Iron Man Suit Possible Within 5 to 10 Years

Hey check out this Device article that details Sarcos Raytheon's improved XOS called simply the XOS-2.
From the article:

• This improved version of the original XOS is stronger, lighter, more damage resistant, and uses only half the power of its predecessor. It's still tethered to an external power supply, which trades mobility for a lot more power and longer running time. The good news is that Sarcos just announced that they expect to start shipping XOS 2 within about five years, and that an untethered version could be about 10 years out.

Beam Me Up episode 272

Beam Me Up 272 goes fast this week. I start off with a new tale from Fox Dunham. Memories long since faded are called on once again, and a man who is not a man is all that stands between humanity and darkness - Seth 7.

The hour ends with the conclusion to Deanna Knippling’s tale of the defender of the multiverse. This week after resurrecting from a most horrific murder, Beauregard comes face to face with with his murderer and the truth of who it is and why may end everything.

From the blog a short excerpt from a speech by Neil Degrasse-Tyson on why he feels NASA is vital to the health of our country.

It has been a long held belief that Earth has a Trojan companion, but until recently, none had been discovered. That now has changed and Earth joins an elite group of planets with Trojan companions.

The U.S. is planning on de-orbiting the ISS in 2020 crashing everything into the ocean ...... The Russians, on the other hand, are already planning to refurbish many of their ISS modules and reuse them as part of a new Orbital Piloted Assembly and Experiment Complex to support deep space exploration.

In 1967 Lunar Orbiter 2 was launched with a mission to help with landing sites for the Apollo moon missions. Once the mission was finished NASA crash-landed it on the far side of the Moon. Until recently it’s crash site was lost, until now.

China is preparing its' Tiangong-1 space station for lift off aboard a Long March II-F carrier booster later this year.

That and more this week on Beam Me Up

Earth Now Has a Trojan

Asteroid that is. I totally missed this yesterday but a loyal listener Dan brought it to my attention again. In a boing boing article Earth now joins an elite group of three other planets that are know to have Trojan companions. Trojans also share orbits with Neptune, Mars and Jupiter. Two of Saturn's moons share orbits with Trojans.

According to the Wiki article:

• ... the word trojan refers to a minor planet or natural satellite (moon) that shares an orbit with a larger planet or moon, but does not collide with it because it orbits around one of the two Lagrangian points of stability
• The Lagrangian points or L-points, are the five positions in an orbital configuration where a small object affected only by gravity can theoretically be stationary relative to two larger objects (such as a satellite with respect to the Earth and Moon).

It has been a long held belief that Earth has a Trojan companion, but until recently, none had been discovered.

Earth's Trojan asteroid was discovered by researcher’s using NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer project. From the article once more:

• The asteroid is roughly 1,000 feet in diameter (and) is about 50 million miles from Earth.

read complete Boing Boing article here

The Russians Are Going to do What With Their ISS Modules?!

Ok, well not a whole lot new since earlier this week when I got on a tirade about the ISS and the proposed decommissioning - I just see Dvice taking the ball and running with it. Not much I can add or argue with but if you want to bring your blood back to a slow boil, check out these excerpts from the article.

• Since the U.S. is legally obligated to maintain responsibility for anything it puts into orbit, something has to happen to all of our ISS modules ... all we can really do is just deorbit everything into the ocean ...... The Russians, on the other hand, are already planning to refurbish many of their ISS modules and reuse them as part of a new Orbital Piloted Assembly and Experiment Complex to support deep space exploration.

That's right, NASA is saying by 2020 the ISS will be so riddled that we have to safely abandon it and burn it up. While the Russian (and excuse me, their modules are just as old if not older) as saying NYET and will refirb and reuse. Of course we can't cause we can't get there and if we could we can't refirb crap! I don't care how many times NASA says we got the lead....cause Tyson said it...The good ole us of a is fading. Game over man, game over. You guys remember to shut the lights off and lock up when you leave.

Lost Lunar Orbiter 2 Crash Site Found

The Daily Galaxy has posted an article, that details a Luna orbiter NASA lost in 1967. Well lost is a bit strong. In 1967 Lunar Orbiter 2 was launched with a mission to help with selection of landing sites for the Apollo moon missions. Once the mission was finished (a matter of a few months) NASA ordered the orbiter to crash on the far side of the Moon.

Its landing site was never know however. From the article:

• but now the operators of the LROC have found what they believe is a tell-tale impact site just at the coordinates where the Orbiter should have come down. The Luna Reconnaissance Orbiter scientists are working on confirmation.