Monthly Archives: February 2017

OnSunday, a rocket blasted off from a NASA launch pad and headed for the International Space Station. But the rocket wasnt built by NASA.

The rocket, named Falcon 9, is owned by the private company SpaceX. Founded in 2002 by high-profile businessman Elon Musk, SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

That might sound like a faraway pipe dream. But with hundreds of billions of dollars to play with, Musk may be able to get it done sooner than youd think.

As a company that intends to profit from sending people to space, SpaceX is trying to build and manage rockets as cheaply as possible. Theyve already managed to cut manufacturing and transportation costs enough that they can engineer rockets for a third of the price NASA can. Now, Musk and his team are trying to develop ways to reuse rockets after they have been launched. This will save them billions in manufacturing, and its something no government organization is currently doing.

The Sunday launch is part of this goal, as the Falcon 9 rocket carried the Dragon space craft (also made and owned by SpaceX) into low orbit and then successfully returned to its landing site. The Dragon will continue on to make its delivery at the International Space Station, and the Falcon 9 will be made ready for its next launch. Its a cycle SpaceX has done before and will do again, perfecting their reuse and recycle technique and getting one more step ahead of NASA.

The idea that space travel will be driven by the private sector is perhaps not surprising, as government agencies (like NASA) are non-profit and not likely to be in the business of setting up spa resorts on Mars. However, the legal standing of private companies in space is murky, the ethics of exploring space for private gain is questionable and like any capitalistic system, some government oversight is necessary. These issues are addressed on Earth through legal policies but in space, the law is a little less firm.

The most important legal force beyond the atmosphere is the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. It set up a number of fundamental regulations to govern the use of space for example, that space and celestial bodies cannot be claimed by any one country, and must be free for exploration by all. With respect to private companies, the treaty had two things to say: first, that governments are still responsible for those companies activities, and second, that private companies are required to receive authorization and constant supervision from their government.

That holds Space X responsible to the U.S. federal government but what exactly does that responsibility include? Lets say Space X gets their tourism ships up and running, and then sets up a resort on Mars (its not far-fetched Elon Musk says his ultimate goal for SpaceX is a Martian colony). Then theres an accident and something explodes, damaging the surface of the planet. This damage violates the Outer Space Treaty, which stipulates that no harm is to be done to celestial bodies by space exploration. So who pays up? Space X, because they owned the resort, or the U.S. federal government, because according to the treaty theyre responsible for the companys actions in space? Who enforces that decision? Since the treaty also stipulates that celestial bodies cannot be owned by anyone, who do they pay damages to, and who carries out the remediation? More generally, does building the resort or colony, or laboratory, or space station itself violate the treaty, as it implies some type of ownership of that part of the planet? Does the U.S. building a colony on Mars impede Britains freedom to explore Mars, and is that in violation of the treaty as well? If thats the case, Musk can build all the reusable rockets he wants legally, hes not getting off the ground.

The legal issues are complicated, and while they arent going anywhere, SpaceX is. Elon Musk purportedly plans to send crewed crafts to the International Space Stationin 2018, and wants to get a spaceship on its way to Mars in 10to 15years. Whether or not hell have the legal standing to do so has yet to be seen. So if youre planning a trip to Mars, you might have to wait once these private companies overcome the engineering challenges, they will have to start fighting the legal ones.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

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Know before you fly: privatized space travel - Observer Online

Intrepid travelers could fly to space from a UK space port as soon as 2020 under new laws.

Commercial flights for people willing to go to infinity and beyond could be available in just three years.

Space travel has long been a dream for people hoping to explore the area outside our planet.

Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic and Dutch-founded Xcor are among those that could take passengers up to the final frontier when services go live.

In Virgin Galactics plans, astronauts would cost $250,000 for the flight into the Earths atmosphere.

SpaceX is also offering trips to the International Space Station after it made history in 2012 when it became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the space station.

Sunday night its Falcon 9 rocket launched on a mission to resupply the space station.

Under new powers unveiled this week, scientists will blast into space to conduct zero-gravity experiments in a bid to find cures for deadly bugs like MRSA and salmonella.

The laws allowing commercial flights to take off from UK space ports by 2020 will also permit researchers to carry out tests on potential new antibiotics in orbit.

The powers in the spaceflight bill will be revealed in Parliament this week.

It means a rocket spaceflight could take off from a space port in Britain before a new runway is built at Heathrow.

Science Minister Jo Johnson said the new powers would cement the UKs position as a world leader in an emerging market worth up to $26 billion (25 billion) over the next 20 years.

Space ports could be set up and satellites launched from regions across the UK under the plans.

Newquay in Cornwall; Llanbedr in Snowdonia; and three Scottish sites, Glasgow Prestwick, Campbeltown, and Stornaway in the Western Isles have all been shortlisted as potential space port sites.

Because of Britains position far from the equator, its likely space planes would take off from a horizontal runway rather than a rocket launch pad.

They will transport satellites up into orbit or take paying space tourists although its thought space tourism would only make up around 10 percent of the industry.

NASA scientists have been carrying out scientific research in space for the last five years.

This week US scientists sent the lethal MRSA bug up to the International Space Station for astronauts to study how the superbug becomes resistant to antibiotics.

Aviation Minister Lord Ahmad said the ambition was to launch a space flight from the UK as soon as possible.

He said: Our ambition is to allow for safe and competitive access to space from the UK, so we remain at the forefront of a new commercial space age.

Johnson added: From the launch of Rosetta, the first spacecraft to orbit a comet, to Tim Peakes six months on the International Space Station, the UKs space sector has achieved phenomenal things in orbit and beyond.

With this weeks spaceflight bill launch, we will cement the UKs position as a world leader in this emerging market, giving us an opportunity to build on existing strengths in research and innovation.

This article originally appeared on The Sun.

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Commercial space travel could be ready as early as 2020 - New York Post

Open on a shot of some sun barely peeking over a planet. Pan camera to reveal a space station floating nearby. Cue vague narration.

Weve all seen this played out in some form or another in films, usually followed by a fantastical use of new technology and heart-pounding space peril. The final frontier has always been a muse for futuristic storytelling, and much of the same tropes have popped up time and time again an expedition to save the human race, a technological error turned life-threatening, an unwavering drive to return home.

The epic scale of outer space films has always been popular with audiences, although it has recently re-entered the cinema with a rush of movies involving space travel. Beginning around the release of Alfonso Cuarns groundbreaking Gravity in 2013, visually stunning space films have become commonplace on the list of highest-grossing movies. In fact, theyve become award-worthy. Christopher Nolans Interstellar won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, and Ridley Scotts The Martian snagged a Golden Globe for Best Comedic Motion Picture. Although not set in space, Denis Villeneuves extraterrestrial Arrival is a contender for Best Picture at this years Oscars.

Recent films taking place in outer space include Passengers, The Space Between Us and the forthcoming Life.

What makes the concept of space such a contender for a box office hit? Perhaps it is the idea of the unknown. Directors can do whatever they want in these films, because there are no rules for space. Having only traveled as far as the moon, humans have no idea of what life in space is truly like, so audiences are willing to accept whatever vision filmmakers dream up. They dismantle physics, redefine the concept of time and create impossible technology and audiences eat it up.

The ticket to success requires a certain balance of reality, however. Many space films are rooted in fact, providing just enough familiar content to convince audiences that the story being told could very well happen in real life. More often than not, technologies in these movies resembles existing technology on Earth, providing a link between what the viewer knows to be true and what they suspend their belief to accept as true. Its a delicate balance. The director doesnt want to make a film so saturated with the unknown that it isnt relatable, but they dont want to make a film thats too realistic and thus unenjoyable.

Theres a certain fascination of the unknown that seems to flow throughout our culture, especially when regarding outer space. What lies beyond our solar system? Does life exist beyond our Earth? Is long distance space travel even a possibility? Audiences want answers to these questions, and space films provide the answers.

Theres a reason audiences have to turn to movies for an idea of what space is like. Despite the appeal of space on the big screen, the percentage of federal funding to NASA has been slashed to nearly a tenth of what it was during the space boom of the 1960s. The notion of space travel has long since become unimportant, but this reemergence of space in the cinema might, for lack of a better term, be pointing out the gravity of the situation.

With the powerful impact films have in shaping society, we could potentially see an increase in funding in the future. In fact, as space films have taken off in recent years, funding for NASA in 2016 was the highest its been in a decade at $19.3 billion. With important films like this years Oscar-nominated Hidden Figures entering movie theaters, public opinion of space programs seems to be shifting to a more enthusiastic one.

Perhaps audiences are beginning to realize that the only way we could end up growing potatoes on Mars or experiencing time warps through multidimensional black holes is through support of long-neglected space programs. In other words, the unknown will only become real as long as we will it to.

As support grows, interest in space will grow, and more space films will continue to populate the cinema. If audiences can back multimillion-dollar films that depict fake space adventures, then surely they can get behind funding to make a trip to a galaxy far, far away a not-too-distant reality.

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Cosmic cinema: spurring interest in real-life space travel? - Miami Student