NASA Logo, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

What’s This? #3 – December 29, 2011

We’re closing out 2011 with another mysterious What’s This? contest! We’re making this one a little more challenging than the last two. Check out the three photos below and try to figure out… what’s this object? Post your guesses as comments to this post, comment on our Facebook wall, or tweet them to us with the #whatsthis hashtag.

What's This? #3 - 12/29/2011

What's This? #3 - 12/29/2011

What's This? #3 - 12/29/2011

We can tell you a few (potentially useful, maybe) things about this thing to help you make your guess – it’s a piece of history, it’s made of a rubbery material, and we found it on the desk of one of the scientists in the Astrophysics Science Division here at Goddard!

Give us your best guesses in comments and tweets! We’ll reveal the answer on Tuesday, January 3, 2012. We’ll randomly draw one name from among the correct responses, and send that person a little prize. If there are no correct responses, we’ll draw from all guesses.

Please note: Comments on NASA Blueshift are moderated, and we’ll approve them as quickly as we can during business hours on business days. Don’t worry, any weekend or holiday comments will be approved when we look in the queue when we get back to work on January 3rd.

Categories: What's This?

7 Comments

  • Bobby Bergeron says:

    Are the objects some sort of outer window for a space craft to house maybe a camera?

  • John Austin says:

    Aquarium viewing bubble.

  • Daniel Toschläger says:

    Looks like it is something where pressure was only expected from the round top side or no pressure difference at all. It has no screw holes in the collar but rests of glue or epoxy around the annulus. Maybe a cupola for a cam or a light?

  • Daniel Toschläger says:

    Maybe a part of a gas pump. I can remember those things with a rotor in it.

  • Ross says:

    All I can come up with is maybe some protective shell for some sort of equipment.

  • Marie says:

    A lens to condense some type of electromagnetic radiation

  • Thü Hürlimann says:

    May be the cover of the FDAI (Flight Director Attitude Indicator) or “8-ball”, used in the Apollo Command Module.

NASA Logo, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Goddard