Here, Spotmini!

The dog-like robot, Spot, now has a new smaller clone!

Meet SpotMini the  Boston Dynamics "LittleDog" robot!

According to Boston Dynamics, "LittleDog is a quadruped robot designed for research on learning locomotion." We can see it has a large range of motion just from that gif!
More specifics on the site include: "LittleDog has four legs, each powered by three electric motors. The legs have a large range of motion. The robot is strong enough for climbing and dynamic locomotion gaits. The onboard PC-level computer does sensing, actuator control and communications."

"SpotMini" the LittleDog is just one of many robots designed and created by Boston Dynamics! The current list of robot designs is:
LS3 (Legged Squad Support System)
Atlas
Petman

Cheetah

BigDog

SandFlea

RHex

RiSE
LittleDog


That is such an impressive collection of robots!

Now that we have a better idea of the specs, abilities, and family of "SpotMini", let's take a look at this magnificent robo-puppy in action!

 Now that is super cool!
Could this be the pet of the future?
No allergies to worry about...

Can help with the chores...

Can provide hours of entertainment...

Move over four legged furry friends, here comes SpotMini!

Source: Boston Dynamics, Nerdist

Tatooine Tatoo-out

Think back to Tatooine...
That's right, the planet we met our space-hero, Luke Skywalker, on!

See those double suns?
Guess what!
There's a planet just like this in the constellation Cygnus!

Currently this planet is named Kepler-1647b, but I think they misnamed the poor thing.
It is quite OBVIOUSLY Tatooine.

We know that this planet is 3700 light-years away from us and is approximately 4.4 billion years old.
That is just about the same age as our planet!
They should be besties.

They may be roughly the same age but Kepler-1647b is HUGE! 

It has a mass and radius similar to Jupiter!

This makes it  the largest transiting circumbinary planet ever found!!
(That means the largest planet ever found that orbits two stars. You're welcome.)

Planets like these are sometimes referred to as "Tatooine planets"... So I guess the name faux pas is forgivable this time.

This planet takes a whopping 1,107 days to orbit it's two stars!
That's more than 3 years!!

I am one year old on Kepler-1647b

Life, however is HIGHLY unlikely on a gas giant such as Kepler-1647b.
(Although it could be possible for us to live on any large moons it may have.)

I, for one, look forward to learning more about Kepler-1647b and any other Tatooine planets they may find!
Perhaps one day, we'll have a Tatooine planet that we can visit.

Source: NASA

 

Musk you?

Tesla's and Space X's CEO Elon Musk met with the US Secretary of Defense recently to discuss what Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook calls, "Innovation"!

YAY FOR BEING VAGUE!

While Space X Has been approved for military space launches (and basically being the military's cargo hauler) this meeting with the defense secretary was for something else.
Though neither Musk or Senator Carter spoke to reporters after the meeting, Musk posted a (possible) joke tweet shortly after...

Don't toy with our emotions, Musk. 

Don't you dare.

It is already speculated that Elon Musk is one of the main inspirations for the Iron Man film franchise. (Other than the comic books, of course...)

So, if Musk is hinting at something for real, could this mean that we will have an army made up of Ironmen?




MUSK, YOU TEASE!

Source: Popular Science, CNN

Do YOU want to be the next Martian?

SpaceX's CEO, Elon Musk has said that they may send people to Mars following the 2018 unmanned mission!

Feels like home already....sort of.

He announced that SpaceX would start sending people to Mars around 2024 and, since it takes a few months to get there, begin a 26 month cycle that will eventually colonize Mars!!

 He also was not shy about his prediction that most cars will not have drivers in 3 years. 

3 YEARS, GUYS! 

He says the main issue is not lack of proper technology but safety regulators!

Way to have our backs, Mr. Musk!

He has said, “I consider autonomous driving to be basically a solved problem. There’s really only one area where it’s a little dodgy, and that’s where you’re at 30 to 40 miles per hour.” He continued to say that, "We’re less than two years away from complete autonomy. Regulators however will take at least another year; they’ll want to see billions of miles of data.”

While I'm not super excited for self-driving cars (because driving is fun!), I am interested to see what the future for SpaceX and Mars holds!

Source: Bloomberg

What are you most looking forward to hearing about? Let us know in the comments!