ESA: Nearing the end of its third month of continuous operation, the International Space Station's ship-tracking experiment has experienced a marked increase in data quality. Now it operates along with a dedicated satellite carrying the same receiver.

Lockheed Martin today congratulated the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) on the 50-year anniversary of the first Corona photo reconnaissance satellite image from space, which ushered in new space-based capabilities for the nation.

"At the end of World War II, visionary military officers saw that the future of United States military superiority was scientific research. General Henry "Hap" Arnold and others in the Army Air Forces started a project under contract with the Douglas Aircraft Company. This effort resulted in the first real, and perhaps most influential "Think Tank," Project RAND (Research ANd Development) made up of top-level scientists and engineers. Although a wide range of subjects were planned to be addressed, the very first research project was to study the possibility and usefulness of a man-made artificial Earth satellite. This first paper was Project RAND Special Memorandum SM-11827, Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling Spaceship,1 which was accomplished in an astonishingly short time and issued May 1946. Governmentattic.org is pleased to be able to make available all twelve of these historic reports here."

"To understand the thinking that led to the design of the Star Trek PADD, we spoke to some of the people involved in production of ST:TNG (as well as other Star Trek TV series and films), including Michael Okuda, Denise Okuda, and Doug Drexler. All three were involved in various aspects of production art for Star Trek properties, including graphic design, set design, prop design, visual effects, art direction, and more. We also discussed their impressions of the iPad and how eerily similar it is to their vision of 24th century technology, how science fiction often influences technology, and what they believe is the future of human-machine interaction." More at Ars Technica

NASA has released the first-ever up close, high-definition video taken from inside a space shuttle during "towback" following a landing.

In a series of video clips, competition robots and pallet-stacking simulations show their moves. Video

Make room, Bender, Rosie and R2D2! Your newest mechanical colleagues are a few steps closer to reality, thanks to lessons learned during two robotics events hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at the recent IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Anchorage, Alaska.

Video gaming has become one of the globe's most popular pastimes. Fans say games are often educational, their detractors answer they are anything but. Might ESA have something to learn from gaming? A new Agency study says the answer is yes.