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Category: space travel – Page 9

Earth and Space for Educators

This FREE features Inspiration4 astronaut Chris Sembroski and educator Erin Duncan-Sembroski, along with your hosts, planetary scientist Dr. Kirby Runyon and space educator Dr. Mark Wagner. The high-energy one-hour session is focused on providing an overview of the three-day Earth and Space Experience coming up on November 7–9, 2025. Register now to learn about the geology at specific locations in Southern New Mexico, and how these sites are analogs for the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere in the solar system. Time is also allocated for a Q&A opportunity with all four speakers… come ready with questions! Participation in this also includes access to free space education resources that you can take back to share with your students or others in your community.

Note: This is appropriate for educators, industry professionals, and space enthusiasts from all walks of life. Space education is for everyone!

Chris “Hanks” Sembroski is a commercial astronaut, U.S. Air Force veteran, and passionate advocate for space exploration and STEM education. Best known for his role as Mission Specialist on the historic Inspiration4 mission in 2021, Sembroski spent three days in space, completing 47 orbits as part of the first all-civilian crew. With degrees in aeronautics and a career dedicated to advancing aerospace innovation, he has contributed to groundbreaking projects like Blue Origin’s New Glenn program and teaches as an adjunct faculty member at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Chris’s journey reflects a lifelong passion for human spaceflight, from launching model rockets in college, leading teams through simulated missions at U.S. Space Camp, to advocating for space policy in Washington, D.C. He continues to inspire the next generation through his work as a speaker, educator, and industry leader, embodying the spirit of generosity and exploration.

Physicists discover new state of quantum matter

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have discovered a new state of quantum matter. The state exists within a material that the team reports could lead to a new era of self-charging computers and ones capable of withstanding the challenges of deep space travel.

“It’s a new phase of matter, similar to how water can exist as liquid, ice or vapor,” said Luis A. Jauregui, professor of physics & astronomy at UC Irvine and corresponding author of the new paper in Physical Review Letters.

“It’s only been theoretically predicted—no one has ever measured it until now.”

“Copper Was Never Meant to Do This”: New Alloy Defies Physics to Power Space and Hydrogen Tech in Deep-Freeze Conditions

IN A NUTSHELL 🚀 The new copper-based alloy developed in Japan maintains its properties in extreme cold, offering breakthroughs in space exploration and hydrogen technology. 🔧 This alloy showcases a unique shape memory effect at temperatures as low as −328 °F, surpassing traditional materials like nickel-titanium. 🌌 Applications include high-performance actuators for space telescopes and.

The 8 Best Hard Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time, Ranked

Science Fiction isn’t often taken seriously by Hollywood, thanks to movies like Star Wars. However, some of the best sci-fi is the type that takes a hardcore approach to the world it’s set in, basing it on a realistic approach. It’s called Hard Sci-Fi, and these are the best Hard Sci-Fi movies of all time.

1. Interstellar.
2. Apollo 13
3. 2001
4. The Martian.
5. Gravity.
6. Solaris.
7. Moon.
8. Europa Report

Antarctic isolation causes temporary gray matter loss with lingering thalamic changes

Brain researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have detailed temporary reductions in gray matter following prolonged isolation in Antarctica. Structural losses were most apparent in regions governing memory and spatial processing. Longer sleep durations and higher sleep efficiency corresponded with smaller changes in brain volume.

Findings may have implications for how astronauts’ brains adapt under the psychological and environmental pressures of deep space missions, where prolonged isolation, limited movement, and disrupted sleep are inherent to the experience.

Chronic stress alters the brain. Not through a single trauma, but through sustained environmental pressures of extreme temperatures, social confinement, monotony, hypoxia, and irregular sleep. Such conditions converge in spaceflight, where astronauts endure prolonged exposure to isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments.

Space systems degrees program meets the challenge of modern engineering

Purdue University is standing at the forefront of expanding space exploration and a future economy with the creation of the first-ever Comprehensive Space Engineering Degrees Program in the country.

The program combines both a new online master’s degree in space systems engineering and a new space engineering undergraduate certificate to the established array of cutting-edge programs in the College of Engineering.

The Comprehensive Space Engineering Degrees Program is the latest learning opportunity at Purdue, reflecting a demand for aerospace engineers around the world. The School of Aeronautics and Astronautics continues to offer a variety of important specializations within the undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

(Online programs 😍)

Purdue has the first-ever Comprehensive Space Engineering Degrees Program with offerings ranging an online master’s degree to undergraduate space certificate.

This aerospike rocket engine designed by generative AI just completed its first hot fire test

The reason these aerospike style engines haven’t been used more in the past is they’re difficult to design and make. While generally thought of as having the potential to be more efficient, they also require intricate cooling channels to help keep the spike cool. CEO and Co-Founder of LEAP 71, Josefine Lissner, credits the company’s computational AI, Noyron, with the ability to make these advancements.

“We were able to extend Noyron’s physics to deal with the unique complexity of this engine type. The spike is cooled by intricate cooling channels flooded by cryogenic oxygen, whereas the outside of the chamber is cooled by the kerosene fuel.” Said Lissner “I am very encouraged by the results of this test, as virtually everything on the engine was novel and untested. It’s a great validation of our physics-driven approach to computational AI.”

Lin Kayser, Co-Founder of LEAP 71, also believes the AI was paramount in achieving the complex design, explaining “Despite their clear advantages, Aerospikes are not used in space access today. We want to change that. Noyron allows us to radically cut the time we need to re-engineer and iterate after a test and enables us to converge rapidly on an optimal design.”

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