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Category: space travel – Page 4

Traveling to Proxima Centauri B in 100 Years vs 4 Days

This is a sci-fi documentary, looking at 3 different spaceships (nuclear fusion generational spacecraft, cryoship, warp drive) and their different paths to Proxima Centauri B. The video looks at some of the science behind each spacecraft, and how well prepared the passengers arrive at the new planet.

Three journeys venturing far beyond Earth’s solar system, showing the future science of space travel, exploration, and future space technology.

Personal inspiration in creating this video comes from: the movie Interstellar (Endurance), The Expanse TV show (The Nauvoo), and Star Trek Next Generation (The Enterprise).

PATREON
The third volume of ‘The Encyclopedia of the Future’ is now available on my Patreon.

Visit my Patreon here: / venturecity.

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Acting NASA Administrator Reflects on Legacy of Astronaut Jim Lovell

The following is a statement from acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy on the passing of famed Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. He passed away Aug. 7, in Lake Forest, Illinois. He was 97 years old.

NASA sends its condolences to the family of Capt. Jim Lovell, whose life and work inspired millions of people across the decades. Jim’s character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements.

From a pair of pioneering Gemini missions to the successes of Apollo, Jim helped our nation forge a historic path in space that carries us forward to upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.

Photonaire develop laser propulsion

Imagine a drone that glides through the air without the familiar buzz of propellers or the hum of motors, a machine so quiet and still that it seems to defy the very principles of flight. This is no longer a vision confined to science fiction. A French startup, Photonaire, based in the vibrant city of Lyon, has brought this concept to life with a drone that flies using nothing but light.

By tapping into the power of concentrated laser beams, this groundbreaking invention generates thrust through a phenomenon known as “optical lift,” offering a glimpse into a future where aerial and space technology could be transformed. Photonaire’s creation weighs a mere 90 grams, a featherweight by any standard, yet it carries the weight of innovation on its delicate frame.

Unlike traditional drones that rely on mechanical components to lift off and manoeuvre, this device uses high-powered lasers reflected off ultra-thin metamaterials—materials engineered with precision to harness light in ways that conventional substances cannot. Drawing inspiration from solar sail technology, which uses sunlight to propel spacecraft, and the subtle forces of quantum pressure, the drone hovers and adjusts its path by altering the angle of these reflective surfaces in real time.

NASA’s Artemis Crew Trains in Moonbound Orion Ahead of Mission

The first crew slated to fly in NASA’s Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II mission around the Moon early next year entered their spacecraft for a multi-day training at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crew donned their spacesuits July 31 and boarded Orion to train and experience some of the conditions they can expect on their mission.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen participated in a suited crew test and crew equipment interface test, performing launch day and simulated orbital activities inside Orion.

The Winners of the Project Hyperion Generation Ship Competition have been Announced!

On November 1st, 2024, Project Hyperion — an international, interdisciplinary team of architects, engineers, anthropologists, and urban planners — launched a design competition for crewed interstellar travel. The event was hosted by the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4is), a UK-based non-profit organization dedicated to the robotic and human exploration of exoplanets around nearby stars, and eventually settlement. With a prize purse of $10,000, competitors were tasked with producing concepts for a Generation Ship (aka. Worldships) using current technologies and those that could be realized in the near future.

On July 23rd, 2025, the organization announced the top three competition winners, which were selected from hundreds of ideas submitted by teams worldwide. The winning entries were selected based on how they met all the competition criteria, provided a depth of detail, and integrated the design aspects of architecture, engineering, and social sciences. In short, the top three prizes were awarded to proposals that would allow a society to sustain itself and flourish in a highly resource-constrained environment as they made a centuries-long journey to another habitable planet.

The challenges and hazards of space exploration are well-known and well-documented, ranging from long-duration transits, exposure to radiation, the amount of supplies needed, and the dangers of being cooped up inside a pressurized ship in close quarters with other crew members. As the saying goes, “space is hard,” but interstellar travel is especially difficult and dangerous. Not only are resupply missions not an option for missions venturing so far beyond Earth, but the time and energy it would take for spacecraft to travel to even the nearest star is prohibitive.

Observatory in Greece Achieves Deep-Space Laser Link With NASA’s ‘Psyche’

A milestone in space communication was celebrated in Athens, the capital of Greece, on Wednesday, as the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) was formally recognized by the European Space Agency (ESA) for its pivotal role in the first-ever optical communication link with a spacecraft in deep space, a landmark achievement in international space collaboration.

The groundbreaking laser communication link between NASA’s “Psyche” spacecraft—currently en route to Mars —and Greece’s Kryoneri Observatory in Corinth was established on July 7, 2025. The project, a joint effort by NASA and ESA, involved transmitting a laser message across nearly 300 million kilometers (about 186.4 million miles). The message, sent from Kryoneri, was received shortly afterward at the Helmos Observatory’s Aristarchos Telescope in Achaia, northern Peloponnese, just 37 kilometers (23 miles) away.

This experiment marked the deepest wideband optical communication link ever recorded in space.

Dome-shaped aerogel architecture offers superior toughness and flexibility for spacecraft applications

A new collection of chemically diverse dome-celled ultralight aerogels with high porosity and very low density feature elasticity and mechanical properties that remain intact even under extreme temperatures from 4.2 kelvin (K) to 2273 K.

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