The following infographic describes the history of computers and extrapolates their future. New technologies will dramatically change the way we use and interact with computers. New computing methods will bring more powerful and efficient computers.
Europe’s ambition for a spacecraft to return autonomously from low orbit is a cornerstone for a wide range of space applications, including space transportation, exploration and robotic servicing of space infrastructure. Continue reading
Sample return is something of a holy grail to planetary explorers. The advantage is that age dating and extensive compositional analysis can be done better with modern instruments in Earth-based laboratories than on miniaturized instruments that have to prepared years in advance for space flight. Continue reading
About one in 10 rocky planets around stars like our Sun may host a moon proportionally as large as Earth’s, researchers say. Our Moon is disproportionately large – more than a quarter of Earth’s diameter – a situation once thought to be rare. Continue reading
Making your own spaceplane from scratch is obviously not an easy task, which is why we’re not all going to the moon on weekends. Reaction Engines is taking it seriously, though, and their Skylon spaceplane concept has just passed a technical review by the European Space Agency, moving it one step closer to reality. Continue reading
Lamborghini Insecta Concept The Lamborghini Insecta Concept is a design study of a 2-seater mid-engined supercar created by Romanian Iulian Bumbu. The design combines the brand’s styling cues with elements inspired by insect exoskeletons. As Iulian Bumbu explains “The idea … Continue reading
In fifty years of spaceflight, only 285 piloted spaceships were launched, carrying 1,154 travellers. Since some of them flew more than once, only 515 human beings have flown in space. And only two dozen Americans ventured beyond Earth orbit, up to the Moon, twelve of them having walked on it. Continue reading
Like the Moon, Mercury is also airless. Once its bulk density was determined I became less scientifically interested in it. Density is an important piece of data for modeling the evolution of the solar system. Continue reading
Unlike conventional rockets, launch loops can have many launches per hour, independent of weather, and are not inherently polluting. Rockets create pollution such as nitrates in their exhausts due to high exhaust temperature, and can also create greenhouse gases depending on propellant choices. Continue reading
Thirty-five years ago, Gerard K. O’Neill wrote: “We are so used to living on a planetary surface that it is a wrench for us even to consider continuing our normal human activities in another location”. He concluded that the best place for a growing industrial society is not on the Earth… Continue reading