Lifeboat Foundation

A world first. New footage from Mars rendered in stunning 4K resolution.

Although the cameras are high quality, the rate at which the rovers can send data back to earth is the biggest challenge. Curiosity can only send data directly back to earth at 32 kilo-bits per second.

Instead, when the rover can connect to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, we get more favourable speeds of 2 Megabytes per second.

Continue reading “WATCH: MARS in 4K!!” »

Next week, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission will practice touching asteroid Bennu one last time before its big moment. The 4-hour excursion will bring the spacecraft to just 131 ft (40 m) above Bennu.

Here’s a preview of the rehearsal: https://go.nasa.gov/30zVOgR

The James Webb Space Telescope will not be in orbit around the Earth, like the Hubble is, rather it will actually orbit the Sun, 1.5 million kms away from the Earth at the second Lagrange point or L2.

Music: epic cinematic dramatic adventure trailer by romansenykmusic.

Could we build a tower that reaches outer space?

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Landing on Mars : February 2021

Specailty : Look for signs of past or present life and see if humans could one day explore Mars.

Lava Tubes!!

District 13

Despite their larger size, the researchers believe that the lava tubes are surprisingly stable, meaning settlers wouldn’t have to worry about them collapsing around them.

Continue reading “Scientists: Martian Lava Tubes Large Enough to Fit Planetary Base” »

The earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field protect humans from harmful radiation. However, it is a known fact that astronauts are exposed to radiation levels that are 20-fold higher than those found on planet earth. NASA recently did an experiment on the International Space Station after realizing that a fungus growing near the Chernobyl site was thriving on nuclear radiation because of radiosynthesis. The fungus was using melanin to convert gamma radiation into chemical energy. Therefore, space scientists grew the fungus inside the ISS for a month and analyzed its ability to block radiation.

The experiment showed that the Chernobyl fungus, now identified as “Cladosporium sphaerospermum,” was able to block some of the incoming radiation. This finding has implications for future space missions. Scientists are thinking of shielding astronauts and space objects with a layer of this radiation-absorbing protective fungus. Meanwhile, let’s await further updates from NASA. Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section.

Dozens of times over the last decade NASA scientists have launched laser beams at a reflector the size of a paperback novel about 240,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) away from Earth. They announced today, in collaboration with their French colleagues, that they received signal back for the first time, an encouraging result that could enhance laser experiments used to study the physics of the universe.

The reflector NASA scientists aimed for is mounted on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a spacecraft that has been studying the moon from its orbit since 2009. One reason engineers placed the reflector on LRO was so it could serve as a pristine target to help test the reflecting power of panels left on the moon’s surface about 50 years ago. These older reflectors are returning a weak signal, which is making it harder to use them for science.

Scientists have been using reflectors on the moon since the Apollo era to learn more about our nearest neighbor. It’s a fairly straightforward experiment: Aim a beam of light at the reflector and clock the amount of time it takes for the light to come back. Decades of making this one measurement has led to major discoveries.