WSU researchers have used the ancient Japanese art of paper folding to possibly solve a key challenge for outer space travel -- how to store and move fuel to rocket engines.
The researchers have developed an origami-inspired, folded plastic fuel bladder that doesn't crack at super cold temperatures and could someday be used to store and pump fuel. Led by graduate student Kjell Westra and Jake Leachman, associate professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, the researchers have published their work in the journal, Cryogenics .
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Origami could solve space travel challenge | E&T Magazine
Researchers in the US have used the ancient Japanese art of paper folding to possibly solve a key challenge for travel into outer space – how to store and move fuel to rocket engines.
The challenge of fuels management has been an important limiting factor in space travel, largely restricting space travel to either shorter trips for large amounts of cargo, or to small satellites for long-duration missions.
In the early days of the US space programme in the 1960s and 1970s, researchers tried to develop round balloons to store and pump liquid hydrogen fuel. These, however, failed as every bladder would shatter or leak as they tried to squeeze it at the required very cold temperatures for the liquid fuels – the hardiest designs only lasted five cycles.
Hibernating lemurs may be the key to cryogenic sleep for human space travel
Space is unforgiving. In this freezing void of darkness there is no oxygen, no gravity and no protection against the constant shower of cosmic radiation. Humans have evolved under a constant gravitational pull —so when you put people into space , strange and dangerous things happen to their bodies.
However, scientists and engineers working with astronauts on the International Space Station have innovated and continue to address these problems. For example, we know that spaceflight leads to loss of muscle and bone density , since our bones and muscles do not need to work against the pull of gravity to move us around.
SpaceX Crew Dragon: Why the ship represents a new chapter in space travel
On May 30, 2020, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley kickstarted a new era for human space travel. The pair were launched in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, with help from a Falcon 9 rocket, on a trip to the International Space Station.
The mission was the first crewed flight for the capsule, and its success paves the way for SpaceX to support future crewed missions. NASA didn't wait around long to put Crew Dragon to use again. The "Crew-1" flight launched on November 16, less than six months after the first flight.
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Reactors in Space – It's Not Science 'Fission'! | Morgan Lewis - Up & Atom - JDSupra
In July 2020, the US National Space Council released a strategy for deep space exploration . The strategy includes developing a power reactor to produce electricity to support a long-term human presence on the moon and exploring nuclear propulsion to decrease deep-space travel time. Current nuclear power space systems rely on radioisotope decay to provide small amounts of power to operate systems on spacecraft. Those systems are inadequate for larger missions.
Consistent with these priorities, the NASA-led Kilopower project is developing a 10 kW fission reactor for crewed planetary bases. The Kilopower project team completed preliminary testing in March 2018, and is moving toward flight demonstration. NASA also is evaluating nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) and nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) as a part of a Mars Transportation Architecture Study .
Eventful year in space distracted us from grim year on Earth - Los Angeles Times
Boeing hopes to catch up with SpaceX in the astronaut-launching department, and space tourism may finally get off the ground.
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Until the SpaceX flights, Russia's three-person Soyuz capsules were the only way to get astronauts to the space station once NASA's shuttles shut down.
At the same time, SpaceX is expanding its Dragon-riding clientele. Late next year, SpaceX expects to launch the first privately financed Dragon flight in a deal arranged by Houston-based Axiom Space.
Growth in Space Travel priming Space Advertising as the Next Frontier – PHD Ghana CEO -
Bright Ladzekpo, Managing Director and CEO of PHD Ghana, sees a new era of Space Advertising, in the decade ahead, driven by the growth and expansion in space travel and exploration as a result of deeper collaboration between private business and public sector institutions in recent years.
Bright Ladzekpo was speaking on "The Future of Media in A New World" during a virtual Masterclass session last week, as part of the APA Week 2020, an annual event hosted by the Association of Practitioners in Advertising (APA) themed, "Take on Tomorrow".
Scientists Discover Cosmic 'Superhighways' That Could Accelerate Long-Distance Space Travel | The
What if we could travel impossibly long distances in outer space, distances that we thought would take hundreds of thousands of years to traverse, in a matter of mere decades? A new study out of the Belgrade Astronomical Observatory in Serbia charts the paths of cosmic "superhighways" that could accelerate the movement of objects through space, providing an opportunity for human space exploration to reach science fiction distances.
These "superhighways" — also called "celestial autobahns" or "celestial highways" — are formed as a result of different planets' gravitational forces, mainly that of Jupiter, the largest, densest planet and therefore the one with the most gravitational force. Jupiter's force creates space manifolds, within which a series of long arches or pathways make up a network of superhighways — some of which stretch all the way to Neptune.
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