Google+ SpaceTravelFoundation: 2014-06-22

June 26, 2014

Explore the night sky with Google Glass

Dear readers and followers,

If you are on of the lucky Google Glass explorer, you can explore the night sky thanks to the connected glasses developed and sold by the firm of Mountain View.


The app, called Star Chart has been specifically developed for Google Glass making many changes both big and small to the UI, interface and feature-set. With Star Chart for Google Glass you will get to explore the wonders of our universe by simply looking up at the sky to discover the stars, planets and constellations above you.
Features of Star Chart for Google Glass include:
  • All the visible stars of the northern and southern hemispheres.
  • All the planets of the solar system, the Moon, the Sun and Pluto.
  • All 88 constellations, with imagery based on the beautiful artwork of 17th century astronomer Johannes Hevelius.
  • Audio descriptions of all the planets and many of the brightest stars.
To launch Star Chart for Google Glass simply say: "OK Glass" followed by "Explore the stars".
Once Star Chart has launched simply look at the area of the night sky you are interested and Star Chart will show you what you are looking at.

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June 25, 2014

Follow in live video the Orion's test parachute on google+

Dear followers and readers,

today (Wednesday June 25th), NASA will perform tests of the parachute system of the new spacecraft called Orion. A test version of Orion is loaded onto a C-17 for a previous test of its parachute system. The test on Wednesday will be the most complex test the system will go through. Watch the test live in a Google+ hangout at 10:30 EDT. So join us there for the live and post your feedback about this impressive test !!!

Credit image: NASA 



Of the 17 parachute drops planned for the developmental test series for the system, this is the 14th and the most complex. A test version of Orion will be pushed out of a C-17 aircraft 11km above the desert of the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Only two previous tests have been conducted from such a high altitude, and this one will up the ante further by waiting through 10 seconds of free fall before Orion’s parachutes are deployed.

Those 10 seconds will let Orion build up more speed and aerodynamic pressure before the first of the parachutes is released, to put the maximum amount of stress on them. But even if the test version of the capsule doesn’t land softly on the desert floor, it will give engineers important data that will help them improve the design of the system that will help slow Orion when it bring crew back from destinations and reenters Earth’s atmosphere.



Stay Tuned