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Category Archives: Transhuman News

The Outer Worlds dystopian future is far off, but its not impossible – The Verge

Posted: January 29, 2020 at 1:44 am

After landing on Terra 2 for the first time, I made my way to a small, private company-owned town called Edgewater for some business. As I approached the colony, mostly known for the Saltuna Cannery, I stopped to talk to a man in a hard hat who was hanging around outside. None of us own our gravesites, the man, named Silas, told me. We rent them from the company.

Edgewater is owned by Spacers Choice, meaning that almost everyone who lives there is at the whims of the mega-corporation. They face incredibly harsh working conditions, often fleeing to live somewhere else, without protection, on the planet. They also have to pay to rent a spot for their future grave in the cemetery. Some families had become delinquent, and Silas needed me to collect the money that was due, discreetly and by whatever means necessary.

Look, I dont want to talk about it, he said, asking me to strong-arm one person in particular. Just make sure he pays up.

That was one of my first encounters in The Outer Worlds, a first-person adventure game developed by Obsidian Entertainment. Its set in a universe where President William McKinley was never assassinated in 1901, meaning President Theodore Roosevelt would never break up monopolies, including John D. Rockefellers grip on the oil industry and J.P. Morgans control of railroads. Its a universe where mega-corporations took their capitalist ventures into outer space with little policing by the government on Earth. Fictional companies like Spacers Choice own the very planets on which people live and work.

We started thinking about the mining towns at the turn of the century, these companies owned everything, Outer Worlds game director and legendary game designer Leonard Boyarsky tells me over Skype. It was basically indentured servitude in everything but name. Its just snowballed from there.

As I played through Obsidians first-person planet hopper, I encountered factory bosses who asked me to bust up unions and scientists who sent their workers into perilous dangers over toothpaste. Each twist and turn of the main plot satirized how mega-corporations treat the workers they need to survive. Sadly, this stuff is a reality and it keeps forcing itself into our conscious, Boyarsky says. Fellow game director and game development legend Tim Cain adds that its going to be weird if our first Moon base or base on Mars is brought to you by Pepsi.

Some of the biggest companies jumping into the space industry, including major names like SpaceX and Blue Origin, are owned by billionaires like SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, two moguls whose fortunes were built in part by the terrible working conditions in Teslas factories and Amazons warehouses, respectively. Much of the tech industry runs on a mindset of workers being underpaid and overworked. Once we migrate into space, will we be much better off than the people of Edgewater?

The best science fiction is based on a reflection of our own society, says space industry analyst and SpaceNews senior writer Jeff Foust. I dont think when we get into space well become more enlightened beings and shed some of the flaws we have.

The Outer Worlds isnt the first piece of media with a bleak depiction of space colonization. The idea of space commercialization and the consequences that come with it are older than space exploration itself. Shows like Star Trek and The Expanse and movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Ad Astra have imagined how current political tensions, economic inequality, and cultural divides might evolve once we have the ability to colonize space.

Boyarsky and Cain intended The Outer Worlds to be an alternate take on history where space travel was discovered at a time when mega-corporations could take advantage of it for their own gain. Space travel in our reality was fueled by the Cold War Space Race that started in the mid-1950s. It was completely government-run, but thats no longer the case.

Over the past 20 years, the real space industry has become more commercialized. Companies like Richard Branson-owned Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and others have popped up with independent ventures. The government now, under Obama and Trump, does see the value of using the commercial sector, says astrobiologist, former NASA employee, and editor of NASA Watch Keith Cowing. They can do things cheaper than doing things in-house, which would take longer and be more expensive. Before this NASA did everything, and there wasnt an option outside that.

While technological advancements have made space exploration cheaper (some satellites are the size of a shoebox), its still an incredibly expensive endeavor, and most companies rely on government partnerships and funding. Space is still a priority to the current White House administration, but NASA is operating with a smaller percentage of the federal budget. NASA worked with 5 percent of the federal budget during the Apollo missions, which amounts to about $6 billion per year at its peak in the 1960s. NASAs budget today is $22 billion, which is less than half a percent of the federal budget.

NASA is still building a record number of spacecraft, but trends of privatization are growing as Trump wants to transition the International Space Station to the private sector and many companies are preparing their own private spacecraft for low Earth orbit in the next several years.

While the Halcyon Corporate Board, a group made up of 10 private companies that serve as the main antagonist in The Outer Worlds, is bad in its own right, much of the major union-busting and unethical behavior comes when these companies operate outside the reach of the government on Earth. If a company were to shed its home on the blue planet to operate solely in space, there would be no laws in place by which theyd need to abide.

The private sector is getting closer to being capable of launching habitable spacecraft into orbit and eventually running crewed missions to the Moon and Mars. Right now, there arent enough checks and balances to keep them in line. Private companies launching satellites need to apply for licenses from the Federal Communications Commission and sometimes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and they need to abide by regulations when launching rockets and other aircraft. But few laws cover the basics of what is enforceable in space.

Those types of laws govern activities here on Earth, but what were starting to see is attorneys, politicians, and think tanks [thinking about] what types of laws we need to govern activities in space, says space historian and editor of collectSPACE.com Robert Pearlman. There is no one who controls or owns the Moon, so the question is do we wait until there is a colony on the Moon and have them become the governing body?

If something were to happen on the Moon or inside the International Space Station, the laws of whichever country launched the rocket or the country that owns the module of the ISS the incident happened in, would probably apply. Until there are companies that move completely off planet, Earth legislation would extend to our colonies in space.

Modern labor laws, at least in the United States, arent incredibly strong today. No one is getting killed by a Raptidon while going to work in a warehouse, but negative public perception and anti-union sentiments make the simple act of trying to organize a workplace dangerous. Thats especially true for workers in the tech industry, several of which work with companies that do business in space who are seen as privileged employees who dont need to unionize. Google, one of the most notable titans in the tech industry, recently fired several employees for trying to organize and even hired a firm known for union-busting late last year.

Unionizing is antithetical to the goal of most executives, I dont see that changing in the future, says Kathryn Spiers, one of the fired Google employees. Throughout the early hours of The Outer Worlds, we see how the corporate facade of the Saltuna Cannery and Edgewater fade away as work slows. Spacers Choice employees are treated as second-class citizens, only as valuable as the work theyre able to do. Their lives are effectively owned by the company that owns the city. Some are workers in factories and ports, while others do more skilled work like private security. No matter what they end up doing, they are almost always viewed as replaceable by their employers.

Some of the biggest companies in tech, including Google, rely on the manpower of thousands of contractors who work on Google projects but arent officially employed by Google. The way Google uses its contractors is wrong, its as if they are a second class of citizens, Spiers says. I know many Googlers who viewed contractors as other Googlers and others who didnt think about Googles reasons for using contractors, which I believe is to make it harder for their workers to organize. While some groups of contractors have been able to unionize, others have been fired en masse when Google no longer needed their services. Its a strong example of how the tech industry doesnt value the workers who support it.

If companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin were to venture into space today with crewed missions, the final product wouldnt look anything like Edgewater or Stellar Bay. Musk and Bezos wouldnt be sending a very large workforce. Itll be some time before we have people working in mines and canneries on Mars. The cost, risk, and coordination it takes to send and support someone in space are astronomical. Only the most qualified and essential people are heading into the great unknown for the foreseeable future. Right now on the ISS, the most valuable commodity is an astronauts time, you only want them to work on the things they have to, Foust says. Thatll be true a far way into the future. People are going to be a scarce commodity in space, youre not going to use them for mundane labor.

Unionization isnt just a tool for mundane labor, though. In 1973, three members of NASAs final Skylab mission went on strike to protest the 16-hour workdays they had for more than two months straight. It eventually led to more free time for space travelers. They may not be doing the same tasks as the auto loader operators who are striking in Stellar Bay within The Outer Worlds, but the disparity in their work illustrates the idea that unionization is the only way astronauts and auto loaders will have a say in how their space missions operate.

Workers organizing, one of the biggest themes in The Outer Worlds, is one of the key ways to make sure our colonies dont end up like Edgewater. The current mindsets of major companies like Amazon, Tesla, and Google, alongside a general anti-union mentality in the United States, make organizing seem like an impossibility.

We could be centuries away from having colonies like Edgewater, though. (The scientific makeup of The Outer Worlds is different from our world, so space travel was discovered faster.) The men and women who do venture out on these first missions into deep space may be making a one-way trip and, according to Elon Musk, they will likely die. Its difficult to say, were talking about a scenario thats so far in the future even if the companies stick along their path, Pearlman says. The initial people who fly on these rockets are going to be people who pay to go or volunteers to go. Itll be more of the settler case like paying for passage by train or wagon to the West.

Thats not too different from the interstellar settlers in The Outer Worlds. Many of the inhabitants of Edgewater, Stellar Bay, or the Groundbreaker ship, on top of being under extreme stress due to the alien environment theyre in, are isolated from the homes they left. And much like the Gold Rush in the 1850s, the early days are even more dangerous and exploitative than later on when more people migrate.

A Moonbase, a colony on Mars, and settlements on other life-supporting planets are far away enough that no one is comfortable making an actual prediction. But games like The Outer Worlds help us explore and put things into perspective ahead of time. Star Treks prime directive, the guiding principle that no Starfleet member should interfere with the natural development of alien civilizations, has helped inspire some space conservation. These conversations about labor, space, and the future could help us avoid these problems once we get there.

While it is a game, if treated with an attempt to be realistic, they have tried to present a vision of our future that would fit with what we know today, Pearlman says. They help us explore these questions so we can be more ready when theyre needed.

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The Outer Worlds dystopian future is far off, but its not impossible - The Verge

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Things We Saw Today: Meghan Markles Horrible Father Is Committed to Slandering His Daughter Until She Contacts Him – The Mary Sue

Posted: at 1:44 am

Thomas Markle has proven in the last few years from his public persona to be a vile, emotionally abusive and manipulative man. So much so that I hope that anyone who had any pity for him being estranged from his daughter Meghan and grandson has gotten that fresh out of their system. If not, this interview he did with Good Morning Britain should do the trick.

Markle says that he is embarrassed by Meghan and Prince Harry, feeling as if their actions have hurt the Queen. He also says that he doesnt believe his daughter was bullied in any way or any shape because of racism. His doubts are because England is more liberal than the U.S. when it comes to race. Excuse me while I sneeze into my colonization kerchief. Yes, and Im sure his grandson being compared to a monkey by a BBC broadcaster was just in good sport.

He says that he will do more interviews if the semi-royal couple doesnt respond to him within 30 days. Well, then you better just book your interview with Piers Morgan and call it a day, you vampire.

(via ONTD, image: Dominic Lipinski Pool/Getty Images)

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Things We Saw Today: Meghan Markles Horrible Father Is Committed to Slandering His Daughter Until She Contacts Him - The Mary Sue

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The ISS Is Getting An Extension – Which Might Detach And Form Its Own Commercial Space Station – Forbes

Posted: at 1:41 am

Axiom is planning three modules, one with large windows to observe Earth.

NASA has selected a private company to deliver up to three new modules to the International Space Station (ISS), which may form their own commercial space station when the ISS is retired.

Axiom Space from Houston, Texas has been awarded a contract by the US space agency to launch its first module in late 2024, a central node module, with two more to follow. While beginning life attached to the station, the company says these modules could later detach and form a "replacement" for the ISS.

The two additional modules will comprise a habitat for the crew and a research and manufacturing module, which will contain a large window similar to the stations current Cupola module. This will give the astronauts on board extra room to live and work in, and potentially provide new destinations for commercial astronauts.

"We appreciate the bold decision on the part of NASA to open up a commercial future in Low Earth Orbit," Axiom CEO Michael Suffredini said in a statement.

"This selection is a recognition of the uniquely qualified nature of the Axiom team and our commercial plan to create and support a thriving, sustainable, and American-led LEO [low Earth orbit] ecosystem.

The company has previously announced that it plans to build an orbiting space station, called the Axiom Space Station, which could be visited by paying customers. According to NASASpaceFlight.com, the company already has one space tourist signed up to the tune of $55 million. And these new ISS modules could be the start of that venture.

When the ISS is deorbited, expected some time in the next decade having been continuously occupied since November 2000, Axiom says its modules could be detached to continue as a free-flying, internationally available commercial space station.

This station will have been built at a fraction of the cost of ISS, the elimination of whose operating costs will enable NASA to dive headlong into a new era of exploration, they added.

The ISS has been continously occupied since November 2000.

Details on Axioms ISS modules, however, including their size and cost, have yet to be revealed. NASA noted in its own statement that some of these issues would be ironed out in the coming years.

NASA and Axiom next will begin negotiations on the terms and price of a firm-fixed-price contract with a five-year base performance period and a two-year option, they noted.

Axiom would become the second commercial company to attach a module to the ISS, after Houston-based Bigelow Aerospace attached its Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) in 2016. The former was selected after NASA took proposals for new modules as part of its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP).

NASA noted that commercial destinations like this in Earth orbit were one of its goals to open the ISS to private companies. The others include funding private spacecraft such as SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule and Boeings CST-100 capsule, both of which are expected to launch humans this year.

The agency also said that it would be looking to work with a private company to develop a free-flying, independent commercial destination in Earth orbit. Several other companies have previously expressed an interest in having orbiting space hotels or research destinations.

Axioms work to develop a commercial destination in space is a critical step for NASA to meet its long-term needs for astronaut training, scientific research, and technology demonstrations in low-Earth orbit, said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

We are transforming the way NASA works with industry to benefit the global economy and advance space exploration.

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The ISS Is Getting An Extension - Which Might Detach And Form Its Own Commercial Space Station - Forbes

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NASA clears Axiom Space to put commercial habitat on space station, with Boeing on the team – GeekWire

Posted: at 1:41 am

Artwork shows the Axiom Segment connected to the International Space Station. (Axiom Space Illustration)

Houston-based Axiom Space has won NASAs nod to attach a commercial habitation module to the International Space Station by as early as 2024.

The Axiom Segment of the space station is designed to connect to the stations Harmony node and provide a crew habitat, a research and manufacturing facility and a large-windowed Earth observatory. When the International Space Station reaches retirement, Axiom plans to add a power platform and turn its hardware into a free-flying commercial space station.

Axioms team also include Boeing, Thales Alenia Space Italy, Intuitive Machines and Maxar Technologies.

NASA said it will now begin negotiations with Axiom on the terms and price of a firm-fixed-price contract with a five-year base performance period and a two-year extension option.

Axioms founders are space entrepreneur Kam Ghaffarian and Michael Suffredini, who served as NASAs space station program manager from 2005 to 2015. Ghaffarian is also the founder of Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, which provided engineering and training services for NASA and was acquired by KBR for $355 million in 2018. KBR has joined the Axiom team as a subcontractor.

We appreciate the bold decision on the part of NASA to open up a commercial future in low Earth orbit, Suffredini, who serves as Axiom Spaces CEO and president, said today in a news release. This selection is a recognition of the uniquely qualified nature of the Axiom team and our commercial plan to create and support a thriving, sustainable and American-led LEO ecosystem.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Axioms commercial platform represents a critical step for NASA to meet its long-term needs for astronaut training, scientific research and technology demonstrations in low Earth orbit.

The space agency said it selected Axiom from proposals that were submitted in response to a solicitation under the umbrella of NextSTEP-2s Appendix I, which offers private industry the use of the International Space Stations utilities and a port for attaching commercial facilities.

Therell be a separate opportunity for commercial partners to propose deals aimed at developing free-flying space destinations in low Earth orbit. Boeing and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Blue Origin space venture were among the companies laying out concepts for such outposts last year.

NASA doesnt envision being the only customer for services on commercial space stations, and neither does Axiom.

Axioms platform could also be used for zero-G additive manufacturing, fiber optic fabrication, protein crystal production for pharmaceutical applications, or other industrial applications of the sorts that space entrepreneurs have talked about for years. And then theres space tourism: In 2018, Axiom Space laid out a plan to offer 10-day stays on its space station facilities for a price of $55 million.

A commercial platform in Earth orbit is an opportunity to mark a shift in our society similar to that which astronauts undergo when they see the planet from above, said Ghaffarian, who is Axioms executive chairman.

Axioms plan calls for sending crewed missions to the International Space Station, and later to the free-flying orbital complex, at a rate of two or three flights per year. Shortly before the ISS is retired, perhaps in the 2030 time frame, Axiom would launch a platform to give the free-flier its own power and cooling capability.

Axiom says its agnostic on its choice of launch vehicles, but considering its array of partners, crewed transportation services could conceivably be provided by Boeings CST-100 Starliner space taxis, which could be sent to orbit atop United Launch Alliances rockets. Maxar Technologies has already been signed up to provide power and propulsion capability for NASAs moon-orbiting Gateway outpost, and theres a chance it could provide Axioms power platform as well.

Axiom isnt the only company aiming to create a commercial space outpost: Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace has its own grand plan for a habitation facility that could be attached to the International Space Station or operate as a standalone station.

Texas-based NanoRacks, meanwhile, is working on a commercial air lock for the ISS as well as a concept for free-flying orbital outposts. NanoRacks partners in the outpost effort include Seattle-based Olis Robotics and Stratolaunch.

Today NanoRacks CEO Jeffrey Manber offered his congratulations to Axiom and said he was looking forward to future business opportunities. Eager to see NASA offering on free-flyer, which is overdue, Manber tweeted.

Update for 10:40 a.m. PT Jan. 28: Weve corrected a reference to the corporate relationships involving Axiom, Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies and KBR.

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NASA clears Axiom Space to put commercial habitat on space station, with Boeing on the team - GeekWire

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Take a tour of the space station from the comfort of your own sofa – Digital Trends

Posted: at 1:41 am

Astronauts from both the American and European space agencies have teamed up to offer us earthlings a unique tour of the International Space Station (ISS).

Shot in one take, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Drew Morgan spend just over an hour showing us around pretty much the entirety of the orbiting outpost.

The tour (below), which was shot around the New Year, begins just inside the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft before moving into the main part of the space station.

At the time of recording, three supply vehicles were docked the Russian Progress MS-13, Space-Xs Dragon-19, and Northrup Grummans Cygnus-12 as well as two astronaut vehicles, namely the Soyuz MS-15 and Soyuz MS-13.

Along the way, Parmitano and Morgan bump into other crew members, among them Jessica Meir and Christina Koch, and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka. The journey through the space station takes us to the Cupola (an observatory module on the ISS), SpaceXs Dragon capsule, the treadmill, and no comprehensive tour of the ISS would be complete without it the bathroom.

A moving red dot on a graphic of the ISS that is overlaid at the bottom left of the screen lets you see the cameras location inside the space station as the tour proceeds, but take note, it erroneously shows the future Nauka module instead of Pirs. The Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module Nauka is planned for launch in the future and will replace Pirs, but its already showing on the map.

If you dont have time to sit through the entire video, youll find a handy breakdown of the different places visited during the tour on the videos YouTube page, with a link beside each one that takes you straight to that particular spot.

Described as the first tour of the International Space Station with two astronauts presenting and the first done in a single take, the 65-minute video offers a fascinating insight into what its like to spend time aboard the space station, which orbits Earth at an average altitude of 250 miles (402 km).

For a more cinematic look at the ISS, take a look at this gorgeously shot 18-minute piece, complete with a soothing soundtrack, that also takes us through the entire satellite.

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Take a tour of the space station from the comfort of your own sofa - Digital Trends

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Nasa to add hotel capsule to International Space Station as part of commercial plans – The Independent

Posted: at 1:41 am

Nasa has selected a company to build a private hotel on board the International Space Station.

The new additions to the ISS will include acrew habitat that will serve as a home for future space tourists.

It will also have aresearch andmanufacturing facility and large-windowed Earth observatory, according to Axiom, the Texas-based company that is building the extension.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Axiom hopes the segment could one day serve as a self-contained space station that could replace the ISS when it is decommissioned.

It hopes to launch the new commercial hub in 2024, it said.

Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust standing at three-light-years tall, bursting with jets of gas flom fledgling stars buried within, was captured by Nasa's Hubble Space Telelscope in February 2010

Nasa/ESA/STScI

The first ever selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012

Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Death of a star: This image from Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope shows the supernova of Tycho, a star in our Milky Way galaxy

Nasa

Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, pictured here on 1 January 2019 by a camera on Nasa's New Horizons spaceraft at a distance of 4.1 billion miles from Earth

Getty

An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust

Nasa

The first ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving Nasa, and released on 10 April 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light-years from Earth

Getty

Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015

Nasa/APL/SwRI

A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun

Nasa

Dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks running downhill on the surface Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary flowing water. It has since been suggested that they may instead be formed by flowing sand

Nasa/JPL/University of Arizona

Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015

Nasa/Scott Kelly

Nasa/ESA/STScI

The first ever selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012

Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Death of a star: This image from Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope shows the supernova of Tycho, a star in our Milky Way galaxy

Nasa

Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, pictured here on 1 January 2019 by a camera on Nasa's New Horizons spaceraft at a distance of 4.1 billion miles from Earth

Getty

Nasa

Getty

Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015

Nasa/APL/SwRI

A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun

Nasa

Nasa/JPL/University of Arizona

Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015

Nasa/Scott Kelly

Nasaannounced last year that it would allow space tourists onto the ISS, as part of a broader effort to encourage commercial companies to become involved in US space exploration. Those first visitors were expected to arrive later this year.

Adding new segments to the ISS could allow more people to travel to the station by increasing the volume, Axiom said, as well as leaving space for new kinds of research "such as isolation studies and Earth observation".

Over time, Axiom hopes that the work currently being done on the International Space Station is gradually transferred to its new private segment, allowing for it to continue without interruption when the ISSis retired.

At that point it will be able to detach and serve as a self-contained space station. At that point, Nasa will no longer have to pay for the cost of running the ISS or launching a replacement, Axiom suggested.

In 2018, Axiom commissioned designer Philippe Starck to create interiors for the habitation module of a possible space station. He described the result as a "comfortable and friendly egg".

(Axiom/Philippe Starck)

"Starcks vision was to create a nest, a comfortable and friendly egg, which would feature materials and colors stemmed from a fetal universe," a press release at the time said. "The walls are sprinkled with hundreds of nano-Leds with changing colors as a continuation to the view on the universe through the large windows.

"Just as all the shades of lights and colors of day and night, the egg will also live to the mood and biorhythm of its osmotic inhabitant."

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Nasa to add hotel capsule to International Space Station as part of commercial plans - The Independent

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SCORPIO-V’s Mobile SpaceLab to Study Human Biology on International Space Station (ISS) – Business Wire

Posted: at 1:41 am

KAHULUI, Hawaii--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Mobile SpaceLab, a fully automated, microfluidic and imaging platform will perform biological experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). SCORPIO-V, the biological sciences division of HNu Photonics, designed the tissue and cell culturing facility, which can perform biology experiments in space without the need for crew operations for as long as a month. SCORPIO-Vs team of scientists will design and execute experiments to test the effects of microgravity on neurons and will control and monitor the experiments from Earth.

On Sunday, February 9, 2020, Northrop Grumman's 13th commercial resupply mission for NASA, a Cygnus spacecraft on an Antares rocket, is scheduled to launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility and carry the Mobile SpaceLab to the ISS.

As the U.S. and other nations and organizations around the world expand space exploration, it has become imperative to better understand what life in space does to the human body in order to mitigate potential health risks, SCORPIO-V Principal Investigator Caitlin O'Connell, Ph.D. remarked. Furthermore, the neuron studies performed on the ISS with the Mobile SpaceLab hope to lend additional insights into our understanding of earth-bound age-related cognition and decline.

Dr. O'Connell and SCORPIO-V Chief Biologist Devin Ridgley, Ph.D. will discuss the Mobile SpaceLab and mission in a NASA media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST on Wednesday, January 29. Members of the media who wish to join the teleconference may request dial-in information. Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live online at: http://www.nasa.gov/live.

In 2019, HNu Photonics was the first instrument builder to successfully be awarded a grant from NASAs Space Biology Program to use the Mobile SpaceLab for its own biological experimentation during a roundtrip mission to the ISS. HNu Photonics was also previously awarded a grant from NASA to include its instrument on a Blue Origin launch and have a Space Act agreement with NASA.

About SCORPIO-V

SCORPIO-V is a division of space technology company HNu Photonics and based in Kahului, Hawaii.

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SCORPIO-V's Mobile SpaceLab to Study Human Biology on International Space Station (ISS) - Business Wire

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NASA Ropes In Axiom Space To Develop Habitable Space Station – Gizbot

Posted: at 1:41 am

|Published: Tuesday, January 28, 2020, 17:49 [IST]

NASA is working on a variety of projects for space exploration and recently began working on the 'robot hotel' at ISS. Now, NASA and Axiom Space, a startup in Houston, have partnered to build the first commercial habitat module for ISS. The habitable module will be used for commercial missions and also housing experiments.

Space travel is soon going to be an exciting thing to look forward to. A lot of companies are already working on this and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk plans to populate Mars by 2050. The new collaboration between NASA and Axiom Space could be the first step to making space travel a commercial possibility.

According to the new plan, NASA plans to develop new technology for commercial space travelers riding to ISS via human-rated spacecraft like the SpaceX Crew Dragon and the Boeing Starliner. Axiom Space was founded in 2016 and is led by co-founder and CEO Michael T. Suffredini. The CEO was previously a program manager for ISS at the NASA Johnson Space Center.

Axiom Space boasts about a lot of ex-NASA personnel on its team, which could be a good thing for the upcoming project. For now, NASA has extended the planned service life of the International Space Station. From the looks of it, NASA is keen to explore its plans for private orbital labs.

The current leadership at NASA is encouraging private and commercial facilities to space. Soon, ISS will wear a different facade. Although the ISS module isn't a full-fledged private space station, it's currently the stepping stone for NASA's goal of commercializing the space station completely. This will also lead to more commercial private space activity in the low Earth orbit.

The Axiom Space mandate with NASA includes "at least one habitable commercial module" and comes with the implication that it might get more extensions in the future. With this, NASA and the startup will negotiate terms and the funds for the contract for the module. Of course, it'll come with a timeline for delivery.

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NASA Ropes In Axiom Space To Develop Habitable Space Station - Gizbot

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Bartolomeo Starts Its Journey to the International Space Station – I-Connect007

Posted: at 1:41 am

The Bartolomeo research platform, developed by Airbus for the International Space Station (ISS), has been delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The move marks a further step towards something never before seen in space: with its planned launch in March, the European-built Bartolomeo is set to become the first commercial research platform to be attached to the ISS.

Bartolomeo is funded by Airbus and will be operated with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA). The platform can host up to 12different payload slots, also providing them with a power supply and data transmission back to Earth.

With Bartolomeo, Airbus is offering fast and cost-efficient access to research in space, which can also be used by private data service providers. The platforms unique vantage point 400kilometres above the Earth offers unobstructed views of our planet. Not only does this provide opportunities for Earth observation, but also for carrying out measurements related to environmental and climate research for example the concentration of nitrogen oxide or CO2in the Earths atmosphere.

Bartolomeo will now be subject to further inspections and final functional tests with NASA at the Kennedy Space Center before being integrated into a Dragon space transporter. The launch is currently scheduled for 2March 2020.

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Bartolomeo Starts Its Journey to the International Space Station - I-Connect007

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The death of the Challenger and the birth of commercial space | TheHill – The Hill

Posted: at 1:41 am

On January 28, 1986, at 11:39 EST, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center. Her crew consisted of six NASA astronauts, Commander Francis R. Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, mission specialists Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik and Gregory Jarvis, and teacher Christa McAuliffe, who had been chosen to become the first American civilian to go into space. No one cheering when the Challenger cleared the tower knew, but both shuttle and her gallant company were doomed.

Space shuttles at the time consisted of an orbiter, two solid rocket boosters and an external fuel tank. The SRBs and the fuel tank were designed to be discarded in flight while the shuttle flew on to orbit. When a shuttle mission was completed, it would reenter the Earths atmosphere and land much like an aircraft.

Seventy-three seconds into the flight of the Challenger, hot gasses from one of the SRBs broke through an O ring that had been made brittle by the cold air of that winter morning. The hot gasses ignited the fuel tank and transformed the shuttle into a fireball. The SRBs careened into the sky on their own, and the orbiter broke up from the aerodynamic pressures. The crew compartment, largely intact, hit the Atlantic Ocean. The exact timing of the crews deaths will never be known, but some are surmised to have lived long enough to have died on impact.

The Challenger disaster led to shock and no little amount of soul-searching. A presidential-appointed investigation panel soon discovered the problem with the O-rings. But behind that immediate cause was a culture of negligence. NASA managers knew about the O-ring problem but failed to fix it until it was too late.

But the real act of hubris surrounding the space shuttle program came at its very beginning. NASA and its political masters justified the shuttle because it would constitute a government space line. Because it would be reusable, it could deploy anything anyone cared to take into space.NASA, military and commercial payloads could be transported at a lower cost than with expendable rockets.

Reality proved to be short of expectations. While the shuttle was (mostly) reusable, the orbiters cost too much and required too much turn-around time between missions. NASA struggled to get the flight rates high enough for those promised cost savings to materialize. That struggle and the corner cutting that ensued led directly to the Challenger accident.

NASA eventually solved the O-ring problem, and the space shuttle returned to service in late 1988. But President Reagan signedan executive orderthat ended the shuttle program as a government space line. Henceforth, the military and commercial companies would be free to seek other space launchers to put their payloads into orbit. The shuttle would be used for NASA payloads and others that needed its ability to fly into orbit and then return. Thus, commercial space, moribund since the shuttle had started to fly, was born.

The shuttle fleet went on to do magnificent work. It deployed and then serviced the Hubble Space Telescope. The shuttles did most of the work of launching and assembling the International Space Station. They flew numerous space lab missions and visited the Russian space station Mir after the Cold War ended.

But only after the second accident that destroyed a space shuttle and its crew, when Columbia broke up in the skies over Texas, did the United States take the next step. The George W. Bush administration decided that the shuttle fleet would be retired honorably when the International Space Station was completed. Commercially developed and operated spacecraft would take cargo and eventually crews to and from the ISS. Bush also announced an initiative to go back to the moon and on to Mars.

President Obama cancelled the Bush moon/Mars initiative but doubled down on the commercial space project. It has fallen to President TrumpDonald John TrumpWarren: Dershowitz presentation 'nonsensical,' 'could not follow it' Bolton told Barr he was concerned Trump did favors for autocrats: report Dershowitz: Bolton allegations would not constitute impeachable offense MORE to finish the development of commercial spacecraft. Sometime this year, the first Americans will fly into space from American soil on American spacecraft since 2011. These will not be spacecraft owned by NASA, but by SpaceX and Boeing. Trump has also restarted the moon/Mars initiative, but with commercial partners, especially in the building and operation of lunar landers.

The crew of the Challenger gave their lives for the exploration of space. Their sacrifice also led to the new era of commercial spaceflight and, it is hoped, a more sustainable opening of the high frontier.

Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration entitledWhy is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?as well asThe Moon, Mars and Beyond. He blogs atCurmudgeons Corner.

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The death of the Challenger and the birth of commercial space | TheHill - The Hill

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The death of the Challenger and the birth of commercial space | TheHill – The Hill

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