Archive for April, 2026
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April 3rd, 2026
Image credit: GAO
On the Horizon: Three Science and Technology Trends That Could Affect Society.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined how these three technologies could evolve over the next decade. These transformative technologies are trending toward maturity and may need congressional attention over the next 10 years.
These technologies are:
- Neural implants for human augmentation.
- General purpose robots.
- Orbital debris removal technologies.
Orbital debris
Image credit: GAO
GAO reports that there are more than 15,000 pieces of orbital debris currently tracked, with more than a million pieces that are too small to track but can still damage satellites and other spacecraft that provide important services.
Technology is in development to actively remove, relocate, or repurpose large, non-tumbling debris. This could reduce the risk of a catastrophic cascade of collisions, but would not eliminate it because small or tumbling debris constitute the vast majority of dangerous debris.
Legal difficulties
Further development and use of novel technologies may be hampered by possible legal difficulties posed by the Outer Space Treaty.
Image credit: GAO
Policymakers could consider a variety of options, including supporting targeted research to fill technological gaps or initiating legal analyses to develop solutions to legal difficulties.
GAO is not making recommendations but has identified several policy considerations for the Congress and others to weigh as these technologies continue developing.
Image credit: GAO
Read the full report — On the Horizon: Three Science and Technology Trends That Could Affect Society – go to:
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-26-108079.pdf
Also, go to video at:
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NASA and National Geographic have been collaborating with the four-person Artemis II crew. During the mission, the astronauts will act as photographers for the magazine, videographers for social media, and filmmakers for a National Geographic documentary.
Now you can take a tour of NASA’s new ride to the Moon.
Go to this National Geographic website at:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/artemis-ii-astronauts-tour-orion
Image credit: Lockheed Martin
Once the Artemis II crew is beyond the defensive environments of Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field, they are subject to space radiation.
While en route to and from the moon, the Artemis II crew will be vigil, eyeing radiation monitoring detectors, listening for caution and warning alarms, and they would be outfitted with active dosimeters – a device for measuring and checking exposure to doses of radiation, such as X-rays or gamma rays.
Hot spot
The Artemis crew riding in their Orion spacecraft is relatively highly shielded. However, dealing with a worrisome solar event, Artemis flight rules would have the astronauts establish a shelter utilizing central stowage bays emptied of contents.
Tucked inside their Orion spacecraft, the Artemis II crew is seen in a pre-launch rehearsal.
Image credit: NASA/Mark Sowa
Doing so would create a lower dose region within capsule confines. Stowage from the central bays would be moved to a known “hot spot” within Orion, to help reduce the dose rate exposure of the four-person crew. “
“If an event is particularly bad,” explains one expert, “there are some places in the capsule, such as storage bays and down by the toilet, that the crew can go to.”
An inside artistic look at the four-seater Orion spacecraft, measuring roughly 16.5 feet (5 meters) in diameter and standing 10.8 feet (3.3 meters) tall that can be converted into a storm shelter.
Image credit: NASA’s Space Radiation & Analyses Group (SRAG)
For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “What will happen if Artemis 2 astronauts get hit by a solar storm during NASA’s ambitious moon mission?” – at:
