Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Warp drives: Physicists give chances of faster-than-light space travel a boost

Mario Borunda does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri. It is about 4.25 light-years away, or about 25 trillion miles (40 trillion km). The fastest ever spacecraft, the now- in-space Parker Solar Probe will reach a top speed of 450,000 mph. It would take just 20 seconds to go from Los Angeles to New York City at that speed, but it would take the solar probe about 6,633 years to reach Earth's nearest neighboring solar system.

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Publisher: The Conversation
Author: Mario Borunda
Twitter: @ConversationUS
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Extreme vacations: Ultra-wealthy travel to space, depths of ocean - South Florida Sun-Sentinel

When it comes to dreaming up vacation plans, many people are looking for the first opportunity to get out and take a road trip, perhaps even getting on a plane again in 2021. But for ultra-high-net-worth individuals, they're literally shooting for the stars.

For $55 million per ticket, Roman & Erica, a travel firm catering to the ultrawealthy, helped find three individuals suitable (and wealthy enough) to make the trip with Axiom Space, which is planned for early 2022.

Publisher: sun-sentinel.com
Date: AAC9C18F70AC386BC4DCF4DDF9BF1786
Author: Patrick Connolly
Twitter: @SunSentinel
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Elon Musk aiming for Mars so humanity is not a single planet species

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk remains focused on his vision for the company: Establishing a permanent human presence on Mars, with its Starship rockets carrying people to and from the red planet.

"We don't want to be one of those single planet species, we want to be a multi-planet species," Musk said on Friday, speaking after the company launched its Crew-2 mission to orbit.

"It's been now almost half a century since humans were last on the moon. That's too long, we need to get back there and have a permanent base on the moon — again, like a big permanently occupied base on the moon. And then build a city on Mars to become a spacefaring civilization, a multi-planet species," Musk also said.

Publisher: CNBC
Date: 2021-04-23T15:10:31 0000
Author: https www facebook com CNBC
Twitter: @CNBC
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The explanation behind warp speed Popular Science

A physicist uses the theory of General Relativity and geometry to explain the science fiction concept.

Mario Borunda is an associate professor of Physics at Oklahoma State University. This story originally featured in The Conversation .

The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri. It is about 4.25 light-years away, or about 25 trillion miles (40 trillion km). The fastest ever spacecraft, the now- in-space Parker Solar Probe will reach a top speed of 450,000 mph. It would take just 20 seconds to go from Los Angeles to New York City at that speed, but it would take the solar probe about 6,633 years to reach Earth's nearest neighboring solar system.

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Publisher: Popular Science
Date: 2021-04-26T17:37:44 00:00
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Blue Origin Challenges NASA Over SpaceX Moon Lander Deal - The New York Times

Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, two of the richest men in the world, both with dreams of leading humanity out into the solar system, are fighting over the moon.

On Monday, Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Mr. Bezos , who will step down as Amazon's chief executive later this year, filed a 50-page protest with the federal Government Accountability Office, challenging a $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX from NASA to build a lander for American astronauts to return to the moon.

Date: 2021-04-26T21:00:09.000Z
Twitter: @nytimes
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Experts Study People Working in Antarctica As a Proxy for Astronauts

Space and humans are not a perfect mix. Scientists are constantly discovering new kinds of health risks associated with space, related to how factors like microgravity and cosmic radiation affect our bones and organs.

But prolonged exposure to the environment of space isn't just a concern for our bodies. What about our minds?

The psychological effects of extreme isolation and confinement during long-term space travel and missions to other planets still represent a big unknown.

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Publisher: Business Insider
Date: 2021-04-26
Author: Peter Dockrill
Twitter: @SciInsider
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US Military Seeks Nuclear Space Flight Test by 2025

The U.S. military has chosen three companies to develop nuclear thermal propulsion, or NTP systems to be tested in space by 2025. The goal is to test the space travel technology in cislunar space – the area between Earth and the moon.

The U.S. Department of Energy describes on its website how an NTP system works. It needs a radioactive material such as uranium and another element, such as hydrogen, in liquid form. The liquid propellant is pumped through a reactor core . This causes uranium atoms to break apart inside the core and release heat. The heat turns the propellant into gas, which expands through an opening to produce thrust .

Publisher: VOA
Date: 3286EE554B6F672A6F2E608C02343C0E
Twitter: @VOALearnEnglish
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Virgin Galactic Unveils Spaceship III, Bringing Us Closer to Space Tourism

Aircraft design company Virgin Galactic has recently unveiled its first Spaceship III craft called the VSS Imagine. This ship is clad almost entirely with mirrors and looks like a design straight out of a science fiction film. Similar to some of those sci-fi spaceships, this design can quickly camouflage in new environments since the mirror reflects the colors around it.

Imagine is part of the next generation of improvements from earlier Spaceship II designs and can be produced more efficiently than its predecessor. This means that Virgin Galactic’s mission of pioneering space tourism is closer than you might think.

Publisher: My Modern Met
Date: 2021-04-25T18:25:36 00:00
Twitter: @mymodernmet
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Meet the SpaceX Inspiration4 Space Crew | Time

“I think I was a celebration baby,” she says with a laugh. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for human space flight.”

Proctor herself has a lot to celebrate this year. Come September, if all goes to plan, the 51-year-old professor of geoscience at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix will climb aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and rocket into low-Earth orbit, spending up to three days aloft before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission, dubbed Inspiration4, won’t be the first aboard a SpaceX ship to carry crew; it won’t even be the second or the third.

Publisher: Time
Twitter: @TIME
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