Space – Lifeboat News: The Blog

NASA to Test Fission Power for Future Mars Colony

Posted by Klaus Baldauf in nuclear energy, space

Jun 30
2017

NASA engineers are working on a nuclear fission system to power a human colony on Mars.

MIT space hotel wins NASA graduate design competition

Posted by Klaus Baldauf in habitats, space, transportation | 1 Comment on MIT space hotel wins NASA graduate design competition

Jun 29
2017

The Managed, Reconfigurable, In-space Nodal Assembly (MARINA), developed by MIT graduate students, recently took first place at NASA’s Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts-Academic Linkage Design Competition Forum. MARINA is designed as a habitable commercially owned module for use in low Earth orbit that would be extensible for future use as a Mars transit vehicle.

Image courtesy of the MARINA team.

Made in Space Talks ‘Teleporting’ and the Future of Space-Borne 3D Printing

Posted by Klaus Baldauf in 3D printing, space

Jun 20
2017

The company “Made In Space” is building for space — and in space, for Earth.

Getting Real About Interstellar Probes

Posted by Bruce Dorminey in space

Jun 19
2017

Planning for a full-scale interstellar probe architecture. The long and winding road to Alpha Centauri.

To be successful, interstellar probes will need more than speed.

NASA finds 10 new potentially habitable ‘Earth-like’ worlds

Posted by Aleksandar Vukovic in space

Jun 19
2017

Scientists are using the Kepler space telescope to determine how many exoplanets our galaxy may harbor. And just maybe they’ll answer the question: Are we alone?

NASA has discovered hundreds of potential new planets — and 10 may be like Earth

Posted by Dan Kummer in space | 1 Comment on NASA has discovered hundreds of potential new planets — and 10 may be like Earth

Jun 19
2017

This discovery could mean that billions of habitable, rocky planets exist in our Milky Way galaxy alone.

Researchers build first deployable, walking, soft robot

Posted by Klaus Baldauf in robotics/AI, space

Jun 19
2017

(Phys.org)—Researchers have built the first robot made of soft, deployable materials that is capable of moving itself without the use of motors or any additional mechanical components. The robot “walks” when an electric current is applied to shape-memory alloy wires embedded in its frame: the current heats the wires, causing the robot’s flexible segments to contract and bend. Sequentially controlling the current to various segments in different ways results in different walking gaits.

The researchers expect that the robot’s ability to be easily deployed, along with its low mass, low cost, load-bearing ability, compact size, and ability to be reconfigured into different forms may make it useful for applications such as space missions, seabed exploration, and household objects.

The scientists, Wei Wang et al., at Seoul National University and Sungkyunkwan University, have published a paper on the new robot and other types of deployable structures that can be built using the same method in a recent issue of Materials Horizons.

China Shatters “Spooky Action at a Distance” Record, Preps for Quantum Internet

Posted by Dan Kummer in cybercrime/malcode, internet, quantum physics, space

Jun 18
2017

Results from the Micius satellite test quantum entanglement, pointing the way toward hack-proof global communications—and a new space race.

By Lee Billings on June 15, 2017

Quantum entanglement, science’s ‘spookiest’ phenomenon, achieved in space

Posted by Dan Kummer in particle physics, quantum physics, science, space

Jun 17
2017

Scientists beamed particles from a satellite to two locations on Earth 750 miles apart — and the particles were still mysteriously connected.

A NASA rocket is going to blast colored clouds into space — here’s how to see them

Posted by Brett Gallie II in space | 2 Comments on A NASA rocket is going to blast colored clouds into space — here’s how to see them

Jun 16
2017

Sat 17 June…NASA rocket to blast colored clouds into space…similar to our 2017 SpaceApps Groups Idea : https://2017.spaceappschallenge.org/challenges/warning-dange…er/project

NASA is launching a rocket that will create colorful clouds in space.
The rocket launch and clouds may be visible as far away as New York City.
Such clouds will eventually be used to probe two big holes in Earth’s magnetic shield, called cusps.
The launch will be live-streamed by NASA Wallops Flight Facility.

NASA is about to launch a rocket that will puff out highly visible clouds of red and blue-green vapor into space.

The rocket was supposed to launch on May 31, but bad weather and poor visibility pushed the mission back to Saturday, June 17, with a liftoff time between 9:05 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. EDT.