Mars Exploration Rover, A Robotic Space Mission

An ongoing exploration of the planet Mars which involves robotic space mission using two robotic exploration rovers designed to perform geological tasks is currently undertaken by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) which designed, built, operated and was tasked with the collaboration of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to manage the project for NASA. The objective of the mission is to gather scientific data of rocks and soils to investigate and find clues of past water activities on mars to study the possibility of sustaining life on the planet. Two robotic rovers named Spirit and Opportunity were already deployed and are still currently collecting scientific information communicated back to earth, both were functioning beyond their initially expected target performance lifespan starting from its primary launch mission since 2003, although there have been ensuing problems encountered recently with the deteriorating performance of the first deployed rover Spirit which is now immobile, still it was retasked to perform as a stationary science platform to maximize its use. The second rover Opportunity is seen here in the video as an improved version of the first rover Spirit. It is fully equipped with a laser gun, a high-tensile strength drilling equipment, a wide array of precision robotic limbs complete with geologic accessories, and an internal built-in spectrometer for analysis of chemical properties of rocks and soil samples.

SETI, the technology behind searching the far reaches of space to find intelligent life

The Discovery Channel delves into the real perspective of what our first alien encounters will be like, so they met with a senior astronomer of the SETI institute, SETI which stands for "Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence" is a non-profit organization surveying the sky which aims to detect signal transmission from alien civilizations from the far reaches of space. SETI believes in the possibility of finding extra-terrestrial life in the next thousand years with their constant efforts using telescopes to listen to distant galaxies together with the collaborative efforts of NASA's exploration rovers designed to explore the landscapes of moons and planets within our solar system. With such advance technology the possibility of finding alien life form is likely to happen even from very simple micro organisms to advanced intelligent life from distant stars. The SETI Institute is currently building groups of telescopes which is a project that will consist of 350 antennas. SETI suspects there is a better chance of finding life on mars before finding life around the stars. Finding even the tiniest micro organisms on mars may give us the opportunity to investigate further if there is a distinct possibility that life on earth may have descended from mars.

How To Call An Autonomous Taxi With An iPad

Introducing an autonomous taxi developed by Autonomos-Labs Germany, an unmanned taxi that is fully capable of picking you up at a random location. The car is equipped with a GPS Navigation System, video cameras, several laser scanners and multiple radars all hooked-up to its internal embedded processors which serves as the car's main control center. The video demonstrates using the GPS unit of the iPad to pinpoint your exact location, using the coordinates of your location an autonomous taxi receives your location information and starts driving by itself towards your location. And while waiting you can also track the position of the autonomous taxi from your iPad screen, and once inside the taxi you can also use your iPad to tell the autonomous taxi where you want to go.

Hands-free e-mail and texting through voice command while driving your car

When driving a vehicle the user should maintain focus on the road right? Well it seems Microsoft is introducing an exciting speech integration technology built right into Windows Embedded Automotive 7 platform which will allow drivers the ability to not take their eyes off the road while driving their car and interacting with their in-car infotainment device at the same time, these are made possible by the voice command feature powered by the Windows Embedded Automotive 7 which will enable drivers or passengers to listen to their email messages while in their car or to have the ability to compose and send text messages through voice command while in the car.