AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) — The size of what Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies plans in Bastrop County, east of Austin, is coming into focus — and it appears to be massive.
To put the size into perspective, it would be larger than the footprint of half-a-dozen typical H-E-B grocery stores.
What can we learn from history, the age of exploration?
How will the new age of space exploration will change our future, and what can we learn from history?
Continue reading “New Space Race — What can we learn from history, the age of exploration?” »
Last week, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) made the first ever detection of CO2 on an exoplanet. Following that scientific milestone, it has now captured a direct image of another planet – HIP 65,426 b, which orbits the large A-type star HIP 65426. The system is 355 light years from Earth.
Astronomers first discovered this gas giant in July 2017, using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-Contrast Exoplanet Research (SPHERE) instrument belonging to the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
NASA made a follow-up observation to test Webb’s capabilities, using the mid-infrared part of the spectrum to reveal new information that previous telescopes would be unable to detect. The spacecraft’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) are both equipped with coronagraphs to block the glare of starlight, which can be 10,000 times brighter than planets. This enables Webb to take direct images of exoplanets.
As space travel for recreational purposes is becoming a very real possibility, there could come a time when we are travelling to other planets for holidays, or perhaps even to live. Commercial space company Blue Origin has already started sending paying customers on sub-orbital flights. And Elon Musk hopes to start a base on Mars with his firm SpaceX.
This means we need to start thinking about what it will be like to live in space – but also what will happen if someone dies there.
After death here on Earth the human body progresses through a number of stages of decomposition. These were described as early as 1,247 in Song Ci’s The Washing Away of Wrongs, essentially the first forensic science handbook.
Boeing Starliner flights to the ISS cost NASA more than twice what they pay SpaceX to ferry astronauts.
NASA confirmed Wednesday that it has awarded five additional crew transportation missions to SpaceX, and its Crew Dragon vehicle, to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. This brings to 14 the total number of crewed missions that SpaceX is contracted to fly for NASA through 2030.
As previously reported by Ars, these are likely the final flights NASA needs to keep the space station fully occupied into the year 2030. While there are no international agreements yet signed, NASA has signaled that it would like to continue flying the orbiting laboratory until 2030, by which time one or more US commercial space stations should be operational in low Earth orbit.
Continue reading “NASA will pay Boeing more than twice as much as SpaceX for crew seats” »
Have you heard about the biggest rocket launch in human history? It’s getting almost zero press coverage, but before breakfast on Monday, August 29, 2022, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will make its maiden voyage.
It’s now on the launchpad in Florida.
Florida prepares to witness its biggest rocket launch ever as NASA sends its “mega moon rocket” on a 42-day mission.
The contract will run through 2030 and makes SpaceX over $4.9 billion in total.
You haven’t seen the tail end of SpaceX launches to the International Space Station (ISS) quite yet. NASA awarded the Elon Musk-founded company a $1.4 billion contract to send five more astronaut missions to the ISS, per NASA’s press release.
The contract, part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap), runs through 2030 and brings the total value of the signed agreement with SpaceX to over $4.9 billion.
Continue reading “NASA Awards SpaceX More Crew Flights to Space Station” »
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Space is deadly and our spaceships and stations are cramped and thin-protected environments, placing enormous stress on those who journey there. So how to we keep from going crazy while we explore strange new worlds?
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Despite the challenges of operating a 45-year-old spacecraft, NASA says the team is working to keep it operational and returning new science.
