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Archive for the ‘space travel’ category: Page 337

Sep 14, 2019

Ahead of SpaceX moon mission, billionaire Yusaku Maezawa sells a $2.3 billion stake in his fashion company to Yahoo Japan

Posted by in category: space travel

Yusaku Maezawa, a key investor in SpaceX’s next-generation rocket system, called Starship, plans to sell a 30% stake in his online fashion-retail company, Zozo, to Yahoo Japan.

As part of the $3.7 billion tender offer, Maezawa will resign as CEO of Zozo, receive about $2.3 billion in cash, and maintain a 6% stake in the company he founded, according to Forbes.


Maezawa spoke about the deal during an emotional two-hour-long press conference on Thursday. Although he raised misgivings about how he managed the company in recent years, saying he regretted mistakes that hurt the company’s bottom line, Forbes reported that he rationalized his departure in another and far more personal way: a need to prepare for his 2023 flight around the moon inside Starship.

Sep 13, 2019

Scientists Fact Check Natural Disasters In Movies | Vanity Fair

Posted by in categories: business, climatology, entertainment, space travel

Environmental scientists Morgan Page, Michael Angove and Peter Gleick review the scientific validity of scenes from “San Andres,” “2012,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Volcano,” “Twister,” “Geostorm,” “The Core,” “Interstellar,” “Sharknado,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Pompeii,” “Noah,” “The Impossible,” “The Happening,” “Hard Rain,” and “Into the Storm”.
Environmental Experts:
Michael Angove — Tsunami Program Manager, NOAA
Dr. Morgan Page — Geophysicist, USGS
Peter Gleick — Hydrologist & Climatologist, Pacific Institute (www.gleick.com)
Tornado Safety info: https://www.weather.gov/safety/tornado
Tsunami Safety info: https://www.weather.gov/safety/tsunami
California Tsunami Safety info: https://www.tsunamizone.org
More about the UN/IOC Tsunami Program here: http://www.ioc-tsunami.org
The Pacific Institute: www.pacinst.com
Can my boat outrun a tsunami?
https://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/Documents/Tsunami/Can-my…sunami.pdf
NOAA’s influence on Twister: https://www.noaa.gov/stories/noaa-tornado-scientists-inspire…-years-ago

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Sep 12, 2019

New Experiment Will Test EmDrive That Breaks the Laws of Physics

Posted by in categories: quantum physics, space travel

The EmDrive debate could be over before the end of the year.

Sep 12, 2019

Watch SpaceX Test Its Crew Dragon’s Escape System

Posted by in category: space travel

The spacecraft can reach a top speed of 436 mph during an emergency.

Sep 12, 2019

First SpaceX rocket for humans headed to Space Coast

Posted by in category: space travel

A SpaceX rocket that may be the first to launch astronauts from the Space Coast has been built and test-fired in Texas.

That new rocket is now on its way to Central Florida.

Sep 11, 2019

After leading Mars rover missions, Steve Squyres joins Blue Origin as chief scientist

Posted by in category: space travel

Just months after closing out the 15-year-long Opportunity rover mission on Mars, Cornell University astronomer Steve Squyres is taking advantage of a new opportunity: the post of chief scientist at Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture.

Today Blue Origin confirmed that Squyres, 63, will be joining the company, which is headquartered in Kent, Wash.

Squyres has been involved in NASA space missions including Voyager’s trip past the solar system’s giant planets and Magellan’s voyage to Venus. But his main claim to fame is his stint as principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rovers.

Sep 11, 2019

Blue Origin continuing work on New Glenn launch complex, support facilities

Posted by in category: space travel

Work on Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch complex – LC-36 – is well underway. Recent aerial imagery of Cape Canaveral from NOAA shows how far Blue has come on the launch complex. Meanwhile, the company is also working on an engine factory in Alabama, and a first stage refurbishment facility near Kennedy Space Center.

LC-36 – from Atlas-Centaur to New Glenn

LC-36 was originally constructed to launch the Atlas-Centaur – with its revolutionary liquid hydrogen-powered upper stage. The complex hosted its first launch on May 18, 1962. Due to the Atlas-Centaur’s increasing flight rate – and low reliability early on – a second pad – LC-36B – was built near the existing LC-36A.

Sep 11, 2019

SpaceX Files Paperwork for Starship Maiden Voyage

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

SpaceX is gearing up for its biggest launch yet.

The company filed paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission, requesting permission to communicate with the upcoming first generation of its Starship spacecraft up to an altitude of 22.5 km (74,000 feet) at its South Texas launch site.

According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the first test flight of the next-gen craft could take place as soon as October.

Sep 8, 2019

Jupiter Magnetic Field Simulated Using CERN High Energy Electron Beam

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, particle physics, space travel

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, is most famous for its particle collider, but it also has facilities that can test for other high-energy environments similar to those found in space. Now those facilities are being used to test future spacecraft to see if they are radiation-proof.

The European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE, mission in 2022. Before then, ESA scientists wanted to know what kinds of environmental stresses the explorer will be subjected to when it braves Jupiter’s massive magnetic field. The magnetic field has a volume of a million times that of Earth’s magnetosphere, and trapped within the field are energetic charged particles. These particles form radiation belts which bombard visiting craft with high levels of radiation, which can be harmful to electronics.

To see how the JUICE hardware will handle this radiation, the ESA has borrowed the world’s most intense radiation beam — one located at a CERN facility called VESPER (Very energetic Electron facility for Space Planetary Exploration missions in harsh Radiative environments). Now it is working alongside CERN to develop the testing protocol for other future missions too, such as the proposed Ice Giants mission to Neptune and Uranus.

Sep 5, 2019

SpaceX Working With NASA to Find Mars Landing Sites for Starship

Posted by in category: space travel

Space historian Robert Zimmerman came across images, with the labels “Candidate Landing Site for SpaceX Starship,” in data from the NASA orbiter.

The images of the Martian surface were taken by a high-res camera system called HiRISE onboard the orbiter, and uploaded to the University of Arizona’s website, the institution responsible for operating the camera.

SpaceX’s search for a landing site dates back to 2017, according to Teslarati. Over the past two years, the company has narrowed its search to a massive plains region called Arcadia Planitia. Five of the six potential landing sites shown in the new images are inside this zone.