
CIMON the flying brain is back on Earth after 14 months in space
A robotic assistant called CIMON recently returned to Earth after spending 14 months on the ISS. The floating robot uses artificial intelligence to interact with astronauts, helping them with tasks and generally behaving like a regular crew member. A more advanced version is now being developed.
International Space Station communications get an upgrade, doubling data rate
Components of the Space Network have been upgraded to double the rate at which data can be sent from the ISS back to Earth, allowing faster transfer of scientific information. The new 600 megabits per second (Mbps) connection will help with human spaceflight missions as well as scientific research.