Category Archives: Space Exploration

Picture Venus. You know, the second planet from the sun, where the clouds are shot through with sulfuric acid and the surface is hot enough to melt lead.

What color is it?

For the longest time, I thought of Venus as caramel-colored, swirled with golds, yellows, and brownswarm colors that matched the planets reputation for being a scorching world covered in volcanoes. And then I saw a picture of Venus that James ODonoghue, a planetary astronomer, shared online recently. It was not any toasty shade, not even close. It was milky-white and featureless. A big old space pearl. This is what it looks like to a human being flying by, ODonoghue wrote in his post.

Whaaat? That couldnt be right. I went to my bookshelf and pulled out some space books, flipping to their pages on Venus. In National Geographics Space Atlas, Second Edition: amber. In The Smithsonian History of Space Exploration: butterscotch. In a thick magazine called the Book of the Solar System: gold. My editor sent me pictures of the illustrations from her toddlers books on the solar system, and they showed more of the same. It seemed as if we had all been bamboozled, hoodwinked, led astray. I had seen pictures of Venus in muted shades beforeId used one in a story about the planets atmospherebut this other nondescript, alabaster world seemed wrong. It didnt resemble a planet frequently described as hellish, where the surface conditions have crumpled any spacecraft that made it through the poison clouds and dared to land.

I was so stunned that I reached out to one of my best Venus sources and demanded, Why didnt you tell me? Suddenly I had questions about the whole solar system, and so did the rest of The Atlantics Science desk. As one of my colleagues asked, when I told him about the true nature of Venus, Is Jupiters Great Red Spot even red?

It turns out that almost nothing in space is quite as vibrant as you think it is. Venus is only the beginning.

Read: Venus, the best and brightest

The most widespread image of Venusas an ochre, almost molten worldisnt a real picture, at least not in the typical way we think of pictures; it was made using radio waves. In the early 90s, a NASA spacecraft equipped with radar technology settled into orbit around Venus. Every time the probe, named Magellan, came close to the planet, it collected strips of data from all over Venus and sent them back to Earth. Eventually, the mission amassed enough strips to produce the first-ever radar map of the Venusian surface. We cant see radio waves, so astronomers translated them into colors that we can. They could have picked any color palette, ODonoghue told me. He imagines they went with this particular set because it befit the harsh, burnt landscape of Venus.

The Magellan shot was a significant upgrade over existing images of Venuss exterior, captured by a space probe in the 70s, which showed creamy-white cloud tops and not much else. Suddenly, mountains and craters were visible. The scientists who study Venus loved the orangey version, even though it was an interpretation, Martha Gilmore, a planetary geologist at Wesleyan University who studies the Venusian surface, told me. That color has permeated the Venus community since then, she said. Its in our logos.

Sorry to our human eyeballs, but apparently Venus just looks better in wavelengths we cant visually process. Because its sulfuric-acid clouds are so bright and reflective, the planet itself looks pretty bland from space in the visible spectrum, Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at Washington University who studies Venus, told me. That image of a muted Venus Id used before was the planet in ultraviolet. Where the radar image helped tease out Venuss surface features, ultraviolet brought out swirly structures in its fast-moving clouds.

Read: The Photoshoppers behind dreamy Jupiter photos

Like Venuss classic portrait, most of the pictures of planets and other astronomical objects that youve seen, in textbooks or on NASA websites, are not natural-color views. Theyre rendered in different wavelengths, stitched together from raw data. Or the colors that really would be visible to the naked eye are adjusted in some way, heightened in order to show a more textured view of these worlds, to make their features pop, whether mountains or storms. We dont turn up our noses at artificial color, Candy Hansen, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute who leads the imaging team on a Jupiter mission, once told me. We love artificial color.

So although in most pictures the Great Red Spot looks like a glob of marinara, in natural color the giant storm is more of a dusty rose. Seen from space, Mars is more brown than red. Saturn isnt really so yellow; its actually the kind of nice neutral youd paint a living room. Uranus is more gray than it is teal, and Neptune is a lovely azure, but not that blue. Plutos heart-shaped glacier doesnt stand out as much in true color.

Read: Astronomers are now obsessed with a particular gas on Venus

And the sun? The sun is nearly always depicted as yellow-orange when in space, even though its actually white in space, ODonoghue said. Its actually a lot of extra work to pull off a realistic sun in a space graphic, because a white ball looks really odd. Once again, whaaat?

So if Venus is a ping-pong ball on the outside, what color is it below the clouds? Scientists know that the surface is made of rock that resembles basalt found on Earth, which is dark gray, Byrne said. But chemical reactions between the rock and the atmosphere could turn the surface reddish. The Soviet missions that landed on the Venusian surface in the 70s and 80s took color photographs, revealing a yellowy landscape, before they succumbed to the harsh environment. But the true color was difficult to determine because Venuss atmosphere filters out blue light.

Astronomers will get a fresh look when a new NASA mission, designed to fly right through Venuss atmosphere and toward the surface, arrives in the early 2030s. Those pictures will be in near-infrared wavelengths, but astronomers will once again translate them into more distinct colors for the public to marvel at. Those images are bound to be stunning in their own way, but now that Im past the shock of it, I can understand the appeal of Venus the way wed see it ourselves, as the pearl of the solar system. Its a beautiful planet, Byrne said. Even if theres, like, a bunch of different ways to die there.

Link:

The Planets Aren't the Color You Probably Think They Are - The Atlantic

Chihiro Naruke, a Ph.D. student in Utah State Universitys Department of Plants, Soils & Climate, was awarded first prize in her division at the American Geophysical Union conference for presenting her findings on how root growth affects the pore space of soil. Narukes research is aimed at predicting and designing the ideal plant growth system in microgravity conditions.

She was awarded first prize for her presentation in the Unsaturated Zone domain of the student competition, which included a cash prize of $350. Described as the most influential event in the world dedicated to the advancement of Earth and space sciences, the AGU conference took place virtually and in-person with over 25,000 attendees from more than 100 countries and brought together researchers, scientists, educators, students and policymakers. The organizations members aim to gain and communicate greater understanding of our planet and environment and our role in preserving its future.

The AGU conference was the second presentation for Naruke during the fall 2021 semester. She previously won fourth place for a combined oral and poster presentation on related research focused on microgravity growing conditions at the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America International Annual Meeting that took place in Salt Lake City in November.

Presenting at the SSSA conference was a great experience, and I was able to relax a bit more when I was presenting at the AGU, Naruke said. Presenting at both conferences were milestones in my motivation toward research, and I can use this experience to improve my work and future presentations.

Naruke shared that she decided to attend USU because of the agricultural opportunities available in the United States and recommendations from her master's degree adviser, Masaru Sakai, at Mie University in Japan. Sakai previously worked as a post-doctoral fellow at USU in the Environmental Soil Physics Lab. USU has a decadeslong record of research focused on growing plants aboard spacecraft, both in studying specific plants and developing the chambers in which they can grow. The ability to produce food in space is a critical part of preparing for long-term space exploration and presents many challenges, including optimizing lighting, temperature control and delivering nutrients and moisture to plants root zones when liquids and other materials dont behave in microgravity as they do on Earth.

Despite an initial lack of funding for her specific research, Naruke chose to come to USU. She also worked hard on her English skills as it was her second language.

I am impressed with how rapid the transformation in her writing, reading and speaking abilities has been, said Professor Scott Jones, an environmental soils physicist who serves as her faculty adviser. This award is much more appreciated and deserved considering English is her second language.

Jones shared that one of the most rewarding aspects of working as a faculty member comes from mentoring students and helping them publish their first papers.

That feat generally comes with a lot of hard work, frequent frustration, and substantial satisfaction when the final manuscript is finally accepted, Jones said. Chihiro is now working under a NASA grant and published her first peer-reviewed manuscript in August, and has several other papers in development.

Read the rest here:

USU Student Wins Award for Research That Could Help Plants Grow in Space - usu.edu

University of Central Florida researchers are part of a new $1 million project funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to better understand and predict how and why raindrops are affected when they cross a hypersonic shock wave.

Hypersonic speeds are those at Mach 5 and higher, or five times greater than the speed of sound. The U.S. is currently working on developing hypersonic systems for defense and travel.

The new project is important because colliding with something as light as a single raindrop could cause a lot of damage at hypersonic speeds. The work will inform researchers as to whether or not the raindrop maintains its single droplet form or breaks up into tens of much smaller droplets.

If you have a rain droplet with a tenth of an inch diameter and you hit it at Mach 8, it can create a load as heavy as the weight of an elephant, says Michael Kinzel, project co-investigator and an assistant professor in UCFs Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. So, you cant put an elephant on the wing of an aircraft, and itll support it, right? Its a huge load. And these would be hitting all over parts of the vehicle.

Knowing the impact of different size raindrops on hypersonic aircraft and rockets will help predict when to fly, as light rainstorms may not affect travel as much as heavy storms.

The researchers want to narrow down what conditions make for safe hypersonic travel through rain. The knowledge could prevent damage and improve the accuracy of hypersonic rockets launched through rain and clouds, Kinzel says.

This work will help lead to structural integrity when designing hypersonic vehicles, Kinzel says. And it develops a framework to understand how to design in that context as well as understand limitations of hypersonic flight with respect to some weather conditions.

Kinzel will work to model the effects of raindrops on hypersonic travel by using computer simulations.

Subith Vasu, a professor in UCFs Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and co-investigator, will perform experiments using a shock tube to study the effects of hypersonic shock waves on droplets, such as behavior and timescale of breakup.

Unique test facilities combined with state-of-the-art optical and laser diagnostic systems will be used to understand the interaction of droplet and shock wave, Vasu says.

The work is important for deterrence and the national security of the United States, and we are proud to be involved in this prestigious effort, Vasu says. The knowledge gained from hypersonics research could have other applications as well, including space exploration.

Boston University is leading the project and will be working closely with Kinzel and Vasu to understand droplet behavior when impacted at hypersonic speeds. UCF will be receiving about $560,000 for the three-year project. UCF will be collaborating with engineers and scientists from the Air Force Research Laboratory and Lockheed Martin, both closely involved in the development of a variety of hypersonic vehicles.

The project further highlights UCFs expertise in the area of hypersonic propulsion.

Kinzel received his doctorate in aerospace engineering from Pennsylvania State University and joined UCF in 2018. In addition to being a member of UCFs Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, a part of UCFsCollege of Engineering and Computer Science, he also works with UCFsCenter for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research.

Vasu received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and joined UCFs Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2012. He is a member of UCFs Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research, is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of the International Energy Agencys Task Team on Energy. Vasu is a recipient of DARPAs Directors Fellowship, DARPA Young Faculty award, the Young Investigator grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, American Chemical Societys Doctoral New Investigator, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Dilip Ballal Early Career award, and the Society of Automotive Engineers SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational award. He has received many of the highest honors at UCF including the UCF Luminary and Reach for the Stars awards.

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UCF Lands New Project to Study Effect of Rain on Hypersonic Travel - UCF

Three projects at the University of Strathclyde to tackle the problem of space debris have won funding of more than 500,000 from the UK Space Agency.

A total of 1.7m of funding for 13 projects was announced by UK Science Minister George Freeman during a visit to the Harwell Space Cluster in Oxfordshire where he was joined by Paul Bate, CEO of UK Space Agency.

Orbital congestion created by space debris is one of the biggest global challenges facing the space sector. There are currently an estimated 330 million pieces of space debris, including 36,500 objects bigger than 10cm, such as old satellites, spent rocket bodies and even tools dropped by astronauts orbiting Earth.

Space debris can stay in orbit for hundreds of years and present a real danger to the rapidly increasing number of new satellites being launched each year which provide vital services, including communications, banking and monitoring climate change.

The Strathclyde projects, which are being led by Professor Massimiliano Vasile and Dr Christie Maddock from the Aerospace Centre of Excellence (ACE), a multidisciplinary research group within the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, are:

Professor Massimiliano Vasile, Director of ACE and project lead for HyperSST and AI4SST, said: We are delighted to have won funding from the UK Space Agency for these three projects which will help to ensure the sustainable use of space.

The future of space flight and satellite applications, our reliance on which will only grow, demands that we work hard to ensure to reduce the risks that orbital debris present. The Aerospace Centre of Excellence at Strathclyde is well-placed to play a leading role in promoting space sustainability alongside our global partners.

Dr Christie Maddock, who is the project lead for FASTFRAG, said: Addressing the risk of the atmospheric re-entry of space debris is progressively becoming more and more pressing due to the increase in the number of orbiting objects, the consequent higher frequency of re-entry and the need to ensure that any new satellite or spacecraft is operated safely throughout its life.

Science Minister George Freeman said: Like debris on Everest, the first generation of space exploration and satellite launch has left millions of pieces of dangerous satellite fragments and 4,000 redundant satellites in orbit.

As our reliance on satellites for everyday activity grows, and the UK becomes a leading hub of small satellite design, manufacturing and launch this year via Virgin Orbit in Cornwall, this debris now poses a serious threat to our 16 billion space sector.Thats why we have made debris mitigation and removal and the long-term importance of space sustainability key elements of our National Space Strategy.These projects will help put the UK at the forefront of both protecting the space environment for future activity, and accelerating UK technology leadership.

The UKs National Space Strategy has set out a bold vision for the sector and recognises the need for the country to lead in making space safe and sustainable. The new funding supports the development of underlying technology or data processing capabilities for space surveillance and trackingto support the removal of orbital debris.

In 2021 the UK Space Agency worked with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs(UNOOSA) to supportthe next stage ofinternational efforts to promote space sustainability and provided funding to research a UK led mission to remove junk from space.

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Three Strathclyde projects win funding to support sustainable future of space - University of Strathclyde

Researchers have found the second Earth trojan asteroid and it is much larger than the first one.

11 years after the discovery of the first Earth trojan asteroid 2010 TK7, researchers have confirmed the existence of a second trojan asteroid for Earth. This new trojan asteroid has been named 2020 XL5 and it is three times larger than the first. Spread across a diameter of 1.2 kilometers, this asteroid can serve as the perfect space base to set out space exploration missions in the solar system. This discovery was made after observations from the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is part of NOIRLabs Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Astronomers found the asteroid in 2020 by looking across the sky very close to the horizon at sunrise.

Finally, on February 1, 2022, researchers have published their findings and confirmed the existence of the 2nd trojan asteroid for Earth. So, what is a Trojan asteroid? A Trojan asteroid is an asteroid that travels around the Sun in another planets orbit. For Earth, these asteroids are often placed in Lagrange points. Lagrange points are gravitational spots between Earth and the Sun in Earths orbit where the force of both the bodies are equal and opposite and any space rock stuck there will move in the same orbit transfixed in the same position. Earth has 5 such Lagrange points which means there could be more trojan asteroids. However, these asteroids are very hard to spot due to odd angles of their location.

The asteroid was first discovered on December 12, 2020 by the Pan-STARRS1 survey telescope in Hawaii. But when it was first discovered, it was not known whether it was a near earth object (NEO) crossing our home planet or a trojan asteroid. To get a better understanding, the asteroid was tracked in SOARs archive footage from 2012 to 2019 and it was seen that the asteroid 2020 XL5 was in the same position throughout the years. This archival footage was part of its Dark Energy Survey and while that did not bear much results, it did lead to this astonishing discovery.

But what does this discovery mean for us? Well, its size has been the biggest reason to rejoice. With a diameter of 1.2 kilometers, the asteroid can support space missions and act as refueling point and can even be used as an observatory dedicated to further space exploration. While the potential is high, more observation and research on the asteroid 2020 XL5 will be needed before we can take another step in this direction.

Read more:

Wow! Earth just found a new neighbour, a Trojan ASTEROID! It will stay here for 4000 years - HT Tech

VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --The global nano satellite market size was USD 220.4 Million in 2020. Increase in number of space exploration missions in recent years, lower cost of launching as compared to conventional satellites, and rise in investment by key market players are major factors driving market revenue growth.

Drivers: Advancements in space technologies

Advancements in satellite miniaturization coupled with development and deployment of more innovative technologies are other key factors expected to drive revenue growth of the market during the forecast period. Nano satellites are equipped with advanced devices such as accelerometer, which helps to measure speed of the satellite, and magnetometer, which provides a compass reading and detects magnetic fields. Nano satellites are also mounted with gyroscope, which measures and maintains orientation and angular velocity satellite, and a barometer to detect pressure, among others. These technologies enable nano satellite resources to work efficiently. Furthermore, rapid escalation in production and launch of nano satellites is expected to drive market revenue growth over the forecast period.

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Restraints: Stringent government regulations

Stringent government regulation is a major factor restraining growth of the global nano satellite market. Nano satellites often rideshare, either by secondary payloads on rockets for launching the large satellites, or for carrying cargo to the locations such as the International Space Station (ISS). These impose various restrictions to nano satellite integration and launch schedules, including orbit destinations, and loss of flexibility for the subsystems in nano satellites.

Growth Projections

The global nano satellite market size is expected to reach USD 1,336.9 Million in 2030 and register a revenue CAGR of 20.4% over the forecast period, according to the latest report by Emergen. Increasing adoption of miniaturization technologies across civil, commercial, and military sectors, and increasing initiatives of academic institutions, private companies, and space agencies to launch new nanosatellite missions are key factors driving global nano satellite market revenue growth.

COVID-19 Direct Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse effect on market growth.Lack of funds from private investors and government along with technological challenges have resulted in slow development of nano satellites. The COVID-19 pandemic had led to implementation of stringent lockdown regulations across several countries, which resulted in disrupted supply chain of aeronautical parts and delayed the launch of various satellites.However, many large companies have been able to recover after the pandemic; however small and medium size enterprises are still in the process.

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Current Trends and Innovations

Advancements in satellite technologies such as advanced ground systems, in-orbit services, advanced payload systems, and others is boosting growth of the nano satellite market. Advancements in tracking, telemetry, and command-to-control satellites is making ground systems a top satellite technology trend. Ground stations use Radiofrequency (RF) communication terminals, electronically steered, and phased-array antennas to track satellites with minimal human intervention. Moreover, increase in satellite constellations requires modern inter-satellite links for coordination of constellation movement. For this, smart RF and optical communication technologies are used for better in-orbit relays in upstream and downstream data transfer. This innovation will prove very useful in boosting development of nano satellites.

Geographical Outlook

Market in Europe accounted for moderate revenue share in 2020, which is expected to expand at a rapid rate during the forecast period. Countries in Europe are more developed in terms of advanced technologies, and companies are investing substantially in development of nano satellite technologies, which is creating opportunities for nano satellite providers and boosting market growth.

Market in North America accounted for largest revenue share in 2020 and is expected to register a rapid rate over the forecast period. The U.S. launches a vast number of nano satellites for various applications such as observation of the Earth and remote sensing, mapping and navigation, communications, and military operations. The number of launches is expected to increase in the near future owing to increased defense spending and need to upgrade communication networks and links.

Strategic Initiatives

In March 2021, NASA announced the launch of new inexpensive variants of the nano satellite under its CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), which will provide opportunities for smaller satellite payloads built by small non-profit organizations, high schools, and universities to fly on upcoming satellite launches. NASA provides these CubeSat developers a cost-effective pathway through innovative technology partnerships for conducting technology demonstrations and scientific investigations in space. Similar initiatives by other space industry giants is expected to support market growth.

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Some Key Highlights From the Report

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Emergen Research has segmented the global nano satellite market on the basis of mass, application, end-use, and region:

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Nano satellite Market Size to Reach USD 1,336.9 Million in 2030 | Rise in Demand for Earth Observation Related Applications is a Key Factor Driving...

We're going to infinity, and beyond with our list of the best space exploration games out there.

Its a big universe out there, and video games have made traversing star systems a common activity. There was a time when space exploration games were limited to certain genres, but now its more of a theme, a core idea that defines the philosophies of wildly different titles. In this article, our aim is to showcase some of the biggest and best space exploration games out there. This is not a ranking, and all of the titles mentioned have something interesting and unique to offer despite sharing a common goal: making us feel closer to the stars.

But, what makes a good space exploration game? Well, we like to think they dont have to be realistic experiences all the time. Its all about the wonder of going out there and uncovering the cosmos secrets. Maybe the task is simply to abandon Earth, or maybe space is simply defining an otherwise simple adventure or tales of conquest. The journey is what matters, and outer space is inherently the most unpredictable setting we can wish for.

If youre looking for something more peculiar, you might want to check out our list of the best PSVR space games, or the best Star Wars games. The somewhat extensive list well be exploring in this article isnt bound to certain franchises or platforms, and weve tried to include something for everyone. Now, lets blast off into the unknown.

An open-world game on the surface, Outer Wilds takes flight and sends players on a timed adventure across a solar system stuck in a 22-minute loop which ends with the sun going bye-bye. Its all about the freedom of exploration and figuring out the systems secrets each planet is strange in its own way, and an extinct alien race might hold the key to breaking the time loop and stopping the sun from going supernova.

This ones an easy recommendation for almost anyone looking for a compelling and emotional non-linear adventure that doesnt overstay its welcome and is filled with interesting characters. Of course, its jam-packed with puzzles and situations that make your head spin. Take that into account before putting on your space suit.

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We promised you a bit of space conquest, and Endless Space 2 is the best turn-based, space-set strategy title that you can find right now. It completely behaves like a normal 4X game (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate), but the path to victory is never the same. This sci-fi universe is vast and rich, and so are its possibilities, but one thing always remains true: reaching new systems and colonizing their planets never gets old.

Build an isolated empire, expand your borders across the stars through diplomacy, or let money do the talking to keep your enemies away. Its expansion packs make things weirder and more unpredictable, as if sentient trees which colonize worlds with celestial vines werent strange enough.

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Space flight simulation aficionados are familiar with this one, as its been dominating that genre for years now, and with good reason. In spite of its steep learning curve, few games are as massive and rewarding as Elite Dangerous the persistent online universe and a 1:1 scale representation of the Milky Way galaxy houses many gameplay possibilities that move at their own pace.

Elite Dangerous certainly isnt for everyone, and is more of a lived-in experience that grows with you. Dont expect to get a lot done in one hour. The journey matters here way more than crossing off tasks. Still, the number of different occupations (from space trucker to pirate) guarantee more than enough variety to keep patient players entertained for hundreds of hours. Furthermore, the Odyssey expansion (released May 19, 2021) introduces an on-foot FPS element to the game, although the community doesnt seem to be vibing with it.

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Faster Than Light aint a looker, but its got it where it counts. It can be largely described as a procedurally generated roguelite, and the goal is to reach an allied fleet in order to deliver a package of critical information. The problem is that there are a bunch of dangerous space sectors between your single spacecraft and the bulk of your allies. Plus, a massive rebel fleet is also chasing you.

The game focuses on managing the ships systems and your crew, who are the blood that keep the entire thing working. Its profoundly stressful but highly addictive, and remains one of the most unique space-related indie titles available. Moreover, you get to make some hard decisions as you push forward through the cosmos in a piece of junk, so its not all about battling pirates and fixing your ship with little to no resources.

Everyone remembers how much of a disaster the launch of No Mans Sky was, but Hello Games turned the ship around in spectacular fashion around a year and a half into post-launch development. With a few more years of massive updates, it now packs an absurd amount of content, so youll never be at a loss for anything to do. And, in case you didnt know, its procedurally generated universe is practically endless and can be fully explored with friends and/or random players.

As stated by the developers, No Mans Sky captures a sense of exploration and optimism typically seen in the sci-fi literature of the 1970s. That promise was always there, but the original experience was extremely shallow. Now, it feels like one of the liveliest universes weve explored in a video game. The first couple of hours might be rough, but it quickly picks up and goes where no game has gone before.

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Squads Kerbal Space Program (KPS) is another game that may not seem very enticing at first, but contains lots of absorbing ideas and executes most of them in an engrossing and charming manner. It took a while to get KSP out of Steams early access program, but the final result has captured countless players minds for years, and user-created mods might have something to do with that.

The player controls a space program operated by small humanoids called Kerbals, and the goal is simple: come up with vehicles and plans to explore their star system while avoiding catastrophic failures. KSP plays out like a comedy based on the history of space exploration, and its slowly gained a cult following that is now eagerly awaiting the sequel, which launches in 2022.

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We know this is an odd pick, but hear us out. Spore: Galactic Adventures was a great expansion pack that turned the basic Spore late-game experience (uneven and mostly shallow) into an exciting set of space adventures. Jumping from one planet to another and exploring every corner of the galaxy became more than just a chore, and the extensive adventure and planet creators gave users even more tools to come up with fun content.

Spore hasnt aged that well overall, but its Complete Collection is, in our humble opinion, worth revisiting even now. Maxis threw lots of exciting ideas into it, and many of them still havent been successfully replicated by more modern titles. We wouldnt reject a reboot either.

Relic Entertainments Homeworld games are landmarks of the real-time strategy genre, and even bigger triumphs for lovers of good, meaty science fiction. Gearbox Softwares substantial remaster of both titles only solidified their legendary status and made them relevant again. The series has now started to grow past the classic games, but theyre still must-play releases.

As in most RTS titles, the Homeworld games focus on gathering resources to build military forces to crush your opponents, but the plot and worldbuilding that hold everything together make them stand out: the Kushan exiles of the planet Kharak set out on a mission to reclaim their ancient homeworld of Hiigara from the Taiidan Empire. Its a sprawling epic about space nomads with really cool ships. Whats not to love?

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Best space exploration games | Space

Tell me something. Do you believe in God?'

Snow darted an apprehensive glance in my direction. 'What? Who still believes nowadays?'

'It isn't that simple. I don't mean the traditional God of Earth religion. I'm no expert in the history of religions, and perhaps this is nothing new--do you happen to know if there was ever a belief in an...imperfect God?'

'What do you mean by imperfect?' Snow frowned. 'In a way all the gods of the old religions were imperfect, considered that their attributes were amplified human ones. The God of the Old Testament, for instance, required humble submission and sacrifices, and and was jealous of other gods. The Greek gods had fits of sulks and family quarrels, and they were just as imperfect as mortals...'

'No,' I interrupted. 'I'm not thinking of a god whose imperfection arises out of the candor of his human creators, but one whose imperfection represents his essential characteristic: a god limited in his omniscience and power, fallible, incapable of foreseeing the consequences of his acts, and creating things that lead to horror. He is a...sick god, whose ambitions exceed his powers and who does not realize it at first. A god who has created clocks, but not the time they measure. He has created systems or mechanisms that serves specific ends but have now overstepped and betrayed them. And he has created eternity, which was to have measured his power, and which measures his unending defeat.'

Snow hesitated, but his attitude no longer showed any of the wary reserve of recent weeks:

'There was Manicheanism...'

'Nothing at all to do with the principles of Good and Evil,' I broke in immediately. 'This god has no existence outside of matter. He would like to free himself from matter, but he cannot...'

Snow pondered for a while:

'I don't know of any religion that answers your description. That kind of religion has never been...necessary. If i understand you, and I'm afraid I do, what you have in mind is an evolving god, who develops in the course of time, grows, and keeps increasing in power while remaining aware of his powerlessness. For your god, the divine condition is a situation without a goal. And understanding that, he despairs. But isn't this despairing god of yours mankind, Kelvin? Is it man you are talking about, and that is a fallacy, not just philosophically but also mystically speaking.'

I kept on:

'No, it's nothing to do with man. man may correspond to my provisional definition from some point of view, but that is because the definition has a lot of gaps. Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. Man can serve is age or rebel against it, but the target of his cooperation or rebellion comes to him from outside. If there was only a since human being in existence, he would apparently be able to attempt the experiment of creating his own goals in complete freedom--apparently, because a man not brought up among other human beings cannot become a man. And the being--the being I have in mind--cannot exist in the plural, you see? ...Perhaps he has already been born somewhere, in some corner of the galaxy, and soon he will have some childish enthusiasm that will set him putting out one star and lighting another. We will notice him after a while...'

'We already have,' Snow said sarcastically. 'Novas and supernovas. According to you they are candles on his altar.'

'If you're going to take what I say literally...'

...Snow asked abruptly:

'What gave you this idea of an imperfect god?'

'I don't know. It seems quite feasible to me. That is the only god I could imagine believing in, a god whose passion is not a redemption, who saves nothing, fulfills no purpose--a god who simply is. Stanisaw Lem, Solaris

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Space Exploration Quotes (212 quotes) - Goodreads

When humanity contemplates sending assets to other planets, what should be our goal? There are two fundamental choices:

1) Use artificial intelligence (AI) astronauts to plant seeds of scientific innovation in other locations, so that intelligence is duplicated and not at risk of extinction.

2)Make numerous copies of what nature already produced on Earth.

The choice is between taking pride in what nature manufactured over 4.5 billion years on Earth through unsupervised evolution and natural selection, or aspiring to a more intelligent form of supervised evolution elsewhere.

The first choice AI is apt to an industrial duplication line, for which the proof of concept for the assembly line was already demonstrated on Earth and we can duplicate it in an Earth-like environment. We are emotionally attracted to the second choice, because we are attached to ourselves and our natural path for maintaining the longevity of our genetic-making through biological reproduction.

Prioritizing the natural processes of the second choice is misguided for two reasons. First, we tend to think we are special and so reproducing more of us is appealing. Second, we forget the extensively long series of trial and error that ended up in our naturally selected species. The second choice reflects a unique selection bias, namely we like who we are and imagine that if we duplicate natural selection in an Earth-like environment somewhere else something as special as us will result. Of course, natural selection holds no such guarantee. This underscores the appeal of the first choice of AI, which promotes new systems that are more advanced and adaptable to very different environments. If evolution is supervised by AI systems with 3D printers, it could be more efficient at identifying optimal solutions to new challenges that were never encountered before.

The second approach was the sort adopted by barbarian cultures throughout human history. Its brute-force simplicity in making copies of existing systems could lead to dominance by numbers, but its main weakness is that it is vulnerable to new circumstances that previous systems cannot survive. For example, the dinosaurs were not smart enough to use telescopes capable of alerting them to the dangers of giant space rocks. Also, the ideas offered by Ancient Greek philosophy survived longer than the Roman Empire despite the latters military might in conquering new territories.

AI scientists could use machine learning to navigate through virgin territories and adapt more effectively to their challenging terrain than terrestrial life forms. In this vein, AI systems could be viewed as our technological kids and a phase in our own Darwinian evolution, as they represent a form of adaption to new worlds beyond Earth. There is no reason for us to be attached to primitive representations of life on Earth, just as there is no reason to resurrect the dinosaurs.

Periods of snowball Earth removed some forms of life from our terrestrial habitat, but the physical challenges on other planets could be so extreme that envisioning terrestrial life there is a non-starter. Adopting survival tactics by AI systems in these alien environments might be essential for tailoring sustainable torches that carry our flame of consciousness there.

Is there a smarter kid on our cosmic block who already figured out the best strategy? If so, it would be interesting to find out whether the first choice or the second are more popular among extraterrestrial civilizations.

The first choice has a higher likelihood of survival in the face of natural disasters, such as loss of planetary atmospheres, climate change, meteorite impacts, evolution of the host star, nearby supernova explosions or flares from supermassive black holes. However, the second choice natures choice could be sufficiently infectious, like the omicron variant of COVID-19, so as to seed many locations at once and compensate for its reduced impact.

By studying other planets for signs of life we could identify which choice is most favorable and even might learn what was most popular by civilizations elsewhere. Based on human history, we might find evidence for a lot of barbarian cultures that had perished and a much smaller population of intelligent cultures that maintained longevity. Although more difficult to find, those precious needles in the haystack that survived over billions of years, could teach us an important lesson about the favorable path. To put my cards on the table even before we find them: I am all in favor of option A for AI than B for barbarian.

Avi Loebis head of HarvardsGalileo Project,a systematic scientific search for evidence of extraterrestrial technological artifacts. Loeb is the founding director of Harvard'sBlack Hole Initiative, the director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-SmithsonianCenter for Astrophysics, and he chairs the advisory board for the Breakthrough Starshot project.He is the author ofExtraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth.

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Two choices in space exploration | TheHill - The Hill

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida in 2015 Orlando Sentinel via Getty Images

A piece of a SpaceX rocket will crash into the moon after spending nearly seven years hurtling through space, experts predict.

The Falcon 9 booster was launched by Elon Musk's space exploration company in 2015, but after completing its mission, it didnt have enough fuel to return to Earth. The rockets second stage has been in an uncontrolled orbit ever since.

Therockethas been pulled by the competing gravitational forces of the Earth, moon, and sun, which has made its path chaotic, says Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

"It's been deadjust following the laws of gravity, McDowell says to Georgina Rannard for BBC. "Over the decades there have been maybe 50 large objects that we've totally lost track of. This may have happened a bunch of times before, we just didn't notice.

While the SpaceX rocket isnt the only piece of space junk orbiting Earth, it could be the first documented rocket collision with the moon, according to data analyst Bill Gray who developed software that tracks near-Earth objects. Gray predicts the rocket will hit the far side of the moon on March 4, 2022.

I realized that my software complained because it couldnt project the orbit past March 4, Gray told Timothy Bella of the Washington Post. And it couldnt do it because the rocket had hit the moon.

The SpaceX booster was part of the companys first deep-space mission designed tomonitor solar storms and Earth's climate, per Live Science's Ben Turner.After the booster sent the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite to a gravitationally-stable Lagrange point, the rockets second stage became derelict.

When the rockets second stage finally collides with the moon at roughly 5,771 mph, it will explode on impact.

"It's basically a four-tonne empty metal tank, with a rocket engine on the back. And so if you imagine throwing that at a rock at 5,000 miles an hour, it's not going to be happy," McDowell tells theBBC.

Unlike deliberate collisions with the lunar surface, this impact is not likely to reveal anything new about the moon. In 2009, NASA fired its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite onto the moon's south pole, which released a plume of material that allowed scientists to confirm the presence of water ice.

Though thebooster's crash will be largely uneventful, space debris can have serious consequences. Because of the high speed that objects travel in space (around fivemiles per second), a collision with even a tiny chip of free-floating paint can damage a spacecraft. Last November, astronauts in the International Space Station were forced to shelter in their spacecraft when they passed through a debris cloud from a Russian anti-satellite test. All of that space junk whizzing around the planet could complicate future space travel.

"If we get into the future where there are cities and bases on the moon, we want to know what's out there, McDowell tells theBBC. It's much easier to get that organized when there is slow traffic in space, rather than waiting until it's a problem."

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A Chunk of a SpaceX Rocket Is Going to Slam Into the Moon - Smithsonian