Space Exploration Artifacts

Our fascination with space exploration has only increased since the space program slowed to a halt. To coincide with the 48th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, this collection of artifacts will be available for auction. Items include flown mission artifacts, items from astronauts and cosmonauts personal collections, and beautiful space photography. One of the highlights of the lot is the lunar sample return bag containing remnants of lunar dust used by Neil Armstrong on the Apollo 11 mission that was mistakenly discarded before turning up in a private collection two years ago. The auction starts this week and is the first space exploration lot from Sotheby's since the successful Russian Space History sales in the 1990s.

NES Power Glove

Odds are you wanted one as a kid. It's likely you never got one. Now you have a chance to own an NES Power Glove. Another wonder of Amazon, you can buy this storied Nintendo accessory new for not much more than it cost in 1989. As you can tell from the reviews, it's rather awful as an actual game controller, but as a piece of retro gaming nostalgia, it's hard to beat.

Process: Horse Brand Co.

Thomas Callahan is the type of guy who could probably build you a car from scratch if you gave him enough time. Inside his one-man Brooklyn workshop, he builds custom bicycles, handmade knives, and other goods under the moniker of Horse Brand Co. We visited Thomas and his feline friend to document the making of our limited edition Uncrate Bison Horn Knife, and came away with some serious workspace envy.

Photos: Ray Spears / Uncrate

Third Thumb Prosthesis

When most people think of prosthetics, they think of replacements for lost body parts. But the origin of the word meant "to add, put onto," and it's in this spirit designer Dani Clode created the Third Thumb. It attaches to your hand opposite your real thumb and uses two motors pulling against a flexible 3D-printed material to mimic the movements of your most prominent digit. The motors are controlled via pressure sensors hidden in your shoes, which communicate via Bluetooth with the wrist-bound controller.

Daft Punk's Roland TR-909

Daft Punk's 1997 album Homework was both groundbreaking and an opening salvo from a band that would influence music for the following decades. Now you can own a piece of the hardware used to make it. This Roland TR-909 is the one Thomas Bangalter used during production, and comes programmed with the original presets for the track "Revolution 909". A rare chance to own a piece of music history, and a working instrument as well.

Dharma Initiative Beer

It's been over seven years since we saw Jack's eyes close in the same way they opened at the beginning of Lost in 2004. The series about the survivors of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 and the mysterious island they inhabited still holds a place in the minds of those who watched it. These three cans of Dharma Initiative Beer are a perfect way to pay tribute to the show in your own bar. Curiously, two of the cans feature heavy soiling and distress, while the third is opened, slightly crushed, and yet in far better condition, suggesting Sawyer (or one of the other characters, but let's be honest, it was probably him) may have enjoyed it during filming.

Moby Mart

It sounds too good to be true: a store on wheels that comes to you. That's exactly what Moby Mart promises. This autonomous, staffless mobile store offers up milk, medicine, clothes, and even electronics on-demand, with an app that not only summons the store but also serves as the checkout. Developed by Wheelys in collaboration with Hefei University and Himalafy, the Moby is also self-powered, relying on solar panels to provide energy for the electric drivetrain, while an integrated air purifier cleans the air around it — making it very eco-friendly. The company estimates that each store will cost under $100,000, and the concept is currently beta testing in Shanghai.

Apple Sneakers

Rainbow logo? Check. Garamond type? Check. A questionable sense of style? Check. These Apple Sneakers tick all the boxes of early-'90s Cupertino. Produced exclusively for the company's employees, these shoes are a rare artifact from one of the darkest periods in Apple's history. They're a size 9 1/2 (not that you're going to wear them), arrive with StockX authentication, and are going up for auction on eBay Sunday, Jun 11.

1953 Disneyland Presentation Map

Like many grand ideas, Disneyland needed outside funding to get started. In the '50s, however, you couldn't just render your idea and post it on a website. You needed to make your pitch artwork by hand. Which is exactly what Walt Disney and artist Herb Ryman did, inking a piece of vellum with a vision of what would become The Happiest Place On Earth. Vellum doesn't travel well, however, so they transferred and then hand-colored the drawing onto the piece you see here. This 1953 Disneyland Presentation Map was carried by Roy Disney to New York and used in his pitch that secured the funding for the park. It's visible in the background of several photographs of Walt from that era and was eventually given to his friend Grenade Curran, who kept it out of public view for the last sixty years. It has since re-emerged and will be auctioned off by Van Eaton Galleries on June 25th.

Bottomless Joystick

Joysticks are a natural control for VR interfaces — problem being, they mostly only work on desks. The Bottomless Joystick overcomes this limitation by attaching the stick to a counterweight. Connected by a gimbal, the counterweight stays planted downward no matter the angle of the stick. It comes from the Smart Systems Institute at the University of Singapore, who also added two servo motors to replicate various force feedbacks and allow for the adjustment of resistance to better replicate real-world experiences.

Giant Sequoia Skyscraper Concept

For all their grand height, the roots of the giant sequoia don't go down very far — and thus they fall quickly when the trunk starts to rot. The Giant Sequoia Skyscraper Concept aims to merge architecture with nature, filling in the empty trunks with spaces for education, observation decks, labs, and exhibitions. In addition to providing usable human space inside, the design's central core and the lattice-like exterior attached to the bark would help keep the tree upright long after its roots would have failed.

Photos: Ko Jinhyeuk, Cheong Changwon, Cho Kyuhyung, Choi Sunwoong

Conductive Wallpaper Concept

Nearly every house is built using the same concept: electric runs through wires in the walls, to lights, outlets, and switches. The Conductive Wallpaper Concept does away with this, instead embedding circuitry into wall coverings. Lines of conductive ink run across each panel and are linked together with short strips of metal, terminating in either novel controls or the lights, fans, and other electronics they operate. While it's very much a concept for now, it's not hard to look and see how it could easily be adapted to carry power to your wall-mounted TV or sound system in a far more subtle fashion.

John Lennon Sgt. Pepper's Cover Sketch

The cover of The Beatles' seminal Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the most well-recognized and highly regarded in history. This John Lennon Sgt. Pepper's Cover Sketch gives you a chance to own a piece of history regarding its conception. Discovered by the owners of a home Lennon formerly occupied in Surrey, England, this 4.25-inch square sketch depicts the basic layout for the cover. The four band members are positioned around a central drumhead and the band's name is laid out on the ground before them, appearing with other elements that would eventually make it into the final design. Accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Perry Cox.

Scewo Stair-Climbing Wheelchair

With oversized wheels and a set of rubber tracks, the Scewo Stair-Climbing Wheelchair can overcome obstacles traditional chairs can't even attempt. It uses self-balancing technology to tackle curbs, stairs, and other obstacles, including spiral stairs. The tracks and smaller wheels can also work together to raise the seat up, allowing for more natural interaction with others, and the user can control the chair with the joystick or simple shifts in body weight. It's currently a prototype, and the company has a Patreon setup for those who want to support its development.

Orion Cycling Navigation

Knowing the route to your destination isn't the only way to help improve your urban cycling experience. Orion Cycling Navigation would help you maximize your efficiency by giving you info on traffic lights as well. Created by designer Clement Dauchy, it displays the direction on a LED ring placed on the outer portion of the disc-like computer, while the inner color e-paper display gives you details like the distance to the next stop light, and how long you have before it changes. As a result, you can time your ride to hit only green lights, limiting your stops and getting you from place to place as quickly as possible.

Endless Runway Circular Airport

Traditional airports are are the mercy of wind directions and speeds when it comes to takeoffs and landings. This limits their capacity and can also cause delays. The Endless Runway Circular Airport is a new concept that would use a circular, 3.5 km banked runway to ensure planes always land and take off with a headwind. Big enough to fit even a major hub airport inside, it would also take up less space than some conventional layouts, allow up to three planes to take off or land at once, and seamlessly adjust to the conditions outside without needing to make runway changes.

Norwegian Banknotes

You might not ever encounter one, but the new Norwegian Banknotes are worthy of attention regardless. Developed using proposals from some of the country's top designers, including Snøhetta, Metric Design, and Terje Tønnessen, they unify the company's paper currency with a sea theme fitting for the country's relationship with the water. The designs are printed on cotton paper, with a literal depiction of a sea-related subject on one side and a pixelated interpretation on the other. Multiple security measures are also integrated into each design, as are a system of short raised lines designed to let the blind and visually impaired sort through the denominations. Norges Bank will begin issuing the new notes this year.

Pouncer Edible Drone

It sounds ridiculous on the surface. But when you consider the difficulties in getting aid to those in hard-to-reach or disaster-struck places, the Pouncer Edible Drone makes far more sense. The proposed UAV would have a wingspan of nine feet, big enough to let the shell serve as shelter, the frame as fuel for a cooking fire, and the contents provide food and water for dozens of people. With the ability to land within a roughly 25-foot target and launch from over 20 miles away, it's a novel, potentially life-saving way to deliver aid.

Airbus Pop.Up Flying Vehicle Concept

Based around a passenger capsule that's adaptable to all sorts of transportation methods, the Airbus Pop.Up Flying Vehicle Concept is a bold suggestion of how to streamline traffic in megacities. In developing the concept, Airbus worked with Italdesign, creating both drone-like air transport and platform-based ground transport modules. The passenger would interact with the system via an app, which would manage their trip using AI and pilot both modules for them. In addition to the already-imagined air and ground modules, it's suggested that the individual passenger capsules could also intermingle with trains, subways, and hyperloops, creating a seamless mobility solution.

TetraBin

Take a look around nearly any populated area, and it becomes clear that getting people to dispose of trash properly is harder than it sounds. The TetraBin aims to make throwing away your rubbish fun by turning it into a game. A series of sensors inside the bin measure the size and shape of your litter, then trigger the release of a block inside the Tetris-like game shown on the outside of the can via a LED screen. As a result, people are encouraged to throw their trash away, the streets stay cleaner, and the trash bin becomes a meeting place instead of a foul-smelling obstacle.

Dragonfly Cyborg

Drones grow more capable by the day, yet they still pale in comparison to the designs nature has already created. This Dragonfly Cyborg is a perfect example. By genetically modifying dragonfly neurons to make them more sensitive to light, scientists control the insect's flight using a minuscule backpack apparatus. Optical fibers transmit light signals to the dragonfly's nerve cord, letting the researchers not only control but better understand how they hover, dart, and turn with such remarkable precision. Don't worry, though — the creators have no plans on building an army of sentient cyborg insects, excited instead by the underlying technology's potential medical applications.

Micro Wind Turbine

Even in remote areas, you might need a charging port — if not for your phone, then maybe a camera, light, or radio. The Micro Wind Turbine can provide power in nearly any location using nothing but a breeze. It uses a vertical axis rotor to harvest energy, a telescoping design to making packing it more manageable, and an integrated battery pack to ensure it's making use of the available wind even if nothing's plugged in. Unlike solar panels, it even works at night. Sadly it's still just a proposal, albeit one with a working prototype.

Kurt Cobain's Hagstrom Blue Sparkle Deluxe Guitar

Kurt Cobain would have been 50 years old this month, and to honor the rock legend one of his guitars is going up for a special auction. Kurt Cobain's Hagstrom Blue Sparkle Deluxe Guitar was owned by the Nirvana frontman in 1992, and then gifted to a close friend by Courtney Love in 1994 following his death. It's been unplayed for decades and remains in nearly the same condition as it was while in Cobain's possession. 10 percent of proceeds from the auction will be donated to a Portland-based nonprofit that helps people transition from homelessness to housing in the Pacific Northwest.

Senik Fire Extinguisher Concept

Inspired to make a fire extinguisher that would work better for low-income settlements in India, designer Sailee Adhao created the Senik Fire Extinguisher Concept. It improves on traditional safety equipment in several important ways. For one, it's less expensive, using a combination of water and non-toxic gas to propel a fine mist into the heart of the fire. It can also be refilled and reused. Finally, it's far more intuitive than traditional options — simply break it free from its yellow support and it assumes its angled form and begins to spray. Adhao has built and tested a functional prototype, providing help that it might be available to those who need it sooner rather than later.

Process: Bugatti Chiron

Nestled in the small city of Molsheim, France is the place where one of the most advanced automobiles in the world comes to life. The sequel to the 268 mph Veyron, the Chiron is even more complex, requiring over 1,800 individual parts to build. In charge of assembling them is a team of just 20 people, who get to work in a special space at the company's headquarters.

Dubbed the "Atelier" and shaped like the company logo, it offers more than 1,000 square metres of pristine work space, with glossy white flooring and a striking design worthy of such an exclusive creation. 12 stations take the car from powertrain to fully-realized supercar, with only one electronic tool in use — a system that lets you know a nut has been tightened with the proper torque.

Once the monocoque and the rear end have been joined, the fluids filled, and the wheels installed, the car is rolled over to the rolling dynamometer. It's all-new for the Chiron, as the old one couldn't handle the increased horsepower, and sits in its own room, with its own ventilation system for vehicle cooling and pollution control. After that, it's time for installation of the bespoke interior and a test drive.

Before delivery, each car undergoes a cosmetic preparation that takes two days, then heads to the light tunnel. Inside, it's given an intense, detailed inspection that takes more than six hours. If it passes that inspection, it's presented before a team of executives who give final approval before handing the keys over to the owner. With a total production time of roughly two months, it's clear that the Chiron is a work of painstaking craftsmanship and engineering, and one of the few cars in the world to truly earn the title "super".

Photos: Bugatti

Uber Elevate

We've been promised flying cars for decades. Turns out they might be coming, just not with you behind the wheel. Uber Elevate is the rideshare company's initiative to move beyond the road and into the sky. Headed by new hire and longtime NASA engineer Mark Moore, the system will use vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft to carry passengers from place to place. Not meant to replace traditional airlines, the system is instead being designed for distances of 50-100 miles — just long enough to make a car ride unsavory, without necessitating a trip to the airport. While autonomous flight is the obvious goal, Moore says that human pilots will be relied upon when the service first comes online, hopefully within the next three years.

Alo Phone

Imagining a future where phone's don't even need screens, the Alo Phone is an intriguing concept. It was created by French designers Jerome Olivet and Philippe Starck and is crafted from an aluminum unibody coated in natural resin. The combination works to provide haptic and even temperature-based feedback, and also allows the skin to repair scratches and scrapes automatically. An advanced AI is built into the phone, getting rid of the need for a screen by responding to your commands, reading texts it detects with its camera, and letting you respond to emails and texts in your natural voice. Currently just a concept, Olivet is working with Thomson to create a working prototype.

1984

Don't listen to the press — they don't know how many books you've read. While George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is an undisputed literary classic, and also served as the basis for the greatest television ad of all-time, its themes of public manipulation and government surveillance seem especially poignant in recent days. Despite being first released in 1949, it's currently the best-selling book on Amazon, and its publisher just ordered another 75,000 copies. These first-editions are likely to become even more collectible as the years go on, but if they're a little more than you typically spend on dead trees, we'd recommend the recent Penguin Modern Classics edition, with a cover design from David Pearson that's among the best we've ever seen.