Ice Tube Clock GPS

Ice Tube Clock with GPS

Our favorite Soviet-Era display that found its way into a present-day kit now displays time from orbiting satellites. A GPS module patched into an Ice Tube Clock with modified firmware will be able to provide a satellite-synced time. The firmware, modified by yours truly, parses the GPS module's NMEA RMC sentences for the time and date information and then updates the clock's time and date. Fun … [Read more...]

Solar powered ice maker

Producing ice without electricity just got a lot easier thanks to these engineering students from San Jose State University. Their system uses solar heat to facilitate evaporation of a coolant. When the sun goes down and the coolant turns back to liquid, its temperature drops drastically due to extreme pressure differences. The unit can produce 14 pounds of ice per day with zero carbon footprint. … [Read more...]

Ice on Mars

It's official: the Phoenix Lander has discovered ice on Mars. A few days ago, the lander exposed some bright white chunks of material while retrieving a soil sample. These spots have since disappeared over the following days, suggesting they've melted. An additional trench found a hard layer at the same depth as the original ice. The spacecraft team has been dealing with some data storage issues … [Read more...]