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Robotic “Bees” Are About to Join Astronauts in Space

There are some things only humans can do in space. The rest can be left to robots. To free up valuable time for astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station, we’re sending three robotic helpers to the orbiting outpost. Developed and built at our Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, the cube-shaped Astrobee robots will each stay as busy as a bee flying around the space station and assisting crew with routine tasks like maintenance and tracking inventory. The robots will also help researchers on the ground carry out experiments, test new technologies and study human-robot interaction in space. Learning how robots can best work with humans in close proximity will be key for exploring the Moon and other destinations. Get to know more about our new robots headed to space: 

The Astrobee robots were tested inside a special lab at our Ames Research Center where researchers created a mockup of the space station’s interior. 

The flying robots are propelled by fans. They can move in any direction and turn on any axis in space. 

Each robot is equipped with cameras and sensors for navigating inside the space station and avoiding obstacles.

Claw power! Astrobees have a robotic arm that can be attached for handling cargo or running experiments.

Astrobee is battery powered. When its battery runs low, the robot will autonomously navigate and dock to a power station to recharge.

The robots can operate in either fully automated mode or under remote control by astronauts or researchers on Earth.

Astrobee builds on the success of SPHERES, our first-generation robotic assistant that arrived at the space station in 2006.  

Two of the three Astrobee robots are scheduled to launch to space this month from our Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia! Tune in to the launch at www.nasa.gov/live.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

A black woman will lead the third largest city in America, elected by voters who said they wanted change and the symbolism of a new era of politics in segregated Chicago.

Lori Lightfoot has never held office but won all 50 of the city’s wards in a crushing landslide on Tuesday.

Lightfoot’s win breaks race and gender barriers, and she’s openly gay with a wife and daughter. On the campaign trail, she leaned into her blue-collar roots growing up in a deeply segregated Ohio steel town. In her acceptance speech, Lightfoot invoked the legendary Harold Washington, the city’s first black mayor and others.

“I stand on the shoulders of so many. The shoulders of strong, black women, like Ida B. Wells, Gwendolyn Brooks and Annie Ruth Lowery. The shoulders of LGBTQ+ trailblazers, like Dr. Ron Sable, Vernita Gray and Art Johnston,” Lightfoot said.

She’s the former president of the Chicago police board, and also a former corporate attorney and federal prosecutor. Her message of “bring in the light” resonated with voters who raged against the local Democratic Party machine, notorious in Chicago for dynastic politics, patronage hiring and corruption.

“People felt like this is a moment where we can try something new. We can possibly go in a different direction, and we can represent to the world that we need something fresh,” said Cathy J. Cohen, a political scientist at the University of Chicago.

Lightfoot’s election is the latest in a record number of black women elected mayor in the nation’s 100 largest cities. Lightfoot will become the eighth such woman to lead one of those cities, Chicago being the largest, when she takes office in May.

The movement has been swift. Just five years ago, there was only one black woman leading any of the nation’s top 100 cities.

A Record Number Of Black Women Are Becoming Mayor Of Major Cities

Photo: Manuel Martinez/WBEZ Data source: Center for American Women and Politics  Chart: Thomas Wilburn/NPR

EVA glove (at Texas A&M University) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvnrXGeg_To/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=tki7cq62gnb6

[source @nasaames]

WATCH: A Black Hole Is Photographed For First Time By Massive Telescope Project

The world is seeing the first-ever image of a black hole Wednesday, as an international team of researchers from the Event Horizon Telescope project released their look at the massive black hole at the center of galaxy Messier 87 (M87).

The image shows a dark disc “outlined by emission from hot gas swirling around it under the influence of strong gravity near its event horizon,” the consortium said.

The enormous black hole is some 55 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo galaxy cluster, with a mass some 6.5 billion times that of our sun.

Video National Science Foundation via YouTube

at Nassau Bay, Texas https://www.instagram.com/p/BvzozKEAs4r/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=5vre6mjhgifm

Home is wherever I’m with you 🐾 (at Oak Ridge North, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwPq5CQgwJL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1tf5oka7k3cnd