How Solar Energy Keeps the International Space Station Going
Solar energy is a big deal on planet Earth right now. People around the world have discovered its benefits. Its clean, renewable, and affordable. Once you have an array in place, you can power your home or business for decades. Connect Electric wants to also share how solar helps us off-planet just as much as it does at home. The sun is our most plentiful power source, and scientists and researchers have found ways to tap into it on the International Space Station. The Sun is the Answer The International Space Station (ISS) orbits 220 miles above the surface of our planet. That’s a great distance to run a wire…
Why Does the Advisory Committee Want a Smaller ISS Crew?
There are currently six astronauts on the International Space Station right now — three from the United States, two from Russia and one from Japan. You can use this website to see who they are and how many days they’ve been in space. There are even informational profiles for each astronaut, so you can learn more about them. A total of six astronauts doesn’t sound like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but that hasn’t stopped the Advisory Committee from recommending smaller ISS crews going forward. Why does the committee want smaller teams on the International Space Station, and what will this mean for the future of the…
Does Space Tourism Have Health Risks?
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 program and stuck on the ground. Recently, space billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have started to expand the list of people who can travel to space — and it doesn’t require any sort of training at all. There’s one question that hasn’t been asked, even as Tesla, Boeing and others start building their space planes — does this push toward space tourism have any health risks we should…
The International Space Station: Inside and Out [Infographic]
“Begun in 1998 with the launch of the first component from Russia, the construction of the International Space Station (ISS) is the most complex space project ever undertaken. At $100 billion it is in fact the single most expensive object ever built.” Taken from the infographic below:
Non-Rocket Spacelaunch – Space Elevator
Today I’m starting a new series of articles about non-rocket spacelaunch methods. Non-rocket spacelaunch is the idea of reaching outer space without the use of conventional chemical rockets, which is currently the only method in use. Why non-rocket spacelaunch? Because the current chemical rockets are really expensive. In order to further explore outer space and establish a permanent human presence in space we need more cost efficient spacelaunch methods. In fact, present-day launch costs are in the range of $10,000 to $25,000 per kilogram from Earth to low Earth orbit. This is much too expensive for any serious space colonization efforts. Therefore we need to move beyond conventional chemical rockets…
Inflatable Space Stations
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 the idea and developed two working prototypes and tested them in space. The main advantage of inflatable space stations is the fact that they are much lighter and take up less space at launch, which greatly cuts the costs of the whole endeavor. Artist impression of an inflatable space station with two Soyuz-class Russian capsules docked. Image Credits: Bigelow Aerospace. History of the concept of inflatable space stations: In 1961…
