PIX4639332: Robonaut2, the Next Generation Dexterous Robonaut 2, designed by Nasa and General Motors, is a humanoid robot designed to assist humans on Earth and in space. Here it lifts a weight of 10 kg. Robonaut2 - or R2 for short - is the next generation dexterous robot, developed through a Space Act Agreement by NASA and General Motors. It is faster, more dexterous and more technologically advanced than its predecessors and able to use its hands to do work beyond the scope of previously introduced humanoid robots. Robonauts are designed to use the same tools as humans, which allows them to work safely side-by-side humans on Earth and in space. Robonaut2 surpasses previous dexterous humanoid robots in strength, yet it is safe enough to work side-by-side with humans. It is able to lift, not just hold, this 20-pound weight (about four times heavier than what other dexterous robots can handle) both near and away from its body / Bridgeman Images
PIX4639385: Liquid mirror telescope on the Moon - Lunar liquid mirror telescope - Illustration of an astronomical observatory on the Moon. Installs near the southern pole of the Moon, a giant telescope with liquid mirror, one kilometre in diameter. A giant liquid mirror telescope 1 kilometer wide (6 tenths of a mile) and 1 kilometer tall lies nestled in an approximately 1 kilometer wide crater near the Moon's south pole. In the foreground is a kind of lunar city for human habitation composed of pressurized and radiation-hardened living units. On the upper right are landing pads for transports arriving to and departing from the lunar surface. A liquid mirror telescope is a Newtonian reflecting type telescope that employs a reflecting liquid as the primary mirror. A concept first identified 300 years ago by Isaac Newton himself, the reflecting liquid assumes the proper paraboloidal shape by rotating the container the liquid is in. On Earth working liquid mirror telescopes have been created with diameters up to 20 feet using mercury metal as the reflecting liquid. One limitation is that liquid metal mirror can only be used in zenith telescopes that look straight up at the sky, so it is not suitable for investigations where the telescope must remain pointing at the same location of space. Given its low surface gravity and lack of distorting atmosphere, the Moon would be an ideal location for an extremely large liquid mirror telescope, however instead of mercury other liquids have been proposed, including low temperature ionic liquids that would be especially suitable for infrared observations. Given the Moons' lack of atmospheric pressure, any such liquid would need to have a zero vapor pressure to keep it from boiling away / Bridgeman Images
PIX4639561: Permanent station between Mars and the Earth - Artist view - Mars cycler and manned maneuvering units - Artist view - Mars Cycler arrives near the Earth. Astronauts are conducting an extravehicular exit. Mars Cycler is a space station placed in orbit between Mars and Earth whose trajectory would alternate between Mars and Earth. Once positioned in orbit, this gravitational assistance vessel would use very little fuel. This project would make a permanent link between the two planets. A Mars cycler swings by the Earth and onward to Mars while two astronauts in manned maneuvering units (AKA, MMUS) watch from afar. A Mars cycler is a permanently orbiting vehicle with a path that alternately brings it near Earth and Mars. Once a cycler has been accelerated into orbit it continues on its own momentum, going back and forth between the two planets, only requiring propellant for occasional course adjustments. A one-way trip between Earth and Mars involves six to eight months of space travel, therefore a large and well-equipped Mars cycler would offer space explorers, and possibly even space tourists, better accommodations for these long journeys. Smaller spacecraft would ferry travelers between the planets and the cycle / Bridgeman Images
PIX4639640: Astronauts on Phobos - Touching Phobos - Astronauts from the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), an autonomous space chair, uncover the surface of the Phobos satellite. An astrogeologist in a space suit and manned maneuvering unit (MMU) makes the first human contact with Mars' asteroid-like moon Phobos. On the upper right is another free-ranging astrogeologist descending towards the surface. On the left at a distance of several hundred yards is an Orion-class command module. The command module has ferried the astrogeologists to Phobos from their living accommodations in Mars orbit. At 5,800 miles away Mars itself looms large, nearly filling the entire sky. Phobos' gravity is so low that its surface could be explored like scuba divers floating over the ocean's bottom / Bridgeman Images
PIX4635808: Milky Way and Echinopsis Atacamensis - These cacti are Echinopsis Atacamensis between 6 and 8 metres high. In the background, the lactee track. San Pedro de Atacama Region, Chile. Single installation of 2 minutes. June 2008. The 3 cacti on the image are Echinopsis Atacamensis. They are between 6m and 8m in height for a diameter of around 70 cm and live at an altitude between 2600 and 3800m in the San Pedro de Atacama region, north of Chile. It is a protected specie that was used for too long as construction 'wood' and (still!) for handycraft. This image also shows, in the background, the Southern Hemisphere Milky Way, with the Southern Cross and Coal bag in the far top right corner, and the rich region of our Galactic Center, Scorpius and Sagittarius constellations just in the middle. It is a 2 minute one-shot image taken with a digital camera / Bridgeman Images
PIX4635811: The centre of our galaxy, the Lactee Way - The galactic center - The central region of our galaxy, the Lactee Way, photographed from the Atacama Desert, Chile. The total pose time of this image is 24 hours. It is here, in the constellations of Scorpio and Sagittarius, that is the most formidable concentration of stars in the sky. The center of our galaxy, the milky way, photographed from the Atacama desert in Chile. The total amount of exposures is 24 hours. This image shows the highest concentration of stars in Sagittarius and Scorpius constellations / Bridgeman Images
PIX4635912: Lactee route au raz de l'horizon - Paranal horizon in the milky way plane - Fisheye view of the southern sky. The lactee path blends with the horizon line. In the sky, the three brightest galaxies visible on Earth: the two galaxies of the Magellan Cloud, and opposite it to the top right of the image, the galaxy of Andromede. A laser shot from one of the domes of the VLT is visible as well as the gegenschein, the blade glow consisting of dust reflecting the light of the sun, observable only in a dense sky of any parasite light. A fish-eye view of southern sky in Chile. Milky way is visible along the 360 degrees of the horizon line. Also visible are Gegenschein at zenith, Paranal observatory with Laser Guide Star, and the three brightest galaxies visible on earth (the large Magellanic clouds and Andromeda galaxy) / Bridgeman Images
PIX4640067: Crew of the Mars500 experience - Mars500 experiment crew - The Mars500 experience is a Martian mission simulation that began on June 3, 2010. The crew locked up for 520 days consists of six people. They are Italian-Colombian Diego Urbina (27) and Frenchman Roman Charles (31) selected by ESA, Russian Sukhrob Kamolov (32), Alexey Sitev (38), Alexandr Smoleevskiy (33) and Chinese Wang Yue (26). March 500 520-day isolation crew (Diego Urbina and Romain Charles from Europe, Sukhrob Kamolov, Alexey Sitev, Alexandr Smoleevskiy and Wang Yue from China) photographed just before the entry to the facility at 13:49 local time in Moscow (11:49 CET) on 3 June 2010. They will stay in the facility for more than 17 months simulating a mission to Mars / Bridgeman Images
PIX4640287: Space lift on the Moon - Artist's view - Lunar elevator ascending - A space lift leaves from the Moon to reach its destination at a point in Lagrange. A manned lunar space elevator ascends from the surface of the Moon riding a 35,000 - mile - long tether anchored at the other end to a counterweight in a Lagrange point in space. In this image the elevator is approximately 3,000 miles above the lunar surface, having taken approximately 50 hours to reach this point / Bridgeman Images
PIX4640626: Space tourism - Artist's view - Cruise shuttle in low earth orbit - Artist's view of a space shuttle of the future in orbit around the Earth. A reusable space tourism “” cruise””” shuttle orbits the earth at an altitude of approximately 250 miles. This spacecraft is 75 feet long by 55 feet wide. / Bridgeman Images
PIX4640659: Space tourism - Artist's view - Cruise shuttle in low earth orbit - Artist's view of a space shuttle from the future to the International Space Station (ISS). A reusable space tourism “” cruise””” shuttle rendezvouses with the International Space Station (ISS). This shuttle is 75 feet long by 55 feet wide. The ISS is about 360 feet by 240 feet, or slightly larger than a football field / Bridgeman Images