WHAT THE FUTURE HOLD

MISSION OR LOVE?

VIRTUALTECHNOLOGY IS NOW IN THE HANDS OF KIDS!

Five NASA Technologies at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show

This week, we’re attending the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where we’re joining industrial pioneers and business leaders from across the globe to showcase our space technology. Since 1967, CES has been the place to be for next-generation innovations to get their marketplace debut.

Our technologies are driving exploration and enabling the agency’s bold new missions to extend the human presence beyond the moon, to an asteroid, to Mars and beyond. Here’s a look at five technologies we’re showing off at #CES2017:

1. IDEAS

Our Integrated Display and Environmental Awareness System (IDEAS) is an interactive optical computer that works for smart glasses. The idea behind IDEAS is to enhance real-time operations by providing augmented reality data to field engineers here on Earth and in space. 

This device would allow users to see and modify critical information on a transparent, interactive display without taking their eyes or hands off the work in front of them. 

This wearable technology could dramatically improve the user’s situational awareness, thus improving safety and efficiency. 

For example, an astronaut could see health data, oxygen levels or even environmental emergencies like “invisible” ethanol fires right on their helmet view pane. 

And while the IDEAS prototype is an innovative solution to the challenges of in-space missions, it won’t just benefit astronauts—this technology can be applied to countless fields here on Earth.

2. VERVE

Engineers at our Ames Research Center are developing robots to work as teammates with humans. 

They created a user interface called the Visual Environment for Remote Virtual Exploration (VERVE) that allows researchers to see from a robot’s perspective. 

Using VERVE, astronauts on the International Space Station remotely operated the K10 rover—designed to act as a scout during NASA missions to survey terrain and collect science data to help human explorers. 

This week, Nissan announced that a version of our VERVE was modified for its Seamless Autonomous Mobility (SAM), a platform for the integration of autonomous vehicles into our society. For more on this partnership: https://www.nasa.gov/ames/nisv-podcast-Terry-Fong

3. OnSight

Did you know that we are leveraging technology from virtual and augmented reality apps to help scientists study Mars and to help astronauts in space? 

The Ops Lab at our Jet Propulsion Laboratory is at the forefront of deploying these groundbreaking applications to multiple missions. 

One project we’re demonstrating at CES, is how our OnSight tool—a mixed reality application developed for the Microsoft HoloLens—enables scientists to “work on Mars” together from their offices. 

Supported by the Mars 2020 and Curiosity missions, it is currently in use by a pilot group of scientists for rover operations. Another HoloLens project is being used aboard the International Space Station to empower the crew with assistance when and where they need it.

At CES, we’re also using the Oculus Rift virtual reality platform to provide a tour from the launchpad at our Kennedy Space Center of our Space Launch System (SLS). SLS will be the world’s most powerful rocket and will launch astronauts in the Orion Spacecraft on missions to an asteroid and eventually to Mars. Engineers continue to make progress aimed toward delivering the first SLS rocket to Kennedy in 2018.

4. PUFFER

The Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot, PUFFER, is an origami-inspired robotic technology prototype that folds into the size of a smartphone. 

It is a low-volume, low-cost enhancement whose compact design means that many little robots could be packed in to a larger “parent” spacecraft to be deployed on a planet’s surface to increase surface mobility. It’s like a Mars rover Mini-Me!

5. ROV-E

Our Remote Operated Vehicle for Education, or ROV-E, is a six-wheeled rover modeled after our Curiosity and the future Mars 2020 Rover. 

It uses off-the-shelf, easily programmable computers and 3D-printed parts. ROV-E has four modes, including user-controlled driving to sensor-based hazard-avoidance and “follow me” modes. ROV-E can answer questions about Mars and follow voice commands.

ROV-E was developed by a team of interns and young, up-and-coming professionals at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who wanted to build a Mars rover from scratch to help introduce students and the public to Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) careers, planetary science and our Journey to Mars.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

http://virtualengineering.tech

A Laser Strike at the Galactic Center

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🌊 Types of Mermaids 🌊

please be respectful of cultural boundaries when working with mermaids from various cultures and traditions, and be mindful not to intrude.

🌊 Rusalkas - slavic in origin, disturbed spirits of the “unclean dead”, ghosts of women who died violent deaths, with a penchant for drowning young men. they live only in rivers and lakes, and are known to have green hair like aquatic plants, only appearing in the night. 

🌊 Melusina - a mermaid that walks among humans, but returns to their two-tailed form during baths and when they bathe their children. often a water spirit of a nearby lake or river. french origin. 

🌊 Siren - greek mythology. servants and companions of persephone, whom searched for her when she was abducted. they are known to sometimes have the body of a bird, and for their song, which lured sailors to their doom. cannibalism implied folklore. have the power of prophecy. 

🌊 Merrow - irish mermaid. known to have green hair and webbed fingers. particular noted love of music and their red cap, which when stolen, they will live with the thief until they find it, and then return to the water, leaving even a whole family behind. 

🌊 Ben-varrey - from the isle of man, known to bless those that are kind to them with prosperity, gifts, and even the location of treasure. 

🌊 Aicaya -  Caribbean mermaid, humans who become mermaids when they are shunned from their community and go to live in the sea. 

🌊 Amabie - japanese merpeople, with birdlike torsos and three legs and scales. they are gifted with prophecy, usually foretelling abundant harvests or epidemics 

🌊 Ningyo - “human faced fish” known to have golden scales, that brings bad weather and misfortune when caught, but when their flesh is eaten the consumer is granted youth and beauty, even agelessness. 

🌊 Finman / Finwife - magical shapeshifters that disguise themselves as sea creatures or plants to lure humans, unlike most mermaids they kidnap people from the shores to be their spouses or servants. they have a greed for jewelry and coins, particularly silver, and prefer humans over other finfolk. 

🌊 Sirena Chilota - considered the more friendly mermaids, caring for all fish life and rescuing drowned sailors to restore life to them. known for their human-like beauty and youth, according to legend they are the child of a human and a “king of seas”, tears are a powerful substance. from chilote mythology. 

🌊 Cecealia - sometimes known as “sea witches”, they are half human and half octopus. origins in native american and japanese mythology. 

🌊 Sirena / Siyokoy - the philippine version of mermaid and merman respectively. also called “magindara”, they are known to protect the waters from raiders, and protect the boy moon from sea monsters. Siyokoys can sometimes have legs however, covered with scales and webbed feet

🌊 Sea Mither - scottish/orcadian mythology, a spirit that personifies the sea during spring and summer, battles along scottish isles using storms to bring the summer about. a mother figure to all aquatic life. 

🌊 Ceasg - a fresh-water mermaid, specifically half-salmon, said to grant three wishes if captured. sometimes called maighdean na tuinne (maid of the wave) or maighdean mhara (maid of the sea). scottish. 

🌊 Selkie - though somewhat different from the typical mermaid, as they are not cold-blooded, have the body of a seal in the water and are human on land. in legends their skins are often stolen and they are kept by fishermen as spouses, or become lovers to fishermen’s wives who shed tears into the sea.  

http://virtualengineering.tech

A Laser Strike at the Galactic Center

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How to pick locks and break padlocks

CellsGen - The beauty and youth miracle device!

IS VIRTUAL RALITY A HINGING FRUIT?

[DIGITAL REALITY] is a writing mix about a universe simulated within a machine, virtual transcendence, and technology without morality. It’s a different sort of future, one where every individual can be The God of the Machine.

This playlist contains 16 of my favorite tracks for writing a futuristic setting, cyberpunk, and science-fiction. The music is heavily digitized, harsh, electronic, and yet… somehow peaceful. You have logged-in to a place without law, to a land without boundaries. But– such a place is full of danger. The System’s watchdogs will be hunting you down. Illegal applications can save you, and kill you. And, of course, sexually transmitted malware is always a possibility. Wear protection. You have a personal firewall, use it.

This is not a game.

♪ Listen to this mix on 8tracks ♪

Looking for more writing playlists? Check out my other mixes:

[Writing In The Dark] Unobtrusive & relaxing!

[Writing About Love] Welcome to Feels City, population: You.

[Writing & Fighting!] Round One, Fight!

[Writing About Horror] Don’t look, it’s right behind you!

[Royalty And Noble Blood] Crowns for thieves, daggers for kings!

Oh, and if you want more writerly content, then follow my blog for your daily dose of prompts, advice, and writer positivity: maxkirin.tumblr.com!

http://virtualengineering.tech

catch, and release

DONALD'S ROUGH DAY!

this gif is literallly the longest gif i’ve ever seen and he’s overdramatic as hell but also it’s a big mood.