How close do these ideas resemble what we may be able to achieve in the next few hundred years? The laws of physics and the principles of engineering will go a long way to helping us answer this question.
Nature has given us a speed limit. We call it the speed of light – about 186,000 miles per second – because we first noticed this phenomenon by studying the properties of light, but it is a hard upper limit on all relative speeds. So, if it takes light one year to get somewhere, we can't possibly get there sooner than one year.
Elon Musk is Turning Boca Chica Into a Space-Travel Hub. Not Everyone is Starstruck.
Perhaps in the distant future historians in far-flung corners of the solar system will note that the twenty-first-century Texas space program did not get off to a particularly strong start. The first proper test of the Starship, the (aspirationally) reusable rocket offered by the SpaceX corporation and launched from the southern tip of the Lone Star State, took place on December 9, 2020.
A little more than two weeks after the last catastrophic failure, NASA officials—those dinosaurs at the federal space program—announced a $2.9 billion contract with SpaceX to use a variant of the Starship as the landing vehicle for NASA's future missions to the moon. Elon Musk, the company's brilliant and eccentric founder and CEO—and since December 2020, a resident, at least for tax purposes, of Austin—has long described the Starship tests as an iterative process.
Russia, racing to beat Tom Cruise and NASA to first movie shot in space, picks its cast
MOSCOW — Humans have explored the space around planet Earth for 60 years now , meaning most of the dramatic "firsts" have long been claimed in the history books.
But Russia figures it's good for one more: The first film to be shot in outer space. And, just like the old days, it's in a race with the United States to claim the achievement.
The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, announced Thursday that it had selected its crew to headline the film, which will be called "Challenge."
MicroGenDX Selected for 2022 Israeli Space Mission Study | BioSpace
"We're honored and excited to be part of this study to evaluate the impact of space travel on the urinary microbiome," says Rick Martin , CEO of MicroGenDX. "MicroGenDX is uniquely qualified to provide this data for analysis that could be the basis for future solutions to astronaut medical care. This work will help shape the future of long-term space missions — including the multi-year Mars mission."
Paul H. Chung , M.D., assistant professor of urology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Penn. , will lead the team of university and medical researchers from multiple countries in evaluating the data processed by MicroGenDX. The team includes Javad Parvizi, M.D. and Emanuele Chisari, M.D. from Rothman Orthopedics, Thomas Jefferson University ; Ben Boursi, M.D.
From D--k Pic Renegade to Space-Travel Trailblazer: Jeff Bezos Revealed | Vanity Fair
Chinese Rocket Debris, Space Junk, Resource Competition Require New Space Diplomacy
Last week, the entire globe nervously gazed skyward, awaiting the uncontrolled reentry of the core booster stage of Beijing's Long March 5B rocket, which had been launched from China's Wenchang Space Launch Center on April 29 to deliver a module of its planned Tianhe space station. While the probability that space debris strikes a populated area is always low, the chance is above zero—and it has happened before. This time, we were spared a calamity.
These incidents underline the urgency of building out international norms and regulations addressing the dynamics unleashed by the growing list of government and commercial players active in both deep space and low earth orbit. For example, China could have engineered the Long March 5B to remain on a suborbital trajectory or equipped with thrusters designed to control the rocket's reentry location, according to Jonathan McDowell , a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
Space Is Expensive. Can 3D Printing and On-Orbit Construction Drive the Cost Down?
Little more than a decade ago, NASA estimated that it cost around $10,000 to launch a single pound of payload into space. Today, that price tag has fallen significantly, largely thanks to Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, as well as an explosion of other "new space" ventures likewise focused on reusability.
SpaceX, for example, recently announced that one of their reusable rockets — a Falcon 9 booster dubbed B1051 — has officially flown more times than all but four of NASA's space shuttles . And with new, larger launch vehicles already in the works, like the company's Starship spacecraft , the cost of reaching the cosmos could drop even lower in the coming years.
Space Tourism Hitting Its Stride – SpacePolicyOnline.com
Twenty years after Dennis Tito became the first space “tourist” on the International Space Station (ISS), business is booming. Four confirmed orbital trips by private astronauts to ISS or simply into orbit are coming up in the next several months. A future mission will loop around the Moon. Suborbital space tourism also appears imminent.
Today, Russia’s space state corporation Roscosmos announced the names of privately-sponsored participants in two Soyuz missions to the ISS in October and December this year. That makes four missions carrying private astronauts into orbit in the next several months.
Can Space Gardening Help Astronauts Cope With Isolation? | NASA
Happening on Twitter
Chinese rocket finally falls to Earth, trackers say https://t.co/e7dOT9dtn7 Independent (from London, England) Sun May 09 03:27:01 +0000 2021
The Chinese rocket has come down. Debris from the 20-metric-ton booster reportedly splashed down in the Indian Ocea… https://t.co/Qjg5Dp3BW3 sciam (from New York City) Mon May 10 21:55:46 +0000 2021
Huge Chinese rocket booster falls to Earth over Arabian Peninsula https://t.co/z3nc8wCsBD https://t.co/6c616j4hEj SPACEdotcom (from NYC) Sun May 09 09:51:05 +0000 2021
