Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: space

The violent death throes of a nearby star so thoroughly disrupted its planetary system that the dead star left behind—known as a white dwarf—is sucking in debris from both the system’s inner and outer reaches, UCLA astronomers and colleagues report today.

This is the first case of cosmic cannibalism in which astronomers have observed a white dwarf consuming both rocky-metallic material, likely from a nearby asteroid, and icy material, presumed to be from a body similar to those found in the Kuiper belt at the fringe of our own solar system.

“We have never seen both of these kinds of objects accreting onto a white dwarf at the same time,” said lead researcher Ted Johnson, a physics and astronomy major at UCLA who graduated last week. “By studying these white dwarfs, we hope to gain a better understanding of planetary systems that are still intact.”

Read more | >

SPACE weather experts are keeping a close eye on an “enormous sunspot” that’s doubled in size in the past 24 hours.

The unstable patch on the solar surface is directly facing Earth so if it bursts it could fling solar flares our way.

A solar flare isn’t expected to hit yet but it could be possible if the sunspot continues to grow and behave in an unstable manner.

Read more | >

We’re live now, on Space Renaissance YouTube channel, with Wes Faires, giving a lecture on space law:

The Working Group on Space Resources under the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS), presents an opportunity for a legally binding instrument to develop under the auspices of the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNOOSA), and do so in a manner favorable to space resource utilization for the private sector. The intended result of the Working Group, as stated its 5 years workplan, is to conclude discussions on the development of space resources followed with possible adoption by the United Nations General Assembly as a dedicated resolution or other action. This presentation draws a parallel to a similar scenario with regard to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), where a working group on Deep Sea-Bed resources, executed via specific legal channels within the United Nations, led to a legally binding instrument: The 1994 Agreement on Implementation, resulting in a modification of the international framework governing ocean floor minerals.
The avenue utilized for the execution of the 1994 Agreement on Implementation for UNCLOS provides a course for legally binding instrument to develop via the Working Group on Space Resources. Such an instrument could serve to interpret and elaborate on ambiguities within the Outer Space Treaty framework, while avoiding any parallels to the commercially harmful aspects of the top-down governance structure embedded within the International Seabed Authority.

A short bio.

Continue reading “Toward an Acceptable Framework for Off-Planet Resource Utilization, with Wes Faires” | >

Like many other industries, the space exploration process is also adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics to fast-track its mission. This leads us to great lengths and never explored places. Emerging technologies like machine learning and deep learning are organizations working in space programs an opportunity to embrace AI and robotics. Robots help the space exploration process through the mechanical design of planetary rovers, the mechanical design of space manipulators, actuators and sensors of space robots, end-effector/tools of space robots, reconfigurable robots, and robot mobility. Here are some exemplary cases of robotics and AI in space tech.

1. Canadian Space Association launched Dextre, a robotic arm designed to install and replace small equipment such as exterior cameras or the 100-kg batteries used on the Space Station, and to test new tools and robotics techniques.

2. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were designed to conduct close-up studies of Jupiter and Saturn, Saturn’s rings, and both Jupiter and Saturn’s largest moon. These robots are still communicating information via the Deep Space Network (DSN) and are presently closer to Pluto than to Earth or the sun.

Read more | >

So Excited!!…We Are All Invited!!…❤️🕶❤️…

NASA, in partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), will release the James Webb Space Telescope’s first full-color images and spectroscopic data during a televised broadcast beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 12, from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Read more | >

Ten years ago today, China sent a crew to its thus-far unoccupied Tiangong-1 space station. When the crew arrived two days later, the nation joined Russia and the United States in a rarified spacefaring club that marked the beginning of China’s space ascent.

On June 16, 2012, the China Manned Space Agency launched the Shenzhou-9 mission. Its three-person crew — commander Jing Haipeng, major Liu Wang, and China’s first woman in space, major Liu Yang — flew into Earth orbit atop a Long March rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Mongolia in the Gobi Desert. They successfully docked with China’s Tiangong-1 space lab on June 18.

It was a long time coming. In 2008, China successfully docked its Shenzhou 8 craft to the Tiangong-1 space station. But both the space station and its new addition were uncrewed, guided on the ground by mission control. That left it up to the Shenzhou 9 crew to make history by taking it literally into their own hands. Taikonaut Liu Wang piloted Shenzhou 9 toward Tiangong-1, easing into position for a soft docking. After securing various bolts and locks, ground control began equalizing the air pressure between the capsule and station. Three hours later, the crew entered the station.

Read more | >

Though the planets are outside of their star’s habitable zone, as they orbit too closely, “there might be more planets in the system,” according to Avi Shporer, one of the scientists involved in the new study. “There are many multiplanet systems hosting five or six planets, especially around small stars like this one. Hopefully, we will find more, and one might be in the habitable zone. That’s optimistic thinking.”

Either way, the multiplanet system will likely be a focal point for future studies, shedding new insight into planetary formation and the evolution of alien worlds, helping the astronomical community better understand how our own planet came into existence.

Read more | >