Researchers have created the tiniest laser since its invention nearly 50 years ago. Because the new device, called a "spaser," is the first of its kind to emit visible light, it represents a critical component for possible future technologies based on "nanophotonic" circuitry. The color diagram (a) shows the nanolaser's design: a gold core surrounded by a glasslike shell filled with green dye. Scanning electron microscope images (b and c) show that the gold core and the thickness of the silica shell were about 14 nanometers and 15 nanometers, respectively. A simulation of the SPASER (d) shows the device emitting visible light with a wavelength of 525 nanometers. (Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University)

University of Utah mathematicians developed a new cloaking method, and it's unlikely to lead to invisibility cloaks like those used by Harry Potter or Romulan spaceships in "Star Trek." Instead, the new method someday might shield submarines from sonar, planes from radar, buildings from earthquakes, and oil rigs and coastal structures from tsunamis.

The Lunar Electric Rover (LER) is equipped with a time and space saving concept called suit ports. The suit ports are located on the aft bulkhead of the LER, and are designed to allow astronauts to quickly go from driving in a shirtsleeve environment to Extravehicular Activity (EVA) in their space suits.  The suit port will allow the crew to enter and exit their EVA suits via a rear-entry hatch, while never having to bring the suit inside, keeping the internal cabin mostly free of dust.  The suit port will also minimize the loss of consumables when it is depressurized for EVA, extending duration of an LER sortie.  

Image: This is an artist's concept of particle hits on the aerogel collection grid. The greenish areas represent the aerogel. Hits are the light green teardrop-shaped areas. Particles are represented by dots at the tips of the teardrops. Credit: NASA/JPL

GREENBELT, Md. - NASA scientists have discovered glycine, a fundamental building block of life, in samples of comet Wild 2 returned by NASA's Stardust spacecraft.

Image: Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment launch. Credit: NASA/James Wingfield

A successful NASA flight test Monday demonstrated how a spacecraft returning to Earth can use an inflatable heat shield to slow and protect itself as it enters the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

This subimage, about 400 meters across, shows the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity (circled at lower left). The image was taken during the afternoon of Opportunity's 1783rd sol (Mars day) on the Red Planet. Opportunity had driven 130 m on the previous sol; wheel tracks are visible crossing dark ripples to the upper right of the rover. The ripples, which trend mostly north-south in this area, can be easily crossed by the rover unless they are very large (such as those right of center).