Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: space travel – Page 379

Relativity Space is working to 3D print the Terran 1 rocket in 60 days using laser printing and direct energy deposition. They will have a test flight in 2020 and will have commercial flights in 2021.

They use proprietary materials which are custom designed for printing. They are using stronger alloys designed to take advantage of Stargate’s printing physics. They have highly reliable materials for printing rocket structures and are using an in-house metallurgy and material characterization lab.

Terran 1 Baseline:

Read more

Astronomers have carried out a multiwavelength investigation of a pulsar wind nebula (PWN), designated DA 495, to unveil its mysterious physical nature. Results of the study, based on observations using HAWC and VERITAS ground-based observatories as well as NASA’s NuSTAR spacecraft, are presented in a paper published May 17 on arXiv.org.

Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are nebulae powered by the wind of a pulsar. Pulsar wind is composed of charged particles; when it collides with the pulsar’s surroundings, in particular with the slowly expanding supernova ejecta, it develops a PWN.

Particles in PWNe lose their energy to radiation and become less energetic with distance from the central pulsar. Multiwavelength studies of these objects, including X-ray observations, especially using spatially-integrated spectra in the X-ray band, have the potential of uncovering important information about particle flow in these nebulae. This could unveil important insights into the nature of PWNe in general.

Read more

Scientists from Ireland and France today [Thursday 23rd May] announced a major new finding about how matter behaves in the extreme conditions of the Sun’s atmosphere.

The scientists used large radio telescopes and ultraviolet cameras on a NASA spacecraft to better understand the exotic but poorly understood “fourth state of matter”. Known as plasma, this matter could hold the key to developing safe, clean and efficient nuclear energy generators on Earth. The scientists published their findings in the leading international journal Nature Communications.

Most of the matter we encounter in our everyday lives comes in the form of solid, liquid or gas, but the majority of the Universe is composed of plasma — a highly unstable and electrically charged fluid. The Sun is also made up of this plasma.

Read more

CAMBRIDGE, MA—Draper is part of five teams selected by NASA recently to conduct studies and produce prototypes of human landers for the agency’s Artemis lunar exploration program. The NASA contracts, which carry a potential value of up to $45.5M, further the agency’s goal to put American women and men on the Moon by 2024 as a step toward establishing sustainable missions by 2028.

When the space agency signaled its intention to partner with American companies on the development of a human landing system in 2018, Draper—with a heritage in human space exploration—participated successfully in the solicitation process in partnership with the five companies. The formal solicitation, to be issued at a later date, will provide the requirements for lander development and a 2024 human lunar landing.

According to NASA, the contracts are intended to “transport astronauts in a human landing system that includes a transfer element for the journey from the lunar Gateway to low-lunar orbit, a descent element to carry them to the surface and an ascent element to return them to the Gateway.”

Read more

SpaceX’s first 60 “production-design” Starlink satellites have been successfully placed in orbit, kicking off a constellation beta test at an unprecedented scale. According to CEO Elon Musk, all spacecraft also managed to successfully ‘phone home’ after separation.

The company’s Redmond satellite operators still need to verify that all spacecraft are functional and healthy after a Falcon 9 launch and chaotic deployment from the rocket’s upper stage, but the riskiest part of the mission is now arguably behind SpaceX. What remains is essentially a massive, hardware-rich test of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation, ranging from granular flight testing of individual components to an effective simulation of a full constellation’s operations.

Read more