Congratulations, you’ve been accepted to the DIY Space Program! Powerful tools capable of major discoveries are now at your disposal and can be accessed by at-home astronomers, garage spacesuit builders, and independent satellite designers just like you.
In Make: Vol. 47, see how Makers are exploring space like never before. Learn what goes into a popular and powerful DIY telescope, build a near-space photography rig, learn how you can help detect killer asteroids, and check out Adam Savage and The Martian author Andy Weir geeking out over the red planet.
Plus, get these full how-tos: Build an Arduino-powered DIY aquaponic garden, watch turbulence in action with a mesmerizing, fluid-filled turntable, make a water rocket launcher, and much more.
Take a sneak peek at projects and articles from the issue!
This Modern Ship in a Bottle Is Lit with LEDs and Fiber Optics
LEDs give a ghostly glow to this modern take on a ship in a bottle.
- Posted by Cabe Atwell | November 23rd, 2015 5:00 AM
Watch: Robot Band Turns Scrap Metal to Heavy Metal
This larger than life robot band has a big sound and a bigger stage presence.
- Posted by Jeremy S Cook | November 18th, 2015 5:00 AM
Watch the Fiery Rotations of a 40-Foot-Wide Mechanical Solar System
Watch this Jim Henson inspired solar system as it rotates, glows, and spews flames.
- Posted by Caleb Kraft | November 11th, 2015 5:00 AM
Velleman Vertex 3D Printer Kit: Two Extruders, Solid Value
This dual-head 3D printer kit from Velleman gets solid results at a low price.
- Posted by Matt Stultz | November 5th, 2015 5:00 AM
Acrylic Cheat Sheet: How to Cut, Glue, Bend, and More
Learn about the types of acrylic and the best practices for using it so that you can make the most of this material in your projects.
- Posted by Jordan Bunker | October 29th, 2015 5:00 AM
Learn the Difference: Gas and Diode Lasers
Lasers are used for lots of purposes, but how much do you know about how they function? Here are two common types of lasers and how they work.
- Posted by Jordan Bunker | October 22nd, 2015 5:00 AM
4 Ways Amateurs Are Advancing Maker-Style Exploration
Makers are reinventing and reimagining the process of discovery with citizen science.
- Posted by David Lang | October 20th, 2015 5:30 AM
How and When to Use Protoboard
If you’re ready to finalize a breadboarded circuit, but not quite ready to create a printed circuit board, then your next step is protoboard.
- Posted by Jordan Bunker | October 15th, 2015 5:00 AM
How to Detect Killer Asteroids
Monitor the skies to spot asteroids and help save the Earth from annihilation by interplanetary projectiles.
- Posted by Keith Hammond | October 13th, 2015 5:00 AM
Why You Should Be Using a Linear Voltage Regulator
If your project requires stable voltage but you have an unregulated input, you'll want to use the right kind of linear voltage regulator.
- Posted by Jordan Bunker | October 8th, 2015 5:30 AM
11 Ways to Build Your Own Space Program
Here are a few impressive ways that Makers are building their way to outer space right now — and so can you.
- Posted by Matthew Reyes and Nicole Smith | October 7th, 2015 6:00 AM
NASA Crowdsources Exploration with Challenges, Grants, and More
The Centennial Challenges program is one of NASA’s shining stars, and frequently has incubated the cash-winning contestants into government-contracted entrepreneurs such as the winners of the Astronaut Glove, Lunar Lander, and Power Beaming challenges.
- Posted by Matthew Reyes | October 6th, 2015 10:30 AM
What Intel Learned from its New Reality Show for Makers
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich launches a build-off reality show for Makers.
- Posted by Dale Dougherty | October 5th, 2015 5:00 AM
Bill Nye’s LightSail: Making Sci-Fi Real
The quest to solve one of the persistent barriers to citizen space exploration.
- Posted by Nathan Hurst | October 2nd, 2015 6:00 AM
6 Skills You’ll Learn in Martian Boot Camp
Going to Mars is humanity’s straight-up toughest engineering challenge yet. Sharpen your skills with these DIY projects, and maybe you’ll get picked for the colony.
- Posted by Keith Hammond | October 2nd, 2015 5:30 AM
Build an Aquaponic Garden with Arduino
Build this aquaponic garden to bring your veggies and your fish tank into perfectly sustainable harmony. Then use Arduino to take your set-up to the next level.
- Posted by Rik Kretzinger | October 1st, 2015 7:30 AM
Adam Savage Interviews Andy Weir About The Martian
Adam Savage geeks out with author Andy Weir about his upcoming MacGyver-in-space movie, The Martian.
- Posted by Make: Editors | October 1st, 2015 6:55 AM
6 DIY Star Trackers for Perfect Night Sky Photos
To photograph the stars, you need a gadget that can track the revolving night sky in a perfectly timed arc. Otherwise all you’ll see is streaks and blurs.
- Posted by Keith Hammond | September 11th, 2015 5:00 AM
Water Rocket Launcher
Use household items to build an inexpensive water-powered rocket that can soar at 100mph.
- Posted by Mike Westerfield | August 28th, 2015 5:16 PM
Create a 5-Minute Foam Plate Flying Falcon
Follow these steps to turn a foam plate into a soaring falcon!
- Posted by Bob Knetzger | August 28th, 2015 5:08 PM
Remaking History: Willebrord Snell and Triangulation
Build the simple surveyor’s instrument that made the first accurate maps on Earth.
- Posted by William Gurstelle | August 28th, 2015 4:51 PM
Solder a Simple Dark-Detecting LED Circuit
This simple circuit switches an LED on when the lights go out with just five parts — a battery, phototransistor, resistor, LED, and transistor.
- Posted by Nick Normal | August 28th, 2015 4:44 PM
How to Connect Optical Fibers to LEDs and Sensors
Skip the store-bought couplings and make these easy DIY fiber optic hookups.
- Posted by Forrest M. Mims III | August 28th, 2015 4:15 PM
1+2+3: Cosmic Ray Detector
Build this simple cloud chamber at home and detect cosmic-ray muons, electrons, and alpha particles.
- Posted by Kranti Gunthoti & Samantha Kranthijanya | August 28th, 2015 3:04 PM
Recreate a 140-Year-Old Brushless Motor on a 3D Printer
3D-print this 1872 replica Electro-Magnetic Engine that works like your drone's modern motors.
- Posted by Michael Curry | August 28th, 2015 2:41 PM
Make a Wave Shaper Multifunction Sound Synthesizer
Build a multifunction sound synthesizer using a surprisingly fun audio chip.
- Posted by Charles Platt | August 28th, 2015 2:38 PM
Blast Off: Transform 2-Liter Soda Bottles into a Costume Jetpack
Make a costume jetpack that doubles as a Halloween candy holder from household items.
- Posted by Howtoons | August 28th, 2015 1:37 PM
Internet Of Cats with Intel Edison
Keep tabs on your tabby with this Intel Edison-powered pet-toy camera trigger.
- Posted by Matt Stultz | August 28th, 2015 1:31 PM
Rheoscopic Disc Coffee Table
Make this spinning, swirling, self-contained liquid disc and mount it in your table for a gorgeous centerpiece.
- Posted by Ben Krasnow | June 26th, 2015 11:00 AM
Building Drones to Deliver Medicine and Food to War-Torn Syria
Fixed-wing UAVs aren’t just for bombs anymore — meet the nonprofit building drones to fly supplies to Syria
- Posted by Signe Brewster | May 6th, 2015 5:00 AM
Near-Space Balloon Cam with Arduino and APRS Radio
Build this battle-tested rig to launch, track, and recover a high-altitude balloon that will carry your hacked Canon camera to the stratosphere. With this setup using APRS ham radio and the Trackuino — an Arduino-based communications board — any hobbyist or science class can photograph (and video) the Earth against the blackness of space, and bring these amazing images home to share.
- Posted by Dan Rasmussen | April 12th, 2014 11:07 AM
The links to the aquaponic balcony garden refered in the magazine are not working – a search also yields no results – where is the online version? https://makezine.com/go/aquaponic-balcony-garden
Hey Malc, sorry about the delay. The Aquaponic Garden project will be live this week!
Interesting project! It turns out you can do a lot of different things with Arduino. Right now, I’m working on my coursework and found an online database with a lot of articles on this topic. I want to try something similar in practice, but I don’t have experience yet.