The fascination with the Moon and extraterrestrial territory is something that we have all carried over from childhood. The exploration of alien territories, however, is not a dream for some lucky few. William Whittaker hopes to win the $25 Million Google Lunar X Prize and explore the Apollo landing site in 2011.

Whittaker, a roboticist at Carnegie Mellon, has developed a prototype rover which may get to study the materials used by the Apollo 11 on the Moon. Developed for Astrobotic Technology, the lunar rover has two motors within its body and hidden away from possible damage through exposure to heat and dust. Interestingly, the rover is designed with an asymmetric body with a flat radiator exposed to the sky on one side and a panel of solar cells on the other side. The solar panel would power the wheels of the rover as well as charge the transmitter that would send data back to Earth.

The bicycle-like wheels driven by its own motor and using a chain drive are made with the lunar territory in mind and have been tested in a vacuum chamber to make sure that it does not yield to cold welding.

Via: BoingBoing

Today, the moon mission’s souvenirs went on auction at Bonhams auction in New York. This one of a kind auction included navigation charts used by the Apollo 11 crew, along with flight equipment and a broad checklist. One of the highlights of the auction was a navigation charts, that was used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin and fetched an astounding $218,000. The disc shaped navigational chart was expected to go for $90,000, instead it took the lead in the auction and went for $218,000. The chart was bought by Stephan Loewentheil, who is  a rare-book dealer and is known to be a collector of Apollo souvenirs.

The entire auction fetched over $1.7 million, with 75% of all item been sold to collectors and the highest bidders. The proceeds from this auction will be given to the non-profit organization, ‘Infinity Science Center’. The Apollo mission auction is seem to have been arranged on the 40th anniversary of NASA’s moon mission and it is the first time that, Bonhams hosted this event. According to Matthew Haley (Bonhams),

“It’s clear there are collectors at all price ranges. The things that have mass appeal are the ones that do best.”

Other items that fetched big money included, a flight equipment from the 1971 Apollo 15 mission that went for a price of $206,000, against the expected price of $200,000. Among others, an astronaut cuff checklist fetched $206,000. This checklist was the part of the 1972 Apollo 16 mission.

Via Bloomberg & Elite Choice.

What seems downright more stupid is not that they misplaced the tapes or lost in an accident, but the wise men decided to tape over the original footage as NASA was short of video tapes in the 70’s and 80’s (Makes you wonder what they do with all that funding!).

Some genius up there decided that the 45 original tapes that recoded the footage were better put to use by erasing and reusing them and so NASA just went about the business. Today, as the 40th anniversary of the moon landing is approaching, Hollywood has come to its rescue as it is in the process of restoring and enhancing the original footage.

The $230,000 refurbishing effort is taken up by the same studio wizards who restored “Casablanca”, though this one, they promise, will appear a lot better than the original televised footage of the landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. $0 percent of the work on the historical tape has been already done and within a week or so, one could see the complete footage being restored. The newly restored video was released by NASA on the 40th anniversary and ironically enough NASA seems to be beaming with pride at this new renovation when they should be terribly embarrassed for their monumental error.

From Neil Armstrong getting his historical lines wrong (Which should have been ‘One small step for “a” man and one giant step for mankind), to the erasing of tapes, the high profile comedy of errors seems to flow, but historians are aghast at NASA’s brash disregard towards the preservation of  what is considered to be 20th century’s most defining moment. The restoration was done using CBS News originals kinescopes from the National Archives; a video from Australia that received the transmission of the original moon video; and camera shots of a TV monitor.

While conspiracy theorists will jump on these videos again and further their nonsense about how we never got to the moon, what is more shocking is NASA’s official reply to why they taped over such important footage- “Preservation of historical footage is not their job!!”

Via: Yahoo / Nytimes / NASA

It is unbelievable that 40 years have passed since man has first landed on the man to ensure that does not leave out Earth’s satellite and its surrounding space when it comes to trashing and leaving behind absolute rubbish. Well, in 40 years we have done that and a lot more, but that historic moment when Edwin Aldrin chickened out of stepping first on the moon and Neil Armstrong screwed up his famous line (One small step for (a) man, one giant step for mankind- is what it should have been before Armstrong decided to do away with the ‘a’), is still a part of mankind’s greatest achievements. So Motorola, decided to celebrate the moment by launching a special version of the already overly-expensive Aura.

The very special phone will now carry along the original voice transmission of the monumental lines, the clippings of the landings and a lot more in terms of add-ons just to ensure someone shells out big bucks to take home the Aura’s Celestial edition. In all seriousness though, the Aura is a refined and finely crafted handset and this celebration edition should appeal to the starry eyed!

Via: coolest-gadgets

The thought of a trip to the outer space itself is fascinating enough; this spacesuit will probably add excitement to it. Made out of the heavy weight Nylon Cordura, the Apollo 11 spacesuit replica is designed to resist wear and tear. Taking its design and molds from the authentic Apollo-era A7L garments it reminds you of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during their debut space voyage.

The suit features aluminum cuffs, neck ring and hose fittings, a stretchable cap with foam ear covers and an elastic chin strap, a helmet with an outer gold sun visor and two side sun shields, rubber tipped canvas gloves and a pair of space boots.

The spacesuit is not just a museum piece; it can help you fulfill your long cherished dream. Priced at just $9,500, this can be worn to a costume party as well. So, go get it to play your dream role.

Source: TheSpaceStore/ FashionablyGeek/ OhGizmo