Lifeboat Foundation

A Chinese team has demonstrated a prototype of a microwave plasma thruster capable of working in the Earth’s atmosphere and producing thrust with an efficiency comparable to the jet engines you’d find on modern airliners – under laboratory conditions.

Plasma thrusters are already operational on spacecraft as a means of solar-electric locomotion, using xenon plasma, but such things are no use in the Earth’s atmosphere, as accelerated xenon ions lose most of their thrust force to friction against the air. Not to mention, they only make a small amount of thrust in the first place.

Continue reading “Electric microwave plasma thruster could rival traditional jet engines” »

The idea of terraforming Mars is a fascinating idea. … But just how long would such an endeavor take, what would it cost us, and is it really an effective use of our time and energy?

Ultimately, Yakovlev thinks that space biospheres could also be accomplished within a reasonable timeframe – i.e. between 2030 and 2050 – which is simply not possible with terraforming. Citing the growing presence and power of the commercial space sector, Yakovlev also believed a lot of the infrastructure that is necessary is already in place (or under development).

Continue reading “The future of space colonization – terraforming or space habitats?” »

“Anything you take from Earth to the moon is an added weight that you don’t want to carry, so if you can make these materials in situ it saves you a lot of time, effort and money,” said Ian Mellor, the managing director of Metalysis, which is based in Sheffield.

Analyses of rocks brought back from the moon reveal that oxygen makes up about 45% of the material by weight. The remainder is largely iron, aluminium and silicon. In work published this year, scientists at Metalysis and the University of Glasgow found they could extract 96% of the oxygen from simulated lunar soil, leaving useful metal alloy powders behind.

NASA and other space agencies are in advanced preparations to return to the moon, this time to establish a permanent lunar base, or “moon village” where nations will operate alongside private companies on critical technologies such as life support, habitat construction, energy generation and food and materials production.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four astronauts arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Sunday for SpaceX’s second crew launch, coming up next weekend.

For NASA, it marks the long-awaited start of regular crew rotations at the International Space Station, with private companies providing the lifts. There will be double the number of astronauts as the test flight earlier this year, and their mission will last a full six months.

“Make no mistake: Every flight is a test flight when it comes to space travel. But it’s also true that we need to routinely be able to go to the International Space Station,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in welcoming the astronauts to Kennedy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUPnhlMpbkY&feature=share

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine
Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana
Junichi Sakai, manager, International Space Station Program, JAXA
NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins, spacecraft commander
NASA astronaut Victor Glover, pilot
NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, mission specialist
JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, mission specialist
Credit : NASA

This video has been used with NASA permission here :
https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html

Continue reading “NASA: Crew Arrival Media Event at Kennedy with the following participants:” »

This could mean breathable oxygen and rocket fuel. Not only that, they are suggesting the metal alloy byproducts could be useful again. Interesting.

I think a colony on the moon is sounding a bit more feasible.

The European Space Agency has created an experimental “oxygen plant” in the Netherlands that can extract oxygen trapped within simulated Moon dust.

Continue reading “Making air from Moon dust: Scientists create a prototype oxygen plant” »

NASA is flying astronauts to the International Space Station from the United States using commercial vehicles.

On Nov. 14, the first operational mission of this program, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission, is set to launch four astronauts on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle.

Watch as the crew explains what their mission is, how it is different from Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley’s Demo-2 flight, and what it means for people here on Earth. https://www.nasa.gov/crew-1

Richard Branson, the thrill-seeking British billionaire, founded Virgin Galactic in 2004 on the promise that a privately developed spacecraft would make it possible for hundreds of people to become astronauts, no NASA training required. And if a 2,500-mile-per-hour ride to the edge of space sounded off-putting, Branson also pledged to take the journey himself before letting paying customers on board.

Branson is the only one among the group of the so-called space barons, the group of space-loving billionaires that includes Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who has publicly pledged to take a ride in the near future aboard a spacecraft he has bankrolled.

Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, is working on a competing suborbital space tourism rocket. Musk’s SpaceX, however, is focused on transporting astronauts and perhaps one day tourists on days-long missions to Earth’s orbit.

Boeing has hired a former SpaceX and Tesla executive with autonomous technology experience to lead its software development team.

Effective immediately, Jinnah Hosein is Boeing’s vice-president of software engineering, a new position that includes oversight of “software engineering across the enterprise”, Boeing says.

“Hosein will lead a new, centralised organisation of engineers who currently support the development and delivery of software embedded in Boeing’s products and services,” the Chicago-based airframer says. “The team will also integrate other functional teams to ensure engineering excellence throughout the product life cycle.”