Lifeboat Foundation

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Physicists have been chasing antimatter technology for more than 80 years now — driven by the promise of oppositely oriented particles that explode in a burst of energy whenever they make contact with their more common counterpart. If we could tame antimatter, those explosions could be used to power a new generation of technology, from molecular scanners to rocket engines to the so-called “annihilation laser,” a tightly concentrated energy beam fueled by annihilating positrons. But while scientists have seen recent breakthroughs in creating the particles, they still have trouble capturing and containing them.

A new metal alloy keeps its flexibility and strength after high doses of radiation, making it potentially useful for building spacecraft or Mars colonies.

SpaceX has once again stack Starship 24 with Booster 7 ahead of launch prep tests. It is being prepped for an orbital test flight that will send Ship 24 around Earth once, wrapping up with a splashdown off the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Credit: SpaceX

HOUSTON, Oct. 18, 2022 – The nonprofit Space Center Houston is advancing a Facilities Master Plan to support the growing need for space exploration learning and training in two massive structures that will also give the public a front row seat into the development of robotics, rovers, lunar landers and reduced gravity systems. Today, the center offered a glimpse of the facility that will include two enclosed simulated cosmic terrains of the Moon and Mars, as well as modular surface labs and STEM learning centers. An elevated exhibit hall over the two surfaces will offer the public immersive experiences to observe astronaut training first-hand while experiencing the future of space exploration as humans return to the Moon and eventually on to Mars.

Space Center Houston is responding to the opportunities and challenges in a rapidly evolving space sector, including the need for facilities built for current and future missions, while sharing this excitement with the public and addressing critical gaps in the development of the STEM workforce through its education programs. The facility will bring together guests, NASA, commercial space partners, colleges, universities and global space agencies to collaborate on new technologies that are propelling present and future human spaceflight.

For 30 years, Space Center Houston has chronicled the journey of human spaceflight while empowering and inspiring people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “Space is expanding once again and a new space age is upon us,” said William T. Harris, President and CEO Space Center Houston. “With new ambitions, new players and new challenges, we will shift our focus from being a curator of past achievements to also facilitating new feats in space.”

Early Earth was quite the place.

For the first time, astronomers have been able to estimate the length of the day and the distance to the Moon as it was almost two and a half billion years ago.

The invention relates to the use of the collision of matter and antimatter as a means of propulsion in a spacecraft, to the control system for said engine and to a block diagram of the connections for same, in which all of the functions are divided into modules. Said invention refers to a form of propulsion that is totally different to those know at present, which enables spacecraft to move considerably faster in outer space and to reach up to one third of the speed light owing to the controlled collision of matter and antimatter. The control system works in conjunction with the engine in order to control the collision and to maintain the optimal parameters for performing said movement.

It is the first in a series of private launches that will culminate in the first crewed Starship spaceflight.

SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission will include the first-ever commercial spacewalk. The mission, funded and commanded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, is part of the Polaris Program, a series of launches that will include the first-ever crewed Starship spaceflight.

The first of these, Polaris Dawn, was originally slated for late 2022. As is often the case with rocket launches, several factors have come into play, pushing the mission back to no earlier than March 2023, as per an update to the Polaris Program’s website first reported by Space.com.

Continue reading “SpaceX’s private Polaris Dawn mission could launch” »

Pictures of the sky can show us cosmic wonders; movies can bring them to life. Movies from NASA’s NEOWISE space telescope are revealing motion and change across the sky.

Every six months, NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or NEOWISE, spacecraft completes one trip halfway around the Sun, taking images in all directions. Stitched together, those images form an “all-sky” map showing the location and brightness of hundreds of millions of objects. Using 18 all-sky maps produced by the spacecraft (with the 19th and 20th to be released in March 2023), scientists have created what is essentially a time-lapse movie of the sky, revealing changes that span a decade.

Continue reading “NASA telescope takes 12-year time-lapse movie of entire sky” »

Crew-5 includes a Russian astronaut and the first Native American woman in space.

SpaceX’s latest crewed launch has reached the International Space Station (ISS).

The Crew-5 astronaut mission launched at noon local time on Wednesday, October 5, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.