Category Archives: Space Travel

The Lockheed Martin logo is seen during the the 70th annual International Astronautical Congress at ... [+] the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC on October 22, 2019. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Our theme of Space Stocks continues to underperform, falling 17% year-to-date, compared to a decline of the S&P 500 which remains down by 6%. Now, enterprise-backed space programs actually saw much progress through the Covid-19 pandemic, with the likes of SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and BlueOrigin launching multiple crews and high-profile individuals into space. However, space stocks havent fared as well, as investors have been reducing their exposure to futuristic stocks as they brace for higher rates and tighter monetary policy.

Although the volatility could continue in the near term, as investors have been prioritizing cyclical plays and companies with stronger cash flows, there is still a pretty good case for investing in space stocks for the long haul. There has been a gradual shift from government-driven space programs toward privately run programs, and this could bode well for the companies in our theme. Moreover, new markets are opening up, ranging from reusable rockets, satellite-based Internet, space tourism, and point-to-point transport around the earth and this could drive revenue growth for the theme in the long run.

Within our theme, Lockheed Martin has been the best performer, with its stock up 12% year-to-date in 2022, driven partly by the ongoing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, which have been driving defense stocks higher. On the other side, Virgin Galactic has been the worst performer, with its stock down by almost 36% year-to-date.

Below youll find our previous coverage of the Space Stocks theme where you can track our view over time.

[10/15/2021] Space Stocks To Watch As SpaceX And Blue Origin See New Milestones

Our theme of Space Stocks has underperformed this year, declining 7% year-to-date, compared to a return of almost 18% on the S&P 500. However, there have been a couple of notable developments in the space sector in recent weeks. Elon Musk backed SpaceX saw its valuation soar to over $100 billion last week as the company made an agreement to sell stock from company insiders. This would make SpaceX the worlds second most valuable private company after Chinas Bytedance. Moreover, Jeff Bezos BlueOrigin successfully launched the second crewed mission of its New Shepard rocket on Wednesday. These high-profile developments could bode well for publicly listed stocks with exposure to the space theme. As weve noted before, the longer-term outlook for the theme also appears promising, given the shift from government-driven space programs toward enterprise-backed programs and the emergence of a host of space-related opportunities such as reusable rockets, space tourism, and satellite-based Internet.

While all the stocks in our theme have meaningfully underperformed the broader markets, Lockheed Martin has been the best performer, with its stock up 2% year-to-date. On the other side, Maxar Technologies has been the worst performer, with its stock down by about 22% year-to-date.

[7/15/2021] Virgin Galactic, Aerojet Rocketdyne: How Are Space Stocks Doing?

Our theme of Space Stocks has underperformed this year, rising by just about 8% year-to-date, compared to a return of over 17% for the S&P 500. That said, things could look up for these stocks. July is turning out to be an eventful month for the space industry. Earlier this month, Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) successfully completed its first fully-crewed test flight, which carried its founder Richard Branson to space. Separately, privately held startup Blue Origin plans to fly its founder, e-commerce billionaire Jeff Bezos as part of its first crewed flight on its New Shepard rocket ship on July 20th. These high-profile trips are likely to create a lot of buzz for the space industry, turning the focus on publicly listed space stocks in the near term. The longer-term outlook for the sector also looks promising, given the shift from government-driven space programs toward enterprise-backed programs and the emergence of a host of space-related opportunities including reusable rockets, satellite-based Internet, and point-to-point transport. Virgin Galactic has been the strongest performer within our theme, rising by about 39% year-to-date. On the other side, Aerojet Rocketdyne was the worst performer, with its stock down by roughly 11% year-to-date.

View our Space Stocks theme for the complete list of companies and an overview of their financial performance.

[8/10/2020]

Investor interest in the space exploration area has been rising after Elon Musks SpaceXs successfully completed its first manned mission this year. There are a couple of broad trends driving the industry. Firstly, there is a gradual shift from government-driven space programs toward enterprise-backed programs. Moreover, new markets appear to be opening up, ranging from reusable rockets, satellite-based Internet, space travel, and point-to-point transport around the earth. Per Morgan Stanley, the global space industry is poised to expand significantly over the next two decades, growing from roughly $350 billion currently to over $1 trillion by 2040. [1]

Although SpaceX remains privately held, weve picked a theme of a few publicly listed space companies including Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD), Iridium (NASDAQ: IRDM), and Virgin Galactic as part of our theme Space Stocks To Watch. Parts of the analysis are summarized below.

Lockheed Martin ($108 billion market cap, +0% YTD), is a diversified aerospace company that also makes satellites and space craft for government and commercial customers. The company is developing the Orion spacecraft that is intended to be used in NASAs human spaceflight programs that will venture into deep space and lunar orbit. The company also provides launch services under the United Launch Alliance partnership with Boeing.

Virgin Galactic ($4 billion, +55%) is an aerospace company focused on suborbital spaceflight for private individuals and researchers. While the company is currently in the test phases and doesnt generate meaningful revenues just yet, things are likely to change in the next few quarters, as it likely begins commercial space flights carrying paying space tourists from 2021, charging each passenger roughly $250,000.

Aerojet Rocketdyne ($3.4 billion, -7%) is an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer. While the company derives more than half its revenues from missile defense systems, its space business is also poised to grow considering its contracts with Boeings SLS rocket, Northrops OmegA, and the United Launch Alliances Vulcan rocket.

Iridium Communications ($4 billion, +20%) operates a constellation of satellites that are used for worldwide voice and data communication from hand-held satellite phones and other devices. The company essentially provides communication services across the world, even in areas where there is no cellphone coverage. Iridium largely caters to governments and private sector companies including maritime and aviation solutions.

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Space Stocks Are Having Another Rough Year. Should You Buy? - Forbes

Nearly 70 years before the woman who would become the first known Native American female engineer was born, her great-great-grandfather, John Ross, was fighting for the rights of the Cherokee Nation. In an 1836 letter to U.S. legislators, Ross, the nations principal chief, wrote, Spare our people! Spare the wreck of our prosperity! Let not our deserted homes become the monuments of our desolation! He was protesting the legitimacy of the Treaty of New Echota, an accord that, without any agreement from Ross or the Cherokee National Council, was used as legal basis to forcibly, fraudulently, and violently expel the remaining Cherokee population from their ancestral homelands.

His protests would ultimately be in vain. Ross and his people would be forced to embark on the Trail of Tears, where his wife, Quatie, would die. Eventually, he and others settled in Park Hill, Oklahoma, a hamlet some five miles south of Tahlequah, the city resting at the southwestern edge of the Ozark Mountains that would come to be the Cherokee Nations capital.

Its an incredible origin story that set the gears in motion for the glass-ceiling-breaking life of Mary Golda Ross, the chiefs great-great-granddaughter. While Chief Ross had fought to keep his people out of obscurity, Mary became a trailblazer by setting her sights on the stars.

She would walk through a door and stick in her foot to make sure that it stayed open for others.

She was the kind of person who would walk through a door and stick in her foot to make sure that it stayed open for others, says historian Emily A. Margolis, a curator of American womens history at the National Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Not only did she do all these amazing things in aerospace, but she did it at the same time that she was trying to make engineering in general more inclusive and welcoming to all.

She was born in Park Hill on August 9, 1908, one year after Oklahoma became a state, the second of five children to William Wallace and Mary Henrietta Moore Ross. From a young age, Ross showed promise. She was sent to live with her grandparents to study in Tahlequah and graduated high school at just 16. As a freshman at Northeastern State Teachers College (now Northeastern State University), Ross majored in mathematics, an unusual pick at a time when women were not a necessarily welcome presence in STEM.

But to Ross, math seemed the most obvious and appealing option. Math was more fun than anything else, she explained in a 2002 interview with writer Laurel M. Sheppard for Native Peoples magazine. It was always a game to me. She often found herself the only woman in her classes, with her male classmates physically insulating themselves from her. I sat on one side of the room and the guys on the other side of the room, she recalled to Sheppard. I guess they didnt want to associate with me. But I could hold my own with them, and sometimes did better. She graduated with her bachelors in 1928.

Courtesy of the Ross Family

In the years after, Ross worked as a high school teacher, a statistical clerk at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and an adviser to students at a boarding school for Native American students in Santa Fe, New Mexico. During the summers, she took astronomy classes at Colorado State Teachers College, eventually earning her masters degree in 1938a feat rarely accomplished by women at the time. (Only 86 women earned Ph.D.s in mathematics between 1940 and 1949.)

Then came World War II.

Though women have long labored (with little to no recognition) in or outside the home, the war brought an unprecedented jump in female participation in traditionally male professions. Women were called to join the ranks of the production line as their husbands, brothers, and fathers were drafted into the war. Jobs that were previously kept from them were suddenly available, and by 1945, nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the household.

Following the advice of her father, who encouraged her to channel her mathematical pursuits into the war effort, Ross went west. In California, she was hired as an engineer at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, an aerospace manufacturer that became a key military facility during the war. By the time she joined the company, Ross became one of nearly 480,000 women who worked in the aircraft industry in the United States. Certain aircraft factories located in Southern California, where Lockheed was headquartered, saw 60 percent of their workforce composed of women.

What truly captured her imagination was a concept that was then inconceivable: space travel.

At Lockheed, Ross worked on design issues concerning the P-38 Lightning, which at a whopping 400 mph was one of the fastest fighter jets in the world. Though she put her expertise to use on matters of aeroelasticity and high-speed flight, what truly captured her imagination was a concept that was then inconceivable: space travel. She recalled later, If I had mentioned it in 1942, my credibility would have been questioned.

When the war ended in 1945, women often saw themselves pushed out of the workforce as men reentered the labor pool. But lucky for Ross, her genius hadnt gone unnoticed during her time at Lockheed. Instead, the company sent her to the University of California, Los Angeles to receive her engineering certification. She returned to become one of 40 founding engineers at Skunk Works, the highly secretive Advanced Development Program at Lockheed. She was Skunk Works only woman engineer.

Often at night there were four of us working until 11 p.m., she later said in a 1994 interview with San Jose Mercury News. I was the pencil pusher, doing a lot of research. My state-of-the-art tools were a slide rule and a Frieden computer.

Much of their work still remains classified today, but what we do know is that Ross got her chance to develop technology for space explorationno longer a shot-in-the-dark concept. The San Jose Mercury News noted that she worked on preliminary design concepts for interplanetary space travel, manned and unmanned earth-orbiting flights, [and] the earliest studies of orbiting satellites for both defense and civilian purposes. Her efforts also helped develop the Agena spacecraft for the Gemini and Apollo programs, which allowed NASA to test equipment for Earth-orbiting and lunar missions. In 1966, she became one of the primary authors of NASAs Planetary Flight Handbook Vol. III, which touched on the possibility of traveling to Mars and Venus.

The true extent [of her influence] is unknown, because much of the work that she did remains classified, Margolis says. But I think that aerospace technology and knowledge that we have today builds on what came before, and so she is part of the larger trajectory of what aerospace looks like today and will look like in the future.

By the time Ross retired in 1973, she was involved with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, as well as the Society of Women Engineers, the conduits through which she worked to recruit and encourage Native American youth to pursue STEM.

Courtesy of the Ross Family

Cara Cowan Watts, an engineer from the Cherokee Nation and the CEO of Tulsa Pier Drilling, a Native Americanowned and operated drilling business in Oklahoma, remembers her friends career as a groundbreaking guide to other Cherokee women in the field. Marys work professionally and later as a community leader inspired me to continue my work in STEM, says Cowan Watts, who first met Ross in 2004. Mary was clear in her conversations and her daily actions that you own your career. Achieving excellence in STEM enables you to do incredible things for your nation, your family, and your community. It opens doors for you.

Still, since Rosss time, scientific and mathematical fields havent seen a significant increase in terms of Native representation. In 2015, for instance, the U.S. engineering workforce was composed of just 0.3 percent Native people and 0.07 percent of Native women.

The workforce has grown immensely since the time that Mary Golda Ross became the first known Native American woman engineer, Margolis says. But we havent necessarily seen a corollary increase in the Native representation in those fields.

[Her] impact on my life was to create more of us.

Why isnt Ross as well-known as other space pioneers who loom large in pop culture today? There is this problem that historians deal with called erasure, Margolis explains. When youre doing the history of women or other people whove been marginalized, their labor at the time that they were working was often devalued and invisibilized in a way that meant that it was rare for their contributions and their records that they created to be recorded in archives.

In Rosss case, there is an extra level of archival difficulty since so much of her work is still confidential. What we do know of the engineer, though, is in large part thanks to her family. We only know about her today, because people in the past decided that a story was important and worth saving, Margolis says. Its really a credit to her family and to the archivists and museum professionals that were even able to know about what she did.

Cowan Watts adds, [Her] impact on my life was to create more of us. She would be happy to know that she inspired just a few more folks to become engineers or pursue applied math to further our nation.

Before she passed on April 29, 2008just months shy of her 100th birthdayRoss asked her niece to create a traditional Cherokee dress that she could wear to the 2004 opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. (which she would eventually leave a $400,000 endowment upon her death). There, on opening day, walking in her green calico dress in a procession alongside thousands of other Native Americans, the history-making pioneer would again pave the way for a brighter future where the contributions of Indigenous people wont be lost to the dark. As she told a local paper in 2004, The museum will tell the true story of the Indiannot just the story of the past, but an ongoing story.

A new statue built in Ross's honor will be erected at the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, the capital of her birth state. The statue will be on view starting February 23rd.

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How Mary Golda Ross Changed the Game of Aerospace Forever - HarpersBAZAAR.com

The crypto economy got the red-carpet treatment at Super Bowl LVI.

The biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, looking to demystify their businesses for tens of millions of Americans, secured commercials during the big game, which cost up to $7 million per 30-second spot. Some enlisted famous faces.

Larry David appeared as a clueless time traveler who turns up his nose at great innovations (The wheel? Eh. The lightbulb? Can I be honest? ... It stinks.) before pooh-poohing a pitch for crypto company FTX. The tagline: Dont be like Larry. Dont miss out on the next big thing. Later, LeBron James schooled his younger self about taking chances in an ad for Crypto.com.

It was widely anticipated that big names would back crypto and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, during the big game. So much so that ahead of the match, cryptocurrency trading platform Binance dropped videos featuring the Miami Heats Jimmy Butler and music artist J. Balvin warning viewers against celebrity crypto endorsements.

On Feb. 13, youre going to hear some of the biggest names telling you to get into crypto, Butler said. But they dont know you or your finances. Only you do.

The star-studded ads were the latest example of the entertainment industrys growing interest in everything blockchain. In the past year, theres been a preponderance of actors, musicians and athletes talking up digital currencies and NFTs unique digital records authenticating ownership of an item, tracked on a digital ledger.

Movie studios are auctioning off crypto collectibles to promote new films. Musicians are releasing songs, albums and memorabilia as tokens, giving fans access to bonus material. Theme park designers are talking about bringing famous characters and fantasy worlds into the metaverse. DJs are planning totally virtual concerts and parties.

And of course, there are the celebrity crypto endorsements. Last year Matt Damon appeared in a Crypto.com ad comparing electronic currency investment to nautical exploration and space travel, with the slogan Fortune favors the brave. Paris Hilton showed off her Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Reese Witherspoon has touted crypto assets on Twitter. In the (near) future, every person will have a parallel digital identity, the Big Little Lies star tweeted in January.

Critics have balked at the spectacle of the rich and famous encouraging viewers to gamble on a risky and speculative market that has been plagued by grifters. Skeptics say the cryptocurrency and NFT craze has primarily benefited wealthy early adopters the true believers who could afford to get in early.

Analysts see clear parallels in the crypto space to the dot-com bubble. That earlier hype cycle reached a pop culture apex at the 2000 Super Bowl. That game featured ads by companies like Pets.com, which quickly collapsed.

My problem is, when 98% of these NFTs will go bust in the next couple of years, it will just crush a lot of the small investors, said Anindya Ghose, a professor at New York Universitys Stern School of Business. If youre Matt Damon or Paris Hilton, you can afford to lose 5% of the net worth. But for many small retail investors, 5% or 10% of your net worth is a nontrivial loss.

A-listers repping brands and products is nothing new, of course. But selling crypto and NFTs is more awkward than pitching for typical consumer goods, because the concepts are still foreign to many consumers. Its not quite the same as pitching for potato chips and energy drinks, said Columbia Business School professor R.A. Farrokhnia.

How are you going to explain non-fungible tokens in a way thats understandable and portrays some of the risks attached to it? Farrokhnia asked.

Broad skepticism hasnt stopped ambitious artists from experimenting in the growing crypto universe.

DJ and producer Steve Aoki, one of the most vocal proponents of NFTs and the possibilities of blockchain technologies in entertainment, has set up an online platform dubbed A0K1VERSE for holders of Steve Aoki NFTs.

He describes the project as a digital version of a membership-based social club, like Soho House, with different tiers of experiences, including access to collectibles, concert tickets and virtual performances. At a certain membership level, fans could collaborate with him on music, he said.

I call it the preseason, Aoki said. Theres a lot of different ways to think about where were going. The exciting part now, for creators like myself, is that we can actually start building the architecture.

Entertainers and companies are trying to learn and prepare for a future when audiences live more of their lives in virtual worlds, said Adam Friedman, an executive at Creative Artists Agency.

Were well past the notion of anything in the space being a cash grab, Friedman said. Its about what makes the most sense strategically for the client, their business and their brand.

Some in the industry think theres potential to mine NFTs for movie and TV show ideas, treating them as intellectual property, similar to comic books, video games and toy lines. Last year, CAA signed Jenkins the Valet, a digital character created by Tally Labs, for representation in books, film, TV and podcasts.

At the end of the day, its IP, and if the IP is compelling, and clients and the market find it compelling, theres a lot of opportunity, Friedman said.

Kat Graham, an actress and artist who makes music under the name Toro Gato, released her latest album exclusively as a series of NFTs. Graham said she sees the format as a way to circumvent an exploitative record label system.

Graham worked with the NFT marketplace YellowHeart, which helped the rock band Kings of Leon release an NFT version of its record in one of the first major uses of the format by a mainstream artist.

Graham said selling NFT albums gives her a more direct connection to fans than streaming, which smaller artists have despised for years because of paltry royalties.

It feels like we have our own club, like we have our own community, she said. I hope that this space will open up more artists.

NFTs started to pick up steam during the COVID-19 pandemic amid the rise in popularity of physical collectibles, such as baseball cards, as alternative investments.

But the newness and volatility of the crypto economy has made it a hotbed for swindlers and intellectual property theft. Early this month, a website called HitPiece allegedly auctioned off music NFTs without artists permission, infuriating musicians and leading the Recording Industry Assn. of America to call the platform little more than a scam operation.

A class action lawsuit last month accused Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather of artificially pumping up the price of the cryptocurrency EthereumMax. The coin lost about 97% of its value in seven months, leading critics to call it a pump and dump hustle.

The Department of Justice this month charged a married couple one of whom moonlighted as a YouTube rapper in a $4.5-billion crypto money-laundering scheme.

Such incidents have damaged the sectors reputation with the general public. Some believers recognize the issues but see them as a natural part of a work in progress.

Theres going to be bubbles, theres going to be bad actors, theres going to be scams, said Jeremy S. Goldman, a Los Angeles-based partner at law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz who specializes in blockchain issues. But that doesnt negate the fact that underlying this is an incredible new innovation that has the ability to bring tremendous value to new creators and to existing creators.

Studios have tried to clamp down on artists selling NFT versions of their work featuring Marvel and DC superheroes. Miramax sued Quentin Tarantino for planning to auction images of his handwritten Pulp Fiction script. Tarantinos lawyers argued that the director had the right to sell the pages as NFTs under his original contract.

Meanwhile, movie studios and TV networks are dipping their toes in with their own NFTs.

Warner Bros. has issued tokens based on its Matrix and Space Jam franchises ahead of new film releases. AMC Networks enlisted NFT production company Orange Comet to issue computer-animated Walking Dead clips as tokens. And Sony Pictures and AMC Theatres created Spider-Man NFTs for members of AMCs movie ticket subscription program and investors.

To promote Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Sony Pictures auctioned 10 Ghostbusters vignettes as NFTs on the OpenSea marketplace leading up to the release. The Culver City studio also issued thousands of digital collectible Mini-Pufts (tiny Stay-Puft marshmallow characters) to appeal to the more everyday consumer.

Were in a phase where you have these crypto whales and these people that understand the technology that are buying these, but theres not a lot of those people, said Jamie Stevens, Sony Pictures head of consumer products and licensing. So we really wanted to create an opportunity for our fans to be able to own a piece of it.

Some studios also see an opportunity to take what theyve done in physical theme-park attractions and bring that into the digital world.

Jenefer Brown, who runs live and location-based entertainment for Santa Monica film and TV studio Lionsgate, envisions a world where fans can enter the world of the John Wick action franchise and book a room at the Continental Hotel, the action series neutral refuge for the criminal underworld.

Weve dusted off concepts that weve come up with, from a physical standpoint, that just couldnt be built for a variety of reasons, that absolutely could be built in a digital environment, Brown said.

Buying NFTs is complicated, and experts predict that more consumers will embrace it only as the technology becomes easier to use and understand.

Right now, the market is frothy with capital pouring in, and many analysts expect it to contract. However, the technology itself is not going anywhere. NFTs are here to stay, Goldman said. Theyre just going to evolve, as technology always does.

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Larry David and LeBron James Super Bowl ads for crypto: Why? - Los Angeles Times

In an interview-style University Lecture Series, former astronaut Leland Melvin answered questions about how his determination drove him to achieve his successes. ORACLE PHOTO/ALEXANDRA URBAN

Former NFL player and astronaut Leland Melvin grew up being inspired by abolitionist Harriet Tubmans watch me attitude to dispel doubters, which he has carried through his career.

Melvin told the audience at Thursdays University Lecture Series (ULS) to be ambitious. He encouraged a student with dreams of traveling to Mars to employ Tubmans trailblazer attitude when striving to embark on the next frontier.

As you go on your journey and someone says, Alexa, you cant go to Mars, [say] Watch me, he said. Have that mentality and have that perspective in anything that you do.

Proving the doubters wrong requires grit that is unyielding to the pressures around someone trying to convince themself to give up, according to Melvin.

You might have someone who just got all these records of accolades, he said. But if they dont have that grit, they might give up versus someone elses.

The hourlong event was filled with advice from Melvin, inspired by his life, space and proving naysayers wrong.

Preregistration peaked at 142 attendees on BullsConnect, but only 64 checked in. Just before the discussion began, more students trickled into the Marshall Student Center Ballroom, building the attendance to about 100 people, according to ULS and special events graduate assistant Isabelle Starner.

The moderator, junior information security major Goziem Nwafor, broadly opened the Q&A-style conversation just after 7 p.m. by asking Melvin what it felt like to be an important and dichotomic figure in the Black community with his background as a former professional football player and astronaut.

How do I feel? I feel great, Melvin said.

He elevated the simple question by elaborating that his passions as an athlete and an academic didnt box him into a fixed career path.

Having both of those two things gives me the opportunity to share the story but also share the experience of I can do something when people say, No, youre just a job, he said.

A simple question about Melvins feelings after being appointed the head of NASAs education program generated a response about impact.

Reflecting on his fathers career in teaching, Melvin told a story where he felt his dads position enabled him to be a vehicle of second chances for those deserving in the community.

My dad had a student who actually got in trouble and went to jail, he said. When he got out of jail, my dad was at the prison with a 1964 Chevy Impala.

He said, Look, I got you a job. You need this car to get to your job. Keep your nose clean and the car is yours. So that was an incentive for him to keep things going.

His fathers willingness to support and motivate individuals willing to learn and change became Melvins benchmark as an educator and he said he strives to do the same.

In reference to Black Heritage Month, Nwafor asked Melvin if there should be greater representation of the Black community in space travel.

No matter how you want to slice and dice it, people need to know that this is something thats possible for them, he said. No matter what color, race, creed, culture, whatever. For the longest time, everyone wasnt allowed to come to the table.

For the final 15 minutes of the allotted hour, the floor opened for attendees to ask questions. The majority were about space science and the debate of returning to the moon versus expanding exploration to Mars.

Having been to space twice, Melvin enthusiastically described to a student how it physically felt to travel in space.

Youre launching on your back then 3-2-1 liftoff, he said. Your eyeballs are shaking so fast that you see lines on the screens.

Two and a half minutes later, the solid rocket booster jets settle on things. Just smooth 3G through the chest making it hard to breathe. Then six and a half minutes later, everything that you dropped around you is now floating up to you.

Melvin demonstrated the importance of taking everyones perspective into account when explaining how he has seen biases that resulted in tragedy while at NASA. He said everyone has inherent biases just by the nature of humanity, but it is important to be aware of them because they can severely impact others.

An engineer said, I think I saw something, we should take a look at the wing and the manager of the engineer said, No, theres no fuel. Theres no way an accident can happen, he said.

I lost all my friends [because of a complication with the wing].

NASAs culture used to be hierarchical, where opinions were only as relevant as ones status and rank in the organization, according to Melvin. Now, he said the institution takes every voice of concern seriously when it has the potential to protect those involved from danger.

Though Nwafor announced time was up right on the hour, Melvin convinced him to continue with more audience questions, which caused the event to run about 10 minutes past 8 p.m.

Before taking off, the researcher encouraged audience members to be ruthless in their endeavors and be supportive of those around them like Tubman.

Always say to yourself, Watch me. I got this and I can do it, he said. Just dont give up on people thatve been on the journey.

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Leland Melvin discusses ambition, diversity during Thursday's ULS - The Oracle

A renewed era of space exploration is upon us, and many exciting missions will be headed to space in the coming years. These include crewed missions to the Moon and the creation of permanent bases there. Beyond the Earth-Moon system, there are multiple proposals for crewed missions to Mars and beyond. This presents significant challenges since a one-way transit to Mars can take six to nine months. Even with new propulsion technologies like nuclear rockets, it could still take more than three months to get to Mars.

In addition to the physical and mental stresses imposed on the astronauts by the duration and long-term exposure to microgravity and radiation, there are also the logistical challenges these types of missions will impose (i.e., massive spacecraft, lots of supplies, and significant expense). Looking for alternatives, the European Space Agency (ESA) is investigating hibernation technology that would allow their astronauts to sleep for much of the voyage and arrive at Mars ready to explore.

This researcher was the subject of a recent study led by Alexander Choukr, a professor of Medicine at the Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU), and Thu Jennifer Ngo-Anh a payload coordinator with the ESAs Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration Programs. The paper that describes their findings was recently published in the journal Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

As they indicated in their study, the main challenges when planning for a mission to Mars involve optimizing the overall mass of the spacecraft and maintaining the crews physical and mental health. In terms of supplies alone, this means bringing enough food, water, and other necessities (like medicine) to last at least two years. As Ngo-Anh said in a recent ESA press release:

We are talking about 30 kg [66 lbs] per astronaut per day, and on top of that we need to consider radiation as well as mental and physiological challenges. Where there is life, there is stress. The strategy would minimize boredom, loneliness, and aggression levels linked to the confinement in a spacecraft.

This strategy involves inducing a state of torpor in the astronauts, similar to what mammals experience during hibernation. This consists of reducing the metabolic rate of an organism until they enter a period of suspended animation, which allows them to preserve energy. In the context of spaceflight, reducing the metabolic rate of a crew en route to Mars by 25% would dramatically reduce the necessary supplies and the size of the habitat involved.

The practice of putting people into a state of suspended animation has been carried out in hospitals since the 1980s. By inducing hypothermia in patients reducing their heart rate and metabolism, doctors can perform complex and time-consuming surgeries with a greater chance of success. However, this process is not an active energy reduction method and doesnt include most of the advantages of torpor.

In nature, animals hibernate to survive through winter when temperatures drop for months and food and water become scarce. During this time, they will reduce their heart rate, breathing, and other vital functions to a fraction of their normal rate, and their body temperature will drop close to that of their surroundings (aka. ambient temperature).

While many species rely on hibernation to survive long periods of scarcity (like tardigrades, frogs, and various species of reptiles), bears are perhaps the best known. They also appear to be the best role model for human hibernation in space since they have a comparable body mass to humans, reduce their body temperature by only a few degrees, and acquire extra body fat before entering this state.

But as medical research has shown, humans also lose more muscle mass and bone density and are at greater risk of heart failure than their ursine kin. As Prof. Choukr explained:

However, research shows that bears exit their den healthily in spring with only marginal loss of muscle mass. It only takes them about 20 days to be back to normal. This teaches us that hibernation prevents disuse atrophy of muscle and bone, and protects against tissue damage.

The crucial factor appears to be lower testosterone levels in humans since estrogens strongly regulate energy metabolism. The very specific and different balance of hormones in females or males and their role in regulating metabolism suggest that women could be preferred candidates, Prof. Choukr added.

To accommodate deep-space hibernation technology, engineers could build soft-shell pods with fine-tuned settings aboard future generations of spacecraft. This would consist of a quiet environment with low lighting, high levels of humidity, and low temperatures of less than ten degrees Celsius (50 F). The astronauts would wear clothing to prevent overheating and wearable sensors to measure their posture, temperature, and heart rate.

Water containers would surround every capsule to provide radiation protection as the astronauts remain in a state of torpor. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence will maintain the ship and wake the crew if an anomaly or emergency. As Alexander explained:

Hibernation will actually help protect people from the harmful effects of radiation during deep space travel. Away from Earths magnetic field, damage caused by high-energy particles can result in cell death, radiation sickness or cancer. Besides monitoring power consumption and autonomous operations, the computers onboard will maintain optimal performance of the spacecraft until the crew could be woken up.

These efforts mirror similar studies conducted by NASA, which entered into a partnership with Atlanta-based aerospace company SpaceWorks to investigate the long-term potential of hibernation technology. The initial 24-month study concluded in 2016, with NASA announcing its intent to keep supporting the companys research. These and other studies on hibernation for deep-space missions could also lead to new applications for patient care on Earth.

As the 21st century unfolds, we could see interplanetary missions that resemble the well-established sci-fi trope crews awaking from their cryo chambers to deal with mission-related problems. Here at home, induced torpor could become a common medical procedure for people with a terminal illness or severe injuries, giving doctors the time they need to come up with treatments.

The applications might even extend to interstellar travel! Given the distances involved and the limits of our propulsion technology, a crewed interstellar mission could take centuries or millennia to reach even the nearest stars! Assuming future generations want to undertake these voyages and dont have some fancy new propulsion system (or a huge budget), hibernation technology may be the way theyll get it done!

Further Reading: ESA, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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Could Astronauts Hibernate on Long Space Voyages? - Universe Today

Four sophomores at Wellsville High School won a competition, and their experiment is one of just 25 chosen to go to outer space.

WELLSVILLE, N.Y. Four Wellsville High School sophomores are working on something out of this world.

They were voted one of the top teams in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. They got top honors in the Western New York region then went on to the national competition. Their science experiment was one of just 25 projects chosen to take flight to the International Space Station!

The group is studying microgravity's effect on the resistance of Staphylococcus epidermidis to amoxicillin.

"It may sound complicated, but it's essentially just us testing the relationship between bacteria and an antibiotic when the factor of microgravity is introduced," said student Serena Boussa.

Thirty-five projects were submitted for initial review in the Western New York region. Eighteen were chosen to be judged by professionals and educators. Alfred University, Moog, and Corning Incorporated were partners. That group of 18 was then narrowed down to three the Wellsville sophomores, a group of Wellsville seniors, and a student group from Lockport.

Those three regional teams' projects were then submitted for a step two review by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education. The sophomore group came out on top.

Their project is one of 25 from 23 different communities across the nation that's taking flight. There were even some international submissions.

The Wellsville students came up with the topic on their own, did all of the research, met all of their deadlines, and learned a lot in the process. They hope their work and findings will someday be used to keep astronauts and others safe, especially as interest in commercial space travel grows.

"We've done some other research on prior bacteria experiments that have gone on in space and in microgravity. We're hoping there's no grave change to the bacteria," said student Aidan Jadwin. "We're trying to figure out how it could get stronger or if it stays the same strength when affected by microgravity."

There's no grade attached to their research. They've worked on their project during study hall, after school, and on weekends.

"You just see the drive and determination of these four students to want to do this, to want to win this competition. It's just incredible," said Ross Munson, a teacher at Wellsville and teacher facilitator for the space project in Western New York.

The students are learning about much more than just bacteria and microgravity.

"I think it's giving me a taste of what working with a team is like. I know I was not good with working with a team before. I hope I am a little better now. [I've also learned to find] accurate results and going to the right places to get research," said student Eli Brophy.

"It's been really eye opening because it's helped me realize that I have a big interest in science," said student Ben Jordan.

The team will head to Washington, D.C. this summer to give a speech at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and they hope to be in Florida when their project is launched into space.

Their project will be on board the ISS for four to six weeks. Then it's back to Earth and back to work for these students who will analyze the results over summer break.

This isn't the first time a team from Wellsville has been chosen to send their project to outer space. The program started in 2018, and that year a project was chosen for flight.

See more here:

Wellsville student science project headed to the International Space Station - WGRZ.com

Once humanity stepped foot on the lunar surface, the space objective became to establish a permanent human presence in space.

The first proper space station, Salyut 1, was built by the Soviet Union in 1971. During the remainder of the Salyut program other stations were launched over the next 15 years.

In 1986, the Soviet Union launched Mir, which, unlike previous stations, was modular, allowing additions to be made over time. This station laid the foundation for what would become the most impressive construction project in human history.

Starting in 1998, the Soviet Union and the United States embarked on a joint project to build a huge laboratory in low orbit of our planet. With the union of the first two modules, Zarya and Unity, the International Space Station was born.

Its creation has allowed humans to be in space for more than 20 years and has provided a base of operations for experimentation in microgravity and the study of the impact of space flight on the human body. Lets go with 13 curious facts about the ISS:

1 Travel at full speed through space: The ISS isnt the fastest man-made thing, that honor goes to the Parker Solar Probe, which travels around the sun and Venus at 430,000 miles per hour. However, the International Space Station orbits at incredible speed.

The station orbits the Earth at about 17,500 miles per hour. At that speed, the astronauts on board circle the Earth every 90 minutes, experiencing a sunrise and sunset 16 times in each 24-hour period. Thats about 23 times the speed of sound.

NASA says goodbye to 2020 with the best images of Earth taken this year from the ISS

2nd The people on the space station experience time more slowly: Relativity tells us that the faster we move, the slower we experience time. In the normal course of our lives we do not travel at speeds that change our subjective experience of time.

But the International Space Station is very fast, as we said before (although it does not travel at the speed of light). For this reason, an astronaut who lives a year on the space station will experience one hundredth of a second less than those of us on the surface of the Earth.

Its not much, but it does mean that the inhabitants of the station, compared to the rest of us, travel very slowly in time into the future.

3 It was built by five space agencies and 15 countries in total: Space exploration often seems like a competition between various nations, but the International Space Station challenges that idea.

Space is, by definition, a place that has no borders and represents an opportunity for the global community to act in concert, rather than in opposition. When the station was built, the United States and Russia were the only associated countries, but that has changed.

Currently, the International Space Station has been built and manned by: NASA, Roscosmos of Russia, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the European Space Agency (ESA), which It is made up of 11 countries.

NASA announces that it will crash the International Space Station in the Pacific Ocean, and we already know when

4 The legal situation of the station is complicated: The governing law on the ISS is the International Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) which was signed in January 1998.

Since the station is jointly owned and operated by various government entities, the legal aspects on board the ship are a bit messy and weird.

The agreement establishes the ownership and jurisdiction of the various components of the station. More simply, member countries can extend their legal jurisdiction to the parts of the station (modules or equipment) they have provided, as well as to the crew members they send.

5 The station has welcomed more than 250 astronauts: The space station usually has a crew of seven people on board the ISS. There are times, especially during crew changes, when there can be up to 13 crew temporarily on board, but those times are very short.

Since the station has been continuously inhabited for more than two decades, many people have come and gone. Until this February 2022, the total number of people who have been at the station amounts to 251 from 19 countries.

6 The ISS has a robot crew: The ISS would not be a proper spaceship if it did not also have a robot crew. Scientists at NASAs Johnson Space Center (JSC) created Robonaut 2 as the stations first synthetic crew member.

Commonly called R2 (hello, Star Wars), the Robonaut has lived aboard the ISS since 2012. R2 has vision systems, sensors, and hands nearly identical to humans in dexterity. The robot is capable of performing repetitive or dangerous tasks on behalf of the crew.

However, Robonaut 2 is primarily used on the station as a test bed for future robotic activities on long-duration space missions.

What is the International Space Station like inside? Discover it in 360 with this ESA video

7 The station is approximately the size of a football field: The International Space Station is the largest spacecraft ever built by a fairly wide margin. If we put it on the ground, the ISS would stretch across an entire football field from side to side.

The station has bedrooms, bathrooms and a gym, which astronauts use for two hours a day to prevent bone and muscle loss. Its best feature, however, is the dome that allows astronauts to gaze at Earth through the window.

8 It allowed an astronaut to live in space for almost two years: One of the main objectives of the International Space Station is to understand the impact of long stays in space on the human body, since this knowledge is key to knowing what space travel would be like.

However, when it comes to American astronauts, no one has spent more time in space than Peggy Whitson. Throughout her career, she spent 665 days, 22 hours and 22 minutes off planet, just a couple of months short of two years.

9 It took 10 years and dozens of missions to complete: President Reagan approved the creation of the space station in January 1984 with the goal of launching it within 10 years. Although that deadline was not finally met, the station was built.

The first segment, the Zarya control module, was launched in November 1998 by Roscosmos and was received into orbit by NASAs Unity module just two weeks later. Over the next decade other modules and supply drops were completed before it was completed.

In all, more than 30 missions were needed to deliver modules, complete repairs, and replenish the station with supplies. Construction of the station was completed in 2009, at which point it became fully operational, just in time for the tenth anniversary of its occupation.

10 Astronauts have to drink recycled urine: When youre in space, you have to take everything youre going to need. That means astronauts need frequent deliveries of food and water, along with scientific instruments, experiments and other necessities.

Dropping supplies to the station is expensive, sometimes costing tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars per kilogram of mass. Thats why NASA and other space agencies go to great lengths to limit the weight of payloads. Hence they filter and drink their own urine.

Russia has just destroyed an old satellite: the International Space Station in danger

11 The ISS cannot see you, but you can see it: Astronauts aboard the station can see many things through the dome, including world wonders like the Great Wall of China. However, seeing people is somewhat far from them.

Lucky for us, and as long as the sun isnt out, seeing the International Space Station in the sky is relatively easy. The stations exterior, especially its solar panels, reflects a significant portion of sunlight as it orbits the sky.

The station is so bright, in fact, that its the third most visible thing in the night sky, after the moon and Venus. In addition, the orbital path of the station makes it fly over 90% of the Earths population centers.

12th It is under constant threat from thousands of pieces of space debris: Over the more than two decades the station has been operating, there have been some 30 instances where it has been in danger of being hit by space debris, according to Space, and the danger of impact is increasing.

As of 2021, there were 23,000 pieces of space debris tracked by the US Department of Defense, each measuring approximately 10 cm or larger. And those are just the pieces we know about.

13 The ISS will remain operational until at least 2030, and it could have a neighbor: On January 31, 2022, NASA confirmed that the activities of the ISS have lasted until 2030. After that, the future of the station is not very defined.

Roscosmos has stated its desire to withdraw from the station, due to aging technology, which has already outgrown its initial mission design. That could happen as early as 2025.

But, even if the Russian space agency leaves the ISS, it will not completely withdraw from the space station game. Plans for a new station known as the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS) are underway.

See the article here:

Did you know that there is a robot astronaut on the International Space Station? 13 curious and little known facts about the ISS - Then24.com

OWING to the potentially lethal nature of space and weight restrictions on lunar vessels, trips to the moon are usually all business.

The Apollo 14 mission made an exception for one astronauts dream to drive a golf ball into the endless expanse of outer space.

3

NASA astronaut Alan Shepard teed off from the pie in the sky on February 6, 1971.

The rigidity of his suit prevented him from putting everything he had into the iconic shots as the balls traveled less than 50 yards, which is hardly enough to find the green at an Earth-based pitch and putt.

Shepard passed away in 1998 at the age of 74 but the memory of his otherworldly drive has stayed preserved in NASA lore.

The moonwalkers are an exceptionally exclusive club.

Just 12 people have set foot on the surface of the moon.

Only four remain alive in February 2022.

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, turned 92 on January 20, 2022, and celebrated the milestone with a message to his 1.5million Twitter followers.

12 more astronauts have visited the moon but from the comparative safety of the lunar module.

3

NASAs Artemis II mission is the next planned trip that will put humans near the moonbut not on it.

The four-person crew will travel to space in the Space Launch System, a rocket propulsion system that will have the crew traveling at speeds topping 24,500mph.

The rocket will disassemble after breaching the Earths exosphere and the crew will approach and circle the moon in a capsule called Orion.

According to their website, NASAs lunar exploration program packet indicates the Artemis II crew will experience an Apollo 8 moment in which they witness the full globe of the Earth from afar, as a backdrop to the Moon.

The Artemis III mission, theoretically taking place in 2025, is the final installment of the Artemis program and is teed up to be mans first moonwalk since 1972.

3

NASA has declared that one of Artemis III's spacewalking crew will take a giant leap for womankind as the first female to set foot on the moon.

Privatized space travel has skyrocketed in feasibility and media attention since Jeff Bezos Blue Origin and Elon Musks SpaceX started pursuing the world beyond our world.

But private space travel has been dominated by untrained citizens like William Shatner and Michael Strahan, who tagged along on 11-minute autonomous space rides.

Future missions to the moon will require far more involvement from astronauts as Apollo 17, the last mission to the moon, had the crew inhabiting space for 17 days.

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Who hit a golf ball on the moon?... - The US Sun

Last year, an article in the journal "Cell Biology"revealed that sharks use Earth's geomagnetic field to navigate the ocean and can even get confused if they are in areas with stronger magnetic fields than the ones they were accustomed to. Intriguingly, even a species that has been perfected over millions of years of evolution can be tripped up by the ways that magnetism and magnetic fields defy expectations.

In that sense, Elon Musk's satellites never stood a chance.

Forty Starlink satellites owned by SpaceX the billionaire's aerospace manufacturing, space travel and communications company are going to be lost due to a geomagnetic storm caused by the interference between solar wind and Earth's atmosphere, according to a SpaceX press release. Forty-nine of those satellites had been launched from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Thursday into their intended orbit and were "significantly impacted" by the geomagnetic storm that occurred on Friday. The end result is that up to 40 of those satellites are either going to reenter Earth's atmosphere, or have already done so.

RELATED:In Earth's galactic backyard, a never-before-seen space anomaly blinks on and off

As Tamitha Skov, a research scientist of Aerospace Corp., told CNBC on Wednesday, the sun "shoots off magnets" in the form of a storm and gets dumped by the Earth's magnetic shield into the planet's upper atmosphere, where it gets heated up. Because the atmosphere then inflates and becomes denser, this poses a drag on satellites in low orbit such as those launched by Musk's SpaceX. The incident raises questions because theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which measures geomagnetic storms, had warned that one was "likely" for Friday evening one day before the SpaceX launch.

Musk's company is estimated to lose roughly $50 million on the failed venture.

"To lose most of the batch is unheard of," astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told CNBC."This is huge compared to anything that's happened before."

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While the development can be partially attributed to bad luck, Musk's company also made some mistakes.

"The lead time for geomagnetic solar storms that affected the satellites is usually 36-48 hours," Emmy Award-winning meteorologist Nick Stewart tweeted as part of a larger thread responding to the incident. "With that said, the event that caused the disruption occurred after launch but in a stretch of active solar weather."

SpaceX's satellite program is widely loathed byastronomers.The numerous Starlink satellites already in orbit form a "megaconstellation" which makes it more difficult for scientists to use their telescopic equipment for distant observations. In addition to cluttering up their view, the satellites also reflect sunlight, which causes further optical problems. As Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb told Salon in 2019, "I am concerned [that] the SpaceX satellite launch marks the beginning of a new era" in which ground-based observational astronomy is permanently hampered.

China has accused the United States of defying international treaties because of two alleged "close encounters" between Starlink satellites and the Chinese space station. The head of the European Space Agency,Josef Aschbacher, accused Musk in December of "making the rules" in space and urged the European Union to engage in a coordinated campaign in which they make sure that SpaceX's actions do not prevent countries in that organization from launching their own satellites.

This story was updated at 6:38PM ET to add more detail about the mechanics of geomagnetic storms.

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40 SpaceX satellites that astronomers loathe were destroyed by a geomagnetic storm - Salon

Moonfall, which is out in theatres now, tells the story of the moon crashing into Earth. The season's first blockbuster stars Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson and John Bradley who plays KC Houseman, a conspiracy theorist who finds out about the moon before anyone else. PopCulture.com recently spoke to Bradley who detailed the "energy" he brings to the character and how his desires to travel to space depend on one sole condition.

"I did as much research on space as I possibly could have," Bradley told PopCulture exclusively. "It's such an enormous subject and you're never going to learn enough about it to match KC in terms of his own knowledge. So what I tried to work on most was that energy. And it seems to be appearing more and more lately. This energy of I won't listen to what anybody else has to say about this. I know I'm right. I'm not going to listen to anything that I don't like. And if you don't believe me, you're just going to have to, because I'm not going to jump off this horse."

Bradley continued: "I'm going to stick with it till the very end. And a lot of that's damaging and a lot of that's there's rights and wrongs to that, but it was that energy that I wanted to invest something in. That total conviction that bullish thing where he's not going to be stopped. And he's determined to get this idea through to people. And I research figures like that, these very opinionated, very passionate people, and hopefully some of that fed into KC."

KC goes to space with Brian Harper (Wilson) and Jocinda Fowler (Berry) despite not having any experience. After filming Moonfall and being in a version of a space shuttle, Bradley said he would be willing to be in a space mission but under one condition. "I remember before we started shooting, we had astronauts on set and we did some zooms with astronauts and one of the first thing I said to the guy, I said, 'If you are not trained for this and you went up into space like KC, he's not trained, but he finds himself in space. How long would it be before you found it absolutely terrifying?' And he said 'It would be instant. As soon as you get in the rocket, as if you're not used to it, as soon as that engine kicks into life, you're going to be scared,'" Bradley said. "So I would do it. I'm just waiting for it to get a little bit safer because I'm too much of a... I'm too scared at the moment, but it's bound to get better one day, right? Then I'll do it. I promise."

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'Moonfall' Star John Bradley Reveals He Will Travel to Space on One Condition (Exclusive) - PopCulture.com