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SMALLEST PLANET FOUND TO DATE AND ROBONAUT

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:16 am
by aTOMiC
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080409/sc_afp/sp ... 0409190123


Well I had a look at this article because of the discovery of a planet only 5 times the mass of the Earth...which is pretty cool but lower on the page is a link to a video from 60 minutes that profiles ROBONAUT. A robot Astronaut assistant that is pretty awesome.

Image

robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/
Robonaut is a humanoid robot designed by the Robot Systems Technology Branch at NASA's Johnson Space Center in a collaborative effort with DARPA. The Robonaut project seeks to develop and demonstrate a robotic system that can function as an EVA astronaut equivalent. Robonaut jumps generations ahead by eliminating the robotic scars (e.g., special robotic grapples and targets) and specialized robotic tools of traditional on-orbit robotics. However, it still keeps the human operator in the control loop through its telepresence control system. Robonaut is designed to be used for "EVA" tasks, i.e., those which were not specifically designed for robots.

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:14 pm
by Prebe
To sustain life, a planet must have a mass similar to that of earth, liquid water on its surface, an atmosphere and a similar orbital distance from its star as that of the earth from the sun.
Or so they think ;)

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:18 pm
by Cail
Robonaut has a Boba Fett helmet.

Way cool.

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:41 pm
by Prebe
And you wondered where all those NASA funds were going?