Lifeboat Foundation

Viruses are likely to be widespread across the cosmos, says expert. The good news is that most if not all are unlikely to pose threats to space-faring humans.

As this wretched COVID-19 disease has so acutely demonstrated, we live in an ecological duopoly of predator versus prey. Nothing about this set-up is going to change. At least a part of this microbial world is going to continue to wreak havoc on humans anytime it can.

Thus, in our current quest to move off-world, first to the Moon and Mars, then even further afield what are the chances that any given exo-earth will also harbor microbes that will be lethal to other living organisms? In other words, will this predator versus prey dynamic play out on a grand cosmic scale?

Continue reading “Viruses Are Likely To Be Ubiquitous Throughout Cosmos” »

Circa 2019

Special Relativity. It’s been the bane of space explorers, futurists and science fiction authors since Albert Einstein first proposed it in 1905. For those of us who dream of humans one-day becoming an interstellar species, this scientific fact is like a wet blanket.

Continue reading “You Could Travel Through a Wormhole, But It’s Slower Than Space, Say Scientists” »

SpaceX has put the Starship SN4 through its paces ahead of an expected launch.

Blue Origin has never been much for marketing. Now, as it has won a large NASA contract, it is opening up a merchandise store.

Graphene light sail of 3mm in diameter with a mass of 0.25 mg ‘sets sail’ when pointed with a 1W laser. The prototype has a graphene micromembrane design that reduces the overall mass while keeping functional the complete area of the sail. Credit: Dr. Santiago Jose Cartamil-Bueno.

Overseas exploration and trade during the Age of Discovery (15th-17th centuries) were possible by sail technology, and deep-space exploration will require the same for the coming Age of NewSpace. This time, however, the new sails shall move with light instead of wind, for which these light sails need to be extremely large, thin, lightweight, reflective, and strong.

In a light-hearted leap for humankind, ESA-backed researchers demonstrate the laser-propulsion of graphene sails in microgravity.

New spacecraft experience setbacks all the time. SpaceX Starship prototype violently disassembled several times. Boeing launched the CST-100 but ended up in the wrong orbit. China isn’t a stranger to setbacks either.

China tested a prototype spacecraft on May 5th, 2020 in efforts to prove the technology was ready. It’s good it was a test and not an actual mission since the spacecraft did not perform as expected. The news agency Xinhua reported the spacecraft launched from Hainan China, operated abnormally during its return.

Heat Shields Need to work or expect a terrible day.

Spacecraft experience tremendous heat during the last minutes of their mission. The heat shield protects the spacecraft from that heat. NASA looked at lots of materials and tested many before using for heat shields.

NASA’s Space Shuttle used a thermal soak heat shield approach. The Shuttle tiles act as an insulating material. The design absorbs and radiates the heat away from the spacecraft structure. A second common approach is an ablative heat shield like those used for Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Orion spacecraft. These ablative heat shields commonly have a layer of plastic resin which experiences intense heating while entering the atmosphere. The heat shield wears away, carrying the heat away through convection.

Continue reading “New game-changing Inflatable Space Tech NASA to test in 2022... China just tested it.” »

Virgin Galactic reported first-quarter earnings and the stock is surging in premarket trading. People, it seems, can’t wait to leave Earth. That’s a good thing for the fledgling space-tourism company.

Virgin (ticker: SPCE) reported $238,000 in first-quarter sales. But sales and earnings don’t matter yet. Virgin is “presales” at this stage of its life. The company is working with aviation authorities to approve its spacecraft and its plans for ferrying customers to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere. It completed two test flights from its New Mexico spaceport in the first quarter.

But sales are coming. During the quarter, the company launched an initiative for tourist-astronauts to reserve a place in Galactic’s flight queue, attracting commitments for up to $100 million in sales.

Circa 2016

Researchers say the new ‘impossible’ drive could carry passengers and their equipment to the moon in as little as four hours.

Continue reading “NASA tested an ‘impossible’ engine” »

On May 4th, China launched a pivotal new rocket called the Long March 5B, carrying a prototype deep-space spacecraft into orbit around Earth. The successful launch is meant to test out the country’s plans for sending humans to deep space, and it paves the way for the country’s ambitious space projects in the year ahead.