Monthly Archives: June 2020

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Study of the annual revenues and market developments of the major players that supply AI in Space exploration Analysis of the demand for AI in Space exploration by component Assessment of future trends and growth of architecture in the AI in Space exploration market Assessment of the AI in Space exploration market with respect to the type of application Study of the market trends in various regions and countries, by component, of the AI in Space exploration market Study of contracts and developments related to the AI in Space exploration market by key players across different regions Finalization of overall market sizes by triangulating the supply-side data, which includes product developments, supply chain, and annual revenues of companies supplying AI in Space exploration across the globe.

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In this study, the years considered to estimate the size ofAI in Space explorationare as follows:

History Year: 2013-2018

Base Year: 2018

Estimated Year: 2019

Forecast Year 2020 to 2026.

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AI in Space exploration Market: Find Out Essential Strategies to expand The Business and Also Check Working in 2020-2027 - Cole of Duty

In March, nearly 12,000 people applied to join NASAs next class of astronauts. Thats the second highest number ever, and occurred despite an increase in educational requirementsfrom a bachelors degree to a masters degree in one of the STEM fieldsand a shortened application periods.

Thats just the first step for the space agencys Astronaut Selection Board, which will assess applicants and invite the most qualified for interviews and medical tests. Only a few will be chosen, if the past predicts the future. According to NASA, 350 people have trained as astronaut candidates since the 1960s; 48 astronauts are in the active astronaut corps.

That nearly record-setting number of applicants, however, speaks to the existence of a robust pipeline of space enthusiasts at a time when the United States appears to be upping its space game, particularly manned flights into space. Most recently and visibly, for example, history was made in late May as NASA astronauts for the first time launched to the International Space Station from U.S. soil in a commercially built and operated American space vehicle. The SpaceX Crew Dragon on May 30 lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASAs Kennedy Space Center and a day later docked at the space stations Harmony port.

Thats just one example. Other programs in the works include NASAs Artemis program, currently slated to get astronauts back to the Moon by 2024, if everything goes according to plan. And NASAs Mars Exploration Program is scheduled to launch the Perseverance rover to the red planet in July or August and land on Mars in February 2021. Unmanned, perhaps, but it is an ambitious step toward getting humans beyond the Moon.

And, of course, theres space tourism, with companies like Virgin Galactic aiming to take the general public on suborbital trips that would never even have been envisioned only a few years ago.

With all eyes beyond the skies, IndustryWeek spoke with several manufacturers about the joy and manufacturing challenges related to launching humans into space. Here is some of what we learned.

The Joy: Back to the Moon

Andy Crocker is a long-time space enthusiast. Hes a little too young for the original Moon landings to have been the impetus for that enthusiasm, but the director of space strategy at Dynetics, a Leidos Co., can trace early space-related interest back to an eighth-grade science project on space stations.

I dont remember why I chose space stations, but I did, he says. And I knew I was interested math and science, and had already been kind of thinking in that direction for a career.

Today the aerospace engineer works at one of the three U.S. companies chosen by NASA earlier this year to develop human landers that will land astronauts on the Moon as part of the Artemis program. (Blue Origin and SpaceX are the other two.) NASA describes these human landers as the final piece of the transportation chain required for sustainable human exploration of the Moon. Other pieces of that chain include the Space Launch System rocket, the Orion spacecraft and the Gateway outpost in lunar orbit.

The United States has not been to the moon with a crewed mission since 1972.

Dynetics Human Landing System team includes about 25 subcontractors, with Dynetics as prime contractor and system integrator. The way we proposed it, and the way we intend to execute it, is by having a lot of very capable small- and midsized businesses on our team who have expertise in various areas. So, there are certain areas that [Dynetics] will have the lead on in the design and manufacturing, Crocker says, citing propulsion as one example. In some of the other areas, we'll have our subcontractors lead because they've got particular expertise in those areas.

As you can probably imagine, the technology embedded into any space application is sophisticatedand fascinating. Crocker, who also holds the title of deputy program manager for Dynetics human landing system, shared several of the wow factors that make up Dynetics concept.

Automation will play a big role. For example, Crocker outlined a scenario in which the lander is launched in three major pieces due to its size, on three different launch vehicles about two weeks apart. The pieces nevertheless arrive in lunar orbit at about the same time, at which point they automatically put themselves together into a single system, check themselves out and say, yes, were good to go, Crocker says. Of course, it's not quite that simple.

Dynetics' lander is meant to be sustainable. For example, after the first mission, the lander takes off from the surface of the Moon and returns the crew to the space capsule, which then takes the astronauts back to Earth. The lander, however, remains in lunar orbit, where it can be refueled and made ready to go again. In effect, the lander is reusable. So, it's a much more affordable and hopefully a more reliable way to have repeated lunar missions that can sort of sustain this program and keep it going without requiring billions and billions of dollars every time you want to go, Crocker says.

The deputy program director cant hide his enthusiasm for the lander program.

It really is sort of the Holy Grail for a lot of us who are space nuts. We want to be involved in, not only just getting to space, but getting to another destination beyond Earth, Crocker says. That further destination is that level of adventure that I think we're all kind of looking for, and even though most of us won't travel in space in our lifetimes, being part of enabling space travel for people and foreverything that we get out of space exploration is why we're in this.

Miles Free can likely agree. The director of industry affairs at the Precision Machined Products Association is, like Crocker, a space enthusiast. Its been a long romance, he says of an interest that dates to eighth gradeagain similar to Crockerwhen he entered his model rockets in the science fair.

Increasing Private Enterprise

Free is excited by the growth inroads made by private enterprise into space exploration. Space is no longer the province of nations and governments, he says. Private companies are doing the job that it took nations to do when I was a kid.

Indeed, remember the 2018 Falcon Heavy launch by SpaceX in which two engine booster modules were able to simultaneously and autonomously land? Free described the event then as a milestone in the renaissance of manufacturing, engineering and entrepreneurial accomplishment here in America.

That event alone demonstrated to me that the future of motor vehicleand manufacturingis going to be increasingly autonomous, he says today. Think about it: How do we improve quality in industrial processes? We remove the human from the process. People are high variance. Automating is low variance. Now we just have to get the design of the programs right and redundant with safeguards. So space is the frontier where we can continue to innovate.

NASAs Commercial Crew Program is an example of private enterprises increasing role in space, and the May 30 SpaceX Crew Dragon launch was a demonstration. The Commercial Crew Program is a partnership with private enterprise to develop and operate a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems for carrying crews to low-Earth orbit and to the International Space Station.

That May flight, known as NASAs SpaceX Demo-2, was an end-to-end test flight of SpaceXs crew transportation system and a step on the path to get certified for regular crew flights to ISS.

You can look at this as the results of a hundred thousand people roughly when you add up all the suppliers and everyone working incredibly hard to make this day happen, said SpaceX founder Elon Musk in a statement on the day of the launch.

The Commercial Crew Program works differently than previous NASA approaches to obtaining transportation systems. Traditionally, the space agency oversaw every development aspect of the craft, support systems, and operations plans, and it owned the hardware and infrastructure. With the Commercial Crew Program, interested companies have greater autonomy to design in the way they think is best, and then apply efficient, effective manufacturing processes to make it happen. Safe, reliable and cost-effective means of getting people to low-Earth orbit, including ISS, is the goal, and the companies own the hardware and infrastructure.

The Challenge for Manufacturers

Manufacturing for space applications is not for the faint of heart. As Free notes, manufacturers arent going to be producing batches of components, precision is well beyond ordinary requirements, and quality failures are not an option.

This isnt about traditional cycle time, machine rates or cost per pound, Free says. The payoff for the shop is going to be on lessons learned to meet the challenges these parts present, lessons that can pay off on future orders of similarly difficult parts.

Permac Industries agrees. The Burnsville, Minn.-based manufacturer makes precision machined components and specializes in aerospace, medical devices and defense, among other industry verticals. Permac has and does produce parts for space applications.

A lot of aerospace parts can be complex and difficult, says Mike Bartizal, vice president and director of operations. Unfamiliar exotic materials can present a challenge, for example, or designs with very thin walls due to a need to reduce weight. [The parts] tend to be pushing the extremes of capabilities of manufacturing processes and tolerances and whatnot. For us the challenge is: How do we make that part that much better? It makes us think outside the box.

And while a part for space applications may not be the most profitable, its spun off different ideas that rolled into different processes, Bartizal says.

Moreover, adds Permac Industries President and CEO Darlene Miller, We have the talent. We have such knowledgeable machinists who love to take on these challenges. Its exciting to be part of the next chapter, whatever that may be.

Caption for photo at top: Artist concept of the Dynetics Human Landing System on the surface of the Moon.

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Manufacturing Out of This World - IndustryWeek

June 23, 2020 By Jeffrey Renaud

Western astronomers may have spotted six new moons orbiting planets in solar systems far from our own an otherworldly discovery so rare it must wait on future technologies to confirm. Until then, however, the mere possibility of the find sparks excitement over our biggest questions about the universe.

Our own solar system contains hundreds of moons. If moons are prolific around other stars, too, it greatly increases the potential places where life might be supported, and where humankind might one day venture, explained Chris Fox, a Physics and Astronomy PhD candidate who made the discoveries.

The findings of the Institute for Earth & Space Exploration team were recently submitted to the scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Exoplanets orbit stars other than our Sun; the moons of these planets are called exomoons.

While more than 4,000 exoplanets have been discovered since the mid-1990s, none have a confirmed moon orbiting them, although a number of prime candidates have been identified in recent years.

We know of thousands of exoplanets throughout our Milky Way Galaxy, but we know of only a handful of exomoon candidates, said Physics and Astronomy professor Paul Wiegert, co-author of the study.

Ranging between 200 and 3,000 light years away, the exoplanets reported in the Western study were discovered using data from the Kepler space telescope a planet-hunting spacecraft decommissioned by NASA in 2018. They were revealed by the transits (or dimmings) of their stars brightness when an exoplanet passed in front of it.

Their moons, however, were not so easily spotted.

These exomoon candidates are so small that they cant be seen from their own transits. Rather, their presence is given away by their gravitational influence on their parent planet, Wiegert said.

If an exoplanet orbits its star undisturbed, the transits it produces occur precisely at fixed intervals.

But for some exoplanets, the timing of the transits is variable, sometimes occurring several minutes early or late. Such transit timing variations known as TTVs indicate the gravity of another body. That could mean an exomoon or another planet in the system is? affecting the transiting planet.

Because exoplanets are more massive than exomoons, most TTVs observed to date have been linked to the influence of other exoplanets. But now weve uncovered six Kepler exoplanet systems whose TTVs are equally well explained by exomoons as by exoplanets, Fox explained. Thats why were calling them exomoon candidates at this point as they still need follow-up confirmation.

Unfortunately, the telescopes needed to confirm these or any of the worlds exomoon candidates dont exist yet.

We can say these six new systems are completely consistent with exomoons: their masses and orbits are such that they would be stable; they would be small enough that their own transits wouldnt be seen; and they reproduce the pattern of TTVs seen throughout the entire Kepler data set, Fox said. But we dont have the technology to confirm them by imaging them directly. That will have to wait for further advancements.

The six exomoon candidates are in the star systems known as Kepler Object of Interest (KOI) 268.01, Kepler 517b (KOI-303.01), Kepler 1000b (KOI-1888.01), Kepler 409b (KOI-1925.01), Kepler 1326b (KOI-2728.01) and Kepler 1442b (KOI-3220.01).

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Western News - Western Space team theorizes rare exomoon discovery - Western News

rumpl, the category leader in technical blankets, has launched an exclusive capsule collection of NASA products. the limited-edition line of insulated blankets and ponchos celebrates the 50 anniversary of the safe landing of the apollo 13 lunar module, one of historys most triumphant space rescues. the collectible NASA designs are available in three different products: the NanoLoft blanket, original puffy blanket and the NanoLoft puffy poncho.

images courtesy of rumpl

rumbls NASA collection has been created to serve as a nod toward the inspiration of space exploration as well as the unbreakable human spirit. the NASA Collection celebrates humanitys grit, adaptability and perseverance under extreme stress, says wylie robinson, CEO and founder of rumpl. when apollo 13s lunar module crashed into the south pacific ocean 50 years ago, safely returning the three-man crew of astronauts, it became one of the greatest american rescue missions of all time. today, in the midst of everything going on in the world, we must not forget that we can get through whatever challenges we face.

the rumpl NASA collection blankets and poncho feature spacesuit-inspired designs including a NASA logo patch, a replica NASA issued flag, a tyvek product label, and NASA RED matching trim and details. the blankets also come with a special stuff sack for extra packability. all products incorporate rumpls authentic features like the blanket cape clip and the poncho hidden pocket drink holder for hands-free mobility while on adventures or at home. go to rumpls website and buy the collection, which starts at $199.

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the rumpl NASA collection celebrates the 50th anniversary of apollo 13 - Designboom

This Sunday, A special guest from out of this world will give the race command to start the engine. NASA Astronaut Doug Hurley will give the race command in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega.

Doug Hurley was the commander of the historic SpaceX Demo-2 (DM-2) spaceflight. And he became part of history as a member of the first crew on board a private space flight. It is the first manned spacecraft from America after July 2011.

NASCAR celebrates this occasion by inviting him to give the command to fire engines for Sundays GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. Additionally, The GEICO 500 will start at 3 PM EST and Doug will join from the International Space Station.

After that, Fox NASCARs Bob Pockrass reveals in a tweet. He writes, Giving command to start engine Sunday, Astronaut Doug Hurley, who is on board of the International Space Station #nascar @NASCARONFOX

Notably, Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch will lead the race. And NASCAR star, Jimmie Johnson will start his last Talladega race in the fourth place.

Dougs appearance in NASCAR will be the first one in recent years. However, the two companies share a long history. In 2010, NASAs famous From Rockets to Race Cars exhibit was part of the NASCAR show. The exhibit primarily focused on all the innovations that are common in racing but have roots in space exploration.

Additionally, In 1994, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin was the Grand Marshal of the Talladega 500. Aldrin is thesecond man to walk on the moon. In the race, he gave a special twist to the common announcement for the drivers to start their engines. He said, Gentlemen, energize your ground craft.

Read More: NASCAR to Host Fans at The Texas Motor Speedway Next Month: Reports

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A Special Guest From Outer Space To Give The Race Command in This Sundays NASCAR Race - Essentially Sports

(Click image for full view.) The liquid oxygen tank structural test article, shown here, for NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) rockets core stage was the last test article loaded into the test stand July 10, 2019. The liquid oxygen tank is one of two propellant tanks in the rockets massive core stage that will produce more than 2 million pounds of thrust to help launch Artemis I, the first flight of SLS and NASAs Orion spacecraft to the Moon. Now, the tank will undergo the final test completing a three-year structural test campaign at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Tests conducted during this campaign put the rockets structures from the top of the upper stage to the bottom of the core stage through strenuous tests simulating the forces that the rocket will experience during launch and flight. All four of the core stage structural test articles were manufactured at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and delivered by NASAs barge Pegasus to Marshall. Credit: NASA/Tyler Martin

NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) Program is concluding its structural qualification test series with one upcoming final test that will push the design for the rockets liquid oxygen tank to its limits at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

(Click image for full view.) NASAs Space Launch System Program concludes its structural qualification test campaign at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, with the testing of the rockets liquid oxygen tank. Before the SLS rocket launches NASAs Artemis missions to the Moon, the rockets liquid oxygen tank, the smaller of the two propellant tanks in its 212-foot-tall core stage, must undergo testing to ensure its structure is strong enough to withstand the extreme forces it will experience during launch and flight. Secured in the test stand, giant simulators push and pull on the tank to mimic the extreme forces of launch and flight. Credit: NASA/Kevin OBrien

In the name of science, engineers will try to break a structural test article of the tank on purpose. The liquid oxygen tanks structure is identical to the tank that is part of the SLS core stage, which will provide power to help launch the Artemis missions to the Moon. The tank is enclosed in a cage-like structure that is part of the test stand. Hydraulic systems will apply millions of pounds of force to push, pull and bend the liquid oxygen tank test article to see just how much pressure the tank can take. The forces simulate what the tank is expected to experience during launch and flight. For the test, the tank will be filled with water to simulate the liquid oxygen propellant used for flight, and when the tank ruptures, the water may create a loud sound as it bursts through the tanks skin.

We take rocket tanks to extreme limits and break them because pushing systems to the point of failure gives us a data to help us build rockets more intelligently, said Neil Otte, chief engineer for the SLS Stages Office at Marshall.Breaking the propellant tank today on Earth will provide us with valuable data for safely and efficiently flying SLS on the Artemis missions to the Moon.

Earlier this year, NASA and Boeing engineers subjected the tank to 23 baseline tests that simulate actual flight conditions, and the tank aced the tests. The tank is fitted with thousands of sensors to measure stress, pressure and temperature, while high-speed cameras and microphones capture every moment to identify buckling or cracking in the cylindrical tank wall. This final test will apply controlled forces stronger than those engineers expect the tank to endure during flight, similar to the test that ruptured the liquid hydrogen tank and created noise heard in some Huntsville neighborhoods near Marshall.

This is final test in a series of structural qualification tests that have pushed the rockets structures to the limits from top to bottom to help ensure the rocket is ready for the Artemis lunar missions. Completion of this upcoming test will mark a major milestone for the SLS Program.

The Marshall team started structural qualification testing on the rocket in May 2017 with an integrated test of the upper part of the rocket stacked together: the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, the Orion stage adapter and the launch vehicle stage adapter. Then the team moved on to testing the four largest structures that make up the 212-foot-tall core stage. The last baseline test for Artemis I was completed in March 2020 before the teams access to Marshall was restricted because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NASA and Boeing team returned to work the first week in June to prepare for conducting the final liquid oxygen test to failure.

This illustration depicts NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) in the Block 1 cargo configuration as it leaves Earth. To first lift SLS to orbit, the solid rocket boosters along with the core stage engines produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust. So that the rocket doesnt have to carry all the weight of the boosters and the core stage to the Moon, they separate from the rocket. Then, the rockets upper stage provides power to send payloads on to more distant destinations. The Block 1 configuration is capable of sending more than 57,000 pounds, about the same weight as 12 fully grown elephants, to the Moon. Credit: NASA

The structural qualification tests help verify models showing the structural design can survive flight. Structural testing has been completed on three of the largest core stage structures: the engine section, the intertank, and the liquid hydrogen tank. The liquid oxygen tank has completed baseline testing and will now wrap up core stage testing with the upcoming test to find the tanks point of failure.

The liquid oxygen tests and the other tests to find the point of failure really put the hardware through the paces, said April Potter, the SLStest project manager for liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen structural tests. NASA will now have the information to build upon our systems and push exploration farther than ever before.

The SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, Gateway and human landing system are part of NASAs backbone for deep space exploration. The Artemis program is the next step in human space exploration. It is part of Americas broader Moon to Mars exploration approach, in which astronauts will explore the Moon and gain experience to enable humanitys next giant leap, sending humans to Mars.

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Massive SLS Rocket Test: NASA to Apply Millions of Pounds of Force to Try to Break Oxygen Tank Structure - SciTechDaily

Luca Sorriso-Valvo is an Asgardian MP and Chairman of the Science Committee. He has been studying the solar wind, which is his passion, for the last 20 years. In his interview, he shares why it is crucial for mankind to understand the solar wind.

First of all, why do you study the solar wind?

The fundamental driver is the human desire for knowledge. We study the solar wind because it is there, but of course, there are practical reasons for it. We need to know the medium in which our planet is embedded if we want to understand how it can affect us. There is a relatively young science, calledspace weather,that tries to understand and predict how the solar activity, mediated by the solar wind, affects the Earth. It may be disruptive and dangerous for humans and technology and we need to be able to control it.

The solar wind is made of plasma, basically a hot and rarefied gas of charged particles such as protons and electrons. We know a lot about plasma today, but not everything, in particular its turbulent and complex dynamics. Some 99% of the condensed matter in the universe is in the state of plasma: stars, galaxies, the interstellar medium. Furthermore, plasma is used in technological applications, from medical to industrial, and most importantly in the attempt to generate clean energy in nuclear fusion devices, just as it happens in the core of the sun and of the stars. Both astrophysical and fusion plasmas are hard to measure: the first ones are so far that we can only look at the light they emit, and the latter is so dense and hot that diagnostics are technologically challenging. The solar wind thus represents possibly the only way we can directly probe the plasma, by sending satellites to space and study it experimentally. Once we get the data, we can use that knowledge to interpret correctly the light from remote galaxies, or for engineering the next-generation fusion machine more efficiently.

How does the solar wind affect Earth and the near-Earth environment?

The solar wind blows from the Sun all the time, but its speed, density, magnetic field and pressure strongly fluctuate. When it hits our planet, in fact it impacts the region of space surrounding the Earth called magnetosphere, where the terrestrial magnetic field acts as a protective shield. The wind thus just blows around the magnetosphere, and its particles cannot reach the Earth. When a particularly strong event (for example the so-called coronal mass ejections, or solar flares) happens at the Sun and propagates in the interplanetary space hitting the Earth, the perturbation may be more severe and the terrestrial magnetic field can be shaken seriously. This means, for example, that a compass on Earth will have strong deviations and indicate random directions. It affects animals or human technology that rely on magnetic fields for orientation. Space weather events also modulate the number of cosmic rays dangerous radiation in the form of high energy particles originating at the Sun or out of the solar system reaching the Earth and regulate the ionospheric and magnetospheric currents system. This may result in a threat to space and communication technology, the safety of astronauts, airplane crews and passengers, it can affect pipelines or damage transformers and power plants, disrupt satellite communication, like GPS positioning and telecom.

Today we are able to predict severe space weather by looking at the solar activity and computing the expected time of arrival of the perturbation, which is usually around a couple of days. It is possible to put satellites on stand-by and send astronauts to special radiation-safe zones of the ISS. It is also believed that exposure to cosmic rays may cause DNA mutations potentially leading to evolution or extinction.

What role does the heliosphere play in the Solar System?

The Heliosphere is for the solar system what the magnetosphere is for the Earth: it shields it from interstellar plasma and cosmic rays, representing the primary protection from radiation of the whole interplanetary space. This magnetic bubble is as large as Pluto's orbit extending for more than 15 billion km radius around the Sun.

While powerful Solar storms are dangerous and affect our planet, do they also protect us from cosmic rays?

Every 11 years the solar magnetic activity oscillates between a maximum and a minimum. During high solar activity periods, the heliosphere is somewhat more powerful, with extended reach and stronger and more irregular magnetic fluctuation. In these conditions, the heliospheric deflection of extra-solar cosmic rays is at maximum, so there is in general less radiation hitting the Earth. On the contrary, during solar minimum the heliosphere is weaker and steadier, resulting in a larger flux of radiation on Earth. However, most of the magnetic storms are observed during high solar activity periods, so that the actual cosmic ray protection at the Earth surface may be more complicated to predict.

How much do we actually know about the environment our Sun creates around itself? What fundamental mysteries are out there?

The potential impact of solar activity on human society is so huge, that these studies have become a fundamental part of research worldwide. The ESA and NASA study it. Just recently, the NASA Parker Solar Probe and the ESA Solar Orbiter have been sent relatively close to the Sun, to collect measurements in a region of space still unexplored. There are currently plans to build an interstellar probe, which would reach the regions right out of the heliosphere, which is largely unknown except for the few data sent back by the two Voyagers.

Earths magnetic field protects us from Solar radiation. How can we protect our future settlements on Mars?

Unlike the Earth, Mars does not have a proper magnetosphere that shields it from the solar wind. There is however a tiny protective magnetosphere, simply due to the fact that the planet surface is conductive and the magnetized solar wind plasma cannot connect with it, for simple electromagnetic arguments. It has been found that the planet has strongly magnetized crust in some specific locations, which generate small, localizedmagneto-domes. With a large quantity of radiation hitting the surface, the Martian environment cannot host life as we know it. The solar wind particles have been swiping the martian atmosphere for millions or even billions of years. With no magnetic shield, the planet is almost completely exposed to solar events. Future settlements on Mars will have to be carefully designed to protect inhabitants and technology from radiation, solar UV, and X-ray emission and high-energy particles. These could be thick protective walls, artificial magnetic fields, underground habitats, or some other solution possibly still unknown.

How to protect Moon settlements from the Solar wind?

The Moon is not in a much better position. Being too small and with barely any inner circulation, it does not have its own magnetosphere. Because of its orbit, the Moon spends about half of its time in front of the Earth, out of the magnetosphere, which makes it fully immersed and exposed to the solar wind particles and magnetic field. The Moon has in the end similar issues as Mars in terms of necessary protection from external radiation and particles.

What happens if protection systems fail? Will astronauts suffer from acute radiation syndrome?

During storms, the risk of exposure is of course magnified, and therefore there are safety protocols onboard the ISS which include reaching a safe room where thick walls protect from radiation. But the major problem comes from continuous exposure, rather than from single events. During a typical 6-month mission on board the ISS, an astronaut would receive approximately the same amount of radiation as a Hiroshima survivor.If we talk about the Moon or Mars, or some space ark in the outer Earth orbit, then the exposure will be much larger. Out there, long-duration extreme radiation events might result in more severe consequences on astronauts, including tissue damage and radiation syndrome. This is particularly true if we consider a long-term space habitation.

Youve recently become an Asgardian MP and is involved with the Science Committee of the first space nation. What was your motivation to join Asgardia?

Actually, Ive been Asgardian for the last 4 years. I mentioned at the beginning of the interview that I have been working in space science for two decades, so this is my natural environment if I may say so. What can be more exciting than space after all! I am grateful I take part in drafting legislation for our nation that could allow progress in space exploration and habitation. Although I am passionate about solar wind I also give a deep thought to environmental issues. And I am doing my best to make sure we have a legislative system that has a focus on the environment. It should be one of the key priorities for Asgardia. The first space nation which is also the first virtual, global, and multicultural nation - should be green and clean, it should serve as a good example for humanity.

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Luca Sorriso-Valvo: Check your space weather forecast and hide from radiation - Asgardia Space News