Category Archives: Space Travel

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A new study claims that humanity would need to send a minimum of 110 people to Mars to build a self-sustaining civilization there.

The paper, written by Jean-Marc Salotti from Frances Bordeaux Institut National Polytechnique and published in Scientific Reports, took a big swing in trying to solve this seemingly simple question via mathematical modeling.

For survival on Mars, some assumptions are made for the organization of the settlers and engineering issue, Salotti wrote in the study.

The minimum number of settlers has been calculated and the result is 110 individuals.

Salotti concedes the figure is a relatively low number, but it would help to make sure that supplies and resources dont run out quickly. He imagines these individuals living in an oxygen-filled dome and growing plants in greenhouses constructed of glass with reflectors that provide sufficient light.

In order to have appropriate soil for plants, Salotti believes an assortment of rocks, salts, water and organic wastes and decomposers (insects and microorganisms) is needed.

Water will be extracted from icy terrain and recycled using natural filters, he added.

Salotti noted that the overall success of those people on the Red Planet would likely depend on an array of factors, including how well they cooperate with one another and share their time and resources.

Problems arising from armed conflicts and government control here on Earth, however, could be major roadblocks for the future colonization of Mars.

In case of war on Earth, important space sector infrastructures may be destroyed, causing a long-term interruption in space travel, Salotti said.

It could also happen that a conflict occurs between the terrestrial governments and the settlers and, later on, a group declares independence and tries to survive on its own. Another reason could be the will of a new government to stop the settlement process because of the never-ending increasing cost.

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Although the question the study tackled is largely theoretical at the moment, Salotti is aware that life on Earth could one day be threatened by some cataclysmic eventand the only way humanity could survive would be to head to Mars or another suitable planet.

Earlier this month, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk urged his employees to accelerate the work on the next-generation Starship rocket, which will one day transport humans to Mars and eventually build a colony there.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

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At Least 110 People Needed to Start Life on Mars, Space Expert Says - Yahoo News

As it was during the recent launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster, carrying the Crew Dragon and its two-person crew toward a rendezvous with the International Space Station, the entire space community and much of the worldwide general public are truly excited about the planned July 22 launch of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.

They should be.

NASA considers the 2,300-pound Perseverance rover to be a robotic scientist. Its astrobiology mission, much like the introduction to Star Trek,is to seek out new life in this case, signs of past microbial life on Mars. In addition, Perseverance will characterize the Martian climate and geology, collect rock and soil samples, fly a drone over the surface, and serve as the latest stepping-stone for human exploration of the Red Planet.

Its exciting and inspiring.

But, along with that excitement and promise comes a serious and potentially troubling disconnect. When Perseverance launches atop the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 541 booster, if you squint your eyes just right, it will seem exactly the same as when Viking 1 was launched on Aug. 20, 1975, to touch down on the Martian surface on July 20, 1976. The point is that, in the 44 years between the Viking 1 landing and the launch of Perseverance, we are using basically the same chemical rocket propulsion technology.

The same example applies to the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster and the Crew Dragon spacecraft. When that lifted off at the end of May, it was reminiscent of watching John Glenn in the Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft being launched into orbit by an Atlas (6) booster 58 years ago. Theres little real difference in the technology.

Recognizing the seriousness of this problem, NASA last year highlighted, The future of manned space exploration and development of space depends critically on the creation of a dramatically more proficient propulsion architecture for in-space transportation.

Almost six decades after Glenn reached orbit, technology on Earth evolves at blinding speeds and in life-improving ways and yet, rocket propulsion remains virtually the same. How? And more importantly, why?

Space exploration, in the most favorable of circumstances, remains a harsh and risky business. Knowing that, mitigating risk and exposure should be Job One for those reaching for the stars.

When Perseverance launches, it will be seven months until it touches down in the Jezero crater on Mars basically, the same length of time that it took Viking 1 to reach Mars. What would the United States look like today if we still relied upon horse-and-buggy travel and the steam engine?

When humans do venture out to Mars, what if, instead of seven or nine months for a one-way journey, they could get there in seven or nine weeks? By dramatically cutting the time needed to get from the Earth to Mars, we would greatly reduce the risk to human crews. Beyond that, we would make Mars and the rest of the near solar system infinitely more accessible and promising.

The obvious question becomes: Is such a leap in technology possible? I believe the answer is, Yes. Its called Fusion propulsion and several companies in the United States are working to perfect the concept.

Unfortunately, at least from a national security perspective, this same technology is also being developed in China and Russia. That begs an even more important question: Should the U.S. government be instituting Manhattan Project-like urgency to develop fusion propulsion for space travel?

NASA made a winning bet by getting behind SpaceX. Should NASA and the Department of Defense, through DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), get behind the fusion propulsion program now? Almost seven decades of no progress in the rocket propulsion field would seem to render that a rhetorical question.

As that horse-and-buggy technology limps along, ever so slowly pushing Perseverance toward Mars, squint your eyes one more time and imagine it going supersonic by comparison. If you dont, the Chinese and the Russians surely will.

Douglas MacKinnon was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communication at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration. He was an adviser to NASAs space shuttle team and worked space-related issues while at the Pentagon. He is the author of: The Dawn of a Nazi Moon: Book One.

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Why go 'horse and buggy' to Mars when we could go supersonic? | TheHill - The Hill

Think back to January 1. You were shaking hands with everyone you met. The words social distancing made absolutely no sense. And getting tested meant something...very different.

But humans adapt, and the fact that were still here reading email like chumps shows our resilience. We hope this newsletter allows you to take a step back, put all the events of H1 in context, and go into the second half of the year with more energy and purpose.

Before we dive in...we want to offer a huge thank you to all the frontline and essential workers who made the world turn in H1, from doctors and nurses to store clerks and municipal workers. Your perseverance will not be forgotten.

What will the first half of 2020 be remembered for? Likely when a microscopic parasite much, much smaller than bacteriaSARS-CoV-2demanded that we slam the brakes on the global economy to prevent mass death.

So we did. Countries around the globe performed the first coordinated global shutdown of the economy...ever.

Restaurants, retail stores, and offices were shuttered. Bustling airports turned into ghost towns. With theaters closed, performers were forced to give concerts on balconies. Some were better than others.

Not to get all 1am in the dorm room on you, but it's worth pausing to consider just how un...paralleled that is. Starting with

You already know this part. We're in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 93% of the world's workforce lives in countries with partial or full workplace closures, the UN said in April.

As for the macro stats...last week, the IMF projected the global economy will shrink by 4.9% this year, worse than earlier projections. It called this "a crisis like no other."

IMF

No. 1: A historic tsunami of government intervention. In the U.S., Congress has authorized a record-shattering $3 trillion for coronavirus reliefand it may not be done yet. The Fed, meanwhile, has done everything it can to encourage spending, borrowing, and investing short of secretly installing Robinhood apps on our phones like it's a U2 album.

No. 2: Advanced communications and information tech allowed many workplaces to shift to remote in surprisingly seamless fashion. Sophisticated delivery systems enabled by the smartphone brought the grocery store, local restaurants, and bookstores to our doorsteps.

Looking ahead...the focus has shifted from the shutdown to the best way to un-shut-down. That's going to be much more complicated.

This spring, killings of three unarmed Black Americans led to the most widespread protests over racial injustice and police brutality in decades. And this time, a new face joined the action: corporate America.

Businesses said the three words theyve skirted for years: Black Lives Matter. And they promised, this time, things would change.

Some broke open their wallets. Bank of America pledged $1 billion over four years to address inequality. PayPal set up a $530 million fund to support minority-owned businesses. Pepsis $400+ million initiative includes doubling its spend with Black-owned suppliers. And Walmart, Comcast, Sony, Apple, Netflix, and SoftBank committed $100 million apiece to various initiatives.

Others looked twice at what theyre selling. Quaker Oats and Mars are removing racist branding and imagery from Aunt Jemima and Uncle Bens food lines, respectively. Beauty giants Unilever and LOral will remove fair and whitening labels from skin lightening products.

Looking ahead...those are powerful commitments from some of the private sectors most influential brands. But their legacy in confronting racial injustice will be determined by their actions when the world isn't watching.

MarketWatch | Before COVID-19, the all-time record for weekly jobless claims never cracked 700,000. This April, claims neared 7 million in a single week.

A look at the other numbers that have defined the last six months of COVID, quarantine, and craziness.

Coronavirus

Black Lives Matter

Travel

Entertainment

Work

If you know a business that hasn't been profoundly transformed in H1, reply with the name because we didn't know there were companies on Mars. 2020 has presented crisis after crisis for corporate America, and we can't think of a better case study than Twitter.

In an oddly prescient moment in February, CEO Jack Dorsey told investors Twitter would move to a more distributed workforce. After the pandemic reached the West Coast, it was among the first to let staff WFH; by March 11, WFH was mandatory. By May, it was a permanent option.

As demonstrations against racial injustice spread, Twitter was one of, if not the, most important platforms for protestors to share information and organize. And a few weeks ago, Twitter led big businesses in making Juneteenth a corporate holiday.

May 26, 2020, may go down as one of the most important dates in Twitter history after a pair of Trump tweets about mail-in voting finally set off the tripwire: Twitter labeled them as "potentially misleading," and a few days later labeled another Trump tweet as "glorifying violence."

Heading into the election, President Trump and all of social media are twisted up in their thorniest tussle over content moderation to date.

Big picture: In February, activist investors reportedly tried to oust Dorsey. Today, he's set aside the ice baths and meditation retreats to steer Twitter through a trio of crises.

The 2020 news cycle has been dominated by a pair of storylines, andwith Luke Hemsworth as proofwe don't always notice the third thing when two take up our attention. Here are some important biz stories that flew under the radar this year...

Big tech: The FTC expanded its investigations into the largest tech companies over anticompetition concerns. The Justice Department, House Judiciary Committee, and state attorneys general have all launched antitrust probes that will heat up this summer, virus or not.

Samsung scandal: The South Korean conglomerate is still wading through a swamp of legal troubles surrounding its founding family. De facto leader Lee Jae-yong is currently awaiting trial for manipulating merger terms, among other allegations.

Gig workers: Food delivery services were hit with lawsuits as DoorDash and others continued to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees, defying California's new AB 5 law.

Trade: As the COVID-19 blame game soured relations between China and the U.S., suspicions arose that the countries' Phase 1 trade deal, signed in January, would collapse.

Space travel: We doubt you missed the news that a private company (SpaceX) flew humans into space for the first time in May. Elon Musk is now one step closer to raising X A-12 on Mars.

Noam Galai/Getty Images

New York City painted white circles on the grass of Domino Park in Brooklyn to promote social distancing.

Carl De Souza/AFP via Getty Images

Brazilian soldiers disinfect a metro car in Rio de Janeiro to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Getty Images

After government lockdowns shut the city down, a man walks across an empty highway in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus originated.

It sometimes feels like the world stopped spinning in 2020. Well, most of the time. But the pandemic also took some trends that were just getting a foothold and shot them into overdrive.

Remote work: When lockdowns started in March, businesses had only days to spin up the infrastructure to support a remote workforce. Now that offices are slowly reopening, a growing cohort of workers may never endure a daily commute again as employers embrace WFH.

Higher ed: Colleges are built around cramming youths into dorms and stuffing their minds with knowledge in lecture halls. That model may not work for the upcoming academic year, and colleges are racing to prepare virtual-first learning experiences. Major changes in the admissions process are also underway as universities finally throw out standardized test requirements.

Virtual spaces: People are finding new ways to socialize, and gaming platforms provide, quite literally, new worlds for hanging out and entertainment. While the Staples Center can hold 20,000...Fortnite can hold a lot more.

Cities: Urban areas need to rethink and redesign with public health in mind. Many were starting to dabble in smart city tech, and now they'll have extra ammunition to make big investments in sensors, automation, and other tech that can help improve safety and health.

Retail: Online shopping was trending up before the pandemic, but now its prospects are looking brighter than everin the U.S., e-commerce sales increased 49% in April. The hottest category is online grocery shopping, which has made years' worth of inroads in a few months. March sales were 200% higher than last year.

We've done enough looking backit's time to look ahead. Heres a glimpse into what the next sixth months hold. Disclaimer: Like everything this year, these events are subject to change.

July

August

SeptemberOctober

NovemberDecember

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Recapping the Historic First Half of 2020 - Morning Brew

File photo of a Falcon 9 launch. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

For the third time in three weeks, SpaceX is preparing to launch a batch of satellites for the companys Starlink Internet network from Floridas Space Coast. Liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket is set for Thursday afternoon from pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, weather permitting.

Liftoff of SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for Thursday at 4:39 p.m. EDT (2039 GMT), and two commercial Earth-imaging microsatellites owned by BlackSky will accompany the Starlink payloads into orbit.

The launch Thursday will be SpaceXs fourth Falcon 9 mission in less than four weeks, continuing a whirlwind cadence of launches that began May 30 with the liftoff of SpaceXs Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken into orbit.

SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 rocket June 3 with 60 Starlink satellites, and most recently delivered another 58 Starlink payloads into orbit with a Falcon 9 rocket June 13 on a flight that also carried three commercial SkySat Earth-imaging satellites to space for Planet.

Thursdays mission will be SpaceXs 11th launch of 2020, and will be followed by another Falcon 9 launch scheduled June 30 from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with the U.S. Space Forces next GPS navigation satellite.

The launch June 30 is scheduled for a 15-minute window opening at 3:55 p.m. EDT (1955 GMT).

SpaceX plans to test-fire the rockets for its next two missions this week. The previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket assigned to the Starlink/BlackSky launch is scheduled for a hold-down test-firing of its nine Merlin main engines Wednesday at pad 39A.

A test-firing of the brand new Falcon 9 booster for the GPS launch is scheduled later this week on pad 40, perhaps as soon as Thursday.

Forecasters predict typical summertime weather on Floridas Space Coast for Thursday afternoon. Theres a 60 percent chance weather conditions could violate the Falcon 9s liftoff weather constraints at launch time Thursday, according to an outlook issued Tuesday by the Space Forces 45th Weather Squadron.

The weather pattern over the next several days on the Space Coast will favor afternoon showers and thunderstorms with daytime heating and the prevailing offshore flow, forecasters wrote Tuesday. The east coast sea breeze will remain closer to the coast, and the west coast sea breeze will move across the peninsula. Mid to upper level westerly steering flow will also help push showers and storms, along with their associated anvils, back towards the east coast.

The main weather concerns for Thursdays launch opportunity will be with the potential for violating the cumulus cloud, anvil cloud and lightning rules.

Theres some slight improvement in the forecast for a backup launch opportunity Friday afternoon, when theres a 40 percent chance of weather violating launch criteria.

SpaceXs Starlink network is designed to provide low-latency, high-speed Internet service around the world. SpaceX has launched 538 flat-panel Starlink spacecraft since beginning full-scale deployment of the orbital network in May 2019, making the company the owner of the worlds largest fleet of satellites.

SpaceX says it needs 24 launches to provide Starlink Internet coverage over nearly all of the populated world, and 12 launches could enable coverage of higher latitude regions, such as Canada and the northern United States.

The Falcon 9 can loft up to 60 Starlink satellites each weighing about a quarter-ton on a single Falcon 9 launch. But launches with secondary payloads, such as BlackSkys new Earth-imaging satellites, can carry fewer Starlinks to allow the rideshare passengers room to fit on the rocket.

The initial phase of the Starlink network will number 1,584 satellites, according to SpaceXs regulatory filings with the Federal Communications Commission. But SpaceX plans launch thousands more satellites, depending on market demand, and the company has regulatory approval from the FCC to operate up to 12,000 Starlink relay nodes in low Earth orbit.

Elon Musk, SpaceXs founder and CEO, says the Starlink network could earn revenue to fund the companys ambition for interplanetary space travel, and eventually establish a human settlement on Mars.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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SpaceX gearing up for another launch of Starlink broadband satellites this week - Spaceflight Now

Boeing has successfully tested the parachute system of its Starliner spacecraft under extreme conditions, the aerospace giant revealed on Monday, June 29.

Like SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule, the Starliner is designed to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), but unlike the Crew Dragon, it has yet to do so.

Thats mainly down to delays caused by a failed test flight in December 2019 when a software issue prevented an uncrewed Starliner from reaching the space station.

While it works on fixing the software, Boeing is also focusing on the safety of the spacecrafts parachute system. Conducted above White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, last weeks parachute test was aimed at validating the parachutes performance in dynamic abort conditions.

With astronauts expected to ride aboard the spacecraft, NASA and Boeing have to be absolutely certain that if an abort were to take place early into a launch, the parachutes in Starliners landing sequence would inflate in the proper way despite needing to deploy in very different flight conditions compared to a normal landing.

Parachutes like clean air flow, Jim Harder, Boeings flight conductor, said in a report about the test on Boeings website. They inflate predictably under a wide range of conditions, but in certain ascent aborts, you are deploying these parachutes into more unsteady air where proper inflation becomes less predictable. We wanted to test the inflation characteristics at low dynamic pressure so we can be completely confident in the system we developed.

Dropped by a high-altitude balloon, the spacecrafts small parachutes designed to lift away the Starliners forward heat shield deployed successfully. Ten seconds later, the spacecrafts two drogue parachutes also opened as expected, inflating perfectly despite the low dynamic pressure.

To push the Starliner to the limit, the team prepped the test so that one of its three main parachutes would fail to open on descent. Despite the engineered fault, the spacecraft was able to land safely a short while later.

Boeing said the data from the parachute test will be analyzed to improve the reliability of the system ahead of crewed flights, the first of which could take place next year following an uncrewed test flight in the fall.

Boeing is part of NASAs Commercial Crew Program, a public-private partnership combining NASAs experience with new technology created by private companies with the aim of increasing the availability of space travel. The program has already succeeded in returning human spaceflight launches to U.S. soil via the current SpaceX mission to the ISS, with upcoming crewed missions to the moon, and even Mars, also on the horizon.

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Boeing tests Starliner parachutes ahead of second test flight - Digital Trends

Space is something that humanity has been fascinated with for centuries. It has alwaysfelt unattainable, mysterious, and something that is just out of our reach but at the same time, we have long yearned to explore and understand. Space exploration has long since been the core subject of many films and many works of literature.

RELATED: Sci-Fi: 10 Best Outer Space Survival Films

Space is an enigma filled with wonders beyond human comprehension so it's no wonder that over the years, filmmakers have utilized it as a setting. Some have done so with success, whilst others, not so much. Below are 5 best films about space exploration and 5 the worst, according to IMDb.

This little gem of a film is sadly, largely underappreciated. Europa Report is atmospheric and its storyline very gripping. The film doesn't rely too heavily on special effects and instead focuses on developing its story along with its characters.

RELATED: 10 Thrilling Deep Space Dramas

Since release, the film has been hailed a success and is often compared to 2001: A Space Oddysey for its realism and its pragmatic approach to space travel. Europa Report shouldn't be missed under any circumstances.

Adapted from thevideo game of the same name, Doom offers very little in terms of style and intelligence. Despite the acting prowess of Karl Urban and Dwayne Johnson, they alone fail to provide substance to this otherwise empty shell of a film.

Whilst fans of the game may appreciate what the directors and writers were attempting to do here,Doom just turned out to be another film to add to a long list of failed video game adaptations confirming the fact that video games should just be left alone.

The fact that Danny Boyle is an exceptional director is well established. He has a plethora of outstanding movies under his belt, one of them being the mind-blowing tour de force that is Sunshine.Cillian Murphy heads up the cast in this intriguing film.

Sunshine is a blend of sci-fi, psychology, and mystery essentially being everything a fan would want. Heavy influence has been taken from other great works of science fiction, most notably 2001: A Space Odyssey.Danny Boyle's intelligent mind crafted something that is both visually dazzling and intellectually challenging.

Released in 2000, Red Planet was a complete and utter failure, both critically and commercially. Which isn't necessarily a surprise considering the poorly thought out and abysmally executed storyline.

RELATED: 10 Excellent (But Disastrous) Time Travel Movies To Help You Through Quarantine

It adds very little to the vast sci-fi archive of exceptional films and it is a film that probably shouldn't have been made in the first place. There are many, much better space exploration films to choose from and Red Planet should not be one of them.

Contact may not be seen as a space exploration film per se. However, the story does explore the discovery of alien life, in space.Plus, it really doesn't get any better than Contact. Jodie Foster completely steals the show with her compelling performance.

The film also explores some truly mesmerizing visuals throughout, especially in its second half when contact with alien life is established and Jodie Foster takes a colorful trip through space. Contact is certainlyup there as one of the greatest, most satisfying science fiction films to date.

Despite its commercial success upon release and boasting an extremely talented cast, Armageddon is sadly an unsatisfying dive into inaccuracy, predictability and in all honesty, a subpar plotline with no ambition. The film focuses too much on action and not enough on character development paying very little mind to how incoherent the story really is.

RELATED: 10 Best Outer Space Horror Movies

As far as space exploration films go, Armageddon can not be relied on as a successful take on the intricacies of space travel and only serves as a flippant, badly thought out action drama.

Sam Rockwell's unyielding talent is widely known and regarded but it is especially apparent in this outstanding film. Moon is an excellent depiction of the true horrors of isolation and a truly fascinating exploration of the complex intricacies of human emotion.

Praised for its scientific accuracy and Rockwell's outstanding performance, Moon delivers a moving story with a satisfying twist. A recommended film for any fan of hard sci-fi.

Despite the stellar cast, Event Horizon fails to live up to the promises of its intriguing premise. Sadly, Event Horizon is neither scary nor is it an effective Sci-Fi film. It starts off well but quickly turns into a monotonous mess, heavily relying on special effects rather than focusing on the actual storyline. Essentially a huge disappointment in terms of style.

However, despite its many pitfalls, this film has garnered somewhat of a cult following over the years and this is perhaps because, whilst the film isn't what it wanted to be, it is in its own way, quite entertaining.

Stanley Kubrick is a world-class director, renowned for his myriad of groundbreaking films. 2001: A Space Odysseyis possibly one of Kubrick's greatest films and is often wildly regarded to be one of the most influential films of all time, its influence seen in many films since its release. It garnered a massive cult following upon release and to this day, the impact remains monumental.

RELATED: 10 Great Atmospheric Sci-Fi To Watch If You Liked 2001: A Space Odyssey

It is one of those films that you have to watch a few times to appreciate the intricacy of the story. Adapted from Arthur C. Clarke's novel of the same name, 2001: A Space Odyssey was also praised for its special effects and visuals, which were quite innovative for the time. Kubrick's beautiful but harrowing film is still talked about to this day.

Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence lead this rather dull science-fiction romance. The chemistry between the two actors is certainly undeniable, however, it doesn't overcome nor rectify the very apparent weaknesses that plague Passengers.

The storyline is derivative, predictable, and doesn't offer much in the way of excitement. It is quite frankly, a film that added very little in the form of substance to the genre and is best left forgotten and unwatched to gather dust.

NEXT: 15 Best Sci-Fi Horror Movies That Blend The Genres Perfectly

Next MCU: 5 Times We Felt Bad For Nick Fury (& 5 Times We Hated Him)

Marta is a contributing writer for VICE UK, Screen Rant and Roobla. An avid fan of horror and science fiction. Lover of books, in particular fantasy, science fiction and horror but also likes the occasional classic. She loves writing short stories and opinion pieces on all things related to film. Her favourite show is Bojack Horseman. Follow her on Twitter: @youshallnotpa15

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5 Best Films About Space Exploration (& 5 The Worst), Ranked According To IMDb - Screen Rant

Northern Ireland was the first of the four UK countries to open its campsites last weekend. Having been locked down in Belfast for months, I was desperate to break out of my Covid-19 cocoon and stretch my horizons beyond the TV screen and my legs beyond the local supermarket run.

A 90-minute drive from Belfast, the Sperrin mountains, in mid-Ulster, are a place where the myth and the majesty of the countrys landscape overlap. Its a vast, open space, one that Irish poet Mary Montague described as Ulsters wildest land, adding that the thickest sheets of the last ice age scoured these mountains into smooth undulations that banner the skyline. But, she cautioned, dont be fooled by gentle curves the Sperrins heart is vastly bleak.

Now, however, theres a corner of comfort in this wild landscape, a place that also aims to capture the panoramic grandeur of the setting. With its upland coniferous terrain of mossy hills and winding trails, Davagh Forest, in the foothills just outside Cookstown, has recently become the first area in the country and the third on the island of Ireland to be accredited as an International Dark Sky Park. Within the forest, the OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory is a 1.25m facility with an interactive exhibition linking the landscape with the archaeological and astronomical heritage of the Sperrins, holographic installations, virtual reality headsets, and a state-of-the-art 14-inch aperture telescope. Scheduled to open in April, but delayed by the pandemic until autumn, it promises to be a spectacular voyage through the solar system.

A mile down the road, and just opened, Sperrinview Glamping offers a range of luxury pods that are snug and reasonably priced. In a disused quarry, the four pods are clad in corrugated metal, each a different colour in keeping with the flora on the surrounding hills. From the outside they look a bit like asteroids that have plummeted into the ground: pointing up to the sky with a large triangular viewing window at the fore so that guests can gaze out at the stars from their bed.

The wood-clad interiors feature two double beds and a sofa bed, a kitchenette and a shower room. Each pod has its own outdoor space defined by a circle of rocks, with fire pit and barbecue. All the pods were occupied on opening day, but they are set well enough apart to achieve the essential distancing necessary in these times. Theres hand sanitiser on each pods exterior, and you have to bring your own towels and bedlinen. The atmosphere remains relaxed, though. Children ran free and fire pits were lit as the night crept in.

As constellations emerged above us, one group a civilised hen or birthday party made the most of the communal hub (a cosy space with kitchen, sofa and tables near the entrance). I opted to stargaze from the comfort of my bed, even getting a peek at what seemed to be the International Space Station passing overhead.

Arriving from the increasingly busy post-lockdown streets of Belfast only served to highlight the appeal of this wilderness sanctuary. Straddling the counties of Derry and Tyrone, the Sperrins weave a mottled tapestry of mountains, bogland and inland tarns, as well as megalithic ruins and prehistoric curiosities. From the court and wedge tombs at Dun Ruadh (Red Fort) on the sweeping curve of Crockyneill, to myriad stone sites and alignments in the shadow of Slieve Gallion mountain, its a staggering invitation to reconnect with the land and delve deeper into its legends.

A five-minute walk from the glamping pods and an essential portal into the history of the area is Beaghmore, a complex of seven low stone circles, standing stones and round cairns purportedly predating Stonehenge and even Newgrange, the ancient heart of Ireland. The best time to see them is before sundown, and Id arranged to meet up with local historian Hugh McCloy, who leads tours through the area. Having the opportunity to delve deep into its history a few days shy of Midsummer Day wasnt lost on me. As a sacred site, it genuinely felt like a gateway to the beyond.

Translated from the Irish Bheitheach Mhr, meaning big place of birch trees, Hugh told me that the area was once a woodland before being cleared by neolithic farmers; that it was discovered in the late 1930s when the peat was being cut; and that it is a bona fide thin place: a place where the veil between this material world and the eternal world is slight. Hugh builds a heady narrative about those who inhabited the land thousands of years ago, as well as telling the tale of local giant, Callann Mr, believed to be buried at Carnanbane on the west side of Slieve Gallion mountain. At Ballybriest, a neolithic court tomb in the shadow of Slieve Gallion, we stopped for a picnic from local restaurant Apparo and Hugh shared his belief that giants DNA still runs through the local population.

With the future of far-flung travel uncertain, the opportunity afforded us to explore the wonders on our doorstep is a gift, according to Hugh, a chance for people to feel the wind in the hair and dream again. The interconnectedness between ancient sites, nature and the stars above now seems like a worthy priority. And I speak as someone who grew up a half-hour from the Sperrins and is only now grasping just how much this other world has to offer. Suddenly, Mary Montagues description of this landscape as vastly bleak feels like a towering endorsement.

Pods start from 100 a night and sleep up to five, sperrinviewglamping.com. Details of Hugh McCloys Embrace a Giant tours at embrace.tours

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First UK night out of lockdown camping in Northern Ireland - The Guardian

Born in Kansas City, Kansas in 1933, Dwights father, Ed Dwight, Sr, played second base for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League. His mother, Georgia Baker Dwight, encouraged the boy from a young age, and Ed Jr. became an avid reader, able to work well with his hands including creating art, a passion to which he would later return.

Dwight dreamed of flying jet aircraft, joining the U.S. Air Force beginning in 1953. Eight years later, he earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from Arizona State University.

Following his completion of the experimental test pilot course, Dwight aerospace research pilot training, while he completed training to become anastronaut.

In 1961, President Kennedy selected Dwight to enter training as an experimental test pilot, in preparation for a flight to space as Americas first African-Americanastronaut. The pilot suddenly found himself catapulted onto the covers of magazines and on the front pages of newspapers around the world. At a time when the Soviet Union was beating the United States in the space race, the young jet pilot represented a chance for the United Sates to win a much-needed ground-breaking flight.

To see an Ed Dwight walking across the platform getting into an Apollo capsule would have been mind-boggling in those days. It wouldve had an incredible impact, statedCharles Bolden, the first African-American to head NASA.

The following year, Dwight piloted his F-104 Starfighter jet to an altitude of 80,000 feet before cutting his engines, staring at the curvature of the Earth below his craft. It was the closest he would ever come toreaching space.

Facing severe discrimination from other astronauts, Dwight persevered until President Kennedys death, when government officials created a threatening atmosphere. He resigned in 1966, never having gone into space,The History Makersreports.

Space travel benefits us here on Earth. And we aint stopped yet. Theres more exploration to come. Nichelle Nichols, Nyota Uhura, Star Trek

Much likeJerri Cobband the women of Mercury 13, the political will to see an African-American in space was pushed to the back burner with the drive to land on the Moon and the budget cutbacks that followed that success.

On August 30, 1983, Guion Bluford became the first African-American to reach space, flying aboard thespace shuttleChallenger. Bluford would go on to log 688 hours in space aboard four shuttle missions.

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The story of Ed Dwight: the man who nearly became the first African-American to reach space - The Next Web

(The Center Square) The state Senate passed a resolution urging the federal government to locate the U.S. Space Command in Ohio.

This week, the state Senate unanimously approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 15. The measure now heads to the state House for consideration.

Moving the space command to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Dayton area could bring as many as 1,400 jobs to the Buckeye State, officials say. The feds could announce a decision in early 2021.

The Dayton region is the ideal place for the U.S. Space Command headquarters, state Sen. Bob Hackett, R-London, said in a statement. We will do all we can to strengthen and expand this industry right here where it all began, the birthplace of aviation and the future of aerospace Ohio.

Earlier this week, Gov. Mike DeWine threw his support behind the push. Beavercreek Mayor Bob Stone submitted a nomination, and the governor sent a letter endorsing the plan to the assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force.

Wright-Patterson is home to the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, which is the Department of Defenses (DoD) primary source for foreign air and space threats, according to its website. The Air Force Research Laboratory is also located in Ohio.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Dayton region would be excellent hosts for the U.S. Space Commands new headquarters, DeWine said in a statement. This area is already home to the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, and Air Force Material Command. Its a powerful combination and a synergy that you cant find anywhere else.

The resolution seems likely to pass, especially after House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, endorsed the move.

Ohio is home to many fine institutions that support Ohios aeronautical pioneers, Householder said in a statement. Our great state represents the best and the brightest minds in our nation that have tackled problems and challenges of space travel and space-based threats with steadfastness and composure.

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Senate approves resolution urging feds to locate Space Command headquarters in Ohio - The Center Square

The original founders of World View Enterprises a company aimed at using giant balloons to send payloads into the stratosphere are launching a new venture together, one that will use those same massive balloons to send people leisurely above the Earth. Named Space Perspective, the now distinct company is focused on floating paying customers up to the edge of space, where they can get a rare view of the curvature of the Earth.

Such a relaxed space travel experience has long been the aim of Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum, the co-CEOs of Space Perspective who are announcing the launch of the company today. They originally started World View with tourist flights as the primary end game, but theyre now making a separate enterprise to focus on the goal full-time. The idea is to give people a spectacular view of Earth from above, without having to strap into a rocket and shoot up into the sky at thousands of miles an hour, as other companies plan to do. We came right back to the idea of using these high-altitude balloon systems to be able to take people really gently to the edge of space, Poynter tells The Verge.

Technically, Space Perspective doesnt plan to send people to actual space. The company wants to fly customers up to 100,000 feet, or close to 19 miles high. Its a much lower altitude than what many consider to be the edge of space at 50 miles up, so you wouldnt get the full space experience. Space Perspective crews wouldnt experience weightlessness, for instance (though theyll feel about three pounds lighter). Still, the team argues people will be located above 99 percent of the Earths atmosphere, and that their balloon vessel will be regulated like a spacecraft through the FAAs Office of Commercial Spaceflight.

Plus, the real point is the view. We say were going to the edge of space, but the experience is really what astronaut [and Space Perspective advisor] Jeff Hoffman calls the authentic experience, MacCallum tells The Verge. Because for him, seeing the Earth from space with time and quiet and being relaxed and really being able to contemplate what hes seeing thats what he calls the authentic experience, and so thats what were really concentrating on.

Space tourism that sends people to the edge of space and back has been slow to get into full swing, with companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic still a ways off from entering commercial operations. Those vehicles rely on rocket engines to get people off of Earth, and they go much higher between 50 and 62 miles up. Poynter contends that their system is very different from these rockets notably lacking a rocket engine so they dont expect to run into some of the same problems.

To get to the stratosphere, customers would ride inside a spherical white capsule called Neptune that looks a bit like a spinning top, with wide glass windows providing a clear view of the Earth below. The propellant would be a massive translucent balloon filled with hydrogen, which would ascend at the breakneck pace of 12 miles per hour. Eight passengers could fit inside the craft, along with one pilot to make sure everything runs smoothly, according to the company. The entire flight is meant to last about six hours, with two hours spent hovering above the Earth. A bar and a bathroom will be situated in the center, and there will absolutely be a Wi-Fi connection of some kind.

Some kind of satellite communication will be key for talking with ground control, but it will also allow riders to post photos from the sky. And then if people want to do some kind of special event on board such as a wedding or art show there will be other options. For special events where we really want to livestream something from the Neptune, we will have a swankier communication system that will be able to do really high resolution, broadband live streaming, says Poynter.

Its an ambitious idea, but the two CEOs have a history of working on fantastical projects together. Poynter and MacCallum both participated in the much hyped and controversial Biosphere 2 experiment back in the early 90s, where a small group of people attempted to live in a closed-loop ecosystem to simulate what it would be like to live on Mars. They also have experience working on a high-altitude balloon flight that carried a person to the stratosphere. While working together at their other space company, called Paragon, they created a life-support system for Alan Eustace, the former senior vice president of engineering at Google, who broke the record for the highest altitude jump from a balloon from above 135,000 feet.

Inspired by the idea of travel-by-balloon, they started World View together in 2012. But that company has started to focus less on tourism and more on science. World View has been developing a new product called the Stratollite a vehicle that acts akin to a satellite without actually orbiting the Earth. It consists of a metallic package filled with sensors, instruments, and more that travels to the stratosphere underneath a balloon. Up there, the Stratollite is meant to hover over one place on the Earth for an extended period of time, collecting data of the surface below. The company is currently planning to deploy fleets of Stratollites over North and Central America starting this summer.

With World View so focused on Stratollites, Poynter eventually stepped down as CEO in order to keep the dream of balloon-travel tourism alive. Poynter says theyve done market research on their idea and that theres plenty of interest from potential customers. To keep up the momentum, Space Perspective has set up shop at Cape Canaveral, Florida, leasing a building from NASA at Kennedys Space Center. They plan to launch their first uncrewed test flight from Space Floridas Launch and Landing Facility a runway where NASAs Space Shuttle used to land sometime early next year. That flight will take up some scientific payloads, which the company will announce in the coming months.

Theres still work to be done before regular flights are ready, though, especially when it comes to landing. While carrying passengers, Space Perspective plans for its Neptune capsule to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico following flights from the Cape. The company is reliant on the direction of the winds for where the vehicle ends up, as there wont be options for controlling the direction of the vehicle in flight. That means theyll need a recovery boat to come pick up the capsule from the seas. Space Perspective says it has been talking to the people who recover SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule from the ocean to figure out that best way to do that. This splashdown method also means the company can launch from other areas, like Hawaii or Alaska.

The company also needs to ensure that the ride will be safe for passengers, which Poynter and MacCallum insist it will be. The Neptune capsule will have a life support system and pressure control, and though the vehicle will mostly be flown by people on the ground, the designated pilot on board can assist customers if some kind of problem arises. And if the balloon suffers some kind of leak or failure, a reserve parachute will be on hand to bring the capsule down safely, according to MacCallum.

There may just be other kinks to work out on the way though. World Views Stratollite development, for example, has taken longer than expected, as the company has spent years trying to extend the amount of time the vehicle can last while in the air. Poynter and MacCallum say that those issues shouldnt impact the development of their new system, since they are less focused on navigating their capsule the same way World View handles its Stratollite. Altitude control and working that out for the Stratollite was a huge undertaking and very different than human flight, says MacCallum. These are really very, very different worlds, and while theyre both balloons going into the stratosphere, thats really where the similarities end.

With all these things in mind, Space Perspective still has very big plans for the future. Poynter and MacCallum say their Neptune capsule will be reusable, and they hope to get 1,000 flights out of each vehicle. Eventually they plan to fly up to 100 flights a year, and ticket prices, while still high, will be lower than other space tourism ventures, they claim. Poynter expects each ticket to be less than half of what Virgin Galactic charges, which is $250,000 a seat. She expects tickets with finalized prices to go on sale next year.

But really, Space Perspective says it wants everyone to be able to enjoy this method of travel. The company has also partnered with Space for Humanity, a non-profit that hopes to provide all-expenses-paid trips to space. Space Perspective also wants to fly artists, political leaders, spiritual leaders, and more, to help them see the world differently. The astronauts who talked about seeing the one human family and no borders and one small planet... really resonated with us, MacCallum says. Weve always thought that thats a really important set of ideas, to have that visceral experience to help move the needle.

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New company Space Perspective wants to take you to the stratosphere via high-altitude balloon - The Verge