UK engineers developing harpoon that could help space junk meet a fiery end

Posted on 08/10/2012 by Alexis Santos

Sure, we can pull space junk out of orbit with lasers or use it to cobble together new satellites, but if engineers at space firm Astrium UK have their way, space trash could be disposed of with the help of harpoons. Currently in a conceptual stage, the system is designed to shoot defunct satellites or other debris with a harpoon mounted on a "chaser satellite" and use a tethered propulsion pack to send the rubbish in an atmospheric descent where it'll burn up. Since the projectile could shoot straight through targets and result in even more garbage, it's been fashioned with a crushable portion to reduce its speed upon impact. There's no concrete word on when the outfit's solution might be put in action, but they'll present their work on Wednesday at the 63rd International Astronautical Congress in Naples (Italy, not Florida, mind you). If you can't wait to see the harpoon at work, head past the break to catch tests of an Earth-based prototype.

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Meet the Junk King and Check Out His Massive Cathedral of Junk

Posted on 21/09/2012 by Hazel Chua

Kingdom of Junk

One man’s trash can be another one’s treasure, but I’m not really sure what to make of this Austin man’s self-proclaimed Cathedral of Junk. Sure, I’d love to build my own cathedral one day and maybe a throne for myself, if I reach that level of vanity. But if they’re going to be made out of junk, I’d rather not.

However, this is what Vince Hannemann, aka the Junk King, has managed to build and more. Hannemann’s work is all about the junk and the cathedral represents much of his life’s work. It’s not my cup of tea but I guess you could say it’s artistic and creative in its own right. His cathedral suffered a blow in 2010 though, when the city of Austin asked him for a building permit and he was forced to tear half of the structure down in half.

Check out a video of the Junk King and his cathedral in all its glory after the break! You’ll be amazed at the amount of junk he managed to cram into the space he had to work with.

VIA [ This is Colossal ]

Junkyard Robot PC Case Mod Dares You to Ask if It Can Play Crysis

Posted on 25/05/2012 by Lambert Varias

Believe it or not, this sculpture of a robot actually houses a working computer in its body. While this doesn’t dethrone the weirdest or the prettiest case mods that I’ve seen, the man who made it says he finished the whole thing in just 2 days. I can’t even finish a bag of Lays in 2 days.

robot pc case mod by wehr wulf

The case was made by bit-tech forum member WEHR-WOLF. He doesn’t have a name for his mod, nor did he talk about the specs or how exactly he went about making it or if he really is a werewolf. He only said that he made it from “parts of machines and tools” with a little help from “a liter of vodka.” Lucky bastard. A little help from vodka gives me vomit and regret, not a robot with a gatling gun for an arm.