Lifeboat Foundation

A 5 km settlement radius corresponds roughly to the sweet design spot where earthlike radiation shielding is produced for free by the required structural mass.

Overall, the settlement concept satisfies the following generic requirements for long-term large-scale settling of the solar system:

1g artificial gravity, earthlike atmosphere, earthlike radiation protection. 2. Large enough size so that internals of the settlement exceed a person’s lifetime-integrated capacity to explore. 3. Standard of living reminiscent to contemporary royal families on Earth, quantified by up to 25,000 m2 of urban living area and 2000 m2 of rural area per inhabitant (290,000 square feet per person). 4. Access to other settlements and Earth by spacecraft docking ports, using safe arrival and departure procedures that do not require impulsive chemical propulsion.

Continue reading “Long-term colonization of the solar system with 290,000 square feet per person” »

SpaceX is set for a surprise event that is expected to revolve the announcement of a newly-contracted launch planned to send a private individual around the Moon with BFR, potentially queuing up a true race (back) to the Moon between SpaceX and NASA sometime in the early to mid-2020s.

Alongside the official announcement and a fascinating render revealing a dramatically-updated iteration of BFR’s spaceship upper stage, CEO Elon Musk cryptically hinted on Twitter that the private customer could be Japanese, as well as confirming that the spaceship as shown was indicative of a new BFR design.

The SpaceX founder Elon Musk plans to blast a tourist around the moon in a new launch system called Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR: a giant spaceship and rocket…

Someday, people across the world will look back on September 2018, much like we look back on the terror attacks of 9/11 or the safe return of Apollo 13 in 1970. They are touchstone moments in world history. For Americans, they are as indelible as Pearl Harbor, the assassination of John F. Kennedy or the first moon landing.

So, what happened just now? The month isn’t even half over, and the only events we hear about on the news are related to Hurricane Florence and Paul Manafort. (In case you live under a rock or are reading this many years hence, the hurricane made landfall on the coast of the Carolinas, and the lobbyist / political consultant / lawyer / Trump campaign chairman pled guilty to charges and has agreed to cooperate in the continuing Mueller investigation).

No—I am not referring to either event on the USA east coast. I am referring to a saga unfolding 254 miles above the Earth—specifically a Whodunit mystery aboard the International Space Station (ISS). NASA hasn’t seen this level of tawdry intrigue since astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak attacked a rival for another astronaut’s affection—driving across the country in a diaper to confront her love interest.

So What is the Big Deal This Week?!

Continue reading “ISS hole: We will look back on Sept 2018” »

The fund will launch with a $2 billion commitment, split between the Day 1 Families Fund — helping homeless families — and the Day 1 Academies Fund — creating a “network of new, non-profit, tier-one preschools in low-income communities,” Bezos said.

As CEO of Amazon, founder of rocket company Blue Origin and owner of The Washington Post, Bezos is the wealthiest man in modern history, with a net worth of at least $150 billion.

Critics have long called for him to put his billions toward philanthropic efforts.

Continue reading “Amazon’s Jeff Bezos launches a $2 billion ‘Day One Fund’ to help homeless families and create preschools” »

The dust is settling on the Red Planet. Is the remaining Mars Exploration Rover about to rise and shine after three months of slumber? MER Project Manager John Callas returns with a realistic yet hopeful assessment. He also tells us what Opportunity will be asked to do after we hear from her. Planetary Society Senior Editor Emily Lakdawalla returns with a preview of China’s next two missions to the Moon, one of which will make the first-ever farside landing. How close is the nearest black hole? We’ll get the answer as Bruce and Mat explore the night sky in this week’s What’s Up.

The latest in a series of small but significant steps puts the Philippines much closer to making a giant leap into the space age.

National Space Development Program (NSDP) lead Dr. Rogel Mari Sese revealed that Senate Bill 1983, which aims to establish the country’s very own space agency, was successfully sponsored by Sen. Bam Aquino to the Senate Plenary Session. Sen. Loren Legarda and Sen. Tito Sotto co-authored the bill, which has been in the works for years.

JUST IN: Senate Bill 1983 An Act Establishing the Philippine Space Development and Utilization Policy and Creating the…

Continue reading “Launch imminent: Philippine space agency rockets closer to reality” »

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TiZuG9K_xso

NASA recently delivered $10 million in funding to Ad Astra Rocket Company of Texas for further development of its Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), an electromagnetic thruster proficient of propelling a spaceship to Mars in just 39 days. NASA’s funding was part of the “12 Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnership.”

The Soyuz manufacturing issue represents another significant problem for the Russian space agency’s suppliers and its quality control processes. Already, the manufacturer of Proton rockets, Khrunichev, has had several serious problems that have led to launch failures. Rogozin was recently installed as the leader of Roscosmos to try to clean up corruption and address these kinds of issues.

He has his work cut out for him.

“We want to find out the full name of who is at fault—and we will.”

Continue reading “Russian space chief vows to find ‘full name’ of technician who caused ISS leak” »