Monthly Archives: February 2022

Artists rendering of a SpaceX Starship leaving a lunar colony. Credit: SpaceX

Space travel is all about momentum.

Rockets turn their fuel into momentum that carries people, satellites, and science itself forward into space. 2021 was a year full of records for space programs around the world, and that momentum is carrying forward into 2022.

Last year, the commercial space race truly took off. Richard Branson and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos both rode on suborbital launches and brought friends, including actor William Shatner. SpaceX sent eight astronauts and 1 ton of supplies to the International Space Station for NASA. The six tourist spaceflights in 2021 were a record. There were also a record 19 people weightless in space for a short time in December, eight of them private citizens. Finally, Mars was also busier than ever thanks to missions from the U.S., China, and United Arab Emirates sending rovers, probes or orbiters to the red planet.

In total, in 2021 there were 134 launches that put humans or satellites into orbit the highest number in the entire history of spaceflight. Nearly 200 orbital launches are scheduled for 2022. If things go well, this will smash last years record.

Im an astronomer who studies supermassive black holes and distant galaxies. I have also written a book about humanitys future in space. Theres a lot to look forward to in 2022. The Moon will get more attention than it has had in decades, as will Jupiter. The largest rocket ever built will make its first flight. And of course, the James Webb Space Telescope will start sending back its first images.

I, for one, cant wait.

NASA is planning to build a base on the Moon, and many missions in pursuit of this goal are happening this year. Credit: NASA Johnson Space Center

Getting a rocket into orbit around Earth is a technical achievement, but its only equivalent to a half a days drive straight up. Fifty years after the last person stood on Earths closest neighbor, 2022 will see a crowded slate of lunar missions.

NASA will finally debut its much delayed Space Launch System. This rocket is taller than the Statue of Liberty and produces more thrust than the mighty Saturn V. The Artemis I mission will head off this spring for a flyby of the Moon. Its a proof of concept for a rocket system that will one day let people live and work off Earth. The immediate goal is to put astronauts back on the Moon by 2025.

NASA is also working to develop the infrastructure for a lunar base, and its partnering with private companies on science missions to the Moon. A company called Astrobotic will carry 11 payloads to a large crater on the near side of the Moon, including two mini-rovers and a package of personal mementos gathered from the general public by a company based in Germany. The Astrobotic lander will also be carrying the cremated remains of science fiction legend Arthur C. Clarke as with Shatners flight into space, its an example of science fiction turned into fact. Another company, Intuitive Machines, plans two trips to the Moon in 2022, carrying 10 payloads that include a lunar hopper and an ice mining experiment.

Russia is getting in on the lunar act, too. The Soviet Union accomplished many lunar firsts first spacecraft to hit the surface in 1959, first spacecraft to soft-land in 1966 and the first lunar rover in 1970 but Russia hasnt been back for over 45 years. In 2022, it plans to send the Luna 25 lander to the Moons south pole to drill for ice. Frozen water is an essential requirement for any Moon base.

The SpaceX Starship performed a number of test flights in 2021 and is set to do its first real mission in 2022.

While NASAs Space Launch System will be a big step up for the agency, Elon Musks new rocket promises to be the king of the skies in 2022.

The SpaceX Starship the most powerful rocket ever launched will get its first orbital launch in 2022. Its fully reusable, has more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V rocket and can carry 100 tons into orbit. The massive rocket is central to Musks aspirations to create a self-sustaining base on the Moon and, eventually, a city on Mars.

Part of what makes Starship so important is how cheap it will make bringing things into space. If successful, the price of each flight will be US$2 million. By contrast, the price for NASA to launch the Space Launch System is likely to be over $2 billion. The reduction in costs by a factor of a thousand will be a game-changer for the economics of space travel.

Jupiters moons, many of which are thought to have liquid water under their surfaces, are good places to look for life. Credit: NASA/JPL/DLR

The Moon and Mars arent the only celestial bodies getting attention next year. After decades of neglect, Jupiter will finally get some love, too.

The European Space Agencys Icy Moons Explorer is scheduled to head off to the gas giant midyear. Once there, it will spend three years studying three of Jupiters moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. These moons are all thought to have subsurface liquid water, making them potentially habitable environments.

Additionally, in September 2022, NASAs Juno spacecraft which has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016 is going to swoop within 220 miles of Europa, the closest-ever look at this fascinating moon. Its instruments will measure the thickness of the ice shell, which covers an ocean of liquid water.

The James Webb Space Telescope is built to allow astronomers to study the earliest days of the universe. Credit: NASA

All this action in the Solar System is exciting, but 2022 will also see new information from the edge of space and the dawn of time.

After successfully reaching its final destination, unfurling its solar panels, and unfolding its mirrors in January, NASAs James Webb Space Telescope will undergo exhaustive testing and return its first data sometime midyear. The 21-foot (6.5-meter) telescope has seven times the collecting area of the Hubble Space Telescope. It also operates at longer wavelengths of light than Hubble, so it can see distant galaxies whose light has been redshifted stretched to longer wavelengths by the expansion of the universe.

By the end of the year, scientists should be getting results from a project aiming to map the earliest structures in the universe and see the dawn of galaxy formation. The light these structures gave off was some of the very first light in history and was emitted when the universe was only 5% of its current age.

When astronomers look out in space they look back in time. First light marks the limit of what humanity can see of the universe. Prepare to be a time traveler in 2022.

Written by Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona.

This article was first published in The Conversation.

Link:

Space Missions To Watch: A Lunar Return, a Jupiter Moon, and the Most Powerful Rocket Ever Built - SciTechDaily

We asked: SpaceX is planning its first orbital test flight of a starship that could one day take people to the moon or even Mars. What do you think about the future of space travel?

As a child, I remember spending late nights looking out of the window beside my bed, my warm breath fogging up the cold, reflective glass. I remember gazing wondrously at the sparkling stars above in the clear night sky, imagining that I was in a starship of my own. I remember imagining the loud hum of my house heater as the roar of my starships engines as I was taken into the immense expanses of the universe. I remember dreaming about stepping foot onto the ground of foreign planets and exploring their alien environments, finding myself gazing into their vast horizons. Little did my young self know that may very well be possible in the near future.

With the development of next-generation spacecraft and technology, my dream of setting foot onto an unfamiliar planet these days may not be so impossible. Of course, I dont think wed be setting foot on planets dozens of parsecs away anytime soon, but the future of space travel looks bright with SpaceX and NASAs recent advancements in spacecraft.

More specifically, SpaceXs recent developing spacecraft known as Starship has been in development for almost two decades and will reach orbit around Earth this year. This same spaceship is even capable of taking people to Mars on a planned mission in the future, as it can also refuel in orbit. These new developments in space technology, in my opinion, make space travel much more practical.

From what I think, at least, space travel may even one day enter the commercial field. Imagine this: You set foot into the cozy cabin of a starship after scanning your ticket, pulling your luggage inside and sighing as the air-conditioned cabin cools you down. After making your way farther into the cabin of the spaceship, you finally locate your seat beside a window. You place your luggage into the overhead bin and plop yourself onto the soft cushions of the seat, sighing as you look out the window and gaze into the vast expanse of the solar system and beyond. As you tune out the voices of nearby passengers and blend them into the peaceful lull of the spacecrafts engine, you observe the bright Moon in the distance. Maybe space travel for common people like you and me wont be so impractical soon!

Arthur Nguyen, Mira Mesa

In the 1960s, I was an Apollo engineer at Cape Kennedy. We were going to land on the moon because President John F. Kennedy vaguely said it was a good idea. The money flowed freely. Some 50 years later, my grandson asked me why we went there. I was one of the people who worked to achieve that goal, and I could not find a good answer as to why.

I attended meetings at the cape in which the word was out no questions permitted as to why, only discussions allowed as to how. It became clear the corporations, the universities, the engineers everyone wanted to share in the dollars. We brought back lots of moon rock samples to analyze. Still available to look at in Houston. More rocks would not be very useful.

The Challenger explosion in 1986 should remind us of how dangerous it is to try again to go back. The old phrase Been there, done that is more than a clich. It is also a warning.

Fred Zarse, Alpine

Whenever humankind discovers a new technology, its common for people to be afraid. Before modern science, when a woman liked to study botany or holistic practices, society might accuse her of witchcraft and put her on trial to be burned at the stake. Edgar Allan Poe wrote about his fear of modern technology and the future. At one point, reading books was criticized and considered strange.

Later, when the internet was invented, there was a lot of resistance. Older people used to be so out of touch, but now if you walk through an elderly facility, youll see dozens of older people scrolling through the internet. My grandmother would stay up late into the night asking Siri questions about her childhood and past presidents. It was adorable.

People dont like to change. Although it can be scary to try new things, thats why we have so many wonderful inventions around the world. Who would have imagined that by studying genetics eventually scientists would be able to grow new hearts, livers and other organs for sick patients? (Although its still a new science). Who would have imagined the prospect of growing our meat products in a lab instead of farming animals? The idea of space exploration is the same as all the other discoveries weve made.

The unknown is scary, but its also promising. Just as you never know what harm it could bring, you never know what good it could bring either. Therefore, I say, bring on the unknown!

Cassidy Eiler, El Cajon

Matthew McConaughey redeemed himself on Super Bowl Sunday. In contrast with his suave Lincoln promotions, he turned out for Salesforces Team Earth in a Super Bowl ad aimed at workers who would be happy for a benign commute on terra firma honest Earthlings with no ambitions of being Joe the Plumber-turned-astronaut. It was refreshing.

In the last year, if we werent reeling enough from the pretentious Donald Trump years and callous disregard for workers on the front lines of a pandemic, we were treated to the spectacle of billionaires flexing their intrepid astronaut wings, boldly bragging and spinning where none could have dreamed to do so before.

Some were honest not to dress it up as science, rather as a new consumer experience. Sir Richard Branson literally took a pen and pad to take notes on how to improve the guest experience. I suppose that merits a tax write off? Jeff Bezos won the feel-good moment by sponsoring our beloved Captain Kirks initiation to actual space. Well played. Elon Musk surprised us by deferring his own travel in favor of sending a geologist along with a paying guest. That might offer a momentary counterbalance to his Scarlet A (arrogance), but it is hard to square his sustainability initiatives with this suspected objective to take his toys and slip the surly bonds of earth.

I cant sort out if he lacks confidence that humanity will solve the climate action imperative (and he would need a Planet B) or if he thinks his efforts will succeed so stunningly that his space exploits and all the carbon emissions and resource diversion they require will be a harmless investment?

Since none of these billionaires has shown how space travel could be affordable to the 99 percent, let alone environmentally benign, it feels a lot like our billionaire astronauts arent content to simply squander Earths resources for their own thrill rides They want adulation as well, as though Joe the Plumber now aspires to be a millionaire Martian, and dreaming will make it so.

Mothers like me watched NASAs missions as kids Apollo missions, in my case. We have it in us to dream of new frontiers, and we want our children to carry forward and explore. SpaceX has helped this continue. But there is a clear and urgent threat we are facing now that makes our planetary explorations take a back seat to species health and sustenance. Further, even if we imagine earning a golden ticket, what kind of humans would emigrate from a populous planet in crisis without focusing their best efforts at saving it for all?

Resources are finite. Our atmospheric carbon budget is non-negotiable. Carbon capture and sequestration, if it ever works out, will be a bandage, not a cure. We must not allow the 1 percent to delude the 99 percent on this. There is no Planet B for any of us, and certainly not the working class. Im fighting for Team Earth!

Darlene Garvais, Sabre Springs

The future of space flight will be the same as it is today: scientific robotic exploration and limited commercial missions, such as communication satellites. Meanwhile, the future of space travel for humans will still be a fantasy. These are just a few reasons why.

With current technology, the energy required to launch an Atlas D rocket into space with one person aboard could fuel some 3,000 cars. Basically, a person is sitting on top of high explosives, traveling hundreds of miles per hour into the massive debris field that shrouds the planet to be exposed to high levels of radiation. Despite the buy-in from various billionaire space moguls, getting people into space is expensive. While its still murky what a commercial flight will cost, a ride in a Soyuz capsule was $20 million or more per seat. So space travel remains an impractical, dangerous and expensive proposition.

There is one other reason why human space flight is a fantasy. In 1969, I watched reruns of Star Trek with its rich tapestry of star bases and Class M worlds to explore. I had a scrapbook of news clippings of the NASA moon landing. Using the logic of a 7-year-old, the next step was for us to establish space stations and bases on the moon, Mars and other planets. Which presents the real problem with human space travel: There is nowhere for us to go.

Mike Stewart, Spring Valley

Space. The final frontier, or so they say. Many of us may have dreamt of being astronauts when we grew up one day, and some of us probably did. I frankly did not. But, I am always interested in hearing more about what the future of Space exploration holds, what was discovered, and simply looking at pictures of distant galaxies. When SpaceX came out saying they are developing a craft that could possibly take people to the moon or Mars, it was pretty exciting knowing what we may discover in the future.

I always used to say that I would go to the moon when I grew up, and I was going to find other life on planets we had yet to set foot on. First of all, training to go to space is significantly gruesome having to prepare your body for the mission. Secondly it is extremely expensive to get all the equipment needed, and faculty to ensure everything runs smoothly. That is not to mention all the debris that is left behind in Earths orbit which is no longer of use to anyone. This was one of the main problems of space exploration before. The amount of money used to just no longer be of use to anyone and remain in Earths orbit.

This is where the engineers at SpaceX revolutionized space travel. They finally achieved the ability to reuse what was once considered space junk, by returning stage one of the spacecraft back to the place of launch. This has opened new possibilities in terms of space as a whole. I am no scientist, but being able to consistently reuse the thruster of a spacecraft seems as if you would be able to send more spacecraft into or out of orbit within a much smaller time frame, and possibly even cost less in the long run.

If these rockets were to be mass produced and widely used, traveling to space would not take as long, and the price for someone to go into space should be lower as time goes on. We would not only be able to run more test experiments in space, but scientists would also be able to gather more information much more efficiently as well. I imagine a high end production line of scientist and groups waiting their turn to board the reusable rocket, or mounting their telescopes on other stages to explore the great unknown. It will all eventually trickle down to spacecraft becoming similar to airfare, where people will be boarding to fly to a colony on mars or the moon for a small getaway.

This is a long process ahead of scientist and engineers, yet it is one that could change our way of life, and possibly lead to the evolution of mankind. Who knows, by that time we could be boarding our own Millennium Falcon or X-Wings that can take us into hyperdrive to other galaxies, and our current methods of transportation would become obsolete.

Daniel Martinez, San Ysidro

Read more:

Opinion: What will the future of space travel look like? And what does it mean for this planet? - The San Diego Union-Tribune

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) Jane King looked at the growing business of space travel and previewed whats to come during her appearance on Daybreak on Monday.

Elon Musks SpaceX broke its own annual orbital launch record last year and is looking to pick up the blistering pace in 2022 to and average rate of one flight per week.

The company successfully completed 31 launches in 2021, which beat its previous record of 26 in 2020.

For context, SpaceX represented about one-fifth of the worlds successful orbital rocket launches last year roughly the pace of China.

Jeff Bezos made news when he, his brother, actor William Shatner and a crew flew into space.

Bezos company, Blue Origin, recently bought Honeybee Robotics, best known in the space industry for developing robotics systems notably drills and other mechanisms for use on space missions.

In 2020, global space-related activities generated $447 billion, with commercial work accounting for almost 80% of it.

Sinead OSullivan, a self-described interplanetary economist at Harvard Business Schools Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, says spending money on space is actually a way to increase the economy on earth very, very efficiently. OSullivan notes, for example, that every dollar the government spends in the space industry translates to about $50 in societal value, such as skilled jobs and new products or services.

This year should be a big one for space exploration with a pair of massive rockets both more powerful than the Saturn V that flew the Apollo astronauts to the moon getting ready to fly as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations Artemis mission.

The mission aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2025.

Continue reading here:

Space travel business not expected to slow anytime soon - WISHTV.com

All systems almost a go for Disney Worlds Star Wars Hotel! Guests will be able to enjoy the immersive hotel experience beginning on March 1st, 2022. And if youre looking for some more space fun, you can head over to Space 220 in EPCOT or hop on Space Mountain in Magic Kingdom. But today were bringing you a differentkind of space news!

You can officially go into outer space (like the REAL thing) without becoming an astronaut commercial space travel is basically here, people! And it only costs a little bit more than a trip on the Galactic Starcruiser (okay, its WAY more expensive than that but to be fair it is REAL space)! And now were sharing all the details you need to know.

If youve ever wanted to go to outer space now is your chance thanks to Virgin Galactic! As long as youve got$450,000,that is.

Virgin Galactic is now selling tickets to the general public so guests can reserve their spot on the new spacecraft, but dont worry, the ticket includes training in spaceflight preparedness activities where guests can stay in custom accommodations and get ready for their flight.

Virgin Galactic CEO, Michael Colglazier, has said We plan to have our first 1,000 customers on board at the start of commercial service later this year, providing an incredibly strong foundation as we begin regular operations and scale our fleet.

You can catch a flight from New Mexico, at Spaceport America. Flights will last for around 90 minutes, and guests will be able to experience several minutes of out-of-seat weightlessness and phenomenal views of Earth thanks to the 17 (!!!) windows on the ship.

Flight reservations also come with access to the Future Astronaut membership community, which allows guests to get excited about space travel before and after their flight.

And we cant forget about Virgin Galactics secret weapon former Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde! He is listed as an experience architect for Virgin Galactic. Previously, Virgin Galactic had shared that his role would be to help design and guide the overall experience journey for future astronauts, friends and family, and inspired fans alike.

Its unclear what specific involvement Rohde has had, but we cant wait to learn more.

As part of the launch of the public sales for these flights, Virgin Galactic launched a new consumer brand, designed to capture the love, wonder and awe of the experience of viewing Earth from space, and to inspire generations of future astronauts around the world.

Again, spaceflights are priced at $450,000, with a deposit of $150,000 initially required. You can visit the Virgin Galactic website to learn more and request the form thatll then allow you to make your spaceflight application!

Were looking forward to more news about this project and how Joe Rohde might be helping take people from fictional space worlds to actual outer space! Be sure to check back here for all your Disney news.

Do you have a trip to Disneys Galactic Starcruiser Hotel planned? Let us know in the comments!

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Move Over Space 220, One Company Will Soon Be Taking Guests to the REAL Outer Space - allears.net

Hows this for an afternoon in just a few years time: Lunch in Dubai, a quick visit to space, and dinner in Beijing?

It could be a possibility, if a Chinese start-up named Space Transportation is able to get its exciting venture off the ground.

It could also be coming sooner than you thinkpoint to point suborbital travel could launch its first official flight between Dubai and Beijing in 2024, with a full crewed flight in 2025. 2023, according to a statement from the company, will begin the testing stage.

Dubai Media Office, the Government of Dubais official communications channel, shared a rather interesting article from Yahoo this week about the Chinese start up that is looking to revolutionize suborbital flights, linking Beijing and Dubai, for example, for quick and easy one-hour flights between the two cities.

A video on their website shows what the flight may look likeshowing a simulation of a trip between Beijing and Dubai, travelling an astounding 7000km in just 60m minutes.

Click here to watch it.

In the video, the ship shoots all the way to the edge of space, just as Jeff Bezos and William Shatner did last year, with passengers able to look out the window for their quick trip before landing in Dubai. The video also shows the Burj Khalifa and the Dubais iconic skyline.

In the end of the video on the Space Transportations website, the spacecraft lands vertically, allowing passengers to leave before the plane takes off for a trip back.

We are developing a winged rocket for high-speed, point-to-point transportation, which is lower in cost than rockets that carry satellites and faster than traditional aircraft, the company stated in a recentinterviewwith Yicheng Times.

This isnt launching out of nowherein fact, Space Transportation raised $46.3 million for its hypersonic space plane last August, it announced, with tests already underway on its Tianxing 1 and Tianxing 2 vehicles, with a 10th flight test conducted on January 23rd. Another test was held soon after with Tsinghua University.

Theyve kept details of these hypersonic test flights pretty secretive so far, likely due to the sensitive nature of these technologies.

China has already been dabbling in the suborbital and orbital space travel game, conducting secret tests in 2020 and 2022 through the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the main space contractor of China.

Virgin Galactic conducted its first crewed suborbital flight in July of last year on the VSS Unity. That was the first flight taken by Richard Branson, fulfilling a life long dream of his.

Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos venture, is in the suborbital travel game too. CAS Space is offering suborbital tourism services, which is a company spun off from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also in China.

In the US, a new company called Radian Aerospace, based near Seattle, is planning single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicles, raising $27.5 million in funding last week.

Read more from the original source:

Hypersonic space travel could link Dubai and Beijing by 2024 - EsquireMe