This article describes an all-volunteer science project's use of a donated Linux camera for the Jaluro rover it hopes to field in Google's Lunar X PRIZE competition. It discusses several advantages that patent-free Open Source software like Linux and Theora offer for scientific research projects.

The OpenLuna Foundation was founded to return mankind to the moon through private enterprise. With Obama administration deciding to scrap NASA's moon mission once and for all, the role of private enterprise in future space endeavorers of humankind has grown ever larger.

There are more than a few of us who would be overjoyed to see Open Source take over the world. For the geeks at NASA, though, the world is not enough. Open Source is nothing new for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Linux Journal looked at Linux use in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories way back in May 2000.

Space enthusiast and engineer Paul Wooster wants to open the source code for outer space, because, he says, it should be easier for everyone who wants to contribute to human activities in space to do so, not just people with advanced degrees in rocketry.

KDE Marble is a virtual globe and a geographical atlas. It is free software (available under GNU LGPLv2), meaning that you can freely use, study, modify copy and share it without any restrictions. This is a look at two of its features: the first one is an interactive map (globe) of the moon and the second one is a set of some online services that come with Marble.

When Apollo 11's Lunar Module landed on the Moon 40 years ago today, the software that helped take humans to another celestial body was essentially built using paper-tape rolls and thick cardstock that was punched with special holes.

If you ever used Google Chrome - and you must have -, then you might have noticed how much vertical space you can gain by removing the window title bar. Yes Google Chrome has a titlebar, but as an extent of the tabs, so that's not conventional titlebar.

"White space" networking, which will use unused TV spectrum to deliver broadband services, has moved a step closer. Last week, the Federal Communications Commission said it would begin establishing databases that will warn white space devices when existing TV signals are present, according to a story on our sister site eWEEK.

I'm a sucker for audacious ideas. Big, huge things with a hint of insanity. And if you put those ideas in space I get really interested. That's why the Open Luna Foundation is right up my alley.