Techdirt. Stories filed under "astronauts"

Techdirt. Stories filed under "astronauts" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "astronauts"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Going Up Into Space Soon Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101116/10521111885/dailydirt-going-up-into-space-soon.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101116/10521111885/dailydirt-going-up-into-space-soon.shtml

Virgin Galactic is gearing up for its space tourism service, planning to launch routine flights to the edge of space in 2014. Sir Richard Branson once turned down an offer from Mikhail Gorbachev to fly into space for $50 million, but now Branson has made a similar offer to anyone with $200,000 to spare. [url]

How much do we value an astronaut's life? Life insurance for an Apollo 11 astronaut comes in the form of an autographed postcard, worth about $30,000. [url]

China is planning to send three people to its orbiting space station in a few months. So far, only the US and Russia have independently sent people to orbiting space stations. China would become just the third country to do so. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

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]]> http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101116/10521111885 Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:00:00 PST DailyDirt: Going To Mars Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100208/0432428084/dailydirt-going-to-mars.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100208/0432428084/dailydirt-going-to-mars.shtml

The Inspiration Mars Foundation is planning a roundtrip manned mission to Mars (non-stop, so no landing) that would last about 501 days, launching in 2018. A press conference to announce the details will be held on Feb 27th. [url]

When the Phobos-Grunt mission failed to reach Mars orbit, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested some severe punishments (but no death penalty!) for whoever was to blame. The mission had planned to return soil samples from Phobos (one of Mars' moons), but the spacecraft never left Earth orbit due to a computer programming error. [url]

Valery V. Polyakov spent 438 continuous days in space aboard Mir and returned to Earth in 1995. That is the longest anyone has stayed in space in a single trip (others have been in space for more time, but over multiple trips), and it demonstrates that it's possible to survive in microgravity for the approximate amount of time it might take to go to Mars. [url]

Elon Musk has a vision of a public-private joint venture to establish a human colony on Mars. Musk is obviously promoting the SpaceX brand with this kind of public statement, but he also says that a viable Mars mission would need about $36 billion to get off the ground. [url]

In case you missed it, an Axe marketing campaign during the Super Bowl is looking for people willing to sign away their publicity rights for a chance to ride on a sub-orbital spaceplane. The marketing is aimed at men, but women can apply, too. Ultimately, who ever wins this competition will have to pass all of the physical training and tests before going. [url]

Coco Brown, an American porn actress, is spending $100,000 to get on a SpaceXC commercial flight. She'll be the first porn star in space, if she completes the training, and expects to go up in 2014. [url]

Ashton Kutcher has been promised the 500th seat on Virgin Galactic's spaceplane service. Virgin tickets usually cost about $200,000 -- so if you want to buy the 501st seat next to Ashton.... [url]

Becoming a female taikonaut has two additional requirements that men don't have: being a wife and mother. Chinese astronauts have a pretty long list of disqualifiers, including: bad breath, cavities, a thick regional accent, scars, snoring, etc, etc. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101102/10464811688 Wed, 23 Jan 2013 17:00:00 PST DailyDirt: Going To Space Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101114/23425611871/dailydirt-going-to-space.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101114/23425611871/dailydirt-going-to-space.shtml orbit, and the list of nations that can send people into space is much shorter (with the retirement of the space shuttles, the US arguably is not on the list anymore). But rocket technologies are only getting better and less expensive, and there are more and more plans (both governmental and commercial) for humans to explore space.

Mars One is now looking for people willing to become astronauts, train for 8 years, and go on a ONE-WAY trip to Mars (and also be part of this globally-televised mission). The first team to go will be democratically elected from six teams of four astronauts, and the launch is scheduled for September 2022. [url]
Iran is planning to launch a monkey into space sometime in February 2013. Iran has a goal of sending a human into space by 2020 and putting someone on the moon by 2025. (And Iran has already sent a rat, two turtles and a worm into space.) [url]
MRI scans of astronauts who spent over a month in space show that long term exposure to microgravity can damage eyeballs and parts of the brain. The problems are similar to having intracranial hypertension -- where the brain experiences pressures that press it against the skull and eye sockets. [url]
A simulated 520-day mission to Mars found that astronauts may need to keep Earth-like schedules or else they'll have trouble sleeping and possibly acquire some mood disorders. This ground-based study will affect plans for manned Mars missions, and it could also have implications for people who live with disrupted sleep and prolonged exposure to artificial lighting. [url]

Somewhat unexpected foods have been eaten in space -- such as sushi, smuggled communion wafers, and a secretly-stashed corned beef sandwich. Emeril Lagasse and Rachel Ray have also prepared a few recipes for space meals. [url]

About 9 months prior to a mission, NASA astronauts start picking out what they'll eat while they're up in space. Tang wasn't designed for any space program, but its powdered formula is a convenient way to store flavored beverages for spaceflights. NASA-approved beverages include coffee, tea, apple cider, orange juice and lemonade. [url]

NASA has published several fact sheets on what astronauts eat in space. Random factoid: SkyLab was apparently the only spacecraft that offered both a freezer and fridge for food storage. [url]

Astronauts have actually discovered a new species of life... while training in an underground cave. The astronauts were taking a week-long ESA CAVES underground training course to prepare for duties on the international space station and to acclimate to working under extreme conditions, and they found a new kind of crustacean. [url]

An ecosystem exists in the deepest layer of the Earth's ocean crust, in the gabbroic layer, living off hydrocarbons such as methane and benzene. This discovery could mean there may be life even deeper, possibly in the Earth's mantle. [url]

Microbes isolated beneath 65 feet of Antarctic ice might define a new limit for life to survive. These little organisms live in Lake Vida without much sunlight, without oxygen, at -13°C, in acidic salt water. [url]

Speculation on China's rocket technology suggests the country's Long March 9 rocket will be more than capable for sending astronauts to the moon, Mars, and perhaps other distant destinations within our solar system. The Long March 9 is expected to be in service around 2020-2025. [url]

Google's Lunar X Prize is closed to new participants, but there are about 25 teams still competing for rewards totaling $30 million -- for these privately funded teams to send robots to the moon. The deadline for these teams is the end of 2015. Hopefully at least one team will succeed in its mission, and we'll have mini moon bases sending back all kinds of data before the end of the decade. [url]

The Soyuz spacecraft has been a workhorse for decades, but Russia has recently announced plans for its next generation spaceship design that could be used for manned missions to the moon (or possibly Mars). Test flights are scheduled to begin in 2017, and this Prospective Piloted Transport System (PPTS) could also service the International Space Station (creating another backup solution to supply the ISS). [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101110/19025111806 Fri, 27 Jul 2012 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Eating Food On Other Astronomical Objects Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100902/11373810878/dailydirt-eating-food-other-astronomical-objects.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100902/11373810878/dailydirt-eating-food-other-astronomical-objects.shtml

The menu for astronauts headed to Mars could include items like (vegan) pizza and fresh vegetables/fruits. The gravity on Mars should allow astronauts to chop vegetables and do some food prep that's a bit harder in a zero-gravity environment. [url]

Buzz Aldrin took a communion wafer and a vial of wine to the moon in 1969. Aldrin quietly read a few bible passages and consumed these items in the hours before he was scheduled to go for a walk on the moon's surface. [url]

A trip to Mars requires the shelf life of its food supplies to last about five years, but NASA's current astronaut menu only lasts a couple years. Lockheed Martin researchers are looking into a bunch of different (non-meat and non-dairy) menu options for a 2030-ish planned mission to the red planet. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100902/11373810878 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Space Race Continues Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100803/10525410479/dailydirt-space-race-continues.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100803/10525410479/dailydirt-space-race-continues.shtml SpaceX shipped some supplies to the International Space Station, and it's on track to providing a rocket system for ferrying astronauts to the ISS as well. More and more commercial space ventures are competing with government space programs, and this new space race will hopefully continue and create even more inspiring space technologies over the next decade and beyond. Here are just a few other interesting developments along the way.

NASA and the FAA have reached a tentative agreement to provide better guidelines for regulating all kinds of space launches. Virgin Galactic has been granted a license, but it might be interesting to see if all those amateur weather balloons and sub-orbital rocket projects will run into any regulatory problems. [url]
Excalibur Almaz is a commercial space transportation company with roots in the former Soviet Union's military space program. For about $100 million, you can hitch a ride on one of these older (but very reliable!) Soviet-era spacecraft that have been extensively tested -- possibly all the way to the moon. [url]
Citizen scientists are putting together an ArduSat -- an open source satellite -- that could be included on a free launch via a NASA or ESA ride-along program. There ain't no such thing as a free launch? [url]
China has recently become the third nation to successfully dock a manned space capsule with another space vessel. Three people (including China's first female astronaut/taikonaut) on the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft joined up with the Tiangong 1 space module in orbit. [url]

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.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110909/04234215873 Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:00:00 PST DailyDirt: Everyone Knows The Moon Is Made Of Cheese... Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100802/09533510454/dailydirt-everyone-knows-moon-is-made-cheese.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100802/09533510454/dailydirt-everyone-knows-moon-is-made-cheese.shtml

Earlier this year, a piece of moondust stuck to a bit of tape was returned to NASA. All your moon bits are belong to us! Seriously, though, NASA says that its astronauts have brought back about 842 pounds of moon material, but some of the dust that stuck to equipment has been collected by enthusiasts over the years and sold. [url]

A lunar rock from the Apollo 16 mission looks to be about 100 million years younger than expected. Isotopes of lead and neodymium suggest that the age of this rock sample is 4.36 billion years old -- which means the moon solidified much later than we'd thought or that the moon itself is younger than we expected. [url]

The Indian Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft discovered a pretty big cave on the moon that might be suitable for a human colony. The cave is over a mile long and would provide natural shielding for a moon base. [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.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100802/09533510454 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:00:00 PST DailyDirt: Getting To Space Ain't Easy Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100802/22570010460/dailydirt-getting-to-space-aint-easy.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100802/22570010460/dailydirt-getting-to-space-aint-easy.shtml

The Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft isn't going to make it to Mars -- and some waterbears that were along for the ride won't make it back. Over the last year, about 10% of space missions that launched have failed (seven out of about 74). [url]

Iran's space program tried to send a monkey to space, but the monkey didn't survive the trip. Iran's space program will probably get a bit more attention when it succeeds... [url]

Fortunately, the International Space Station will be occupied by astronauts as planned, following a successful launch of a Soyuz re-supply mission. The ISS will resume a full 6-person crew in mid-December. [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.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100802/22570010460 Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:43:25 PDT WTF Is Going On At NASA? Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070727/112038.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070727/112038.shtml astronauts have been drinking alcohol before flying and possibly even being drunk during launch. There's not really much of a technology angle to that, but that news was quickly followed up by a story of sabotage on a space station computer. The details aren't entirely clear, but someone at a subcontractor deliberately cut internal wires in a computer that was supposed to be sent up to the space station on the space shuttles' next mission. Apparently it wouldn't have been life-threatening -- but it would have been a nuisance. It must not be very fun to be in PR at NASA these days, but it really does make you wonder what's going on there. It didn't take the agency very long to go from a position of respect to a series of punchlines on late night talk shows.

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]]> I-mean,-seriously... http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20070727/112038