We’ve been sending men and women into space since the late 1960s, and we’ve spent the better part of the last 60 years studying the effect that space travel has on the human body. Recently, we’ve discovered a new and … Continue reading
Until recently, the idea of traveling to space was restricted to highly trained, healthy and strong individuals called astronauts. If you had any health problems, even something simple like flat feet or glasses could keep you out of the space … Continue reading
Elon Musk has a net worth of $11.9 billion while Richard Branson has a net worth of $4.8 billion. If they stacked their respective fortunes in $1 bills atop each other, the tower would reach six million miles, almost 25 times the distance between the earth and the moon. And that is, in a metaphorical way, exactly what the two plan to do. Continue reading
The youngest planet yet discovered has been found orbiting within the disk of dust and gas surrounding the star Lk Ca 15. The planet is more than just young: it may still be in the process of formation. Continue reading
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
Astronomers say they have found a previously inconceivable phenomenon: planets that do not appear to be anchored to a host star but instead wander the heavens unbound. In a two-year scan of the cosmos, 10 planets with roughly the mass of Jupiter, have been found… 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
Ferengi smugglers shake in their boots as the first step towards tractor beams is announced. In the past, lasers have been used only to impart forward momentum to their targets. They hit objects with photons, and those objects move forward with the beam of light (or burst into flame). Continue reading
NASA is considering the use of inflatable modules for the International Space Station (ISS). This idea has been proposed as early as in the 1960s, but it has never been put to use in space until Bigelow Aerospace took over … Continue reading