Category Archives: Space Exploration

From small satellites to giant rockets, in outer space business is booming. Despite fears that the global coronavirus pandemic would lead to a slowdown in commercial space investment, 2021 has been the best year yet for capital infusions into private space exploration with Q2 outperforming every other quarter to date. Venture capital firms (VCs) delivered a total of $4.8 billion to 102 different space companies during the quarter, according to data from the investment fund Space Capital.

SpaceX's cheap launch vehicles, such as the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, have opened up Earth's low orbit to commercial activity. Whether it's high-speed satellite internet or the GPS in your mobile phone's maps app, many new innovations rely on commercial space technology. With the test launch of the company's largest rocket to date, Starship, set for later this year, analysts expect commercial space activity to become even cheaper.

"Starship is going to fundamentally change how we operate in space," said Chad Anderson, founder of Space Capital, a venture capital firm that invests exclusively in space technology. According to Anderson, the wide availability of the enormous commercial rocket could make the cost of entering Earth's orbit a mere $2 million, an incredible 45 times cheaper than current prices of $90 million. It will also open up places like the moon and Mars as potential new areas for business. While the frothy feelings can be felt throughout the space industry, here are five space technology companies besides the well-known SpaceX, which is also VC funded generating the most excitement for investors.

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5 Most Innovative Space Exploration Companies According to VCs - Business Insider

Developer Multiverse has announced space exploration RPG Earth From Another Sun is set to launch on PlayStation and Xbox consoles in 2023.

Promising a dynamic and ever-evolving galaxy youll have free reign thanks to the open-ended gameplay. Youll be able to scour star systems for resources, establish a trading network or just conquer planets by force. Youll be able to explore planets, pirate dens and space stations, and take on missions for rewards. The game also promises user generated content and bi-weekly updates to keep things fresh.

Youll also be able to lead grand armies, promising up to 1000 units such as soldiers and mechs in strategic combat. Theres even a whole FPS aspect for battles themselves. The game boasts a near unlimited array of weapons, skills and mods and you can customise your guns.

If combat isnt your thing, youll be able to trade or treasure hunt too in Earth From Another Sun. Both single player and multiplayer modes are supported. The activities range from two-player co-op dungeon runs all the way up to a 60-player Galactic Dominion Conquest mode. Blimey!

The game will launch first in Early Access on PC in Q2 2022. Before that, however, those wanting to get their hands on the game a little earlier will be able to try a 30 minute demo. Thatll be available via the Steam Next Fest, taking place between October 1 and October 7.

Following the Early Access period, Earth from Another Sun intends to land on consoles in 2023. Itll head for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. Check out a trailer for the game below.

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Earth From Another Sun is a space exploration RPG aiming for 2023 launch on PlayStation and Xbox - Videogamer.com

Elon Musk, Tesla boss and SpaceX founder, has invested a lot in the past decade in space exploration and missions beyond Earth, such as landing on the Moon and Mars. Musk has even teamed up with NASA to further their goal of space exploration.

But what does inspire him to focus so much attention on space? Musk answers this question in an interview during the two-day event called Italian Techweek. The SpaceX founder talked about SpaceX and what inspires his love for space.

(Photo : Getty Images)BERLIN, GERMANY DECEMBER 01: SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk poses on the red carpet of the Axel Springer Award 2020 on December 01, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke-Pool/Getty Images)

During the interview, Elon Musk was asked what inspires him, particularly his love for space as he continues his goal in space exploration. According to News 18, Musk answer that his source of inspiration for space exploration is somewhat philosophical.

"The thing we should be aiming for is to increase the scope and scale of human civilization so as to best ask the right questions for the answer which is reality or the universe. We should work to ensure the survival and long-term prosperity of humanity," the news outlet quoted Musk.

Musk further said that humanity should seek to extend human consciousness ad presence beyond Earth and the Solar System to other planets and other star systems. He said that this is the nature of his philosophy.

His answer to what inspires him was commended by many, especially space enthusiasts who were left in awe after hearing the billionaire's source of inspiration. Some commented that Elon Musk is one of the "doers" while others only talk.

On September 16, Musk's SpaceX launched the Inspiration4, the world's first-ever all-civilian crew that reaches space. The team safely landed back on Earth on September 18 after completing 15 orbits around the plane, showing the stunning view of Earth from the spacecraft's cupola.

ALSO READ: Elon Musk Really Thinks That SpaceX Can Send Humans to the Moon 'Sooner' Than 2024

During the 2016 International Astronautical Congress in Mexico, Elon Musk said in an interview that it will be possible to send thousands of people from Earth towards Mars in the future, the National Geographicreported. He clarified that this does not mean transferring every human to the Red Planet, but it is about making the human race a multi-planetary species.

"The future of humanity is fundamentally going to bifurcate along with one of two directions: Either we're going to become a multiplanet species and a spacefaring civilization, or we're going be stuck on one planet until some eventual extinction event," Musk said in an interview with National Geographic.

He estimated that humans might begin traveling from Earth to Mars by the mid-2020s via a massive rocket that they call Interplanetary Transport System, which was formerly known as the Mars Colonial Transporter (MCT), according to Spaceflight 101. The rocket consists of a reusable Booster and a Tanker craft for in-orbit refueling.

NASA's former chief technologist Bobby Braun said that Musk's technical outline for his plan is about right. He also commended Musk for not pretending that the mission is going to be easy and achievable in just ten years. Nevertheless, anything could happen in the future as anything is possible in a hundred years.

RELATED ARTICLE: Will Elon Musk Ever Go to Space? Billionaire SpaceX Founder Not Yet Sure When

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Elon Musk's Inspiration for His Love of Space: Increasing the Scope, Scale of Human Civilization Beyond Earth - Science Times

Its the battle of the billionaires, 2.0. While its no longer Branson, Bezos and Musk racing to go to the outer limit of space, Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist, may also have just taken a sly dig at the entire process of space exploration itself. While the billionaire has been very vocal about his climate change ambitions and making Earth more sustainable, on an interview with James Corden, Gates took a dig at the other three billionaires who are currently in a race to escape Earth - and colonize another planet. During his recent appearance on American late-night talk show, the Late Late Show with James Corden hosted by James Corden, on September 23 to talk about the climate crisis, Gates made a remark which Corden called the classiest burn.

The burn in context came after Corden asked for Bill Gates thoughts on other billionaires investing in space travel and what he felt about that, Gates replied that he was instead obsessed with eradicating diseases here on earth rather than with space." Corden had opened the interview by thanking Gates for being the one billionaire who is not trying to escape planet earth on a spaceship at the moment. When asked about why billionaires were obsessed with space travel at the moment, Gates replied, I dont know. I have become obsessed with things like Malaria and HIV and getting rid of those diseases and I would probably bore people at cocktail parties talking about diseases. Space? You know, we have a lot to do here on earth. For the rest of the interview, Gates called upon being optimistic and the combined efforts of all people to tackle the climate crisis.

This is not the first time Gates had this same dig. In February this year, during an interview for his new book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster", he mentioned how unlike Tesla CEO and Space X boss, Elon Musk, he wants to focus on issues right here on Earth - not on Mars.

The Microsoft co-founder in an interview with Kara Swisher on her Sway podcast, says Well, its important to say that what Elon did with Tesla is one of the greatest contributions to climate change anyones ever made. And you know, underestimating Elon is not a good idea."

He adds however, he doesnt see Musks solutions as real solutions, He added that hes not a Mars person and that he doesnt think rockets are the solution. In the interview, he says that companies like Tesla are doing great work on easy stuff, like passenger cars but that we need to tackle other industries to make a bigger climate change difference.

Gates would also rather spend money on measles vaccines than travelling to space in a rocket. Im not going to pay a lot of money because my foundation can buy measles vaccines and save a life for $1,000. So anything I do, I always think, OK, I could spend that $1,000 buying measles vaccine.

Earlier this very week, United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres during his opening speech at the UN general assembly called out the gap between the rich and the poor with billionaires joyriding to space while millions go hungry on Earth.

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Bill Gates Just Took a Dig at Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos' Space Expeditions - News18

Bill Ingalls/ NASA via Getty ImagesIn this 30 second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, in Spruce Knob, West Virginia. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Since it began in 1966, Star Trek has been about exploration. The franchises creator, Gene Roddenberry, envisioned a future where humans were not bogged down by poverty, hunger, or war. Technology provided everything they needed. So, they took to the stars to explore beyond their own world.

Though not all of the Trekverses actors were interested in space, many of them desperately wanted to land a role on Star Trek because of their dreams of exploring strange new worlds. A few Star Trek actors have expanded their passion beyond the Trekverse by working with agencies and organizations that actually explore space.

Here are four Trek stars who seek out new life and new civilizations in real life.

After playing Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek: The Original Series for a little bit, Nichelle Nichols wasnt sure that she wanted to continue on the show. She wasnt happy about the way her character was being written. However, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. personally asked Nichols to stay on the show. He told her that she was showing an entire generation that Black women could be on the bridge of a starship. He added that she was his daughters hero.

So, Nichols stayed on Star Trek. She also became a vocal advocate for diversity within NASAs space program. Nichols gave a speech where she asked NASA outright, Where are my people?

NASA got the message loud and clear. The agency enlisted Nichols help in their recruiting efforts. She made recruitment videos for the space program, traveled all around the country to convince colleges to recommend people of color for the space program, and talked to potential recruits to convince them to apply.

NASA has credited Nichols work with getting8,000 people of color into its space program since the 1970s.

Robert Picardos interest in space exploration started long before Star Trek, and it deepened during his time playing The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager. In 1999, he became a member of the Advisory Council for The Planetary Society, an organization that lobbies for space exploration.

On behalf of the organization, Picardo has personally lobbied Congress for funding and policy changes that support space exploration. Hes also worked with Bill Nye (yes, the science guy) to raise awareness about the necessity of space advocacy.

Picardos passion for space exploration is centered on the same vision Roddenberry had connecting with species from other planets. Picardo has been curious about the origins of life and life on other planets for decades. His work with The Planetary Society is part of his mission to make sure that humanity is ready for First Contact, whenever it happens.

Like Picardo, Anson Mounts passion for space exploration revolves around finding proof of life on other planets. In 2020, he became a member of the Board of Directors at METI. The organizations mission is to communicate with alien life. The name literally stands for Messaging Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. METI conducts and funds research into communication methods, technologies, and broadcasting techniques that could result in the discovery of extra-terrestrial life.

Mount told Paste that he believes humanity is closer than ever to finding and communicating with alien life. Now that scientists have identified planets that could contain water, which is necessary to maintain life, METI knows where to target its messages.

Decades after Nichols paved the way for people of color at NASA, fellow Star Trek alum Tim Russ is following in her footsteps. In August 2021, USA Today reported that Russ literally discovered an asteroid and is working with NASA to plan an exploration mission.

Russ has been an amateur astronomer for years, as he explained to his costar, Picardo, in a video for The Planetary Society, which can be viewed above. His interest became an avocation when he and five other avid hobbyists used their astronomy skills to find an asteroid in Jupiters orbit, which has been dubbed Patroclus.

Russ is now working with NASA to send a probe, named Lucy, to the asteroids orbiting Jupiter. The agency is hoping to analyze the chemical makeup of the asteroids to glean what information they can about where the asteroids originated and where they were before they were caught in Jupiters orbit.

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'Star Trek' Actors Who Work With Space Exploration Orgs - Heavy.com

This article was originally published atThe Conversation.The publication contributed the article to Space.com'sExpert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Simon Dub, PhD candidate, Psychology of Human Sexuality, Erobotics & Space Sexology, Concordia University

Dave Anctil, Chercheur affili l'Observatoire international sur les impacts socitaux de lintelligence artificielle et du numrique (OBVIA), Universit Laval

Judith Lapierre, Professor, Faculty of Nursing Science, Universit Laval

Lisa Giaccari, Research assistant, Concordia Vision Laboratory, Concordia University

Maria Santaguida, PhD Candidate in Psychology, Concordia University

Houston, we have a problem! Love and sex need to happen in space if we hope to travel long distances and become an interplanetary species, but space organizations are not ready.

National agencies and private space companies such asNASAandSpaceX aim to colonize Mars and send humans into space for long-term missions, but they have yet to address theintimate and sexual needs of astronauts or future space inhabitants.

This situation is untenable and needs to change if we hope to settle new worlds and continue our expansion in the cosmos well need to learn how to safely reproduce and build pleasurable intimate lives in space. To succeed, however, we also need space organizations to adopt a new perspective on space exploration: one that considers humans as whole beings with needs and desires.

As researchers exploring the psychology of human sexuality and studying the psychosocial aspects of human factors in space, we propose that it is high time for space programs to embrace a new discipline:space sexology, the comprehensive scientific study of extraterrestrial intimacy and sexuality.

Love and sex are central to human life. Despite this, national and private space organizations are moving forward with long-term missions to theInternational Space Station (ISS), the moon and Marswithout any concrete research and plans to address human eroticism in space. Its one thing toland rovers on another planetorlaunch billionaires into orbit its another to send humans to live in space for extended periods of time.

In practice, rocket science may take us to outer space, but it will be human relations that determine if we survive and thrive as a spacefaring civilization. In that regard, we argue that limiting intimacy in space could jeopardize the mental and sexual health of astronauts, along with crew performance and mission success. On the other hand, enabling space eroticism could help humans adapt to space life and enhance the well-being of future space inhabitants.

After all, space remains a hostile environment, and life aboard spacecrafts, stations or settlements poses significant challenges for human intimacy. These includeradiation exposure, gravitational changes, social isolation and the stress of living in remote, confined habitats. In the near future, life in space may also limit access to intimate partners, restrict privacy and augment tensions between crew members in hazardous conditionswhere co-operation is essential.

To date, however, space programs have almost completely omitted the subject of sex in space. The few studies that relate to this topic mostly focus on the impacts of radiation and micro- or hyper-gravity onanimal reproduction (rodents, amphibians and insects).

Read more:Sex in space: Could technology meet astronauts' intimate needs?

But human sexuality is about more than just reproduction. It includes complex psychological, emotional and relational dynamics. Love and sex are also pursued for fun and pleasure. As such, space exploration requires the courage to address the intimate needs of humans honestly and holistically.

Abstinence is not a viable option. On the contrary, facilitating masturbation or partnered sex could actually help astronautsrelax, sleep and alleviate pain. It could also help thembuild and maintain romantic or sexual relationshipsand adapt to space life.

Importantly, addressing the sexological issues of human life in space could also help combat sexism, discrimination and sexual violence or harassment, which are unfortunately still pervasive in science and the military two pillars of space programs.

Due totaboos and conservative sexual views, some organizations may choose to ignore the realities of space intimacy and sexuality. They may also think that this is a non-issue or that there are morepressing matters to attend to. But this attitude lacks foresight, since producing quality science takes time and resources, and sexual health including pleasure is increasinglyrecognized as a human right.

More and more, this means that space agencies and private companies may be held accountable for the sexual and reproductive well-being of those that they take into space.

Thus, space organizations who submit to their conservative funders will likely pay the price of their inaction in a very public and media-fueled way when disaster strikes. The hammer may fall particularly hard on the organizations who have not even tried addressing human eroticism in space, or when the world learns that they knowingly failed to conduct the proper research andtake the necessary precautions that scientists have been requesting for more than 30 years.

To move forward, space organizations must stop avoiding sexual topics and fully recognize the importance of love, sex and intimate relationships in human life.

Accordingly, we encourage them to develop space sexology as a scientific field and research program: one that not only aims to study sex in space, but also design systems, habitats and training programs that allow intimacy to take place beyond our home planet, Earth.

We further propose that, given its expertise and the sociopolitical climate of Canada, theCanadian Space Agencyis ideally positioned to become a world leader in space sexology. We have what it takes to pave the way for an ethical and pleasurable space journey, as we continueto boldly go where no one has gone before.

This article is republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.

Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates and become part of the discussion on Facebook and Twitter. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.

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Love and rockets: We need to figure out how to have sex in space for human survival and well-being - Space.com

Mexico is one of the latest countries to join the space industry, with an ambitious project. Together with Airbus, the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) and local startup Dereum Labs are launching a groundbreaking Mexican In-Situ Resources Utilization (ISRU) Program for lunar extraction.

What if we could obtain resources such as oxygen, water and fuel right there, on the moon, instead of having to transport them from the Earth? Through advanced technologies, they could be extracted from the moons surface layer, known as regolith. The demonstration concept of this new program is an end-to-end process that goes from regolith identification, to extraction of resources.

Using Mexican capabilities and Dereum Labs technologies, the project will first conduct data gathering and map out potential resources. The startup is developing the robotic vehicles that will do that, and Airbus is helping with the technology that will get these vehicles to the moon. Plus, Airbus is working on ROXY, a system for extracting metal and oxygen from moon resources.

According to Airbus, this is just the beginning of the companys future cooperation with Mexico in the space sector, a journey towards a sustainable cis-lunar economy. Mexico is also determined to play a more active role in space exploration, and AEM announced that certain Mexican universities will also be invited to participate in the ISRU program.

Dereum Labs also has big plans for the future: it wants to help companies get not just to the moon, but also to Mars and asteroids, and robot-based space exploration is the way to do that.

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Mexico Is Sending Game-Changing Robotic Vehicles to Explore Resources on the Moon - autoevolution

Mat Kaplan:

The wonderful stories from the international space station. This week on Planetary Radio. Welcome. I'm Mat Kaplan of The Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. There have been several documentaries about life aboard the ISS, but none I know of that have provided the deeply personal experiences and reflections you'll find in The Wonderful.

Mat Kaplan:

The films director, Clare Lewins and one of its stars, Astronaut Cady Coleman, will join us for a wonderful conversation. We'll also who hear from science communicator Jatan Mehta for the first time. Jatan is a contributing editor at The Planetary Society. He is prepared a guide to south Korea's first deep space mission. A lunar orbiter called KPLO that launches in less than a year. We'll talk with Jatan at his home in Mumbai India. There's another fun visit ahead with the society's chief scientist. I hope you'll stay for what's up with Bruce Betts.

Mat Kaplan:

Once again, the biggest space story came too late for the September 17 edition of our free weekly newsletter, The Downlink, the inspiration for crew rode their dragon capsule to a safe splash down in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, September 18th. You'll hear Cady Coleman welcome these new space travelers to a club that is finally becoming a little less exclusive.

Mat Kaplan:

As of last week, we were up to 4,516 confirmed exoplanets. NASA's test mission continues to rack up discoveries. The team behind the dedicated planet finder has created a sweeping montage of the Southern sky that includes 208 of its individual images. You'll find it at planetary.org/downlake.

Mat Kaplan:

You can also read about the astronaut and cosmonaut whose stays aboard the ISS have just been extended. They've given their rides home to the Russian movie director and actor who will soon be shooting aboard the station. And NASA has awarded new lunar lander development contracts to five companies. They include some of the competitors for the big human landing system contract that went to SpaceX.

Mat Kaplan:

Here's my recent conversation with Jatan Metha. Jatan welcome to Planetary Radio for the first of all I hope will be many conversations about contributions you are making to The Planetary Society's website and other content. Again, welcome.

Jatan Mehta:

Thank you so much for having me on Mat. I'm very happy.

Mat Kaplan:

Tell us about KPLO.

Jatan Mehta:

Yes. KPLO is South Korea's first moon mission. They are beginning their planetary exploration as a country, just like India forayed into plant exploration with Chandrayaan-1. And it's a lunar orbiter, which will give us great new views of our moon using its many incredible instruments. One of which is NASA's ShadowCam instrument, which is an ultra sensitive camera.

Jatan Mehta:

In addition to the mission itself, KPLO also represents many other things such as kickstarting, a great collaboration with NASA as part of the larger astomatous program. KPLO is multifaceted in that way in terms of what it means for South Korea.

Mat Kaplan:

I want to talk a little bit more about ShadowCam, judging from the piece that you wrote for us that people can find at planet.org, of course, it's a mission page, so you can search for KPLO in our search engine on the society website. This looks like a camera that is going to be capable of doing things that have never been done above the moon before.

Jatan Mehta:

That's correct. The team behind ShadowCam is essentially much of the same people that were on LRO's Narrow Angle Camera, which is known to have excellent resolution and has provided us with incredible use of the moon. The difference here is ShadowCam is going to be at least 200 times more sensitive than LRO's NAC, so that makes a huge difference.

Jatan Mehta:

LRO never had a problem with the resolution, but if it wanted to image permanently shadow regions, which it did by the way, but when it wanted to do that, the sensitivity was lacking. Therefore the images wouldn't be look great and you couldn't plan proving or landing missions based on that.

Jatan Mehta:

However, with ShadowCam, since you have at least 200 times the sensitivity, you will be able to see permanently shadow regions almost as if they are sun lit. It also has a very great resolution of about 1.7 meters per pixel at its best, which is pretty great and that's about the size of a typical robotic lander in terms of its diameter. Which means that if you want to plan landing missions and surface missions inside permanently shadow regions, which is where we believe scientists think that where the water is, and-

Mat Kaplan:

Yes.

Jatan Mehta:

... other such resources are. If you want to plan missions there which are meticulous in their nature, then ShadowCam is how it'll be enabled.

Mat Kaplan:

You also write about south Korea's fairly ambitious plans for the future. Tell us about those.

Jatan Mehta:

South Korea has so far made public the idea of having another lunar orbiter being launched soon after the first one, and after that they want to do something far more ambitious which is to have a fully indigenously built robotic lunar lander. Which is again, very similar to what Chandrayaan-2 attempted. The idea is South Korea will have a robotic lunar lander and a rover, and they will be launched on top of an indigenous rocket.

Jatan Mehta:

This is again, very similar to Israel's model where Chandrayaan-2, the obitor and the land stack was launched on GSLV Mark III, which was again an indigenously built rocket. The idea is South Korea wants to be self-sufficient in terms of its Lunar exploration plans. At the same time, since they have a great partnership with NASA or KPLO, which isn't just restricted to ShadowCam, NASA is providing support in terms of mission planning, mission design communications via ground stations when the mission is on.

Jatan Mehta:

There are nine scientists from NASA who joined the KPLO science team in March so as to enhance the mission's output. This sort of a great synergy between NASA and South Korea is really nice to hear about. They want to double down on this because about in May or June around that time, South Korea also signed up to be part of Artemis Accords, which is basically what NASA calls a set of cooperative tools for enhanced Lunar exploration wherein each country that participates and signs Artemis Accords can help each other out and share scientific data, have opportunities for payloads, whenever a mission from any of the countries go, and so on.

Mat Kaplan:

It's great to see the Artemis Accords becoming a truly international effort to eventually as NASA likes to say, put that first woman and next man back on the moon and have a permanent presence there. When can we expect to see the launch of KPLO on a Falcon 9 rocket and reach the moon?

Jatan Mehta:

They are targeting August, 2022 at the earliest for the launch on a Falcon 9, and they are going to take a ballistic trajectory to the moon, which basically means that regardless of any smaller launch delays in terms of let's say a few weeks or a month, it will still reach the moon around the same time as intended in December, 2022.

Mat Kaplan:

Can't wait. Very exciting stuff. Thank you for bringing us this overview. Of course, there are additional details in the mission or on the mission page that Jatan has prepared for us, planetary.org. Jatan again, thank you very much for giving us this little preview of the KPLO mission.

Jatan Mehta:

Thank you so much for having me here. I was glad to do that. Especially because the KPLO reminds me a lot of Chandrayaan-1. I was just 14 when Chandrayaan-1 launched and that thing really inspired me. I hope south Korean students and kids will get inspired just the same.

Mat Kaplan:

And of course we at The Planetary Society, applaud all nations that set out across the silver system to join this grand effort of exploration. Jatan Metha is a contributing editor for The Planetary Society. You can find his independent blog at blog.jatan.space. It includes his really excellent moon Monday weekly updates about all things lunar.

Mat Kaplan:

Jatan was also a science officer for the team in this moon mission effort. He tweets from at uncertain cork. The Wonderful: Stories from the Space Station is available in theaters and everywhere on demand right now. I wish I'd seen it on a really big screen at a dark room with a lot of other space fans. It's not just the beautiful footage and music that make this a great film. It's really much more what the stars bring to the production. Those stars are an international of astronauts and cosmonauts that we spend intimate moments with on the ground and high overhead.

Mat Kaplan:

You'll hear director Clare Lewins, Astronaut Cady Coleman and me talk about many of them, like Bill Shepherd, the man who turned on the lights in the ISS, and Ron Garan who flew on expedition 27, 28, Cady, and wrote the orbital perspective when he returned to earth. There are also some who bid farewell to these space travelers and watched them pass overhead. They include Cady's artist husband, Josh. Clare, Cady and I gathered online a few days ago.

Mat Kaplan:

Clare Lewins, Cady Coleman, welcome and thank you for joining us on planetary radio. It is a pleasure to have you in front of our microphones, but it was also such a pleasure to see this terrific film. Congratulations to both of you on that, and especially to you, Clare, the director of the film. It is quite an accomplishment.

Clare Lewins:

Well, thank you very much, Matthew, and thank you very much to your audience for supporting our film .

Mat Kaplan:

Well, I hope they will because it definitely deserves to be seen and I think that our audience in particular, a whole bunch of space geeks out there are going to love seeing this film. I'm going to start with something that is unrelated. Well, it is related to the film but it's not addressed in the film. Cady, I didn't get to watch your live Netflix coverage last night as we speak of the inspiration for launch, because I was co-hosting a launch party for the Explore Mars nonprofit, a sister group to The Planetary Society. I hope you had as much fun as we did.

Cady Coleman:

It was amazing. Basically being one of the people that gets to bring this launch to everybody really meant a lot to me. But just the fact that that then let me be at the launch and see it. And they like to go to the SpaceX feed when it's actually the launch, which allows us to turn around and actually be present, which was really important to me because there is... Leaving the planet is really, really, really hard.

Cady Coleman:

I think when it happens, there's just something inside where you just realize that everything has to go right and you just so much want it to go. I watched them until they were just a little star and it just meant the world to me to be there.

Mat Kaplan:

I'm not a bit surprised. That's what I expected to hear. Clare, I bet you're not surprised either. There are so many deeply memorable and personal moments in this film that you've created. Did you go into this project expecting that, the level of personal emotion that is in almost every moment of the film?

Clare Lewins:

Well, when actually the producer, George Chignell first came to me with the idea of doing a film at the space station, I said, "No, this isn't for me. I know nothing about science." As a little girl, I lay on the grass with my friends looking up at the stars. I never once second dreamt of actually leaving at earth. That's completely mad. You think of the lovely space and universe to actually leave home and leave the planet.

Clare Lewins:

So I said, "No, this isn't for me." And then I started looking into it. Then the thing that struck me first, and I don't know where I was before not knowing this, but while the 7.5 billion of us are going about everyday lives, there's six people off the planet in this outpost in space. And you're thinking, that is just extraordinary.

Clare Lewins:

Then so I started thinking about it and I was thinking, yes, it is this amazing scientific endeavor and collaboration and just feet of engineering. But that's not what interested me. It's not the 450 tons of spaceship. It's the human stories. Because for every person that goes up there, there's a whole chain of people that get them up there. Astronaut, who's inspired by Garan or John Glenn or the cosmonauts, so I thought for me, it's really the human stories. And all this played out against this vast, amazing black drop of the universe. That's what interested me.

Mat Kaplan:

I totally agree, and I think you did communicate that very well. We talk about the science and technology on this show all the time now and then we get to talk about the intersection with art as well. And I hope that that will come up today. But it's those personal stories which are so very affecting. I counted 10 locations listed in the credits. One of them I'm curious about is there's a closing scene of a father and daughter launching a model rocket. Where did that take place?

Clare Lewins:

Well, Bill Shepherd rings me every other day to ask me where that is. And I said, if I tell him, I'd have to kill him. And if you do like question and answers, so I say, and he says, "Is that place dry? And I said, "It can be." At the end of it I just said, "It's Mars, Bill. Just get it. It's Mars." I'm afraid I can't reveal my sources.

Cady Coleman:

Clare, if I ask you, are you going to give the same answer?

Clare Lewins:

Of course.

Cady Coleman:

Just checking.

Mat Kaplan:

Try again when we're not recording, Cady, and then-

Clare Lewins:

Try again after I've had a glass of wine.

Mat Kaplan:

There's $10 in it for you, Cady, if you'll call me after Clare gives it away.

Cady Coleman:

She's quiet but firm. She gets her answers.

Mat Kaplan:

Also speaking very loudly in the film, well, maybe that's the wrong way to put it, but it is a wonderful presence in the film. Is the music, the soundtrack that you used under the voices of these wonderful people, like Cady, you want to say something about that?

Clare Lewins:

Well, as much as I'm not known for science, music is really important in the films I make because what I was trying to do, once I established that I wanted to make this film about human connection, then I thought the sounds of earth are really important. Each is actually introduced by a sound. With Peggy Whitson, it's a science of a little fly going around the farm. With Tim Peake, it's a sound of the ocean where he grew up. With Cady's story, it's a sound of fire from Josh's kiln.

Clare Lewins:

It's that, don't make it sound like a band from the '70s, but it is earth, wind and fire. Those visceral elemental elements. As part of that, I thought music is so important, and so I worked with this fantastic composer called Ben Foster. It was just a real privilege to work with him. We used as the almost theme, a [inaudible 00:16:08] hymn to a Cherry Boom, and that is this Russian choir, this amazing almost Anthem piece of music. That's what we use in Cady's section when she's in Russia and she takes off. That was the holding theme and we just, Ben just composed into that. But the music is really important.

Mat Kaplan:

It works perfectly. Speaking of music, Cady, I have to mention, I'm a big fan of the Chieftains and Ian Anderson and Jethro Toll, and I always get a kick. I watched it again last night, of your flute floating into the frame before you joined Ian Anderson for that wonderful duet that the two of you did.

Cady Coleman:

I'm very proud of that, actually. First of all, I love that it's this collaboration between two people. I didn't know Ian Anderson. I did not meet him until I got home. I think that I tell people in terms of being on a team and really being your best self, you have to be brave and you have to be open. I think I had to be brave to ask him, not necessarily, would you like me to bring your flute to space, but is there something we could do together that would really share this experience? And he came up with that.

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The Wonderful: A new documentary about the International Space Station - The Planetary Society

Social media platforms have been flooded with photos of outer space, galaxies and the milky way in the past couple of days, but it has got nothing to do with space exploration. For those wondering, its because of a new song titled My Universe by British rock group Coldplay and South Korean boy band BTS.

Now the European Space Agency (ESA) too has decided to jump on the bandwagon, triggering much excitement among fans. The space agency has shared images from across the universe with the songs lyrics for caption. From Rings of Relativity captured by Hubble Space Telescope to TGO cameras picture showing a detailed layering of Mars uneven surface, the space agency shared this week top pictures tapping into the craze of the newly released song.

And you (you), you are (you are) #myUniverse, And you make my world light up inside, ESA wrote tagging both the music groups.

The K-Pop sensation joined forces with the legendary UK band for the song which is part of Coldplays latest album Music of Spheres and is meant to highlight the power of love to transcend all barriers.

Ever since the epic collaboration was announced, fans were seen changing their profile pictures en masse to vibrant galaxy backgrounds.

The ESAs reference to the song has added to the buzz online with many commenting that it should be adopted as an anthem. The post even got noticed by Coldplay, who retweeted it.

The song which combines the sensibilities of both the bands, highlighting their soft vocals, has been winning hearts online. It even has a dance break, with the artists hoping that they may be able to perform it together some day.

So far, the two groups have released a lyric video of the song, along with a documentary, while the official video will be released later.

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European Space Agency joins in on the My Universe craze, Coldplay-BTS fans cant keep calm - The Indian Express

Emirates 'CREW ONE' analogue astronauts Abdallah Al Hammadi and Saleh Al Ameri Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) on Sunday announced that Abdallah Al Hammadi and Saleh Al Ameri, the two Emirati CREW ONE analogue astronauts, will continue their training as part of the Emirates space simulation project within the Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station (SIRIUS) 21/21 mission.

The mission, slated to begin in November, is set to simulate life in space over an eight-month period at the Ground Experimental Complex of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow, Russia.

The two analogue astronauts form part of CREW ONE (one primary, one backup) and their task will be to study the psychological and physiological effects of isolation on humans and team dynamics to help prepare for long-term space exploration missions. Recently, they were trained on how to construct and maintain the space facilities they will be using along with different pre-mission experiments. During the mission, the CREW ONE astronauts will conduct over 60 different experiments across a wide range of physical, psychological, immunological, and other tests.

Involvement of universities

Yousuf Hamad Al Shaibani, Director-General, MBRSC, said: With the announcement of the start of the SIRIUS mission in November, we at the MBRSC were keen to select and equip our astronauts according to strict mission protocols based on standards established with our international partners. They will carry out some of the experiments presented by some universities in the UAE as part of our agreement with the scientific community in the country.

Wider reach

Meanwhile, Adnan Al Rais, Mars 2117 Programme Manager, MBRSC, said: The mission of simulating life in space is of great importance as it will enable us to ensure the safety and health of astronauts during long-term space exploration trips. This mission will not be limited to the Mars 2117 project, but will cover the entire Emirates Astronaut Programme, to include manned missions that our astronauts will carry out in the future as well as other ambitious space programmes as envisioned by our leaders.

Destination Mars

The UAEs participation in the SIRIUS mission will play a pivotal role in developing the countrys capabilities and will contribute to strengthening the Mars 2117 programme, which aims to establish human settlements on Mars by 2117. The Mars 2117 initiative is funded and supported by the ICT Fund of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority.

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UAE astronauts to simulate long-term space travel to study effect of isolation - Gulf News