Lifeboat Foundation

“The countries which have the capacity to bring that source from the moon to Earth will dictate the process,” said K Sivan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). “I don’t want to be just a part of them, I want to lead them.”

The mission would solidify India’s place among the fleet of explorers racing to the moon, Mars and beyond for scientific, commercial or military gains. The governments of the US, China, India, Japan and Russia are competing with startups and billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson to launch satellites, robotic landers, astronauts and tourists into the cosmos.

The rover landing is one step in an envisioned series for ISRO that includes putting a space station in orbit and, potentially, an Indian crew on the moon. The government has yet to set a timeframe.

Continue reading “India’s quest to find a trilliondollar nuclear fuel on the Moon” »

Incredible true story of a NASA arctic expedition designed to be the first Martian road trip on Earth becomes an epic two-year odyssey of survival. Voiceover from Buzz Aldrin.br /

For: Moon Village Association Location: EU, initiated on workshop at ISU in Strasbourg, then created in Prague, Lund, Terracina, London Year of Completion: 2018 Team: space architects Tomas Rousek, Katarina Eriksson, Vittorio Rossetti.

It was very inspiring to see a presentation of Prof. Jan Woerner, ESA director general, at the MVA workshop at ISU in Starsbourg. When we have seen the range of all elements that are encompassed in the vision, it was clear to us that it would be good to illustrate it with more than just one 3D-printed module. With colleagues space architects Katarina Eriksson and Vittorio Rossetti we offered our help to MVA organizers to illustrate the new vision of Global Moon Village. We created 3D concept including more the components of lunar exploration and infrastructure that were mentioned, i.e. modules of ESA, NASA and international and commercial partners, Google Lunar X-Prize rovers and cis-lunar station.

We also proposed facelift concept of logo for MVA, with half moon over O circle.

NASA has released new images of Jupiter, taken by the Juno Spacecraft.

Scientists have confirmed ′Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object to travel through our solar system, got an unexpected boost in speed and shift in trajectory as it passed through the inner solar system last year. Examine what scientists found: https://go.nasa.gov/2Mwospx

Every three seconds, a person somewhere in the world breaks a bone due to osteoporosis—a progressive disease that decreases bone density, making bones weak and fragile. Osteoporotic fractures greatly reduce quality of life, and immobilization following a fracture can lead to further bone loss which puts these patients at risk for breaking another bone.

When SpaceX CRS-11 launched to the space station last June, it carried 40 mice to the ISS National Lab for a mission aimed at improving treatment for the millions of people with osteoporosis back on Earth. The Rodent Research (RR)-5 mission successfully proved the robustness of a new potential osteoporosis therapy based on a naturally produced protein, NELL-1, and also led to significant improvements in the delivery of the therapy.

As far as humans are concerned, Mars has two stories. One is in the present: We’re trying to send our ships and our astronauts to the Red Planet in order to understand what it’s like today. But much of that work is meant to tell a second story—what the planet used to be like.

IT’S a moment of conception on an interstellar scale. Australian astronomers have watched the death — and rebirth — of a distant solar system. Now they’re watching its embryonic nebula form.

Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith of the CSIRO has told the annual meeting of the Astronomical Society of Australia hosted at Swinburne University this week that the opportunity to observe the climactic phase in the life cycle of a star was extraordinary.

Continue reading “Astronomers capture moment of interstellar conception” »

After nearly four years of traveling through space, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft has successfully rendezvoused with the Ryugu asteroid, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency confirmed Wednesday. Let the next stage of this historic sampling-and-return mission begin!

Earlier today, mission controllers at JAXA triggered Hayabusa2’s chemical propulsion thrusters, bringing the spacecraft into orbit around Ryugu, an asteroid that’s just shy of one kilometer (0.6 miles) wide. Confirmation of the rendezvous was made at 9:35 am Japan Standard Time (JST). JAXA says Hayabusa2’s thrusters worked normally, and that the spacecraft is maintaining a constant distance from Ryugu.