Lifeboat Foundation

NASA’s most advanced Mars rover, Perseverance, will launch from Earth on 30 July on a mission to seek out signs of ancient microbial life on what was once a river delta three-and-a-half billion years ago.

NASA’s next rover to the Red Planet is slated to launch no earlier than July 30. These highlights will get you up to speed on the ambitious mission.

Continue reading “7 Things to Know About the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission” »

Circa 2019

The European Space Agency (ESA) study is investigating how practical constructing a manned base on the moon only using 3D printing technology could be, given that it would rely primarily on lunar dirt for building materials.

“Terrestrial 3D printing technology has produced entire structures,” Laurent Pambaguian, who heads the project for ESA, said in a statement. “Our industrial team investigated if it could similarly be employed to build a lunar habitat.”

Circa 2016

“In 2050 there will be trillions of self-replicating robot factories on the asteroid belt,” he tells the audience at WIRED2016.

Continue reading “VIDEO: Trillions of self replicating robots will likely colonize the galaxy” »

Let’s go behind the scenes. 🎬

Starting on July 15, a new video miniseries explores the intricate world of Hubble Space Telescope operations. What does it take to keep such a complex machine working for more than 30 years? In three episodes, “Hubble – Eye in the Sky” takes a never-before-seen look at how this groundbreaking space telescope operates.

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SPOCK looks into the future — and sees which distant worlds will survive.

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), a recently-discovered visitor from distant parts of our Solar System, is putting on a spectacular nighttime display.

What is more powerful than suction cup and even a vacuum pump, but was not invented by humans?

Answer: a gecko’s foot. NASA has decided to copy the lizard’s incredible gripping technology, which relies on electrostatic attractions, in its Gecko Gripper robot. This is not coming from an internet troll trying to sell car insurance. The space agency partnered with OnRobot, which specializes in finger-like robotic grippers, to create a device that can (so far) lift 14 pounds. The radiation-resistant pads could literally mean a huge step forward for getting around in space.

Astrophysicists have devised a clever way to count up the photons in space, stretching back to the cosmos’ adolescence.

The center of our very own galaxy might be one of the Universe’s most mysterious places. Astronomers have to probe through thick dust to see what’s going on there.

All that dust makes life difficult for astronomers who are trying to understand all the radiation in the center of the Milky Way, and what exactly its source is.

A new study based on 20 years of data – and a hydrogen bubble where there shouldn’t be one – is helping astronomers understand all that energy.