Techdirt. Stories filed under "exploration"

Techdirt. Stories filed under "exploration" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "exploration"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:00:00 PST DailyDirt: Space Race 2.0 Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100908/16190410942/dailydirt-space-race-20.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100908/16190410942/dailydirt-space-race-20.shtml

NASA is about to announce ambitious plans for manned space outposts on the moon and at a Lagrangian point. There are only a handful of Earth-moon Lagrangian points, so if NASA gets to the better ones first, the US will occupy some of the best space real estate. [url]

China is planning to land a probe on the moon sometime in 2013. China ultimately wants to have a manned mission to the moon, but it hasn't set a timeframe for that goal. [url]

If you want to keep score, the Soviets have landed spacecraft on two other planets (Venus and Mars), while the US has only landed equipment on Mars. But if we're counting quality, not quantity, then the US has gathered far more information on Mars than any other space program. [url]

NASA's Morpheus lander is designed to touch down on other planets, moons and even asteroids. Morpheus runs on methane and oxygen so that it could potentially re-fuel on extra-terrestrial bodies, and it could handle a variety of payloads such as robots, laboratories and even astronauts. [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=20100908/16190410942 Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Interstellar Travel -- 'To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before' Joyce Hung http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120303/01062217972/dailydirt-interstellar-travel-to-boldly-go-where-no-one-has-gone-before.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120303/01062217972/dailydirt-interstellar-travel-to-boldly-go-where-no-one-has-gone-before.shtml Star Trek... While we won't be traveling beyond our solar system anytime soon, there are already plenty of efforts underway to develop the technologies needed to make interstellar travel a reality. Here are a few examples.

DARPA is funding the "100 Year Starship Initiative" which aims to make long-distance space travel possible within the next century. The initiative will focus on identifying and driving advancements in the technologies needed for interstellar flight, as well as using them to improve the quality of life on Earth. [url]
According to an estimate of how much energy would be needed to make interstellar travel possible, it will be at least another 200 years before humans will have enough to trek to the stars. For example, a mission to send 500 people on a one-way trip into space would require 10¹⁸ Joules of energy for rocket propulsion. In comparison, a shuttle launch requires 10¹³ Joules of energy. [url]
NASA's Glenn Research Center has compiled a list of some ideas for interstellar travel that are based on scientific knowledge that exists today. To make interstellar travel practical, we'll need to be able to control gravitational/inertial forces, travel faster than light, find ways to harness the energy in the vacuum of space, etc. [url]
Icarus Interstellar Inc. is working on the concept of using powerful lasers to generate antimatter from the vacuum of space. The large amount of energy produced through matter-antimatter annihilation could then be used for interstellar propulsion. [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=20120303/01062217972 Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Spaceworthy Engines That Will Take Us 'To Infinity And Beyond!' Joyce Hung http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101221/16222712371/dailydirt-spaceworthy-engines-that-will-take-us-to-infinity-beyond.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101221/16222712371/dailydirt-spaceworthy-engines-that-will-take-us-to-infinity-beyond.shtml colonize Mars by 2023, then some new propulsion technologies might be in order. Here are a few examples of various efforts going on around the world.

MIT researchers have developed a penny-sized rocket thruster that runs on jets of ion beams. The thruster is flat and square, like a computer chip, and covered with 500 microscopic tips that emit ion beams strong enough to propel a shoebox-sized satellite. Placing several of these thrusters on a small satellite could enable it to move to change its orbit, as well as turn and roll. [url]
Engineers in the UK are testing some key technology for a propulsion system that could one day take a spaceplane, like the Skylon vehicle, straight into orbit without all the multiple propellant stages required with current throw-away rockets. The Sabre propulsion system, which is part jet engine and part rocket engine, burns hydrogen and oxygen to provide thrust. [url]
Researchers at The Australian National University are working on a plasma thruster that could eventually be used to send satellites to Mars. The plasma thruster could be ready by 2014, and initial missions will attempt to send old satellites into "graveyard" orbits using the thruster. [url]
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA are both testing solar sail technology as a form of primary propulsion for spacecraft. The solar sail technology relies on the concept that surfaces exposed to electromagnetic radiation will experience "radiation pressure," which exerts a small pushing force against the surface. Japan's Ikaros 27-square-meter solar sail gets only 0.0002 pounds of force due to radiation pressure from the sun, but over a long period of time, incredibly high speeds could be achieved. [url]

Analysis of two Martian meteorites suggests that Mars may have contained much more water than previous estimates. During the formation of Mars, water was likely to be present in the Martian mantle in similar proportions as the Earth's mantle. [url]

The Mars Curiosity Rover isn't the only spacecraft to try to land on an astronomical object in our solar system. At least twelve other unmanned crafts have hit moons, asteroids or other planets: the Soviet Union's Luna 9, NASA'a Surveyor 1 on the moon, the Lunokhod 1 on the moon, Russia's Venera 7 on Venus, Soviet Mars 3, the Viking 1 and Viking 2 spacecrafts on Mars, the Mars Pathfinder, the NEAR Shoemaker on an asteroid, Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Huygens probe of Titan, Japan's Hayabusa probe, and the Mars Phoenix lander. [url]

The 11-year-old Mars Odyssey probe is serving as a "real time" communications relay for Curiosity, allowing Curiosity to focus more of its energy on exploring Mars. Two other Mars satellites (NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the European Space Agency's Mars Express) are also re-transmitting signals from Curiosity, but with delays of several hours. [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=20100914/12154911010 Tue, 28 Aug 2012 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: One Small Step For A Man... Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20100922/04320611115/dailydirt-one-small-step-man.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20100922/04320611115/dailydirt-one-small-step-man.shtml XKCD will have to be adjusted), but in the meantime, here are just a few links about that historic first moonwalk.

Neil Armstrong's first words as he stepped on the moon were slightly misheard by everyone on Earth, and audio analysis of the recordings suggests that Armstrong didn't just mis-speak. "That's one small step for *A* man, one giant leap for mankind." [url]
In 2006, NASA realized that it had lost its original Apollo 11 moon landing videos, but fortunately, archived footage of the moonwalk was found in Australia in 2010. The tapes were restored and digitized -- and hopefully we won't lose them again when nobody remembers what MP4 is. [url]
President Nixon was prepared for an Apollo 11 disaster with a speech that he thankfully never read to the American public. The "moon disaster" speech is a creepy reminder that space exploration is an inherently risky venture... [url] [page2]

James Cameron has been down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench and back -- filming a documentary for National Geographic. Are privately funded scientific efforts going to be a trend (like 3D movies)? [url]

Sir Richard Branson has created Virgin Oceanic to explore the Earth's oceans. And it's not an April Fools joke like Virgin Volcanic. [url]

Jeff Bezos has a privately funded team of deep-sea explorers, and they found discarded Apollo 11 rocket engines at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Bezos plans to bring at least one of these NASA artifacts of space exploration back to dry land. [url]

To discover more interesting tech-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100407/1837138923 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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