Japan’s Cute Space Camera Drone

Japan’s remote-controlled Internal Ball Camera (aka Int-Ball) is a camera drone that resides on the International Space Station—floating around taking footage that can be read in real time. Created completely with 3D printing, 2.2l-pound Int-Ball uses drone technology and has plenty of smarts, but is also extremely cute. The black and white ball has big glowing blue eyes, and (as The Verge accurately puts it) …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

A long-lost Maurice Sendak book, NASA's plans for power on Mars, Willy Wonka elevators and more in our look around the web

1. An Elevator That Goes Every Which Way ThyssenKrupp’s Multi won’t be your average elevator beholden to a life of ups and downs. To debut soon in a Berlin residential tower, the Multi forgoes cables for strong magnetic levitation (the same technology found in high-speed trains). This means that the elevator cars will float along hoistway guide rails in all directions—even diagonally. They aren’t going …

NASA Developing Nuclear Reactors for Mars

NASA is, once again, embarking on a large and expensive project—this time a $15 million endeavor to create nuclear fission reactors that would function on Mars. If and when humans reside on the Red Planet, they will need a power source for water, fuel and air, so NASA has built several 6.5-foot reactors that will soon be tested on Earth (other reactors have been tested …