Bill Nye launches experimental satellite that runs on solar power, sails around space

Wikipedia / LightSail2

Sometimes the most advanced forms of technology are also the simplest. The LightSail 2, a satellite conceived by Bill Nye's non-profit Planetary Society, has proven that a satellite can orbit the Earth fueled completely by the sun. The concept, dreamed up 400 years ago by Johannes Kepler, has finally become a reality.

The LightSail 2 doesn't run on solar panels but instead solar sailing – an entirely different concept. It's kind of like a sailboat, but instead of using wind to make it move, it's powered by photon particles from the sun that bounce off of a sail made from a large reflective surface. The photon particles give it a "tiny push no stronger than the weight of a paperclip," Nye told CNN.

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Planet

You can help NASA name a big, weird space rock. Name it something good.

If you're a wizard at coming up with names — you know, the kind of brilliant mind who'd call a dog Pasta Batman — NASA's got a job for you.

About two years ago, the New Horizons space probe whizzed past Pluto, sending back never-before-seen images and letting us soar over fantastically named features like the Sleipnir Fossa and Tartarus Dorsa.

But the mission isn't over. There are many more weird, distant asteroids, planets, and who-knows-what out there. We even have one in mind! A weird little thing nearly 4 billion miles away.

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Heroes

This NASA-backed experiment raises a big point about overcoming conflict.

When your roommate eats the last Oreo in the freezer, that's an annoyance. When your roommate eats the last Oreo you'll see in months, you might have a problem.

On Sept. 17, six volunteer crew members emerged from eight months of isolation. Their quarantine, part of a NASA-backed study by the University of Hawaii, could one day help humanity plan a drama-free Mars mission.

For the last eight months, the six volunteers lived in a tiny shelter on the slopes of an active volcano, sharing their living space, meager kitchen, and solitary shower.

From a distance, their house-sized habitat looked like a golf ball sitting in the loneliest sand trap in the universe. Photo from HI-SEAS V Crew/University of Hawaii News/Flickr.

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Heroes

NASA’s offering a 6-figure salary to anyone who can protect us from aliens.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people get up and go to jobs that keep the rest of us safe from harm: firefighters, health inspectors, engineers, and more.

And right now, NASA has what might be the king of safety jobs open to applicants.

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Heroes