Photo of the Day: May 2008 Archives

Phoenix is a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission to Mars under the Mars Scout Program. The scientists conducting the mission will use instruments aboard the Phoenix lander to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars, and to research the history of water there. Phoenix launched successfully on August 4, 2007, and is scheduled to land on Mars on May 25, 2008.

The multi-agency program is headed by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, under the direction of NASA. The program is a partnership of universities from the U.S.A, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark and Germany, NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the aerospace industry. Phoenix is planned to land in the planet's water-ice-rich northern polar region and, if this is successful, will use its robotic arm to dig into the Arctic terrain.

Phoenix Mars Lander at Wikipedia

Disability Rights Advocates for Technology (DRAFT) is a charity that runs a program called "Segs 4 Vets" where they help injured servicemembers (including many amputees) regain their mobility through the donation of Segways and training in their use.

As of December 31st 2007 DRAFT has given 81 Segways and they hope to present another 250 in 2008.

I don't ask for donations from my readers to help maintain this site (the google ads on each page take care of that) but I would like to take this opportunity to ask anyone reading this to considering donating to DRAFT and helping give something back to those that have sacrificed almost everything for their Country.

Donate to DRAFT

This ladies and gentlemen is the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle. The Reaper is currently deployed over the skies of Afghanistan (and occasionally Pakistan).

Not content with just spying on the bad guys like it's older brother the Predator, the Reaper is used to actively hunt down Taliban insurgents and Al Qaeda terrorists with it's 4 hellfire air-to-ground missiles and 2 laser-guided bombs.

The Reaper is 36ft long, has a wingspan of 20ft, normally flies up to 25,000 ft high at speeds of up to 250mph, and can stay in the air for up to 28 hours. Unit cost is around $8m.

High-tech American gadgetry keeping the terrorists cowering in caves instead of planning attacks on civilians around the world. I love it!

The Japanese Space Agency and NHK (Japanese TV) send a high definition camera to the moon.

Today they released a ton of photos as well as some 720P video.

(the videos (in japanese))

LONDON - MAY 06: The Shadow Robot company's dextrous hand robot holds an Apple at the Streetwise Robots event held at the Science Museum's Dana Centre on May 6, 2008 in London, England. The Dextrous Robotic Hand has a bank of 40 Air Muscles which make it capable of 24 movements and the most advanced robot hand in the World. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)