Photograph: VIIRS/Suomi-NPP/NASA
A gallery of satellite images of the earth in June 2012:
There have been many images of the full disc of Earth from space – a view often referred to as ‘the Blue Marble’ – but few have looked quite like this. Using natural-colour images from the visible/infrared imaging radiometre suite (VIIRS) on the recently launched Suomi-NPP satellite, a Nasa scientist has compiled a new view showing the Arctic and high latitudes
Engineers at Japanese construction firm Shimizu have dreamed up a plan for harnessing solar energy from the moon. It’s a large-scaled, seemingly inconceivable plan that involves remote-controlled robots building thousands of photovoltaic panels out of moon dirt, assembling the panels into a gigantic lunar girdle belt, and laser-beaming 220 terawatts of annually collected voltage toward Earth.
Too awesome to be true. —Wright
