Lifeboat Foundation

The International Space Station is your orbiting laboratory, and the science being conducted there will help us push farther into deep space, while providing benefits back on Earth. Microgravity unlocks new worlds of discovery. Dive into what we’re learning: 🔬🚀.

Lucy is a mission to primitive asteroids orbiting Jupiter, where we’ll learn about planetary origins and the formation of the solar system. Lucy will complete a 12-year journey to seven different asteroids, more destinations in independent orbits than any space mission in history.

ConsenSys has acquired the private space outfit.

The orbital laboratory is about to mark its 20th anniversary.

100 years ago Einstein first described his general theory of relativity. This theory had a profound effect on physics and our understanding of the universe.

Four is the point Max Faget and Paul Pursur were trying to make in their quest to prove that harnessing that many modified Sergeant engines would make a $200,000 vehicle that would perform as well and with more flexibility, and would less cost than a $2.5 million Atlas or $1 million Redstone rocket.

Faget and Purser were two NASA space pioneers, whose aim was testing some of the Mercury components that would evolve into Apollo, including the escape and parachute systems and recovery methods, plus the performance of the space capsule under pressure at altitude.

Little Joe got off to an ignominious start when it blew its top one day at Wallops Island.

Continue reading “NASA: It was called ‘Little Joe,’ because it was like rolling a two on each of the dice in a craps game” »

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Take a virtual tour of the moon in 4K.

Over the past few months, I was part of a study funded by the United Launch Alliance and supported by a large group of technologists to determine if we can mine water on the Moon and turn it into rocket fuel, and to do it economically. The final report can be downloaded here.

Why Mine Water on the Moon?

The lunar water would be launched off the Moon and delivered to a “gas station” in Earth orbit. This propellant depot will use solar energy to turn the water into rocket fuel. Then, space tugs can refill their tanks so they can repeatedly boost spacecraft from Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) (where the launch rocket throws them) into Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO) where they can begin operating.