Category Archives: Space Exploration

A new study reveals the overwhelming extent of diversity in the South American country of Colombia which is home to approximately 20 per cent of all known butterfly species in the world.

The research, undertaken by the Natural History Museum in London and published on Tuesday comprised ofan international team of scientists. Together, they catalogued 3,642 species and 2,085 sub-species of butterflies, all of which were were registered in a document titled Checklist of Colombian Butterflies.

Blanca Huertas, the senior butterfly collection curator at theNatural History Museum and a member of the research team told AFP that more than 200 species of butterflies are found only in Colombia.

To ascertain this, researchers travelled across Colombia to analyse over 350,000 photographs and tookinto account information collated since the later part of 18th century.

"Colombia is a country with a great diversity of natural habitats, a complex and heterogeneous geography and a privileged location in the extreme northeast of South America," AFP cited the report as saying.

"These factors, added to the delicate public order in the last century in certain regions, has limited until now, the advancement of field exploration, it added.

Also read:How NASA's plans to send detergent to ISS could change space exploration

Over the last century, Colombia has seen intense armed conflict. Some areas in the country remain under the control of leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups and in many cases, drug lords. Many parts of the country still have little to no government presence.

Just between 2000 and 2019, Colombia has lost nearly 2.8 million hectares of forest land, according to data from the National Department of Planning.

Forest loss combined with inept governance isnt helping the cause of Colombias diversityand environmentalists in the country are calling for the country to take measures to protect its forests. To this end, Huertas believes starting by protecting butterflies could bethe first step.

Also read:Here's how you can watch the luminous 'Strawberry Supermoon' this Thursday

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Colombia is home to 20% of all butterfly species in the world, study finds - WION

Investment strategies continue as the U.S. and China each vie for dominance in AI and ML.

I was talking to a friend who is an expert in AI and he told me that he thought the U.S. was at a major inflection point, similar to the one we had after the U.S.S.R. launched its Sputnik satellite.

He reminded me that in 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite that took about 98 minutes to orbit the earth. According to Nasa's History Division, "That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race."

This led President Kennedy, in 1961, to propose that the U.S. should commit itself to achieve the goal, before that decade was out, of landing aman onthe moonand returning him safely to the Earth.

The Sputnik launch was considered an embarrassment to the U.S. and Congress spent $28 billion from 1960-1973 to make the U.S. the leader in the race to the moon and a leader in space exploration.

My friend believes the U.S. needs to have another Sputnik moment, but this time the threat comes from a high-tech challenge from China. China has emerged as a powerhouse in AI and ML research and is raising its tech R&D spending by 7% per year.

I have been very familiar with China's AI prowess and goals since I read a book on AI from Kai-Fu Lee. Kai-Fu Lee is one of the world's leading experts on China's rise in tech and has a deep understanding of China's AI program and leadership goals.

In Kai-Fu Lee's book, AI Superpowers-China, Silicon Valley and The New World Order, he reveals that, China has suddenly caught up to the U.S. at an astonishingly rapid and unexpected pace."

Congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle understand this threat from China and are working on a range of legislative bills that could inject as much as $190 billion to target areas like AI, where China is committed to becoming the world leader in this technology.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Santa Clara, who represents part of Silicon Valley, is a co-author of the 600-page legislation, the Endless Frontier Act, on pushing through a bipartisan effort that has been years in the making. Khanna and his co-authors, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis, are shepherding the bill through the Senate.

Rep. Khanna would like Congress to authorize $100 billion over five years for critical advancements in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity, semiconductors, and other cutting-edge technologies.

According to the San Jose Mercury News,

"The United States still outspends China in R&D, spending $612 billion on research and development in 2019, compared to Chinas $514 billion. But the gap is narrowing. At the turn of the century, China was only spending $33 billion a year on R&D, while the United States was spending nearly 10 times that amount."

When my friend mentioned this Sputnik analogy, I thought he was going to say that it was to get U.S. government officials more focused on climate change, one of the growing threats to the U.S. and the world. But his perspective of this analogy's focus, especially on China's desire to become a world leader in areas like AI, is spot on.

China's interest in becoming the world leader in tech is a major threat to the U.S. and the world. A country that lives by its own rules and not by the rules of the international community unchecked has to be countered.

The U.S. has been the leader in tech and unfortunately, made it possible for China to become a competitive counterpart. The U.S. leadership and Congress must come together to pass the kind of legislation and aggressive budgets to keep the U.S. ahead of China. They need to make sure China cannot gain access to future tech invented here, and as much as possible, thwart China's goal to eventually become even more powerful in AI, ML, and semiconductors.

More:

The U.S. Wakes Up To Chinas AI Threat - Forbes

A lunar lander with strong San Antonio roots is headed to the far side of the moon, and it could help explain the origins of the man in the moon image thats visible from Earth.

NASA announced that it selected a Southwest Research Institute instrument suite to study the lunar crust, mantle and core in the 200-mile wide Schrdinger basin near the moons South Pole.

LITMS, pronounced litmus, is the San Antonio-based nonprofit institutes shorthand for Lunar Interior Temperature and Materials Suite. Its set to travel to the moon in 2024 or 2025 as part of a NASA program called Commercial Lunar Payload Services, which is rapidly expanding lunar exploration using U.S. companies.

Its one of two missions selected to go to the far side of the moon.

With LITMS, we hope to get a better understanding of the thermal evolution, differentiation and asymmetry of the Moon, said SwRIs Robert Grimm, LITMS principal investigator, in a statement. This will help us interpret how the lunar crust, mantle and core formed. And we can contrast these far-side measurements with those done by the near-side Apollo missions to unravel the origin of the Man in the Moon.

An artist's rendition of Southwest Research Institute's LITMS, pronounced litmus, which stands for Lunar Interior Temperature and Materials Suite. NASA selected the device to land on the far side of the moon.

On ExpressNews.com: Small, San Antonio-made spacecraft will PUNCH above its weight for science, to monitor space weather

The research will help scientists better understand the moon for future exploration.

This can help us figure out how the Earth formed, how Mars formed, how Venus formed all these different planets all these planetary bodies formed, said David Stillman, a SwRI planetary geophysicist and the projects scientist. Just going to the moon and making these measurements at a bunch of different locations and seeing if there's differences.

LITMS will only weigh 20 kilograms, or roughly 44 pounds. The lander wont move once its on the lunar surface. Most of its instruments are designed only to survive the daylight half of a lunar day.

By the time the lander sets up on the moons surface, we're gonna have maybe 12 days of sunlight to do all this science, he said. The coolest part of our stuff is we have booms, and we shoot out electrodes, Stillman said.

LITMS will carry four instruments, also with complicated names and abbreviations.

On ExpressNews.com: UT San Antonio moon rock researchers seeking 'the ideal recipe' to build lunar bases

Texas Tech Universitys Lunar Instrumentation for Thermal Exploration with Rapidity, or LISTER, will measure heat flow on the moon using a pneumatic drill that can reach 10 feet into the lunar surface. The drill is like a stainless steel tape measure, according to Stillman. It uses puffs of pressurized air to move the moon dust away.

It will push its way in as far as it can, and then it will do a little puff of gas, and excavate and throw that stuff out of the hole, he said. Then it will push down as far as it can again and then do the same thing.

SwRIs Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder, or LMS, will measure the moons electrical and magnetic fields.

LMS has four electrodes, and they're kind of like a mortar, Stillman said. We just have a spring with a bunch of wire. And then we heat it up, and as soon as it hits 70 degrees Celsius, it shoots our electrode, which is the size of your fist, more than 20 meters away.

The University of California, Berkeleys Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment, or LuSEE, has booms that reach out from the lander to get accurate readings.

Jet Propulsion Laboratorys seismometer suite will monitor lunar ground noise and moonquakes. Its the only instrument onboard capable of surviving the bitter cold of the 14-day Lunar night.

With temperatures plunging to minus 173 Celsius, or about 343 degrees Fahrenheit, the lunar nights are difficult to survive.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio firm is working on moon launch pads for NASA

Besides a harsh environment, landing on the far side of the moon also complicates communicating with the spacecraft.

We're not going to have direct line of sight to where it landed, so in order to talk to your lander, you're going to have to upload that telemetry or comms to a spacecraft that's going around the moon, he said.

NASA has not selected the contractor or timing for the missions commercial space launch. Nor has it selected a contractor to build the lander that will carry the instruments.

LITMS and the seismic package are very complementary in providing a more complete picture of the lunar interior, Grimm said. Together, they are a pathfinder for a future lunar geophysical network, a global array of long-lasting instruments on the surface of the Moon.

On ExpressNews.com: 'This is not SpaceX property - this is my property': SpaceX looks to recast South Texas town as 'Starbase'

NASAs nod for SwRIs lunar research is the latest sign that San Antonios space exploration industry is growing.

Last month, NASA awarded San Antonio-based Astroport Space Technologies a contract to develop a furnace to liquefy moon dust, and a nozzle that will use the lava-like substance to create interlocking bricks. The goal is to use the bricks as construction materials of lunar landing pads.

Astroports research partner is the University of Texas at San Antonio, where scientists are studying how much energy is required to run the lunar furnaces and which types of moon dust work best for creating bricks.

Sam Ximenes, founder and CEO of Astroport, said the latest NASA and SwRI lunar mission is an excellent example of science leading the way to understanding the lunar environment for informing the engineering missions that would be needed when we begin constructing a longer-term human presence.

The research is once again demonstrating how San Antonio is at the forefront of space exploration, he added.

Brandon Lingle writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. brandon.lingle@express-news.net

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Lander with San Antonio roots headed to far side of moon - San Antonio Express-News

Status: Experimental / Alpha.Wiki: https://spaceexploration.miraheze.orgDiscord: https://discord.gg/t6BtZqCPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/earendel

Warning: If you are on the experimental Factorio 1.1, there will probably be new bugs popping up over the next few days.

Space Exploration is an overhaul mod about unique experiences and challenges. After you launch a rocket you start discovering new planets, moons, asteroid belts, and other stars. You build an expansive space station as your main research facility, explore new planets and moons, outpost for special resources, and gradually progress into the darkness of deep space as you expand your interstellar empire.

There's a lot in the mod already, but it is still in heavy development and things are changing rapidly. For this reason the mod is considered to be in Experimental Status (see below). There may be occasional bugs, but they get resolved quickly.

You want to use lots of mods at the same time, conflicting mods, or other overhaul mods.You dont care about game balance, and dont want a mod to balance things.You dont want to start a new game and you dont like long games. Wiring a circuit condition to an inserter is too much for you.

You want to explore new worlds, and new civilizations.You want a refined, balanced, cohesive experience from a minimal mod list.You want some genuinely new and unique game mechanics and challenges.You want gradual progression and new mechanics introduced over a 100+ hour game.You like uncovering secrets and puzzles.

The mod focuses on experience and challenge over modular content, this means that Space Exploration does not work well with many other mods. One of the main themes is interplanetary logistics, and that is driven by different resource and energy balances in different locations. It is easy for other mods to disrupt this balance, especially if the mod has ways to generate power that dont rely on solar or scarce resources. If you are starting your first Space Exploration game you should stick to only the recommended mods + quality of life mods you cant do without, otherwise you wont have the background knowledge to see what gameplay is broken by other mods. The current mod compatibility situation will improve in the future, especially in regard to other overhaul mods. (See Experimental Status below).

A space Exploration game is long. Early game is characterised with basic sciences on your homeworld and launching a satellite rocket into space.

Mid game has you building a research space station, exploring new planets looking for strategic resources, and getting started on the 4 specialist science packs. You have 4 types of specialist science to choose from, your decision can be based solely on the techs you want, but may also be influenced by the strategic resources you have discovered so far.

Late game leads you to deep space, expanding an interstellar empire, and working on the complexities of deep space science. Finally you gain the ability to escape the stellar cluster and win the game.

Over 600 new places to visit - planets, moons, stars, asteroids fields and more. Each location has its own resource bias and challenges.

The planet you start on, Nauvis, is huge but ultimately limited. You are unlikely to run out of the resources it has, but your homeworld wont have all the resource types you need to complete the game.

Other planets and moons have different sizes, resources and climates. Tight integration with the Alien Biomes mod means each planet and moon has some visual character. Different planets have different challenges, some may be waterless, some have low solar, some may be windy (bad for robots) and some may have excessively hostile natives. There will be more environmental challenges added in the future.

Places in your solar system can be discovered by launching more navigation satellites.

Later you can use telescopes to look for places outside of your solar system via zone discovery research.

Launching a navigation satellite unlocks the Navigation Satellite Uplink. This allows you to look around from the satellites point of view, detached from your character. You can look at any planet you have discovered and scout the surface. You can even make data-changes while in this mode, changing combinator, requester, or inserter settings. You can also use blueprint library blueprints, the deconstruction planner, copy and paste, etc. Press N to start/end an uplink.

Space exploration adds a number of new resources.

Water ice, and methane ice can be found in space and make life up there a little easier. Ice is a convenient way to transport water, and methane can be converted to other hydrocarbons, giving you a 2nd route to oil products.

Cryonite has applications in cooling, supercomputing, and some refinement of other materials.

Vulcanite has a number of uses as a smelting additive, fuel, and is needed for rocket science.

Beryllium is used for lightweight construction and logistics, spaceships, and astronomic science.

Holmium is used for energy systems, shields, and energy science.

Iridium is used for heavy industry and military purposes, and material science.

Vitamelange is an organic substance used in bio-science.

Naquium is a strange material with no chemical properties only found in interstellar asteroid fields. It is used for deep space science and end-game structures.

Arcospheres are unlike other resources. They are not mined, but gained from launching collection probes from interstellar asteroid fields. The numbers found diminishes with repeated launches from the same site so it is difficult to gather large numbers of them. The ones you do get however, are never lost. They are needed in certain recipes and are always returned, though not in their original state.

One of the big advantages to claiming a new planet is the use of a core miner. A core miner gives you access to unlimited resources, but you can only use one at full efficiency on a planet. Multiple core miners on the same planet or moon have diminishing returns. Each planet or moon has its own core fragment type that yields different resources.

Homeworlds always return a mixed fragment type with some basic resources. Core fragments from other planets and moons will return a fragment type that matches their primary resource.

Space exploration science packs need to be made and used in space so you are required to build your own space-based research station.

The rocket science pack acts as an introduction to space platform construction and that basic infrastructure needed for later science packs.

Most of scientific progress in Space Exploration is split between 4 parallel specialist science packs. Each one needs specialised equipment and specific resources. These new sciences are data-driven and more difficult to set up.

Material science is focussed on testing existing and new experimental materials. It unlocks some improved industrial and military systems.

Astronomic science is focussed on observation data from telescopes and astrophysics. It unlocks improvements to cargo rockets and spaceships, and other space logistic improvements.

Energy science is focussed on particle physics and energy fields. It unlocks improved power systems, energy shields, and energy weapons.

Biological science is focussed on genetic engineering and testing specimens. It unlocks character upgrades, bio weapons and productivity boosts.

You can choose how you want to progress through these sciences. A basic initial setup is not going to be resource efficient or fast, but you can develop the sciences further to unlock faster, more resource efficient recipes.

Finally you move on to deep space science which unlocks the most advanced end-game technology but has the most difficult production challenges.

Build your own space stations using space platform. Space stations are usually research stations, mining stations, solar collectors, waypoint stations, or orbital bombardment platforms.

Space platform is made from platform tiles like landfill. Most structures dont work in space so you need specialised versions.

To survive in space you need a space suit. The space suit you build is a thruster suit with magnetic boots so you can walk on space platform.

While not on space platform you float around in space with momentum. Your thruster has a built-in jetpack so you can fly around in style.

The space suit also has built-in lifesport equipment. Lifesupport is made possible by consumable lifesupport canisters, and the lifesupport equipment improves the efficiency of these canisters. It is needed in space and planets with hazardous atmospheres (such as plague worlds).

Cargo rockets can launch a huge cargo inventory from anywhere to anywhere.If you enter the cargo rocket silo before launch then you can go along for the ride. This can take you into orbit, other planets and moons, even to other solar systems.

If a rocket is sent to a landing pad you get rocket parts back and reusability can be improved with technology. Cargo rocket launches can be automated in a number of ways to help you manage your interplanetary logistic system.

If the rocket is not sent to a landing pad it will disassemble and deploy the cargo pods. If a cargo pod contains a Spidertron, the Spidertron will be deployed.

Build your own spaceship block by block. The core component is the spaceship console. Make sure it is on spaceship floor and surrounded by spaceship walls or doors. It needs containment from outside space so make sure there are no gaps. Attach a rocket engine, launch booster, some accumulators and lasers and youre good to go. Fly from anywhere to anywhere.

Upgrades let you build bigger ships with better equipment. You can even have trains on your spaceship for fast loading and unloading of cargo.

Build a large spaceship and power a space-warping device on it. If you can get to the required speed in interstellar space and hold it for 60 seconds you win the game.

A delivery cannon can fire a disposable capsule filled with a stack of basic resources to most places within the same solar system. The package must be caught safely in a delivery cannon chest, otherwise the capsule hits the ground with a lot of force and will spill any surviving contents.

The weapons delivery cannon is a larger variant of the delivery cannon designed for interplanetary bombardment. It fires munitions such as the atomic bomb, iridium piledriver, or plague bomb.

Energy beaming allows you to send energy from an area of energy abundance to where it is needed. Close solar orbit is the typical place to build an energy beam emitter.

The strength of the beam at the source can be increased with energy injectors. The strength of the beam at the destination is reduced by distance. It can reach interstellar targets but is less efficient.

The energy can be used to generate heat in an energy beam receiver, or can be used in Glaive mode to cut lines through your enemies.

In Glaive mode the beam can choose targets autonomously. The speed, damage, and area of the beam is determined by the beams strength when it arrives at the destination (therefore is reduced by distance).

The stars in the area are unstable and frequently release Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). A CME is caused by a solar flare, but unlike a normal solar flare it ejects a substantial amount for the stars corona. In Space Exploration this takes the form of beams that wander around the surface of a planet for a couple of minutes, a bit like tornados. They start fires and damage structures, but only happen once every 1-2 days of real time. You always get a lot of early warning for a CME and can see a timer for the next one in Informatron. (Can be disabled with a mod setting.)

The Umbrella protects against energy beams.

When protecting against a CME the energy cost of the Umbrella for the event is given by the CME warning system.

When protecting against a hostile players Glaive energy beam (in PvP) the energy cost is 1/10th the strength of the hostile beam as it arrives. Weapon beams are already reduced in strength by distance so the Umbrella is very power efficient against them.

Universe Explorer lets you sort, filter, search for and prioritise zones. You can see most of the various zone attributes like solar multiplier, radius, climates tags, threat, and resources. You can also set a force-specific priority for different zones, set your satellite to automatically scan a surface, and delete unused surfaces to reduce your file size.

Space Exploration adds a lot of pages to Informatron so you can read about certain mechanics in-game, however it goes far beyond adding static encyclopedia style content.

On the Cargo Rockets page it shows you how many cargo rockets you launched.

On the Zone Discovery page there is an interactive interface that lets you choose the resource you are searching for.

The Exploration Journal page gets additional entries as you progress through the game and experience new things.

There are even some hidden pages that you can unlock by investigating secret exploration content.

Basic beacons now have 8 module slots and the normal 9x9 area.Wide area beacons have 15 module slots and cover a 32x32 area.Wide area beacon 2s have 20 module slots and cover a 32x32 area.

Each structure can only be affected by 1 beacon. If 2 beacons affect the same structure it overloads and stops working. These changes allow for more interesting designs where you are building machines around beacons instead of beacons around machines.

In Space Exploration there are 9 tiers of modules. Each module costs 3 of the tier before it, so tier 9 modules are prohibitively expensive for mass production. This encourages more strategic use of powerful modules where they make the most difference. For example, you might use tier 6 productivity modules to process certain resources, but use tier 9 modules in your science labs. Not all modules need to be gained through manufacture, you may also be able to gain some powerful modules through exploration.

The only space structures that can use productivity modules are labs and miners, for everything else productivity is disabled. This makes it much more efficient to go general resource processing, refinement, and component manufacture on planets where you can make use of productivity, however manufacturing in space can be convenient if you already have all the materials there. The compromise of resource efficiency vs convenience increases as you progress deeper into the game because rocket costs decrease with more technology and productivity boosts increase with better modules.

The recycling facility lets you break down certain items into scrap, and turns scrap into some basic resources. It can also turn barrels back into steel.

The Space Exploration solar panels are 4x4, powerful but expensive, but most importantly you can walk on them.

The Condenser turbine is like a normal steam turbine, but takes in steam and outputs water. Compared to the steam turbine a condenser turbine is 75% energy efficient but recovers 99% of the water.

The big heat exchanger and big turbine generator are much larger but more powerful options. They make and use 5000 degree steam. The big turbine recovers most of the steam as water, and outputs a small amount of unused 500 degree steam.

In late game you gain the ability to mass-produce antimatter. It costs a lot of energy to make, but is a fantastic form of energy storage. The energy can be retrieved from an antimatter reactor where it is needed. Antimatter engines are a big upgrade for spaceships.

See the article here:

Space Exploration - Factorio Mods

Ingenuity Flight Six Navcam Image: This sequence of images taken on May 22, 2021, by the navigation camera aboard NASAs Ingenuity Mars Helicopter shows the last 29 seconds of the rotorcrafts sixth flight. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download video

The mission picked up the 2021 John L. Jack Swigert, Jr., Award for Space Exploration for its history-making achievements.

The team behind NASAs Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has been named the 2021 winner of the John L. Jack Swigert, Jr. Award for Space Exploration from the Space Foundation.

The foundations goal is Advocating for Innovation. Bettering Life on Earth. The annual award recognizes extraordinary accomplishments by a company, space agency, or consortium of organizations in the realm of space exploration and discovery. It honors the memory of astronaut John L. Jack Swigert, Jr., the command module pilot for the Apollo 13 mission. During Apollo 13s April 1970 voyage to the Moon, an oxygen tank ruptured, placing the crew in peril. It was a time of high drama and high anxiety as people around the globe watched NASA work against the clock and against the odds to return the crew safely to Earth.

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter team at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California faced many challenges on their way to achieving humankinds first powered, controlled flight on another planet. The helicopters first test flight was full of unknowns. The Red Planet has an extremely thin atmosphere with only 1% the pressure at the surface compared to our planet while also being home to significant gravity one-third that of Earth. On April 19, 2021, Ingenuity climbed to its prescribed maximum altitude of 10 feet (3 meters) and maintained a stable hover for 30 seconds before descending again, becoming the first ever rotorcraft to fly on another planet.

Since then, the Mars Helicopter has flown a total of seven times, transitioning from being a technology demonstration to an operations demonstration intended to explore how aerial scouting and other functions could benefit future explorations of Mars and other worlds.

The Space Foundation award will be presented Aug. 23 during the opening ceremony of the 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.

Recent Swigert Award winners include the InSight-Mars Cube One joint project teams, the Dawn mission, and the Cassini mission.

News Media Contact

DC Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-9011agle@jpl.nasa.gov

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NASA's Ingenuity Mission Honored by the Space Foundation NASA's Mars Exploration Program - NASA Mars Exploration

Luna 27 and Change-6, for example, are planned to drill into the surface and return samples to Earth a feat China already accomplished last December with Change-5 and the Soviet Union did with Luna landers three times in the 1970s. In a second stage, between 2026 and 2030, the Change-8 and Luna 28 missions will land separately with the first building blocks of the new station.

The first of Russias missions is scheduled for October, though Russias space program has a track record of lengthy delays.

Ultimately, China hopes the station will demonstrate the ability to develop water, mineral and energy resources that could allow the short-term survival of astronauts and serve as a base for deeper space exploration.

A permanent base has both symbolic and power projection capabilities, said Namrata Goswami, an independent analyst and co-author of a new book on space exploration, Scramble for the Skies.

NASA has its own plans to return astronauts to the moon and one day, send them to Mars and has recruited partners under an agreement, called the Artemis Accords, governing space activities, including operations, experiments and extraction of natural resources.

China is not explicitly excluded but seems all but certain not to sign, given the American restrictions on space cooperation and its own determination to build an indigenous program. Russia, too, seems unlikely to sign, given its tilt toward China.

As Dr. Johnson-Freese of the United States Naval War College put it, China keeps Russia in the space game to a far greater extent than the Russian economy would otherwise support.

Andrew E. Kramer reported from Moscow, and Steven Lee Myers from Seoul. Claire Fu in Beijing and Oleg Matsnev in Moscow contributed research.

Continue reading here:

China, Russia Team Up for a Space Race With the U.S. - The New York Times

Jeff Bezos is scheduled to launch into space on his company Blue Origins New Shepard rocket on July 20.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Space Exploration Initiative has partnered with Blue Origin and conducted critical research aboard its previous space test flights. MIT's first research launch with Blue Origin was in 2019 to study the effects of microgravity. (Many details of the partnership are private.)

We have had an opportunity to install experiments and be able to get data back from the same chamber, a similar chamber, to what will now, as were excitedly watching, be ferrying Jeff Bezos and a few other human space tourists up into suborbital space tourism for the first time, Ariel Ekblaw, founder and director of MITs Space Exploration Initiative, told Yahoo Finance.

Bezos will be aboard the space exploration companys first rocket flight carrying humans to an altitude of over 340,000 feet. Bezos, who is formally stepping down as Amazon CEO on July 5, and other passengers will be able to view planet Earth from zero gravity in space for roughly three minutes before returning to the surface of the Earth.

Blue Origin auctioned off a seat on Jeff Bezos space flight for $28 million on Saturday. If Blue Origin says theyre ready and Jeff is ready to take that flight, well all be watching very excitedly and wish them all the best, said Ekblaw.

Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos addresses the media about the New Shepard rocket booster and Crew Capsule mockup at the 33rd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States April 5, 2017. REUTERS/Isaiah J. Downing

The MIT Space Exploration Initiative has been funding annual zero gravity flight simulations since 2017 for astronauts, research program guests, MIT professors, graduate, and undergraduate students from other universities. Participants board a plane to experience the weightlessness that accompanies a zero gravity environment.

Its a Boeing 727 a little bit modified and just like what youd fly in across the Atlantic, for example, and what that plane does, is it does what you never want a plane to do, says Ekblaw. It pitches very steeply upward 45 degrees, noses over, pitches very steeply downward, flies what we call a parabolic ark, and then does that ark 30 to 40 times in the sky. So, yes, its a very apt description actually to call it a roller coaster in the sky.

Story continues

The business of space

Space exploration is evolving. Its been 50 years since Neil Armstrong took his famous first walk on the moon, and private funds have poured into the space exploration industry. In 2019, $5.8 billion was invested in space companies, according to venture capital firm Space Angels. Bezos is not the only billionaire pushing the envelope in space: Elon Musks SpaceX has also been working to improve its space flights and is set to launch its Falcon 9 rocket on June 17. Billionaire Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic (SPCE) has so far flown five people to space on two test flights.

Axiom Space is a company that is developing the worlds first privately funded commercial space station. It raised $130 million in series B funding in February.

FILE - In this June 6, 2019 file photo, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks at the the Amazon re:MARS convention, in Las Vegas. Bezos will be aboard for Blue Origin's first human space flight next month. In an Instagram post early Monday, June 7, 2021, Bezos said he, his brother, and the winner of an ongoing auction, will be aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft during its scheduled launch on July 20. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

The space industry business is no longer just tied up in satellites and data products. Its now really beginning to explore the future of human life in space, says Ekblaw. For all the richness of human life on earth, we will want the same diversity of roles. Well want the rich tapestry of what makes life so special on earth to also be designed for in space.

Morgan Stanley projects the space economy could generate revenue of more than $1 trillion in 2040, up from $350 billion in 2020. Job opportunities in space exploration will extend to workers beyond the typical science fields, says Ekblaw.

We need scientists and engineers like myself still, but we also need space architects, we need space artists, space designers, space lawyers to help us deal with all of the interesting policy and legal questions that are going to arise within this next decade, she said.

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Space industry will need artists, designers, lawyers: MIT Space Exploration Initiative director - Yahoo Finance

(Reuters) - Trail-blazing space reproduction research that yielded healthy baby mice produced using freeze-dried sperm stored for years in orbit is showing the possibilities of procreation beyond Earth, with future implications for humans exploring the cosmos.

Healthy mice produced from sperm cells that were freeze-dried, stored in a sealed capsule and preserved on the orbiting International Space Station are seen in a laboratory in Japan in this undated handout image. Teruhiko Wakayama, University of Yamanashi/Handout via REUTERS

Scientists said they produced 168 offspring using mouse sperm cells that were stored aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for five years and 10 months and then rehydrated back on Earth, injected into unfertilized egg cells and transferred into female mice at a Japanese laboratory.

The sperm cells were exposed to radiation 170 times greater than sperm kept in ground storage for comparative purposes at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agencys (JAXA) Tsukuba Space Center. The higher radiation levels present in space are attenuated by Earths atmosphere.

University of Yamanashi developmental biologist Teruhiko Wakayama, who helped lead the study published in the journal Science Advances, said the space radiation did not damage the sperms DNA or reduce its fertilization ability compared to the ground-stored sperm.

The baby mice were just as healthy as those produced using ground-stored sperm, with normal appearance and no abnormalities in gene functioning, Wakayama added. Their offspring - and even their grandchildren - also were healthy, Wakayama said.

Scientists are seeking a greater understanding of how space conditions affect reproduction. There is concern that greater radiation levels could foster harmful mutations and that reduced or zero gravity conditions could impede embryonic development. Previous research in orbit has involved animals such as fruit flies and fish.

The study examined radiations effect on the male reproductive cell - or gamete - but not the issue of gravity. It was the first space study involving mammalian reproductive cells.

If space radiation results in mutations, maybe the next generation would be changed a little bit. However, if animals live in space for many generations, the mutations would accumulate, Wakayama said. We have to know how to protect against this.

Wakayama said that in August researchers will send frozen early-stage mouse embryos to the ISS, where they will be thawed and cultured under zero-gravity conditions.

By this experiment, we will know whether gravity is essential for mammalian embryo development or not, Wakayama said.

These issues might be of concern if humankind in the future establishes off-world colonies - perhaps on the moon or Mars or in large space stations - or develops technology here to send astronauts on lengthy missions to destinations beyond our solar system such as the closest star, Proxima Centauri.

Wakayama said the findings regarding freeze-dried mouse sperm suggest that this method could be used for human reproduction in space if such long missions are realized.

The freeze-dried sperm was sent to the ISS in 2013 inside lightweight capsules, then was stored in a freezer aboard the space station and sent back to Earth in 2019 in the longest biological research involving the orbiting laboratory.

The researchers estimated that freeze-dried sperm could be safely stored in the ISS for about 200 years. Because it is small and lightweight - and thus inexpensive to transport - animal reproductive cells could be stored in this manner as easily as plant seeds, they added.

In order for humans to thrive in space, we would need to maintain the genetic diversity not only of people but also of livestock and even pets, Wakayama said.

Genetic diversity protects against the accumulation of harmful mutations seen in inbreeding.

Carrying freeze-dried reproductive cells from large numbers of individuals would be easier than transporting the animals themselves and could enable space colonies to have animals for food and companionship, Wakayama added.

Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington, Editing by Rosalba OBrien

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Pioneering space reproduction research yields healthy baby mice - Reuters

Brazil has signed on to the NASA-led Artemis Accords initiative to explore the moon responsibly.

The country became the first South American nation to sign the Artemis Accords, a guideline for the responsible exploration of the moon, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced Tuesday (June 15). The nations on board with these exploration principles include the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and now, Brazil.

Agreeing to these guidelines, these nations are also signing on to participate in NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon in 2024 and establish a sustainable human presence by the end of the decade.

Related: 8 nations sign US-led Artemis Accords for moon exploration and beyond

"Under the Artemis program, the United States will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon and we're going to do that together with our international partners and commercial partners," Nelson said during a news conference announcing Brazil's commitment to the Artemis Accords.

"While we prepare for these bold and ambitious missions, it's important that the United States and our partners commit to conducting ourselves responsibly and transparently for the benefit of all," Nelson added. "That is to ensure a safe and sustainable environment for outer space activities."

Brazil's involvement in the accords comes after, in December 2020, former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine and Marcos Pontes, Brazil's Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) signed a joint statement of intent describing the nation's intention to be the first South American nation to sign the accords.

"In undertaking this important commitment, Brazil shows the global impact of the Artemis Accords. Your decision to join the community of nations committed to explore space peacefully, safely and transparently demonstrates Brazil's leadership on the international stage," Nelson said. "The Artemis Accords belong to our partners as much as they do to us, and we thank Brazil for its commitment to establishing peaceful norms of behavior in space."

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Brazil makes history in signing the Artemis Accords for moon exploration - Space.com

"The Outer Worlds 2," the sequel to the beloved video game "The Outer Worlds," is in production, but the lighthearted teaser trailer from Microsoft Xbox says developers aren't ready to talk about anything else but its name.

The surprise successor to the popular 2019 action role-playing game in space was announced Sunday (June 13) at E3, a large industry gaming conference held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The over-the-top 90-second trailer pokes fun at how early-stage gaming announcements, like that of "The Outer Worlds 2," refuse to disclose many details.

"Now, we see our hero, but only their silhouette, because the developers haven't finished the design," a malicious-sounding voice intones during the satirical trailer. "Or finished the story. Or finished any gameplay that's actually ready to show. In fact, the only thing they have finished is the title."

Related from PC Gamer:The Outer Worlds Review

So we can't tell you anything about the game's release date, plot, the platforms it will be available on or really anything else. But we can point to what Xbox Wire said about the project:

"Taking place in a new star system with a new crew, we are excited to bring everyone back to 'The Outer Worlds' franchise. And, fans of 'The Outer Worlds' should always remember it's not the best choice. It's Spacer's Choice," Feargus Urquhart, studio head of game developer Obsidian Entertainment, said in the Xbox Wire statement.

While you're waiting for more news on the sequel, the 2019 original game "The Outer Worlds" is still available to play on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch. Many 2021 E3 releases are exclusive to Microsoft platforms, however, "The Outer Worlds 2" may not be as widely available as its predecessor.

The original game is set in the year 2355 in an alternate future in which huge corporations dominate Earth and extend their reach to other star systems. Starring in "The Outer Worlds" is a fictional six-planet system called Halcyon, which is so far away that the crews need to hibernate for a 10-year journey. In real life, astronaut hibernation has also been studied in NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts program that gives early stage funding for far-future space exploration ideas.

The universe of "The Outer Worlds" features faster-than-light (FTL) travel, which is called Skip Space in the franchise. Unfortunately for long-time fans of FTL travel in franchises like "Star Wars", "Star Trek" and "Battlestar Galactica", however, fresh research published in April 2021 suggests real-life warp drives might be limited by energy problems and contradictions with Einstein's theories of relativity and space-time, among other issues.

"The Outer Worlds" also features numerous types of weapons, including a shrink ray gun that hearkens back to concepts in other space franchises. Perhaps the most notorious use of a shrink ray was in the 1996 comedy "Mars Attacks!" in which the Martian Leader uses a shrink ray against General Decker, a fictional prominent military official representing the President of the United States.

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Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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'The Outer Worlds 2' is happening and here's the 1st trailer - Space.com