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Category: space travel – Page 525

International Audacious SpaceInitiative Partners with Brussels-Based ISC Intelligence to Support EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Goals to Meet Global Challenges on Earth

BRUSSELS/HOUSTON, March 5, 2015 – 100 Year Starship™ (100YSS™), an independent, long-term global initiative working to ensure that the capabilities for human interstellar travel, beyond our solar system to another star, exist within the next 100 years today announced the establishment of its hub in the European Union. The inaugural 100YSS@EUä Hub debuted at the ES:GC2 (European Science: Global Challenges Global Collaboration) Conference held by the Brussels partner ISC Intelligence.

The 100YSS@EU Hub will further the 100YSS mission and facilitate robust transatlantic and international collaboration in research and innovation, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) capacity building, entrepreneurship and education projects between organizations, companies, universities and individuals, as well as support the objectives of the EU’s Horizon 2020. The U.S.-based 100YSS began with a competitive seed-funding grant from DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).

Horizon 2020 is the largest EU Research and Innovation programme ever and is aimed at implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative designed to secure Europe’s global competitiveness.

The 100YSS@EU HUB, a partnership between 100YSS and ISC Intelligence in Science, a Brussels-based science and technology public policy firm, will support the European Union’s commitment to enable European competitiveness, non-dependence, and innovation in space activities and the application of space exploration technologies to address many of the global challenges confronting the world today.

“As history has proven, when we explore space, we garner the greatest benefits here at home—witness the widespread use of GPS, weather data, remote sensing for farming, MRI scans,” said former NASA astronaut, engineer and physician Dr. Mae Jemison, who leads 100YSS. “The raison d’etre of 100YSS is to foster radical leaps in knowledge, technology design, and human systems by using the framework of human interstellar travel to enhance life on earth.”

“The challenges we face travelling beyond our solar system to another star – be it energy, massive data handling, sustainable agriculture, education, financial infrastructure, life support, governance or recyclable clothing — will generate transformative research, knowledge, technology and solutions that will dramatically benefit every nation on Earth in the near term and years to come.”

“The European Union has identified space as a key programme area in Horizon 2020. Building the kind of robust space enterprise the EU envisions, requires transatlantic science collaboration, the very potent ingredient the 100YSS@EU HUB offers us,” said Declan Kirrane, Managing Director, ISC Intelligence in Science.

According to Kirrane, the 100YSS@EU Hub will support the EU’s research and exploration projects through a variety of initiatives. They include collaborative international projects in basic sciences and cutting edge space technology and their commercial application including in developing countries; support of bold STEM initiatives such as R&D and innovation accelerator centers; transdisciplinary programs and workshops; international advocacy and best practice STEM education programs; and robust outreach that galvanizes public support.

The 100YSS@EU Hub marks the first such Hub created by 100YSS. Another Hub is soon to be established in South Africa with the Da Vinci Institute.

Both Hubs are part of a global network of research and innovation centers 100YSS is building whose activities include transatlantic collaborations and partnerships with Africa and other emerging regions. The centers partner with governments, industry, academia, and social sector organizations worldwide.

Led by Dr. Jemison, 100YSS is an inclusive initiative. It fosters an approach that first recognizes and then both optimally employs and develops the skills, talents, expertise and perspectives of individuals across gender, ethnicity, race, geography and disciplines. As the first African American woman to travel in space (1992’s Space Shuttle Endeavour), Dr. Jemison brings to her leadership role her vast experience as an engineer, physician, former Peace Corps medical officer, and entrepreneur. Jemison is joined in 100YSS by an impressive cadre of physical, life and social scientists, engineering researchers, entrepreneurs, policy experts, educators and university professors, media professionals, writers and artists.

ABOUT 100 YEAR STARSHIP

100 Year Starship® (100YSS), an independent, non-governmental, long-term initiative to ensure the capabilities for human interstellar flight exist as soon as possible, and definitely within the next 100 years. 100YSS was started in 2012 with seed-funding through a competitive grant from DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and support from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) for the purpose of fostering the type of explosive innovation and technology and social advances born from addressing such an incredible challenge. 100YSS is part of the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence. For more information, visit www.100yss.org.

On social media:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/100YearStarship

Twitter: @100YSS

ABOUT ISC Intelligence

ISC is a Brussels-based communication firm specialized in science, technology and R&D research and policy. ISC provides intelligence on science and innovation policy and programs and has over a decade of experience in science communication at the European and international levels. For more information, visit http://www.iscintelligence.com/.

On social media:

Twitter: @iscintelligence

ISC Contact:

Declan Kirrane

ISC Intelligence in Science

[email protected]

+32 (0) 2 88 88 109

www.iscintelligence.com

100YSS Contact:

Stephanie Hornback/Cynthia Carway

Carway Communications, Inc.

[email protected]

212−378−2020

By — Singularity Hub
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As a kid, I devoured Star Trek: The Next Generation, and though it now appears nearly as campy as the original series did back then, I still love it. But Star Trek led me astray. I thought exploration for the sake of exploration would get us to the stars. Now, I’m not so sure. Fifty years in, and we humans are still stuck in low-Earth orbit.

First comes a smattering of fiery idealists blazing trails and climbing peaks. The risks are high and the returns are individual fame, newly detailed maps, and a general sense of awe.

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By — Newsweek
Team-micro_gravity_test_2013

The impact that 3-D printing is having on our world is impossible to ignore. It’s not new technology, but its 30-year history has been characterized by deceptively slow growth —until now. 3-D printing has recently emerged as a force poised to disrupt a significant portion of the $10 trillion global manufacturing industry.

Already, the printing of standard consumer products—bowls, plates, smartphone cases, bottle openers, jewelry and purses (made from mesh)—has gone from a hobby to a nascent industry. Dozens of websites now sell goods made with 3-D printers, and retailers are starting to get in on the action.

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By Jason Dunn — Singularity Hub

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One day everything in space will be made in space, and this will radically increase the potential for human space exploration.

I recently read a novella that explores this very idea (see below for an excerpt). Cory Doctorow’s “The Man Who Sold The Moon” appears in Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future, an anthology of hopeful, ambitious, technically-grounded science fiction stories set in the near future. In the story, a small team takes on the daunting mission of launching a machine to the Moon that collects lunar regolith (moon dirt) and 3D prints structural housing panels for a future settlement.

This idea is at the heart of a decades-old quest to create truly sustainable and Earth-independent space exploration. In the summer of 1980, a team at NASA Ames Research Center showed a simple set of machines could be sent to the lunar surface to mine resources and replicate themselves.

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by Stephen Clark — Spaceflight Now

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flew nine times in 2014, more than any other U.S. launcher. Credit: ULA

There were more successful space launches in 2014 than in any year since 1992, with Russia, the United States and China responsible for more than 80 percent of global launch activity.

Russia had the most liftoffs with 36 orbital launch attempts — 34 were deemed complete successes — and the United States came in second with 23 space launches, with all but one reaching its intended target.

Chinese rockets were 16-for-16 in satellite launches last year.

There were 92 space launches worldwide in 2014, and 90 of the missions at least reached orbit. One of those flights — a Russian-made Soyuz rocket launched from French Guiana — failed to put its payload in the correct orbit.

That figure marks the highest number of launch attempts since 1994, when there were 93 launches with spacecraft passengers heading for Earth orbit or beyond.

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New Book: An Irreverent Singularity Funcyclopedia, by Mondo 2000’s R.U. Sirius.

Posted by Rob Chamberlain in 3D printing, alien life, automation, big data, bionic, bioprinting, biotech/medical, complex systems, computing, cosmology, cryptocurrencies, cybercrime/malcode, cyborgs, defense, disruptive technology, DNA, driverless cars, drones, economics, electronics, encryption, energy, engineering, entertainment, environmental, ethics, existential risks, exoskeleton, finance, first contact, food, fun, futurism, general relativity, genetics, hacking, hardware, human trajectories, information science, innovation, internet, life extension, media & arts, military, mobile phones, nanotechnology, neuroscience, nuclear weapons, posthumanism, privacy, quantum physics, robotics/AI, science, security, singularity, software, solar power, space, space travel, supercomputing, time travel, transhumanism

Quoted: “Legendary cyberculture icon (and iconoclast) R.U. Sirius and Jay Cornell have written a delicious funcyclopedia of the Singularity, transhumanism, and radical futurism, just published on January 1.” And: “The book, “Transcendence – The Disinformation Encyclopedia of Transhumanism and the Singularity,” is a collection of alphabetically-ordered short chapters about artificial intelligence, cognitive science, genomics, information technology, nanotechnology, neuroscience, space exploration, synthetic biology, robotics, and virtual worlds. Entries range from Cloning and Cyborg Feminism to Designer Babies and Memory-Editing Drugs.” And: “If you are young and don’t remember the 1980s you should know that, before Wired magazine, the cyberculture magazine Mondo 2000 edited by R.U. Sirius covered dangerous hacking, new media and cyberpunk topics such as virtual reality and smart drugs, with an anarchic and subversive slant. As it often happens the more sedate Wired, a watered-down later version of Mondo 2000, was much more successful and went mainstream.”

Read the article here >https://hacked.com/irreverent-singularity-funcyclopedia-mondo-2000s-r-u-sirius/

elon.musk

The Lifeboat Foundation Guardian Award is annually bestowed upon a respected scientist or public figure who has warned of a future fraught with dangers and encouraged measures to prevent them.

The 2014 Lifeboat Foundation Guardian Award has been given to Elon Musk in recognition of his warnings about artificial intelligence, his promotion of space exploration including the creation of self-sustaining space colonies, and his efforts to improve our environment with electric cars and to expand solar energy generation.

Elon is often likened to a real-life Tony Stark from Marvel’s Iron Man comics for his role in cutting-edge companies including SpaceX, a private space exploration company that holds the first private contracts from NASA for resupply of the International Space Station, and the electric car company Tesla Motors. Watch Elon in Iron Man 2!

Artificial Intelligence

Elon recently described his investments in AI research as “keeping an eye on what’s going on” rather than aiming for a viable return on capital. He said, “I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful.”

Considering that oversight of AI development by governmental and nongovernmental agencies is about zero, it is helpful for Elon to bring attention to this matter. For example, thanks to warnings like his, Google now has an AI Ethics Board. (This matters since Google is putting a lot of resources into creating smarter and smarter AIs.)

Self-Sustaining Space Colonies

There are many existential risks that could be survived if we had self-sustaining colonies outside of the Earth. Elon said, “What matters is being able to establish a self-sustaining civilization on Mars, and I don’t see anything being done but SpaceX. I don’t see anyone else even trying.” He also said, “Sooner or later, we must expand life beyond this green and blue ball — or go extinct.”

Elon is CEO and CTO of SpaceX. Historic achievements by SpaceX, among others, include the first privately funded, liquid-fueled rocket (Falcon 1) to reach orbit in September 2008; the first privately funded company to successfully launch (Falcon 9), orbit, and recover a spacecraft (Dragon) in December 2010; and the first private company to send a spacecraft (Dragon) to the International Space Station in May 2012. The launch of SES-8 in December 2013 was the first SpaceX delivery into geosynchronous orbit.

Sustainable Energy

Elon is CEO, Chairman, and Product Architect of Tesla Motors. Tesla first gained widespread attention following their production of the Tesla Roadster, the first fully electric sports car. The company’s second vehicle is the Model S, a fully electric luxury sedan, and its next two vehicles are the Models X and 3 respectively.

Tesla also markets electric powertrain components, including lithium-ion battery packs to automakers including Daimler and Toyota. Elon has said that he envisions Tesla as an independent automaker, aimed at eventually offering electric cars at prices affordable to the average consumer.

Elon is Chairman of SolarCity, the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States. Continuing its strong growth, the United States installed 1,354 megawatts of solar photovoltaics in Q3 2014, up 41 percent over the same period last year. Only 440 megawatts had been installed in all of 2009 to show how fast this market is growing.

Written By: — Singularity Hub

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Why blow billions of dollars on space exploration when billions of people are living in poverty here on Earth?

You’ve likely heard the justifications. The space program brings us useful innovations and inventions. Space exploration delivers perspective, inspiration, and understanding. Because it’s the final frontier. Because it’s there.

What you haven’t heard is anything to inspire a sense of urgency. Indeed, NASA’s struggle to defend its existence and funding testifies to how weak these justifications sound to a public that cares less about space than seemingly more pressing needs.

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James Vincent — The Independent

In a quiet announcement that has sent shockwaves through the scientific world, Nasa has cautiously given its seal of approval to a new type of “impossible” engine that could revolutionize space travel.

In a paper published by the agency’s experimental Eagleworks Laboratories, Nasa engineers confirmed that they had produced tiny amounts of thrust from an engine without propellant – an apparent violation of the conservation of momentum; the law of physics that states that every action must have an equal and opposite reaction.

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