Awesome Space

Are you being pursued by space fascists? Did you just steal the movie’s MacGuffin? You need to make a quick escape. Concord Aerospace has you covered with their Hyperdrive Activation Panel. Just attach it to your clunky old spaceship and flip its switches for extreme speed. It’s blue LED backlight requires a 12V power source.

Is Mercury the hottest planet? Is the Earth a perfect sphere? Does Uranus smell bad? Mental Floss host Justin Dodd takes us on a mission to space for a look at things you thought you knew about our solar system’s planets, and probably had wrong. The bottom line, most other planets sound like pretty miserable places to live.

This incredible footage from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is about as we’re going to get to the Sun. The 59-minute time-lapse was stitched together from 133 days of extreme-ultraviolet imagery the probe captured of the Sun’s corona between August 12 and December 22, 2022.

Zealous and his pals set out to break the record for the highest paper airplane drop. So they engineered a plane that could handle the weight of a camera and a GPS module, launched it to the edge of space on a balloon, and waited for it to fall back to earth. Naturally, it was much more complicated than they thought it would be.

Puffin Drinkwear makes all kinds of fun insulated sleeves for drink cans, and this is our new favorite koozie. It looks like a tiny spacesuit, shielding your drink from heat, your hand from the cold, and preparing it for re-entry into your throat. It even has a tiny backpack you can use to stash a snack inside of.

From liftoff to splashdown, NASA’s Artemis I mission took 25.5 days. This video from the European Space Agency condenses the picture-perfect journey of the Space Launch System and Orion moonship down to just 60 seconds through the magic of editing and time-lapse footage.

For his latest experiment, rocket scientist and entertainer Mark Rober teamed up with Joe Barnard of BPS Space to launch an egg into space to see if they could catch it safely a mattress when it dropped back to earth. But the project proved far more challenging than they thought and required huge amounts of trial and error.

Building full-size rockets typically requires the creation of costly custom tooling. But Relativity Space is taking a different approach to the problem, using a giant 3D printer and additive manufacturing to melt and form aluminum into the shape of a rocket. Veritasium takes us inside of their facility for a look at how it works.

With an average temperature of -81ºF and frequent dust storms, Mars doesn’t sound like the most relaxing place. But this desktop Mars Zen Garden will help you maintain a tranquil state of mind. It comes with a 10″ diameter resin tray, red sand, four lava rocks, a tiny astronaut, rover, and a copper-finish rake for making patterns.

The Universe is enormous. But here on earth, there’s a seemingly endless universe inhabited by insects, bacteria, plants, microorganisms, molecules, and atoms. Kurzgesagt zooms in beneath our feet for a journey to these tiny worlds among us, using the size of our world as a frame of reference.

The Lunar 01 is a customizable 87%-size mechanical keyboard inspired by spaceship design. It has hot-swappable keys, a colorful LED light bar, a volume knob, and detachable fidget spinners that look like rockets. It supports wired and wireless connections and is available with a variety of keycap designs and color schemes.

Prep for life on Mars (or chilly Fall days on Earth) with Vollebak’s unique hoodie. The double-layered piece will keep you toasty, and its textured design is truly out of this world with a 3D-knitted pattern inspired by the surface of Mars, spacesuits, and inflatable structures. The robot that knits them looks straight out of Westworld.

Are you ready to slow down and breathe? Well then, click play on this video and observe one full rotation of Jupiter. Interplanetary posted this relaxing footage captured by NASA and ESA’s Hubble telescope. It takes 9 hours, 55 minutes, and 30 seconds to complete the taks, the fastest of any planet in our solar system.

Interstellar teamed up with NASA and Col&MacArthur to create this stunning watch inspired by the Mars Perseverance mission. Its 3D dial is based on the Martian surface, and a window showcases a small amount of Martian dust from a meteorite that crashed on Earth. Space geeks will spot numerous Easter Eggs in the design.

This surreal and imaginative animated fantasy follows the story of an astronaut dog sent into space to investigate a seemingly dead planet. But when she arrives, she has a revealing encounter about her species’ past that could change their future forever. Written, directed, and animated by Jordan Speer.

Since landing in 2021, NASA’s Mars Perseverence Rover has sent back fascinating images and data from the red planet. Jared Owen offers up an in-depth look at how the rover was launched, the scientific equipment it carries, and how it was engineered to survive the journey and the harsh conditions on Mars.

Earth gets hit by small meteorites all the time, but most full-size asteroids burn up into smaller pieces when they hit our atmosphere. Still, they do make it through now and then, causing serious damage. This video from MetaBallStudios estimates the relative destructive power of asteroids based on their size and mass.

Need a place to keep your spare change, keys, or other small items? These resin spaceman storage bowls are a playful and useful addition for your tabletop or shelf. Each one features an astronaut perched atop a partial asteroid, the ideal spot for storing little doo-dads. It measures 19″ x 19″ x 25″, so it’s bigger than it looks.

NASA and the University of Arizona’s HiRISE camera system aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been capturing some extraordinary images. Seán Doran combined and enhanced a series of these images into a spectacular fly-over that showcases the textures of the dunes on the planet’s surface.

Engineers from Nano Avionics mounted a GoPro camera on the exterior of one of their MP42 micro-satellites. The action cam captures a peaceful 4K selfie from space as it settled into its orbit above Earth. They used the satellite’s control system to keep it focused on the Great Barrier Reef below.

Jake Wegesin of Ambient Press created this wonderful CG short film about the space race of the 1950s and 1960s, offering a playful reinterpretation of the competition between the USA and USSR. Benjamin Widawksi’s music and the accompanying narration perfectly complement the black-and-white animation.

Build your own desktop solar system with this wooden model kit from Robotime. As you crank its handle, eight tiny worlds spin around a glowing sun, simulating the relative speeds of each planet’s rotation. The 316-piece, 13.78″ tall model is best for advanced builders and takes about 7 hours to assemble.

Colberd makes these tabletop lamps based on 3D models of our solar system’s planets. Each 5″ sphere is 3D printed from PLA plastic with a detailed map of the planet’s surface created from NASA images. They have a 16-color LED light source and include a wooden stand and remote control. USB power cable not included.