Cosmic concrete developed from space dust and astronaut blood
Monday, 13 September 2021 13:30
Transporting a single brick to Mars can cost more than a million British pounds—making the future construction of a Martian colony seem prohibitively expensive. Scientists at The University of Manchester have now developed a way to potentially overcome this problem, by creating a concrete-like material made of extra-terrestrial dust along with the blood, sweat and tears of astronauts.
In their study, published today in Materials Today Bio, a protein from human blood, combined with a compound from urine, sweat or tears, could glue together simulated moon or Mars soil to produce a material stronger than ordinary concrete, perfectly suited for construction work in extra-terrestrial environments.
The cost of transporting a single brick to Mars has been estimated at about US$2 million, meaning future Martian colonists cannot bring their building materials with them, but will have to utilize resources they can obtain on-site for construction and shelter. This is known as in-situ resource utilization (or ISRU) and typically focusses on the use of loose rock and Martian soil (known as regolith) and sparse water deposits.
SpaceX Inspiration4 mission will send four people with minimal training into orbit
Monday, 13 September 2021 10:50
On Sept. 15, 2021, the next batch of space tourists are set to lift off aboard a SpaceX rocket. Organized and funded by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, the Inspiration4 mission touts itself as "the first all-civilian mission to orbit" and represents a new type of space tourism.
The four crew members will not be the first space tourists this year. In the past few months, the world witnessed billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos launching themselves and a lucky few others into space on brief suborbital trips.
Perseverance collects first Mars samples
Monday, 13 September 2021 09:22
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has collected and stored the first samples of Martian rock for later return to Earth, but exactly when those samples will arrive on Earth remains uncertain.
SpaceX to launch private, all-civilian crew into Earth orbit
Monday, 13 September 2021 04:19
SpaceX is set to launch four people into space Wednesday on a three-day mission that is the first to orbit the Earth with exclusively private citizens on board, as Elon Musk's company enters the space tourism fray.
The "Inspiration4" mission caps a summer that saw billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos cross the final frontier, on Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin spaceships respectively Space tourism: What's on offer
Monday, 13 September 2021 04:19
A few minutes of weightlessness, or a few days. A short hop above the Earth's atmosphere, or a journey to the Moon and back... the era of space tourism is upon us, and - for those who can pay - it comes with many options.
This year has been an important one for the up-and-coming sector, with a slew of new missions announced. Here is the state of play.
- SpaceX -
1/ INSPIRATION4 A billionaire, a cancer survivor... Who will be on the next SpaceX mission?
Monday, 13 September 2021 04:19
For the first time on Wednesday, SpaceX is due to send into orbit a crew made up entirely of complete novices, without a professional astronaut on board.
The four passengers are supposed to embody the opening-up of space to everyone, giving the mission its name: Inspiration4.
A billionaire, Jared Isaacman, is behind the project. It was he who chartered the mission, at his own expense, Potential component defect to delay next Virgin Galactic flight
Sunday, 12 September 2021 19:36
Virgin Galactic is further delaying its next SpaceShipTwo suborbital flight in order to check a potential issue the company says is unrelated to an ongoing FAA investigation.
Northrop Grumman demonstrates connectivity for long range command and control
Sunday, 12 September 2021 08:29
Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully demonstrated a data link for connecting aircraft in highly contested airspace for long-range command and control through an open architecture network. This experiment is a critical milestone in the evolution of a distributed multi-domain battle management command and control architecture that maintains decision superiority for the U.S. military and a It's time for Australia to develop its own guided missiles
Sunday, 12 September 2021 08:29
Step by step, Australia is inching its way towards more autonomy in defence.
On Wednesday, Defence Minister Peter Dutton was reported to have signalled greater access to US missile technology will be a key test of the US-Australia alliance at a closed meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia.
In March Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the defence department woul France to boost cyber warfare force
Sunday, 12 September 2021 08:29
The French defence ministry on Wednesday announced plans to significantly boost the country's four-year-old cyber warfare force, citing the "growing number and gravity" of hacking attacks on the country.
The government had already planned to add an additional 1,100 recruits to a unit created in response to the growing number of cyber attacks on the West, mostly blamed on Russia and China. NASA's Perseverance rover collects puzzle pieces of Mars' history
Saturday, 11 September 2021 23:46
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover successfully collected its first pair of rock samples, and scientists already are gaining new insights into the region. After collecting its first sample, named "Montdenier," Sept. 6, the team collected a second, "Montagnac," from the same rock Sept. 8.
Analysis of the rocks from which the Montdenier and Montagnac samples were taken and from the rover's previ Antennas searching for ET threatened by wildfire
Saturday, 11 September 2021 23:46
The Allen Telescope Array, an ensemble of 42 antennas used in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), is once again threatened by wildfires. The scientists and engineers normally on-site have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, and in response to an order from the Shasta County Sheriff's Office.
The Dixie Fire, which is currently approximately 12 miles south of the Arra CuPID CubeSat will get new perspective on Sun-Earth boundary
Saturday, 11 September 2021 23:46
When you help build a satellite the size of a shoebox, you learn pretty much everything about it, says Emil Atz, a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Boston University. You learn how to write a proposal to fund it, how to place the screws that hold it together, how to test each instrument to ensure it functions properly.
And then you learn how to say goodbye.
"It's a scary fe ASU-developed ShadowCam is incorporated into Korean spacecraft
Saturday, 11 September 2021 23:46
The ASU-developed ShadowCam instrument was successfully shipped to the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and incorporated into the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) spacecraft. The project is set to be the Republic of Korea's first space exploration mission to travel beyond Earth in August 2022.
The KPLO engineering team is now running functional tests on the ShadowCam, a cam DLR agrees cooperation with Spanish start-up Pangea Aerospace
Saturday, 11 September 2021 23:46
The German Federal Government is turning to efficient start-ups in its quest to ensure independent and competitive access to space for Europe. With their ideas and vision, they can accelerate the development of new technologies in the launcher market. To further that goal, the German Aerospace Center Lampoldshausen site signed an agreement with the Spanish start-up Pangea Aerospace this summer 2