Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists say the microwave-sized craft would suck its watery fuel right out of the asteroids, planets and moons it’s exploring.

Ever since he was a young boy growing up in Bengaluru, the city home to India’s space research organisation, he dreamt of going to space one day. Now he wants to be the first human on Mars.

One would expect him to train to be an astronaut or dismiss the idea altogether. But that’s not how he plans to get to the red planet.

Meet Gadhadar Reddy, a nano-technologist from Bengaluru, who might just get to live his dream someday in the near future thanks to a new material his company is manufacturing.

Both SpaceX and NASA are eager to get the Dragon cargo spacecraft back to Earth now that it has fulfilled its duties in bringing much-needed supplies to the crew aboard the International Space Station. The ship was originally expected to be released from the ISS earlier this week but plans have since changed, and NASA now expects the space station to bid farewell to the Dragon on Sunday afternoon instead.

Prior to this latest change, the most recent schedule would have seen the ISS release the Dragon on Sunday morning, but now NASA says it wants to release it later due to some weather quirks back on Earth.

SpaceX is letting hundreds of employees go in an effort to ensure it has the funds for its biggest undertakings.

[p]NASA has officially postponed SpaceX’s first test flight of the commercial crew program to February or later so that officials can complete “hardware testing and joint reviews.”[/p].

The feature will be part of a SpaceX add-on package that uses thrusters to aid in acceleration and cornering.

Using steam to propel a spacecraft from asteroid to asteroid is now possible, thanks to a collaboration between a private space company and the University of Central Florida.

UCF planetary research scientist Phil Metzger worked with Honeybee Robotics of Pasadena, California, which developed the World Is Not Enough spacecraft prototype that extracts water from asteroids or other planetary bodies to generate steam and propel itself to its next mining target.

UCF provided the simulated asteroid material and Metzger did the computer modeling and simulation necessary before Honeybee created the prototype and tried out the idea in its facility Dec. 31. The team also partnered with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, to develop initial prototypes of steam-based rocket thrusters.

Continue reading “Steam-Powered Asteroid Hoppers Developed through UCF Collaboration” »

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An asteroid-circling spacecraft has captured a cool snapshot of home.

NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft took the picture days before going into orbit around asteroid Bennu on New Year’s Eve.

The tiny asteroid — barely one-third of a mile (500 meters) across — appears as a big bright blob in the long-exposure photo released last week. Seventy million miles (110 million kilometers) away, Earth appears as a white dot, with the moon an even smaller dot but still clearly visible.

Research says that giant, rotating black holes would give interstellar travelers a smooth ride.

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