Tag: space exploration
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Turning the Moon into a fuel depot will take a lot of power
If humanity is ever to spread out into the Solar System, we’re going to need to find a way to put fuel into rockets somewhere other than the cozy confines of a launchpad on Earth. One option for that is in low-Earth orbit, which has the advantage of being located very close to said launch…
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Bennu asteroid samples yield watery history, key molecules for life
A bright fireball streaked across the sky above mountains, glaciers, and spruce forest near the town of Revelstoke in British Columbia, Canada, on the evening of March 31, 1965. Fragments of this meteorite, discovered by beaver trappers, fell over a lake. A layer of ice saved them from the depths and allowed scientists a peek…
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“Archeology” on the ISS helps identify what astronauts really need
“Archeology really is a perspective on material culture we use as evidence to understand how humans adapt to their environment, to the situations they are in, and to each other. There is no place, no time that is out of bounds,” says Justin Walsh, an archeologist at Chapman University who led the first off-world archeological…
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Human muscle cells come back from space, look aged
Muscle-on-chip systems are three-dimensional human muscle cell bundles cultured on collagen scaffolds. A Stanford University research team sent some of these systems to the International Space Station to study the muscle atrophy commonly observed in astronauts. It turns out that space triggers processes in human muscles that eerily resemble something we know very well: getting…
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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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How scientists are mitigating space travel’s risks to the human body
When 17 people were in orbit around the Earth all at the same time on May 30, 2023, it set a record. With NASA and other federal space agencies planning more manned missions and commercial companies bringing people to space, opportunities for human space travel are rapidly expanding. However, traveling to space poses risks to…
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We can leave the Solar System, but arriving anywhere is not happening soon
On August 25th, 2012, humanity became an interstellar species. There was no fanfare or galactic welcome party as a humble robotic probe, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, crossed an invisible threshold. It slipped between the region dominated by the physics of the Sun and into the thin milieu of plasma between the stars. Whatever fate befalls…
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Xplore forges partnerships for spacecraft propulsion system and in-space refueling
An artist’s conception shows Xplore’s Xcraft spacecraft at the moon. (Xplore / Orbion Illustration) Seattle-based Xplore has selected two new technologies for propelling and refueling its Xcraft spacecraft as it makes its way to the moon and beyond. Xplore is designing Xcraft to serve as a “space as a service” platform for payloads heading beyond…
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Xplore partners with Nanoracks to set up opportunities for deep-space missions
An artist’s conception shows Xplore’s Xcraft probe making its way to the moon. (Xplore Illustration) Seattle-based Xplore says it’s joining forces with Houston-based Nanoracks to create low-cost rideshare opportunities for payloads heading for the moon, Mars and other destinations beyond Earth orbit. The partnership takes advantage of the commercial approach to deep-space exploration that’s being…
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Buzz Aldrin shares latest moonshot vision: No to NASA’s Gateway, but yes to China
During a discussion presented by the International Academy of Astronautics in Washington, D.C., Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin recalls how enthusiastically he and his crewmates were greeted during a post-mission goodwill tour.(GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) WASHINGTON, D.C. — Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin says there’s no need for the lunar-orbiting Gateway outpost that plays…