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Category: space travel – Page 126

How could we one day travel between the stars with real physics? Perhaps the greatest challenge to interstellar flight is energetics — it takes vast amounts of energy to accelerate even small ships to 20% the speed of light. But what if we could steal that energy from where? Perhaps even a black hole. Enter the “halo drive”, a video by Prof David Kipping based on his new peer-reviewed research paper on the subject.

This video is based on research conducted at the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University, New York. You can now support our research program directly here: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support.

Further reading and resources:
► Kipping, David (2018), “The Halo Drive: Fuel Free Relativistic Propulsion of Large Mases via Recycled Boomerang Photons”, JBIS, 71458: https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.03423
► Dyson, Freeman (1963), “Gravitational Machines”, in A.G.W. Cameron, ed., Interstellar Communication, New York Benjamin Press: https://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~barnes/ast242_s14/Dyson_Machines.pdf.
► Breakthrough Starshot homepage: https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3
► Our Cool Worlds video giving some background on Breakthrough Starshot: https://youtu.be/Ksb6Vh0BT_E
► Our Cool Worlds video on relativistic moving mirrors: https://youtu.be/msK9d9k6K0E
► Our Cool Worlds video on mirror distortion effects: https://youtu.be/1iNA-GTocI0
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu.
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu.

There’s an error in the video at around 8:30, 2 trillion joules is the cumulative energy output of a typical nuclear power station after 2000 seconds, not 20 days.

Music is largely by Chris Zabriskie (http://chriszabriskie.com/) and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), in order of appearance;
► Cylinder Five (http://chriszabriskie.com/cylinders/)
► Music from Neptune Flux, “We Were Never Meant to Live Here” (http://chriszabriskie.com/neptuneflux/)
► Music from Neptune Flux, “That Hopeful Future Is All I’ve Ever Known” (http://chriszabriskie.com/neptuneflux/)
► Cylinder Four (http://chriszabriskie.com/cylinders/)
► The Sun is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow (https://soundcloud.com/chriszabriskie/the-sun-is-scheduled-to-come)
In addition, music from OneGuitarOrchestra, acoustic cover of Hans Zimmer’s “No Time For Caution”: https://youtu.be/vau08Z_pN8s.

Video materials used:

Continue reading “The Halo Drive” | >

Researchers say they may have discovered the solution to a problem that has long hindered progress with a novel form of plasma propulsion that could one day carry humans to distant planets, and potentially launch a new era of space exploration.

The helicon double-layer thruster (HDLT) is a prototype plasma thruster propulsion system that works by injecting gas into an open-ended source tube, where radio frequency AC power produced by an antenna surrounding it electromagnetically ionizes the gas. Within this highly charged plasma, a low-frequency electromagnetic helicon wave is excited by the antenna’s electromagnetic field, further heating the plasma.

Such “magnetic nozzle” thrusters accelerate the plasma they produce to generate thrust for spacecraft, representing a form of electric propulsion with several potential applications in spacecraft design. However, while plasma flows that occur naturally within magnetic fields are often released or “detached”—like when coronal ejections erupt from the Sun—getting plasmas to behave in the same way in the laboratory is more challenging.

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Backwards through time? We travel forwards every day, but traveling back could let us change our past, visit old friends, or manipulate the timeline to our benefit… Although our knowledge of space and time remains incomplete, we can still use what we know to consider possible time machines. But what kind of paradoxes would this entail and how can we resolve them? Join us today on a special journey through time.

An educational video written and presented by Professor David Kipping.

This video is based on research conducted at the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University, New York. You can now support our research program directly here: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support.

All music used is licensed by SoundStripe.com or through Creative Commons:
► “It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn” by Hill, licensed through SoundStripe.com: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/7441
► “Waking Up” by Atlas, licensed through SoundStripe.com: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/3984
► Cylinder Four (http://chriszabriskie.com/cylinders/) by Chris Zabriskie (http://chriszabriskie.com/); licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
► “Always Dreaming” by Caleb Etheridge, licensed through SoundStripe.com: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/5534
► Cylinder Two (http://chriszabriskie.com/cylinders/) by Chris Zabriskie (http://chriszabriskie.com/); licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
► “Fable” by Stephen Keech, licensed through SoundStripe.com: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/6312
► “Selha” by Stephen Keech, licensed through SoundStripe.com: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/7102

Further reading and resources:
► Echeverria, F., Klinkhammer, G. & Thorne, K. S. (1991), “Billiard balls in wormhole spacetimes with closed timelike curves: Classical theory”, Phys. Rev. D., 44, 1077: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1991PhRvD…44.1077E/abstract.
► S. Kalyana Rama & Siddhartha Sen (1994), “Inconsistent Physics in the Presence of Time Machines”: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9410031v1
► Stephen Hawking (1992), “Chronology protection conjecture”, Phys. Rev. D., 46603: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992PhRvD…46…603H/abstract.
► Max Tegmark (1997), “On the dimensionality of space time”, CQG, 14, L69: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9702052

Films clips used:

Continue reading “Traveling Back in Time” | >

It could reduce fuel costs by a fifth and pollution.

Edinburgh-based Skyrora is a company aiming for many firsts. It wants to be the first company to accomplish an orbital launch from U.K. soil but is likely to end up being known as the first company that converts unrecyclable waste plastic into rocket fuel.

With the recent completion of the Artemis I mission, humanity is well on its way to setting up a settlement on the Moon and now has Mars in its sights. As our goals become more ambitious, we also need larger rockets that can take us to faraway destinations. However, rocket launches require tons of fuel and produce larger amounts of carbon emissions.

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The private space firm has had another record-breaking year.

SpaceX has already had an astronomical year. And now, the private space company is offering to sell insider shares at a price that would raise its valuation to roughly $140 billion.

SpaceX’s new $140 billion valuation.

Sundry Photography/iStock.

SpaceX, run by the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, is offering a price of $77 per share, according to anonymous insiders interviewed by Bloomberg. If the report on that new valuation is true, it will raise SpaceX’s standing by $13 billion over its $127 billion valuation in July.

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Ispace Inc. is a private Japanese company developing robotic landers and rovers for missions to the Moon. It aims to compete for both transportation and exploration mission contracts from space agencies and private industry. If successful, these spacecraft and the accompanying vehicles could enable clients to discover, map, and use the natural resources on Earth’s nearest neighbour.

In addition to its headquarters in Tokyo, the company has offices in the United States and Luxembourg, employing around 200 people. Although founded in 2010, its team of engineers had earlier competed in the Google Lunar X Prize.

Following more than a decade of research and development, ispace yesterday launched Hakuto-R Mission 1 – delivered into space on a partially reusable Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket. The spacecraft will now perform orbital manoeuvres, taking it as far as 1.5 million km (932,000 miles) from Earth, before arriving at the Moon sometime in April 2023.

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We have a Discord server! Come join us, I answer questions on my videos regularly! https://discord.gg/TNB4nSCKBt.

Happy Winter! I’m back with another upload, very different in style from my normal content. I’ve wanted to do a Mars colonization video for some time, but I wanted to get Far Future Uranus out and work on a couple other things not content-related beforehand. Making this video was pretty fun, surprisingly. I expected far more terrain buggyness than I actually encountered, and the Starships were really fun to fly. Getting good Starship / Super Heavy landing catch shots was a bit tedious, but it ended up looking good in the end. I’ll be back to more normal content (stuff like Far Future Uranus/Beyond Sol) next time. Also, the 1st part of this video (the part synced to Flight Hymn) is obviously inspired by @NessusKSP in his Far Future Saturn video, hats off to him for making some great content with it!

Disclaimer:
This video is in no way suggesting that the timeline used is realistic or possible.

Game: Kerbal Space Program 1.12.

Mods (nonexhaustive list):
Real Solar System (obvious)
Realism Overhaul (makes things more realistic and difficult)
PRVE (RSS visuals)
RSSCanaveralHD (Makes the Cape look good)
TUFX (postprocessing, Ballisticfox’s configs)
Parallax 2.0
Starship Expansion Program.
Far Future Technologies (ground components)
Near Future Technologies.
Stockalike Station Parts Expansion Redux.
Planetside Exploration Technologies (colony parts)
USI Kolonization Systems (used for the large domes on the colony)
Procedural Parts.
Kerbal Reusability Expansion.
Booster Guidance (landing guidance)
Camera Tools (advanced camera movement)

Music:

Continue reading “Colonizing MARS with SpaceX Starship in Kerbal Space Program” | >

The Japanese are reliable partners in this mission.

Even before NASA’s Artemis I mission successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, NASA chief Bill Nelson was preparing for the next phase of the mission, of sending crewed missions to the Moon. In an interview with Nikkei.

While details on how the spacecraft performed during its 25.

Getty Images.

While details on how the spacecraft performed during its 25.5-day trip are still not public, an incident-free launch and recovery mean that NASA can largely stick to its schedule for sending crewed missions next and landing on the Moon before 2026. The last time U.S. astronauts went to the Moon, they were competing with Russia. This time around, it is China that is looking to achieve the same goals.

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