Fired Up For The Future: NASA 3D-Prints A Working Rocket Engine

As we speed full-tilt into 2016, the opportunities for new technologies to improve on old ideas seems endless.  One strong manufacturing technology, 3D printing, arose to a number of important challenges in 2015, and now may have its sights on the stars.  NASA has recently announced that their tests of conduits comprising a 3D-printed rocket engine have been a success.

To boldly go:  the 3D-printed "breadboard" engine exceeded expectations.
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)

One Man's Trash Is Another's Treasured Power Source: How MIT Claims We Can Convert Car Batteries To Solar Cells

It's almost 2016, and people are finally beginning to realize that fossil fuels are about are pertinent to the future as whale oil.  But what are we going to do with all those outdated chunks of old-school dead car batteries?  The bright minds at MIT have figured out a way for the past to fuel the future...

Rev it up with some recycling, and your old car battery could be a new source of sustainable energy.
(Image courtesy cleantechnica.com.)


SpaceX Excellence: Falcon 9 Rocket Launches And Later LANDS In Historic Spaceflight First

Everyone enjoys watching a good rocket launch...the power, the inspiration to aim for the stars, the rejoicing at mankind's triumphs against physics.  Now, those sensations can be doubled, as SpaceX has successfully managed to not only have a rocket launch flawlessly, but to then have it return safely to Earth and make a landing.

A long exposure of the launch and landing.
Fortunately featuring no more fire than was absolutely necessary.
(Image courtesy space.com.)

Space Station Sunday: Expedition 46 In The Mix



Good afternoon, space fans!  It's been an exciting week for entering orbit!

Driving stick-shift in a spacecraft?  No problem for Expedition 46!
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)


That Time We Almost Built A Death Star

If you've been following this blog for a while, you know that we're fans of crazy weapons (especially on vehicles, from trucks to planes), stuck on "Star Wars", and definitely devoted to all sorts of stuff in space.  However, the confluence of all three is something truly spectacular...had it ever been invented...

This, except huge, and in space.  But someone had a bad feeling about it...
(Image science.howstuffworks.com.)

Crappy Holidays? Get Wrecked With These Tech-Inspired Flasks

It's the holiday season, and whether you like it or not, you may find yourself finagling through some festivities.  If you want a way to show off your techie tendencies while simultaneously slurping enough sauce to place you firmly on the Naughty List (especially after those office party shenanigans), here are several technology-inspired flasks that will, somewhat ironically, give you what no robot, videogame, device or website can:  the warm embrace of a good stiff shot.


Smartphone?  That's a goddamn brilliant-phone.
(Image courtesy pinterest.com.)

A Rebel Restoring The Empire: A "Star Wars" Super-Fan Updates The Classic Films To Original Form


Are you getting excited for the new "Star Wars" film, "The Force Awakens"?  If you're not, are you just worried that it might be as bad as the prequel trilogy that did little justice to the world-famous source material, or perhaps as unpleasant as the poorly-conceived updates made to the originals?  Well, despite George Lucas's culture-crushing chaos, he's taken his hands off of the new movie, and as for the other, original ones that he messed with, they have been forcefully fixed...

It surrounds us, and protects us, and binds the (original, un-fucked-with) galaxy together.
(Image courtesy wired.com.)