An iceberg the size of Delaware one of the largest ever recorded broke off the Antarctic continent this week. Scientists had been anticipating that the trillion-ton iceberg would break away for months, and they now worry about the hazards it poses for nearby ships. (Reuters)

One of the largest recorded icebergs could pose a threat to cruise ships traveling from South America.

Visual by James Petts/Flickr

A film clip has been successfully stored in bacterial DNA using the genome editing tool Crispr. The scientific advance ushers in new possibilities for other record-keeping techniques using bacteria, such as recording and replaying how human cells behave when a person becomes ill. (New York Times)

A record number of environmental activists were killed worldwide in 2016, primarily due to disputes over mining, logging, and agribusiness projects, according to a report released by Global Witness. Sixty percent of the killings occurred in Latin America, and almost 40 percent of the victims hailed from indigenous communities. (BBC)

The Yemeni government has dropped a request for cholera vaccines to slow the spread of the disease, which has claimed more1,742 lives in the war-torn country since April 27. A representative from the World Health Organization said the decision was made because most of Yemen has already been affected by the disease, reducing the effectiveness of vaccination. (Science)

A new gene therapy for leukemia has garnered support from an FDA panel of experts, an important milestone for the experimental treatment. The cancer therapy now awaits approval from the FDA itself, which is expected to make a final decision on October 3. (STAT)

An all-female high school robotics team from Afghanistan has been granted permission to compete in an American competition by President Trump, after having been twice denied requests for U.S. visas. (Associated Press)

The Juno spacecraft captured its first closeup images of Jupiters Great Red Spot. Mission Juno invites the public to download and tweak the images for free. (Science News)

And finally, hoping to become the first private company to land a spacecraft on the moon, the Florida startup Moon Express released a plan on Wednesday for a regular delivery service to send payloads to the moon. The plan is part of the companys efforts to make space exploration less expensive. (NBC News)

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Abstracts: Environmental Killings, Space Exploration, and More - Undark Magazine

Moon Express is shooting for the moon with every intention of landing on its crater-covered surface. They dont intend to stop there, either.

Lunar exploration is only one small step for Moon Express. The company recently announced that it's developling an entire fleet of spacecraft to explore the moon, Mars and whatever lies beyond without the specter of exorbitant costs. CEO Bob Richards wants to make travel to the moon for both scientific and commercial purposes possible without the financial end of it existing in some unreachable galaxy.

"That's where my heart issolar system exploration on a grand scale that democratizes and completely accelerates our evolution into the solar system through knowledge and discovery, not just a few expensive voyages sponsored by kings and governments, like in history," said Richards. "We need to get everybody going."

A satellite is only the launching point for Moon Express far-out vision. They are currently one of five finalists competing for the Google Lunar X Prize (GXLP), meaning they could win $20 million for further research and development if they manage to be the first privately funded company to accomplish soft-landing a robot on the moon, moving it at least 1,640 feet across its pockmarked surface and beaming back hi-res images and video. Because the award will expire if it remains unclaimed by the end of this year, Moon Express plans to have its lander take off with Rocket Labs Electron booster, though the launch date is still floating in space.

GXLP is just the first portal of opportunity. Next to launch in 2019 will be a robotic research outpost that will search the lunar south pole for water and other resources that could possibly fuel missions to Mars or a potential space station orbiting the moon. The year 2020 will see the first commercial sample-return mission to the moon and back. MX-1 is the lander that will make these missions and more happen. Moon Express wants to mass-produce and market the MX-1 as a solo lunar explorer and use it as the basis for designing orbiter, lander and deep-space models of the more complex MX-2, MX-5 and MX-9. More advanced spacecraft will increase payloads and rocket engine power that could potentially make missions to the moons of Mars, Venus and beyond more than just the stuff of sci-fi.

"We're not The Moon Express," Richards added. "We're Moon Express, so any moon will do."

While a ticket to the moon is likely to set you back more than even a first-class seat to your next Earthly vacation destination, the companys estimates show a drastic reduction in costs that may only keep plunging further with new innovations. Moon travel could even become a thing.

(via Space.com)

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How Moon Express is shooting way beyond the moon for space - Syfy - SYFY WIRE (blog)

As the VP has recently named an advisory body named the National Space Council, the U.S. is expected to aim at new advances in the space traveling field. According to Pences statements earlier this week, Americans will build a "new era" of space travel, with both Moon and Mars missions in the schedule.

The Vice President offered few details about planned explorations, but joined the NASA's Kennedy Space Center in order to attend the construction phases of a NASA deep space missions spaceship, especially designed to launch astronauts to the low orbit of our planet. SpaceX and Boeing are the two companies that will build the capsules.

"Our nation will return to the Moon, and we will put American boots on the face of Mars. We did win the race to the Moon," Pence declared for the Space Centers audience.

For instance, the Deep Space Gateway project by NASA will use the Space Launch System rocket to send explorers near the Moon, while the missions to Mars are programmed around 2030, as a result of Barack Obama and George W. Bush previous space-related policies.

The relaunch of a strong space program was taken into consideration due to the fact that back in 2011 the United States has stopped sending its astronauts to the International Space Station, as the program was retired. Since then, American explorers use Russia's Soyuz spacecraft for prices as high as $80 million per seat.

Therefore, the Vice President also underlined the importance of the private industry developments, in order to make space travel safer and more affordable. No other specifics were yet provided though, as details on the administration's vision for both NASA and the commercial space flight industry are expected to be revealed during the next months.

"We will get back to winning in the 21st century and beyond," Mike Pence concluded.

As the current Trump administration proposed a $19.1 billion budget for NASA, with a 0.8 per cent decrease when compared with the figures last year, the agency is fighting to make its own adjustments to the budget, in order to be able to complete its projects. The final call will be decided by lawmakers later this year.

Source: phys.org

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The United States aim for space exploration leadership - Travel Wires

Space exploration is a necessity not only because of its tangible benefits to our everyday lives, but because of its potential to inspire and uplift mankind in ways we can only imagine. Kamran Jebreili / AP Photo

At the time of the first lunar landing, the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration was using the most advanced technology. Today, most people in the UAE have more computing power in their mobile phones than was available to the American astronauts back then.

Space exploration is one of the greatest catalysts for innovation in the 21st century and squarely aligns with the UAEs competitiveness strategy. As the UAE Space Agency celebrates its third anniversary today, we are proud to have developed the largest space programme in the region and remain dedicated to growing the sector, in line with the objectives of the UAE Vision 2021.

Underpinning our aspirations in space is an education system that creates a sustainable, globally competitive economy led by highly-skilled andhighly educated Emiratis.

The Ministry of Education is committed to realising this vision by expanding research and development as well as innovation opportunities across universities, fostering greater collaboration with the private sector and improving the quality of tertiary education, with the overall objective of preparing our graduates for the future. The competitiveness of the country relies on the competitiveness of its people and nowhere is this more evident than in our goals for space exploration.

I also have the distinct honour of serving as Chairman of the UAE Space Agency. Just as higher education pushes our boundaries, so do our aspirations in space. As with bolstering our higher education system, our ability to explore space reaps benefits beyond the immediate task it creates a virtuous cycle.

We recognise that space exploration is a necessity not only because of its tangible benefits to our everyday lives, but because of its potential to inspire and uplift mankind in ways we can only imagine. Satellite technology, for example, has been instrumental in weather forecasting, communications and broadcasting as well national security enhancements, let alone expanding our knowledge of the earth and universe. Now Mars offers the next frontier in space exploration and is a key strategic initiative of the UAE Space Agency.

The Emirates Mars Mission will be the first Arab mission to the Red Planet and aims to provide a truly global picture of the Martian atmosphere, from understanding its climate dynamics to the escape of hydrogen and oxygen. Once the Hope probe reaches Mars in 2021 and begins to gather this information, we will share our findings with more than 200 scientific institutions and education and research centres for analysis, allowing the UAE to lead the way in creating new knowledge about the universe.

These ambitions for our space programme have and will continue to inspire Emirati youth to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics, providing the UAE with the skilled manpower and capacity to conduct research and development that will advance space exploration. Furthermore, the possibility for greater discovery and innovation in space will motivate our young people to build the necessary expertise so that they may contribute to creating a brighter future for all of us.

In our efforts to be one of the most innovative nations in the world, higher education and space exploration will work hand-in-hand to secure the UAEs future. Together, they will drive sustainable economic development, help diversify our economyand elevate our competitiveness, thus ensuring the long-term prosperity of our great nation.

Dr Ahmad Belhoul is the UAEs Minister of State for Higher Education and newly appointed Chairman of the UAE Space Agency

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Our space programme will inspire Emirati youth and create a competitive economy - The National

How on Earth are stories on space travel boring?

Re Space exploration isnt interesting anymore (Letters, July 9):

I couldnt disagree more with Robert Schilling regarding the newsworthiness of SpaceXs day-to-day successes and failures. As humans, I believe, we have an innate compulsion to explore and expand our areas of habitation, and space is still the ultimate frontier.

As a child I was enthralled with the TV broadcasts of the early successes of NASAs Mercury program, followed by Gemini and, of course, the very successful Apollo program with repeated landings of men on the moon and their safe return to Earth.

Unfortunately, the country lost interest in space exploration, and for the next few decades those of us with our hearts set on true space exploration and settlement had to be satisfied with Skylab, the Space Shuttle and merely poking around in the backwater of near Earth orbit.

The recent movie The Martian should help to spark the interest and passion of the generations younger than I in true space exploration, while Elon Musk has revitalized our efforts in actual human space exploration.

I, for one, will never tire of reading articles about what this true modern-day visionary is doing, on every front that interests him. Please continue with the interesting articles about SpaceX as well as Musks other endeavors.

Dale Mooney, Torrance

Study undercounted violence by Islamists

Re Is Trump ignoring U.S. hate groups? (July 9):

The article by Deepa Bharath suggested that the real threat to people in the U.S. is from white supremacist violence, rather than from Islamist groups.

It cites an Anti-Defamation League study that, for some unspecified reason, focuses on the years 2006-2015, to make its point that only 13 percent of the 295 extremist-related deaths in that time period involved domestic Islamic extremism. This artificial time period leaves out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six and injured 1,042, and the 2001 World Trade Center attack, which killed almost 3,000 and injured over 6,000 both attacks by Islamic jihadists.

Then there was the attack by an Egyptian terrorist at LAX which killed two and injured four in 2002, plus the Beltway sniper jihadist attacks that same year which killed 17 and injured 10.

Its not clear if the study included the San Bernardino jihadist attack in December 2015, which killed 16 and injured 24. Then there was the June 2016 Islamist killing of 49 plus 53 injured at the Pulse nightclub in Florida.

Looking at a longer time span, Islamist-related killings dwarf those by white supremacists or environmentalists or anti-abortionists or other left-wing and right-wing groups, which, of course, is not the message that the article seeks to convey.

Advertisement

Carl Pearlston, Torrance

If only president were ignoring hate groups

Re Is Trump ignoring U.S. hate groups? (July 9):

Often I run across a newspaper headline that causes me to go Well, duh! These headlines can appear in any paper: The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times or the Daily Breeze.

A couple of my favorites are Cancer often causes death and Statistics show teen pregnancies drop off after age 25. Sometimes I think this must have been a tired copy editor getting in a joke: Chick accuses colleagues of using sexist language.

A headline on the front page of the July 9 Daily Breeze will be an ironic favorite of mine for the Well, duh prize: Is Trump ignoring U.S. hate groups? Trump has not ignored U.S. hate groups: he has encouraged them.

An easy argument could be built to show that his election was in large part possible because he ridiculed and demeaned the handicapped, African-Americans, Mexicans, women well, a big list.

He was endorsed by the KKK. He has a white supremacist as a top advisor. His big political start was claiming former President Barack Obama was born in Africa, a reminder to everyone that Obama was black. He encouraged his supporters to violence both before the election and now as president.

Is Trump ignoring U.S. hate groups? Not at all: He is encouraging them, and encouraging them to violence.

Dee Masters, Torrance

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Elon Musk's space vision can inspire new generations: Letters - The Daily Breeze

Enlarge / The view of a landed Falcon 9 first stage booster in June, 2017, in Florida.

SpaceX

During the last decade, NASA has invested billions of dollars into programs with private companies to carry cargo and, eventually, astronauts to the International Space Station. These commercial services were powered by new kinds of contracts for the agency, because they offered a "fixed price" for services and required companies to put in their own funding to develop new spacecraft and rockets.

But the space agency has established a Maginot line of sorts around the planet when it comes to deep space exploration. For example, less than a year ago, NASA's then-administrator, Charles Bolden, said he's "not a big fan" of commercial companies building large, heavy lift rockets that will enable private companies to venture beyond low-Earth orbit. For Bolden, the lines were clear: we'll support you near Earth, but leave deep space to the professionals. "We believe our responsibility to the nation is to take care of things that normal people cannot do, or dont want to do, like large launch vehicles," Bolden saidof NASA.

Nevertheless, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and other companies have pressed forward with their plans to develop large rockets capable of deep space exploration. And they're making progress. SpaceX's Falcon Heavy booster, which has 90 percent of the lift capability to low Earth orbit as the initial version of NASA's Space Launch System, is likely to fly in 2017up to two years before NASA's own big rocket.

On Thursday during a hearing before the US Senate's Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, SpaceX formally called upon the US government to support public-private partnerships in deep space. Tim Hughes, SpaceX's senior vice president for global business and government affairs,testified."The principles applied in past programs for low Earth orbit capability can and should be applied to deep space exploration," Hughes said. He referred toNASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS program.

NASA, Hughes said, should now consider funding a COTS-like program to run "in parallel" to NASA's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft for deep space exploration. "There's a program of record right now that is NASA's central focus for deep space exploration," Hughes said in response to a Senator's question. "But I think it can be readily supplemented with public-private partnerships to allow us to sustain a permanent presence in space."

As examples, Hughes said NASA could set "high level requirements" for companies, such as demonstrating the vertical takeoff and landing of rockets from the lunar surface, delivering large amounts of cargo to the surface of Mars, or building a more reliable communications network between Earth and Mars. All of these projects, he said, would enable the United States to establish a permanent presence in space, rather than fly one-off missions.

Hughes also offered evidence that the COTS program has benefited both NASA and SpaceX to a large degree. For example, in 2011, NASA estimatedthat it would have cost the agency about $4 billion to develop a rocket like the Falcon 9 booster based upon NASA's traditional contracting processes. A more "commercial development" approach might have allowed the agency to pay only $1.7 billion.

However, by setting a high-level requirement for cargo transport to the space stationand leaving the details to industrySpaceX was allowed to design and develop the Falcon 9 rocket on its own, Hughes said. The cost? According to NASA's own independently verified numbers, SpaceXs development costs of both the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets were estimated at approximately $390 million in total.NASA got a better deal, and SpaceX got a rocket it could use to fly commercial payloads as well as NASA ones.

It is not clear how warm the senators were to SpaceX's plan, which shares support in the commercial space community from others interested in deep space activities (such as Blue Origin, with its Blue Moon concept). "I think the COTS program has been a great success story for NASA and the commercial marketplace, and believe that the government should look at all options for public private partnership in advancing our nation's exploration goals," said Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

However, some at NASA will likely resist the notion, as it would mean relinquishing some of the control they have over design and development of rockets and spacecraft under the agency's traditional, cost-plus contracting methods. The beneficiaries of those contractsincluding Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Aerojet Rocketydyne, and other established aerospace companiesare also likely to be less than welcoming toward NASA opening the door to competition in deep space exploration to new space firms.

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SpaceX goes thereseeks government funds for deep space - Ars Technica

The Luxembourg Parliament has adopted a draft law on the exploration and use of space resources, making the Grand Duchy the first European country to offer an official framework for private investors and operators.

Coming into force on August 1, it acts as a legal and regulatory framework which ensures private operators ownership of the resources they extract from space and establishes procedures for authorising and supervising space exploration missions.

The legal framework represents a key action within a wider strategy implemented by the Luxembourg government through its SpaceResources.lu initiative which seeks to support the long-term economic development of new and innovative activities in the space industry.

"Luxembourg is the first adopter in Europe of a legal and regulatory framework recognising that space resources are capable of being owned by private companies," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, Etienne Schneider, said in a statement.

He said the legal framework is "part of the expertise ecosystem and the business-friendly, innovation-nurturing environment" which Luxembourg offers space industry companies.

"By adopting almost unanimously the respective draft law, the Luxembourg Parliament confirmed the strong political cross-party and national commitment to the SpaceResources.lu initiative," he said.

The new law does not apply to satellite communications, orbital positions or the use of frequency bands.

Luxembourg authorities are already supporting the research and development projects of a number of leading players in the space mining industry that have set up their European operations in Luxembourg.

(Roxana Mironescu and Heledd Pritchard roxana.mironescu@wort.lu,+325 49 93 748, heledd.pritchard@wort.lu, +352 49 93 459)

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Luxembourg becomes first European country to adopt space exploration law - Luxemburger Wort - English Edition

The quest to win a $30 million race to the moon is just the first part of Moon Express' grand plan.

The Florida-based companyis developing an entire family of spacecraft designed to help usher in a new age of low-cost space exploration, from the moon to Mars and beyond,Moon Expressrepresentatives revealed today (July 12).

"That's where my heart is solar system exploration on a grand scale that democratizes and completely accelerates our evolution into the solar system through knowledge and discovery, not just a few expensive voyages sponsored by kings and governments, like in history," Moon Express CEO and co-founder Bob Richards told Space.com. "We need to get everybody going." [In Images: How Moon Express' Space Exploration Plan Works]

Shooting for the Moon As its name suggests, Moon Express' vision starts with Earth's nearest neighbor. The company is one of five teams left in theGoogle Lunar X Prize(GLXP) competition, which will award $20 million to the first privately funded group to soft-land a robot on the moon, move it at least 1,640 feet (500 meters) across the lunar surface and beam high-resolution imagery and video back to Earth. (Prizes for several other accomplishments bring the total purse up to $30 million.)

The GLXP award will expire if nobody claims it by Dec. 31, 2017. Moon Express has signed a contract to fly its lander aboard Rocket Lab's new Electron booster but has yet to announce a launch date.

The two-stage Electron lifted off for the first time in late May. The maiden voyage was apartial success; the rocket's second stage failed to reach its desired orbit, according to Rocket Lab representatives.

"I think that first test flight bodes very well for Rocket Lab, and we're still rooting for them and hoping that they'll have an operational vehicle ramped up and ready for us by the end of the year," Richards said.

Big Plans The GLXP mission won't be the last lunar voyage for Moon Express, if all goes according to plan. Its deal with Rocket Lab covers up to five launches, and Moon Express wants at least two more to occur in the next few years, Richards revealed during a news conference today.

The first post-GLXP mission, scheduled to launch in 2019, will set up a robotic research outpost near the lunar south pole and prospect forwater and other resources. Then, in 2020, Moon Express will launch the first commercial lunar sample-return mission. That effort, Richards said, should prove out the company's technologies and its business model, which is centered around creating low-cost access to the moon's surface for a variety of customers.

The core piece of hardware to make all of that happen is a single-enginelander called the MX-1, which will launch on the GLXP flight. Moon Express aims to mass-produce the MX-1, sell it as a stand-alone lunar explorer and have it serve as a building block for three larger, more capable spacecraft the MX-2, the MX-5 and the MX-9, Richards said today.

The MX-2 combines two MX-1s into a single package, boosting the MX-1's payload capacity in Earth-moon space and potentially enabling missions to Venus or themoons of Mars. As their names suggest, the MX-5 and MX-9 incorporate five engines and nine engines, respectively, and broaden the exploration envelope even further, Richards said.

All of these spacecraft will be available in orbiter, lander, and deep-space variations, and the MX-5 and MX-9 vehicles will also come in a sample-return configuration.

Moon Express has not revealed how much it will charge for any of these spacecraft. However, company representatives have said that, together, the MX-1 and Electron can deliver a lunar mission for less than $10 million (that's "cost," not retail). Electron flights currently sell for about $5.5 million apiece, putting the lander's raw cost at $4.5 million or less.

Therefore, the potential exists to cut space-exploration costs significantly for example, by an order of magnitude or so on MX-9 missions, Richards said.

"That's when you get a radical price reduction a collapse, really, of the costs down to hundreds of thousands of dollars a kilogram [of payload to the lunar surface] from the millions that it is today for smaller systems," he told Space.com. "I really hope that we're able to do for lunar access whatcubesatsdid for access to low Earth orbit."

The moon is the focus in the short term, but the company hopes its reach will expand as time goes on.

"We're notTheMoon Express," Richards said. "We're Moon Express, so any moon will do."

Originally published onSpace.com.

Editor's Recommendations Why Go Back To The Moon? Retracing The Last Footsteps | Video Wildest Private Deep-Space Mission Ideas: A Countdown Moon Master: An Easy Quiz for Lunatics

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Moon Express Announces Plan for Solar System Exploration - Seeker

Space exploration has taught us a lot about the Universe and even our Earth but the learning comes with a hefty price. Finally, it might be possible to earn money from space or even make you rich. Planetary exploration only provides knowledge but a set of celestial bodies no one really cares of are Asteroids, which can actually earn you money, really big money.

Scientists claim that asteroids can be a source wealth worth millions or trillions of dollars. Often referred to as junk of the space, asteroids contain Platinum group metals, which are rare on Earth but vital to run high-tech devices like smartphones and laptops. Astronomers speculate that some asteroids can contain platinum group metals more than are reserves of the entire Earth. No baloney but a fact that an asteroid that whizzed past us in 2015 likely contained 90 million metric tons (90,000,000,000 KG) of platinum group metals.The hidden wealth on the mystic, wayward body amounted around $5 trillion. Other abundant metals asteroids carry in their core may include iron, nickel and cobalt.

Yet, the most precious resource might be water. So expensive it is to carry water from Earth to the space that 1-liter water bottle costs around $5,000.If there are reliable sources of water above the stratosphere, the space travel could become a bit cheaper but a lot more interesting. Water is necessary for cooling of a lot of space stations or perhaps a radiation shield for astronauts. Its most lucrative use would be to split it into hydrogen and oxygen and use both the basic elements in rocket fuel after more complex scientific process aboard the spaceship. If possible, all the water-resourced asteroids can turn into pit shops in space, allowing spacecraft to refuel and venture away.

Another highly potential source of water could be the dear moon. Not only could the moon contain water, it may potentially contain other elements like Helium 3, which is extremely rare on Earth. Speculated total value of moons resources ranges anywhere between 150 to 500 Quadrillion dollars. Although space mining isnt possible yet, several companies are investing heavily to unlock terrestrial treasure troves.

Another factor preventing scientists from exploring asteroids is its gravity (often referred as micro-gravity). An asteroids gravity can be too weak to hold down a spacecraft, as it is neither a star nor a planet but the tumbleweed of cosmos. As landing a spacecraft isnt an option, space engineers are working on a method to dock it, much like how vehicles dock on Earth, and conduct drilling and extraction processes. While docking is a big challenge in itself, even bigger is which ones are worth going to. It is very likely that the scientists may land on one without any worthwhile substances. Of 1,500 asteroids loitering in Earths vicinity, it wont be easy to detect the useful ones. Thankfully, infrared technology helps with that, but wait a few more year for the technology to become sophisticated enough. Moreover, its arduous to establish if the readings are accurate.

Although an asteroids micro-gravity isnt strong enough to land spacecrafts, it can still greatly mess with them. We have only visited a few planets or celestial entities so far, most of whom are in uniform shape with uniform gravitational pull. Since an asteroid neither has a molten core, nor is broken from any star, it has an irregular shape with gravity varying from one point to another. The unusual gravitation pull could also cause some issues for astronauts if one ever landed on an asteroid.

There are some optimistic companies, which think it is possible. Deep Space Industries believes they can mine asteroids by 2027. NASA Resource Prospector Mission is also pretty confident on being the first company to mine the moon, in the hopes of launching a craft in 2020. Some ongoing missions with the intent of mining asteroids include OSIRIS-REx, Hayabusa 2, Asteroid redirect mission and Fobos-Grunt 2.

Since we know so little about space mining, things could go horribly wrong. As asteroids are not that large in size, mining them for substances could create fissures and openings in them, and possibly affecting gravity instantly if not splitting them into pieces. Nonetheless, the utmost terrifying danger could be if the asteroid collapses in on itself, devouring the astronauts and the spacecraft.

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Space exploration can make us rich, one day! - Daily Pakistan

WASHINGTON Vice President Mike Pence offered vague plans last week of sending Americans to the moon and Mars, while also announcing that the National Space Council, which will advise the president on U.S. space programs, will hold its first meeting in nearly 25 years later this summer.

Our nation will return to the moon, and we will put American boots on the face of Mars, Pence said Wednesday during a tour of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The vice president did not offer any specific timeframe or exact details for either endeavor.

A week before Pences NASA visit, President Trump signed an executive order re-establishing the National Space Council, which was created in 1989 and dissolved in 1993. Pence will chair the council, which will include the secretaries of State, Defense, Commerce, Transportation and Homeland Security and the director of National Intelligence, among other officials.

Our National Space Council will reenergize the pioneering spirit of America and it will ensure that America never again loses our lead in space exploration and technology, Pence said.

President Trump in March signed the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017, a piece of legislation introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and a handful of others that added human exploration of Mars as one of NASAs key objectives. The legislation envisions completing a crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s. Trump during a videoconference with astronauts aboard the International Space Station in April said, Well do it a lot sooner than were even thinking.

NASA has requested $19.1 billion for fiscal 2018. A House appropriations subcommittee in June approved a spending bill that provides NASA with $19.9 billion for 2018. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate during NASA budget hearings earlier this year criticized proposed cuts as outlined in the administrations budget. The fiscal 2018 figure is within range of budgets for fiscal 2017 ($19.5 billion) and 2016 ($19.3 billion). According to Office of Management and Budget figures, NASA funding was at its height in 1966 ($43.6 billion in 2014 dollars). In 1969, the year the U.S. landed men on the moon, NASA was funded $27.6 billion (2014 dollars).

NASAs 2018 budget request lists $4.7 billion for space operations, including $1.5 billion for the International Space Station and $3.9 billion for exploration. According to agency documents, NASAs James Webb Space Telescope, which will be used to identify oxygen products and life forms on exoplanets, is on pace to launch in 2018. The telescope is expected to build on discoveries made by the Hubble Space Telescope, with greater capability in tracking longer wavelengths. The telescopes first target will be Trapist 1, a star with seven habitable, Earth-sized planets orbiting. LHS 1140B, a massive planet with earthlike features, is the second target.

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Big Space Exploration Dreams from Administration with Few Details Yet - PJ Media

JOIN the National Space Centre in Leicester for an evening dedicated to the amazing spacecraft, telescopes, and engineering that allow us to explore the universe.

The centre will be joined by special guests who will share their experiences of building things that go into space at the special event, on Friday, July 14.

Discover how space has made a difference to your everyday life, make Soyuz or Saturn V rocket, learn about how robotic technology is helping us explore our Solar System, find out more telescopes and get hands on with some artefacts from its vaults.

Choose to finish your evening with some live stargazing (weather dependent) or add a film screening to your package and sit back in the Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium for a night of Contact, with Jodi Foster.

To find out more, or to book, please visit the National Space Centre website at http://spacecentre.co.uk/ - here is the timetable of events:

6pm - Building Opens Sungazing begins

6.30pm - It is Rocket Science! LIVE Space

6.45pm - Tour of the Night Sky Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium

7pm - Staying Alive in Space Prof Anu Ojha in LIVE Space

7pm - How to Buy a Telescope Leicester Astronomical Association in Boosters Caf

7.25pm - Tour of the Night Sky Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium

7.30pm - Why Cant We Fly into Space in A Plane? Dr Nigel Bannister, University of Leicester in LIVE Space

7.45pm - Into the Unknown film from Northrop Grumman (38 min) Shuttle Suites

8pm - How to Buy a Telescope Leicester Astronomical Association in Boosters Caf

8pm - Building Things That Go into Space Piyal Samara-Ratna, University of Leicester in LIVE Space

8.05pm - Tour of the Night Sky Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium

8.30pm - ExoMars Rover: Engineering for the Red Planet Paul Meacham, Airbus in LIVE Space

8.45pm - Into the Unknown film from Northrop Grumman (38 min) Shuttle Suites

8.45pm - FILM Contact PG (additional ticket required)

9.20pm - Sunset Stargazing begins

10pm - Building closed to non-film guests

11pm - Film ends and Building Closes

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Special event gives insight into space exploration - LoughboroughEcho.net

NASA FDL developing new approaches to asteroid, comet and solar threats using AI

What do astrophysicist Steven Hawking, Queen guitarist Brian May and the country of Luxembourg have in common? They're all key figures in Asteroid Day - a UN sanctioned day of education to raise awareness about protecting ...

A venerable U.S./European oceanography satellite mission with NASA participation that has expanded our knowledge of global sea level change, ocean currents and climate phenomena like El Nio and La Nia will take on an ...

Just days after celebrating its first anniversary in Jupiter orbit, NASA's Juno spacecraft will fly directly over Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the gas giant's iconic, 10,000-mile-wide (16,000-kilometer-wide) storm. This will ...

Telescopes in Hawaii have obtained new images of Jupiter and its Great Red Spot, which will assist the first-ever close-up study of the Great Red Spot, planned for July 10. On that date, NASA's Juno spacecraft will fly directly ...

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Space Exploration News - Space News, Space Exploration ...

Lot 102 Apollo 11 Contingency Lunar Sample Return Bag Used by Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11 to bring back the very first pieces of the moon ever collected traces of which remain in the bag. The only such relic available for private ownership. Estimate$2/4 million. Courtesy Sothebys

Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.

On July 20, 1969, these eight words crackled across the airwaves, holding the world entranced and altering forever the boundaries of what was considered possible.

The man speaking was Neil Armstrong, whose brevity marked the moment when the lunar module Eagle completed its perilous journey from Apollo 11 and touched down upon the surface of the Moon. The world waited on tenterhooks as hour after hour of checks were carried out. Finally, the hatch opened, and Armstrong descended the ladder to become the first human to set foot on the Moon, with the now immortal words: Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

There cannot be many who have not, however briefly, glanced at the Moon and wondered what it must have been like for Armstrong to look back at the blue and green planet we call home. The landing may have happened almost five decades ago, but space exploration has not lost its allure. Even those of us who were not born when this momentous event unfolded are caught in its gravitational pull.

With this in mind, it seems only fitting that Sothebys New York has decided to host its first space exploration auction, featuring memorabilia from American-led space missions, exactly 48 years to the day after Apollo 11s lunar landing.

The space programmes are a huge source of inspiration for future generations around the globe, says Cassandra Hatton, space expert and senior specialist, books and manuscripts, at Sothebys New York.

Many of us remember watching in awe as Armstrong first set foot on the Moon, and remember vividly the excitement and sometimes tragedy associated with each launch. This is a field that requires no special background or training to appreciate, and anyone, regardless of their age, can share in the excitement. Space exploration unites us as humans in a common goal of escaping the bonds of Earth to explore what is beyond.

Although an American ultimately became the first person to land on the Moon, for many years Russia led space exploration. In 1957, it launched the worlds first satellite, Sputnik, and in 1961, Russian pilot and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man to orbit the Earth, beating his US counterpart Alan Shepard by 23 days. US president JohnF Kennedy ramped up the rivalry between the two countries in 1962, when he declared Americas intention of putting a man on the Moon. Issued as a rally cry, his words We choose to go to the Moon in this decade.... not because [it is] easy, but because [it is] hard marked the start of the so-called space race.

It is difficult to grasp just how huge a task this was at that time. Computing was still in its infancy, and many materials now deemed crucial to any sojourn into the vacuum of space had yet to be invented. To put this into context, the computer that powered the Apollo missions filled almost an entire room, could only execute eight instructionssimultaneously and had decidedly less memory than an Xbox 360 game console. That men trusted their lives to such basic technology seems beyond comprehension, and the crews, made up of experienced fighter plane test pilots, sat helpless inside their capsules, at the mercy of others to send them into and, most crucially, bring them home from the unknown. Although mixed with rhetoric fuelled by the Cold War between the US and Russia, Kennedys unwavering belief and commitment to lunar exploration is partly why the space centre in Florida still bears his name.

Innumerable items were created as part of this dash for the skies, but very few have so far been put up for sale. In 1993, Sothebys staged a Russian space history auction, offering 227 lots over three days, and generating sales in excess of US$6.8 million (Dh25m).

"Houston, We've Had A Problem Here." The Flown Apollo 13 Flight Plan Apollo 13. Flight Plan. Part No. SKB32100082-350. S/N: 1001. [Houston: Manned Spacecraft Center, March 16, 1970] Estimate $30/40,000. Courtesy Sotheby's

Attended by former Russian cosmonauts, with a mood best described as frenzied, the packed sales room jostled to snap up items such as Gagarins handwritten speech for $123,500 (Dh453,655); instructions for the finders of the returned Soviet space dogs Belka and Strelka for $10,350 (Dh38,000);and even a Lunokhod 1lunar rover, which sold for $68,500 (Dh252,000), despite having being left on the Moon since 1971, with no prospect of it ever making a return to Earth.

Crucially, the sale also offered Moon rock, which Hatton is quick to highlight to this day remains the only legal sale of Moon rocks to have ever occurred.

It is this legal provenance that holds the clue as to why most sales have so far offered Soviet, but not US items. Unlike the Soviet Union, which lost any claim to these space items when it collapsed, until recently, US law prohibited all sales of space items, as they were deemed to be owned by Nasa, and ultimately, the American government. This has now changed.

New laws were enacted, Hatton explains, allowing US astronauts who participated in the Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo missions clear title to any artefacts that they received during their missions, and thus, clear title to anyone that they sell or gift such items to.

This means that items that one would normally only find in museums are now available for private ownership.

Thanks to this fundamental shift in policy, the market is expected to open up, kicking off with the Sothebys Space Exploration auction next week. Alongside original charts, maps and engineering models, one item on offer is a photograph taken of Buzz Aldrin by Armstrong, on the surface of the Moon. This is one of the most defining images of the era. Signed by and with a note from Aldrin, it carries a reserve price of between $3,000 and $5,000 (up to Dh18,400).

Also available is a flag carried aboard Apollo 11 signed by Armstrong, Aldrin and the third astronaut on board, Michael Collins. In the years after the mission, Armstrong became uncomfortable with his signature changing hands for large sums, and in later years became so disillusioned that he refused all requests for an autograph. This signed flag is, therefore, estimated to sell for between $40,000 and $60,000 (up to Dh220,500).

Perhaps unexpectedly, the star listing of the sale is an unassuming bag marked Lunar sample return, which comes with a reserve price of between $2m and $4m (up to Dh14.7m).

Lot 116 Buzz Aldrin at Tranquility Base The Apollo programs most iconic image. Large color photograph taken by Neil Armstrong of Buzz Aldrin during their Apollo 11 moonwalk. Signed & inscribed by Buzz Aldrin. Estimate $3/5,000. Courtesy Sotheby's

Shedding light on what makes this so interesting, Hatton explains: The top lot in the sale is the very bag that Neil Armstrong used on the Apollo 11 mission to bring back the first samples of the Moon ever collected.

Called an outer decontamination bag, it still has traces of lunar dust inside it.

We thought that the anniversary date of this historic event was the perfect day on which to sell an artefact of such significance.

One nation that will no doubt be watching the sale with interest is the UAE one of the more recent arrivals to the field of space exploration. In 2014, the countryset out an ambitious plan to be the first Arab nation to send an unmanned probe to Mars, joining the ranks of only nine other nations with its own space programme, dubbed the Emirates Mars Mission.

Fittingly named Hope, the UAEs unmanned spacecraft for the Mars probe aims to gather data about the atmosphere, which it will then share with other research facilities.

Although Hope is on a serious scientific mission, there is a touch of poetry about it, too, timed as it is to arrive on the Red Planet in 2021, to coincide with the 50th anniversary year of a unified UAE.

Covering 60 million miles (equal to 156 non-stop journeys to the Moon) and reliant on solar power, Hope has a difficult voyage ahead of it.

Once in space, and with no air friction to slow it down, it will travel at 126,000kph for seven months to reach its destination.

Once there, transmissions back to Earth will take up to 20 minutes to arrive, meaning the craft must be capable of piloting itself. It must slow itself down enough to enter Mars orbit, where it will, at long last, be able to collect samples and data.

With a single orbit taking 55 hours and covering an ellipse of up to 44,000 kilometres, the entire mission is designed to take almost two years from launch to completion.

In the interim, enthusiasts can get their space fix from the upcoming Sothebys auction, and add to or build up a stockpile of cosmic collectibles.

The head of Sothebys Dubai, Katia Nounou, sums it up perfectly. From those aspiring to be astronauts to those simply reaching for the stars, were thrilled to offer the chance to get one step closer to the Moon this summer, she says.

We hope space exploration inspires all of our visitors to look back on mankinds immense achievements, and to reimagine the impossible as possible.

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Moon rock on the block: Sotheby's stages its first space exploration ... - The National

45th Space Wing / Published July 07, 2017

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Col. Burton Catledge, 45th Operations Group commander and Lt. Col. Jason Havel, Detachment 3 commander, cut the ribbon to the recently renovated Human Spaceflight Support Operations Center (SOC), to symbolize Americas transition from a government operated space program to a blended mission with the addition of commercially-operated crewed spaceflight programs. The $485,000 yearlong project created a state-of-the-art communications hub used for the Department of Defenses human spaceflight support missions from the SOC, which is an extension of the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. It hosts a worldwide command and control capability for Department of Defense rescue forces through a combination of radio frequencies, specialized internet applications, texting, satellite and secure and unsecure voice through the SOC's 10 workstations, 20 DOD circuits and 20 NASA specific circuits. (U.S. Air Force photo by Phil Sunkel))

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Prior to the $485,000 renovation in 2017, this photo shows personnel operating the legacy analog consoles during a 2016 astronaut rescue exercise. The 45th Operations Group Detachment 3 tested their communication channels to Air Force airborne assets, pararescue forces at sea, NASA's Johnson Space Center and the Joint Space Operations Center. The SOC's mission is to provide a worldwide Department of Defense command and control node for NASA astronaut rescue and recovery and is currently used for operational Soyuz missions returning from the International Space Station, and various exercises in support of NASA's nascent Orion and Commercial Crew Programs. The renovations improved the SOC's technical capabilities to support additional commercially-operated crewed spaceflight programs. (U.S. Air Force file photo)

PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Col. Burton Catledge, 45th Operations Group commander and Lt. Col. Jason Havel, Detachment 3 commander, cut the ribbon to the recently renovated Human Spaceflight Support Operations Center (SOC), to symbolize Americas transition from a government operated space program to a blended mission with the addition of commercially-operated crewed spaceflight programs. The $485,000 yearlong project created a state-of-the-art communications hub used for the Department of Defenses human spaceflight support missions from the SOC, which is an extension of the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. It hosts a worldwide command and control capability for Department of Defense rescue forces through a combination of radio frequencies, specialized internet applications, texting, satellite and secure and unsecure voice through the SOC's 10 workstations, 20 DOD circuits and 20 NASA specific circuits. (U.S. Air Force photo by Phil Sunkel))

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45th Space Wing cuts into a new era of space exploration - Pactrick Air Force Base

Risk and failure are a normal part of any space programme. China has come to learn that, just as other space-faring nations have. The failed launch of a Long March 5 rocket, the second such incident in as many weeks, is without doubt a setback for engineers, scientists and the nations ambitions. But when it comes to extraterrestrial exploration, there can be no success without failure.

Scientists have always known that, so it is good that authorities now also understand. In a positive sign of transparency, they were quick to announce Sundays mishap with the rocket and the loss of the experimental satellite it was carrying, the largest that China has yet tried to launch. An investigation is under way, but the outcome is unlikely to alter the setbacks to human space flight and planet exploration plans, which will rely on the heavy-lifting capacity of the Long March rocket. A malfunction in a lesser version last month failed to lift a satellite to its anticipated orbit, but the more powerful rockets reliability had already been brought into question during its first test last November; although considered a success, it was similarly unable to put its satellite payload onto the right path.

Chinas moon programme takes a hit due to Long March rocket failure

There is good reason for transparency, though; China pins its hopes on the Long March 5, a rocket that puts its capabilities beside long-standing space powers the United States and Russia. The rockets next planned launch in November was to carry the Change-5 spacecraft, which is to be the crux of the nations second lunar lander with a mission to bring back the first samples from the moon in four decades. It will also be integral to helping assemble Chinas first permanently crewed space station, with the core module expected to be launched either next year or in 2019. It is too soon to say whether those programmes will be affected by the rocket failures.

Chinese have justifiably watched with pride the nations meteoric rise among space nations. In the 14 years since astronaut Yang Liwei made history by orbiting the Earth 21 times, there have been extraordinary achievements. An orbiter has navigated the moon and a rover has landed on it, a component for an orbital space station was launched and three astronauts, including Chinas first woman in space, docked with it. But scientists lost control and a successor, Tiangong-2, was embarked upon and two astronauts spent 30 days aboard it last November to learn how to live and work in space.

China aims to land on the moon in the mid-2030s; it hopes to become a leading space power by about 2030. In doing so, there are bound to be more failures. But learning from mistakes is the only way to move confidently forward. Accepting risk and failure is the price that has to be paid to expand knowledge and advance technology.

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Setbacks are inevitable in space exploration - South China Morning Post

Coming off the Independence Day holiday where night skies across the country exploded with fireworks, a thought occurred to me. Whatever happened to our exploration of those black velvet skies of outer space?

Dubbed the final frontier, kids growing up during my childhood years were thrilled with the exploits of amazingly brave astronauts who stepped into tiny capsules and sped off into the dark regions of the universe. We hoped technology wouldn't fail them in their quest for knowledge, nor in their attempt to return home.

Today, it seems that the only discussion about space happens in movies like "The Martian" with Matt Damon. That's sad.

Among the dream professions in my "Leave it to Beaver" era, being an astronaut was near the top. After the earth had pretty well been explored and documented, the natural human thirst for knowledge was directed toward the skies and beyond. After watching several unbelievable accomplishments, topped by the legendary walk on the moon in 1969, it seemed that the floodgates had opened. It appeared that before long we would be riding around in flying saucers like George Jetson, stopping at planets like we stop at strip shopping centers.

But it seems the moon landing was the zenith of space exploration. I know we've got manned space stations with rotating astronauts and satellites performing communication duties that once seemed impossible. And yet, the magic that happened on that July night in 1969 has yet to be repeated outside of the movies.

As the 50th anniversary of that feat approaches, I'm disappointed that space exploration hasn't expanded beyond the memories of that fateful walk on the moon.

And why hasn't it? Why hasn't technology built upon that accomplishment, making space travel more frequent. Not being a science maven, I don't have the answers. Those of us who saw that broadcast of Neil Armstrong and his fellow astronauts doing the first version of a moonwalk long before Michael Jackson's can remember the deeply moving feeling we experienced. To this day, looking at a full moon while imagining them walking on its surface gives me a chill. Yet the passion, and press coverage, seems to have made space exploration an afterthought.

We have some voices still discussing different forms of space travel, but most of them seem to be private citizens like Richard Branson. The billionaire is in active pursuit of sending other private citizens into space in one of his special air crafts. While I wouldn't be a volunteer for that, much less pay millions of dollars for the experience, I think it's time we rediscover our pioneer spirit and refocus on finding what else lies out there in the great beyond.

Stephen Hawking says we only have 100 years left, so we better get cracking.

Pat Lenhoff is a freelance columnist.

viewfromvh@yahoo.com

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Lenhoff: Whatever happened to exploring the final frontier? - Chicago Tribune

July 7, 2017 by Kerry Sheridan US Vice President Mike Pence vowed to put astronauts on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970sbut gave no specifics

US Vice President Mike Pence vowed Thursday to usher in a "new era" of American leadership in space, with a return to the Moon and explorers on Mars, but offered few details.

Pence, who was recently named to head a government advisory body called the National Space Council, said the group would hold its first meeting "before the summer is out."

He also toured NASA's Kennedy Space Center to see progress in constructing a NASA spaceship destined for deep space and privately built capsules designed to send astronauts to low-Earth orbit in the coming years.

"Our nation will return to the Moon, and we will put American boots on the face of Mars," Pence told the cheering crowd of about 800 NASA employees, space experts and private contractors, but gave no specifics.

"We did win the race to the Moon," he added, recalling the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s which sent menone of whom, Buzz Aldrin, sat in the audienceto the surface of the Moon.

NASA earlier this year announced it is exploring a project called the Deep Space Gateway, which could send astronauts into the vicinity of the Moon using a massive new rocket, known as the Space Launch System, or SLS, being developed by NASA.

And propelling people to Mars by the 2030s was a key feature of US space policy under the previous administrations of Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Shuttle era

The United States lost the ability to send astronauts to the International Space Station when the shuttle program was retired in 2011.

Since then, Americans have been forced to hitch rides aboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, at a cost of more than $80 million per seat.

SpaceX and Boeing are hard at work on space capsules that will start sending people to low-Earth orbit as early as 2018.

Pence, who spoke in front of a previously flown SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule and a Boeing Starliner spaceship model, said he would continue to foster cooperation with private industry to make space travel cheaper, safer and more accessible than before.

"It was heartening to see him allude to growing public-private partnerships, but the lack of policy details, personnel and budgetary priorities is concerning," Phil Larson, a former White House space advisor under Obama who also worked for SpaceX, told AFP after the speech.

"Usually you have a leader visit, tour and give a speech to roll out a detail-oriented policy after it's been developed. This is backwards."

President Donald Trump's proposed budget, released in March, called for $19.1 billion for NASA, a 0.8 percent decrease from 2017.

It called for NASA to abandon plans to lasso an asteroid and cut several missions to study climate change and Earth science.

But NASA would emerge largely unscathed compared to deep cuts proposed at other agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.

Lawmakers are still hammering out their adjustments to the proposed budget, which should be decided on later this year.

Explore further: Japan reveals plans to put a man on moon by 2030

2017 AFP

Japan has revealed ambitious plans to put an astronaut on the Moon around 2030 in new proposals from the country's space agency.

Under US President Donald Trump's proposed budget, NASA's funding would stay largely intact but the space agency would abandon plans to lasso an asteroid, along with four Earth and climate missions.

Dismissed by former US president Barack Obama as a place explorers had already seen, the Moon has once again gained interest as a potential destination under Donald Trump's presidency.

Boeing already has the Dreamliner. Now it also has the Starliner.

NASA will probably delay the first two missions of its Orion deep-space capsule, being developed to send astronauts beyond earth's orbit and eventually to Mars, the US space agency said.

Think you have the right stuff to be an astronaut?

IC 342 is a challenging cosmic target. Although it is bright, the galaxy sits near the equator of the Milky Way's galactic disk, where the sky is thick with glowing cosmic gas, bright stars, and dark, obscuring dust.

When it comes to the distant universe, even the keen vision of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope can only go so far. Teasing out finer details requires clever thinking and a little help from a cosmic alignment with a gravitational ...

Yale researchers have identified 60 potential new "hot Jupiters"highly irradiated worlds that glow like coals on a barbecue grill and are found orbiting only 1% of Sun-like stars.

A project that explores whether there is a musical equivalent to the curvature of spacetime will be presented on Thursday 6July by Gavin Starks at the National Astronomy Meeting at the University of Hull.

European and Japanese scientists Thursday proudly unveiled the BepiColombo spacecraft ahead of its seven-year journey to Mercury, to explore one of the Solar System's most enigmatic planets.

Astronomers have discovered a rare, warm, massive Jupiter-like planet orbiting a star that is rotating extremely quickly. The discovery raises puzzling questions about planet formation neither the planet's comparatively ...

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Pence vows 'new era' in US space exploration, but few details - Phys.Org

Royal College of Art graduate Brian Black has designed a concept rover and virtual-reality interface that would allow anyone on earth to contribute to space exploration missions.

Black's vision would see participants driving the rovers over real planets and moons, and collecting samples for analysis, all via a virtual-reality (VR) headset.

Installed in galleries, universities or other public places, the VR experience would function as an engagement mechanism during future interplanetary missions by NASA and other space agencies.

Black a masters student in Vehicle Design at the Royal College of Art (RCA) titled his project the Overview Effect, after a phrase used to describe the awe and change in attitude that astronauts commonly report experiencing once they see the earth from orbit.

He said: "I started with a question. What if there was a way to increase understanding? To give the public an experience that provokes a mental shift the same way astronauts have that first time they look back upon the earth?"

"From space, astronauts tell us national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide us become less important and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this 'pale blue dot' becomes both obvious and imperative."

"Even more so, many of them tell us that from the Overview perspective, all of this seems imminently achievable, if only more people could have the experience," he continued.

For the purposes of the project, Black used Saturn's largest moon, Titan, as an example, because its earth-like qualities have made it a subject of interest for scientists.

Anticipating that a one-and-a-half-hour time delay in the transmission between Titan and earth would make real-time exploration impossible, Black proposes that the VR experience take place in a pre-scanned environment, with the terrain mapped using an orbital probe or data that the rover has already collected.

To avoid running into unforeseen obstacles, the rovers would also need to be equipped with autonomous technology.

In Black's demonstration for The Overview Project, users of the VR headset saw the terrain mapped as a simple point cloud, but he said that more detailed visualisations could ultimately be developed, such as those developed by 3D-scanning company ScanLAB.

Brian Black demonstrated a version of The Overview Effect virtual-reality interface at the Royal College of Art graduate exhibition

An accompanying concept space rover called Creos is also part of the Overview Effect. It is designed around its power source, an advanced radio isotopic generator (ASRG), a highly efficient kind of generator that is currently under development at NASA.

Around this, Black has imagined a "rugged" body suitable for exploration. The rover has a high clearance but is otherwise low and flat, with a nearly square shape.

The rover uses lidar (like radar, but using pulsed laser light) to visualise its environment the same technology as in today's self-driving vehicles. This module is situated on the rover's roof.

For users on earth, the vehicle also captures a soundscape using binaural audio receivers embedded in its front side panels. Scientific instruments like sampling tools and probes are all loaded into the front of vehicle.

Interplanetary design is experiencing something of a renaissance now that several private companies like Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk's SpaceX are aggressively pursuing space travel.

Clment Balavoine has imagined flight suits precisely tailored to support the musculoskeletal system of SpaceX travellers, while one of 2016's Designs of the Year was a Space Cup emulating a natural drinking experience for astronauts.

Black, who is originally from the US, studied at the Art Institute of Colorado before beginning his studies at the RCA. His work was included at the school's graduate exhibition, which ran from 24 June to 2 July at the Kensington campus in London.

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RCA graduate proposal would see ordinary people driving NASA's space exploration rovers - Dezeen

Space exploration and the discovery of alien life have been of great interest to humans for decades. In recent times developments have been made, but there is still a long way to go before we have a United Nations on Mars! However, missions to discover Earth-like planets can bring us one step closer to achieving this reality. One such mission, led by Don Pollaco at the University of Warwick, has recently been given the go-ahead.

This mission will involve sending satellites into space, most notably the Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO). The PLATO mission will help address how common Earth-like planets are, and whether our solar system is unusual or even unique. It even has the potential to eventually lead to the detection of extra-terrestrial life. The satellite will also investigate seismic activity in some stars in order to determine information such as their mass and age to and help to understand their exoplanet systems.

it will be able to help find planets across large areas of space, and process vast amounts of information on these planets.

The satellite will search for tiny, regular dips in brightness as the planets cross in front of stars, temporarily blocking out a small fraction of the starlight. However, the signals satellites pick up can be sometimes obscured by objects such as meteors that can appear to be planets, which can lead to false positives. These issues can be overcome through the use of machine learning techniques; new algorithms can be developed to distinguish false positives from real objects. The use of Big Data can help significantly with planet detection; it will be able to help find planets across large areas of space, and process vast amounts of information on these planets.

More generally, while there are many advocates for planet detection and space exploration, there is opposition. The most popular counter-argument would be whether or not we should focus on solving issues on our own planet before discovering others. This may not be a question of research, since climate change has been proven to exist for example, but there is the opportunity cost of research funding that helps deal with current issues on Earth. It may also be important that humans learn how to handle conflicting opinions, particularly in a political sense, before research into planet discovery is done.

It may also be important that humans learn how to handle conflicting opinions, particularly in a political sense, before research into planet discovery is done.

Nonetheless, if the research is there, it can help prepare humans for a time when exploring other planets will be necessary. Additionally, because some of the research at Warwick will involve machine learning and Big Data, research into this can help advance these fields and automation in general which, if used safely, can help improve current living conditions on Earth. Improvements in machine learning can also help develop more efficient rockets, such as with SpaceX, that can help with visiting the planets themselves, albeit far in the future.

Though the work is in its early stages, research into new planet detection can help us to further understand exoplanets and how the universe is structured, and help us acquire new knowledge that could potentially help us with machine learning techniques. The research applications should nevertheless be considered carefully; we may find less than we expect, but even finding one very Earth-like planet could have an important societal impact.

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Go-ahead given to University of Warwick led space exploration - The Boar

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren pulled ESA astronaut Pedro Duque during a simulated moonwalk beneath the Atlantic Ocean. The pair tested a new instrument that allows for the safe and rapid transfer of a fallen companion despite the bulkiness of spacesuits.

Space is a harsh, unforgiving environment, so there's a good chance of an astronaut being injured at some point while exploring the formidable landscapes on the moon or Mars. To help cope with this type of potential disaster, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) recently tested a new device to bring astronauts safely back to base if they are incapacitated during a moonwalk or Mars expedition.

Last week, ESA astronaut Pedro Duque and NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren spent 10 days in the Aquarius habitat 65 feet (20 meters) under the ocean off the coast of the Florida Keys as part of NASA's 22nd Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO-22) mission. With the aim of simulating space exploration to test new equipment, procedures and operations, the two astronauts made multiple "waterwalks," adjusting their buoyancy to simulate the gravity of the moon and Mars.

"The mission was both familiar and unique," Duquesaid in a statementfrom ESA. "Familiar because it resembled spaceflight, from the mission preparation, timelines, priorities, 'launch' when we dived to the base and daily program meetings, but the environment was unique, living and working at the bottom of the sea." [Take A Tour Of TheUnderwater AstronautHabitat, Aquarius | Video]

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren unfolding the Lunar Evacuation System Assembly so he can come to ESA astronaut Pedro Duque's aid in a simulated lunar rescue.

Among the new types of equipment that the mission was meant to test was the Lunar Evacuation System Assembly (LESA). Spacesuits add bulk and reduce astronauts' mobility, which would make it challenging to carry or drag a fallen comrade while wearing a suit, according to the statement. LESA allows for the rapid recovery of a moonwalker, even given the limited mobility of the bulky attire.

A foldable, pyramid-like structure on wheels opens above the astronaut, lifting the incapacitated explorer and placing her or him on a wheeled stretcher. It took only six months to move the instrument from concept to prototype at the ESA Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, according to the statement.

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren rescues ESA astronaut Pedro Duque in a simulated lunar rescue.

During their undersea adventure, Durque and Lindgren took turns acting as the fallen astronaut. ESA astronaut trainer Herv Stevenin joined NEEMO-22 to help test the new device. Before its visit to the seafloor, LESA was tested in the Astronaut Centre's large training pool.

"We designed it with international cooperation in mind and based on our expertise in spacewalks and experience working with NASA on the preparation of future space exploration," Stevenin said. "This lunar-simulation capability will allow more tests of innovative European hardware for future human exploration of the moon."

Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTReddor Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebookor Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

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Lunar Rescue: Astronauts Can Move Fallen Comrades with New Tool - Space.com