As satellites collect larger and larger amounts of data, engineers and researchers are implementing solutions to manage these huge increases.

The cutting-edge Earth science satellites launching in the next couple of years will give more detailed views of our planet than ever before. We'll be able to track small-scale ocean features like coastal currents that move nutrients vital to marine food webs, monitor how much fresh water flows through lakes and rivers, and spot movement in Earth's surface of less than half an inch (a centimeter).

In February of 2013, skywatchers around the world turned their attention toward asteroid 2012 DA14, a cosmic rock about 150 feet (50 meters) in diameter that was going to fly closer to Earth than the spacecraft that bring us satellite TV.

Little did they realize as they prepared for the once-in-several-decades event that another bit of celestial debris was hurtling toward Earth, with a more direct heading. On Feb. 15, 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteor, a roughly 62-foot (19 meter)-diameter asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, as it entered Earth's atmosphere at a shallow angle. The blast shattered windows and damaged buildings, and nearly two thousand people were hurt, though thankfully no one died.

"It turned out that two completely independent asteroids were coming by that day," said Philip Lubin, UC Santa Barbara professor of physics, and one of the many scientists anticipating 2012 DA14's near-Earth rendezvous. "One of them we knew was going to miss the Earth. The other one, we didn't even know it was coming."

For Lubin and scientists like him, incidents like these underline the importance of robust planetary defense—the detection, tracking, characterization and ultimately defense against potentially dangerous asteroids and comets.

"Star Trek" actor William Shatner finally became a real space traveler on Blue Origin's second crewed mission Wednesday, calling it the most profound experience of his life.

"It was unbelievable," said the 90-year-old Canadian, known to the sci-fi show's legion of "Trekkies" as the daring Captain James T. Kirk, a role he first played more than half a century ago.

He was joined on the 11-minute journey beyond Earth's atmosphere and back again by three others: Blue Origin executive Audrey Powers, Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen, and Glen de Vries of Medidata Solutions.

A New Shepard rocket took off from the company's West Texas base around 9:49 am (1449 GMT) after experiencing two brief delays, eventually soaring to 66 miles (106 kilometers) above sea level.

Is space really the final frontier? William Shatner is set to find out as he boldly goes where no 90-year-old has gone before. Some 55 years after Captain James T Kirk hit our screens in the original Star Trek, Shatner will launch to the edge of space aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard for a ten-minute sub-orbital flight.

Shatner will become the oldest person to go to space, breaking the record set only recently by 82-year-old Wally Funk, who traveled on the New Shepard's first crewed spaceflight in July. Funk was one of the Mercury 13 women who qualified for spaceflight in the 1960s but never flew.

With commercial spaceflight companies now taking older people to space, it's timely to consider the potential physical impact space flight might have on them.

In just a few days in space, the human body starts to adapt. Astronauts' bones start to lose density and their muscles become smaller and weaker because they're not being used to stand up against gravity or to move around.

As veteran actor William Shatner—Captain Kirk of "Star Trek" fame—becomes the latest celebrity to go into space on Wednesday, we look at the recent rush of amateur astronauts.

Beam me up, Bezos

Shatner went where no 90-year-old has gone before aboard Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket.

The Canadian became the oldest person to go into space on the flight, beating pioneering female pilot Wally Funk, 82, who also flew with Bezos in July.

Shatner experienced a few minutes of weightlessness 60 miles (100 kilometres) from Earth, before returning in the reuseable rocket.

Bezos and his brother Mark were also on Blue Origin's maiden mission in July.

Russian first

Last week, Russian actress Yulia Peresild blasted off to the International Space Station with a film director to try to pip the United States in making the first feature film in orbit.

They want to best "Mission Impossible" star Tom Cruise who announced his own movie project with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX last year.

They hope to wrap their story about a female surgeon who is dispatched to save a cosmonaut by the time they touch down on Sunday.

Australia has agreed to build a 20-kilogram (44-pound) semi-autonomous lunar rover for NASA to take to the moon as early as 2026 in search of oxygen.

How to propel a spacecraft without propellant? Use electrodynamic tethers. These are long, strong conductors connecting two spacecraft. When direct current is applied to the tether, the tether exerts a force on the spacecraft, causing it to either accelerate or brake.

Such tethers might be used to perform fuel-free orbital maneuvers, or deorbit satellites at the end of their working lifetime to prevent buildup of orbital debris.

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain has proposed an improved tether design incorporating thin film solar cells to harvest added power for the tether plasma circuit, intended for end-of-life deorbiting.

The idea was proposed through ESA's Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) Open Discovery ideas Channel, seeking novel ideas for new space research activities. This innovative concept has been accepted by ESA for implementation, along with numerous others.