Daily Archives: March 26, 2022

Mars colonization is still not possible since humans need more advanced technologies that will help them adapt to the harsh environment of the Red Planet.

(Photo : Photo by WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images)This aerial photo taken on April 17, 2019 shows "Mars Base 1", a C-Space Project, in the Gobi desert, some 40 km from Jinchang in China's northwest Gansu province on April 17, 2019. - In the middle of China's Gobi desert sits a Mars base simulator, but instead of housing astronauts training to live on the Red Planet, the facility is full of teenagers on a school trip.

But, people can also adjust Mars by actually terraforming it. These are just some of the things that many space companies consider to make the Red Planet more habitable.

However, the most important thing they need to focus on is how to allow humans to breathe on Mars. A new space study was recently published, claiming that bacteria can help humans produce oxygen on the Red Planet.

According toBGR's latest report, a new space study titled 'A Low-Pressure, N2/CO2 Atmosphere Is Suitable for Cyanobacterium-Based Life-Support Systems on Mars" claimed that bacteria could help humans breathe on the Red Planet by producing oxygen.

(Photo : Photo by -/NASA/AFP via Getty Images)This undated NASA image released 19 March 1999 shows carbonate mineral globules found in a meteorite, called ALH84001, believed to have once been a part of Mars. These carbonate minerals in the meteorite are believed to have been formed on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago. Their structure and chemistry suggest that they may have been formed with the assistance of primitive.

Also Read:Elon Musk Pushes Back Human Mars Landing Year Prediction to a Later Date

This research was published in February 2021 in theFrontiers in Microbiology journal. Thanks to the efforts made by Bremen Germany, the University of Bremen, and the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), they discovered that the so-called cyanobacterium could allow humans to breathe freely on Mars.

"Cyanobacteria have long been targeted as candidates to drive biological life support on space missions, as all species produce oxygen through photosynthesis while some can fix atmospheric nitrogen into nutrients," a statement from a new study.

But, how can these bacteria produce oxygen on the harsh Earth neighbor?

Because of their special characteristics, cyanobacteria have been considered an efficient candidate when it comes to supporting biological life.

This organism can produce oxygen the way how plants do it. Thanks to its photosynthesis ability, this bacterium can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.

Another interesting thing about it is its ability to survive a harsh environment, making it quite useful on the Red Planet.

In other news, Elon Musk recently announced thatSpaceX's Mars missionwould bring humans to the Red Planet around 10 years. Meanwhile, NASA wants to use its advancedIngenuity Mars Helicopterto create new space records.

For more news updates about Mars and other related space topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article:NASA Shares a Snapshot of Zhurong Rover on Mars | Here's a Wider View of China's Martian Machine

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Mars Colonization: New Space Study Claims Humans Can Breathe on the Red Planet With Bacteria's Help - Tech Times

In an interview with Futurism's Jolene Creighton, Neil deGrasse Tyson said rather than colonizing Mars, we should aim for "just an outpost." Tyson went on to describe the highly unlikely possibility that humanity would be able to develop the necessary "entire infrastructure in which you live that mimics Earth."

"We'd rather stay where it is warm and comfortable," said Tyson. While Tyson is not optimistic about humans establishing a large footprint on Mars, his position stands in sharp contrast to Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. Despite his assertions about early explorers needing to prepare for the worst, Musk continues to dare to dream that we might reach Mars soonand is getting the SpaceX Starship ready for the journey.

According to NPR, Musk is targeting 2029 as the timeframe for landing the first humans on Mars with cargo missions sent in advance to give astronauts the resources and materials they will need to set up an initial base. No doubt, we will all be watching in awe as this unfolds and wonder who will ultimately be right about the future Mars holds for human civilization: Neil deGrasse Tyson or Elon Musk?

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Why Humans Will Never Go To Mars, According To Neil deGrasse Tyson - SlashGear

A lot has changed since we first put boots on the Lunar surface over 50 years ago. Now, with NASA planning to use the Moon as a launching point for future space missions, its time to start talking about how astronauts and people will communicate with the rest of us on Earth. Thats where startups like Aquarian Space come into play. The startup says it plans to bring internet to the Moon within two years.

Humanity has a lot planned for the Moon in the coming years. Not only is NASA planning to put humans back on the Moon, but it also wants to use the Moon as a possible launching point for other space missions. If were going to do all of that, though, we need to have a reliable way to communicate between Earth and the Lunar surface.

Aquarian Space thinks that it has the answer to this conundrum. The company recently announced that it has received $650,000 in seed funding. That funding will be used to develop a broadband internet connection linking Earth to the Moon, and maybe even Mars down the line. The goal, overall, is to offer the first commercial high data communications network in the Solar System.

Its a noble goal and one that future space explorers will not doubt appreciate when it is up and running.

Aquarian Space is calling its new service Solnet, and it expects to launch the first satellite in 2024. It will follow that with a second launch in 2025 to cover the Moons South Pole. The company has yet to share what kind of satellites it plans to use to put the internet on the Moon.

Another part of what makes this new internet service promising is that manufacturers wont need to change their spacecraft designs to work with Aquarians technology. At least, thats what the company claims. The company is currently undergoing technical review in NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, according to Space.com. There is no ETA on when that review will finish up.

Solnet sounds like a promising approach to putting internet on the Moon. And, if Aquarian Space is able to create a system that works seamlessly with any spacecraft, it could open a lot of doors for itself in the future. Still, it could take years for us to put boots back on the Lunar surface. And, it might take even longer to create a Lunar colony.

In the meantime, other companies are also working towards creating internet for the Solar System, including Elon Musks SpaceX.

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Aquarian Space says itll launch Wi-Fi on the Moon within 2 years - BGR

All it takes is one line ...

And then a bunch more

And then a lot more still

... to create this.

What you're looking at is a tool that could aidour coral ecosystems.

(And it's made with3D printing )

Human hands have brought our oceans to a crisis point, but these same hands have the power to change that, bit by bit with a little bit of help from 3D printing.

One of these tools made it to the Maldives in 2018.

Near the coast of Summer Island to be specific.

Officially called the Modular Artificial Reef Structure (MARS), these lattice-like structures sit on the sea floor.

This is what they look like once they're installed.

Think of them like Lego blocks Lego for the tropics.

The MARS units are the brainchild of Alex Goad. He's the founder of industrial design studio, Reef Design Lab (RDL).

"It was actually my graduate project from uni, so I'm just that person who could never let his graduate project go," Goad told ABC RN's Blueprint For Living.

He said the units are designed to attract the growth of new coral, to "act as a permanent coral farming device".

Of course, coral farming's success is dependent on keeping ocean temperatures from rising to such an extent that coral can no longer survive.

And in recent weeks, new climate reports and a widespread bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef have demonstrated how much of a precipice coral reefs are on.

RDL's MARS units are made with incredibly complex surface geometry mimicking the crevices, gaps, and indents of natural coral environments to foster new coral growth.

Some of the MARS units are installed with transplanted corals, or coral "frags" think of these as starter kits for a new coral colony.

These are grown in a coral nursery then returned to their natural habitat.

Goad wanted to eliminate the need for heavy machinery during installation.

Instead, his MARS units can be installed with divers and a dinghy.

These units have to survive the extremely corrosive environment under the sea.

So, Goad took some inspiration from the Ancient Romans to inform his decidedly modern invention.

"If you think about the ceramic amphora [vases] that they still find in the Mediterranean Sea after thousands of years, we clearly know ceramic is a great material for longevity underwater," he told RN Blueprint.

"We use a combination of 3D-printed moulds and slip casting to create the ceramic exterior.

"We then fill that with marine concrete and take the units individually underwater to start building these lattice structures."

Beneath the surface, divers gather coral frags

which are installed on the MARS unit.

And if all goes well new coral begins to take shape.

In time, the structures may become shelter for local fish.

This one's attracted a moray eel.

When it was installed in 2018, the MARS reef took the Guinness World Record for being the worlds largest 3D-printed ceramic reef.

What started as Goads 2013 uni project has since been exhibited at New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Milan Triennale, Helsinki's Design Museum, and the National Gallery of Victoria.

"[MARS] was the catalyst for starting the lab and continuing down a path of digital fabrication for marine restoration projects," Goad told RN Blueprint.

The labs work all hinges on 3D printings ability to create incredibly intricate objects that traditional manufacturing cant.

While traditional manufacturing cuts away from a lump of raw material, 3D printing builds an object layer by layer.

Designers can print objects with a multitude of materials simultaneously, with exceptionally fine detail even replicating things like skin and organ tissue.

So, when it comes to mimicking the complexity of the natural world, 3D printing is one of the best tools out there.

"If we were to use any other fabrication method, it's just harder and much more expensive for us to make the organic geometry that we really want to test," Goad told RN Blueprint.

"It's very affordable to have a 3D-printing farm like what we have here

" to test out all these different ideas so easily."

As Goad points out, his artificial reef blocks are "only one of a million different restoration tools being used at the moment".

So what else has the lab been working on?

If you're reading this in Australia, chances are you live within 50 kilometres of the ocean, like around 85 per cent of Australians.

Australian coasts are at risk of being "loved to death", because urban sprawl isn't just a phenomenon that happens on land.

"We're very aware of habitat loss that's happening on land. We can see when we're removing a forest the same things are actually happening underwaterwe just don't see it," Maria Vozzo, a marine ecologist and research fellow at the CSIRO, told Blueprint for Living.

In many urban areas, coasts are partly and in some cases completely artificial, neatly bordered by seawalls, jetties and building platforms.

Sydney Harbour, for example, has 50 per cent of its coast wrapped up in artificial structures. The platform that holds up the Sydney Opera House is one obvious example.

While these structures protect our built environment from inundation, they interrupt the habitats beneath the surface.

And that's why the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) has created these.

Known as "living seawalls", they're tiles made of marine concrete, cast from 3D-printed moulds all designed by Reef Design Lab.

They're attached, Lego-like, to artificial structures to mimic the "architecture" of the coastlines they're placed in.

And, with time, many marine creatures call the tiles' nooks and crannies home.

Until recently, Dr Vozzo was manager of SIMS's Living Seawall program, an example of the emerging discipline of "eco-engineering", where environmental science and remedial design collide.

To test variations in their tile designs, SIMS and Reef Design Lab collaborate on custom 3D-printed moulds.

Prior to 3D printing, SIMS researchers had to contend with rudimentary experiments, like cutting flower pots in half and attaching them to seawalls to mimic rockpools.

"As researchers, we tend to go to Bunnings and see what we can find to try and retrofit something," Dr Vozzo said.

"Getting to that fine scale of modifying designs like [seeing] what would happen if [tiles] had 45 and 55 degree angles was something we couldn't do before."

Dr Vozzo told Blueprint she hopes that greater diversity in tile design brings greater biodiversity to Sydney Harbour.

"Designs that either retain water during low tide, or provide shade and moisture to keep the habitat cooler, have been really beneficial," she said.

"We tend to see really high [species] diversity and abundance in those types of features."

Further south, the Reef Design Lab has been working with the University of Melbourne to create custom planters to support mangrove seedlings.

And on the other side of the Earth in the North Sea, RDL has a project with WWF Netherlands, using 3D-printed reefs to bring back biodiversity to one of the world's busiest seas.

But do these objects actually work?

No feat of eco-engineering can ever be an equal substitute for an existing natural environment.

So, developers should only turn to it as a last resort.

"Something that we're always very cautious of is greenwashing an excuse for developers to build a really damaging seawall in an ecologically important area," says Goad.

"We would never want a whole mangrove forest to be destroyed and have a Living Seawall put in its place."

It's a sentiment shared by Dr Vozzo.

"[SIMS] has been approached by different companies wanting to develop or modify natural shorelines [using] the Living Seawalls as an offset, when in our opinion, the development or modification wasn't needed it was just a way for the project to get over the line," she toldBlueprint for Living.

"There's plenty of work going into living shorelines, where you use oyster reefs, salt marsh, mangroves or a combination of those to protect shorelines rather than build a hard structure. We want those options explored first."

But where hard underwater structures already exist, living seawall tiles can help mitigate the damage, Dr Vozzo said.

As eco-engineering is a relatively new field, there isn't a heap of peer-reviewed research into how well it works.

Louise Firth, a marine biologist at the UK's University of Plymouth, co-authored a summary of the research on eco-engineered marine structures.

The upshot?

"The evidence is often pointing in the right direction that you can do interventions to improve the biodiversity and functioning of these environments," said Dr Firth.

"But it doesn't always work."

Much of the research about the Reef Design Lab's work specifically is still underway.

It's also important to note that this research while peer-reviewed involves institutes that have directly commissioned the lab's work. This includes a SIMS-led study released in October 2020.

That study analysed the results of their World Harbour Project, a simultaneous global experiment to see whether geometrically complex seawall tiles cast from RDL's 3D-printed moulds could increase biodiversity everywhere they were installed.

Spanning 14 intertidal locations around the globe, the study found designs with greater surface complexity did support more species and higher populations of marine life.

But this wasn't universal, with only 10 out of 14 locations recording positive effects when complex tiles were introduced.

Tropical locations seemed to fare better than temperate ones, and the takeaway was that tiles need to be tailored to their local environment.

"Costly eco-engineering interventions may have negligible benefit at some locations and may even negatively influence some if applied blindly," the study authors concluded.

Another study investigated whether complex Living Seawall tiles could have multiple functions.

It looked at whether tiles could boost biodiversity and also lead to greater water filtration from species like oysters and mussels around Sydney Harbour.

The researchers observed complex tiles, as well as other tiles that came seeded with native oysters.

Greater complexity improved biodiversity and abundance, but there was a catch. Seeding was weaker on more complex tiles, although still more effective than with flat or unseeded tiles.

Another SIMS study currently being peer-reviewed suggests different tile designs support different marine species.

"By having a mosaic of them on a seawall, you can support little communities within this broader living seawall," Dr Vozzo said.

For Dr Vozzo, what's promising is the speed at which biodiversity takes to eco-engineered seawalls.

"The existing community like oysters on a flat seawall have been there for decades, if not longer," she said.

"After six months, the diversity [on living seawall tiles] already matches that of a decades-old community on an [unmodified] seawall, and after just two years, we've actually exceeded that diversity.

"Different designs or geometries do support distinct communities, and by [doing] this, you're further increasing the diversity over a stretch of seawall."

Eco-engineering seems like a tantalising prospect in a world reaching for technological convenience, while facing rapid warming.

But eco-engineering alone isn't going to be the silver bullet that some want it to be.

"We get a lot of people saying, We have mass coral bleaching in our area, can you bring some MARS units in?" Goad said.

"Even with a farming process, if you get really bad heat waves, everything is going to bleach anyway."

Still, eco-engineering is a tool to combat an existential threat that requires a plethora of responses.

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Design, climate change, and the 'eco-engineering' tools to help our oceans adapt - ABC News

What's better than a rom-com? The upcoming HBO Max movie "Moonshot" seems to think the answer to that question is "a rom-com in space"! Starring Cole Sprouse and Lana Condor, the sci-fi rom-com follows two unlikely allies on a space shuttle to a Mars colony. It definitely sounds like the kind of world that could support a ton of stories, but if you're wondering whether a "Moonshot" sequel is in the works, it might be a while before we get answers.

There are at least a few behind-the-scenes factors that could make a sequel easier. According to Deadline, "Moonshot" is the second movie in a four-movie deal between production company Berlanti/Schechter Films and HBO Max.

The first movie in the deal, "Unpregnant," hit HBO Max in 2020. That still leaves two more movies to go to complete the deal, and there's really no reason one of those couldn't be a "Moonshot" sequel. This is, of course, if everyone involved decides that a sequel sounds like a good idea.

Like with most movies (and TV shows, for that matter), the question of whether or not a sequel ever happens really will rest heavily on how well the first one does. On the surface, it certainly seems like the kind of movie that would attract a decent-size audience. The two lead actors are both fast-rising stars thanks to roles in popular, young-adult-oriented franchises, and the supporting cast is filled with other recognizable names like Zach Braff, Mason Gooding, and Lukas Gage.

Unlike some of the other recent HBO Max movie releases, "Moonshot" is an HBO Max exclusive rather than a simultaneous streaming and theatrical release. This will make it a little harder for ordinary viewers to know how well it does right away. But rest assured that if a sequel does end up happening, we'll hear about it soon!

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A Sequel to "Moonshot" Isn't Totally Out of the Realm of Possibility - POPSUGAR

Newswise HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (March 25, 2022) After two years of work, a four-function robotic rover developed for use on Mars by a 21-person Space Hardware Club (SHC) team at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, will be in summer competition at the University Rover Challenge (URC) finals in the desert of southern Utah.

The Adaptable Service Transport Research Apparatus (ASTRA) team recently earned a perfect score in the science category for its URC System Acceptance Review to advance to Utah. This is one of the most impressive SAR submissions by a novice team I have ever seen, a reviewer wrote. Kudos to you all.

Outfitted with a very dexterous main arm, ASTRA is equipped with cameras, a microscope, a spectrometer and the hardware and chemicals needed to conduct tests to detect life.

The URC, a project of The Mars Society, is the world's premier robotics competition for college students. It challenges student teams to design and build the next generation of Mars rovers that will one day work alongside astronauts exploring the red planet.

Under URC rules, the rover has to fit inside a cube-shaped space that is 1.2 meters on all sides, or almost 4 feet. Once deployed, the rover can get bigger.

Our rover has a footprint that is 1.19 x 0.9 meters and is 1.19 meters tall when stowed, says team lead Shelby Tull, a senior in aerospace engineering from Nashville, Tenn., who founded the project. It gets taller when we deploy its antenna. At its heaviest, the rover weighs 46.9 kg, or 103.4 pounds.

The rover is designed to accomplish four unique missions, Tull says.

One of those missions is life detection. More specifically, it has to look at rocks and soil and tell whether there is extant life, extinct life or no life, she says. The other missions are extreme retrieval and delivery involving picking up heavy objects and carrying them across difficult terrain, equipment servicing involving dexterous tasks like using a keyboard, and autonomous navigation.

Using a vacuum and cyclonic separator, the rover can pick up either Earthly dirt or Martian regolith and perform a bicinchoninic acid (BCA) test by adding a mixture of copper sulfate and BCA to the sample. If the chemicals turn purple, that indicates protein, which can only exist if there is extant life.

We use our onboard spectrometer to look for pigments that are also only found with life, such as chlorophyll and carotenoids, Tull says.

For rock samples, the rover has a rudimentary arm with a camera and a microscope to take a closer look at samples.

On rocks, we are really looking for endoliths and hypoliths those are colonies of organisms that grow on, inside and underneath the rock, Tull says. We might see streaks of green or gray, which indicate plant or bacterial life.

For extinct life, the rovers cameras allow the team to search out two types of fossils: cast fossils and trace fossils.

Cast fossils are what you usually think of when you think about a fossil, the actual shape of the organism petrified into rock, Tull says. Trace fossils are other things that organisms leave behind, such as footprints or nests.

Primarily manually operated, ASTRA is also able to autonomously drive to Global Positioning System (GPS) waypoints over flat terrain using an on-board GPS sensor and magnetometer to drive to coordinates.

Advised by Dr. Gang Wang, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Dr. Richard Tantaris, a mechanical and aerospace engineering lecturer, the SHC team is working to enable the rover to detect obstacles in its path so it can operate autonomously on rougher terrain.

The main arm is remarkably precise in operation, and thats the result of a lot of design work upfront, says electrical lead Thomas Bennett, a graduate student in aerospace systems from Charleston, S.C.

Getting it to be so dexterous didn't really take much fine tuning at all, it was basically that good from when we first turned it all on! Bennett says. That's not to say we just got lucky though. We really did our homework when designing it. We selected components and designed it from the beginning to have the best balance of strength and dexterity.

Weight is always a consideration in long-distance spaceflight and so the arm went through several design revisions to implement the same mechanical structure using lighter and lighter components, Bennett says. As for the software that controls it, I have to thank UAH's Dr. Farbod Fahimi, he says. Dr. Fahimi is an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Taking his MAE 664 class taught me everything I needed to know, Bennett says. I even used one of my old assignments as a basis for the control software."

Tull says that for her, the most challenging part of developing the device was designing the biosensor module used to detect life.

We have no biology or chemistry majors on the team at this time, so we had to do a lot of homework to get it right. It was very difficult to sort through scholarly research without being familiar with all the vocabulary used in biochemistry! she says.

We were also in uncharted territory when designing the spectrometer, which involved a lot of research in optics. Thomas actually wrote an optical simulation program in MATLAB, which simulated the path that rays of light follow in our spectrometer. He got it right to within 60 microns!

Other team members think the arms design and fabrication were the most challenging parts, she says. Most mechanical components were fabricated in the UAH Research Machine Shop under the guidance of Jim Buckley, prototype development specialist. Final assembly and all electronics work was done in the Space Hardware Club's lab in UAHs Optics Building.

It was pretty challenging finding enough room to work, but I'd say we've managed it pretty nicely, Tull says. Space Hardware Club's cage in the shop is full, and we have to share lab space with other Space Hardware Club projects, but working under difficult constraints is what engineers do.

The design and refinement process hasnt stopped as the team advances through the layers of URC review needed first before ASTRA can actually perform on the desert sand. Testing has revealed opportunities for improvement in the suspension, wheels and drivetrain.

We're hoping to end up with a suspension structure that's trapezoidal instead of the triangle we have now, with larger wheels and more of a speed reduction between our motors and wheels, Tull says.

The team is also working to enclose exposed electronics, fine tune the camera placement and smooth operation through upgraded software.

Our current biosensor is also only a prototype, and we're going to be going back and remaking that from scratch in order to make it much more refined, she says. Lastly, we also need to finish our autonomous navigation system by adding obstacle avoidance.

The 21-member ASTRA team is large, Tull says, but other URC teams have as many as 90 members.

We are actually on the smaller side for a URC team, she says. I founded this project in February, 2020, with about five or six other people, so we have definitely grown.

When she founded ASTRA, Tull had a completely different goal in mind.

At the time, I was obsessed with the prospect of interstellar exploration and specifically studying exoplanets, she says. In the future, space probes will have to autonomously identify their own science targets, simply because they are too far away for researchers at Earth to make decisions in real time.

ASTRA started out as an autonomous science target identification rover project.

However, just a couple weeks after I got some friends together for my idea, we discovered the University Rover Challenge, which combined several of my interests with several of theirs.

While the experience has taught her a lot, from technical information and design work to project management, Tull says the most important lesson is the value of surrounding herself with people who know a lot more than she does about their own unique fields.

There's an old adage, If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room, which I have found to be very true through this project, she says. I have learned so much over the course of two years, but it all boils down to the amazing peers who I have worked with along the way.

About The University of Alabama in Huntsville

Launched from America's quest to conquer space, The University of Alabama in Huntsville is one of Americas premier doctoral-granting, research-intensive universities. Located in the second largest research park in the United States, UAH has robust capabilities in astrophysics, cybersecurity, data analytics, logistics and supply chain management, optical systems and engineering, reliability and failure analysis, rotorcraft and unmanned systems, severe weather, space propulsion and more. UAH prepares students for demanding positions in engineering, the sciences, business, nursing, education, the arts, humanities and social sciences.

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UAH Space Hardware Club teams robotic rover on its way to summertime competition in Utah - Newswise

We don't see sci-fi movies at the Oscars as often as we like, but over the years some amazing sci-fi flicks have received the recognition they deserved.

That's right, its that time of the year again when celebrities and creative luminaries dust off their tuxedos or ball gowns to join the pomp and pageantry that is the Academy Award Ceremony.

Sunday, March 27, 2022 is the date set for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 94th edition of this gala event that recognizes outstanding achievements from Hollywoods finest actors, directors, screenwriters, editors, composers, producers, cinematographers, costumers, special effects gurus, and sound technicians. The ultimate reward for victory is the iconic golden Oscar statue, recognition of excellence, and the admiration (or envy) from your peers.

Science fiction has had a sticky relationship with the Oscars over the decades, often regarded as low-brow, B-movie fare until Stanley Kubricks existential masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey shattered perceptions back in 1968. Then in 1977, George Lucas launched his Star Wars empire that solidified the genre as extremely profitable and ultimately worthy of respect. Even so, only the best sci-fi movies have a chance of winning big at the Oscars.

Over the past few decades there have been many notable winners based on speculative fiction material, whether that's realistic space movies or full-blown sci-fi, but which are the best of the best? Lets walk down the red carpet and salute the 10 Most Successful Sci-Fi Movies In Oscar History.

James Cameron never wanted to imitate Ridley Scotts stylish original Alien film and instead went for a gung-ho combat film filled with old-school war movie tropes and a blistering pace that grabs you by the jugular. Colonial Marines are sent back to the hostile planetoid LV-426 to investigate the lost terraforming colony known as Hadleys Hope.

The bug hunt begins as soon as boots are on the ground and never ends until Ripleys final epic confrontation with the menacing Alien Queen back aboard the U.S.S. Sulaco troop transport spaceship. If you want to watch this absolute gem, check out our Alien streaming guide.

Life finds a way, as seen in the first movie that spawned a billion-dollar dinosaur franchise. Featuring an exotic island theme park populated with cloned biological attractions, Jurassic Park was a multi-generational crowd-pleaser adapted from author Michael Crichtons best-selling novel of the same name.

Whats most shocking about Spielbergs epic sci-fi adventure is how well the computer-generated dinosaurs hold up after nearly 30 years, which is a testament to the team at Industrial Light and Magic. And kudos to Stan Winston and his team for elevating practical effects to another dimension with their full-size articulated monsters inflicting true terror on viewers. Even after four sequels and a fifth on its way, the original is by far still the best.

Watch Jurassic Park on HBO Max

Afrofuturism takes center stage in this mega-successful Marvel movie chronicling the rise of TChalla, the charismatic king of the secret techno kingdom of Wakanda and its exploitation to acquire the rare exotic metal called Vibranium. Its a gorgeous movie in every respect and its pounding tribal soundtrack allows for complete immersion into its imaginary comic book world.

Chadwick Boseman delivers a standout performance as the titular superhero and his untimely passing in 2020 was mourned by fans worldwide. A highly-anticipated sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, arrives in November of 2022 without Boseman or the character being recast. If you want to revisit Wakanda and relive the magic, check out our Marvel streaming guide.

Watch Black Panther on Disney Plus

Welcome to the wondrous planet of Pandora, where peaceful native inhabitants called the Navi are trying to protect their sacred land from a greedy interstellar corporation bent on destruction and domination. The corporation is trying to mine the rare mineral Unobtainium, which we're pretty sure was a placeholder name that got left in the script. Despite that, Camerons lush worldbuilding and inspiring tale of a paraplegic named Jake Sully who enters an artificial body to act as a liaison between the two cultures enthralled audiences to elevate the film to the number one spot on the all-time box office list.

Its soaring visuals and vibrant biomes captured the hearts and imaginations of sci-fi fans worldwide who are now eagerly awaiting the first of three planned sequels this December.

Watch Avatar on Disney Plus

Just like he told you in 1984s Terminator, Arnolds T-800 assassin robot is back for this blockbuster follow-up that most fans and critics feel was the high-water mark for the franchise.

This version of the indefatigable killing machine has returned to protect Sarah Connor and her future resistance leader son, John, instead of trying to murder them. But a shape-shifting liquid metal upgrade called a T-1000 played to chilling perfection by Robert Patrick is out to reshape the future. Like Camerons macho xenomorph hunting mission in Aliens, this Hollywood tentpole is a juggernaut of stunning action set pieces and humanistic pathos. Box office receipts topped $500 million for a theatrical slam-dunk that would inspire four more sequels of diminishing merit.

Is the totem still twirling? Nolans mind-bending tale of a dream insertion team attempting to plant a notion into a billionaire CEOs brain is slightly confusing but nonetheless an exhilarating ride. It's a great example of a well-executed concept using all the tricks of the cinematic trade. Composer Hans Zimmers original score is both brilliant and bombastic and adds another gem to his body of work with Nolan that included Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

You might get lost in the movies multi-level dreamscapes but youll emerge in the end having experienced something totally fresh and fulfilling, even if you cant explain every last trippy detail.

Watch Inception on HBO Max

The beloved movie that immortalized Reeses Pieces candy was initially titled A Boys Life and began as a much darker coming-of-age movie. When a squat little alien is stranded on Earth hes discovered by a young boy who befriends the strange creature and welcomes him into his familys suburban California household. But nefarious government agents are on E.T.s trail while his new allies attempt to keep him safe and find a way to signal his kind so he can go back to his alien world.

Special effects master Carlo Rambaldi and his crew created the $1.5 million puppet that made audiences believe and brought the gentle alien to life. This magical film celebrates its 40th birthday in June.

The post-apocalyptic wastelands of Earth never looked so cool as in director George Millers reboot of Mad Max, the 1979 classic starring Mel Gibson. This gritty resurrection of the burned-out former Main Force Police officer is a visual feast of savage freaks, antihero saviors, tragic villains, and souped-up battle wagons. Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky and Charlize Therons Imperator Furiosa made for a formidable couple with searing chemistry up against the evil Immortal Joe.

Its all a high-octane, adrenalized thrill ride punctuated by flaming guitars and the driving techno score by Junkie XL. A masterful, modern day fable for unsettling times.

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Sweeping outer space vistas combined with a gripping story of astronaut survival made Gravity the must-see movie of 2013 and it was amply rewarded when it came to Academy Awards time. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney portray shuttle crew members who must use their wits and training while attempting to save themselves and return to Earth after space debris destroys their craft.

Though perceived as slightly over-rated in the past decade, its jaw-dropping visuals from cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki remain inspiring and revelatory. Its detailed plot reinforces the irrefutable fact that outer space is a cold, unforgiving environment.

The original space opera that launched a $70 billion empire was a big winner on Oscar night in 1978, including a rare Special Achievement statue for engineer Ben Burtt who created sound effects for the droids, spaceships, blasters, and lightsabers.

It's a rousing space spectacle about an ambitious farm boy from the planet Tatooine and his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi going to save a princess from the clutches of the Empire and its evil overlord Darth Vader. Along the way, he enlists the help of a handsome smuggler and his walking carpet Wookie companion. Star Wars is a sci-fi icon that still feels amazingly fresh as we celebrate its 45th anniversary in May.

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10 most successful sci-fi movies at the Oscars - Space.com