Category Archives: Space Exploration

SpaceX has just announced another successful landing of one of its reusable rockets.

The Falcon 9 rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral at 9:38am local time on Sunday morning, and landed back in the same spot nine minutes later.

SpaceX founder, Elon Musk, shared a photo of the rocket touching down on Instagram, with the caption "Baby came back".

This was the third SpaceX rocket to be successfully landed on solid ground, and the first to do so in daylight. Five other successful landings have been made on sea-based platforms.

Meanwhile, Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos ,has successfully launched and landed four of its New Shepard reusable rockets.

But space companies have been sending rockets into space for decades, so why the sudden interest in bringing them back to Earth?

The main argument for developing reusable rockets is cost.

At the moment, sending a rocket to the International Space Station costs over $60 million (48 million) - and each rocket can only be used once.

Bezos has compared this to using a Boeing 747 to fly across the country once and then throwing the plane away.

Musk claims that recycling a rocket over and over and learning to fly it like a plane could reduce the cost of access to space "by as much as a factor of a hundred".

This is because the only cost per launch would be a few replacement parts and about $200,000 for rocket fuel.

For Bezos, developing reusable rockets is about making space tourism a reality.

The idea is to take paying customers on joyrides to the edge of space, where they can experience zero gravity for a few minutes, before returning safely to Earth.

It's a slightly different approach to Richard Branson, whose spaceflight company Virgin Galactic is also developing commercial spacecraft with the aim of providing suborbital flights to space tourists.

Virgin Galactic's space tourism project was dealt a major blow after an in-air explosion killed one of the company's pilots on a test flight in 2014.

However, the company has since unveiled a new spacecraft called SpaceShipTwo, which looks more like an aeroplane than a rocket.

Rather than launching vertically, the spacecraft is carried to its launch altitude by a jet-powered cargo aircraft, before being released to fly on into the upper atmosphere powered by its rocket engine.

It then glides back to Earth and performs a conventional runway landing.

As well as tourism, reducing the cost of space travel could make it possible for scientists to conduct experiments outside the Earth's atsmosphere.

Blue Origin is already working with the University of Central Florida to build experiments for flight aboard the commercial space company's new spacecraft.

Physics Professor Joshua Colwell and his team are working on the Microgravity Experiment on Dust Environments in Astrophysics project, which aims to shed light on the process by which space dust builds up to form planets.

"The UCF team is tackling deep questions about the early solar system and asteroids, questions that simply cant be answered back on Earth," said Dr. Erika Wagner, Blue Origin head of payload programs.

Further afield, reusable rockets can massively reduce the cost of operating in space.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets are already being used to deliver supplies to the International Space Station and launch satellites for paying customers.

Blue Origin also recently unveiled a reusable rocket called New Glenn, which is designed to launch commercial satellites.

Bezos has outlined a madcap plan to save the planet from a global energy crisis by moving heavy industries off the Earth entirely, and building giant factories and solar farms in space.

"Energy is limited here. In at least a few hundred years ... all of our heavy industry will be moved off-planet," Bezos said.

"Our vision is millions of people living and working in space."

Ultimately, the hope is that reusable rockets will make it possible for humans to explore deep space, and colonise other planets.

SpaceX recently unveiled a design for its Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) - a system that involves using reusable rockets to propel spaceships filled with hundreds of passengers to Mars.

Musk claims that each of these rockets will be reused up to 1,000 times. After taking off and delivering the spaceship into orbit, the rocket will return to Earth, where it will land safely.

It will then be fitted with a fuelling tank, before flying back into space to fuel the spaceship for its trip to Mars. The rocket will then land a second time.

By making the rocket reusable instead of discarding it after every launch, Musk said SpaceX hopes to some day make the cost of going to Mars about the same as buying a house.

He envisions 1,000 passenger ships flying en masse to the red planet within the next century, with one million people living on Mars by the mid-2060s.

Musk claims the system could even be used to explore further afield, allowing humans to travel as far as the Kuiper Belt, beyond Pluto.

"I think Earth will be a good place for a long time, but the probable lifespan of human civilisation will be much greater if we're a multiplanetary species," he said.

"This system really gives you freedom to go anywhere you want in the greater solar system."

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How reusable rockets are paving the way for the next phase of space exploration - Mirror.co.uk

In perhaps the most poetic passage from his inaugural address, President Trump said, We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space. So, how does Trump intend to do that?

Former Congressman Robert Walker, R-Pa., who was tapped to draft Trumps space policy during the campaign, spoke to Yahoo News about the administrations plan to place low Earth orbit missions predominantly in the hands of the private sector, with exceptions for military and intelligence satellites. The government would not compete with commercial interests in this region of space; instead, NASA would concentrate on deep-space exploration with the long-term goal of having humans explore the entire solar system by the 22nd century.

A number of private entities, such as Axiom Space and Bigelow Aerospace, are interested in creating commercial space stations and have technologies under development such as constellations of satellites for Earth observation or new communications tools that they believe can be profitable in low Earth orbit, the region of space up to an altitude of about 1,200 miles. Its the easiest orbit to enter and maintain. The International Space Station (ISS) is in low Earth orbit.

There are already commercial organizations prepared to lift supplies that NASA needs for deep-space exploration into low Earth orbit for assembly.

As we look toward going back to the moon, going to Mars or further, well want to have space resources that would be assembled in orbit so we could make them large enough and capable enough to do real deep-space activities, Walker said.

Walker has extensive experience in the space sector. He was the first sitting member of Congress to receive NASAs Distinguished Service Medal, the agencys highest honor, and has been heavily involved in presidential commissions on the aerospace industrys future and space exploration.

Walker believes space policy must acknowledge that the space community is far bigger than NASA or the military and that private investors should take the opportunity to participate in achieving national goals. He is calling for the National Space Council, a policy-setting body disbanded in 1993, to be reconstituted under the leadership of the vice president to set national goals for all three stakeholders in space: commercial, military and civilian interests.

The questions to address, he said, are Whats the best way for us to access space in the future? And what opportunities exist if youre truly innovative about how your approach a space future?

Michael Suffredini, another recipient of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, has more than 30 years of human space flight experience, has managed the ISS for 10 years and is CEO and president of Axiom Space, which is currently developing the first private, commercial space station. It is intended to be the successor to the ISS after its retirement in 2024.

Along with providing a facility for research, Axiom plans to offer human space flight programs for countries that wish to send their own astronauts into space and for space tourists who want to orbit the Earth for 7 to 10 days.

According to Suffredini, NASA has already been on a path toward commercializing low Earth orbit, and the Trump administration is interested in continuing this process.

We think the time is right for an almost completely from a development, launch and operations standpoint commercial platform in low Earth orbit that can replace what the ISS brings to the table when its ready to retire, Suffredini told Yahoo News. The Trump administrations plan forward really supports what were interested in doing.

Hes hopeful that the administration will support commercial endeavors moving out to cislunar space (the area between the Earth and the moon) as well as to the moon or even Mars. We can all debate, he said, how much commercial activity will happen beyond low Earth orbit in the near future.

[The administrations] thrust is to look at more and more ways to look at commercial entities to participate where they want to in space, Suffredini said.

Robert Bigelow, the founder and president of Bigelow Aerospace, said major aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Lockheed Martin the big guys have always had a lock on NASA and therefore on government money. He said privatizing low Earth orbit is a tremendous opportunity for the little guys to survive and build a thriving business.

This is a completely new era. The circumstances have been changed, because NASA is cash-poor, Bigelow said. Not only does it make sense, but its an absolute necessity.

Bigelow, who has argued that NASAs roughly $19 billion budget should be doubled, recalled conservations with William H. Gerstenmaier, the associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate at NASA, indicating that the agency does not have the resources to return humans to the moon (or accomplish similar lofty goals) without help from the private sector.

Bigelow Aerospace, based in North Las Vegas, Nev., develops expandable space station modules and other resources that could assist human space exploration whether to low Earth orbit, the moon, Mars or deep space. Bigelow said NASA and other national space agencies worldwide are prospective clients.

Aside from unmanned satellites, there are at this time no moneymaking, private operations in low Earth orbit, other than those catering to the ISS, such as the BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module).

There is nothing that private enterprise cant successfully take on, do more affordably and more quickly than any government operation can, Bigelow said. Private enterprise hasnt had the chance.

He said three things are necessary for any space activity: money, technology and legal permission, which itself requires political wherewithal.

The private sector invents technology and generates huge amounts of money, so the political permission is the stopping point, he continued. Up until the current time, aside from satellite communications, space has always been the domain of NASA as far as the United States is concerned. That is changing.

On Wednesday, Robert Lightfoot, the acting administrator for NASA, said in an agency update that the transition under the Trump administration is going smoothly. He also asked NASAs human exploration and operations mission directorate to look into the feasibility of adding astronauts to Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), the first planned flight of the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and second flight of the Orion spacecraft, accelerating human exploration in deep space. With EM-1, NASA is developing the technologies that would be needed for a journey to Mars.

While speaking to a conference of suppliers for the SLS and other projects, Lightfoot emphasized the importance of private and public space industries in reaching the countrys goals.

We must work with everyone to secure our leadership in space and we will, he said.

According to NASA, the SLS and Orion missions (together with record levels of private investment in space) would ensure the United States leadership role in exploring the cosmos and put us closer to unlocking the mysteries of space.

Back in October, the Trump campaign called Walker and asked him to draft its space policy. He agreed and said he could come up with one in a few days, but the Trump team said they needed it much faster. Walker and Peter Navarro, Trumps chief trade adviser, put together what they consider a cohesive space policy within 48 hours.

I was thrilled to help them. This has been a long-duration mission of mine to get our space program as robust as possible, and I have been particularly an advocate for commercial space for a long time, Walker said.

Navarro would run their ideas by Trumps team, and they would offer suggestions that ultimately wound up in the policy, such as a focus on hypersonics (speeds of Mach 5 and above).

Afterward, Trump would mention space as part of his larger vision for the country. Vice President Mike Pence also held a roundtable in Florida during the campaign in which he outlined a space program that resembled Walkers outline.

At a campaign rally on Oct. 25 in Sanford, Fla., roughly an hours drive from the Kennedy Space Center, Trump said, I will free NASA from the restriction of serving primarily as a logistics agency for low Earth orbit activity big deal. Instead, we will refocus its mission on space exploration. Under a Trump administration, Florida and America will lead the way into the stars.

He said the expansion of public-private partnerships would result in maximum investment in space exploration creating thousands of jobs.

Trump has mentioned space as one of the places where we can demonstrate that America is attaining its greatness, Walker said. As hes gone out to some of these rallies, postelection, space was in a couple of his remarks.

In December, Trump named Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and of SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer dedicated to colonizing Mars and reducing the cost of space transportation, to his Strategic and Policy Forum.

Still, certain aspects of Trumps space policy are bound to trouble liberals and scientists concerned about climate change. In an October op-ed for SpaceNews, Walker said NASA spends too much time on politically correct environmental monitoring.

Late last month, employees for more than a dozen government agencies reportedly launched rogue Twitter accounts to take a stance against what they see as Trumps attack on climate science research. These included scientists with the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service and NASA.

Amid the barrage of Trump news, Walker said he has already seen some of his own ideas misconstrued and attacked. Walker said critics falsely accused him of wanting to eliminate NASAs Earth Science programs. He insists that he merely wanted to move them to another agency considered more appropriate for these projects, such as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) or the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The suggestion was that we were eliminating the Earth Science programs that NASA is doing. And thats absolutely wrong. The reason for looking for a transfer was because we were taking NASA out of low Earth orbit, and most of the space-based assets for Earth Science are in low Earth orbit.

Though Walker is advising the Trump administration and drafted its space policy, he was not a formal member of the transition itself. With every new administration, some policies diverge from campaign rhetoric when confronted with the realities of governance. Consequently, as with other areas, its still too early to assess Trumps space initiatives.

Walker also serves on the board of directors for Space Adventures, a space tourism company, and was chairman of the board for the Space Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for the space industry.

Brendan Curry, the vice president of Washington operations at the Space Foundation, said the conversation around private operations in space is nothing new. For instance, commercial communication satellites have been operating and generating revenue in geostationary orbit, at an altitude of 22,300 miles, for decades.

The idea of making money in space has been around almost as long as the Space Age has, he said.

NASAs commercial crew and cargo program, established in 2004 under former President George W. Bush, enjoys bipartisan support. Curry does not see any political efforts to derail or curtail it but said policymakers will need to account for the ISSs planned retirement. This raises a slew of questions: Should it be extended? Should there be a successor platform?

Were asking these companies to make investments in systems and capabilities to go to a destination that might not be around after 2024, he said, so weve got to decide: Are there going to be other opportunities for these companies to develop or maintain systems and capabilities to go to low Earth orbit to provide private services or a service to the federal government.

Robert Jacobs, the deputy associate administrator for NASAs office of communications, told Yahoo News that the agency has helped to create a robust commercial space economy by turning orbital resupply missions for the ISS over to commercial industry. He also said that NASA will soon return to the launching of American astronauts from U.S. soil aboard commercial spacecraft, as the agency focuses on pushing human and robotic exploration further into the solar system.

President Trump said in his inaugural address that we will unlock the mysteries of space, Jacobs said. Accordingly, it is imperative to the mission of this agency that we continue to work hard to do just that.

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One huge step: Trump's plans to privatize 'low Earth orbit' and send NASA into deep space - Yahoo News

Republican lawmakers have begun working to fund space exploration projects over environmental research within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee held a hearing on the future of NASA on Thursday morning. Two former astronauts and two other NASA experts testified before the committee.

Delivering his opening statement, Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, a former NASA astronaut, derided what he viewed as a lackluster past eight years:

One of the key issues confronting the new Congress and the new administration will be how to go forward with restoring Americas preeminence in space after what, frankly, for nearly eight years, have been lost opportunities."

Stafford's comments align with what many Republican lawmakers argued throughout former President Barack Obama's administration. Under Obama, funding within NASA for planetary science and exploration waned while funding for the earth science program, which focuses on environmental research, grew by almost 50 percent.

Republicans, many of whom doubt the validity of concerns surrounding climate change, took issue with the move. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the SenateSubcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, emerged as a leader in the fight to re-prioritize space exploration.

Cruz introduced a bipartisan NASA reauthorization bill in the last Congress that increased funding for planetary science and emphasized NASA's exploration projects. The bill passed in the Senate, but was unable to make it through the House before the end of the 114th Congress.

The Senate could pass Cruz's NASA reauthorization legislation once again as early as Friday. Speaking about the bill, Cruz told Independent Journal Review on Wednesday:

I think it is critical that NASA get back to its core mission of space exploration. Under the Obama administration, space exploration was not given the emphasis and priority it deserves.

Republicans in both houses of Congress are in agreement with Cruz's priorities for NASA. A spokesman for Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.), a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, told IJR about his goals for NASA in the new Congress:

The shift back towards NASA should be focused on space exploration. We have one agency that studies space. We have something like sixteen others that focus on climate issues.

While Republicans maintain that NASA's fundamental mission should be one of exploration, supporters of the earth science program point to the recent work it has done in satellite technology and weather forecasting that millions of Americans rely on today.

Beyond funding disagreements, however, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle tend to agree that returning to space is a worthwhile goal, not only for scientific discovery, but also for national security.

Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), one of President Donald Trump's potential candidates for Administrator of NASA, spoke at length during Thursday's hearing about the threats that advancing Chinese space operations pose to American security. He described the Moon as critically important for the geopolitical position of the U.S.

Likewise, Posey has introduced a bipartisan bill that would direct NASA to return to the Moon by 2022. A portion of the bill's text reads:

Space is the worlds ultimate high ground, and returning to the Moon and reinvigorating our human space flight program is a matter of national security.

While some members of the 115th Congress clearly have ambitious plans for space policy moving forward, their first move will be to shift the focus within NASA from environmental research and other programs to space exploration by allocating increased funding to the planetary science program.

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Republicans Aim to Prioritize NASA Space Exploration Efforts Over Environmental Research - Independent Journal Review

Turkmenistan is aiming for the stars.

Speaking at his presidential inauguration after winning a galactic 97.7 percent of the vote in an election over the weekend, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov announced that Turkmenistan will embark on further exploration of space.

The state news agency cited the president as saying on February 17 that Turkmenistan will build a world-class observatory from which to study the skies. But there is also a more explicitly commercial intent behind this sudden interest in space.

Huge attention will be devoted to developing the communications sector, he said. We will continue to exploit outer space by launching new satellites that will enable us to optimize telecommunications networks and the national economy and raise the Great Silk Road linking the continents to a whole new level.

Turkmenistan has already secured a perch in the space. In 2015, a Turkmen satellite was blasted into orbit onboard a SpaceX craft. The 4.5 ton satellite was built on order by Frances Thales Alenia Space and is operated by the Communications Ministry to provide telecommunications services across Europe, Central Asia and Africa.

Berdymukhamedov said at a government meeting in mid-January that one priority for 2017 was to continue developing mobile, broadcasting and internet communications, and that satellites would be key to that goal.

It would, of course, almost certainly be cheaper to rely on plugging the nations information infrastructure into regional and global networks, like all neighboring countries do, but Turkmenistan takes its North Korea-style isolation seriously. Internet provision inside Turkmenistan is for now poor and, for much of countrys hard-up population, expensive. The government revealed in January that the launch of a second satellite is imminent. Contrary to what Berdymukhamedov implied at the inauguration ceremony, however, the intent of that satellite will be to study the earth to perform remote earth sensing to be exact not space, according to officials.

But the president is for now selling this space lark in loftier terms. In medieval times, he mused, Turkmen scientists exploited the fine weather to make remarkable discoveries in space and contributed greatly to the development of world science.

Turkmenistan is not the only country in the region making outsized claims to space exploration. In September 2015, Tajikistan announced it had discovered a minor planet in the solar system, which it said had been renamed, well, Tajikistan. Authorities claimed in a report (now since seemingly removed from the state news agency website) that the celestial body was so named by a group called the International Astrophysicists Union (which doesnt seem to exist) in recognition of contributions made by Tajikistans scientists to the study of the heavens.

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Turkmenistan Aims High as It Pledges Space Exploration - EurasiaNet

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Space Exploration: Could A Habitable Planet Feature A Habitable Moon? Forbes Could a habitable planet feature a habitable moon? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Dave Consiglio, Chemistry and Physics High ... and more »

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Space Exploration: Could A Habitable Planet Feature A Habitable Moon? - Forbes

Enlarge / Hon. Harrison Schmitt, US Rep. Brian Babin, Lt. Gen. Thomas Stafford, and Tom Young pose for a photo on Tuesday.

House Science Committee

Congress loves to set grand goals for NASA. During a full committee hearingThursday, one member of the House Science Committee said the agency should send humans to Mars in 2033. Another member upped the ante and said 2032. Andanother member later said he hoped to hear that NASA could even do itduring the 2020s.

It was almost as if none of these US representatives had been listening to the expert panel called to testify on NASA's past, present, and future exploration plans. While the panel, including two former Apollo astronauts, generally agreed that NASA was on the right track with its Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, the majority felt like the agency simply didn't have enough resources to complete a compelling exploration plan. That is, NASA might have some of the right tools to launch and fly to destinations in deep space, butit doesn't have the resources to actually land on the Moon, to build a base there, or to fly humans to the surface of Mars for a brief visit.

One of the panel members, Tom Young, a past director of Goddard Spaceflight Center, said the space agency's budget is "clearly inadequate for a credible human exploration program." He said hard choices would have to be made within NASA's existing budget to actually get things done. If NASA were to continue on its present course, Youngsaid, Congress will call a similar hearing ten years from now and lament the lack of progress toward any goal. "You'll all be saying what a disappointing decade we've had."

NASA's annual budgetis about $19 billion. Slightly less than half of that is spent on human spaceflight. About $5 billion goes toward the International Space Station, including development and operations of cargo and crew missions to the laboratory. Additionally, NASA spends another $4 billion on exploration, primarily the development of its Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.

Tom Stafford, a four-time astronaut who commanded the Apollo 10 mission, testified that at present NASA only "talks" about going to Mars, rather than taking concrete steps to get there. While he praised the SLS rocket for its heavy lift capacity, he criticized a level of funding for NASA that allowed the agency to only fly it once every few years. "We certainly need the SLS, but equally we need a space program designed to make good use of it," Staffordsaid.

What would constitute a budget that makes good use of the SLS rocket? In his remarks, Harrison Schmitt, a veteran of the Apollo 17 mission to the lunar surface, said that instead of the roughly $9 billion NASA now spends on human spaceflight, it needs more than double that$20 billion annuallyfor a meaningfulhuman exploration program. As part of a plan that includes private investment, Schmitt sketched out a timeline that included lunar landings in 2025, lunar settlement in 2030, lunar mining in the 2030s, and a Mars landing in 2040. "Ifyou decide youre going to have a deep space human spaceflight program, that needs to be the focus," he said.

Most of the participants agreed that if NASA was serious about sending humans into deep space, into lunar orbit or beyond, it needed to end its financial commitment to the International Space Station as soon as possible and apply those funds toward deep space exploration. The agency is committed to supporting the station through 2024, though it has begun tentatively exploring the possibility of handing off control of its part of the station to private investors.

What was not articulated during Thursday's hearing was an alternative to NASA's proposed means of exploring deep space. By using the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, the agency is falling back upon an architecture it employed during the 1960s to explore the Moon. It is a tried and true means of spaceflight, but it is also likely the most costly route and perhaps not the most prudent one in an era of tightening budgets and newer technologies.

But it isnot the only pathway to deep space today. Two private companies, SpaceX and Blue Origin, are developing heavy lift rockets that may be mostly reusable, which could shave significant costs from any lunar exploration program. Another company, United Launch Alliance, is developing an in-space transportation system between Earth and the Moon built around a reusable upper stage known as ACES.

But Thursday's hearing paid no attention to these ideas. It included three Apollo-era figures who were familiar with the older exploration architecture as well as NASA's former chief scientist, Ellen Stofan, who largely served to defend the agency's Earth Sciences programs. At the outset, the House Science Committee's chairman, Lamar Smith, said of the hearing's purpose that, "Presidential transitions offer the opportunities to reinvigorate national goals. They bring fresh perspectives and new ideas that energize our efforts." By the end of the hearing, however, it wasn't clear whether any fresh perspectives or new ideas had actually been brought forth.

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Congress is told, again, that NASA's exploration plans aren't sustainable - Ars Technica

NASA has awarded $2 million to two companies for the development of technology that will help astronauts breathe safely in space for longer periods, potentially furthering long distance space exploration.

The projects aim to advance the use of oxygen recovery technology which will convert carbon dioxide back into oxygen. Its hoped it will help astronauts breathe a little easier in deep space during long missions.

The selected proposals came from Honeywell Aerospace based in Phoenix, Arizona and UMPQUA Research Co. from Myrtle Creek in Oregon.

On the International Space Station (ISS) currently only 50 percent of the carbon dioxide astronauts exhale is recovered and converted back into oxygen. To make up the shortfall NASA has been transporting oxygen to the ISS crew from Earth.

However, this fix becomes increasingly troublesome as astronauts travel deeper into space on longer missions. The new investment will attempt to solve that problem by getting 75 percent of the oxygen crew require back from their exhaled carbon dioxide.

The development of advanced life support technologies will allow NASA to establish improved capabilities for future deep space, long-duration, human exploration missions, said Steve Jurczyk of NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington.

READ MORE:Mars 2020: Final three landing sites revealed (PHOTOS)

Honeywell Aerospace, a divisions of the Honeywell International conglomerate, is heavily involved in NASA space mission planning and development. It was established in 1914 and has been involved in numerous corporate and military developments including the Manhattan project. UMPQUA Research Co has previously built water disinfection and purification subsystems for the ISS, the Space Shuttle and other projects.

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NASA spends $2mn on 'advanced life support tech' for deep space travel - RT

On July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which provided federal funding for research into space flight. Just over two months later, on Oct. 1, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began operations. They responded quickly to the gauntlet thrown down by the Soviet Union with the 1957 launch of Sputnik and set to work exploring the universe around us. A little more than a decade after being created, NASA successfully sent men to the Moon.

Inspired by every new victory and challenged by each setback, NASA continues to explore the limits of space, sending regular missions out to seek new answers about what lies beyond our ken. These include the ongoing construction of the International Space Station, missions (such as Galileo, Cassini/Huygens, and Messenger) to explore the other planets of our solar system, explorations of comets and asteroids, and mapping the universe using satellites and telescopes from around the world.

These Science NetLinks resources provide a variety of rich media learning experiences to help students learn more about NASA and discover the history and future of space travel.

Spotlight on Space Exploration Grade Band: 6-12 Description: This collection of audio podcasts from Science Update offers students the opportunity to hear from NASA and its partners, as they explore worlds both near and far.

The End of an Era Grade Band: 6-12 Description: Learn more about Discovery's history and its various accomplishments in this blog post.

World Space Week Grade Band: 6-12 Description: Check out this blog post about the annual, worldwide festival celebrating space exploration.

Science Magazine's Breakthrough of the Year Grade Band: 6-12 Description: Learn more in this blog post about the 2014 scientific breakthrough deemed most important by Science Magazine.

A Brush with Greatness Grade Band: 6-12 Description: A testimony in blog format to the end of the space shuttle era.

Rest in Peace, Sally Ride: The First American Woman in Space Grade Band: 6-12 Description: A blog remembrance post about the importance of astronaut Sally Ride.

50 Years of SpaceTwo Pioneers Look Back Grade Band: 3-12 Description: This YouTube video by the European Space Agency looks 50 years of the space program. Sigmund Jhn and Vladimir Remek, former cosmonauts for the Soviet Intercosmos program, talk about their experiences in the beginning of the Space Age.

50 Years since Sputnik Grade Band: 6-12 Description: 50 Years Since Sputnik allows students to explore a diagram of the satellite itself as well as a timeline of space exploration.

NASA's 50th Anniversary Grade Band: 6-12 Description: NASA's official site marking the anniversary of its founding.

New Moon: Reds Launch First Space Satellite Grade Band: 6-12 Description: An old newsreel clip featuring an animation on the launch of Sputnik.

Space Race: The Untold Story Grade Band: 6-12 Description: This is a companion website to National Geographics special on the space race.

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Celebrating Space Exploration - Science NetLinks

Full-scale nuclear test

The nuclear demonstration test will occur in late summer or early fall of 2017. The test will be conducted at the Device Assembly Facility at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). It will be comprised of a ~32 kilogram enriched uranium reactor core (about the size of a circular oatmeal box) made from uranium metal going critical, and generating heat that will be transported by sodium heat pipes to Stirling engines that will produce electricity.

The test will include connecting heat pipes and Stirling engines enclosed in a vacuum chamber siting on the top of a critical experiment stand.The critical experiment stand has a lower plate than can be raised and lowered. On this plate will be stacked rings of Beryllium Oxide (BeO) that form the neutron reflector in the reactor concept. A critical mass is achieved by raising the BeO reflector to generate fission in the reactor core. Once fission has begun, the BeO reflector will be slowly raised to increase the temperature in the system to 800 degrees Centigrade. The heat pipes will deliver heat from the core to the Stirling engines and allow the system to make ~250 watts of electricity. For the purpose of testing only, two of the eight Stirling engines will make electricity,the others will only discard heat.

The data gained will inform the engineers regarding startup and shutdown of the reactor, how the reactor performs at steady state, how the reactor load follows when Stirling engines are turned on and off and how the system behaves when all cooling is removed. This data will be essential to moving forward with a final design concept.

Potential for missions to Mars

Once the nuclear demonstration testing has been completed, the path to putting a nuclear reactor on a NASA mission to deep space or the Mars surface is still several years away. A finalized design must be completed along with rigorous testing of the system for reliability and safety.

The most recent NASA studies have focused on the use of KiloPower for potential Mars human exploration. NASA has examined the need for power on Mars and determined that approximately 40 kilowatts would be needed. Five 10-kilowatt KiloPower reactors (four main reactors plus one spare) could solve this power requirement.

The 40 kilowatts would initially be used to make oxygen and possibly propellant needed by the Mars Ascent Vehicle to send astronauts back into Martian orbit. After making oxygen or fuel, the power would then be available to run the Martian habitat or provided power to Martian rovers all needed by the astronauts during their stay on Mars. Nuclear power has the advantage of being able to run full time day or night, as well as being able to operate closer to the Martian poles where it is believed water exists in substantial quantities.

Lessons learned

Lessons learned from the kiloPower development program are being leveraged to develop a Mega Watt class of reactors termed MegaPower reactors. These concepts all contain intrinsic safety features similar to those in kiloPower, including reactor self-regulation, low reactor core power density and the use of heat pipes for reactor core heat removal. The use of these higher power reactors is for terrestrial applications, such as power in remote locations, or to power larger human planetary colonies. The MegaPower reactor concept produces approximately two megawatts of electric power. The reactor would be attached to an open air Brayton cycle power conversion system. A Brayton power cycle uses air as the working fluid and as the means of ultimate heat removal.

MegaPower design and development process will rely on advanced manufacturing technology to fabricate the reactor core, reactor fuels and other structural elements. Research has also devised methods for fabricating and characterizing high temperature moderators that could enhance fuel utilization and thus reduce fuel enrichment levels.

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Nuclear Reactors to Power Space Exploration - R & D Magazine

Looking to explore more of outer space, developer Chucklefish have been revealing additional information on an upcoming patch for Starbound. This patch is all about exploring the space between planets, so it will see players blasting off to check out travelling merchant ships, derelict space stations and outlying systems.

For more cosmic adventures, check out these PC space games.

To aid exploration in the freezing blackness of space, this update is adding giant mech suits for players to pilot. These bulky robots are designed for extra-vehicular activity, perfect to use while exploring the ruins of an abandoned space station or a spooky wrecked ship. These suits can be equipped with different weapons systems, as well as painted with custom paint jobs to personalise them. As you blast off for the deeper reaches of space, keeping your mech suit updated will be key to surviving dangerous excursions. I can only imagine what vile horrors may be lurking in the depths of some of these abandoned ships.

With this upcoming patch enacting galactic level change, interplanetary travel is getting a massive revamp with the addition of a new navigation interface. The interface does somewhat resemble the Galactic Map seen in No Mans Sky, with astronauts being able to zoom all the way out to see nearby stars in your section of the galaxy. However, this new map is not static, as ships can linger in orbit as moons and space stations fly past. You can freely move around when you are inside a solar system, flying between different planets to spot other ships travelling round.

You could just wait and watch the worlds go by while in space, observing ships coming to and from different planets. You may have to wait around as you look for a specific merchant ship to bring their wares to your current planet, but patient space captains could be rewarded with sick loot. I imagine that ship to ship battles may also come in this update, with space pirates possibly appearing in orbit, looking to pillage nearby vessels.

There has been no exact announcement on when this cosmic update is coming, but keep your scanners locked on the Starbound website for up to date information.

Thanks Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

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Mechs and greater space exploration are on the way in Starbound's ... - PCGamesN