DailyDirt: Making Manned Space Travel More Comfortable…
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Astronauts don’t have an easy job. Getting up to space is an inherently risky trip, and then once they’re up there, they need to be re-supplied with just about everything to continue to survive. But space agencies are at least trying to make things more comfortable for them. Here are just a few examples of some spaceships and amenities that could make astronauts’ lives a bit nicer.
- NASA is developing a laundry machine for space stations, so that astronauts don’t have to wear dirty clothes for days. No one can hear you scream in the vacuum of space, and thankfully, no one can smell your body odor, either…. [url]
- There are at least seven different space vehicles that are designed to get people into space, but the Space Shuttle still looks pretty cool in comparison to these new spacecraft. A huge balloon ride into space sounds awesome, actually. [url]
- A treatment for osteoporosis could help astronauts prevent bone mass loss while they’re weightless. But the long-term solution might be to work on designing virtual gravity with rotating ship cabins.. [url]
- NASA is testing an inflatable space habitat for lengthy missions. This project could be adapted for bases on the moon, on Mars, on a big asteroid — or just for flying through interplanetary space. [url]
- To discover more links on space exploration, check out what’s floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
Filed Under: astronauts, osteoporosis, space habitat, space shuttle, space stations
Companies: nasa
Comments on “DailyDirt: Making Manned Space Travel More Comfortable…”
NASA should open source the space shuttle...
just to slow down the advancement of other space programs! 😛
Inflatable habitats
You know, if NASA needs ideas or help with inflatable habitats maybe they should be working with Bigelow Aerospace. They might be able to learn a thing or two from a private company that has two inflatable habitats that have been orbiting earth for half a decade.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Aerospace
Personally I’m very excited for their planned 2014-2015 launch of their next habitat that should be going up on a SpaceX rocket. This could really kick off a lot of awesome things with an actual commercial space station in orbit.
1994: Kistler Aerospace K-1 Rocket Launch Animation, the exact same idea as Falcon-X reusable launch vehicles.
1991-1993 Delta Clipper Experimental Advanced (DCXA), just impressive what it was possible 20 years ago, now seeing the Blue Origin’s in 2012 doesn’t feel that impressive yet.
What is impressive is the Nautilus-X proposal the first spaceship for long duration flights that will never set foot on any planet just move between them.
Just incredible what you can find in Youtube these days.
Quote:
Последний “Буран” (The Last “Buran”)
Could open source people buy that?
That would be fantastic an entire space shuttle to play around with.
A Swarm of Nano Quadrotors
The coolest thing I saw today, flying robot swarms!
Thinking about it I thought how that would translate to a swarm of robots in space and it hit me that it would be like the Borg.
A treatment to preserve bone mass would be a start, but you’d also need to deal with muscle atrophy before long-term exposure to low/zero gravity would be safe. (Regular exercise isn’t enough, unfortunately.)