Lifeboat Foundation

Planning for a full-scale interstellar probe architecture. The long and winding road to Alpha Centauri.

To be successful, interstellar probes will need more than speed.

Scientists are using the Kepler space telescope to determine how many exoplanets our galaxy may harbor. And just maybe they’ll answer the question: Are we alone?

This discovery could mean that billions of habitable, rocky planets exist in our Milky Way galaxy alone.

(Phys.org)—Researchers have built the first robot made of soft, deployable materials that is capable of moving itself without the use of motors or any additional mechanical components. The robot “walks” when an electric current is applied to shape-memory alloy wires embedded in its frame: the current heats the wires, causing the robot’s flexible segments to contract and bend. Sequentially controlling the current to various segments in different ways results in different walking gaits.

The researchers expect that the robot’s ability to be easily deployed, along with its low mass, low cost, load-bearing ability, compact size, and ability to be reconfigured into different forms may make it useful for applications such as space missions, seabed exploration, and household objects.

The scientists, Wei Wang et al., at Seoul National University and Sungkyunkwan University, have published a paper on the new robot and other types of deployable structures that can be built using the same method in a recent issue of Materials Horizons.

Results from the Micius satellite test quantum entanglement, pointing the way toward hack-proof global communications—and a new space race.

• By Lee Billings on June 15, 2017

Scientists beamed particles from a satellite to two locations on Earth 750 miles apart — and the particles were still mysteriously connected.

Sat 17 June…NASA rocket to blast colored clouds into space…similar to our 2017 SpaceApps Groups Idea : https://2017.spaceappschallenge.org/challenges/warning-dange…er/project

• NASA is launching a rocket that will create colorful clouds in space.
• The rocket launch and clouds may be visible as far away as New York City.
• Such clouds will eventually be used to probe two big holes in Earth’s magnetic shield, called cusps.
• The launch will be live-streamed by NASA Wallops Flight Facility.

NASA is about to launch a rocket that will puff out highly visible clouds of red and blue-green vapor into space.

The rocket was supposed to launch on May 31, but bad weather and poor visibility pushed the mission back to Saturday, June 17, with a liftoff time between 9:05 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. EDT.

Continue reading “A NASA rocket is going to blast colored clouds into space — here’s how to see them” »

Chinese researchers report that they’ve set a new distance record for quantum teleportation through space, the phenomenon that Albert Einstein once scoffed at as “spooky action at a distance.”

The technology isn’t yet ready for prime time, but eventually it could open the way for a new type of unbreakable encryption scheme based on the weirdness of quantum physics.

Continue reading “China’s Micius satellite sets distance record for quantum entanglement in space” »

What is CTA and how will it work? This video produced by CTA Consortium member Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) explains how CTA will look at the sky in higher energy photons than ever measured before and give a behind the scenes look at the construction of a prototype of one of the proposed telescopes, the Medium-Size Telescope.

Credits: DESY/Milde Science Comm./Exozet