Category Archives: Space Travel

With NASA establishing the Kennedy Space Center on the Atlantic Coast of Florida, the area has since been established as the center for research and technology related to space exploration.

The area has since been called the space coast with the addition of the Cape Canaveral Space Station and the community embracing the areas focus around space.

The recent accomplishment of Space X and Axiom Space to successfully complete the longest private trip to the International Space Station (https://spacecoastdaily.com/2024/02/watch-dragon-spacecraft-makes-successful-splashdown-with-ax-3-astronauts-off-coast-of-florida/)

highlights the areas significance for space explorations present and future. Business and tourism around the Space Coast is heavily focused on Aerospace, Technology, and other related industries. Lets look at some businesses that are developing new technologies around the Space Coast:

L3Harris

L3Harris Technologies Inc. (L3Harris) provides products and technologies across sea, land, space, air, and cyber areas. The company offers integrated mission, space and airborne, communication, and aviation systems. It also provides commercial and military pilot training services and mission-critical infrastructure communications and networking solutions. It serves various commercial and government customers, including the US Department of Defense (DoD), NASA, military aircraft manufacturers, military agencies, commercial airlines, and automotive manufacturers.

Rocket Crafters

Ronald Jones started Rocket Crafters, a space launch vehicle and rocket engine manufacturing firm, in 2010. The company is based in Cocao, Florida. The business concurrently 3D prints its fuel supply, rocket engines, and the STAR-3D hybrid using 3D printing technology. They have engines that weigh between 125 and 5000 pounds. Using their Intrepid rocket, Rocket Crafters also provides launch services for small to medium-sized satellites. Businesses wishing to place their satellites in low-Earth orbit can hire the company to launch them. They are using new materials and ways to build the rockets to make them safer, more reliable, and not as expensive. This could change how we launch things into space and make it easier and cheaper for us to go there more often.

SIDUS SPACE

Sidus Space is developing a comprehensive platform for space as a service for the international space industry. The companys mission is to provide space flight legacy status for new technologies and provide data and predictive analytics to both local and foreign clients. They specialize in commercial satellite design, production, launch, and data gathering.

They are developing and planning to launch one hundred 100 kg (220-pound) satellites with available space to rapidly integrate customer sensors and technologies. By creating a standardized operating system for space, they believe that they can deliver customer sensors to orbit in months rather than years. In addition, Sidus Space intends to provide high-impact data for insights on aviation, maritime, weather, space services, earth intelligence and observation, financial technology (Fintech), and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Jaycon Systems

A corporation that designs, prototypes, and manufactures products to realize high-tech hardware concepts from conception to completion quickly. They assist sourcing managers, operations directors, engineers, startups, and entrepreneurs by delegating significant product development logistical work.

Terran Orbital

The aerospace and defense sectors in the United States and its allies are the primary customers of this well-known tiny satellite producer. In order to satisfy the most exacting demands of its military, civilian, and commercial clients, Terran Orbital offers end-to-end satellite solutions by integrating satellite design, manufacture, launch preparation, mission operations, and in-orbit support.

Redwire Space

A company that builds special things for space. They make structures that can be opened up, robots that can do tasks in space, and machines that can make things in space. They help explore space, put satellites in space, and make things while in space. It is a new leader in mission-critical space solutions and high-reliability components for next-generation space systems and infrastructure.

Space Perspective

A corporation called Space Perspective arranges for space travel for its clients. Their goal is to launch paying passengers and research payloads into the stratosphere on Spaceship Neptune, a pressurized capsule propelled by balloons that whisks passengers to the edge of space. Because they launch people into space using balloons as opposed to conventional rockets, they claim to be the first carbon-neutral space firm.

There is an article on the website of Forbes about the hospitality industry on the Space Coast growing to new heights and the region is seeing a surge in tourism (https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/01/05/why-the-space-coast-hospitality-sector-is-soaring-to-new-heights/?sh=55bb24c1431d), The Space Coast will remain a leader in the space sector if more innovative ideas and collaborative efforts are made and the economy will expand. More people will be inspired to pursue careers as space explorers and innovators in aerospace transportation as they marvel at the wonders that are found only on the Space Coast.

These new companies mentioned in the article are part of a group of exciting and creative businesses emerging in the Space Coast area. They thrive due to advancements in space travel technology, increased investment, and supportive regulations. NASAs decision to establish its launchpad on a Florida beach proved to be one of its most successful endeavors. If youre looking to engage with space-related activities while witnessing history unfold on the Space Coast, consider exploring NASA or space-inspired games. Platforms like https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/ offer free options that you can enjoy on the go.

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The New Companies Developing Tech on the Space Coast - SpaceCoastDaily.com

Arnie Weissmann

On Valentine's Day, a milestone toward the democratization of space travel occurred, bringing an experience that was once considered accessible only by astronauts and billionaires into the realm of ... millionaires.

Well, it's a start. And the Feb. 14 unveiling of Space Perspective's first test capsule, Spaceship Neptune, suggests to me that, in the imaginable future, space travel may even become an option for families that might otherwise be considering a week in Orlando.

Reality check: Space Perspective is, and aims to remain, a luxury experience. The 1,750 people who have signed on to be lifted 100,000 feet beneath its hydrogen-filled space balloons will be paying $125,000 each. Given that demand has been robust, the price may rise before it falls, though a growing competitive set may moderate pricing.

Often what begins as a luxury experience becomes more widely available once a certain level of scale is reached. And Space Perspective is indeed positioned to scale its operation. The company has built facilities to manufacture its own components, and while not exactly an assembly line operation, their idea is to have a fleet of balloons and capsules, launchable from a flotilla of customized ships (the first, Marine Spaceport Voyager, has been completed). As a result, liftoff can occur virtually anywhere in the world, and the ships can chase favorable weather conditions to increase the number of annual launches.

The decision to add floating spaceports in addition to terrestrial ones potentially also makes the experience much more varied for repeat guests.One launch could rise off the coast of Florida and see the Bahamian underwater trench known as the Tongue of the Ocean, or lift from Mediterranean and view the boot of Italy.

"The foundational experience is seeing the curvature, the thin blue line, the black sky, the sun in that black sky," co-CEO Jane Poynter told me earlier this week. "But what you're looking down on is really important, and the pre- and post-trip experiences can be so different."

To help sell these experiences (and capsule seats), Space Perspective has signed preferred supplier arrangements with Global Travel Collection, Signature Travel Network and Cruise Planners, among other agency groups. Advisors have sold half of the capsule buyouts, where all eight seats have been booked for $1 million.

Given that the capsule involves technologies that had not previously been applied to scalable human spaceflight, a good portion of our conversation centered on safety. I asked whether there had been a dip in bookings following the tragedy involving another tourism enterprise that ventured where few had gone before: the implosion of the OceanGate submersible Titan.

After it went missing in June, Poynter said her company did not get any requests for refunds, though two customers called to ask about safety: "One of them was an engineer, and it was a great conversation." Safety questions are legitimate talking points, she acknowledged; in fact, she seemed to welcome a discussion that drew considerable contrast between OceanGate's approach and Space Perspective's.

Whereas OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush adopted the persona of a rule-breaking maverick visionary who resisted certification and used composites untested in submersibles, "we embrace regulation," Poynter said. "We are regulated by the Coast Guard and the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation."

Also, both Poynter and her husband, co-CEO Taber MacCallum, have been involved in human spaceflight for more than 35 years through their Paragon Space Development Corp., which patented technologies used "on the International Space Station and every single human spacecraft orbiting the planet and operated by Americans," Poynter said.

"The balloon that we're using has been flown over 1,000 times in the last 20 years, and there hasn't been a single in-flight incident," she said. "It's a very well understood legacy technology. We specifically made the capsule the size and weight that we did because it's not pushing the technology."

Spaceship Neptune is a test capsule that will not carry commercial customers and has none of the luxury fixtures that will be part of the tourism experience. But its technology is identical to capsules that will carry guests, absent a carbon dioxide scrubber that would be required for manned flight.

"We have to get through safety gates" before customers are flown, Poynter said. "We're flying instruments that can tell us exactly what's going on with every aspect of the vehicle. It will be dropped from space to make sure that all of the backup systems work flawlessly. We'll be doing approximately 10 uncrewed flights and, roughly speaking, four crewed ones. I say roughly because we have to get the results of each test and may have to do a couple of them over."

As someone who had been scheduled on the Titan to dive down to see the wreck of the Titanic last May, I say hallelujah. I've learned a lot about how to better assess risk since then, and Space Perspective's approach is certainly reassuring. In fact, the contrast between the two approaches couldn't be more dramatic.

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A space tourism milestone has been reached. Now, testing begins. - Travel Weekly

TITUSVILLE, FL Space Perspective, the innovative aerospace company headquartered right here in Titusville, has reached a significant milestone in its mission to pioneer commercial space tourism.

The company provided an eagerly awaited update today, unveiling the completion of its latest test capsule, named Spaceship Neptune Excelsior, a testament to the late balloon space-jump pioneer Joe Kittinger.

The Excelsior capsule, boasting a spherical structure with a diameter of 16 feet, is set to become one of the largest human spacecraft in operation, excluding space stations.

With a pressurized volume exceeding 2,000 cubic feet, roughly two times the volume of Virgin Galactics Spaceship Two and Blue Origins New Shepard, it offers passengers a spacious and comfortable environment unparalleled in commercial sub-orbital space travel.

Taber MacCallum, Founder, Co-CEO, and CTO of Space Perspective previously described the capsule as one of the greatest iterative collaborations I have ever seen and emphasized its importance in realizing the companys vision of offering an extraordinary spaceflight experience.

Excelsior will be equipped with state-of-the-art systems for thermal, pressure, and temperature control, along with fully redundant avionics, communications, and power systems, the capsule is a testament to the companys dedication to safety and reliability.

Moreover, Excelsiors iconic spherical shape not only ensures optimal structural integrity but also enhances passenger comfort, providing a roomy and luxurious environment for travelers to enjoy the journey to the edge of space.

Space Perspectives ambitious timeline aims to commence commercial flights as early as late 2024, with the company having already sold out seats for its first twenty-five flights.

These flights, lasting approximately six hours, will offer passengers a unique experience, ascending at a leisurely pace of around twelve miles per hour, providing a gentle lift without the high-G forces associated with traditional rocket launches.

The completion of Excelsior marks a significant step forward in Titusvilles burgeoning spaceflight industry, positioning the city as a hub for cutting-edge aerospace innovation.

As Space Perspective continues to push the boundaries of commercial space travel, Titusville residents can look forward to exciting developments on the horizon.

As Titusville prepares to embark on its next frontier, the completion of Spaceship Neptune Excelsior stands as a symbol of the citys pioneering spirit and unwavering commitment to shaping the future of space exploration.

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Space Perspective Unveils Test Capsule, Marks Milestone in Titusville's Spaceflight Journey | TalkOfTitusville.com - Talk of Titusville

This story is part of The Salt Lake Tribunes ongoing commitment to identify solutions to Utahs biggest challenges through the work of the Innovation Lab.

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If brains and ambition are all it takes, then Delian Asparouhov has already conquered the world.

Less than 12 years ago, Asparouhov was a student at Salt Lake Citys West High School with a head for numbers and a heart for space travel. Today, he is co-founder of his own company with a $100 million investment and a vision to make chemicals for pharmaceuticals in zero gravity.

That company, Varda Space Industries, is looking to complete its first mission Wednesday, landing its capsule in Utahs West Desert a couple of hours from the West High robotics lab.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for the Asparouhov, whose rise to the rarified world of technology finance has been anything but conventional.

[Read more about the capsules landing in Utah and what it could mean to pharmaceutical innovation.]

In between has been a short stint at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an arrest for hacking into MITs email system, a $100,000 fellowship from a national competition, and a partnership at Founders Fund, a premier San Francisco venture capital fund with $11 billion in tech investments.

And he just turned 30.

For Asparouhov, his ascent came from encouragement, and high expectations, from his parents. I started coding in fifth or sixth grade. I started doing more complex projects between ninth and 10th grade.

Asparouhov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, to two brilliant mathematicians. His mother, Elena Asparouhova, was 21 and still in school at the University of Sofia. (In Bulgaria, womens last names often include an a at the end.) His father, Tihomir Asparouhov, a math prodigy who in 1990 won the gold medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad, was in graduate school in England.

Elena Asparouhova, who is now faculty chair of the University of Utahs Stena Center for Financial Technology and heads the U.s Laboratory for Experimental Economics and Finance, said that in many ways her mother, Delians grandmother, was his primary caretaker in Sofia as she was finishing school. She spent more time with him than I did at one time.

Both parents were admitted to doctoral programs at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

They arrived in the U.S. in their early 20s, Delian Asparouhov said, with about $300 and me in a stroller.

Day care in Pasadena was a scramble. The first stop was an all-Black church in Altadena, where Delian was the sole white student. That was followed by a period at a Spanish-speaking day care, where Delian had to pick up a third language on top of Bulgarian and English.

After living in Bulgaria, Asparouhova said, diversity was important.

When Delian was in fourth grade, they moved to Utah after Asparouhova received a faculty appointment at the U. The parents first put Delian in Rowland Hall, but he later moved to public school because his parents still desired more diversity.

And they pushed him into math contests. From an early age, he competed in MATHCOUNTS competitions in Utah and elsewhere.

He started in West Highs International Baccalaureate program in seventh grade and spent the next six years there, the longest he would attend any school. It was there that he met Dan McGuire, who was then a physics teacher at West and adviser to the schools robotics club.

(Dan McGuire) In this 2009 photo of the West High School robotics club, Delian Asparouhov is in the back row second from the right.

Over the course of the year, Mr. McGuire whupped me into shape and taught me physics, Asparouhov wrote years later. Mr. McGuire was never afraid to call me out if I was ever getting too full of myself. I dont think Ive ever learned so much in a single year while being in continuous fear.

Dan was incredible, said Asparouhova, calling him the one role model for her son.

For his part, McGuire remembers a shy kid who blossomed into a leader of the robotics club, where he was head of software.

He said Asparouhov was particularly effective at communicating. Having him do the engineering wasnt the best use of him. Everyone who worked with him agreed with that. He did the presentations, and he was really good at it.

He was also a natural leader, said McGuire, who has kept in touch with Asparouhov. Everyone who worked with him agreed with that. Im not sure he would have agreed at the time, but he understands it now.

In 2011, Asparouhov was one of two Utah students to win the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement, given to students who get perfect scores on all of their Advanced Placement exams.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Delian Asparouhov at West High School in 2011.

His next stop after graduation was MIT, where his tenure was short but eventful.

I was drunk one night at my fraternity, said Asparouhov, relaying the story of how, in 2013, he told his frat brothers that he could hack into MITs email system. He did exactly that and sent an institutionwide message saying classes would be canceled.

That was at 2 a.m. By 3 a.m., the police had shown up and arrested him.

His mother jumped on a plane to Boston to plead with university officials to let him stay. They agreed to that, but Asparouhov already had one foot out the door.

Thats because he was a finalist for a Thiel Fellowship. Created by and named for PayPal co-founder and tech investor Peter Thiel, the fellowship was originally called the 20 under 20 fellowship. It provides $100,000 in investment funds for young entrepreneurs to bypass college and move into the startup world.

Barely a week after his arrest, he was awarded the fellowship.

I was mortified, his mother said. My child cant be dropping out.

She sat down and wrote what she called the letter to the immigrant child, telling him his parents owe everything to higher education.

He replied by saying, Mother, you have two choices. Support me or move out of the way, Asparouhova said.

She came to terms with it. Hes blessed with not being the first generation. We had nothing to fall back on.

With the Thiel funding, the young Asparouhov launched a company called Nightingale, which had a software program aimed at helping diagnose autism. He later sold that company.

But he never left Thiels orbit. Thiel started Founders Fund, which manages more than $11 billion in investments in tech companies, and Asparouhov is one of a dozen partners at the fund.

He also is pursuing his dreams of space. His current venture, Varda Space Industries, is a startup that intends to produce pharmaceutical chemicals in zero gravity, meaning an orbiting lab.

Ive been thinking about this idea for about a decade, said Asparouhov, who is president of Varda, which he founded with business partner Will Bruey.

The companys first test flight launched last year, and the capsule is due to land Wednesday at the Utah Test and Training Range west of the Great Salt Lake. The capsule will be airlifted to Wendovers airport after it is recovered.

It has been great working with the leadership and staff at the Utah Test and Training Range and Dugway Proving Ground throughout this operation, said Asparouhov.

The maiden flight was mainly about proving the capabilities of the companys factory in a capsule, but Asparouhov said the firm is negotiating with major pharmaceutical companies for long-term contracts.

And he still wants to make it into space, although for now he is getting his flight fix from the Cessna he flies around the country.

Asparouhov said he had three dreams he wanted to realize by age 30: He wanted to be a partner in a $1 billion-plus investment fund (done), a founder of a $1 billion company (started, but not worth $1 billion ... yet), and becoming a father.

In December, he and his wife, Nadia, welcomed their firstborn, a son, Branislav Asparouhov.

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Former West High student now heads tech startup making pharmaceuticals in space - Salt Lake Tribune

With an ambitious vision for the future of space exploration, NASA plans to replace the International Space Station (ISS) by the end of 2030. The new space station will not only feature cutting-edge research facilities and a more adaptive infrastructure but also provide critical insights into the health impacts of space travel. The transition to a new space station marks a significant shift in NASAs strategy, allowing the agency to focus on deep space exploration while leveraging commercial entities for low-Earth orbit activities.

Launched in 1998, the ISS has been a pivotal part of space exploration, involving five space agencies in its assembly and maintenance. However, the ISS, designed in the 80s, has started to show its age. Structural limitations and outdated technology have made it increasingly costly to maintain. Additionally, security concerns have been raised due to cracks noted in one of the modules.

With the retirement of the ISS, NASA has turned its attention to commercial space stations. One example is Starlab, which has partnered with SpaceX to launch its entire space station, or at least the first module, into Low Earth Orbit in a single mission. This new station promises to have more than twice the useful space as the ISS, ready to host four crew members for microgravity research and advanced scientific discovery.

One of the significant aspects of the new space station will be its focus on health impacts of space travel. The lack of gravity in space leads to several health issues, including bone loss. The new station will provide a platform to conduct scientific research in various fields, addressing these health concerns and pushing the boundaries of our understanding of life in space.

The new space station marks the beginning of a new era in space exploration. It is expected to pave the way for human exploration deeper into space, with a focus on international cooperation. NASAs long-term goal is to put a station beyond low-Earth orbit, expanding the possibilities of what can be achieved in space.

However, as NASA transitions to commercial space stations, there are concerns that the US could fall behind in space research. China, for instance, has its own space station, Tiangong, with over 20 mini laboratories. By 2032, it is expected to host 1,000 experiments. Furthermore, China is leading in space patents, with its share tripling to 49% between 2010 and 2020. These dynamics underscore the importance of international cooperation in the future of space exploration.

The decision to replace the ISS with a new space station reflects a changing landscape in space exploration. As NASA shifts its focus to deep space and commercial entities take over low-Earth orbit activities, we stand on the precipice of a new era in space discovery. It remains to be seen how these changes will affect international cooperation and competition, but one thing is clear: the future of space exploration is brighter than ever.

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NASA's Vision for the Future: A New Space Station by 2030 - Medriva

Interstellar travel is only something humanity has achieved in science fiction like Star Trek's USS Enterprise, which used antimatter engines to travel across star systems.

But antimatter isn't just a sci-fi trope. Antimatter really exists.

Elon Musk has called antimatter power "the ticket for interstellar journeys," and physicists like Ryan Weed are exploring how to harness it.

Antimatter is made up of particles almost exactly like regular matter but with opposite electric charge. That means when antimatter contacts regular matter, they both annihilate and can produce enormous amounts of energy.

"Annihilation of antimatter and matter converts mass directly into energy," Weed, cofounder and CEO of Positron Dynamics, a company working to develop an antimatter propulsion system, told Business Insider.

Just one gram of antimatter could generate an explosion equivalent to a nuclear bomb. It's that kind of energy, some say, that could boldly take us where no one has gone before at record speed.

The benefit of all that energy is that it can be used to either accelerate or decelerate spacecraft at break-neck speeds.

For example, let's take a trip to our nearest star system, Proxima, about 4.2 light years away.

An antimatter engine could theoretically accelerate a spacecraft at 1g (9.8 meters per second squared) getting us to Proxima in just five years, Weed said in 2016. That's 8,000 times faster than it would take Voyager 1 one of the fastest spacecraft in history to travel about half the distance, according to NASA.

Even within our own solar system, an antimatter-powered spacecraft could reach Pluto in 3.5 weeks compared to the 9.5 years it took NASA's New Horizons probe to arrive, Weed said.

The reason we don't have antimatter engines, despite their tremendous capabilities, comes down to cost, not tech.

Gerald Jackson, an accelerator physicist who worked on antimatter projects at Fermilab, told Forbes in 2016 that with enough funding, we could have an antimatter spacecraft prototype within a decade.

The basic technology is there. Physicists armed with the world's most powerful particle accelerators have made antiprotons and antihydrogen atoms.

The issue is that this type of antimatter is incredibly expensive to make. It's considered the most expensive substance on Earth. Jackson gave us an idea of just how much an antimatter machine would cost to build and maintain.

Jackson is the founder, president, and CEO of Hbar Technologies, which is working on a concept for an antimatter space sail to decelerate spacecraft traveling 1% to 10% the speed of light a useful design for entering into orbit around a distant star, planet, or moon that you want to study.

Jackson said he's designed an asymmetric proton collider that could produce 20 grams of antimatter per year.

"For a 10-kilogram scientific package traveling at 2% of the speed of light, 35 grams of antimatter is needed to decelerate the spacecraft down and inject it into orbit around Proxima Centauri," Jackson told BI.

He said it would take $8 billion to build a solar power plant for the enormous energy needs of antimatter production and cost $670 million per year to operate.

The idea is just that, for now. "There is currently no serious funding for advanced space propulsion concepts," Jackson said.

However, there are other ways to produce antimatter. That's where Weed focused his work.

Weed's concept involves positrons, the antimatter version of an electron.

Positrons "are several thousand times lighter than antiprotons and don't pack quite as much punch when annihilating," Weed said.

The advantage, however, is that they occur naturally and don't need a giant accelerator and billions of dollars to make.

Weed's antimatter propulsion system is designed to use krypton-79 a form of the element krypton that naturally emits positrons.

The engine system would first gather high-energy positrons from krypton-79 and then direct them toward a layer of regular matter, producing annihilation energy. That energy would then trigger a powerful fusion reaction to generate thrust for the spacecraft.

While positrons may be less expensive to obtain than more powerful forms of antimatter, they are difficult to harness because they are highly energetic and need to be slowed down, or "moderated." So building a prototype to test in space is still beyond reach, cost-wise, Weed said.

Such is the case for all antimatter propulsion designs. Over the decades, scientists have proposed dozens of concepts, none of which have come to fruition.

For example, in 1953, Austrian physicist Eugen Snger proposed a "photon rocket" that would run on positron annihilation energy. And since the '80s, there's been talk of thermal antimatter engines, which would use antimatter to heat liquid, gas, or plasma to provide thrust.

"It's not sci-fi, but we aren't going to see it flying until there is a significant 'mission-pull,'" Weed said about his engine concept.

To build Weed's concept at the scale of a starship, "the devil's in the engineering details," Paul M. Sutter, an astrophysicist and host of "Ask a Spaceman" podcast, told BI.

"We're talking about a device that harnesses truly enormous amounts of energy, requiring exquisite balance and control," Sutter said.

That enormous energy is another obstacle holding us back from revolutionizing space travel. Because during testing, "if something goes wrong, these are big explosions," Steve Howe, a physicist who worked on antimatter concepts with NASA in the '90s, told BI.

"So we need an ability to test high energy density systems somewhere that don't threaten the biosphere, but still allow us to develop them," said Howe, who thinks the moon would make a good testing base. "And if something goes wrong, you melted a piece of the moon," and not Earth, he added.

Antimatter tends to bring out the imagination in everyone who works on them. "But, we need crazy but plausible ideas to make it further into space, so it's worth looking into," Sutter said.

Weed echoes the sentiment, saying "until there is a compelling reason to get to the Kuiper Belt, the Solar Gravitational Lens, or Alpha Centauri really quickly or perhaps we are trying to return large asteroids for mining progress will continue to be slow in this area."

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How antimatter engines could fly humans to other stars in just a few years - Business Insider Nederland

Much of the American space program is run out of nondescript offices in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. Thats where Kam Ghaffarian, the billionaire space entrepreneur, could be found on an auspicious day. Exactly 47 years before, he had immigrated to the United States from Iran. Mr. Ghaffarian, 66, sat at a table made of gently glowing white onyx, also from Iran.

Mr. Ghaffarian said he imported the stone because of its unique translucence when lit and because of the energy (spiritual, not physical) that the billion-year-old mineral emits. He is a big believer in the importance of meditating to connect with the energy in the universe, which he has done on a daily basis for decades.

When you touch it, you feel the energy of the stone, he said. How many years? Go ahead, touch it.

He was in the market for good energy. Just a few weeks later, Mr. Ghaffarians company tried to do something no private organization has ever done: Touch down softly on the surface of the moon.

Mr. Ghaffarian specializes in moonshots. His array of companies includes not just the one sending a lander to the moon, but also one building a space station to put in orbit around the Earth, another designing advanced nuclear reactors, a venture fund and a nonprofit studying faster-than-light travel technology. His projects are the kind that Silicon Valley frets about having given up on. They are bets on tangible technology, not software, where metrics like hits and clicks are replaced with the hard questions of physics.

And while bombastic billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have captured attention for their efforts to launch futuristic reusable rockets, the lower-profile Mr. Ghaffarians companies have helped answer the question of what to do with them, becoming crucial in the increasingly close partnership between NASA and private industry. SpaceXs key innovation has been building rockets that have brought down the cost of going to space. Mr. Ghaffarians firms are using those cheap rockets to commercialize space activity in ways that Mr. Musks SpaceX hasnt pursued, while Mr. Bezos Blue Origin has yet to reach orbit.

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Kam Ghaffarian's Moonshots - The New York Times

A tiny robot has completed its first surgery in zero gravity on the International Space Station, operated by surgeons approximately 250 miles away.

February 10 saw the first surgery demo on simulated tissue in the lab thats currently circulating in orbit on the ISS. Surgeons in Lincoln, Nebraska operated the remote-controlled robot, known as space MIRA (Miniaturized In Vivo Robotic Assistant), reports CNN. The robot was developed by a team at the University of Nebraska, led by Nebraska Engineering professor Shane Farritor.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket gave spaceMIRA a ride into orbit on January 30 from Floridas Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the robot arrived at the space station on February 1.

Looking forward, this could be a huge step forward for human space travel, offering the possibility to deliver complex medical procedures even when in orbit. It could also make a huge impact in establishing access to medical care in remote areas down on Earth too.

When it comes to space travel, journeying to other planets, like Mars, could take two years for a full round-trip. If medical emergencies happen during that time, this kind of technology could be life-saving.

Weighing just two pounds, spaceMIRA is about the same size as a microwave, making it the perfect size and weight to be well-suited for space travel. Part of the robot is inserted into the tissue to perform surgery, while using two arms to mimic the movements of a human surgeon.

It gives smaller hands and eyes to the surgeon (on Earth) and allows them to perform a lot of procedures minimally invasively, said Shane Farritor, cofounder and chief technology officer at Virtual Incision, the startup that created spaceMIRA.

One of the major challenges for remote surgery is a delay between commands from the surgeons and the robot, in situations where a one-second delay could prove fatal. spaceMIRAs delay is about 0.85 seconds, which didnt present many issues during these tests.

Five seconds would be an eternity in surgery, and a split second or a half a second is going to be significant. So, this was a big challenge, Dr. Michael Jobst, a colorectal surgeon who was part of the demonstration.

spaceMIRA is set to make its triumphant return to Earth in the spring.

Featured image: University of Nebraskas College of Engineering

Rachael Davies has spent six years reporting on tech and entertainment, writing for publications like the Evening Standard, Huffington Post, Dazed, and more. From niche topics like the latest gaming mods to consumer-faced guides on the latest tech, she puts her MA in Convergent Journalism to work, following avenues guided by a variety of interests. As well as writing, she also has experience in editing as the UK Editor of The Mary Sue , as well as speaking on the important of SEO in journalism at the Student Press Association National Conference. You can find her full portfolio over on Muck Rack or follow her on social media on X.

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Tiny robot's successful first surgery could have huge implications for space travel - ReadWrite

Healthcare innovations are not limited to the confines of Earth. As humanity reaches out to explore the vastness of space, a new paradigm in healthcare is being established. Astronauts in deep space face unique health challenges, from the effects of long-term exposure to space radiation to the psychological impact of isolation. Addressing these challenges has implications not only for the success of space missions but also for improving healthcare on Earth.

A key player in this field is Dorit Donoviel and her team at the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH). Their work involves conducting and funding a variety of experiments, including research into balance in microgravity and ways for astronauts to produce their own drugs in space. These investigations aim to address the human health challenges in exploring deep space, such as space radiation affecting the entire body, mental health issues, the ability to provide healthcare, and the stability of food nutrients. To this end, the team is exploring the idea of genetically engineering biological organisms to produce nutrients and medications on the spot.

In the pursuit of successful deep space missions, the human microbiome emerges as a crucial area of study. The unique conditions of space can disrupt the balance of the microbiome, leading to adverse health effects for astronauts. Astromicrobiology, which involves understanding microbial persistence and succession in closed systems like spacecraft, is integral to mission planning and execution. Furthermore, understanding the effects of radiation exposure in space is crucial for developing effective risk reduction strategies. The study of the microbiome in space also provides insights into how space travel impacts the immune system and opens avenues for discovering new microorganisms with unique properties.

The challenges faced by astronauts, such as space radiation, mental health concerns, and healthcare delivery, necessitate innovative solutions. TRISH, a consortium involving Baylor College of Medicine, Caltech, and MIT, is working with NASA to create solutions for these challenges. These include on-demand drug production in space and genetically modified organisms for sustainable food and medicine. Innovations such as a star-shaped device for medication delivery and strategies for psychological resilience are also being explored.

Dr. Jon Bailey, a regional anesthesia specialist, is paving the way for surgery and pain management in space. His research involves evaluating the viability of using ultrasound guided perineural injections to administer regional anesthesia in a simulated microgravity environment. This method could provide a safer way to control pain for astronauts, potentially revolutionizing healthcare delivery in remote and extreme locations, including military and rescue operations.

In conclusion, the advancements in space healthcare promise a paradigm shift not only in how we approach health in space but also how we address health challenges on Earth. The work done by researchers and organizations such as Dorit Donoviel, TRISH, NASA, and BCMSpaceHealth is paving the way for medical breakthroughs that could benefit all of humanity.

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Space Health Challenges and Innovations in Deep Space Travel - Medriva

Fire on a spacecraft can be catastrophic. It can spread quickly in a confined space, and for trapped astronauts, there may be no escape. Its fading in time now, but Apollo 1, which was to be the first crewed Apollo mission, never got off the ground because of a fire that killed the crew. Thereve been other dangerous spacecraft fires too, like the one onboard the Russian Mir space station in 1997.

In an effort to understand how fire behaves in spacecraft, NASA began its Saffire (Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment) in 2016. Saffire was an eight-year, six-mission effort to study how fire behaves in space. The final Saffire test was completed on January 9th.

Fire behaviour in buildings here on Earth is well-studied and well-understood. Fire prevention and suppression are important components in building design. It makes sense to bring that same level of understanding to space travel and even to surpass it.

How big a fire does it take for things to get bad for a crew? asked Dr. David Urban, Saffire principal investigator at NASAs Glenn Research Centre. This kind of work is done for every other inhabited structure here on Earth buildings, planes, trains, automobiles, mines, submarines, ships but we hadnt done this research for spacecraft until Saffire.

NASA has conducted six experiments under Saffire, and each one was conducted in an uncrewed Cygnus cargo vehicle after it completed its supply mission to the ISS. The vehicles are sent into the atmosphere to burn up, and the experiments are run prior to the vehicles destruction. Saffire 1 ran in 2016 inside an avionics bay with an airflow duct. The bay contained a cotton and fibreglass burn blend, which was ignited remotely with a hot wire.

Subsequent Saffire experiments tested how different materials burned, including the fire-resistant fabric Nomex and even acrylic spacecraft windows. Tests also included varied oxygen flows, different atmospheric pressures, and different oxygen levels. Each Saffire test generated important data on how fire behaves inside spacecraft.

The final segment of the Saffire program, Saffire-VI, was conducted on January 9th, 2024, prior to the uncrewed Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft carrying the experiment burning up during re-entry. Saffire-VI was different than its predecessors in the program because the experiment had higher oxygen content and lower pressure similar to actual conditions in spacecraft.

The Saffire flow unit is a wind tunnel, said Dr. Gary Ruff, Saffire project manager at NASAs Glenn Research Center. Were pushing air through it. Once test conditions are set, we run an electrical current through a thin wire, and the materials ignite.

Fire in a confined environment does more than just damage things and burn people. It also generates harmful combustion by-products. Alongside the predictable carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, a fire onboard a spacecraft can generate trace amounts of hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen cyanide. Hydrogen fluoride is a very toxic chemical, and exposure requires immediate medical attention. Hydrogen chloride is an irritant that can become fatal, and hydrogen cyanide can damage the brain, heart, and lungs and can also be fatal. A piece of equipment called the Combustion Product Monitor (CPM) instrument uses laser spectroscopy to analyze the contents of the smoke and detect these hazardous chemicals.

Cameras inside the experiment record what happens, while other instruments outside collect data. After the experiments collect their data, its downloaded before the Cygnus vehicle is sent plummeting toward its atmospheric destruction. By altering variables like oxygen content and flow and atmospheric pressure, the experiments gather data that the researchers use to build a predictive model of fire behaviour aboard a spacecraft.

Youve got a heat release rate and a rate of release of combustion products, Ruff said. You can take those as model input and predict what will happen in a vehicle.

At this point in time, humans are poised for a big leap. Were working towards establishing a presence on the Moon. From there, future crewed missions to Mars beckon. Researchers are studying how to protect astronauts health during those flights by understanding how their bodies respond to extended time in microgravity, exposure to radiation, and other hazards. Preventing fires and extinguishing them quickly are critical issues in spaceflight and astronaut safety, especially when astronauts are so far away theres no chance of any assistance.

The models built on Saffire data will help missions succeed and help everyone get home safely.

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NASA is Done Setting Fires Inside its Doomed Cargo Spacecraft - Universe Today