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Category: space – Page 995

Quantum Internet Is 13 Years Away. Wait, What’s Quantum Internet?

That’s because so much of the technology is still in its infancy. Physicists still can’t control and manipulate quantum signals very well. Pan’s quantum satellite may have been able to send and receive signals, but it can’t really store quantum information—the best quantum memories can only preserve information for less than an hour. And researchers still don’t know what material makes the best quantum memory.

A Chinese physicist hopes that quantum communications will span multiple countries by 2030. So… what’s it for?

Amat Farm

Amat farms (antimatter farms) consist of large banks of solar power collectors which power multicolliders optimally designed to produce antiparticles. The vast showers of collision products which result are sorted magnetically; antimatter particles and other useful species are collected, cooled and held in electric/magnetic traps.

The first amat farms were established in 332 orbiting Sol just outside the orbit of Mercury, known collectively as the Circumsol ring. Several power corporations were involved in this effort, including the Look Outwards Combine, Jerusalem Macrotech and General Dynamics Corporation. In 524 the Jerusalem Macrotech station B4 was destroyed during an unsuccessful raid by Space Cowboys.

Amat fields designed to produce anti-protons are typically 100km or more in diameter; fields which produce positrons are considerably smaller. The antiprotons and positrons are usually combined into anti-hydrogen and frozen for easier storage.

Astronauts may depend upon recycled urine filament for 3D printing in space

“If astronauts are going to make journeys that span several years, we’ll need to find a way to reuse and recycle everything they bring with them,” says Mark A. Blenner, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Clemson University, South Carolina.

To this end, the Blenner Research Group is looking into the potential uses of a type of yeast called Yarrowia lipolytica, that feeds on the urea content of urine.

With a little genetic engineering the group has proven that the yeast can be used to produce hydrogen and carbon – the atomic ingredients of nutrients like Omega 3, and polyester-based 3D printer filament.

Made In Space announces completion of 3D printed radiation shields project

Made In Space has announced the completion of its three-part project focused on the additive manufacturing of radiation shields it launched earlier this summer, and tested them aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

TCT first reported the printing of the protective shields which are being used on NASA’s Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) – connected to the ISS – in May. Made In Space (MIS) used its Additive Manufacturing Facility to produce the shields, which grew in thickness as the testing phase went on. The first was made at 1.1mm thick, the second at 3.3mm and the third at 10mm, all in ABS plastic.

The shields include within them channels which hold Radiation Enclosure Monitors (REM), sensors being used on the BEAM to test for radiation, recording the measurements. Astronauts aboard the ISS would change these devices at regular intervals between April and end of June, when the project concluded.

Entrepreneurs are the next superpowers

Nextbigfuture interviewed Naveen Jain at the Singularity University Global Summit. Naveen K. Jain is a business executive, entrepreneur and the founder and former CEO of InfoSpace and a fonder of Moon Express, Viome, World Innovation Institute, Bluedot, iNome, TalentWise and Intelius. He was Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Silicon India’s “Most Admired Serial Entrepreneur,” and the receiver of “Albert Einstein Technology Medal” for his pioneers in technology, he has been repeatedly honored for his entrepreneurial successes. Red Herring also recognized him as one of the “Top 20 Serial Entrepreneurs” and with the “Lifetime Achievement Award.” In 2015, Naveen Jain had a net worth of $2.2 billion.

The Andromeda Study: A Femto-Spacecraft Mission to Alpha Centauri — Draft report finally published!!!

“This paper discusses the physics, engineering and mission architecture relating to a gram-sized interstellar probe propelled by a laser beam. The objectives are to design a fly-by mission to Alpha Centauri with a total mission duration of 50 years travelling at a cruise speed of 0.1c. Furthermore, optical data from the target star system is to be obtained and sent back to the Solar system. The main challenges of such a mission are presented and possible solutions proposed. The results show that by extrapolating from currently existing technology, such a mission would be feasible. The total mass of the proposed spacecraft is 23g and the space-based laser infrastructure has a beam power output of 15GW. Rurther exploration of the laser — spacecraft tradespace and associated technologies are necessary.”

https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.03556

NASA ‘Cribs’: Tour an Astronaut Habitat for Mock Space Missions (Video)

Ever wonder how astronauts will live on other worlds? Welcome to the Human Exploration Research Analog, or HERA, a habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston built to simulate the isolation of missions to deep space. You can take a tour of the HERA habitat with NASA interns in this new video in the style of the MTV series “Cribs.”

“HERA is a unique three-story habitat designed to serve as an analog for isolation, confinement, and remote conditions in exploration scenarios,” NASA officials explained in a video description. “This video gives a tour of where crew members live, work, sleep, and eat during the analog missions.”