March 13th, 2019
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Effective countermeasures are needed for astronauts to be able to live in space, on the Moon or on Mars for long periods of time in the future. Artificial Gravity as a countermeasure (AGBRESA) is a major long-term bed-rest study that will be carried out by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; […]
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The surface conditions on the Moon are clearly a harsh mistress of a world, with high doses of ultraviolet irradiation, wide temperature extremes and low pressure – then toss in high levels of ionizing radiation. A new report takes a look at microbial survival on lunar spacecraft – even suggesting where best to go […]
Unopened treasures rocketed back to Earth by Apollo moonwalkers. They are lunar collectibles returned to our planet in 1971-72. A new NASA program — the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) — has selected nine teams to continue the science legacy of the Apollo missions by studying pieces of the Moon that have been […]
Update: NASA’s fiscal year 2020 budget released today initiates a Mars sample return mission to retrieve specimens from Mars, and return those samples with the first launch from another planet. A Mars sample return mission would incorporate commercial and international partnerships. The NASA budget provides funding for a Mars sample return mission launching as early […]
The International Space Station partners have endorsed plans to continue the development of the Gateway, an outpost around the Moon that will act as a base to support both robots and astronauts exploring the lunar surface. The Multilateral Coordination Board, which oversees the management of the Space Station, stressed its common hope for the […]
The Cosma Hypothesis: Implications of the Overview Effect by Frank White; Morgan Brook Media (March 2019; paperback: 269 pages, $19.95. It takes a special kind of person to come up with a special kind of effect. Frank White coined the term: “The Overview Effect” – the experience of seeing the Earth from orbit or the […]
China will ramp up their human spaceflight program, tied to the establishment of the country’s space station. Zhang Bonan, chief designer of the space program of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, has stated that China intends to realize bulk production of crew-carrying spacecraft in the future instead of today’s customization. As reported by China’s […]
The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) has issued its vision for the future — one that includes morning commutes via flying air taxi, supersonic business travel between continents, and an emerging market for space-based research and manufacturing in 2050 This new study – What’s Next for Aerospace and Defense: A Vision for 2050 — The result […]
Mixed news from the “mole” probe onboard NASA’s Mars InSight – part of Germany’s HP3 (Heat and Physical Properties Package) instrument. It began hammering into the surface of Mars on February 28. However, the device may have come up against a rock or something else that is proving highly resistant beneath the surface. The researchers […]
An instrument onboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) indicates that water molecules scattered on the surface of the Moon are more common at higher latitudes and tend to hop around as the surface heats up. “These results aid in understanding the lunar water cycle and will ultimately help us learn about accessibility of water that […]
