NASA Inventions Win Time Magazine Honors
13 Nov 2002
(Source: Solar System Exploration Education and Public Outreach Forum)
Time Magazine 2002 Best Inventions Awards
The complete list is here: http://www.time.com/time/2002/inventions/toc.html
http://www.time.com/time/2002/inventions/rob_mars.html
Mars Rovers
Inventor: NASA
In 2004, the hottest car in the world will have a top speed of 10 ft. per min. - if, that is, the world happens to be Mars. NASA is currently testing two robotic rovers to send to the Red Planet in a mission set to launch next summer. The two solar-powered vehicles will travel up to 330 ft. - compared with Sojourner's 16 ft. - a day while using their nine cameras and three spectrometers to make scientific observations. First on the agenda? Looking for traces of water.
Availability: January 2004
To Learn More: http://fido.jpl.nasa.gov
http://www.time.com/time/2002/inventions/rob_aerogel.html
Aerogel
Inventor: NASA
A new substance called aerogel, invented in the 1930s but recently refined by NASA, has been certified as the lightest solid in the world - yes, it's in the Guinness Book of World Records. Weighing in at a mere .00011 lbs. per cu. in. (thin air weighs about .00004 lbs. per cu. in.), aerogel resembles smoke that has been frozen into place - it's cloudy, translucent and virtually weightless. It's also surprisingly tough. Chemically similar to glass, aerogel is used on the space shuttle to trap tiny spaceborne particles traveling at high speed so they can be brought back to Earth for analysis.
Availability: Now
To Learn More: http://science.nasa.gov/aerogel
