OK, well not really. Google and Nasa have began working on a solution to replace the old-n-busted radio equipment system that was developed back in the ’70s.

The project is called "Interplanetary Internet" and will be tested on the International Space Station sometime in 2009.

I think this is friggin cool but I don’t want to see Mission Specialists playing "World of Warcraft" from space!

NASA has begun work on a four-year, $1.74 million project designed to help counsel depressed astronauts in space. The project, dubbed the Virtual Space Station, is being readied in Boston. The VSS is supposed to independently create a program that will offer astronauts advice based on their typed insecurities. AP writer Jay Lindsay says it is nothing at all like HAL 9000.

How it works: Astronauts type in their various psychological problems into a console, which leads a pre-recorded video therapist to offer up a variety of solutions. The robot therapist "helps astronauts identify reasons for their depression. Then the program helps them make a plan to fight the depression."

The Virtual Space Station is being tested on civilians and it’s designers hope that it will one day cross party lines and be used by astronauts and non-astronauts alike. Researchers involved with the project offer no word on how normalized conventions of doctor/patient privacy will be affected by the project.

South Korea has unveiled it’s first space launch vehicle, imaginatively named the KSLV-1. From an aesthetic standpoint, the thing is definitely a rocket. If you were to doodle a rocket in the binder of your eighth grade notebook, it’d probably look something like the KSLV-1.

The rocket, upon launch, is going to release Korea’s first satellite into the final frontier. The satellite will purportedly exist for "science and technology" reasons. Care to get any more vague guys?

The rocket will not be launching until April or June of next year due to a technical cooperation with Russia. It’s the cold war space race all over again. Awesome!

Nasa has released a photo of the bottom of the aeroshell that will soon be roving all over Mars. It’s the largest aeroshell in the history of space exploration, which isn’t saying much considering the runner up is about the size of a breadbox. This one, though, whoa nelly. It measures in at over fifteen feet and is designed to literally float in the middle of the red planet’s atmosphere.

According to Steve Jolly, from Lockheed Martin, "the biggest challenge for the MSL aeroshell is its gigantic size. It’s almost double the size of our Mars Exploration Rovers’ [Spirit and Opportunity] aeroshells.When you are building a structure that big, there are many considerations we had to take into account, including the fact that this is a lifting capsule that is steerable."

It’ll fit right in on Mars, being as how it already looks like it’s from there. No word on if Val Kilmer will be piloting it.

NASA awarded $250,000 in prize money this weekend to teams competing to build and fly a small-seat plane that could one day be a prototype for so-called air cars. And the $100,000 winner is….Pipistrel Virus, a $70,000 aircraft that can do 50 MPG and take off on short runways.

"Only 682 pounds empty weight complete–it literally carries more useful load, that is passengers, fuel, and baggage, than the aircraft weighs." said Mark Moore, an aerospace engineer at NASA.

A highly modified kit plane, a Vans RV-4, won $25,000 in the speed challenge and another $50,000 for emitting the least amount of noise on its flight. Finally, the team flying a Cessna 172, the most popular small plane in production since the 40s, won $25,000 for handling.

"The results make sense–the Cessna 172 is the most successful (and highest production volume small aircraft) precisely for the reason that the handling qualities are so good," said Mark Moore.