space

Five 'space' stories February 2014 - January 2015

Google makes its 24-minute space documentary available on YouTube

Mike Beasley Jan 27 2015 - 7:35 pm PT

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=OkivPFtLOj4]

Google has debuted its space documentary Back To The Moon for Good — The New Space Race on YouTube today following its national tour in planetariums last year.

The short film features narration by Tim Allen and was created with the intent of promoting Google’s Lunar XPrize competition. The documentary takes a look at the history of mankind’s exploration of the moon, and provides a hopeful look at the future of space travel.

You can check out the complete film on YouTube (embedded above) for free right now.

Google Glass taking a trip to the International Space Station next week for flatworm study

Stephen Hall Dec 11 2014 - 11:08 am PT

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Google Glass has been picking up news a lot more lately, with Google’s Eric Schmidt saying recently that the Mountain View corporation is taking its time bringing the device to a consumer release, and suggesting that when that happens Glass will be some sort of reimagined 2.0 revision. But the fact that Google’s in no rush to release the device’s next version isn’t stopping other companies from continuing to experiment with the technology, namely Kentucky Space, which plans to bring the wearable computer to the International Space Station (via Glass Almanac) as part of a mission launching (literally) next week.

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Google to lease Moffett Airfield from NASA to use as home for its advanced research facilities

Chance Miller Nov 10 2014 - 1:37 pm PT

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Kluft-photo-Moffett-Federal-Airfield-Oct-2008-Img_1911

Google has been using NASA’s Moffett Airfield as a home and launch pad for its private jets for several years now, but today, the company announced that it has singed a deal with NASA in which it will lease the airfield for the next 60 years. Google, via its real estate organization Planetary Ventures, will contribute $1.16 billion to the facilities over the lease, reducing NASA’s operation costs by $6.3 million annually.

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Watch Google test Project Tango in a zero gravity environment (video)

Mark Hearn Apr 18 2014 - 7:50 am PT

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What happens when you take Google’s motion mapping phone, Project Tango and pair it with SPHERES robots in a zero gravity environment? You get something really cool. The folks from Mountain View recently teamed up with NASA to test how Project Tango’s 3D environment sensors would act in a near real life space scenario.

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A behind the scenes look at building a Google Maps satellite

Jordan Kahn Feb 12 2014 - 1:49 pm PT

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Google-Earth-satellite

An interesting story from the BBC goes behind the scenes with the satellites that are used to take imagery of earth that eventually land in Google Maps and Google Earth.

Behind a long rectangular window, in a high white room tended by ghostly figures in masks and hats, a new satellite is taking shape. Once in orbit later this year, WorldView-3 will be one of the most powerful Earth observation satellites ever sent into space by a private company. Spinning around the planet some 600 kilometres (370 miles) above us, it will cover every part of the Earth’s surface every couple of days.

Google gets the majority of its imagery from DigitalGlobe and Ball Aerospace is currently constructing new satellites for the company, as highlighted in the BBC report. The new WorldView-3 satellite will be capable of capturing objects 25cm (10 inches) across, but the report notes Google and customers other than the government only get access to “images with a resolution of 50cm (20 inches).” It’s likely much of the updated imagery you see on Google Maps and Earth over the next year will come from the new satellite once in orbit. The whole article is worth a read if you’re interested in learning more about how the satellites are built and capture imagery once in space.