Category Archives: Space Exploration

United States President Donald Trump on his maiden visit to India statedthat the two countries are closely workingtogether overthe prospect of futurespace exploration projects. Trump also hailed the lunar exploration mission - Chandrayaan,developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

"India and the US are also working closely together on the future of space exploration. You (India) are making impressive strides with your exciting lunar program - Chandrayaan.

It is moving far ahead of schedule, and America looks forward to expanding our space cooperation with India as you push even further," Donald Trump said during his speech at the Motera Stadium.

READ |PM Modi Explains The Meaning Behind 'Namaste Trump' Event; Extolls Indo-US 'family' Ties

Stating that America and India will partner in space research in the near future,Donald Trump appreciated the country's achievements under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.

"You are pushing the limits and that's a great thing. Including in the realm of human space flight. The United Stateds in India will be friends and partners, on our voyage into the stars and into space.

It is truly extraordinary what this nation has achieved in a span of just one lifetime, and what they have done under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. It is absolutely incredible, Mr. PM congratulations" said Trump, who is on a two-day visit to India.

READ |PM Modi Lauds ISRO For Creating Facility For Children, Launching 'Young Scientist Program'

READ |ISRO To Validate Design & Engineering Of Rocket For Human Space Flight Programme

The US President is being accompanied by his wife Melania Trump, daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump, son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, National Security Advisor Robert OBrien, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchinand other prominent officials. After the 'Namaste Trump' event,the Trump couple will depart for Agra to visit the Taj Mahal.

On Tuesday, the US President will receive a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. This will be followed by a visit to Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi and wide-ranging talks between the US President and the PM on issues such astrade and investment,defence,counter-terrorism, and energy security.

In the evening, President Ram Nath Kovind will hold a banquet in thehonourof Donald Trump after which the latter will depart for the US.

READ |WATCH: PM Modi Welcomes US First Lady Melania Trump, Shares Her "Be Best" Message

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US & India working closely together on the future of space exploration: Donald Trump - Republic World - Republic World

Nestled in one of the side booths at PAX East 2020 near D&D dice companies and colleges discussing gaming degrees, Rockfish Games is showing off Everspace 2, the sequel to its 2017 arcade space shooter.

As a fan of both Elite Dangerous and No Mans Sky, I went into this with high hopes and left completely satisfied with my time at the helm of a quick, responsive spaceship set in a gorgeous universe.

Everspace 2 builds on the original title, while also introducing entirely new ways to play, with the team telling me this title focuses more on the open-world aspects, allowing players to explore a huge galaxy how they want. Unlike sim space titles likeElite Dangerous,Everspace 2 very much respects the players time, allowing them to quickly hop in and out of battles, missions, and more.

In Everspace 2, players will be able to upgrade and change various parts of their ship to fit their play style. This includes weapons, as well. In the game, enemies will have a variety of shielding and health, and having the right weapons for the job will make your time in the game much easier.

It was also noted during my time that the game will be a fully single-player experience with a robust story, free of multiplayer elements. It will be interesting to see how fans feel about that when many of the space exploration games on the market have heavy online elements.

Overall, from my limited time with Everspace 2, it was an extremely enjoyable experience. Being able to quickly pick it up and play helps keep the barrier of entry low and the gorgeous backdrop will quickly draw you in, as well.

Everspace 2 is planned for a 2021 release date on PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

What do you think? Does this game look like something youd enjoy? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to ourTwitterorFacebook.

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Hands-on: Everspace 2 is an arcade-style space shooter that respects your time - KnowTechie

In a world first, US-based space agency NASA is planning to explore the surface of Venus with an unmanned rover. NASA said in a statement: With a surface temperature in excess of 840 degrees Fahrenheit (480 C) and a surface pressure 90 times that of Earth, Venus can turn lead into a puddle and crush a nuclear-powered submarine with ease.

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.

JPL is interested in all approaches, regardless of technical maturity

NASA

Yet despite the unimaginably fierce condition, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory is readying a mission to the fiery planets surface using an Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments (AREE).

This is where you can help: NASA requires help designing a sensor that will allow the rover to avoid rocks, tricky terrain and cavernous crevices.

NASAs ambitious challenge is called Exploring Hell: Avoiding Obstacles on a Clockwork Rover.

READ MORE:NASA unveils stunning photo of ISS transiting Sun

NASA added in a statement on the challenges website: To assist AREE on its groundbreaking mission concept, JPL needs an equally groundbreaking obstacle avoidance sensor, one that does not rely on vulnerable electronic systems.

For that reason, JPL is turning to the global community.

The competition is actually open to all, even those who are not rocket scientists.

The space agency wrote: JPL is interested in all approaches, regardless of technical maturity.

The first place winner of the design contest will receive up to $15,000 (11,500).

The second place winner will receive up to $10,000 (7,690), while the third place winner will get $5,000 (3,850).

NASA said: The difficulty of this challenge is in designing a sensor that does not rely on electronic systems.

This is because Venus has a planetary environment just this side of hellish.

Current state-of-the-art electronics fail at just over 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 C) and would easily succumb to the extreme Venus environment.

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That is why NASA is turning to the global community of innovators and inventors for a solution.

However the rover sensor has to be more than just extremely hardy.

The proposed NASA rover must also be able to perform on slopes steeper than 30 degrees both uphill or downhill.

The all-terrain vehicle will also encounter rocks taller than 1.15ft (35cm).

And these are only some of the many requirements for the new sensor.

Exploring and studying the surface of Venus could help humanity understand the planets evolution and could contribute to a better understanding of Earths climate

Jonathan Sauder, principal investigator for the Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments concept, believes Venus and Earth surprisingly share characteristics.

He said: Earth and Venus are basically sibling planets, but Venus took a turn at one point and became inhospitable to life as we know it.

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

NASA recognises good ideas can come from anywhere and that prize competitions are a great way to engage the publics interest and ingenuity and make space exploration possible for everyone.

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NASA news: Space agency wants YOU to design the next Venus rover - 'Exciting opportunity' - Express.co.uk

1. How Private Companies Are Changing The Future Of Space Exploration  WAMU 88.5
2. Back to Space: President Trump pushes to fund space exploration  WLOX
3. Trump's NASA Budget Will Earmark 12% Boost for Agency in 2021  The Wall Street Journal
4. Trump touts Space Force, moon and Mars plans in State of the Union address  Space.com
5. Are we in the middle of a new space race for this century?  MIT Technology Review
6. View full coverage on Google News

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How Private Companies Are Changing The Future Of Space Exploration - WAMU 88.5

On the list of bad stuff that could happen, a massive plasma ejection from the sun isnt an everyday worry, falling somewhere between an irrevocably warming climate and a shortage of soy milk in the office fridge.

Yet our stars output plays a critical role in space weather, which carries potentially large implications for satellites, mobile phones, airlines and electrical grids in other words, the underpinnings of 21st century society. In March 1989, a solar storm that struck Earth zapped the grid in Quebec, causing most of the province to lose electricity and doing billions of dollars in damage.

Three decades on, a similar solar outburst could do a lot more damage. Even the U.S. National Intelligence Council in 2012 called such an event, if severe enough, one of its black swans, along with nuclear war, a global pandemic, collapse of the European Union and U.S. disengagement.

Scheduled for liftoff Sunday from Cape Canaveral in Florida, a joint $1.5 billion mission by the European Space Agency and NASA is aimed at expanding our understanding of the sun at a critical time for both space exploration and space commerce. Safely negotiating the solar system rife with radiation and other highly charged particles is essential for any long-duration human endeavors in deep space.

Along with protecting vulnerable systems on the ground, a more thorough understanding of space weather may also allow us to better protect flocks of new satellites (not to mention the 2,000 satellites already up there) filling up the night skies.

The probability of an extreme solar event striking Earth is akin to a 100-year flood, with a 12 percent chance over a decade, according to a 2014 research paper by Peter Riley, a co-investigator on the Solar Orbiter mission and senior scientist at Predictive Science Inc., a San Diego-based solar astrophysics research firm.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Geomagnetic Storm Scale rates such events on a five-level scale, with a G5, or extreme storm, having the capacity to cause electrical grid collapse or blackouts and degraded satellite navigation.

For perspective on how expensive such disruptions could be, tallies of the economic cost of the electrical outage in the northeastern U.S. in August 2003 (courtesy of a utility software bug) range as high as $10.3 billion, according to ICF Consulting Services.

As a result, theres a definite case for protecting against future outages of the sun-made variety. Theres one big problem, however: Enormous scientific mysteries remain about how the sun operates.

Everything is driven by the sun, said Nicola Fox, director of NASAs heliophysics division. So we really, really want to understand this star.

The Solar Orbiter carries 10 instruments and will become the first spacecraft to capture images and other data from the suns poles. It will fly as close as 26 million miles from the solar surface (the Earth is, on average, about 93 million miles away). The orbiter will work in concert with another NASA mission, the Parker Solar Probe, to provide complementary measurements and context on the data.

Solar Orbiter is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket configured with only a single solid booster to optimize for the thrust needed to head toward the sun. The probe will collect data starting in May with its primary mission beginning in November 2021.

The sun is considered a yellow dwarf star. Scientists began paying close attention to its sunspots back in 1755, using 11-year activity cycles that alternate between periods of minimal and maximal sunspot activity. Increased sunspot activity is usually a harbinger of solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These can in turn cause magnetic storms that could affect Earth.

The current cycle has been one of the least active. In December, the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center forecast an average intensity for Cycle 25 (predicted to begin this year) that may include about 115 solar storms. Maximum intensity for this cycle is seen occurring around July 2025.

The largest extreme solar event to strike Earth occurred in 1859. Called the Carrington event, it caused telegraph lines to catch fire and made the Aurora Borealis visible as far south as Cuba and Australia. A similar-sized coronal mass ejection July 23, 2012, though not aimed at Earth, served as a warning for many of the potential global economic catastrophe that could result.

It even got Wall Streets attention, via a prominent mention in a 2014 investor letter from New York hedge fund Elliott Management.

If that had hit the Earth, Riley said, there would have been major consequences.

While the Solar Orbiter is aimed at conducting science without any real-time monitoring functions, the mission will indirectly help us to understand extreme solar events, he said.

Rileys work involves the crafts magnetometer, which will make detailed readings of the magnetic fields at and near the sun.

The research will also inform work on how to forecast solar activity more precisely, with one of Solar Orbiters key goals to try to learn how coronal mass ejections form and how theyre accelerated into space.

I am excited about this mission because its going to address some really basic science questions, Riley said.

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The biggest threat to space commerce is the sun - Bowling Green Daily News

Apart from Amazon, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also owns a space research company called Blue Origin. Although Bezos says that the only way to evaluate its financial resources in the past period is space research, it is currently oriented towards different investments. Lets take a closer look at Jeff Bezos new target.

Approximately 1 week ago, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who managed to add $ 13.5 billion to his fortune in just 15 minutes, is now the richest person in the world, according to Forbes. Bezos, who owns Blue Origin and Washington Post as well as Amazon, is a name that evaluates its financial resources quite interestingly.

Jeff Bezos, one of the billionaires who spent their money on extraordinary things, said Space travel is the only option in response to a question posed to him how he could use his assets in the past period. Bezos, who made a serious investment in Blue Origin in accordance with his response, seems to be turning to different investments these days.

The new goal of Jeff Bezos; Bel Air and Beverly Hills mansions:According to the New York Post, Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez went on a manor hunt in the Bel Air and Beverly Hills areas of the USA. It was stated that a manor built on an area of 40,000 square meters is on the agenda and the price of this manor is determined as 225 million dollars.

Bezos, who bought 3 different properties in Manhattan after the Amazon could not agree to open a second center in New York, is thought to direct its investments to the real estate area. Of course, these developments do not mean that Bezos will cut Blue Origins budget because Bezos sees this company as a means of realizing his dreams.

Bezos, who bought two artworks in 2019: $ 52.5 million and the other $ 18.5 million, may want to create a collection in this area as well. The fact that Bezos wealth is growing day by day seems to trigger the desire to invest in different fields. We will be sharing with you by following the developments on the subject. Stay tuned to avoid missing.

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The space where Jeff Bezos will spend his money after space exploration is clear - Somag News

NASA Wallops Flight Facility is scheduled to launch a rocket tonight that will be visible to the DMV as it climbs into the sunset sky.

NASA Wallops Flight Facility is scheduled to launch a rocket tonight that will be visible to the DMV as it climbs into the sunset sky.

The facility hopes to launch the 13th Northrop Grumman resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) at 5:39 p.m. near sunset. The Cygnus cargo ship (spacecraft) is the S.S. Robert H. Lawrence, named for the first ever African American selected as an astronaut.

The launch and mission will be carried live by NASA.

Depending on where you are in the DMV, you might be able watch the rocket ascending into the sky with your own eyes. The visibility map for our area covers quite a bit of territory.

Launch updates can be obtained via NASA Wallops Flight Facility Twitter and Facebook. There is also a nifty launch app, NASA WFF MISSION STATUS CENTER, you can check.

Weather prospects are promising for the launch and should allow most a chance to see the rocket in flight.

It is possible to see the launch from Wallops Visitor Center and surrounding areas but traffic is typically heavy during these occasions. I will be watching and photographing from Hampton Roads, Virginia, which means I should see the Antares rocket about 60 seconds after launch. Ill post any pics or video that I get on my Twitter.

On Monday, I will be participating in NASAs agency wide State of NASA at Langley Research Center (LaRC). The all day event will be a behind the scenes look at LaRC and what the Center is doing to support NASAs Artemis program. Ill be posting on my Twitter feed so follow along.

Follow my Twitter @SkyGuyinVA and daily blog to keep up with the latest news in astronomy and space exploration. You can email me at skyguyinva@gmail.com.

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Eyes to the skies: Rocket launch to be visible in DC region - WTOP

The 21st-century space race cranked up a gear this week, with satellite launches, IPOs, investments, and moon landings all on the global agenda.

Yesterday, London-based OneWeb kicked off the first in a series of regular microsatellite launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The company actually launched its initial six satellites last February to gain what it called first mover advantage, but as it commits to creating a constellation of 648 satellites to deliver high-speed internet connectivity from low-Earth orbit in the coming years, its looking to deploy batches of satellites on a near-monthly basis.

The successful manufacture, delivery, and launch of this batch of 34 satellites is the latest proof point of the OneWeb plan, said CEO Adrian Steckel. Importantly, todays mission also brings us closer to our next step, realizing our ultimate vision of providing access to high-speed, reliable internet to everyone, everywhere.

In terms of how these satellites will help people on Earth, OneWeb has already hinted at the kinds of services its infrastructure will support, including a commercial broadband service covering the entire Arctic region that it expects to launch later this year. A full global service is expected to follow in 2021.

OneWeb hasraised north of $3 billion over the past seven years from big-name investors that include Japans SoftBank, but it is just one of several companies endeavoring to monetize regions beyond Earth.

Elon Musks SpaceX last month launched its fourth batch of satellites into orbit, and it now claims some 240 Starlink satellites in space. While SpaceX itself has remained a private company throughout all its rocket launches and space tourism plans, news emerged yesterday that it plans to spin Starlink into a standalone public company. Right now, we are a private company, but Starlink is the right kind of business that we can go ahead and take public, said SpaceX chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell.

Elsewhere, Amazon is planning a network of low-orbit satellites, though it hasnt yet announced a time frame for the effort. Last week, the company asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant it expeditious approval to launch its Project Kuiper satellite network after it missed a November 2016 licensing deadline to access the necessary radiowaves.

SpaceX and OneWeb oppose the petition and are are lobbying the FCC to not give their rival any special treatment, but Amazon seems bent on entering the microsatellite fray. As part of this push, it announced yesterday that it would create 15,000 new roles in Bellevue, Washington, a significant increase on the 2,000 Amazonians currently based there. The new hires will be spread across several Amazon units, including devices, Amazon Web Services, and Project Kuiper.

Also yesterday, Toulouse, France-based Kinis a spinout from aeronautics giant CLS announced that it has raised $110 million to create a constellation of nanosatellites aimed squarely at the internet of things (IoT). The constellation will enter orbit in 2021, and the company said it plans to connect several million objects globally within a decade.

With the funds needed to launch our constellation, we are now free to focus entirely on satellite manufacturing and commercial deployment, said Kinis president Alexandre Tisserant in a statement.

Back in the U.S., NASA is entering a critical phase in meeting the Trump administrations ambitious plans to put the first woman and next man on the moon in 2024 four years earlier than initially scheduled. This would be the first time any human has set foot on the lunar surface in over 50 years. Looking further into the future, the Artemis program will be used as a launchpad for the next phase of space exploration, which could include sending astronauts to Mars.

The tight turnaround for the Artemis program, and the resources required to meet the deadline, have sparked widespread skepticism, but for now the plans remain firmly in place. Yesterday, NASA announced a major media event that will be hosted at its Silicon Valley Ames Research Center on Monday, February 10. Here, journalists will be invited into the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel complex to view NASAs aircraft testing facility.

The very same day, the White House will release its fiscal year 2021 budget proposal, which will reveal how much NASA thinks it needs to complete the Artemis program by 2024. This disclosure will either invite more criticism or serve to rally support behind the project and help obtain backing from Congress. During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Trump sought to drum up support for Artemis, and for the idea of making the U.S. the first country to put a human on Mars.

In reaffirming our heritage as a free nation, we must remember that America has always been a frontier nation, Trump said. Now we must embrace the next frontier: Americas manifest destiny in the stars. I am asking Congress to fully fund the Artemis program to ensure that the next man and first woman on the moon will be American astronauts, using this as a launching pad to ensure that America is the first nation to plant its flag on Mars.

Whatever happens next, its clear were entering an exciting new phase for space exploration. Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic launched its first test passenger into space last year, and tourists flights are widely expected to commence this year. Jeff Bezos side project Blue Origin is also preparing to go to the moon, with hopes of launching its first manned flight into space in 2020.

If the 20th-century space race was a proxy for the Cold War between the former Soviet Union and the U.S., the 21st-century contest can perhaps be characterized as taking place in a billionaires playground. Entrepreneurs like Musk, Bezos, and Branson, alongside government bodies such as NASA and a slew of well-financed startups, are opening a whole new era for space exploration and commercialization. Regardless of the outcome, the space race is very much on.

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From internet satellites to moon landings, the space race is on - VentureBeat

One year ago last month, a Chinese robot touched down on the dark side of the moon.

It was the first probe to land on the side of the moon that permanently faces away from Earth as both bodies circle around the sun. And if Beijing realizes its ambitions in coming years, it wont be the last time it makes historyand threatens U.S. dominance in space.

The Change 4 probe and the Yutu 2 rover it carried have stayed busy photographing and scanning minerals, cultivating cotton, potato and rapeseeds, growing yeast, and hatching fruit-fly eggs in the moons low gravity.

The experiments are intriguing in their own right, but Chinas real agenda is more than scientific. For decades, Beijing has been building the infrastructure for an eventual manned mission to the moon, effectively duplicating what the United States achieved in 1969 and hopes to achieve again before 2024.

The reasons for this latter-day space race are clear, experts said, even if the real-world pay-off isnt.

Space has always been symbolic of leadership, through prestige, that translates into strategic influence, Joan Johnson-Freese, a space expert at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, told The Daily Beast. China seeks to be acknowledged as the technology leader in Asia, and there is no more visible place to do that than space.

While the current, high-profile U.S. moon mission is mired in Trump-era politics, Chinas keeps plodding forward with fewer bold pronouncements and more actual accomplishments.

As Change 4 and Yutu 2 work away, the China National Space Administration is quietly planning a follow-up probe. Change 5 could blast off this year. Unlike the one-way Change 4, which is limited to bouncing back data via a relay satellite, its successor is designed to collect samples and bring them back to Earth.

Meanwhile, the Chinese space agency has resumed work on its Tiangong 3 space station and is also testing a new manned capsule for deep-space missions.

When the 22-year-old, U.S.-led International Space Station finally craps out some time in the late 2020s or early 2030s, Tiangong could become the only permanent habitat in low Earth orbit. If the United States wants to maintain a significant human presence over Earth after the ISS, it might have no choice but to ask China for permission to embark.

That would make Tiangong the de facto international space station, Johnson-Freese argued. Neither NASA nor the Chinese space agency responded to requests for comment.

China is in a no-lose situation, Johnson-Freese added via email. It can beat the U.S. (back) to the Moonor notbut soon thereafter be able to say anything the U.S. can do, we can do, too.

To be clear, the United States isnt standing still in space. NASA still leads the International Space Station and in recent years convinced Congress to keep the station in service as long as its basic components were safe and economical.

The U.S. space agency is also deploying a new space telescope and sending probes across the solar system as part of an ever-expanding search for extraterrestrial life.

And then theres the moon. NASA for years has mulled returning human explorers to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. Not only is there plenty of science to be done, but the moon could also function as a staging base for astronauts heading to Mars. To say nothing of the commercial value of the moons minerals.

Last year, the Trump administration slapped an arbitrary 2024 deadline on a new manned lunar landing. That year, of course, represents the close of a possible second term for Trump. Experts actually tend to agree 2024 is possible, but only if Congress coughs up $30 billionand if there are zero problems developing all the hardware a moon landing requires. Tools like a new heavy rocket, a manned capsule, and a lander.

Rather than flying astronauts directly to the moon, NASA wants to build a lunar space station that could support both moon landings and future Mars missions. That complicates an American return to the moon and underscores the difference between the U.S. and Chinese approaches to space exploration.

What China has that the U.S. has not, is long-term program-sustainability, Johnson-Freese said. The U.S. human exploration program has been operating in fits and starts because each new administration wants to put its stamp on whatever exploration program is announced, with a timetable, but often missing the necessary budget to make it actually feasible.

Trumps Moon shot has already shown signs of falling apart. Developing the manned lander was always the riskiest part, according to John Logsdon, a professor emeritus of political science and international affairs at George Washington University and a former NASA adviser. NASA hasnt built one in nearly half a century.

Wary of throwing good money after bad, Congress approved only half of the billion dollars NASA wanted for the mission in 2020. Our appetite doesnt match our allocations, Logsdon told The Daily Beast.

Chinas more deliberate journey into space could be an attractive model for other, smaller space-faring countries. For decades, the United States has been the world leader in space, organizing other nationsincluding rivals like Russiato explore the galaxy for the benefit of all humankind.

That could change as the competing moon missionsand the geopolitical fault lines they reflectcome into clearer focus.

As U.S. leadership continues to erode under President Trump, other nations, especially Japan and the E.U., may begin to consider acting more independently and join China in more substantial cooperative space projects, Gregory Kulacki, a space expert with the Massachusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists, told The Daily Beast.

It could be decades before the end-game is clear, Christopher Impey, a University of Arizona astronomer, told The Daily Beast. If you take the long view, which the Chinese always do, in 50 to 100 years we will be living in the solar system and there will be a substantial economic activity off-Earth, he said.

They want to be first, Impey added of the Chinese, and they want to be in the drivers seat for that future.

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What the Hell Is China Doing on the Dark Side of the Moon? - The Daily Beast

Women are doing some pretty amazing things here on Earth, but women in the space sector are going the extra mile to create a stronger female presence in space and beyond. While, like on Earth, theres more work to be done as far as equality and inclusiveness go, women have come a long way in staking out our own space within the space industry.

There are programs that provide education and resources for women looking to get into the field, women are taking an active role on the International Space Station (ISS), and more women are making major decisions in the aerospace sector.

The first female to ever go to space was Russian astronaut Valentina Tereshkova in 1963. NASA astronaut Mae Carol Jemison was the first female African-American to go to space back in 1987. The first woman to be on a crew for the ISS was Susan Helms, who was a flight engineer on the Expedition 2 mission in 2001.

You may not recognize these names as much as their male counterparts like Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin, but their accomplishments paved the way for women in the space sector.

In October, the first all-female spacewalk took place outside the ISS with NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir taking part

Koch has since broken a new duration record for a single space mission by a woman after she spent 328 days in space at the ISS.

Back here on Earth, several women are running major aerospace companies. According to Yale Insights, three of the top five aerospace companies are headed by women, including Marillyn Hewson, the CEO of Lockheed Martin; Phebe Novakovic, the chairwoman and CEO of General Dynamics; and Kathy Warden, the CEO and president of Northrop Grumman.

Lori Garver was only NASAs second female deputy administrator when she held the title from 2009 to 2013. Now, her and her fellow co-founders run the Brooke Owens Fellowship Program, which pairs women with paid internships at aerospace companies like NASA, Boeing, Blue Origin, SpaceX, and more.

Programs that help put a focus on [women] can be very positive, Garver told Digital Trends. Weve seen a great reception for hiring these women.

Programs that help put a focus on [women] can be very positive.

Garver said that there is a waiting list of companies interested in participating in the program, which further reinforces that women have a place in space.

Im really grateful and want to celebrate the success weve had, while at the same time, theres still a long path ahead, she said. Id like to see more focus on the value that space programs bring.

Another women-centered program is the Sensoria Space Program, which provides training, professional development, and research experience to female-led and female-majority crews. An all-women team just finished the programs inaugural, two-week stint in a Mars habitat simulator last month.

Dr. Sian Proctor was a part of last months simulation, as well as a member of the first crew at the same habitat in 2013. Back then, there were only three women.

To come back seven years later and to have an all-female crew, and to be around spectacular women who are doing amazing things it gives me hope and joy to the future and being a part of the change that is happening, she said.

Getting these female-centered stories out in the open and allowing women to have the same opportunities as men when it comes to space exploration takes time.

According to Space.com, of the 566 people who have flown into space so far, only 64 have been women, and of the 38 currently active NASA astronauts, only 12 are women.

Even when women get opportunities, they are still faced with discrimination in a field that is male-dominated.

Women in our program have way too many stories still about being the only woman in their program and being mansplained, Garver said. We just all have to look at unintended biases and work to overcome them collectively.

Proctor said the solution is to bring women to the forefront of space and science efforts at conferences and speaking engagements, as well as in the media and entertainment industry.

Women in our program have way too many stories still about being the only woman in their program and being mansplained.

If you really want big cultural change, then you need females in shows that are popular [and] that are talking about and doing science, she said.

An example Proctor used is that when we think of big names in the space and science industries, we immediately think of Neil deGrasse Tyson or Bill Nye. She said that we need females in those public-facing roles as well.

Who is the Oprah of the space community? There isnt one, she said.

Proctor also said that recognizing all women of all races is especially crucial for inclusiveness in the space sector.

Its important that women of color to also have a voice within the women in space movement, Proctor said. It gets bigger than just women it gets to the point of equity, access, and inclusiveness.

Ultimately, the future of women in space is in the hands of women currently getting into the field. As more people understand that inclusiveness needs to expand in the industry beyond simply hiring more women, the change will happen.

Proctor said its especially important for women to have the same experiences that men have had.

A lot of the conversation has been, weve been to the moon, weve done that, but when we talk about access, really only a small number of white males have been to the moon,she said. Just because humans have done it, it denies the place of others in access to those experiences.

Luckily, NASA has plans to send the first female to the moon through its Artemis mission by 2024.

For those little girls out there hoping to land on the moon one day, or even simply be treated as equals to their male counterparts, Proctor and Garver said that the future is still bright.

I encourage women to come into the field we need them, Garver said. They are going to be able to make an impact, and I think there is a general openness to hiring and promoting [women] that I have not seen in my career.

Dont get discouraged, Proctor said. There are a lot of women who have come before you that are here to mentor you.

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How the space industry is making space for women - Digital Trends