Category Archives: Space Exploration

Costa Rica was featured at the Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC2020) at the Space Center in Houston, Texas earlier this month.

A presentation from Sandra Cauffman a Tica who is director of the Earth Science Division at NASA alongside authors Bruce Callow and Ana Luisa Monge-Naranjo, introduced an audience of educators about Costa Ricas involvement in space programs.

Their session focused on how to engage Hispanic youth to pursue STEM careers.

Kids cant be what they cant see, Cauffman said. People have to have a name for something, to understand the change it represents, and recognize it as desirable. They have to have examples to accepting it and taking steps to get there.

The presentation also served to highlight Callow and Monges book, To the Stars: Costa Rica in NASA, which tells the stories of a dozen Ticos, including Cauffman, who have represented the country at NASA.

Having role models such as the ones outlined in the book is all about putting a name to that something, Cauffman said. Our session provided tools for teachers to discuss these something scenarios to describe potential futures and identify desired outcomes.

The books is very clear about the role models and the future we created on how we achieved it. We all took different paths, but one common thread to all is that we never gave up.

Callow, a Tico Times contributor, said it was the first time he had attended the Space Exploration Educators Conference and that Cauffman had made a great impression on the educators who attended their session.

The common theme is we try to get students to focus on what steps they need to take in their lives for them to achieve what they want to achieve, he said. We use the Costa Rican NASA people as concrete examples.

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Costa Rica featured at Space Exploration Educators Conference - The Tico Times

Next-generation rocket builder Relativity Space is moving to a new home.

Relativity Space, which aims to revolutionize spaceflight with its 3D-printed rockets, will soon be based out of a 120,000-square-foot (11,150 square meters) space in Long Beach, California, company representatives announced Friday (Feb. 28).

The new facility, which is close to Relativity Space's old Los Angeles headquarters, will house business operations and the autonomous factory that will churn out the company's Terran 1 rocket. That vehicle is scheduled to fly for the first time next year.

Video: Meet Relativity Space, home of 3D-printed rockets

Related: 3D-printed rocket engine launches new era of space exploration

"Relativity is disrupting nearly 60 years of prior aerospace technology by building a new manufacturing platform using robotics, 3D printing and AI," Relativity Space CEO and co-founder Tim Ellis said in a statement.

"With no fixed tooling, Relativity has enabled a massive part count and risk reduction, increased iteration speed, and created an entirely new value chain," Ellis added. "Im confident our autonomous factory will become the future technology stack for the entire aerospace industry."

Ellis once worked at Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' spaceflight company. Fellow Relativity Space co-founder Jordan Noone is a former SpaceX employee. The duo formed Relativity Space in 2015 and brought it out of stealth mode a few years later.

The company aims to vastly increase access to space via 3D printing and intelligent automation. This approach leads to rockets that are much less complex, much more reliable and much faster to build than their traditional counterparts, Relativity Space representatives have said.

For example, the 95-foot-tall (29 m) Terran 1 has just 1% as many parts as "normal" rockets do, according to a description on the Relativity Space website. The two-stage rocket, which will be able to launch a maximum of 2,750 lbs. (1,250 kilograms) to low-Earth orbit on each $10 million mission, can be built from scratch in less than 60 days.

Terran 1's payload capacity, by the way, puts the vehicle in a niche between smallsat launchers such as Rocket Lab's Electron booster and bigger rockets like SpaceX's Falcon 9.

The new headquarters adds to Relativity Space's growing footprint around the country. The company already leases a 220,000-square-foot (20,440 square m) factory building at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, for example. Relativity Space also has an agreement to use two test facilities at Stennis, and the company has secured the right to launch Terran 1 rockets from Launch Complex-16 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Relativity Space's vision extends far beyond the United States' borders, however far beyond Earth orbit, in fact. The company wants to eventually help humanity colonize Mars.

"We believe in a more inspired future with people thriving on Earth and on Mars," the Relativity Space website reads. "In the early days of settlement, intelligent automation and lightweight, compact 3D printing are fundamental technologies needed to quickly establish a new society with scarce resources."

The design of the company's Aeon rocket engines can accommodate that Red Planet vision. The engines burn liquid oxygen and liquid methane, both of which could be produced on Mars, as SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has stressed. (SpaceX's new Raptor engine, which will power the company's Starship and Super Heavy Mars-colonizing transport system, also burn oxygen and methane.)

Though Relativity Space does not yet have any launches under its belt, investors have expressed considerable confidence in the company. Relativity Space snared $140 million in a funding round last fall, bringing the company's total investment haul to $185 million.

And customers are already starting to line up to ride Terran 1 to space. For example, Relativity Space recently announced contracts to launch payloads for Momentus, Telesat, Spaceflight and Thailand-based startup mu Space.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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Relativity Space will 3D-print rockets at new autonomous factory in Long Beach, California - Space.com

Were entering a new era of space exploration in the UnitedStates.

Private firms are pushing the boundaries of what is possible with technology and innovation. And the Trump Administration wants to get us back to the moon for the first time since 1972 as part of a longer strategy to put a human onMars.

When you try to do astronomy from Detroit, you have a big problem. Edward Cackett,astrophysicist

You might be surprised to hear that some of the ground breaking research and discoveries being made are happening right here in Detroit. Whilenot in a great part of the world to observe the night sky due to cloud cover, light pollution, and other weather conditions. But Wayne State University has its own robotic dark sky observatory in New Mexico that can be operatedremotely.

The Dan Zowada Memorial Observatory is a state-of-the-art 20-inch robotically-controlled remote observatory in the high desert of Rodeo, New Mexico,at an altitude of 4,128 feet, according to the observatorys page on WSUs website. This location has some of the darkest skies in thenation!

View live images collected by the observatoryhere.

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Jake Neher/WDET

Wayne State University astrophysicistEdwardCackett

Michael Wall is a senior writer for Space.com and theauthor of Out There, a book about alien-life search that was published in Novemberof2018.

He talks about the state of space exploration in the United States in 2020 including funding for NASA, the push to get back to the Moon, and the mysterious object in the outer regions of our solar system often called Planet 9 (which may or may not actuallyexist).

Here, science and exploration and sort of learning how to function far from home would be the main driver for going back to the Moon, hesays.

Edward Cackett is aWayne State University astrophysicist. Hisresearch looks at trying to understand how material falls into black holes a process called accretion as well as trying to understand the structure of extremely dense stars called neutronstars.

If we learn about how the black hole grows, how things fall into the black hole, it helps us understand better how galaxies form, how galaxies evolve, and that, of course, tells us eventually about how we come about how we form solar systems and how everythingevolves.

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These Detroit Researchers Are Studying the Cosmos, Seeking Answers - WDET

How much do you know about the Black history of space exploration? It was something never taught in schools growing up, and I still didnt know much about it now. But a new documentary from the Smithsonian Channel is hoping to change that.

From Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Laurens Grant, Black in Space: Breaking the Color Barrier takes a look at Americas race to space and the Black astronauts who made history against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. The documentary features Ed Dwight, the first Black astronaut trainee, Carl McNair, brother of late astronaut Ronal McNair, and Fred Gregory, the first Black person to command a space flight.

The documentary begins with Dwight, an Air Force captain chosen to train as an astronaut following calls from Black Americans and President John F. Kennedy. Picked to train during the Civil Rights Movement, NASAs race to space wasnt just about beating the competition technologically, Kennedys administration wanted to send the first Black man to space. However, Dwight faced push back from members of NASA and the film suggests that Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager reportedly lobbied against Dwight because of his race.

The whole space program was really about how far can you stretch a man before he breaks, Dwight told ESSENCE. How much can he take? Whether its doing spacewalks, how long can you last? What is your endurance? All those things. That came with the territory and the fact that you survived it, to walk away and say, I did that, its incredible. I did it and I did it well.

However, NASAs politics eventually pushed Dwight out of the organization, with Black in Space pointing to Yeagers possible interference and leaked reports that Dwight could not keep up with the rigorous program. He denies that he struggled with astronaut training.

When we think about what NASA did to make the first seven astronauts [known as the Mercury Seven] heroes, they spent millions of dollars telling the public they found seven heroes out of 30 million people; that they got seven guys who were supermen, who could go into space to fulfill our dreams. They were special men. They had special bodies, special brains, and all that stuff. The idea of a woman or a Black person, equally doing it, that was just preposterous. You couldnt. Dont even think about comparing those two things.

Dwight also watched as the USSR used propaganda to compete with NASA, claiming that their space program was much more diverse. Soviets saw the opportunity to send a Black man to space as a way to say that they were superior to Americans who believed that the American dream was available to all. In 1978, Afro-Cuban Arnaldo Tamayo Mndez joined the Soviet Unions Intercosmos program and became the first Black man launched into space.

Weve come from slave ship to spaceship, and we will continue to rise into endeavors far beyond that.

I knew it could be done, Dwight said, sharing how he felt about the news of Mndezs trip to space. And I knew if Kennedy hadnt died, that would have been me. He was my sponsor. He put me in the program and he got me through all the stuff that I was going through.

Dwight added that, at the time, there were tons of political conversations going on that he later discovered, including how the Soviets and Americans rushed to secure Nazi scientists and German equipment after World War II in order to boost their own space programs.

I had no idea all this stuff was going on. It surprised me. I didnt know until I saw Black in Space that all that stuff was going on with the Soviets. I did not know that when I was here in the program.

Dwight has since become a renowned sculptor, creating thousands of gallery pieces and 129 memorial sculptures.

Eventually, America did send a Black man to space. In 1983, astronaut Guion Bluford Jr. became the first Black person to travel to space. This would open the door for other firsts too, such as Fred Gregory becoming the first Black man to command a space flight. Gregory said he only became aware of the historical moment when newspapers mentioned it.

I never ever thought of anything like that, he told ESSENCE, sharing that his motivation to become an astronaut came from those he knew. I grew up in a family of educators. One of my dads attributes was that he never told me no. He also had a lot of friends, pilots, and I would listen to them talk about their exploits and combat experience. I had these influences who kind of set an example to me about what it is to fly in space. I was just looking for something to do and I just saw an advertisement in a magazine that offered this opportunity. If I applied, I could become an astronaut.

Gregory noted that that training with McNair, Robert Lawrence, the countrys first Black astronaut, and Michael Anderson, a Black astronaut that unfortunately perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, was further motivation, They were part of the future. They were looking at things in the future that would encourage young kids to look further forward.

While the Black history of NASA includes many firsts, it also includes tragedy. Ronald McNair became the second Black person to travel to space after being selected as one of 35 applicants out of a pool of thousands to join NASAs astronaut program. On January 28, 1986, McNair died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

He was a country boy, McNairs brother Carl shared with ESSENCE. We grew up in Lake City, South Carolina. The population at the time was less than 2,000. Most of the folks in that town were domestics. If you were going to be a white-collar professional, you either had to be a preacher or teacher. This was during segregation. But we were both inspired to go to North Carolina A&T after meeting a [member of the] Air Force ROTC.

Carl described Ronald as someone who always called it like it is and who was always a bit of a risk-taker.He added, He was one of those natural leaders. Kids in the neighborhood, if Ronald said it, they considered it gospel.

Ronald would also challenge teachers and authority by always asking for more; more challenging problems in math; more challenging problems in physics and that kind of thing, Carl remembered.

It was Ronalds thirst for more that led him to NASA. His brother recalled being in graduate school at Babson College, when he found out his brother had been accepted into the astronaut program.He called and said to me, I dont know if I should tell you this, but Im going to be an astronaut. I thought, Okay. This brother mustve gone out last night, let me just play along. But one day [CBS Evening Newsanchorman] Walter Cronkite comes on television, Im at home between classes and he says, In from NASA, the first 35 space shuttle astronauts.

Carl tuned in, thinking his brother would be heartbroken at hearing he hadnt made it into the program. It was a shock to him when Cronkite announced Ronalds name. I call Ron. Ron answered the phone. I say, Congratulations man, you did it! He said, Did what? I said, Youre an astronaut. He said, I am? Ill call you back. Click. Cronkite had broken the news before Ronald himself had even found out.

During his time at NASA, Ronald continued to inspire others. An accomplished saxophonist, hed hoped to become the first person to record an original piece of music in space. His brother now shares his legacy with the world through the McNairs Scholars Program, speaking engagements, and a book, In the Spirit of Ronald E. McNair Astronaut: An American Hero. Carl hopes that Black in Space inspires others from minority groups to pursue STEM, to look to astronauts like his brother or Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to travel to space, as examples of whats possible.

I once mentioned that Ron was planning, after that last flight, to leave the space program. He had already assumed a professorship at the University of South Carolina, where he would be a professor of physics, Carl said. He wanted to use his story, his accomplishments, to encourage other young people, African-Americans in particular, that if this country boy coming from where he came from could do it, you can do it too.

I want [viewers] to take away the fact that there were others during even harsher times than were going through right now, and in spite of that, they have succeeded and we will continue to succeed too. In spite of the political situation as it is right now, in spite of all the continuous roadblocks that have been drawn in front of us, weve seen this movie before, he added. We have been here, weve done that. Weve come from slave ship to spaceship, and we will continue to rise into endeavors far beyond that.

Black in Space: Breaking the Color Barrier airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET on the Smithsonian Channel.

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'From Slave Ship To Space Ship': The Black History Of Space Exploration Detailed In Fascinating New Doc - Essence

The dream of traveling to another star and planting the seed of humanity on a distant planet It is no exaggeration to say that it has captivated the imaginations of human beings for centuries. With the birth of modern astronomy and the Space Age, scientific proposals have even been made as to how it could be done. But of course, living in a relativistic Universe presents many challenges for which there are no simple solutions.

Of these challenges, one of the greatest has to do with the sheer amount of energy necessary to get humans to another star within their own lifetimes. Hence why some proponents of interstellar travel recommend sending spacecraft that are essentially miniaturized worlds that can accommodate travelers for centuries or longer. These Generation Ships (aka. worldships or Interstellar Arks) are spacecraft that are built for the truly long haul.

The logic behind a generation ship is simple: if you cant travel fast enough to get to another star system within a single lifetime, build a vessel large enough to carry everything you would possibly need for a long voyage. This would entail making sure that a ship has a reliable propulsion system that can provide steady thrust during acceleration and deceleration and the necessary amenities to provide for several generations of humans.

On top of all that, the ship would need to be able to ensure that its crews had food, water, and breathable air enough to last for centuries or even millennia. In all likelihood, this would mean creating a closed-system microclimate inside the ship, complete with a water cycle, a carbon cycle, and a nitrogen cycle. This will allow for food to be grown and for water and air to be continuously recycled.

The closest star to our Solar System is Proxima Centauri, an M-type (red dwarf) main sequence star located roughly 4.24 light-years away. This star is part of a triple star system that includes the Alpha Centauri system, a binary consisting of a main sequence Sun-like star (a G-type yellow dwarf) and a main sequence K-type (orange dwarf) star.

In addition to being the closest star system to our own, Proxima Centauri is also the home of the closest exoplanet to Earth Proxima b. This terrestrial (aka. rocky) planet whose discovery was announced in 2016 by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is about the same size as Earth (1.3 Earth masses) and orbits within the circumsolar habitable zone of its star.

The next closest exoplanet that orbits within its stars HZ is Ross 128 b, an Earth-sized exoplanet that orbits a red dwarf star some 11 light-years away. The next closest Sun-like star is Tau Ceti, which is just under 12 light-years away and has one potentially-habitable candidate (Tau Ceti e). In fact, there are 16 exoplanets within 50 light-years of Earth that could support life.

But as we explored in a previous article, traveling to even the nearest star would take a very long time and require a tremendous amount of energy. Using conventional means of propulsion, it could take between 19,000 and 81,000 years to get there. Using proposed methods that have been tested but not yet built (like nuclear rockets), the travel time is narrowed to about 1000 years.

There are proposed methods that are capable of reaching the nearest stars within a single lifetime, such as directed-energy propulsion for example Breakthrough Starshot. For this concept, a light sail and gram-scale spacecraft could be accelerated to 20% the speed of light (0.2 c), thus making the journey to Alpha Centauri in just 20 years. However, Starshot and similar proposals are all uncrewed concepts.

Beyond this, the only possible methods for sending human beings to another star system are either technically feasible (but undeveloped) or entirely theoretical (like the Alcubierre Warp Drive). With that in mind, many scientists have drafted proposals that would forsake speed and instead focus on accomodating crews during the long voyage.

The earliest recorded example appears to have been made by engineer and science fiction writer John Munros in his novel A Trip to Venus (1897). In it, he mentions how humanity may become an interstellar species one day:

[W]ith a vessel large enough to contain the necessaries of life, a select party of ladies and gentlemen might start for the Milky Way, and if all went right, their descendants would arrive there in the course of a few million years.

The concept was addressed in more detail in the 1933 science fiction novel When World Collide, which was co-authored by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer. In this story, Earth is about to be destroyed by an exploding star, which forces a group of astronomers to create a massive ship carrying a crew of 50, along with livestock and equipment, to a new planet.

Robert A. Heinlein also explored the physical, psychological and social effects of a generation ship in one of his earliest novels, Orphans of the Sky. The story was originally published as two separate novellas in 1941 but was re-released as a single novel in 1963. The ship in this story is known as the Vanguard, a generation ship that is permanently adrift in space after a mutiny led to the deaths of all the piloting officers.

Generations later, the descendants have forgotten the purpose and nature of the ship and believe it to be their entire Universe. The bulk of the crew still lives within the cylinder, but a separate group of muties (which alternately means they are mutants or mutineers) live in the upper decks where the gravity is lower and exposure to radiation has caused physical changes.

Arthur C. Clarkes Rendezvous with Rama (1973) is arguably the best-known example of a generational ship in science fiction. Unlike other fictional treatments of the concept, the vessel in this story was extra-terrestrial in origin! Known as Rama, this massive space cylinder is a self-contained world that is carrying the Ramans from one side of the galaxy to the other.

The story opens as a crew from Earth is dispatched to rendezvous with the ship and explore the interior. Inside, they find structures arranged like cities, transportation infrastructure, a sea that stretches around the center, and horizontal trenches that act as windows. As the ship gets closer to the Sun, light floods in and the machinery begins to come to life.

Eventually, the human astronauts conclude that the buildings are actually factories and that the ships sea is a chemical soup that will be used to create Ramans once it reaches its destination. Ultimately, though, our Solar System is just a stopover on their journey and that this is how the Ramans seeds the galaxy with their species.

In Alastair Reynolds Chasm City (2001) which is part of his Revelation Space series much of the story takes place aboard a series of large, interstellar spacecraft. These ships are traveling to 61 Cygni, a binary star system consisting of two K-type orange dwarfs, to colonize a world that is known throughout the series as Skys Edge.

These ships are described as cylindrical and rely on antimatter propulsion to travel at relativistic speeds. In addition to carrying a compliment of cryogenically-frozen passengers, these ships maintain a crew in waking conditions and have all the necessary facilities and equipment to keep them entertained. These include personal quarters, mess halls, medical bays, and recreation centers.

In 2002, famed science fiction author Ursula K. LeGuin released her own take on the effects of inter-generational space travel, titled Paradises Lost. The setting for this story is the Discovery, a ship that has been traveling through space for generations. As those who remember Earth begin to die off, the younger generations begin to feel like the ship is more tangible to them than either the lore about their old homeworld or their destination.

Eventually, a new religion emerges called Bliss that teaches that the Discovery (spaceship heaven to the faithful) is actually bound for eternity rather than another planet. This religion is being embraced to the dismay of the older generation who fear their children will never want to leave the ship once it arrives. This story was adapted into an opera in 2012 as well.

The 2011 novel Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (and subsequent installments in the Expanse series) features a generation ship named Nauvoo. This vessel is being built by a group of Mormons so they can travel to another star system and colonize there. The Nauvoo is described as being massive, cylindrical in shape, and rotates to generate artificial gravity for its crew.

In Kim Stanley Robins Aurora (2015), the majority of the story takes place aboard an eponymously-named interstellar starship. Robinson describes a vessel that uses two rotating torii to simulate gravity while the people live in a series of Earth-analog environments. Their ultimate destination is Tau Ceti, a Sun-like star located 12 light-years from Earth, where they intend to colonize an exomoon that orbits Tau Ceti e.

The ship is described as an Orion-class vessel that uses the controlled explosion of thermonuclear devices to generate propulsion, along with an electromagnetic array used to launch it from the Solar System. In Robinsons signature style, considerable attention is also dedicated to how the colonists maintain a careful balance aboard their vessel and the psychological effects of multi-generational travel.

Multiple proposals have been made by scientists and engineers since the early 20th century. Many of these proposals were presented in the form of studies while others were popularized in science fiction novels. The earliest known example was the 1918 essay The Ultimate Migration by rocket-pioneer Robert H. Goddard (for whom NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center is named).

The crew would spend the centuries-long journey in suspended animation, with the pilot being awakened at intervals to make course corrections and maintenance. As he wrote:

The pilot should be awakened, or animated, at intervals, perhaps of 10,000 years for a passage to the nearest stars, and 1,000,000 years for great distances, or for other stellar systems. To accomplish this, a clock operated by a change in weight (rather than by electric charges, which produce too rapid effects) of a radiation substance, should be used This awakening would, of course, be necessary in order to steer the apparatus, if it became off its course.

He also envisioned that atomic energy could be used as a power source; but failing that, a combination of hydrogen and oxygen fuel, as well as solar energy, would suffice. Based on his calculations, Goddard estimated that these would be sufficient to get the ship up to speeds of 4.8 to 16 km/s (3 to 10 mi/s), which works out to 17,280 km/h to 57,936 km/h (10,737 to 36,000 mph) or 5% to 20% the speed of light.

Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky, the father of astronautic theory, also addressed the idea of a multi-generational spaceship in his essay The Future of Earth and Mankind (1928). Tsiolkovsky described a space colony (a Noahs Ark) that would be self-sufficient and where crews were kept in wakeful conditions until they reached their destination thousands of years later.

Another early description of a generation ship is in the 1929 essay The World, The Flesh, & The Devil by J. D. Bernal (inventor of the Bernal Sphere). In this influential essay, Bernal wrote about human evolution and its future in space, which included vessels that we would today describe as generation ships.

In 1946, Polish-American mathematician Stanislaw Ulam proposed a novel idea known as Nuclear Pulse Propulsion (NPP). As one of the contributors to the Manhattan Project, Ulam envisioned how nuclear devices would be repurposed for the sake of space exploration. In 1955, NASA launched Project Orion for the purpose of investigating NNP as a means for conducting deep-space voyages.

This project (which officially ran from 1958 to 1963) was led by Ted Taylor at General Atomics and physicist Freeman Dyson from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. It was abandoned after the Limited Test Ban Treaty (signed in 1963) established a permanent ban on nuclear testing in Earth orbit.

In 1964, Dr. Robert Enzmann proposed the most detailed concept for a generation ship to date, thereafter known as the Enzmann Starship. His proposal called for a ship that would use deuterium fuel to generate fusion reactions to achieve a small percentage of the speed of light. The craft would measure 600 meters (2000 feet) in length and accommodate an initial crew of 200 (with room for expansion).

During the 1970s, the British Interplanetary Society conducted a feasibility study for interstellar travel known as Project Daedalus. This study called for the creation of a two-stage fusion-powered spacecraft that would be able to make the trip to Barnards Star (5.9 light-years from Earth) in a single lifetime. While this concept was for an uncrewed spacecraft, the research would inform future ideas for crewed missions.

For example, the international organization Icarus Interstellar has since attempted to revitalize the concept in the form of Project Icarus. Founded in 2009, Icarus volunteer scientists (many of whom have worked for NASA and the ESA) hopes to make fusion propulsion and other advanced propulsion methods a reality in the 21st century.

Studies have also been conducted that have considered antimatter as a means of propulsion. This method would involve colliding atoms of hydrogen and antihydrogen in a reaction chamber, which offers the benefits of incredible energy density and low mass. For this reason, NASAs Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) is researching the technology as a possible means for long-duration missions.

Between 2017 and 2019, Dr. Frederic Marin of the Astronomical Observatory of Strasbourg conducted a series of highly-detailed studies on the necessary parameters for a generation ship including minimum crew size, genetic diversity, and the size of the ship. In all cases, he and his colleagues relied on a new type of numerical software (called HERITAGE) that they created themselves.

For the first two studies, Dr. Marin and his colleagues conducted simulations that showed that a minimum crew of98 (max. 500) to be coupled with a cryogenic bank of sperm, eggs, and embryos in order to ensure survival (but avoiding overcrowding) as well as genetic diversity and good health upon arrival.

In the third study, Dr. Marin and another team of researchers determined that a generation ship would need to measure 320 meters (1050 feet) in length, 224 meters (735 feet) in radius, and contain at least 450 m (~4,850 ft) of artificial land for the sake of agriculture. This land would also ensure that the ships water and air would be recycled as part of a microclimate.

The main advantage of a generation ship is the fact it can be built using proven technology and will not have to wait on considerable advancements in technology. Also, the central aim of the concept is to forego the issue of speed and propellant mass to ensure that a crew of human beings can eventually colonize another star system.

As we explored in a previous article, a generation ship would also fulfill two major goals of space exploration, which are to maintain a human colony in space and permit travel to a potentially habitable exoplanet. On top of that, a crew that numbers in the hundreds or thousands would multiply the chances of successfully colonizing another planet.

Last, but not least, the spacious environment of a generation ship would allow for multiple methods to be pursued. For example, part of the crew could be kept in waking conditions for the duration of the journey while another part could be kept in cryogenic suspension. People could also be revived and return to suspension in shifts, thus minimizing the psychological effects of the long-duration journey.

Unfortunately, thats where the advantages end and the problems/challenges begin.

The most obvious disadvantage of a generation ship is the sheer cost of constructing and maintaining such large spaceships, which would be prohibitive. There are also the dangers of sending human crews into deep space for such extended periods of time. On a voyage that would take centuries or millennia, there is the distinct possibility that the crew will succumb to feelings of isolation and boredom and turn on each other.

Then there are the physiological issues that a multi-generational journey through space could entail. It is well-known that the radiation environment in deep space is significantly different than the environment on Earth or in low Earth orbit (LEO). Even with radiation shielding, long-term exposure to cosmic rays could have a serious impact on crew health.

While cryogenic suspension could help mitigate some of these issues, the long-term effects of cryogenics on human physiology is not yet known. This means that extensive testing would be needed before such a mission could ever be attempted. This only adds to the overall moral and ethical considerations that this concept entails.

Last, there is the possibility that subsequent technological progress will lead to the development of faster and more advanced starships in the meantime. These ships, departing Earth after much later, could be able to overtake the generation ship before it ever reached its destination thus making the entire journey pointless.

Given the sheer cost of building a generation ship, the risks of making such a long journey, the number of unknowns involved, and the possibility that it would be rendered pointless by the advancement of technology, one has to ask the question: is it worth it? Unfortunately, like so many questions pertaining to multi-generational space travel, there is no clear answer.

In the end, if the resources are available and the will to do it is there, human beings may very well attempt such a mission eventually. There will be no guarantee of success and, even if the crew successfully makes it to another star system and colonizes a distant planet, it will be millennia before anyone on Earth hears from their descendants.

Under the circumstances, it would seem more sensible to just wait on further technological advances and try to go interstellar later. However, not everybody may not be so willing to wait, and history tends to remember those who defy the odds and take risks. And as ventures like Mars One have shown us, there is no shortage of people willing to risk their lives for the sake of colonizing a distant world!

We have written many articles on the subject of Generation Ships here at Universe Today. Heres Whats the Minimum Number of People you Should Send in a Generational Ship to Proxima Centauri? and How Big Would a Generation Ship Need to be to Keep a Crew of 500 Alive for the Journey to Another Star?, The Most Efficient Way to Explore the Entire Milky Way, Star by Star, and Pros and Cons of Various Methods of Interstellar Travel.

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What is a Generation Ship? - Universe Today

"With a surface temperature in excess of 840 degrees Fahrenheit and a surface pressure 90 times that of Earth, Venus can turn lead into a puddle and crush a nuclear-powered submarine with ease," NASA said.

"While many missions have visited our sister planet, only about a dozen have made contact with the surface of Venus before quickly succumbing to the oppressive heat and pressure."

Don't have an engineering degree? Doesn't matter. Never seen a spacecraft in real life? No problem.

"JPL is interested in all approaches, regardless of technical maturity," NASA said.

Great. What's the catch?

"Current state-of-the-art electronics fail at just over 250 degrees Fahrenheit and would easily succumb to the extreme Venus environment. That is why NASA is turning to the global community of innovators and inventors for a solution."

But the sensor has to be more than just ridiculously rugged.

That sounds tough. Why bother going to Venus?

"This is an exciting opportunity for the public to design a component that could one day end up on another celestial body," said Ryon Stewart, challenge coordinator for the NASA Tournament Lab.

"NASA recognizes that good ideas can come from anywhere and that prize competitions are a great way to engage the public's interest and ingenuity and make space exploration possible for everyone."

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Here's your chance to design equipment for NASA's proposed Venus rover and win $15,000 - CNN

Humankind has for decades been fixated with the vast extra-terrestrial expanse located approximately 90-110 kilometres above the Earths surface. This is attributed to humanitys inherent drive to explore, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific and technical limits, and then push further. This innate desire is fuelled by the collective understanding of the benefits and importance of engaging in outer space exploration.

As with any activity even here on Earth, this exploration is not without regulation. Exploration must necessarily fall within the ambit of a field of international law aptly named space law. According to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) space law is the body of law applicable to and governing space-related activities. To this end, there are five international treaties and agreements that govern activities in space.

The Outer Space Treaty, the Moon Agreement, the Liability Convention, the Registration Convention and the Rescue Agreement all directly inform the legal norms which apply to the exploration and use of outer space. The body of space law, however, also encompasses other regulatory frameworks which may, in an indirect or broader way, be relevant to space activities e.g. the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Convention and Radio Regulations which oversee the assignment of radio frequencies and spectrum/orbits for satellite technology.

Why then is space law particularly important to outer space exploration? UNOOSA surmises that the cardinal goal of space law is to ensure a rational and responsible approach to the exploration and use of outer space for the benefit of all mankind, as articulated in the Article 1 of the Outer Space Treaty. Outer space is considered a common heritage meaning it does not belong to anyone in particular but to all humanity collectively. Standardization of the legal principles that apply to space exploitation will allow us to use the outer space resource more sustainably to benefit even the generations to come.

These legal provisions address a variety of matters ranging from the preservation of space and Earth environment, liability for damages caused by space objects, settlement of disputes, protection of national interests, rescue of astronauts, sharing of information about potential dangers in outer space, use of space-related technologies and international cooperation. The latter point is particularly pertinent because of the fundamentally international nature of space activities.

In light of this, the Secure World Foundation (SWF) corroborates the fact that a States stance towards outer space activities must also include considerations of its relationships with other States and international organizations. As already mentioned, collaboration will allow a coordinated and sustainable approach to space activities, and it flows from this that to achieve sustainability space activities need to rest on sound policies and clearly formulated international agreements, laws and codes. States are also required to develop their own national frameworks to govern the activities of both governmental and non-governmental entities.

Read: Towards Developing Africas Think Tank In Space Law and Policy

The SWF further notes that national space policies are the basis of a States space efforts, which policy will dictate the direction and nature that these efforts will take. Space Policy is pursuantly denoted as a subset of overall science, technical and industrial policies pertaining to space. Such policies must be analysed in accordance with the prevailing space treaties to ensure State actions in outer space are in accordance with international law to avoid sanctions, as well as noting where regulatory lacunae or gaps exist for possible development.

Space in Africa is set to double its effort in increasing knowledge resources and capacity in Space Law and Policy with the nuances of the African context. Over the next few weeks and leading up to the release of the African Space Industry Report, 2020 Edition, we shall publish a series of editorials aimed at investigating and shedding more light on the regulatory scenery and challenges affecting the scale of the African space industry, giving greater legal understanding to the obviously technical nature of space endeavours.

The series will explore national space policies, regulatory regimes such as landing permits and licenses required for commercial satellite operators and earth stations, privacy issues and geospatial data, use of TV White Spaces and spectrum allocation and other emerging policy areas in Africa.

To keep up with the rapidly developing industry trends, this series will also serve as a wake-up call for African nations to build capacity in space law and policies to foster a sustainable, coordinated and unfettered expedition into the stars and beyond.

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Introducing An Editorial Series On Space Law and Policy In Africa - Space in Africa

A variety of engines currently utilized to maintain satellites in steady orbits might receive an adjustment to power wide-length space probes. Ken Hara, an Aero/Astro engineer, is producing computer simulations to make broadly-utilizes thruster engines more proper for long-distance journeys into space.

Current thrusters, identified as electric propulsion engines, are able to activate hundreds of GPS, communications, or military satellites to realize short course fixings and keep stationary orbitals in the Earths orbit, per se. But now, researchers are working at an upcoming category of ion thrusters that could send a spacecraft on wide-length missions throughout the solar system, such as the Deep Space 1 task of visiting asteroid 9969 Braille.

Ken Har explained how the plasma thrusters could bring a lot of advantages. For a start, the ionized gases utilized as the fuels in plasma thrusters weigh significantly less than those burned by the engines of the Apollo period. Every bit the spaceship saves by decreasing its propellant load is essential because it could transport heavier scientific stuff.

Also, when a plasma-fueled cargo is in space, it can speed up over time in a manner that propellant-burning cargo cant. Such facts include a notion dubbed exhaust velocity the speed at which fuel exits an engine. A usual propellant-consuming engine burns a vast quantity of fuel but at a reduced exhaust velocity, a mix that creates massive thrust.

A plasma engine, on the other hand, is developed for another environment fueling a spaceship that is already in a reduced, or no-gravity situation. The plasma engine performs this by discharging ionized fragments at significantly high exhaust velocities, but extremely reduced volumes, fueling the spaceship with what could be compared to whiffs of breath. Plasma thrusters represent the future of space exploration, stated Ken Hara.

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Better Propulsion Technologies Might Enhance the Space Exploration Projects - Webby Feed

Global AI in space exploration Market is valued approximately USD 2 billion in 2018 and is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 7.25% over the forecast period 2019-2026.

Machine learning and AI leave their imprints on various fields including construction, automation, image analytics, and space exploration along with many others. Many applications of AI in space are being researched on various domains which include relative positioning, communication, and many others. Various spacecraft and space vehicles including satellites that are operating in the space may generate a large amounts of data owing to the complexity of the research missions. AI in space exploration enables data transmission over large distances with ease. Many organizations and government agencies are collaborating on machine learning solutions for the detection of new planets, space weather using magnetosphere and atmosphere measurement.

With rapid technological development and increasing investment in the R&D sector, space exploration is experiencing rapid technical development owing to the integration of AI and the space vehicles which are developed for space exploration. The factor leading to the growth of AI in space exploration is the development of AI-based robots that can perform highly complex tasks over a longer period without human inference and for enhancing mobility and manipulation benefits. AI offers high flexibility, accuracy and control owing to the development of 3D perception and proximity GNC in AI robots. Moreover, robotic arms in space exploration are witnessing high demand due to the high weightlifting and handling capabilities that are offered to astronauts.

The regional analysis of AI in the space exploration market is considered for the key regions such as Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America and the Rest of the World. North America is expected to dominate the market share of AI in space exploration market owing to the presence of space organizations such as NASA and CSA working effectively towards the development of AI in space exploration. Moreover, the U.S. and Canada are investing in the R&D sector and technological innovations to explore deep space. Whereas, Asia-Pacific is also anticipated to exhibit the highest growth rate / CAGR over the forecast period 2019-2026 owing to the factors due to various ongoing and upcoming space programs in developing countries such as India and China.

Major market player included in this report are:

Orbital ATKDARPANeuralaDescartes LabsKittyHawkIris AutomationFlyby NavPrecisionHawkPilot.aiMRX Global Holding Corp.Oceaneering InternationalMaxar TechnologiesNorthrop GrummanAstrobotic TechnologiesMotiv Space Systems

The objective of the study is to define market sizes of different segments & countries in recent years and to forecast the values to the coming eight years. The report is designed to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the industry within each of the regions and countries involved in the study. Furthermore, the report also caters the detailed information about the crucial aspects such as driving factors & challenges which will define the future growth of the market. Additionally, the report shall also incorporate available opportunities in micro markets for stakeholders to invest along with the detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product offerings of key players. The detailed segments and sub-segment of the market are explained below:

By Product Type:

Robotic armsRoversSpace probesOthers

By Applications:

GovernmentCommercial

By Region:

North AmericaThe U.S.CanadaEuropeUKGermanyAsia PacificChinaIndiaJapanLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of the World

Target Audience of the AI in space exploration Market in Market Study:

Key Consulting Companies & AdvisorsLarge, medium-sized, and small enterprisesVenture capitalistsValue-Added Resellers (VARs)Third-party knowledge providersInvestment bankersInvestors

To request a sample copy or view summary of this report, click the link belowhttps://digitsnmarkets.com/sample/5310-ai-in-space-exploration-market

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Global AI in Space Exploration Market, Trends, Analysis, Opportunities, Share and Forecast 2019-2027 - NJ MMA News

Robot repair

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A study found that mens jobs (more so than womens) are likely to be taken over by robots in the not-too-distant future. If that turns out to be true, somebody will need to make sure our replacements are in tip-top shape. Robot technicians will be in great demand to perform the crucial function of robotics engineering; this includes building, maintaining, and repairing robots in automated manufacturing plants and other settings. While robotics engineers conceptualize, design, and oversee the fabrication of such robots, robot technicians are essential to providing expert service throughout the life of the robot, prolonging its use and supporting the increased efficiency it facilitates. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the growth of electro-mechanical technicians at 4 percent by 2026.

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As space tourism grows and leaders around the world grapple with how to regulate activity in space, we will need more space lawyers to determine issues like rules for exploration, weapons use, damage for liability, and environmental regulations. The legal blog, AbovetheLaw.com, reports there are growing opportunities in the field of space law, the body of laws, agreements, and treaties that govern outer space. Because many countries have an interest in space exploration, space lawyers will play a unique role in shaping what the final frontier looks like. Look for more law schools to offer that course specialty in the near future. Want to learn more about the final frontier? Here are 13 things that may surprise you.

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10 Classes They'll Start Teaching in Schools in the Next 10 Years - Reader's Digest