A plant growth chamber designed to make gardens thrive in weightlessness.
NASA scientists believe they may have found a solution to how to grow vegetables in space. It could bring an end to astronauts on the space station subsisting largely on a diet of pre-packaged dehydrated food.
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two
NASA has lost the urgency of the space race years of the 1960’s, but today’s commercial space sector looks to be recapturing some of that fervor. On Friday, May 2nd at New York City’s historic Explorer’s Club the players in America’s private space race were out in force at this event, each one promising major breakthroughs that will arrive within the next year or two.
Continue reading… “Commercial space travel revs up”
Mirrors in orbit would reflect sunlight onto huge solar panels.
What if you could imagine looking at Tokyo Bay from high above and seeing a man-made island in the harbor, 3 kilometers long. There is a massive net stretched over the island and studded with 5 billion tiny rectifying antennas, which convert microwave energy into DC electricity. Also on the island is a substation that sends that electricity coursing through a submarine cable to Tokyo, to help keep the factories of the Keihin industrial zone humming and the neon lights of Shibuya shining bright.
Continue reading… “The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to build an orbiting solar farm”
A space elevator is just the thing that is needed to open up the high frontier of space.
A working space elevator is still not a reality as of yet. But some of the most intelligent and imaginative minds on Earth have been looking into the logistics of building such a space elevator. Rich DeVaul, head of Google X’s Rapid Evaluation team, has confirmed for the first time ever that Google’s super hush-hush R&D lab actually tried to design one.
Continue reading… “Google X really did try to design a space elevator”
A closeup of a titanium lattice ball manufactured using a 3D printing process.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has identified ten ways to transform how space missions put together in their investigation of the potential of additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing.
Continue reading… “Top 10 ways 3D printing could change space”
Z-series spacesuit
Style in spacesuits tends to advance at a slow pace. The spacesuit that is being currently worn by astronauts has been in use since 1982. But NASA has designed the Z-series suit that is designed for walking on Mars, not just floating around in space as astronauts have in the past. And NASA wants you to help pick the final look. (pics)
Continue reading… “NASA reveals spacesuit of the future”
Musk hopes for flights to Mars to be available through his private space travel company at a cost of around $500,000 per person.
The billionaire founder and CEO of the private spaceflight company SpaceX, Elon Must, wants to help establish a Mars colony of up to 80,000 people by ferrying explorers to the Red Planet for perhaps $500,000 a trip.
Continue reading… “Space X founder Elon Musk eyes huge colony on Mars”
Abell 2744 cluster
Astronomers have announced a view of the universe though a lens more than 500,000 light years wide, as part of a program called “Frontier Fields” to search for the first galaxies. (Video)
Continue reading… “A telescope bigger than a galaxy”
By the end of 2019, Liftport has the goal establish an operational Lunar Space Elevator Infrastructure using:
Continue reading… “Lunar space elevator planned by the end of 2019”
Scientist Angelo Vermeulen on a Mars mock-up in Hawaii.
NASA has big plans for Mars in the coming decades, including intentions to blast a fifth rover onto the planet’s surface by 2020 and send a manned mission by 2030.
Continue reading… “How NASA scientists plan to farm on Mars”
Hangar One
What would you do with a 350,000-square-foot hangar built to house helium airships for the U.S. Navy if you were Google, Inc.? Would you use the cavernous interior for building and testing new robots, planetary rovers and other space or aviation technology?
Continue reading… “Google planning aerospace, robotic projects for Hangar One”
Below the surface there exist deposits of water, rare minerals, and other substances not so common here on Earth.
Instead of NASA resupplying the International Space Station, private corporations have taken on that job. Mars One has just as good a chance as NASA does at establishing a permanent colony on Mars. Even the Moon, which has for so long been NASA’s claim to fame, is now being offered up on a silver NASA-backed platter.
Continue reading… “NASA looking to private companies to mine the moon”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.