Category Archives: Space Travel

The International Space Station is a stepping stone for NASA's Artemis program that will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. As the only place for conducting long-duration research on how living in microgravity affects living organisms, especially humans, as well as testing technologies to allow humans to work at the Moon, the space station serves as a unique asset in the effort establish a sustainable presence at the Moon.

Missions to the Moon will include a combination of time aboard the Gateway, on the lunar surface, and in multiple spacecraft including Orion and the human landing system. The skills and technologies developed to explore the Moon will help build the capabilities needed for future missions to Mars.

Here are some of the ways this orbiting laboratory is contributing to the path forward to the Moon and Mars.

The human elementKeeping crew members safe in space is a top priority of lunar missions, and it requires a broad understanding of how living in microgravity affects humans. The space station has offered close to two decades of human research opportunities in a way that no other platform has been able to accomplish. Here is some of what we're learning:

Bone and Muscle lossIn weightlessness, bones and muscles have less to do, and astronauts experience bone and muscle loss during extended stays in space. Researchers continue to investigate the underlying mechanisms and contributing factors of this loss.

One investigation scans the hip bones of astronauts to assess the likelihood of bone fracture following exposure to microgravity. Other studies compare subjects on the ground to those aboard the station or in simulated conditions of spaceflight in ground-based laboratories. Researchers also have used the space station to understand how to use diet and exercise to counteract some of the negative effects of life in microgravity.

VisionOne of the most valuable tools an astronaut will have for gathering information during a Moon mission will be his or her own eyes. Long-duration spaceflight, though, often causes changes to a crew member's vision. Scientists monitor spaceflight-induced visual impairment, as well as changes believed to arise from elevated pressure in the head, to characterize how living in microgravity affects the visual, vascular and central nervous systems. These studies could help develop measures to help prevent lasting changes in vision and eye damage.

Health MonitoringMissions to the Moon will prepare astronauts for missions to Mars, which will require greater self-sufficiency and independence from Earth, including monitoring health and wellness so that crew members can recognize and avoid risky health conditions on their own. For example, the Personal CO2 Monitor investigation attempted to demonstrate a system which can unobtrusively collect and monitor crew members' exposure to carbon dioxide.

Humans produce the gas naturally by breathing, but exposure to high concentrations can cause health issues. Wearable monitors can help the crew track their exposure to carbon dioxide and keep it within safe levels during long-duration stays in space. Similarly, research on airway inflammation in crew members seeks to help astronauts identify early signs of health conditions caused by free-floating dust and particles in the microgravity environment.

Physical and mental functionExposure to space flight changes many systems in the body in ways that could make it harder for crew members to perform critical mission tasks immediately after landing on a planetary surface. Crews traveling to the Moon or Mars will have little time to recover from these changes upon arrival and will lack access to Earth's medical and rehabilitation facilities.

One study identifies tasks that may be affected, and supports design of countermeasures to overcome any impairments. Another study validated a battery of tests for measuring cognitive performance in space. Other research looked at the complexity, severity and duration of physical changes in order to improve recovery time and prevent injury.

Technologies to support the mission to - and on - the MoonIn order to travel through space or set up sustainable bases on the Moon or other planetary bodies, crew members need technology and hardware that provide basic human needs, including oxygen and water, along with the ability to maintain and repair those systems. They also require the tools to conduct mission operations.

Life support systemsThe space station has provided the impetus for development of state-of-the-art life support systems for space, and has served as a testbed for refining those systems. The Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) currently on station supplies oxygen, potable water, and appropriate cabin pressure and temperature and removes carbon dioxide, traces of gases, and particles. A set of hardware is used to monitor the station's water supply and other hardware generates oxygen from recovered carbon dioxide. A recent project tested a new technology using evaporative cooling to maintain appropriate temperatures in spacesuits.

Waste management systemsEveryone "goes," and space presents challenges for managing human waste. Decades of human occupation of the space station have contributed to improvements in design of toilets and waste management systems. The new Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) incorporates the best features from previous designs on the space shuttle and existing space station hardware with new technology to improve hygiene, crew comfort and sustainability. It includes a double stall enclosure that provides privacy for a Toilet System and a Hygiene Compartment.

Fire safetyUnderstanding how fire spreads and behaves in space is crucial for the safety of astronauts, especially as humans travel farther from Earth. The Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) and facilities such as the Microgravity Science Glovebox provide a secure and safe environment in which to study combustion aboard the space station. The CIR has supported a wide range of combustion and flame experiments. One major discovery resulting from this research came from an analysis of fire suppressants: researchers identified the existence of "cool flames" that apparently continue "burning" after flame extinction under certain conditions.

Operations in spaceAstronauts have tested and used three-dimensional (3D) printers on the space station, advancing the ability to manufacture parts on-demand either aboard a spacecraft or on the surface of the Moon or Mars. Such manufacturing could even use recycled waste plastic materials to reduce the mass and number of tools or spare parts a crew would need to bring from Earth.

Thanks to other research, we can now perform DNA sequencing in space. This technology makes it possible to identify microbes and diagnose diseases to help maintain crew member health, as well as to potentially detect DNA-based life on the Moon, Mars or elsewhere in the solar system.

Space station research also has tested navigation techniques that use the Moon and stars. These techniques could serve as an emergency backup or confirm navigation information on future missions.

Large-scale international and commercial partnershipsThe International Space Station represents the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken, involving the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. It brings together international flight crews; multiple launch vehicles; launch, operations, training, engineering, communications and development facilities around the globe; and the international scientific research community.

In addition, space station research has evolved from relying almost solely on government funding and operations to involving a variety of commercial players. This commercialization drives future growth and innovation, including payload integration and the small satellite market.

The space station's international and commercial partnerships provide valuable experience for achieving human presence on the Moon by 2024, part of Artemis. This larger, sustainable exploration campaign with international and commercial partners unifies nations, creates new economic opportunities and inspires future generations.

For more information about NASA's Moon to Mars plans, visit here

Related Linksby Melissa Gaskill for ISS NewsSpace Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News

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How the International Space Station is helping us get to the Moon - Space Daily

The chairmen of the House and Senate aviation subcommittees spoke Wednesday about the challenges facing by American air travel in an age of lightning-fast technological innovation.

Sen. Ted CruzRafael (Ted) Edward CruzAviation chairmen cite safety, new tech among concerns for the future The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Better Medicare Alliance - Diplomat's 'powerful' testimony and 'lynching' attract headlines Partisan squabbles endanger congressional response to Trump's course on Syria MORE (R-Texas) and Rep. Rick LarsenRichard (Rick) Ray LarsenAviation chairmen cite safety, new tech among concerns for the future The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Better Medicare Alliance - Diplomat's 'powerful' testimony and 'lynching' attract headlines The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Better Medicare Alliance - Trump's impeachment plea to Republicans MORE (D-Wash.) discussed regulations, drones, commercial spaceflight and decaying infrastructure at an event on the future of U.S. aviation hosted by Delta Airlines and The Hill.

Larsen told The Hill Editor-in-Chief Bob CusackRobert (Bob) CusackAviation chairmen cite safety, new tech among concerns for the future Hill editor-in-chief: 'Hard to imagine' House leadership without Cummings The Hill's Editor in Chief Bob Cusack: Warren must have an answer on medicare for all, why impeachment is dangerous for Dems MORE that safety remains the most important aspect of aviation.

"The priority is safety. If people don't feel comfortable flying on airplanes and they don't feel safe, they won't fly. And if they don't fly, there's no reason for airlines to buy airplanes, and if you don't build them, you don't get the jobs," said Larsen, whose Washington district is home to 23,000 Boeing employees.

Larsen added that keeping the United States competitive in international aviation, keeping up with technological innovation and improving the airline customer experience are also priorities.

"Aviation is fundamental to commerce in this country, it's fundamental to life in this country," Cruz told The Hill editor-at-large Steve Clemons.

"But you've got to have the flying public comfortable to get on a plane and believing that they're going to be safe. It's still the case that getting in a plane is much safer than getting in a car, but [in] the 737 MAX, 346 people were killed, and those were preventable deaths" said Cruz.

Both the House and Senate aviation subcommittees have held hearings to investigate the regulatory and engineering failures that led to two Boeing 737 MAXcrashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia in 2018 and 2019.

Larsen said Boeing has faced criticism of how it handled the accidents, which were attributed in part to a flight control software system, but"a lot of it is a criticism of the public relations side of things."

But Larsen said the committee's investigation has to focus on whether Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) appropriately followed laws on how aircraft systems are implemented, tested and approved for commercial use.

Larsen added the committee's work will be "pretty interesting" over the next five to 10 years, given the pace of technological advances.

"When you talked about 'new entrants,' you talked about new airlines coming in to use the airspace. Today's new entrants, you have to think about new users of the airspace," said Larsen.

Cruz said the rising use of new technologies such as drones and air taxis will face resistance from users and legislators alike.

"When the automobile was introduced, the horse and buggy producers weren't very happy about it. At every stage, whether it's new energy sources, new transportation sources, there's always disruption," Cruz said.

"We are certainly on a path to more and more driverless transportation," he added.

"As with any technology, there will be a time period before people are comfortable with it and satisfied with it."

But deteriorating infrastructure is limiting the consumer benefits of existing American aviation technology, according to industry experts at the event.

"We're all for new innovation and technology, but look, we have an airline industry that needs an updated air traffic control system, general aviation needs it we need to figure out a way to get it done," said Ed Mortimer, the vice president of transportation and travel at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"We're looking at increased cargo, we're looking at increased passengers almost double in the next 15, 20 years and so utilizing the airspace more efficiently is the only way we're going to be able to handle those types of increased cargo and passengers," Mortimer added.

Emily Feenstra, managing director of government relations and infrastructure initiatives at the American Society of Civil Engineers, said the focus on fixing existing infrastructure should not take away from an eye on the future of air and space travel.

"We've got to think long-term about that Jetsons-like future and believe that's possible, but also just address some of these short-term issues," said Feenstra.

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Aviation chairmen cite safety, new tech among concerns for the future | TheHill - The Hill

Retired astronaut, aquanaut, emergency physician, pilot, CEO, public speaker, husband, father and author Dave Williams has been defying limits since he was hit by a car while riding his bike to school in Beaconsfield. He was in Grade 5 at the time and walked away without serious injury.

Williams grew up to become a record-breaking astronaut, completing two space missions and in the process becoming the first Canadian to complete three space walks, spending a total of 17 hours and 47 minutes executing complex tasks while hovering in space with only an ankle attachment preventing him from floating away.

On Sunday, Oct. 27, Williams comes to the Hudson Community Centre as part of the literary event Storyfest to talk about his book Defying Limits: Lessons from the Edge of the Universe (Simon and Schuster) and to read one of his childrens books at StoryFest for Kids.

Astronaut Dave Williams cuts a ribbon at the entrance to the science wing at Beaconsfield High School in Beaconsfield in 2012.Phil Carpenter / The Gazette

Williams was born in Saskatoon, Sask. and raised in Beaconsfield. His wife Cathy Fraser, a pilot for Air Canada, grew up in Pointe-Claire. They have three children, Evan, Olivia and Theo and now live in Oakville, Ont.

Willams spoke with the West Island Gazette about his life on planet earth and beyond.

Answers have been edited for space.

Q: Your medical studies and research and your astronaut/aquanaut training and execution required intense focus. Is that something you were born with?

A: No, I wasnt born with it. I learned how to focus by riding a motorcycle. Your situational awareness and judgment are critical. Make a mistake and you will not survive. And I learned how to fly in my twenties. That clearly demands critical focus. And when I was studying medicine, I would go to the library at 8 a.m. on Saturday and study until 6 p.m. For me, focus is about the willingness to put in whatever work was necessary to achieve my dreams.

Q: You are no stranger to defying limits. You survived being thrown from a military truck as a teen. A degenerative condition of the retina almost derailed your first space mission. Prostate cancer almost derailed your second space mission. And in 2003, the space shuttle Columbia exploded during re-entry, killing seven close friends. How did you move through all this?

A: Some say happiness is the most important thing in life. I dont agree. The most important thing to me is meaning. And you learn that through adversity. When you find meaning, your life is richer and fuller.

Q: What advances in space travel do you envision?

A: I think astronauts will be sent back to the moon by 2025. And hopefully, by the 100th anniversary of space travel, we will have humans on Mars.

Q: What role does human emotion play in the world of medicine and space travel?

A: Humans are emotional beings, but in a harsh environment, emotion must be handled. Lifting off into space is not natural. There is risk. Courage comes with the doing. I tend to experience the fear before and after the event. And humour is important. During my second space walk I was handling a 650 kilogram gyroscope. It was right in front of my face. Right in the middle of my task, I hear in my headset Hows the view?

Q: Your parents played an important role in encouraging your interests as a child. How did you and your wife help nurture your childrens interests and what are they doing today?

A: We didnt point them in the same directions we took (doctor/astronaut and pilot). Instead, we exposed them to a breadth of activities and let their interests evolve. Evan is 25. He was born with special needs. He is remarkable. He completed a volunteer police officer training program and hes busy with track and yoga. Olivia is 22. She has her pilots license and is studying neuroscience at the University of Guelph, so I guess the apple doesnt fall far from the tree. Theo is 16 and is finishing high school. Hes interested in political science.

Q: You wrote four childrens books to help engage childrens love of science. And then you wrote your autobiography Defying Limits. How does the challenge of writing books compare to your medical and space challenges?

A: I remember being so proud sending off the first five chapters of Defying Limits to Simon and Schuster in New York. Then the editor got back to me saying, its not an academic treatise. I had to find my voice. Ive learned a lot.

Williams is not the type to retire. He is currently working as an aerospace consultant, is on the speaker circuit, is involved in space medicine research and continues to hone his flying skills. This month the University of Western Ontario inaugurated the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration. Williams is the inaugural chair of Western Spaces Advisory Council.

The literary event Storyfest is presented by the Greenwood Centre for Living History. Dave Williams is at the Hudson Community Centre, 394 Main Rd., for StoryFest for Kids, Oct. 27 at 10 a.m. Donations are welcome. He speaks about Defying Limits at the same location, same day, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $20. For information, visit http://www.greenwoodstoryfest.com.

kgreenaway@postmedia.com

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Retired astronaut Dave Williams continues to live life by defying limits - Montreal Gazette

Produce does not have a reputation for brilliant or particularly out there advertising. Mexican avocados simply sell themselves by stating theyre always in season (true if you specifically count one state in the country, Michoacn), the California Artichoke Board asks you to stop and eat the artichokes, and the best the egg has come up with is incredible (and even then, followed by merely edible). Mostly, thats because certain staples dont have to worry about recognition because almost everyone knows what eggs and artichokes and avocados are. If theyre not buying them, its for a different reason than lack of awareness.

But occasionally, a new basic comes on the market, and consumers need to be reminded of all the potential that lies within something as de rigueur as a piece of fruit. This is the concept behind the ad campaign around the Cosmic Crisp, also known as WA 38, a new apple bred by Washington State University researchers over the past 20 years which is dropping in grocery stores this winter. Im obsessed. Behold the slightly deranged but still effective ad, which suggests the apple can inspire children to follow their dreams, that its flavor could launch us into space travel (again). THIS IS THE APPLE THE WORLD HAS BEEN WAITING FOR, it declares, in case you hadnt realized youd been waiting for an apple that has STRIKING COLOR and is NATURALLY SLOW TO BROWN. (Tag yourself, Im EXCELLENT STORAGE).

Cosmic Crisp has been hinting at its drop all summer, but according to the New York Post, the apple will be available beginning December 1. Growers have already planted 12 million Cosmic Crisp trees and 450,000 40-pound boxes will be available for sale this year. By 2020, more than 2 million boxes will be available. The apple is a cross between the Enterprise and the Honeycrisp, the former known for its durability, the latter for its flavor. It is a rich red that almost sparkles with starburst-like lenticels, evoking the star-patterned apples of Wes Andersons The Fantastic Mr. Fox fitting as the idea of such fervor around a new apple feels like something out of a twee fiction.

The Cosmic Crisp is also backed by a massive consumer launch. In a report on the apple in California Sunday Magazine, writer Brooke Jarvis described the rise and fall of the Red Delicious, staple of cafeterias everywhere and Washington states one time moneymaker, and how apples in general are falling out of favor thanks, in part, to heavy marketing from clementines. [Red Deliciouss] 50-year reign as Americas most-grown apple had officially come to an end... But though the industry was adapting, with fields of newer, market-tested apples going in every year, much of the old confidence was gone, she wrote. Growers are hoping the Cosmic Crisp could bring them back to the glory days, especially with this publicity campaign. That the era of just making things and letting them go was over, said Bruce Barritt, the developer of the Cosmic Crisp. Thats not the way the world is anymore. This apple has a $10.5 million marketing budget.

If you live in a region where fall heralds an abundance of apple varieties, you may also be familiar with the annual agony of trying to remember which apples are which. We all know Red Delicious suck, but you might have mistaken a mealy Roma for a crisp Cortland, or forgotten the difference between a Winesap and Macoun. It can get overwhelming, which means its easy to not have hard opinions about apples. Remember one or two you like, forget the rest. What the Cosmic Crisp is up against is both oversaturation and established tastes. Can it really be that much better than your favorite Jonagold? And if it is, is it $2.99 per pound better?

Its also a reminder that few things that end up in the grocery store get there without marketing. Like everything else, apples are ruled by patents and ownership and the changing climate and changing tastes, whatever is going to make the growers and developers enough money to keep growing. It feels weird to watch an ad asking you to IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES of an apple, because apples feel like part of the fabric of American life. Its like watching an ad for the concept of clothing, or a sales rep asking if youve considered having hair. Its an apple, you eat it, this shouldnt be this complicated. But of course theres nothing fundamentally different about an ad for an apple and an ad for a granola bar. No matter how close to the earth it is, its still a product.

Update: October 22, 2019, 6:09 p.m.: The article originally stated that the Cosmic Crisp was developed at the University of Washington. It was actually developed at Washington State University.

Update: October 23, 2019, 5:38 p.m.: A previous version of this story stated that Mexican avocados are not always in season.

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Everything You Need to Know About the Cosmic Crisp Apple - Eater

Transforming science fiction to reality, UC Santa Barbara physics professor Philip Lubin is creating a laser-cannon system to propel miniature spaceships with solar sails more than 25 trillion miles to the suns nearest star Proxima Centuari.

Loaded with cameras, other sensors, historical records of humanity, greetings from Earth and possibly human DNA, the smartphone-sized crafts, or interstellar arks, would be thrust on an historic journey that would take about 20 years a blink of an eye in space travel.

People understood roughly 100 years ago that it was possible using then- technology to send a human to the moon and return them, Lubin said, noting that one challenge was scaling down equipment. If you look at the popular literature at that time, the idea was treated as science fiction, like Flash Gordon.

Lubins ambitious vision is showcased in Laser-Sailing Starships, one of eight new books in the Out of this World Series (World Book, 2017). Targeted to middle- school students, the books focus on research fellows involved in the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program. NASAs aim is to foster the next generation of scientific talent.

The great part about the whole series is that it doesnt talk down to kids, but addresses the science head-on, said Jason Derleth, the program executive for NASA, which helps fund Lubins research.

In 2009, Lubin began examining how to use directed energy a phased laser array to deflect asteroids bound for Earth. But there was limited outside interest in the UCSB research, he said, because the planet doesnt get hit often.

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Bold Space Travel - Santa Barbara Edhat

Elon Musk teased space travel fanatics with the first photo of the SpaceXs spacesuit today. On Instagram, the CEO of SpaceX claimed that the minimalist white prototype actually works and had already been tested under near vacuum.

Musk notes that the design team wrestled with balancing [a]esthetics and function. Eschewing bulky, formless space suit designs, the commercial spaceflight companys formfitting suit appears to follow the athleisure for space trend that Boeing introduced earlier this year.

On pressurized spacecraft, passengers dont need spacesuits all the time. But as Tim Fernholz writes, pressurized suits are a mandatory safety precaution in national space programs.

Experience has led space programs to conclude that a pressure suit is worth the weight, cost and discomfort. Soviet astronauts flew without pressure suitsthey wanted to project an image of this being a ride on a bus, Nicholas de Monchaux saysbut when an oxygen valve failed on a Soyuz craft returning to earth in 1971, it depressurized 100 miles above the ground. The recovery crew found the three cosmonauts onboard dead from asphyxiation. Now, all Soyuz crew members wear suits when they fly.

US astronauts on the space shuttle likewise went into space in shirtsleeve comfort, in the words of one NASA hand-out, until the commission formed to investigate the Challenger explosion in 1986 demanded more robust efforts to protect them. Pressure suits became mandatory, and the iconic pumpkin suitor the Advanced Crew Escape Suit (ACES)was developed. ()

On the International Space Station itself, most of the time is spent in shirtsleeves. Yet pressure suits still come in handy in times of dangersuch as the potential ammonia leak that recently led some of the astronauts to briefly evacuate their compartment, until a sensor failure was blamed. You dont wear an oxygen mask or life vest on a jetliner, but you still want to know theyre there if you need them.

SpaceX is planning a maiden voyage to the moon for its first two paying customers by next year. It is also redesigning its private spacecraft Dragon to carry humans in addition to cargo.

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Elon Musk is teasing space travel fanatics with a photo of SpaceX's first working spacesuit - Quartz

A strain of yeast that can recycle urine and carbon dioxide into omega-3 fatty acids and polymers has been developed by US scientists, who say it could help astronauts turn waste products into food on long interplanetary journeys.

Biomolecular engineer Mark Blenner from Clemson University in South Carolina presented the work at the 254th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition in Washington, DC, as part of a broader session on getting people to Mars.

Our yeast not only grow on human urine, they actually prefer it to other nitrogen sources

Mark Blenner, Clemson University

Blenners research focuses on the yeast species Yarrowia lipolytica whose cells naturally produce and accumulate omega-3 fatty acids. He says that these products could be used as nutritional supplements for astronauts, as theyve been implicated in preventing bone loss and maintaining cardiovascular and ocular health, but dont have a long enough shelf life for adequate supplies to be brought from Earth. His group showed that the yeast could grow using human urine as a source of nitrogen, something that there would be a plentiful supply of on manned space missions.

Our yeast not only grow on human urine, they actually prefer it to other nitrogen sources, Brenner says. His group have also used synthetic biology to engineer a strain of the same yeast to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates, which shows they have the potential to manufacture polymer inks that could be used to fabricate objects in a 3D printer. In particular, he said this could be very useful in situations where an astronaut has lost a tool or a piece of equipment that they need.

Blenner admits they dont currently know how the biology would react to being in space. But in the meantime there are several more terrestrial applications they can explore, such as producing omega-3 supplements for fish farms and making other speciality chemicals. He says the next stepis for his team to demonstrate that they can get usable quantities of both the polyestersand the omega-3 fatty acids from these astronaut waste stream. We are going to be doing genetic engineering to the cell to really try and force it to make the products that we want, by knocking out certain pathways that might syphon off intermediates, Blenner explains. The team is also still at the early stages of characterising how the yeast go about taking up a lot of these waste substrates. We havent really done a full analysis yet of whats left over to try and see if there is any way to get the yeast to use some of the leftovers, he says.

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Space travel microbes turn urine into polymers - Chemistry World (subscription)

This week, Elon Musk dragged space fashion into the 21st century with the newly revealed SpaceX spacesuit . But can he do the same for space tourism?

The allure of space travel is deeply embedded in our psyche. Jules Vernes 1865 novel From Earth to the Moon captured some of this drive. But it was JFKs 1961 Moon Shot speech, and the space programs that followed, that encouraged ordinary people to imagine they might one day be able to travel beyond the Earth.

That possibility came closer in 2004 when Burt Rutans SpaceShip One became the first private vessel to carry its three pilots into suborbital flight. Since then, a handful of companies have been pushing hard to kickstart the future of space tourism.

$250,000 will secure you a seat on Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic, even though the company has yet to make its maiden passenger voyage. And Jeff Bezos is also gearing up to give budding space tourists a similar experience with Blue Origins Space Capsule.

Both Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are promising a few minutes of weightlessness and stunning views of the Earth from spacealbeit at the cost of a second mortgage. But these are little more than titillating carnival rides compared to true space travel.

For this, aspiring space tourists need to look to SpaceX. In February, Musk announced plans to fly two paying passengers around the moon in 2018. This is still the equivalent of a stroll down the street given the vastness of the solar system. But unlike the toe-dipping experiences promised by Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, its more likely to capture the full space experience.

And that includes the risks.

If theres one thing weve learned in recent decades, its that space is dangerous. For space tourism to come close to succeeding, companies offering trips beyond the Earths atmosphere are going to have to grapple with a complex and shifting risk landscape.

Space travel encapsulates a remarkable frisson between risk and safety. For many people, the anticipated experience of being in space seems to far outweigh perceived personal risksjust look at the number of people willing to risk their lives on a one-way trip to Mars!

Yet irrespective of what individuals are willing to accept, the possibility of civilian injuries and deaths present a major challenge to the future of space tourism. Expect to see crippling insurance premiums, cold-footed investors, and the specter of regulations that potentially suck the lifeblood out of a fragile industry. But also expect public backlashes against seemingly reckless private ventures that potentially leave deep public scars if they fail.

These and similar risks dont spell the death of space tourism by any stretch of the imagination. But success will depend on weaving a subtle course through new risk territory. Of course, itll mean ensuring that passengers are adequately protected in the event of system failures, and that theyre kept as safe as possible without restricting the experience theyve paid for. But it will also mean granting companies the social and legal license to operate.

And trivial as it may seem, a well-designed spacesuit taps in to all of these. Naturally, you cant succeed in space tourism simply by creating a sexy spacesuit. But you can do a lot with a suit thats functional, desirable, and iconic. And you can excel with one that makes the complete experience worthwhilenot only for the wearer, but for the rest of us who are vicariously experiencing this new adventure from a distance, and everything it promises for the future.

This is a tall order. But maybe Musks sleek new spacesuit will bring us a step closer toward a viable and vibrant future of space tourism.

Andrew Maynard is a professor in the Arizona State University (ASU) School for the Future of Innovation in Society, and director of the ASU Risk Innovation Lab.

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Elon Musk's Sexy Spacesuit Is One Giant Leap for Space Tourism - Fortune

Imagine you're on your way to Mars, and you lose a crucial tool during a spacewalk. Not to worry, you'll simply re-enter your spacecraft and use some microorganisms to convert your urine and exhaled carbon dioxide (CO2) into chemicals to make a new one. That's one of the ultimate goals of scientists who are developing ways to make long space trips feasible.

The researchers are presenting their results this week at the 254th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS, the world's largest scientific society, is holding the meeting here through Thursday. It features nearly 9,400 presentations on a wide range of science topics.

Astronauts can't take a lot of spare parts into space because every extra ounce adds to the cost of fuel needed to escape Earth's gravity. "If astronauts are going to make journeys that span several years, we'll need to find a way to reuse and recycle everything they bring with them," Mark A. Blenner, Ph.D., says. "Atom economy will become really important."

The solution lies in part with the astronauts themselves, who will constantly generate waste from breathing, eating and using materials. Unlike their friends on Earth, Blenner says, these spacefarers won't want to throw any waste molecules away. So he and his team are studying how to repurpose these molecules and convert them into products the astronauts need, such as polyesters and nutrients.

Some essential nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, have a shelf life of just a couple of years, says Blenner, who is at Clemson University. They'll need to be made en route, beginning a few years after launch, or at the destination.

"Having a biological system that astronauts can awaken from a dormant state to start producing what they need, when they need it, is the motivation for our project," he says.

Blenner's biological system includes a variety of strains of the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. These organisms require both nitrogen and carbon to grow. Blenner's team discovered that the yeast can obtain their nitrogen from urea in untreated urine.

Meanwhile, the yeast obtain their carbon from CO2, which could come from astronauts' exhaled breath, or from the Martian atmosphere. But to use CO2, the yeast require a middleman to "fix" the carbon into a form they can ingest. For this purpose, the yeast rely on photosynthetic cyanobacteria or algae provided by the researchers.

One of the yeast strains produces omega-3 fatty acids, which contribute to heart, eye and brain health. Another strain has been engineered to churn out monomers and link them to make polyester polymers.

Those polymers could then be used in a 3-D printer to generate new plastic parts. Blenner's team is continuing to engineer this yeast strain to produce a variety of monomers that can be polymerized into different types of polyesters with a range of properties.

For now, the engineered yeast strains can produce only small amounts of polyesters or nutrients, but the scientists are working on boosting output. They're also looking into applications here on Earth, in fish farming and human nutrition. For example, fish raised via aquaculture need to be given omega-3 fatty acid supplements, which could be produced by Blenner's yeast strains.

Although other research groups are also putting yeast to work, they aren't taking the same approach. For example, a team from DuPont is already using yeast to make omega-3 fatty acids for aquaculture, but its yeast feed on refined sugar instead of waste products, Blenner says. Meanwhile, two other teams are engineering yeast to make polyesters. However, unlike Blenner's group, they aren't engineering the organisms to optimize the type of polyester produced, he says.

Whatever their approach, these researchers are all adding to the body of knowledge about Y. lipolytica, which has been studied much less than, say, the yeast used in beer production.

"We're learning that Y. lipolytica is quite a bit different than other yeast in their genetics and biochemical nature," Blenner says. "Every new organism has some amount of quirkiness that you have to focus on and understand better."

A video on the research is available here

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Original post:

Turning human waste into plastic, nutrients could aid long-distance space travel - Space Daily

BAE Systems

If you think getting knocked around in your backpack on the subway is tough on a computer, try going into space, where radiation and cosmic rays can cause sensitive computer equipment to degrade and fail.

Aerospace company BAE Systems has just announced a new computer it calls "radiation-hardened." According to the company, the new RAD5545 "provides next-generation spacecraft with the high-performance onboard processing capacity needed to support future space missions," and is faster and more power-efficient than its predecessor.

A single RAD5545 SBC replaces multiple cards on previous generations of spacecraft. It combines high performance, large amounts of memory, and fast throughput to improve spacecraft capability, efficiency, and mission performance. With its improved computational throughput, storage, and bandwidth, it will provide spacecraft with the ability to conduct new missions, including those requiring encryption processing, multiple operating systems, ultra high-resolution image processing, autonomous operation, and simultaneous support for multiple payloads missions that were impossible with previous single-board computers.

Because it's a single-card computer with all the components on one circuit board, it's smaller, with fewer parts to potentially fail, and it uses specially insulated components to protect against radiation. Long-term trips, such as to Mars, would especially require computer hardware that could stand up to the long-term rigors of space travel.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise meanwhile is trying a different approach to dealing with radiation. It's space-testing relatively ordinary computers with software to detect and correct radiation-induced computing errors.

Read more:

New radiation-hardened computers are ready to blast off on space missions - CNET