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Archive for the ‘space travel’ category: Page 237

Apr 7, 2021

The Direct Fusion Drive That Could Get Us Past Neptune in 10 Years

Posted by in category: space travel

Plus, we can bring along 1.5 tons.


Scientists have outlined the wild way humans could travel past Neptune in under 10 years—with over 1.5 tons of cargo on board.

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Apr 7, 2021

Plasma Thruster Could Dramatically Cut Down Flight Times to the Outer Solar System

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, space travel

I just finished the most recent season of The Expanse – my current favourite Sci-Fi series. Unlike most of my other go-to Sci-Fi, The Expanse’s narrative is (thus far) mainly contained to our own Solar System. In Star Trek, ships fly about the galaxy at Faster-Than-Light speeds giving mention to the many light years (or parsecs *cough* Star Wars) travelled to say nothing of sublight journeys within solar systems themselves. The distances between stars is huge. But, for current-day Earthling technology, our Solar System itself is still overwhelmingly enormous. It takes years to get anywhere.

In The Expanse, ships use a fictional sublight propulsion called The Epstein Drive to travel quickly through the Solar System at significant fractions of light speed. We’re not nearly there yet, but we are getting closer with the announcement of a new theoretical sublight propulsion. It won’t be an Epstein drive, but it may come to be known as the Ebrahimi Drive – an engine inspired by fusion reactors and the incredible power of solar Coronal Mass Ejections.

Rocket engines have been the backbone of space exploration lifting humans to the Moon, rovers to Mars, and sending probes outside the Solar System. However, for all their blast-offy awesomeness, they are inherently inefficient and bulky. You can only get so much energy out of rocket fuel. As a result, most of your entire spacecraft is a giant fuel tank. The mass of a rocket destined for Mars could be as much as 78% fuel. To reduce weight, we need more efficient engines.

Apr 7, 2021

SpaceX Starship SN 11 Findings and Fixes

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, habitats, space travel

Elon Musk has given us his findings to why the SpaceX Starship SN 11 exploded above the landing pad.
I explore fixes from a system safety standpoint. See what I recommend.

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Apr 6, 2021

‘Impossible’ EmDrive Actually Is Impossible, Comprehensive Test Shows

Posted by in categories: chemistry, cosmology, quantum physics, space travel

Humanity has come a long way in understanding the universe. We’ve got a physical framework that mostly matches our observations, and new technologies have allowed us to analyze the Big Bang and take photos of black holes. But the hypothetical EmDrive rocket engine threatened to upend what we knew about physics… if it worked. After the latest round of testing, we can say with a high degree of certainty that it doesn’t.

If you have memories from the 90s, you probably remember the interest in cold fusion, a supposed chemical process that could produce energy from fusion at room temperature instead of millions of degrees (pick your favorite scale, the numbers are all huge). The EmDrive is basically cold fusion for the 21st century. First proposed in 2001, the EmDrive uses an asymmetrical resonator cavity inside which electromagnetic energy can bounce around. There’s no exhaust, but proponents claim the EmDrive generates thrust.

The idea behind the EmDrive is that the tapered shape of the cavity would reflect radiation in such a way that there was a larger net force exerted on the resonator at one end. Thus, an object could use this “engine” for hyper-efficient propulsion. That would be a direct violation of the conservation of momentum. Interest in the EmDrive was scattered until 2016 when NASA’s Eagelworks lab built a prototype and tested it. According to the team, they detected a small but measurable net force, and that got people interested.

Apr 6, 2021

A reality TV show in development would send a contestant to orbit

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, space travel

The competition will focus on testing the participants’ physical and mental strength in preparation for spaceflight.

Apr 5, 2021

Lockheed Martin buys up to 58 launches over the next decade from rocket builder ABL Space

Posted by in category: space travel

Rocket builder ABL Space signed a long-term agreement for multiple launches with Lockheed Martin, agreeing to provide the defense giant with as many as 58 rockets through the end of the decade.

Lockheed Martin will buy up to 26 of ABL’s RS1 rockets through 2025, with an option for up to 32 additional launches through 2029, ABL announced on Monday.

“Having this assured access to space will accelerate our ability to demonstrate the spacecraft and associated payload technologies we are developing to the meet the future mission needs for our customers,” Lockheed Martin Space executive vice president Rick Ambrose said in a press release.

Apr 4, 2021

Tickets to Mars Will Eventually Cost Less Than $500,000, Elon Musk Says

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

Circa 2019


SpaceX’s Mars ships won’t be ferrying just the super rich to and from the Red Planet, if everything goes according to Elon Musk’s plan.

The price of a seat aboard SpaceX’s Starship interplanetary vehicle will eventually drop enough to be accessible to a large chunk of the industrialized world’s population, the billionaire entrepreneur predicted over the weekend.

Apr 4, 2021

Roboreptile climbs like a real lizard

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space travel, surveillance

While a Mars rover can explore where no person has gone before, a smaller robot at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia could climb to new heights by mimicking the movements of a lizard.

Simply named X-4, the university’s climbing has allowed a team of researchers to test and replicate how a lizard moves in the hope that their findings will inspire next-generation robotics design for disaster relief, remote surveillance and possibly even space exploration.

In a published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the team states that have optimized their movement across difficult terrain over many years of evolution.

Apr 3, 2021

Why China’s space program could overtake NASA

Posted by in categories: innovation, space travel

China has a good chance of becoming the dominant space power in the 21st century, and it’s not just looking to copy NASA on the way to the top. Instead, it’s paying close attention to innovative US companies like SpaceX, writes Eric Berger.

Apr 2, 2021

Episode 44 — ESA’s Upcoming Euclid Dark Energy Survey

Posted by in categories: cosmology, space travel

Great new episode with Michael Seiffert, the NASA project scientist for the U.S. contribution to the European Space Agency’s Euclid spacecraft. Seiffert talks candidly about what it takes to strike a balance between risk and reward in the design of this upcoming $1 billion dollar dark energy mission.


Fascinating new chat with Michael Seiffert, the NASA project scientist for the U.S. contribution to the European Space Agency’s Euclid spacecraft. Due for launch in the second half of 2022, we discuss how this new space telescope will help astronomers finally understand the mystery of dark energy and maybe even dark matter.

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