Tag: Materials science
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SSC Space Launches SubOrbital Express-5 Mission Carrying 12 Microgravity Experiments
SSC Space successfully launched its SubOrbital Express-5 mission on 31 May from the Esrange Space Centre in northern Sweden, carrying 12 scientific and commercial experiments designed to operate in microgravity conditions. The sounding rocket reached an altitude of approximately 260 kilometres and provided researchers with around six and a half minutes of microgravity during the…
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Building robots for “Zero Mass” space exploration
Sending 1 kilogram to Mars will set you back roughly $2.4 million, judging by the cost of the Perseverance mission. If you want to pack up supplies and gear for every conceivable contingency, you’re going to need a lot of those kilograms. But what if you skipped almost all that weight and only took a…
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Testing antibacterial surfaces on the International Space Station
On June 5, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off to the International Space Station with new supplies, including equipment for scientific research. Among the new scientific gear that has arrived at the ISS are four tablets covered with extremely thin films that could play a crucial role in the development of materials for future…
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Space elevator fans keep looking up, even when they’re stuck on the ground floor
An artist’s conception shows a space elevator rising up from Earth’s surface. (Credit: Pat Rawlings / NASA file) Once upon a time, entrepreneurs were counting down to a date in 2018 when the first space elevator would open for business. NASA was setting aside millions of dollars to promote the technologies required for building that elevator.…