Monthly Archives: March 2017

Getting people and payloads into space is expensive very expensive. The astronomical cost of operating space shuttles compelled NASA in 2011 to stop flying the durable space-planes after 30 years and 131 launches.

Today, the cost of building and launching multi-stage rockets varies depending on orbital altitude, weight and how much insurance is needed against the ever-present risk of rocket failure, but its safe to say one launch can cost at least tens of millions of dollars. For example, sending a multi-ton payload on an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance, the joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, starts at $109 million, according to the companys recently launched RocketBuilder web tool. (This expense is typically shared among numerous customers.)

Driving these costs down is one of the main reasons why Elon Musk cofounded Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, in 2002. Now, as early as next week, the company could reach a major milestone in an effort to drive its launch costs down 30 percent.

Already, the Los Angeles-area upstart has emerged as the economy class of space transport. By building its engines and rockets in-house, SpaceX offers relative bargains. Its website shows prices of about $1,200 per pound of cargo sent to the low-earth orbit used by the International Space Station and about $3,390 per pound to get to the distance that most telecommunications satellites use.

As early as next week, SpaceX will re-use a rocket itrecovered last yearduring a previous launch in order to deliver a European telecommunications satellite into orbit. The company had said the launch would take place in March, buta scheduled launch of an Atlas V rocket at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Floridawas recently delayeduntilMarch 27. Because it takes a couple of days for the Air Force to reconfigure its tracking system for a new launch from a different platform, the historic mission could take place in early April.

Normally these expensive rockets break off and plunge into the ocean during a multi-stage launch process, but SpaceX is the first aerospace company to prove its feasible to send these rockets skyward to an altitude of 200 kilometers (124 miles), at a peak speed of six times the speed of sound. Instead of dropping into the ocean like a very expensive piece of garbage, SpaceX engineers figured out a way to gradually slow the rocket, rotate it and land it delicately onto a droneship, one of two floating robotic barges used by the company, or onto land. So far, SpaceX has recovered eight of these Falcon 9 rockets, most recently in January, including three of them that touched down at Cape Canaveral.

After it became the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station in 2012, the companys workhorse Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon space capsule now perform NASAs routine near-orbit space-transport work.

Musk has said the upcoming Falcon Heavy, a bigger rocket whose maiden voyage will help bring prices down further.

Were gonna launch Heavy this summer, as soon as we get Pad 40 back up and running, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President and COO, said during a press event at Cape Canaveral ahead of a mission last month, referring to the launch platform damaged in a rocket explosion in September. Obviously, I said earlier, schedules never stick the way other things do, but were still targeting mid-year for sure with that.

Last months launch was also a milestone for the company: It was the first round-trip mission to the ISS. SpaceX delivered supplies and research equipment to the station and then splashed down to earth on Sunday off the coast of southern California with a payload of scientific goodies, including samples aimed at advancing research in stem cells and bone diseases.

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SpaceX's sustainable space travel: Recycled rockets are green - Salon - Salon

President Trump put NASA on course for a mission to Mars and beyond Tuesday, signing a bill that authorized boosting the agencys current year budget to $19.5 billion and restoring its focus on manned space flights.

Mr. Trump spoke in historic terms about the renewed charge of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which was expanded to include the search for lifes origins, evolution, distribution, and future in the universe in at the agencys mission statement.

Almost half a century ago our brave astronauts first planted the American flag on the moon. That was a big moment in our history. Now this nation is ready to be the first in space once again, he said at a signing ceremony in the Oval Office.

Today we are taking the initial steps toward a bold and bright new future of American space flight, said the president, who was surrounded by several NASA astronauts and a group of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.

Congress has not passed a NASA authorization bill in nearly seven years. The agency hasnt had its own spacecraft since retiring the space shuttle program shortly after Endeavour flew its last mission June 1, 2011.

President Obama pulled the plug on NASAs manned space flights and refocused the agencys research and development on robotics, saying it saved money. His vision of the space program put an emphasis on private-sector and commercial space industries, with long-term plans for a manned mission to Mars.

At the time, the move was decried by astronauts Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, and James Lovell, who commanded the heroic Apollo 13 flight. They penned a letter warning that the U.S. was becoming a second or even third-rate spacefaring nation.

The Mars expedition still isnt anytime soon. NASA plans aim to launch the mission in 2033.

But the bill requires NASA to submit a human exploration roadmap [to] expand human presence b beyond low Earth orbit to the surface of Mars and beyond, referring to deep space exploration.

Its been a long time since a bill like this has been signed, reaffirming our national commitment to the core mission of NASA: Human space exploration, space science and technology, said Mr. Trump.

He added that the boost for NASA also will create jobs in the space industry.

The bill set goals for manned missions, development of the Orion spacecraft for deep space exploration and partnerships with private spacecraft companies. It also called for advancements in space science, technology and aeronautics programs, including health monitoring and treatment of astronauts duty-related medical conditions.

Mr. Trump wanted to continue working with the private secret, setting up joint operations at NASA launch facilities.

The commercial and the private sector are going to be using these facilities and I hope they are going to be paying us a lot of money, he said.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose proposal for moon bases during his unsuccessful 2012 presidential run was widely mocked, said it was a step in the right direction.

The fast-moving advancements are being driven by private investments from billionaires such as Elon Musk with SpaceX, Jeff Bezos with Blue Origin and Richard Branson with Virgin Galactic, he said.

You are right at the edge of a generator of extraordinary exploration, said Mr. Gingrich, who previously served as a Trump campaign adviser.

The revamp of NASA fulfills one of Mr. Trumps promises from the campaign, including promising more manned space flights, more partnerships with private companies and more space industry jobs.

Under a Trump Administration, Florida and America will lead the way into the stars, he said at an October rally in Sanford, Florida.

The legislation enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress. However, the new vision for NASA faced criticism from advocates for fighting climate change because it reduces the agencies earth science programs.

The measures supporters argued that other agencies collect climate change data and will continue to do so.

At the signing ceremony, Mr. Trump praised the astronauts and joked with the assembled lawmakers about the perils of space travel.

Its a pretty tough job, he said, turning to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a co-sponsor of the bill. I dont know Ted would you like to do it? I dont think I would.

He then made the same offer to Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, another co-sponsor standing beside the Resolute Desk.

Im not sure we want to do it, Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Cruz piped in: You could send Congress to space.

The lawmakers and astronauts laughed and Mr. Trump said, We could. What a great idea that could be.

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Trump renews NASA mission for human space travel, deep space exploration - Washington Times

By Julia Fuller

Scientist Michael Gillion and his team of astronomers discovered a star system 40 light-years away with potentially habitable planets orbiting around the dwarf star Trappist-1 last February.

This is a huge breakthrough for humankind. The planets may have water and greenhouse gases on the surface which are necessary conditions to support human life.

While Trappist-1 is significantly smaller than our Sun it still produces enough energy to cover its closest orbiting planets. Much like our moon the planets are tidally locked, facing the star one way fully lit and with the other half perpetually dark.

We have to study the planets and determine if they are livable. There may be other life forms on the surface, however speculations suggest any existing life form would be microscopic.

Although the chance of a disaster to planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time and becomes a near certainty in the next thousand or ten thousand years, Stephen Hawking said, By that time we should have spread out into space and to other stars, so a disaster on Earth would not mean the end of the human race.

At what cost will this come for us? We will have to develop the space travel to massively transport our population and leave behind a destroyed planet. Would we continue our capitalist ways when we move to other planets?

In order for us to think about space travel we must change how we support our lifestyle and sustain our resources. We are developing tools to discover these other life forms and planets and we should continue to do so. In the process we may discover a more sustainable way of life for the sake of mankinds survival.

Space travel for humans is already underway. Willing to pay $250,000 per person for the trip of a lifetime; celebrities, elites and the wealthy are purchasing round trip tickets to the moon.

Set to take off in 2018 Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic Ship has been preparing for a voyage like this for many years. However after a failed attempt in 2013 many have been skeptical of the ships ability to continue on its scheduled journey.

This development could be phenomenal for space travel. If private companies and NASA can make space travel comfortable for regular people the rest of the world will follow suit.

Our ability to discover new things is exponentially expanding. The ideas, life forms and places we can go and augment in the universe are endless. We should learn to reform our lifestyles in order to incorporate and protect future generations. This is an exciting time for mankind.

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Space travel is just $250000 away - The Guardsman Online

One of the first tourists to travel in outer space found it to be a bit of a buzzkill. Sure, he loved every minute-even if he was physically miserable part of the time. The next wave of space tourists will need a high tolerance for discomfort.

If all goes according to plan, Elon Musks Space Exploration Technologies will send two paying civilians around the moon and back some time next year. My advice to them would be to medicate early and often, says Richard Garriott de Cayeux, the video game developer and entrepreneur who paid US$30 million to Russias Space Adventures to spend 12 days aboard the International Space Station. His moon-voyaging counterparts have put down a significant deposit, according to a post last week on SpaceXs website, but the total price and the identities of the tourists have not been disclosed.

The microgravity that permits what Garriott de Cayeux describes as joyous, free-feeling motion we associated with astronauts also takes a serious physiological toll. Body fluids stop flowing normally, which is why, in space, peoples faces look puffy, and they generally have somewhat bloodshot eyes, he says. It feels sort of like lying on a childrens slide, head down. In the first days, you get very stuffed up and have a bit of a headache. These symptoms can be easily remedied with common drugs, such as aspirin and Sudafed.

Another side effect comes from the floating fluid in your inner ear, which normally helps a person detect motion and stay balanced. In space, of course, it also begins floating. So if you move your head forward, it will slosh to the back and make you feel like youre falling backwards, says Garriott de Cayeux. Theres a disagreement between what you see that youre doing and what your body thinks its doing-and that often causes sea sickness.

That perceptual disconnect tends to last for about three days before your brain begins compensating. When you get back to Earth it takes another three days to readjust. This is another downside of space tourism that can be treated with drugs.

My advice to them would be to medicate early and often.

Other physical challenges are more difficult to address and also less acute. Humans in space suffer muscle and bone atrophy. Space travel requires exposure to increased levels of radiation, which can lead to surprising visual effects. All of a sudden you will see this really intense, bright white and then it will fade back out, says Garriott de Cayeux. That is basically you being damaged by radiation, it triggers the impression of light even though there is no light.

His time in space required a year of difficult preparation, although physical fitness wasnt a focus. If youre going on a space walk, you need to be in excellent physical condition, because an inflated space suit is hard to bend. But if youre not, you just need to be healthy, he says. Still, SpaceXs tourism clients will likely be studied head to toe, undergoing a battery of medical tests theyve probably never heard of before. In my case, they found I was missing a vein on one lobe of my liver, says Garriott de Cayeux. On Earth thats irrelevant, but in space it could have led to internal bleeding, which is why I ended up having surgery to remove that lobe.

Training and preparing mentally will likely be the main challenge for the next generation of space tourists. This is not like an airplane where the pilots sit up front and theres a passenger cabin where youre being serve tea and coffee, says Garriott de Cayeux. I went through all the exact same classes as every other astronaut and cosmonaut. That included learning how to operate every piece of equipment aboard the craft, including radios and safety systems, and studying a long list of potential malfunctions.

Garriott de Cayeuxs team also trained extensively for potential disaster scenarios, including open sea survival. If there was an emergency in orbit and you had to come to ground immediately [in a capsule], you might land in the ocean, he says. You would probably sit in the capsule until somebody came and picked it up. But its also possible that the capsule might start to sink. He learned to change out of a space suit and into special thermal wetsuits-all while crammed in a space roughly the size of the front two seats of a Volkswagen bug. The first time they attempted the feat, while bobbing in a capsule in the ocean, he and his colleagues began overheating to the point where doctors stepped in and aborted the mission. Our heart rates and core body temperatures were going up to a level that was so dangerous, they literally understood that wed be doing ourselves medical harm to continue, says Garriott de Cayeux.

But mini-hardships such as this are crucial for assessing what is perhaps the most important factor in travelling to space: mental fortitude. You need to make sure that the people on the vehicle are serious, confident, positive, and will work to address situations that come up, says Garriott de Cayeux. Every person has a psychologist assigned to them, from Day 1 until launch, to make sure theyll be a safe crew member.

Despite the discomforts and hardship of space travel, Garriott de Cayeux, now 55, says his trip to space was worth every penny. His father, Owen Garriott, was an astronaut. He grew up learning and thinking about space and felt his life change when he looked at the planet from inside the International Space Station. Theres something called the Overview Effect, he says. Up there you really realize, Yeah, of course we are polluting the Earth. Of course CO2 is a problem. Of course particulate matter is a problem. How could you possibly doubt it when we can see it so self evidently?'

While Garriott de Cayeux got to observe the Earth, SpaceXs voyagers will see both Earth and the Moon up close. For them, the Earth will slowly recede into the distance to become much like the moon, he says. That is a whole other level of awe that no one has experienced in over 50 years.

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Travel tips from a real space tourist: Get ready to feel awful - National Post