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Category: space travel – Page 155

James Webb takes its first direct image of an exoplanet

Last week, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) made the first ever detection of CO2 on an exoplanet. Following that scientific milestone, it has now captured a direct image of another planet – HIP 65,426 b, which orbits the large A-type star HIP 65426. The system is 355 light years from Earth.

Astronomers first discovered this gas giant in July 2017, using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-Contrast Exoplanet Research (SPHERE) instrument belonging to the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

NASA made a follow-up observation to test Webb’s capabilities, using the mid-infrared part of the spectrum to reveal new information that previous telescopes would be unable to detect. The spacecraft’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) are both equipped with coronagraphs to block the glare of starlight, which can be 10,000 times brighter than planets. This enables Webb to take direct images of exoplanets.

Death In Space: Here’s What Would Happen To Our Bodies

As space travel for recreational purposes is becoming a very real possibility, there could come a time when we are travelling to other planets for holidays, or perhaps even to live. Commercial space company Blue Origin has already started sending paying customers on sub-orbital flights. And Elon Musk hopes to start a base on Mars with his firm SpaceX.

This means we need to start thinking about what it will be like to live in space – but also what will happen if someone dies there.

After death here on Earth the human body progresses through a number of stages of decomposition. These were described as early as 1,247 in Song Ci’s The Washing Away of Wrongs, essentially the first forensic science handbook.

NASA will pay Boeing more than twice as much as SpaceX for crew seats

Boeing Starliner flights to the ISS cost NASA more than twice what they pay SpaceX to ferry astronauts.

NASA confirmed Wednesday that it has awarded five additional crew transportation missions to SpaceX, and its Crew Dragon vehicle, to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. This brings to 14 the total number of crewed missions that SpaceX is contracted to fly for NASA through 2030.

As previously reported by Ars, these are likely the final flights NASA needs to keep the space station fully occupied into the year 2030. While there are no international agreements yet signed, NASA has signaled that it would like to continue flying the orbiting laboratory until 2030, by which time one or more US commercial space stations should be operational in low Earth orbit.

You Know NASA’s Biggest-Ever Rocket Is Launching To The Moon On Monday Morning, Right? Here’s How To Watch

Have you heard about the biggest rocket launch in human history? It’s getting almost zero press coverage, but before breakfast on Monday, August 29, 2022, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will make its maiden voyage.

It’s now on the launchpad in Florida.

Florida prepares to witness its biggest rocket launch ever as NASA sends its “mega moon rocket” on a 42-day mission.

NASA Awards SpaceX More Crew Flights to Space Station

The contract will run through 2030 and makes SpaceX over $4.9 billion in total.

You haven’t seen the tail end of SpaceX launches to the International Space Station (ISS) quite yet. NASA awarded the Elon Musk-founded company a $1.4 billion contract to send five more astronaut missions to the ISS, per NASA’s press release.

The contract, part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap), runs through 2030 and brings the total value of the signed agreement with SpaceX to over $4.9 billion.

NASA has awarded five additional missions to Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, for crew transportation services to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract.

Staying Sane in Space

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Space is deadly and our spaceships and stations are cramped and thin-protected environments, placing enormous stress on those who journey there. So how to we keep from going crazy while we explore strange new worlds?

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Episode’s Narration-only version: https://soundcloud.com/isaac-arthur-148927746/staying-sane-i…ation-only.

Credits:
Staying Sane in Space.
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur.
Episode 358, September 1, 2022
Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur.

Written by:
Isaac Arthur.
Logan Smith.

Editors:

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Inchworms: Demonstration of concept I first developed for The Millennial Project at the turn of the century

Even had the same name.

https://tmp2.fandom.com/wiki/Modular_Unmanned_Orbital_Laboratory_-_MUOL

https://tmp2.fandom.com/wiki/Telerobotic_Outpost.

Originally

Developed as part of the Modular Unmanned Orbital Laboratory — MUOL program early in the Asgard phase, Inchworm telerobots are likely to become the most common form of workhorse utility robot throughout TMP. Deriving from the simple robotic arms employed by later generation space agency spacecraft and orbital outposts, employ a very simple architecture to the utmost in multi-purpose flexibility. An Inchworm is a simple robot consisting of a single mechanical arm equipped with at least three two-axis electric-powered joints; two at end-effector units and others at intervals in-between. Unlike simpler arm robots, the end-effector units at both ends of the Inchworm feature small stereo cameras, LED lights, and a modular quick-connect interface including bus interfaces for power and communication. The Inchworm needs no internal power supplies, relying entirely on power through its end-effector bus connectors and plug-in anchor point grid, though out would be able to carry independent power sources in mobile anchor units. These end effector units are intended to serve alternately as tool-heads and anchor points, thus allowing the robot to traverse a grid of anchor sockets by traveling end-over-end while simultaneously carrying a pallet of modular tools. In addition, sections of the Inchworm arms may optionally include telescoping linear actuators allowing them to expand or contract in length –though the use of this would often depend on load bearing capacities of such mechanisms. would also be able to link end-to-end to create composite robots of greater length, their joints optionally including a lock-pin system to rigidize them in a given position. Originally intended for simple remote control or teleoperation, would also be easily employed with fully automated control based on centralized computers, allowing them to be used in coordinated groups and task/production lines or to off-load certain amounts of their control to overcome limitations in manual communications latency. This would afford them increasing autonomous capability in proportion to this centralized and networked computer intelligence but still allow for direct manual control on demand.

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Space station rice tests show promise

The seedlings reached up to 30 cm.

Chinese astronauts have successfully grown rice seedlings onboard the Tiangong space station. Experts said on Monday that this experiment could provide important information about how astronauts can grow food to support extended space journeys, according to China Daily.

Even though prior rice experiments have been conducted in space, the one carried out aboard Tiangong is the first of its type to attempt to produce the entire life cycle of the plant, which starts with a seed and ends with a full plant generating new seeds.

On July 24, China launched the Wentian space laboratory into orbit to dock it with the Tianhe core module of the Chinese space station.

Chinese astronauts have successfully grown rice seedlings onboard the Tiangong space station and this experiment that may yield key insights into how astronauts can cultivate food to support long-term space missions, experts said on Monday.

While there have been other rice experiments in space, the one being conducted on Tiangong is the first of its kind that aims to produce the complete life cycle of the plant, which begins with a seed and ends with a mature plant producing new seeds.

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