The European Planck orbiting observatory has produced the best map ever of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which can reveal lots of interesting information about the Big Bang and the early universe;
This ESA animation nicely illustrates “how scientists work to extract the oldest light in our universe from maps of the whole sky taken by the Planck mission.”
Hewlett Packard has demonstrated what looks like a practical and affordable way to generate no-special-glasses-required 3D images and video from an LCD type of display:
John Hare considers the capability of a monster (in more ways than one) rocket that combines a stretched SpaceX Falcon 9 with Shuttle solid rocket boosters to put about 140 tons into orbit: SFalconLS – Selenian Boondocks.
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Chuck Lesher notes that Navy railgun development has reached a level of capability already sufficient to hurl small amounts of material from the Moon at escape velocities: Is the US Navy Preparing to Conquer Space? – Moonandback
Even at this early stage, the railgun is already capable of launching a 23 pound payload off the surface of the moon. We have our mass driver but getting it operational on the moon along with all the support needed to supply it with payloads… well, solving that problem must wait for another blog entry.
They didn’t reach their goal of $75k but $62,560 is a lot more than the $10k or so they had just a couple of weeks ago. Help from Boing Boing and others made a big difference in the final push.