Category Archives: Space Travel / Exploration

Space Travel / Exploration

Curiosity discovers pure sulfur rocks, continues to explore Mount Sharp on Mars

From the JPL, with thanks to Alexis for the tip.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-curiosity-rover-discovers-a-surprise-in-a-martian-rock

Curiosity discovers pure sulfur rocks, continues to explore Mount Sharp on Mars

Among several recent findings, the rover has found rocks made of pure sulfur — a first on the Red Planet.

Scientists were stunned on May 30 when a rock that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drove over cracked open to reveal something never seen before on the Red Planet: yellow sulfur crystals.

Since October 2023, the rover has been exploring a region of Mars rich with sulfates, a kind of salt that contains sulfur and forms as water evaporates. But where past detections have been of sulfur-based minerals — in other words, a mix of sulfur and other materials — the rock Curiosity recently cracked open is made of elemental, or pure, sulfur. It isn’t clear what relationship, if any, the elemental sulfur has to other sulfur-based minerals in the area.

While people associate sulfur with the odor from rotten eggs (the result of hydrogen sulfide gas), elemental sulfur is odorless. It forms in only a narrow range of conditions that scientists haven’t associated with the history of this location. And Curiosity found a lot of it — an entire field of bright rocks that look similar to the one the rover crushed.

Pan around this 360-degree video to explore Gediz Vallis channel, the location where NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover discovered sulfur crystals and drilled its 41st rock sample. The images that make up this mosaic were captured by the rover’s MastCam in June.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

“Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,” said Curiosity’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.”

It’s one of several discoveries Curiosity has made while off-roading within Gediz Vallis channel, a groove that winds down part of the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) Mount Sharp, the base of which the rover has been ascending since 2014. Each layer of the mountain represents a different period of Martian history. Curiosity’s mission is to study where and when the planet’s ancient terrain could have provided the nutrients needed for microbial life, if any ever formed on Mars.

Space Travel / Exploration

Star Trek’s food replicators may soon be reality!

Star Trek’s food replicators may soon be reality!

I have extracted the paragraphs that are relevant to SF/F fans, the full article is available here: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240525-what-will-we-eat-on-the-moon-the-food-is-literally-out-of-this-world

The Moon may be the final frontier for mankind, but what will we eat when we get there? Pasta and protein bars made out of thin air are just the beginning.

In 2021, Nasa launched a Deep Space Food Challenge to discover new ways to create food in space with limited resources producing minimal waste, while also providing safe, nutritious and tasty food that can perform on a long-term deep space mission.

We make food out of thin air, quite literally – Artuu Luukanen

Solar Foods, based in Helsinki, is one of the eight companies that has reached the challenge’s final phase. Their remarkable concept: using space waste to create protein.

“We make food out of thin air, quite literally,” says Artuu Luukanen, Solar Foods’ senior vice president in Space and Defence. His company discovered an edible microbe in the Finnish countryside that grows by feeding on a mixture of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen. The result is a source of protein from bacteria. The protein can be blended with a range of flavours or textures to create various kinds of nutritious food, such as pasta, protein bars, alternative meats and even an egg replacement

“We started thinking about space food because in any space habitat, you have two key waste gases available: hydrogen and carbon dioxide,” Luukanen said. “So what we are talking about here is really not just a food manufacturing technology for space, but something that will be an integral part of the environmental control and life support system.”

Solar Foods’ protein can be turned into a paste or powder and blended with flour and more typical food ingredients to create protein enriched foods such as pasta, protein bars and even chocolate. Experiments are continuing to discover whether it can be mixed with oils and turned into something with a texture of a steak, using a 3D printer.

“””””””””””””

One thing that seems likely is that the future of space food will include fungi. Three of the six finalists in the Nasa Deep Space Food Challenge are working on ideas around fungi, including Mycorena of Gothenburg, Sweden, which has developed a system that uses a combination of microalgae and fungi to produce a mycoprotein (a type of protein that comes from a fungus, often used in alternative meat products).

“Fungi is very versatile,” explains Carlos Otero, who works in the R&D team at Mycorena. “It can grow on different substrates, it grows fast and you can design a small and efficient system capable of producing enough food for the crew. It is also very robust, resistant to radiation and easy to store and transport.”

This space food is all in a closed loop circular system, with an end product that can be 3D printed to create a food a little like the texture of a chicken fillet. An added benefit is that their protein source contains all the essential amino acids the human body needs to function.

Astronomy News, Space Travel / Exploration

Elon Musk’s Starship goes ‘farther than ever’

 SpaceX launches Starship for the third time.

By Jonathan Amos,Science correspondent, BBC
US company SpaceX’s Starship rocket made major progress in its third test flight on Thursday, completing many of its objectives.

The two-stage vehicle produced a clean getaway from its Texas launch site, to send its upper portion around the globe to a re-entry over the Indian Ocean.

Radio contact was lost towards the end but the firm said it was “incredible to see how far we got this time around”.

SpaceX boss Elon Musk was delighted with the outcome of the flight, too.

He posted on X, formerly Twitter, that “Starship will take humanity to Mars”.

 Huge crowds had gathered on nearby beaches to watch the launch

When the 120m-tall (395ft) vehicle launched in April and November last year, it blew apart not long into the missions.

Mr Musk was looking for significant improvement from his SpaceX team this time – and he got it.

The rocket left its launch mount with a huge rumble from its 33 engines, and the vehicle then proceeded to step perfectly through all of the anticipated phases in the climb to space.

Separation of the bottom half, the booster, from the top half, the Ship, occurred right on cue, two minutes and 44 seconds into the flight.

The ship then powered on, crossing the Atlantic and southern Africa.

Video cameras sent back spectacular views of Earth from more than 100 miles up.

SpaceX Ship above the Earth
SpaceX The Ship was aiming for a splashdown in the Indian Ocean

Then came the task of re-entry, when the ship needed to descend to a splashdown in the ocean.

Video imagery once again captured incredible scenes as hot gases enveloped the vehicle, just before radio contact was interrupted.

Controllers reported shortly after that the Ship had been “lost”, presumably because it had broken up.

SPACEX Plasma
SPACEX The hot gases (plasma) of re-entry surrounded the ship as it came down

Not every milestone was ticked off. It was hoped the booster after separation might have been able to power its way back to a controlled drop into the sea just off the Texas coast. It got close but it looked as though the vehicle came in way too fast and was lost before hitting the water.

The Ship, too, was expected to re-ignite an engine to initiate the re-entry, but this was skipped for a reason not immediately apparent.

READ MORE  Video, photos

 

Space Travel / Exploration

McGill the 8th Interstellar Symposium

We received an invitation to the Interstellar Symposium hosted by McGill. I have seen Karl and Eric at various conventions. Both are interesting speakers on SF and space travel, I’m sure the other two are as well. The SF authors public event is FREE. -CPL
Montreal Science Fiction & Fantasy Association:

I am a professor at McGill University working in the area of interstellar flight. This July, we will be hosting at McGill the 8th Interstellar Symposium, the premier international forum discussing the science, engineering, and societal implications of interstellar travel.

As part of this event, we will be having a Science Fiction Author Panel that might be of interest to your members. The Science Fiction Author Panel will be free and open to the public on Tuesday, July 11 at 6:00 pm in the Delta Hotels Montreal (475 President-Kennedy Avenue, Montreal).

Please find an infographic here that describes the event, which is free and open to the public. If you feel your members would be interested, I would encourage you to distribute the existence of this event widely. You are welcome to repost this infographic on your website or social media platforms.Create appointment

8th Interstellar Symposium
REGISTER HEREPROGRAMHOTEL INFORMATION IRG’s 8th Interstellar Symposium, in collaboration with the International Academy of Astronautics and Breakthrough Initiatives, will take place July 10 – 13, 2…
irg.space
The entire Interstellar Symposium might be of interest as well:

https://irg.space/irg-2023/

Registration is required, but is very affordable at the student rate, and includes breakfast and lunch for all the days of the Symposium. The Interstellar Symposia series evolved out of the science fiction community, and we strive to keep all presentations accessible to a non-technical audience. Please feel free to distribute the conference information as well.

Thank you for assisting in promoting the 8th Interstellar Symposium and associated SF Author Panel. Hope to see some of your members at our event in July!

Regards,

Andrew Higgins
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
https://interstellarflight.space/
Chair of Local Organizing Committee
8th Interstellar Symposium

Space Travel / Exploration

Rocket plane returns to spaceflight

Virgin Galactic: Sir Richard Branson’s rocket plane returns to spaceflight

By Jonathan Amos, BBC Science Correspondent

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic rocket plane is back in action after a gap of almost two years.

The Unity vehicle, with two pilots and four passengers aboard, climbed high over the New Mexico desert to the edge of space – before gliding back down.

It was billed as the plane’s final test outing before entering commercial service in June.

Galactic has sold over 800 tickets to individuals who want to ride more than 80km (260,000ft) above Earth.

The company expects to start working through this passenger list with Unity flights initially occurring at the rate of one a month. New rocket planes are being designed for service in 2026 that should each be capable of increasing the cadence to one a week.

Flight profile

Unity is a sub-orbital vehicle. This means it can’t achieve the velocity and altitude necessary to keep it up in space to circle the globe.

The spaceship is designed to give its passengers stunning views at the top of its climb, and allow them a few minutes to experience weightlessness.

Click https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65714340 to read the full article with video and pictures.
Astronomy News, Space Travel / Exploration

Our Long range sensors detect…

Interesting news items!

  • James Webb telescope fully focused
  • If we make contact with aliens, how will religion be affected?
  • Watch NASA roll mega Artemis I moon rocket out to the launchpad

James Webb: ‘Fully focused’ telescope beats expectations

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent
@BBCAmos

Star
Image source, NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI Image caption, The test star has the ungainly name 2MASS J17554042+6551277. A red filter optimises the visual contrast

The American space agency has achieved a major milestone in its preparation of the new James Webb Space Telescope.

Engineers say they have now managed to fully focus the $10bn observatory on a test star. The pin-sharp performance is even better than hoped, they add.

READ MORE

If we made contact with aliens, how would religions react?

The discovery of life on another planet might seem incompatible with faith in a deity. Yet many theologians are already open to the existence of extraterrestrials, argues the writer Brandon Ambrosino.

In 2014, NASA awarded $1.1M to the Center for Theological Inquiry, an ecumenical research institute in New Jersey, to study “the societal implications of astrobiology”.

Some were enraged. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which promotes the division between Church and state, asked NASA to revoke the grant, and threatened to sue if NASA didn’t comply. While the FFR stated that their concern was the commingling of government and religious organisations, they also made it clear that they thought the grant was a waste of money. “Science should not concern itself with how its progress will impact faith-based beliefs.”

The FFR’s argument might well be undermined, however, when the day comes that humanity has to respond to the discovery of aliens. Such a discovery would raise a series of questions that would exceed the bounds of science. For example, when we ask, “What is life?” are we asking a scientific question or a theological one? Questions about life’s origins and its future are complicated, and must be explored holistically, across disciplines. And that includes the way we respond to the discovery of aliens.  READ MORE

Watch NASA roll mega Artemis I moon rocket out to the launchpad

Ashley Strickland-Profile-Image

By Ashley Strickland, CNN

Updated 7:36 PM ET, Thu March 17, 2022

The NASA Artemis I stack, including the SLS rocket (right) topped with the Orion spacecraft, leaves the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 17.
The NASA Artemis I stack, including the SLS rocket (right) topped with the Orion spacecraft, leaves the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 17

(CNN)The Artemis I mission is another step closer to its lunar launch.

The massive 322-foot-tall (98 meters) stack, which includes NASA’s Space Launch System rocket topped by the Orion spacecraft, rolled out for its testing debut at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday.
The integrated stack, which sits on a mobile launcher, began its slow-moving crawl into launch position Thursday afternoon, with live coverage available on NASA’s website. The rollout officially began at 5:47 p.m. ET.
The rocket stack is seen inside the building before emerging on the crawler.
The rocket stack is seen inside the building before emerging on the crawler.
The 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) ride aboard one of the Apollo-era giant NASA crawlers from the assembly building to the launchpad could take up to 11 hours, according to NASA. The estimated arrival at the pad is around 4:30 a.m. ET on Friday.
Space Travel / Exploration

Canada to launch moon rover by 2026

Canada to launch moon rover by 2026

By

The project will be a partnership with NASA.

Canada’s moon plans keep getting more ambitious.

After this, cost viagra online http://amerikabulteni.com/2015/05/24/abd-baskanlarinin-bitmeyen-komik-kabusu/ you will not want to miss the startling interview with sculptor Alonzo Clemons that highlights his astonishing talent to replicate animals that he has seen for barely a few moments. This was a purchase cheap viagra amerikabulteni.com matter of wills and stamina. Some are loved that cheapest levitra bit genuine and they require obtrusive treatment and hospitalization also and can be managed with vitamin B6, vitamin B9 and vitamin B12 supplementation. tadalafil without prescriptions For those adversely affected by tadalafil male sexually enhancement pill, they should avoid it altogether. The nation will develop a robotic lunar rover in partnership with NASA and launch it by 2026, François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced on Wednesday (May 26).

“The rover will be carrying at least two science instruments, Canadian and American. The mission will aim to gather imagery and measurements and data of the surface of the moon, as well as to have the rover survive an entire night on the moon,” Canadian Space Agency (CSA) officials said in a statement Wednesday. (One lunar night lasts about 14 Earth days.)

READ MORE

Space Travel / Exploration

Missions to Mars

Mars, the planet most likely to stir the blood of an SF fan!

And it’s a real busy place. Three nations took advantage of the close orbit of Mars in 2020 to send missions to the Red Planet. NASA’s mission to look for signs of life is already underway. https://www.nasa.gov

The press is covering the Perseverance mission, almost to the exclusion of the other two which are equally interesting.

The Chinese Satellite is in parking orbit today. It has a lovely name taken from the title of an ancient poem: Tianwen, which means Quest for Heavenly Truth. It will also be looking for water and signs of life.  https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/china-s-mars-craft-enters-parking-orbit-before-landing-rover-1.5321743
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The United Arab Emirates has a satellite in orbit since the ninth of February. It’s called Hope, and will be focussed on learning more about the atmosphere, and possibly understanding how the climate changed.

It’s amazing that all three launched in 2020 have succeeded, so far. There have been more failures than successes over the years.

Adding to the drama, there are probably 8 derelict satellites in orbit also, and their exact positions are not known.

Astronomy News, Space Travel / Exploration

It landed-in one piece! Whew!

7 minutes of terror–like Schrodinger’s cat, no one knew if the lander was dead or alive.  What makes Perseverence of particular interest to us is that it’s primary job is to look for signs of life. It will also conduct experiments to make oxygen from the carbon dioxide. This will be critical for a human landing on the planet.

 https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/landing/watch-online/
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Mars is a really busy place right now. There are 18 artificial satellites in orbit, 8 of them active.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mars_orbiters

Astronomy News, Space Travel / Exploration

What does it take to become an astronaut?

From Astronomy Magazine :

Have you got what it takes to become an astronaut in the new era of human spaceflight?

Empathy and scientific knowledge will be key for astronauts looking to travel to Mars.

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By Adam Hawkey, The Conversation  |  Published: Saturday, November 14, 2020
RELATED TOPICS: CREWED SPACEFLIGHT | HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT
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Astronauts Bob and Dough made it to the International Space Station in a privately funded vehicle. NASA
Millions of people watched breathlessly as astronauts for the first time successfully travelled to the International Space Station (ISS) in a privately funded spacecraft, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule, on May 30. The historic launch, which marks a new chapter in human spaceflight, is likely to lead to renewed interest in spaceflight.

So, what exactly does it take to become an astronaut? And can we expect the requirements to change as more private companies get involved and we go on longer journeys?

During the space race of the 1960s, NASA selected an elite group of air force and test pilots to orbit the Earth and to ultimately land on the moon. These pioneers were well accustomed to taking risks and pushing their hardware to the limit. They were later described as having “The Right Stuff” when it came to the physical and psychological characteristics required to be a space farer – a term that is now synonymous with astronaut selection.

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Crew dragon docks with the ISS. NASA
Nowadays, thanks to advances in technology and a greater understanding of the requirements of spaceflight, scientists, doctors, engineers and even journalists have all joined the most exclusive club on (and off) Earth. Of the estimated 100 billion people who have ever lived, fewer than 600 individuals have travelled into space. It is therefore a unique profession and one that not all of us are suited to.

Current criteria

Currently, NASA stipulates that applicants must meet certain criteria. First, you must be a US citizen, though some have changed their nationality to fulfil this requirement – including UK-born Michael Foale and Piers Sellars.

You must also possess a master’s degree in science, technology, engineering, or maths, or a Doctor of Medicine degree. In addition to that, you should have at least two years of related professional experience. Alternatively, 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time on a jet aircraft will do, which is particularly important for the pilot and commander roles. And finally, you have to pass NASA’s long-duration flight astronaut physical test.

Similar criteria are set by other nations, including the European Space Agency (ESA). Essentially, candidates must demonstrate aptitude in a range of attributes. These can generally be broken down into four distinct areas, and may change going forward.