Forty years ago this Thursday, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins lifted off on their historic mission to the moon. It was the first manned spaceflight to reach the lunar surface, and on July 20, 1969, first Armstrong then Aldrin became the first people to step onto the moon. (Collins stayed in orbit around the moon for the 21 or so hours that the other two were on the surface.)
Today, the Web is home to a variety of sites that remember the historic mission to the moon. If you're looking to remember Apollo 11, take a look at these resources.
Remembering Apollo 11
Apollo 11: The Game Apollo 11: The Game puts you in the cockpit of the Lunar Lander. The iPhone app lets you start out blasting off into space. From there, you'll need to make your way to the moon, land on the lunar surface, and get back to Earth safely.
In order to complete your mission, you'll need to beat all seven levels. I haven't played the game, so I don't know how good it is. But if you want to feel like you're part of the crew, it might be worth paying $3.99 to have it.
Land on the moon in Apollo 11: The Game.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)Apollo 11 The Apollo 11 group on Facebook is ideal for those looking to discuss Apollo 11 on the popular social network. The group doesn't have many members--as of this writing, there are just 432 users--but it makes up for that with a handful of links that provide even more information on the Apollo 11 mission. The group would be better with more members, but it's the biggest Facebook group dedicated to the mission, so if you want to connect with like-minded people, it's a group to join.
The Apollo 11 group on Facebook connects you with other historians.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)
One of the images returned by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter--coming soon to Google Earth?
(Credit: NASA)At least the residents of the moon are unlikely to be annoyed by the Google Street View car.
Google announced plans Thursday to hold a press conference on July 20 in Washington, D.C., to discuss "a very special announcement about the newest addition to Google Earth," according to an invitation sent to reporters. Further details were not included, but it's not too hard to guess what Google might be up to here.
July 20 is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. One of the men who set foot on the moon that day, Buzz Aldrin, will speak at the event, as will Andrew Chaikin, author of "A Man on the Moon." And NASA's launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in June has yielded all kinds of new detailed images of the moon's surface.
Google already offers a limited overhead view of the moon that highlights the sites of the Apollo landings, but it seems more detailed maps could be in the works as part of the ongoing partnership between Google and NASA. All kidding aside, Street View for the moon is probably not on the agenda, although those lunar rovers are still up there.
Few topics interest me more than space. Though I'll admit that I don't know nearly as much as I would like, it has always been my goal to learn about the universe. I bet I'm not alone. That's why I'm sharing this list of 18 space sites. They all offer something neat. And they're all informative.
Space sites
Amazing Space Though the site is designed for students, Amazing Space is a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to learn something about space. If you want basic information on topics such as gravity and black holes, the site offers it. If you want to gain some knowledge about Earth and how it was formed, you can learn that too. It's not as in-depth as some sites in this roundup, but it's not meant to be. Amazing Space is for the beginner.
Astroengine Each day, Astroengine sifts through studies and documents released by scientists around the world and publishes those that don't get noticed. For example, Saturn's icy moon, Enceladus, might have a liquid ocean, according to a study published by scientists. Astroengine has a nice discussion on that. Few major sources do.
Astronomy Picture of the Day If you just want pictures of what's going on in space, look no further than NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day. Each day, the site is updated with one picture of space. Underneath the picture is an informative description of the image's significance. I go there every day to see what they'll display next. You should too.
Chandra The Chandra X-Ray Observatory from Harvard University continuously takes pictures of space phenomenon thousands of light years away. You can view all those pictures on the site. I'm amazed at the quality of the photos. If you want to see space outside of the solar system, this is the destination for you.
Daily Galaxy Daily Galaxy provides news and information about galactic events. There are also some videos that help you gain a better understanding of space. Daily Galaxy doesn't often stray beyond the Galaxy (thus its name), but you'll still find a wealth of information on the site. Check it out.
Hubble Site As you might expect, Hubble Site takes an in-depth look at the Hubble Telescope. From news to its latest image captures, the site has it all. You can even learn about how it works and how it helps scientists learn about space. The best part of the site is its galleries section. I literally spent over an hour last night looking through the beautiful images. The Hubble Site is fantastic. It's a must-see.
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's site is filled with space news. It also has updates on missions. But if you want to be entertained, you can spend hours perusing the site's images and videos depicting different solar systems and star clusters around the universe. NASA.gov even has interactive features that let you see objects in Space in 3D. You'll be blown away by NASA's resources.
... Read moreIf you think the new Google Earth update that shows even more about Mars' surface is cool, Microsoft thinks what's it's about to offer is even cooler.
The company, together with NASA, announced on Tuesday plans to make planetary images and data available via the Internet. The two organizations will jointly develop the technology and infrastructure necessary to make NASA content--including high-resolution scientific images and data from Mars and the moon--explorable on Microsoft's online virtual telescope for exploring the universe, called WorldWide Telescope.
(Credit:
Dong Ngo/CNET)
The WorldWide Telescope is a Web 2.0 visualization environment that functions as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from ground- and space-based telescopes for a seamless, rich media-guided exploration of the universe. Through WorldWide Telescope and Microsoft technology, people will be able to pan and zoom in on these images and the most interesting locations on Mars and the moon without distorted views at the poles.
For this new project, NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., will process and host more than 100 terabytes of data (that's about enough to fill 20,000 DVDs). WorldWide Telescope will incorporate the data later in 2009 and feature imagery from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which was launched in August 2005.
The MRO has been examining Mars with a high-resolution camera and five other instruments since 2006. So far the orbiter has sent home more data than all other Mars missions combined.
Other than the MRO, images a camera aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the LRO, will also be incorporated when publicly released this fall. The LRO is scheduled to launch this May and will spend at least a year in a low, polar orbit approximately 30 miles above the lunar surface collecting detailed information about the lunar environment.
Microsoft and NASA have worked together before, including on the project that enabled NASA to develop 3D interactive Microsoft Photosynth collections of the space shuttle launch pad and other facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
With Google Earth 5.0, users can now journey to the planet Mars, where they can see 3D views of the Red Planet and dive deep into its canyons.
(Credit: Google/NASA/USGS)While you might never become an astronaut and have the chance to ride a Mars Rover on the Red Planet, Google has now rolled out an Earth-bound alternative for the masses.
With Google Earth 5.0, which was unveiled Monday, users can now explore Mars in the same way they've been able to instantly view 3D images of much of our own home planet for several years in previous versions of the software.
The Mars project, which was implemented in conjunction with NASA, is intended both for casual investigation of our planetary next-door neighbor, as well as serious research. NASA and Google hope scientists and other researchers will use the new Google Earth Mars feature to share data about the fourth rock from the sun.
"The mode enables users to fly virtually through enormous canyons and scale huge mountains on Mars that are much larger than any found on Earth," NASA said in a statement. "Users also can explore the Red Planet through the eyes of the Mars rovers and other Mars missions, providing a unique perspective of the entire planet."
The Mars feature of Google Earth 5.0 lets users see the Red Planet from the perspective of rovers like the NASA Mars Pathfinder Rover.
(Credit: NASA/Google/JPL/University of Arizona)Additionally, the new Mars features allows Google Earth users to view much of the most recent satellite imagery from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, as well as other craft circling the planet. And users are able to add their own generally sharable 3D content to the larger map of Mars.
... Read more
The interplanetary network that Vint Cerf envisioned years ago got its first real test recently. The EPOXI spacecraft, which carried the Deep Impact probe to Comet Tempel 1 in 2005, had its software reconfigured after delivering the payload to work as a test bed for NASA's new Disruption-Tolerant Networking protocol. As the craft dropped back toward Earth for one of the gravity assists that will ultimately sling it back toward another comet in 2010, it transmitted simulated images of the Martian moon Phobos using the new protocol.
The trial turned EPOXI into one of 10 nodes in a test network (the other nine were on Earth), to verify the reliability and robustness of the new networking architecture.
This new networking system, an outgrowth of Cerf's Interplanetary Net project, can be layered on top of TCP/IP, the protocol that today's Internet uses. But although DTN is designed for a different environment than Earth, ultimately the technology may find its way back here, to improve communication back home.
How to network in space
JPL's Adrian Hooke, team lead and manager of space-networking architecture for NASA, explained the limitations of TCP/IP-based Internet to me. Although we tend to think of the Internet as routing around faults, he said, it is "not actually tolerant of disconnection between two machines." If you lose a link between relay stations (routers), he explained, "the routers start dumping packets on the floor after a few milliseconds."
Out in the solar system, where distance means that point-to-point communication time of a single bit can take minutes or hours, and where there is no system of interconnected routers, relay stations need to be smarter and more robust. Dropping packets doesn't work. "In space, it's very rare that you have an end-to-end path," Hooke said.
Disruption-Tolerant Networking devices don't just send off packets to the next device in the communications chain, as routers do. Instead, they hold on to packets until they expect that they will be received, and after they send them, they keep holding on to them until they receive an acknowledgment. Only once the packets are acknowledged do they release "custody" of the data to the next link in the communications chain.
It's a network. In space.
(Credit: NASA/JPL)DTN networks need more smarts and storage than typical routers. They need to know which devices they can send to, and when, since planets and space vehicles don't stay put. And they need enough storage to hang on to packets that are coming in even when there may not be a receiver onto which they can offload them.
These concepts are not new. E-mail routers use store-and-forward architectures to transfer information, and mesh networks are opportunistic with their connections. But getting the DTN protocols certified for space operations requires a lengthy development cycle. Hooke told me that NASA hopes to have DTN ready to be built into spacecraft and ground-based radios in 2011, but that it will be four or five years after that before the technology will then make it into space. In 2015 or 2016, he said, "an interesting cluster of missions to the moon" will be launching, and he hopes to see DTN on them.
He also expects DTN to be part of the communications protocol for the Mars Sample Return mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2020 (but will probably be more like 2025). In that mission, a "full fleet of spacecraft" from several countries will all need to interoperate, and DTN should make the communications more reliable, and easier to build, than a patchwork of point-to-point radios. But first NASA and other space agencies need to know it works.
Meanwhile, back on Earth
DTN concepts are being applied to similarly flaky networks back home. Not surprisingly for a DARPA-funded project, the US military (the Marine Corps, to be specific) is experimenting with DTN for "stressed tactical military communications." On a battlefield, as in space, there's rarely an existing communications infrastructure a device can drop in to, so data radios need to be more tolerant of poor networks and opportunistically take advantage of communications links when they are available. Likewise, the Navy is looking at DTN to help submarines send and receive data in bursts when they surface or come close to a relay buoy.
DTN can integrate with existing TCP/IP networks, Hooke told me. "Bundle agents" can sit on the Internet and handle the store-and-forward protocols as well as the transfer of data from occasionally-connected devices to the main Internet.
And not all applications are military. A team in Sweden is using DTN to track reindeer movement (via geolocators tagged to animals), for example. Intel is looking at DTN to build out networks in developing countries with no communications grid. And in our own backyard, cellular equipment manufacturers are thinking about DTN for devices at the edges of expanding networks.
It's been quite a while since we visited the subject of best themes for Mozilla Firefox. It took a little while for some developers to catch up with the release of Version 2, but now there's a large number of cool add-ons for spicing up the look and feel of your your browser.
There's also a lot of crap. Luckily for you, I've waded through the morass and found what I consider to be the best themes for Mozilla Firefox. Of course, one of the greatest strengths of Firefox is the ability for every user to customize the browser as he or she sees fit. If you've got a favorite theme that I left off the list, tell me about it in the comments.
For a better look at the themes featured in this article, be sure to check out the related Download.com gallery.
11. Modern Modoki
Modern Moloki theme
Minimalism lives, and quite naturally with this stone-gray theme that's perfect for the Web surfer or developer who wants his or her browser to fade into nonexistence. It's clean, it's clear, hey...it's Netscape 8! Or is it 6? It's both: The look of 8 with the color scheme of versions 6 and 7. Its nigh invisibility makes it a solid choice for the mysterious 11th spot.
Most importantly, of course, it works with most major Firefox extensions with interface-altering features such as the pictured two-paned bookmarks and All-in-One Sidebar.
NASA Night Launch theme
What an appropriate Firefox theme to start off the Top 10 countdown! It's not kicking off the list, but it's blasting off anyway. The only thing that really distinguishes this theme from other polished dark Firefox themes is the shuttle image that "launches off" when a page is loading. See, you're traveling to another planet on the World Wide Web universe!
Snark aside, the shuttle imagery throughout the browser looks fantastic, and it's compatible with a long list of extensions. It's also a nice tribute to the STS-116 mission.
9. MidnightFox
MidnightFox
If you're gonna go dark, do it with style. I'm usually not much of a fan of black-background Firefox themes, but MidnightFox is a rare exception. The colorful buttons look great on the textured black interface, but unfortunately it didn't work very well with All-in-One Sidebar, one of my favorite extensions. It still surprised me enough with its fancy look to make it on the list.
Super Mario Bros. 3 theme
For the Mario fanboy in everyone, live the dream with tunnels for toolbar icons and pipes for scrolling. A recognizable little penny spins and spins as your Web pages load, but there's not much sign of the big man himself, and not a whole lot of polish.
All I can say is: needs more Yoshi.
7. extero
extero theme
I like the brand-new theme extero because it's not afraid to take chances--like black drop-down menus on a near-white interface. Some of the menu icons, such as "Print," are a little cryptic, but its Apple-esque style should prove popular.
The main reason it makes the list, however, is its "throbber," or the icon that animates while a Web page is loading. extero's is the coolest throbber I've seen this year...maybe the coolest ever.
HiVisGnome Jumbo theme
If you're gonna go big, you might as well go all the way. This helpful Firefox theme, developed as part of the Access Firefox project for users with vision problems, is the biggest theme I've ever seen. Some of the options icons look straight out of 1994, but it's hard to beat for customizing an interface that's as easy to see and use.
5. Miint
Miint Firefox theme
Ah, mint chocolate-chip ice cream. I'm personally not the biggest fan, but I send a shout out to my mom and everyone else who loves the stuff with Miint, a Firefox theme full of frosty green and dark chocolate goodness. There's nothing to scream about, but it has its own cool style.
4. Redshift V2
RedShift V2 theme
Take a slide into the darker side, with this black-and-red Firefox theme that could appeal to both goths and 2 Fast 2 Furious racing types. A side bonus: the red highlights throughout the interface may convince coworkers that you bite.
The unique look wasn't enough to keep me around long, however. As pictured, I made much use of the Theme Switcher feature enabled by the MR Tech Local Install extension during my trip into the world of themes.
3. Tinseltown
Tinseltown theme
If you're one of those Christmas-loving maniacs who decorates every inch of your desktop with yuletide icons and loves to torment your coworkers with your holiday cheer, congratulations. Your Firefox theme awaits.
Confusing green and red Christmas lights denote back and forward navigation, respectively; red-nosed Rudolph refreshes your browser (huh?); and Santa's hat means stop. Oh, it's the initials! Hmm. Too bad it does nothing to my "Closed Tabs" taskbar icon (available via TabMixPlus). I was hoping for reindeer dung.
Aside from the seasonal appropriateness, what merits Tinseltown's lofty status in my favorite Firefox themes list are the candy canes that replace your scroll and progress bars. Snazzy!
It's for use during the holiday season only, unless you're "that guy."
2. TrafficFox
TrafficFox theme
Go. Stop. Spin yourself crazy circling an inescapable roundabout. Vous n'avez pas la priorite! TrafficFox is the perfect Firefox theme for anyone who loves the term "information superhighway." Non?
Its sleek style--with traffic icons for navigation functions--and minimally intrusive yet informative interfaces transform Web surfing from a pedestrian experience to a joyride in a fancy European sports car. Really? Well, no. But the design does look slick.
Littlefox for Firefox theme
There are a number of great "mini" themes out there. The goal is to maximize screen space, making it ideal for viewing large pictures or videos with your browser. I'm sticking to the one that I use the most: Littlefox for Firefox by Alfred Kayser.
One of my favorite touches are the gear icons for my little bookmarklets like ZAP. It's clever like a Littlefox, and I'm sticking with it...for now.
If you enjoyed the first round of Photosynth'd pictures of NASA shuttle Endeavor, you'll probably enjoy these. Taken in space by the crew of the International Space Station, the newly uploaded shots show off the underside of the space shuttle, which the Microsoft Labs team is touting as a "first-hand look at what you might see on a space-walk." Of course, when it comes to the underside of space shuttles, astronauts are usually inspecting these things for damage while hurtling hundreds of miles an hour above the Earth. You can do this from the comfort of your Web browser, assuming you're running Windows XP or Vista with a capable graphics card. Mac users are out of luck.
Check out the slightly singed bottom of the space shuttle Endeavor in its full, Photosynth'd glory, sans years of astronaut training and those nauseating space walks.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Enthusiasts of Microsoft 's Live Labs project Photosynth get a new environment to explore this morning. In addition to art galleries, town squares, and various buildings in Britain, users can now explore shuttle Endeavour before its launch on Wednesday. For those unfamiliar with Photosynth, it's a new technology that groups together a collection of photos taken in the same location into a 3D environment. Users can zoom in and out of various parts to take advantage of higher resolution shots that show more detail, while getting an idea of where they are spatially. In the case of the space shuttle, there's a lot to see--especially since NASA got some of the shots with a helicopter.
Stefanie Olsen over at CNET News.com has more on the technology, along with a screenshot gallery. There's also a video about the project on the Microsoft Live Labs site. To check out the shuttle yourself, just click here. Keep in mind Photosynth requires a "Vista Aero Ready" graphics card. If you don't have one, you'll be greeted to a haiku.
Previous Photosynth coverage:
BBC show uses Microsoft tech for 3D imagery
Microsoft program turns 2D images into 3D
Related:
Google Earth now does night by NASA
Feel like a little kid again by zooming around the scaffolding of the shuttle launch pad.
(Credit: Microsoft / NASA.gov)
Google Earth users now have a really neat layer to play with, straight from the folks at NASA. It comes in the form of new astronaut photography, satellite imagery, and a mode called "Earth City Lights," which shows the entire globe at night. The real standout, however, is the selection of shots from space. Many of these were taken at interesting times on the Earth's landscape like volcanic eruptions, massive forest fires, dust storms, or the unusually thick ice on Lake Michigan during the winter of 2003. Each shot can be blown up and comes with a handy explanation of what makes it special.
If you've got Google Earth installed, you'll find the new layer under "featured content."
[via Google Lat Long Blog]
With Google Earth's new NASA layers, you can take a look at photos taken from space during world events.
(Credit: CNET Networks / NASA.gov / Google)- prev
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