Lifeboat Foundation

Astronomers have accomplished a difficult feat: determining the 3D structure of an interstellar cloud, where stars are born.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a plan allowing SpaceX to build and operate a facility at the Port of L.A., where the Hawthorne space company will produce its next-generation BFR rockets and spacecraft.

Manned, long-term, deep space missions are an exciting prospect, but one that remains in the realm of distant possibilities–particularly because we don’t have all the technological innovations needed to make it happen.

One major consideration is the time it takes to reach the destination. Mars, which is at the top of various space programs’ go-to destinations for manned missions, is about six months if travel time away from Earth. If we wanted to explore even further, keep in mind that New Horizons, the fastest spacecraft to leave Earth, took nine and a half years to reach Pluto.

Science fiction conveniently sidesteps this challenge by putting the space explorers into deep sleep–a state of suspended animation. But slowing the human metabolism down while ensuring that a person will stay alive for extended periods is a lot easier said than done.

Continue reading “A Real Life ‘Hibernation Chamber’ is Being Made For Deep Space Travel” »

A high-energy survey of the early Universe, an infrared observatory to study the formation of stars, planets and galaxies, and a Venus orbiter are to be considered for ESA’s fifth medium class mission in its Cosmic Vision science programme, with a planned launch date in 2032.

The three candidates, the Transient High Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor (Theseus), the SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (Spica), and the EnVision mission to Venus were selected from 25 proposals put forward by the scientific community.

Theseus, Spica and EnVision will be studied in parallel and a final decision is expected in 2021.

Continue reading “ESA selects three new mission concepts for study” »

This could be the key to exploring space at a low cost.

This pioneering mission to the farthest planet was done with 20% of the (inflation-adjusted) budget as the storied Voyager exploration, writes Alan Stern, the man who led the project.

The Dragon cargo ship made it back home on the same day NASA launched the InShight Mars lander, after its return to Earth was delayed for three days.

After a month of preparation, SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon capsule has finally returned to Earth on May 5, safely delivering its precious cargo, Space.com reports.

Continue reading “SpaceX Dragon Capsule Returns To Earth With 2 Tons Of Science Gear” »

NASA’s next Red Planet explorer has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California — a big step forward in the countdown to T-zero. The spacecraft is called InSight — short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport — and it’s being tested, fueled and encapsulated for launch aboard the powerful United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The upcoming liftoff will mark the first time an interplanetary mission has launched from the West Coast.

Holiday in space anyone?

Getty images CARLOS CLARIVAN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Space travel was once something only seen in Sci-Fi movies or experienced by trained astronauts. But now, the possibility of journeying to the stars for us mere mortals is becoming increasingly likely.

Continue reading “The world’s first space travel agent has opened in the UK” »

If space is an ocean, the International Space Station is a raft tethered to the shore. The moon is a nearby island that we’ve visited briefly. To go any further or stay any longer, humanity needs more power.

Now, NASA may have the source: A tiny nuclear reactor called KRUSTY, for Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology. (If you’re wondering if this is may be a reference to a popular animated series, its predecessor was known as DUFF).

The reactor uses nuclear fission—the energy released by splitting uranium-235 in a reactor core about the size of a paper towel— to produce 10 kilowatts of power for about ten years, which NASA says is enough energy to power several houses. Four of the reactors could power an outpost on the lunar surface.

Continue reading “NASA successfully tested KRUSTY, a nuclear reactor that works in space and could power missions to the Moon or Mars” »