Design, Science and Technology

Having dropped tantalising hints days ago about an "exciting new discovery about the Moon", the US space agency has revealed conclusive evidence of water on our only natural satellite.

This "unambiguous detection of molecular water" will boost Nasa's hopes of establishing a lunar base.

The aim is to sustain that base by tapping into the Moon's natural resources.

The findings have been published as two papers in the journal Nature Astronomy.

While there have previously been signs of water on the lunar surface, these new discoveries suggest it is more abundant than previously thought. "It gives us more options for potential water sources on the Moon," said Hannah Sargeant, a planetary scientist from the Open University in Milton Keynes, told BBC News.

Learn more / Mehr erfahren:

https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-innovative-technologies-and-developments/?tag=Space

BBC has released another great interactive infographic which allows you to travel through space and learn just how big it is. You begin your trip with blasting off earth and at 6.1 km you will pass the start of the high cloud layer....continue through the stratosphere to the mesosphere to the thermosphere and beyond. After a very long journey you will reach the edges of our solar system, where you will be told "It would take you about 23 million years of continuous scrolling on this scale to get to the farthest regions of the observable universe..."

The distance of our solar system is vast, and this interactive may help our learners begin to understand just how vast it is.

Thx Beth Dichter

Soon, astronauts on moon missions won't have any excuse for not answering their texts.

NASA has awarded Nokia of America $14.1 million to deploy a cellular network on the moon. The freaking moon. The grant is part of $370 million worth of contracts signed under NASA's "Tipping Point" selections, meant to advance research and development for space exploration. 

Nokia's plan is to build a 4G/LTE network, and eventually transition to 5G (just like the rest of us). It will be "the first LTE/4G communications system in space," according to NASA's announcement.

"The system could support lunar surface communications at greater distances, increased speeds, and provide more reliability than current standards," the announcement also reads.

Learn more / Mehr erfahren:

https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-innovative-technologies-and-developments/?tag=Space

Calling all wannabe astronauts: You can now explore outer space with NASA from the comfort of your own desk chair.

NASA has launched a new library of audio, video, and images of space exploration -- a database with more than 140,000 files from over 60 collections.

The best part? A search engine that lets you flit from celestial wonders to astronaut selfies.

Worried 140,000 isn't enough? It'll will keep getting better.
"It's a living website," NASA said. "New and archival images, video and audio files continually will be added."

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-innovative-technologies-and-developments/?&tag=Space

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Space