Category Archives: Space Exploration

Black holes are fascinating. No human being has ever been near one, and it wasnt until 2019 that scientists even managed to take a snapshot of one. And yet, ever since they have first been hypothesized to exist, black holes have exerted an inexorable pull on our collective imagination. Black holes are a reminder of the strangeness of our universe, spots of infinite density and at the same time impenetrable emptiness. Since even light must bend to the gravity of a black hole, we cannot know what happens inside of it. They are the points where the laws of nature as well as our limited human imagination break down.

Video games love a good puzzle, and so its no big surprise that black holes have a habit of popping up here and there. What may be surprising, however, is just how many forms and shapes they take. As symbols of the unknowable and the extreme, black holes are highly malleable and appear in all sorts of games, playing many parts.

Before we cross the event horizon of this article, be sure to check out our other gaming content. If you're wanting to see the cosmos, our guide to the best space exploration games has you covered. We've also got our best VR space games guide for people seeking a truly immersive experience.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for the following games: Elite Dangerous, No Mans Sky, Outer Wilds, Exo One, Genesis Noir, If Found..., Night in the Woods, Dark Souls III, The Banner Saga 2, and Fortnite.

The first and most obvious place to look are space simulators. Space Engine, Universe Sandbox, and Black Hole Simulator, considered some of the best VR space experiences, are intricate and educational toys that give us a chance to gawk at black holes up close, to fiddle and prod and poke. What happens if we swap our Sun with a giant black hole? Or if we let two black holes collide? But no matter how detailed the simulation or how many objects we send into oblivion, we will always firmly remain on the outside, looking in.

Science-fiction games give themselves some more leeway when it comes to speculating about black holes. In Elite Dangerous, we undertake the long journey to one of the games black holes, with the most popular destination being Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. No Mans Sky and Outer Wilds actually let you enter black holes, but they function merely as glorified shortcuts to other parts of the universe. It makes you wonder where do black holes lead to?

While this approach arguably deprives black holes of some of their mystery, Outer Wilds does draw on the hypothesized counterparts of black holes: white holes that push instead of pull and expel everything that has fallen into a corresponding black hole. In the games fiction, the ancient people called the Nomai have figured out a way to travel through time and space using warp cores consisting of a black/white hole pair.

During the game, we get to visit the place where the Nomai created these cores: Black Hole Forge on the planet Brittle Hollow. One of the most memorable locations in Outer Wilds, Brittle Hollow is being devoured from the inside by the black hole at its center. Its an awe-inspiring sight, and if you happen to fall inside the hole, the white hole will spit you out in another corner of the solar system, alongside the discarded fragments of Brittle Hollow. The Nomais advanced technology is connected to the time loop that lies at the heart of the game; its technology powered by black holes that sends you back 22 minutes into the past every time the Sun goes supernova.

In Exo One, we embark on a cosmic journey in a gravity-manipulating spacecraft. The destination, it turns out, is a black hole that allows us to travel back in time, preventing a catastrophe on Jupiter that killed the main characters colleagues at the start of the game. Exo Ones cosmos is a fantastical, even mystical place. Its black hole isnt simply a space-time anomaly, but is intimately tied to the fate of our pilot.

It's somewhat reminiscent of the black hole time travel premise in Interstellar, where crossing the event horizon of a black hole allows someone to interact with the past and change events. With our current understanding of physics, it's almost certainly impossible, but it's a fascinating concept nonetheless.

A black hole as a journeys enigmatic endpoint, promising a chance to see and act beyond time; Genesis Noir, though a very different game from Exo One, follows a similar trajectory. The game presents an allegorical and fantastical interpretation of the events leading up to the Big Bang and the creation of our universe. Presented in a jazzy film noir style, the story follows the attempts of No Man (a metaphorical representation of time) to save his love Miss Mass (a metaphorical representation of, you guessed it, mass) from a bullet shot by Golden Boy (energy). To do so, No Man seeks to create a black hole that would swallow the bullet. But, since the shooting of Miss Mass is also what causes the Big Bang, saving her would also prevent the universe from coming into existence. In the end, No Man has an epiphany that convinces him to drop his quest and make place for the universe.

Genesis Noir is full of metaphors, and its black hole can be read as a stand-in for self-destructive urges and a negation of being itself. Even in this allegorical and abstract cosmogony, the significance of the black hole is decidedly personal and tied up in psychological struggles.

Genesis Noir is just one example of black holes acting as metaphors for personal crises. If Found... presents its narrative of Kasio, a young Irish trans womans struggles to be accepted and find her place, through an entwined dual narrative: one is an exploration of a diary, and the other a metaphorical science-fiction story. The sci-fi story revolves around a lonely astronaut called Cassiopeia and her discovery of a black hole which threatens to swallow Earth.

It soon becomes clear that the black hole expresses Kasios existential fears, feelings of isolation, and sense of futility. The breakdown of space-time inside a black hole is reframed as a personal, psychological breakdown: Time doesnt exist in a black hole. Every moment crushed together, past and present and future in one endless scream. No way to change anything.

Now, Night in the Woods doesnt explicitly name black holes, but its preoccupation with the night sky and metaphorical holes is very similar to If Found.... Here, too, our protagonist Mae is threatened by black emptiness expressing mental health crises, namely her feelings of emptiness, dissociation, and fragmentation. The game speaks of the hole in the center of everything and her diary depicts Mae being swallowed by a black hole-like maelstrom.

If black holes can be used as shorthand for personal crises, it stands to reason that they can also be symbols of cosmic crises. In Dark Souls III, the Sun turns dark after a certain point in the game. The ominous spectacle is never explained, but recalls either an eclipse, the Darksign (symbol of the dying light and the curse of the undead), or a black hole. The Banner Saga trilogy has a similar motif. In the third game, we learn about the existence of a subterranean Dark Sun, and that it was its destruction which released a giant serpent as well as an all-consuming Darkness that spreads across the world.

Even though these games do not, strictly speaking, show black holes, theres more than a little family resemblance between them, and they can easily be interpreted as black holes through the lens of myth and folklore, with the likes of apocalyptic dragons or wolves swallowing the Sun. Interestingly, the symbol of the dark or black Sun is a very old idea that predates our knowledge of black holes for many centuries. Its part of the tradition of alchemical and hermetic thought, signifying the dark, material fire as opposed to the pure and bright fire of the spiritual world.

All of this sounds like a very serious matter. But black holes can also be light-hearted, playful, and even silly. Just look at the End Event of Fortnites first chapter, when the entire game world disappeared into a black hole and made the game unplayable for a few days, or the black hole item in Ultimate Chicken Horse, which pulls on nearby objects and changes the trajectory of arrows.

For every grounded simulation, theres a mystical and reason-defying black hole. For every black hole that throws light on a characters deepest struggles, theres a playful or toy-like singularity. It is precisely because of their inherent emptiness and silence, their defiance of meaning and understanding, and their definition through negation and apparent paradox, that both exerts a powerful pull on our imagination and that enables black holes to play a vast range of very different parts.

As a cipher, the black hole can stand for the inescapable, for profound lack or distortion, for the grand and unknown mysteries of the universe, for fantastical possibilities and godlike power over space-time itself, and more. And since video games remain the only way of getting close to a black hole, they will continue being anything but a singularity in future games.

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The singular pull of black holes in games - Space.com

The 20th century was an unqualified success for American aerospace.While the legacy of the Apollo program defines the era, the procurement system under which it operated was highly inefficient and prohibitively expensive.

Unfortunately, that process persisted for decades under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where contracts were dominated by a handful of entrenched firms, enabled by institutional biases and preferences.The end result was inflated prices, delays, and a lack of innovation.

This period is best embodied by the Space Shuttle,envisionedas a cheap platform that would provide regular access to space perhaps as frequently as once per week with each flight costing as little as $20 million.The reality turned out to be decidedly less cost-effective.Upon its retirement in July 2011, the Space Shuttle had flown 134 missions, averaging $1.6 billion per launch, with total costs rising to $209 billion.

Luckily, after some false starts and barriers to entry, NASA has fundamentally shifted its strategy to embrace new, innovative companies.For example, to replace the Space Shuttle, the agency turned to the private sector with the Commercial Orbital Transportation (COTS) program.With small investments, COTS not only established two new viable launch vehicles and cargo vessels capable of resupplying the International Space Station (ISS), but also helped facilitate the current aerospace boom. Thanks in part to COTS, a new guard of firms have begun outcompeting predecessors on price and reliability, winning national security launch contracts and ferrying astronauts to the ISS.

Innovative designs that include reusable components have drastically cut launch costs. SpaceX charges $55 million per astronaut for a ride to the ISScomparedto $90 billion per seat paid to Boeing. While payloads sizes differ, other firms such as Relativity Space and Rocket Lab will further slash prices.SpaceX anticipates that the cost of launching Starship, a fully reusable super heavy vehicle, may end up below $2 million.

This new era of affordability made possible by increased competition has led to the development of a host of novel business ventures. Privatized space stations represent perhaps the most exciting possibility. As the ISS nears the end of its service, a private sector model is being developed under which NASA becomes a paid user on space stations instead of owning and operating the platform. This approachmight saveNASA up to $1.5 billion annually, freeing the agency to focus on its core mission, deep space exploration.

NASA has alreadyawardedseveral contracts to aerospace firms to develop private stations. Streamlined efficiency in the private sector and cheaper components mean that new stations could cost approximately one-hundredth of the amount needed to build the ISS.Potentially lucrative new markets exist, including hosting astronauts and tourists and conducting research under microgravity conditions.

NASA could achieve additional savings by reconsidering the role of the Space Launch System (SLS) in Artemis, the agencys flagship mission to explore the Moon and Mars. Billions over budget and years delayed, the lack of progress in the SLS jeopardizes the entire Artemis mission. It might have been canceled along with the rest of the George W. Bush-era Constellation program if not for the efforts of four high-profile senators whosavedthe rocket. One of them, former Sen. Bill NelsonClarence (Bill) William NelsonThe new era of American aerospace Franken on Senate resignation: 'They made it impossible for me to get due process' Why former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine endorsed a congressional candidate MORE (D-Fla.), now serves as NASA administrator.But like other unwieldy and costly procurement programs, the wide disbursement of jobs across the country helps ensure continued congressional backing. According to NASA, the SLSsupportsaround 25,000 jobs in 43 states, generating an impact of $4.7 billion.

The remarkable progress of domestic aerospace firms has led some to suggest that the SLS might be replaced, possibly with Starship or a similar platform.NASA must keep its options open rather than adhering to what might be an outdated concept.

The reliance on legacy contractors to build systems that NASA owns and operates is a notion that should be retired.Private firms under contract with the federal government have formed the new backbone of space commercialization and exploration.Thanks to recent innovations, the next decade will see more cost-effective access to space and far greater potential for exploration.

Competition in all areas of aerospace contracting represents a rare procurement triumph for the federal government.Through COTS and similar programs, NASA paved the way for the current breakaway success. The private-sector model has proven its worth, and should be relied upon not just at NASA, but across all federal agencies, when pursuing future ventures.

Sean Kennedy is director of research for Citizens Against Government Waste.

Excerpt from:

The new era of American aerospace | TheHill - The Hill

Using carefully selected terrestrial rocks, engineers try to figure out how to work with crumbly rocks like the one the rover encountered on its first sampling attempt.

Not long after, Perseverance successfully gathered a sample the size of a piece of chalk from a different rock. The team concluded that the first rock they had chosen was so crumbly that the rovers percussive drill likely pulverized it.

But engineers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission, want to understand why that first sample, nicknamed Roubion, turned to dust. The missions scientists and engineers had run extensive test campaigns on dozens of rock types prior to launch, but they hadnt seen any react exactly like Roubion. So a new test campaign was started one that would include a field trip, a duplicate of Perseverances drill, and JPLs unique Extraterrestrial Materials Simulation Lab. Answers remain elusive, but heres a closer look at the process.

How Do Spacecraft Deal with Dust Storms on Mars? Get the latest on the rest of NASAs Mars fleet with the Mars Report. The new installment focuses on the Red Planets recent dust storm. Watch how the agencys orbiters supported the InSight lander as its power plunged during the January event. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS. Download video Remembering Roubion

Re-creating the unique physical properties of Roubion would be key to the test campaign.

Of the rocks weve seen, Roubion had the most evidence of interaction with water, said Ken Farley of Caltech, Perseverances project scientist. Thats why it fell apart.

Rocks altered by water can be more susceptible to falling apart; theyre also highly valuable to Perseverances scientists. Water is one of the keys to life at least on Earth which is why Perseverance is exploring Jezero Crater. Billions of years ago, Jezero contained a river-fed lake, making it an ideal spot to look for signs of ancient microscopic life now. Perseverance is collecting samples that future missions could bring back to Earth to be studied in labs with powerful equipment too large to be sent to Mars.

Field Trip

It was very physical work, said JPLs Louise Jandura, chief engineer for sampling and caching, who has been leading the test campaign. We were chipping away with rock hammers and crowbars. A couple rocks were big enough that it took all five of us holding on to a stretched-out canvas to get it into the bed of our truck.

Next step: testing at JPL. One of the places where that happens is the Extraterrestrial Materials Simulation Lab, a kind of service center that prepares materials for testing elsewhere at JPL.

A Rock Superstore

The low-slung building sits on a hillside above the Mars Yard. Barrels out front contain reddish dust called Mojave Mars Simulant, a special recipe for re-creating the messy conditions rovers travel in. Piles of rocks some peppered with drill holes are strewn about a forbidding industrial saw near the entrance. In back stands a concrete bunker with rock bins labeled with names that sound like Mad Libs for geologists: Old Dutch Pumice, China Ranch Gypsum, Bishop Tuff.

I like to say we do artisanal selection and preparation of materials, said Sarah Yearicks, a mechanical engineer who leads the lab. Testing them is part manufacturing and part mad science.

Yearicks is one of the people who picked out the rocks at the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve excursion. For the testing on Roubion-like rocks, Yearicks team worked with a construction-grade drill not a coring drill along with other tools, while Janduras team used a flight-like duplicate of Perseverances drill.The teams passed the rock samples back and forth, testing them in different ways.

Put to the Test

Janduras team ran their flight-like drill a few millimeters at a time, stopping to check that a core was still forming; if it had crumbled, theyd look at variables that might be the cause. For instance, the engineers tweaked the drills rate of percussion and the weight placed on its bit. They also tried drilling into the rock horizontally instead of vertically, in case the build-up of debris was a factor.

For every adjustment they made, it seemed, a new wrinkle would emerge. One was that fragile samples can still resist the percussive drill. When Janduras team reduced the force of percussion to avoid powderizing the sample, the drill bit couldnt penetrate the surface. But choosing a spot that holds up to stronger percussion means choosing one that likely interacted less with water.

Perseverance has so far captured six samples from highly weathered, water-altered rocks, and the team knows its capable of many more. But their experience with Roubion has prepared them for some of the extremes Mars will throw at Perseverance in the future. If they find more rocks like Roubion, the Extraterrestrial Materials Simulation Lab will be ready with its menagerie of Mars-worthy materials.

More About the Mission

A key objective for Perseverances mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planets geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASAs Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance:

mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

and

nasa.gov/perseverance

News Media Contacts

Andrew GoodJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-2433andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Alana JohnsonNASA Headquarters, Washington301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

Excerpt from:

Testing Rocks on Earth to Help NASA's Perseverance Work on Mars NASA's Mars Exploration Program - NASA Mars Exploration

LUXEMBOURG, Feb. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Asteroid Foundation's annual Asteroid Day activities will return to Luxembourg June 29 through July 2nd. Confirmed invitees include NASA astronauts Steve Smith and Ed Lu, ESA astronaut Michel Tognini, Cosmonaut Dorin Prunariu and XPRIZE CEO Anousheh Ansari. The 2022 Asteroid Day LIVE programme theme: "small is beautiful".

(PRNewsfoto/Asteroid Foundation)

In recent years, astronomers have been bringing small but beautiful samples of asteroids to Earth. Despite their size, analysis shows they are an invaluable link between the meteorite collections on Earth and the wider population of asteroids, unlocking the history of our solar system and giving clues to the future of space exploration.

There are some 50,000 meteorites in museums, universities and other research institutions around the world. Each one is a chip of an asteroid. By sampling a few carefully chosen asteroids in space, researchers can now begin linking meteorites on Earth to these asteroids.

A foretaste of this technique was given by the dust fragments returned from the stony asteroid Itokawa by the Japanese mission Hayabusa in 2011. Most recently, the Hayabusa 2 mission landed samples from carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu in Australia in December 2020. Meanwhile NASA's OSIRIS-Rex is currently en route back to Earth with samples of Bennu, another ancient carbonaceous asteroid. Those samples are due to arrive next year.

The meteorites also serve as a reminder that occasionally larger chunks of rock don't just fall to Earth but impact us. The Chelyabinsk meteor, which tore through the skies over Russia on 15 February 2013, was a sobering reminder. It damaged buildings, caused injury, and scattered meteorites over a large area.

Space agencies now take asteroid research extremely seriously. In March 2022, NASA will launch the Near Earth Asteroid Scout mission that will use a solar sail to encounter an asteroid just 20 metres across. In August, NASA will launch Psyche to an asteroid thought to be composed of mostly metal instead of rock. In September, NASA's DART mission will impact asteroid Dimorphos to test asteroid deflection techniques. Also, this year ESA will also begin building its Hera spacecraft that will survey the aftermath of the DART deflection test.

Story continues

Asteroid Day LIVE will be hosted on June 30th and will include interviews and will take our viewers behind the scenes and into laboratories, university departments and space agencies from around the world to highlight the vibrant science and technology that is occurring. In addition guests can attend the Asteroid Technical Briefing on June 29th, Gala Dinner on June 30th and Astronaut Meet & Greet on July 2nd.

In the lead up to June 30th, Asteroid Foundation will be hosting live Space Connects Us events every last Thursday of each month alongside their global partners. Kicking off the series will be scientists dubbed "Asteroid Killers". Co-hosted by ESA, the live event will take place Thursday, February 24th at 19:00 CET/13:00 ET and will include speakers from both ESA and NASA. Audiences will learn how and why asteroids move on and off the high-risk lists and how the two agencies work together to accurately predict asteroid impacts. Viewers can tune-in to the free virtual event via http://www.asteroidday.org/watch, YouTube, Twitch, ESA Web TV and get updates on Facebook.

To get notifications on other future events co-hosted with partners such as The Planetary Society, UNIVERSEH, SnT, the Association of Space Explorers, sign up for the Asteroid Day newsletter, follow us on Facebook and check back on asteroidday.org for future announcements.

Asteroid Day has been made possible thanks to partnerships with the Association of Space Explorers, Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE), the B612 Foundation, the European Space Agency, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, the Luxembourg Space Agency, OHB Systems, The Planetary Society, SnT, UNIVERSEH and Twitch.

About Asteroid Day:Asteroid Day is held on 30 June each year to mark the date of Earth's largest asteroid impact in recorded history, the Siberia Tunguska event. Asteroid Day was co-founded by astrophysicist and famed musician Dr Brian May of the rock group Queen, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, filmmaker Grig Richters, and B612 President Danica Remy, to educate the public about the importance of asteroids in our history and the role they play in the solar system. In 2016, with the leadership of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), the United Nations declared Asteroid Day to be a global day of education to raise awareness and promote knowledge in the general public about asteroids. Major events in past years have taken place in London, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Tanzania, Milan and Rimini, Italy; Garching, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; in addition to thousands of events worldwide. Over the past eight years, Asteroid Day has evolved to include the participation of major space organizations such as ESA, NASA, JAXA, Roscosmos and ISRO, as well as prominent scientists, astronomers, educators and media worldwide. Asteroid Day is a programme of the Luxembourg-based nonprofit Asteroid Foundation.

About Asteroid Foundation: Asteroid Foundation was formed in 2017 with a mission to promote worldwide awareness of asteroid opportunities and challenges, and the emerging space economy. The Asteroid Foundation undertakes programmes and activities to support scientists, engineers and students around the world providing free educational tools, newsletters, original articles and resources year round. Annually, the Foundation organizes events surrounding International Asteroid Day, a United Nations recognized day of education and awareness observed on 30 June. Visit their Flickr account to see pictures from previous events. Learn more at asteroidfoundation.org

About Association of Space ExplorersFounded in 1985, the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) is an international nonprofit 510c3 professional and educational organization of more than 400 flown astronauts and cosmonauts from 38 nations. ASE's International Committee on Near Earth Objects (NEO), chaired by former astronaut Tom Jones, works to promote global awareness of the asteroid impact threat. ASE delivers subject matter expertise and the astronaut perspective on key topics in the NEO hazard space, including developments in planetary defense, advancements in NEO discovery and characterization, and impactor mitigation campaign design. ASE NEO Committee members also support the bi-annual IAA Planetary Defence Conference and the annual Asteroid Day event in Luxembourg. https://www.space-explorers.org/

About B612 B612 is dedicated to protecting Earth from asteroid impacts. It does this by driving forward science and technologies needed to protect the Earth from asteroid impacts through the Asteroid Institute. It educates the public, the scientific community, and world governments about asteroids through programs such as Asteroid Day. Since the organization's inception in 2002, its work has been carried out entirely through the support of private donors. What started in 2002 as a visionary idea to develop the technology to deflect an asteroid has grown into a world-renowned organization and scientific institute with a key role in the emerging field of planetary defense. http://www.b612foundation.org

About BCEBroadcasting Center Europe (BCE) is a European leader in media services, system integration and software development in the areas of television, online video, streaming, radio, production and postproduction, telecommunication and IT. With its extensive experience in the media market, our team provides high-quality services and will always find the solution that matches your project and budget. With more than 200 highly qualified and motivated people, BCE serves about 400 clients in various sectors, such as TV channels, radio stations, film distributors, producers, advertising companies, sports federations, fashion, events, institutions and telecommunications operators. http://www.bce.lu

About ESAThe European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe's gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. ESA is an international organisation with 22 Member States. ESA's programmes are designed to find out more about Earth, its immediate space environment, our Solar System and the Universe, as well as to develop satellite-based technologies and services, and to promote European industries. By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, it can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. http://www.esa.int

About Luxembourg Space AgencyLuxembourg Space Agency (LSA) develops the space sector in Luxembourg by fostering new and existing companies, developing human resources, facilitating access to funding, and supporting academic research. The agency implements the national space economic development strategy, manages national space research and development programs, and leads the SpaceResources.lu initiative. Furthermore, the LSA represents Luxembourg within the European Space Agency and space-related programs of the European Union and the United Nations. https://space-agency.public.lu/

About Luxembourg Chamber of CommerceThe main role of the Chamber of Commerce is to protect and promote the interests of businesses and the economy of Luxembourg. To enable it to fulfil this mandate, it has been granted the status of a public establishment, which comes with some significant prerogatives. Since membership of professional businesses is mandatory in Luxembourg, the Chamber of Commerce has high rates of affiliation, with 90,000 member companies, corresponding to 75% of the country's total salaried employment and 80% of Luxembourg's GDP, making it the biggest employers' group in the country. It represents all businesses in Luxembourg except those in the artisanal and agricultural sectors.

About OHB SystemsOHB SE is a European aerospace and technology group and one of the most important independent forces in the European space industry. With almost 40 years of experience in developing and executing innovative space technology systems and projects and a dedicated range of aviation/aerospace and telematics products, the OHB group is superbly positioned for international competition. OHB SE has approx. 3,000 employees in selected ESA member countries, allowing the Group to participate in numerous European programmes and missions.

In the space segment, the OHB group's activities include development and manufacture of satellites for the whole range of satellite-based applications as well as complex payloads. OHB contributes to the Ariane Launcher programme and is, for instance, working on the exploration of our solar system, with primary focus on Mars, the moon and asteroids.Learn more about the OHB group and its challenging projects: http://www.ohb.de

About The Planetary SocietyThe Planetary Society is the world's largest independent space-interest organization. Led by CEO Bill Nye and powered by space enthusiasts around the globe, the Society works to advance planetary exploration, the search for life, and planetary defense through education, innovation, advocacy, and global collaboration. Learn more at http://www.planetary.org.

UNIVERSEH - European Space University for Earth and Humanity UNIVERSEH The European Space University for Earth and Humanity is an alliance of the University Fdrale de Toulouse (France), the University of Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Heinrich-Heine-Universitt Dsseldorf (Germany), Lule tekniska universitet (Sweden) and Akademia Grniczo-Hutnicza im. Stanisawa Staszica w Krakowie (Poland). The alliance focuses on the development of educational activities and innovative collaborations in the European space sector. Reflecting European values, UNIVERSEH's objectives are to facilitate mobility and multilingualism, promote student inclusion and diversity, support interdisciplinary programmes, and strengthen pedagogical innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe. UNIVERSEH encourages the thematic mobility of students and teachers, promotes cooperation between higher education institutions and facilitates interaction on issues common to the European education systems. The alliance draws on its expertise, experience and relations with industry and public institutions in the space sector. UNIVERSEH was created in 2020 as part of the Erasmus+ "European Universities" initiative of the European Commission. Together, partners have the potential to reach more than 140,000 students, researchers and staff.

About Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT)The Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg conducts internationally competitive research in information and communication technology (ICT) with a focus on creating socio-economic impact. The Centre attracts talented researchers from all over the world to work on collaborative projects with industry and the public sector. Learn more at wwwen.uni.lu/snt.

About Twitch TVIntroduced in June 2011, Twitch TV is an American video live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions. In addition, it offers music broadcasts, creative content, and more recently, "in real life" streams. https://www.twitch.tv/

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ASTEROID DAY RETURNS TO LUXEMBOURG WITH ASTRONAUTS SPEAKING ABOUT ASTEROIDS AND NEW-SPACE TECHNOLOGY - Yahoo Finance

The Ingenuity Mars helicopter was one of the biggest pieces of news for NASA last year, and for a good reason. With its multiple successful flights above the surface of the Red Planet-with likely many more on the way-Ingenuity is actually heralding a new age of space exploration tech.

(Photo : Photo illustration by NASA via Getty Images)UNSPECIFIED: In this concept illustration provided by NASA, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet's surface as NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away. NASA's Perseverance (Mars 2020) rover will store rock and soil samples in sealed tubes on the planet's surface for future missions to retrieve in the area known as Jezero crater.

It used to be that humans could only explore the surface of another world using a rover. We all saw this with the Lunar Rover, as well as all of the rovers ever sent to Mars. However, these wheeled machines can only cover so much ground within a specific span of time.

That's where the Ingenuity Mars helicopter comes in. According to the BBC, a drone-like exploration machine like that can explore a wider territory in far less time than a rover could. However, flying such a machine on another planet presents so many design challenges, which is why Ingenuity's flights last year were the stuff of legend.

NASA's engineers, with the help of Ingenuity, are getting first-hand experience on Mars with regards to designing flying machines to explore other planets. That's because each planet will always have a different atmosphere than the last, which is why designing a drone-like Ingenuity is an insane feat of engineering in its own right.

(Photo : NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Perhaps the biggest factor here is how thin the Red Planet's atmosphere is compared to Earth's. As per Space.com, the atmosphere on Mars is 100 times thinner, and is 95 percent carbon dioxide. Try to fly something like a Chinook helicopter there, and it will barely leave the ground.

With such a thin atmosphere, a helicopter or drone's blades will have to spin way faster than they do on Earth to generate lift. According to TheNextWeb, flying a helicopter or drone on Mars would be equal to flying a helicopter on Earth at 100,000 feet-an impossible feat, considering that the highest a helicopter has ever flown here is only 42,000 feet above the ground.

Read Also: NASA Ingenuity Flight Delays Due to Dust Storm in Mars, to Resume Operations on Sunday; Is it in Danger?

NASA's main goal with the Ingenuity Mars helicopter was relatively simple: to prove that they can fly above the surface of an alien planet. Once they've worked out the design kinks on it, then they will shift their focus to building even more aircraft like it meant to explore other worlds beyond Mars.

One of the biggest new projects will be Dragonfly, a helicopter the size of a small car scheduled to land on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. NASA says that this rotorcraft will look for either origins or signs of life on the moon, which has gained fame in astronomy circles for its potential to harbor liquid water oceans. And as you should know, life on Earth depends on liquid water to exist.

(Photo : Getty Images )Surface of Titan, computer artwork. This is Saturns largest moon and the only moon to have a planet-like atmosphere. The atmosphere consists of nitrogen and organic compounds, mainly ethane and methane, which give it its distinctive orange colour. The surface of Titan is depicted as being covered in liquid methane, forming rivers and deltas that empty into lakes. It is thought that the hydrocarbons form as sunlight acts on the methane in Titans upper atmosphere. There are also mountains, thought to be made of rock and ice. Titans atmosphere could resemble that of primitive Earth and could hold clues about the origin of life.

Another mission will involve NASA sending two aircraft to Venus. This is perhaps the most challenging of all, considering that Earth's twin is an absolute hellscape of a planet. Its atmosphere alone reaches around 872 degrees with a pressure of 93 bar (1,350 psi.) This pressure is roughly equal to what you'd experience 3,000 feet underwater.

But that's not all. Close to the planet's rocky surface, temperatures can skyrocket to 900 degrees. This is hot enough to melt lead. In other words, not only will the aircraft on Venus have to survive insanely high temperatures in the air and on the ground, but it will also have to endure crushing pressure enough to make any other kind of object implode.

The Ingenuity Mars helicopter is a big step towards humanity's further exploration of the cosmos. Its successes and failures will inevitably drive the scientists and engineers of the future to build more machines like it.

The future of space and planetary exploration is going to take us to alien skies.

Related Article: NASA Mars Rover Captures Image Of A 'Reclining Person'--But It's Definitely NOT What You Think It Is

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How The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Is Heralding A New Age In Space Exploration - Tech Times

Kathleen Loftin 89 00MS 09PhD is in her happy place on a Saturday morning: pulling weeds in her garden. The work is peaceful, filthy, and as down to earth as you can possibly be.

Papayas grow without much effort, Loftin says, sounding more like a wonder-struck gardener than the center chief technologist at Kennedy Space Center. Actually, shes both. Loftin spends Monday through Friday leading a team of researchers who are figuring out how to sustain healthy human life from the moon to Mars, and yet here she is, mesmerized with papayas.

They could be the answer to world hunger, says Loftin, who studied chemistry at UCF.

Shes joking. Or is she? Youd be wise to never doubt Loftin and her easy-going nature. Others have made that mistake, which she uses as fuel in her personal mission to take us to unimaginable places.

Here she shares her inspirations for pursuing a career in STEM and her contributions to field of space exploration.

On being a modern scientist:People are always surprised to hear what I do. The women in my book club and in our bunco group will hear me talk about NASA and say, Really? Youre a researcher in space exploration? You? I guess theyre used to a stereotype of a scientist it isnt someone who kayaks and works the garden on weekends.

On what keeps her inspired:A UCF professor said something I think about daily. The late Chris Clausen, my chemistry professor, would say, What did you do to push the boundaries of science today? That question still inspires me. It brings me out of the weeds to realize the magnitude of what were doing at Kennedy Space Center. Our work is much, much bigger than myself.

On supporting life on Mars:Did you see The Martian? Its based on the novel by Andy Weir, but the idea comes from NASAs research on In-Situ Resource Utilization [ISRU]. Do you know the part in the movie where Matt Damon grows potatoes on Mars? Weve been working on something like that for years as a way to sustain human space explorers on long duration missions. And now with the upcoming Artemis I flight were bringing it a step closer to reality. Its the first in a series of launches that will take us closer to our goal: to allow humans to live on the moon and prepare for sending astronauts to Mars and to bring them back safely.

On her role with NASA:My role is very technical. I oversee the research and technological efforts of the mission. Its why I love gardening to keep my brain in balance. Both of my passions are helpful in my work with Artemis. Think about it. When Lewis and Clark trekked across America, they had to figure out ways to use the land. They couldnt carry everything necessary for survival. Its a similar concept with ISRU. When we go to the moon or Mars, there is a limit on what we can take. So were learning how to break down the moons soil into breathable oxygen and how to use the metals there to build launch pads, parts, and infrastructure. From there we can learn how to sustain life on Mars in the future for months or years. How exciting is that?

On finding her passion for science:This all started with rocks. They fascinated me as a young girl when our family would camp in north Georgia. Id find quartz and amethyst, or jade when we traveled out west. In 8th grade I brought the rock collection to my science teacher, and she showed a genuine interest. Her encouragement helped me create an identity for myself in science.

On rising to the challenge:Teachers sometimes underestimated me. My chemistry teacher in 10th grade said, Boys are better in science, so I dont expect girls to do as well. I cant imagine a teacher saying that today. Back then, I took it as a challenge. I thought, Game on! Lets go! I still feel that way.

On her time at UCF:Ive always felt that I got a lot of bang for my buck at UCF. As an undergraduate in chemistry, I could get my hands into meaningful research. It didnt matter that I was a girl or that I didnt have a bachelors degree yet. There were no limitations.

And then there were the shuttle launches. Wed stand on a roof at UCF to watch them, and the entire building would shake under our feet. I loved that so much. I still love every launch. Its hard to explain what it does to my soul whenever a rocket goes up.

On pivoting her career:I didnt plan this career. Im an inventor. In the early 2000s I was part of a team that developed a product [zero-valent iron, or EZVI] to clean chlorinated chemicals out of the environment. We happened to bring our work over to NASA, and the place amazed me. The scientists and their work I wanted to be around it.

On another great woman in STEM:The woman who changed my life is still at UCF. Cherie Yestrebsky 90. We were undergraduates together. We both took breaks from our career pursuits to raise our families. We worked on the EZVI product together and shes now the chair of UCFs chemistry department. Were both in the Space Technology Hall of Fame. It means a lot to have another woman, whos also a mother, motivating you to push further and further.

On the magic of science:Science can be so cool. When my kids were little, Id go to their classes with a full-on lab coat and do chemical magic shows. Wed make shuttles out of hot dogs, cheese sticks, ketchup, and mustard. After 30 minutes, all these first graders felt like scientists. They could identify all parts of a shuttle and then eat it.

On being limitless:My message for girls and women: Never doubt yourself. If anyone doubts you, use it as motivation. I still do that. Were all capable of anything. There is no glass ceiling. Just look how far weve come and look what were about to do next.

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Pushing the Boundaries - UCF

It was a birthday gift that most children could only dream of a trip to outer space.

Zainab Azims parents bought her a seat on a Virgin Galactic suborbital flight when she turned 11, and now she is on the way to becoming the first hijab-wearing space tourist.

Now 19, the Pakistani-Canadian student is of legal age and eligible to fly on a spacecraft using her $250,000 ticket.

Ms Azim visited Dubai on February 11 to speak on a panel at the International Day for Women and Girls in Science at Expo 2020 Dubai.

Before that, she spoke to The National about her expected journey to space and the need to create more opportunities for women in Stem science, tech, engineering and maths fields.

The ticket was a gift from my parents because I always had an interest in space, Ms Azim said, who is co-founder of the non-profit Global Initiative and Vision for Education organisation.

More than 600 Virgin Galactic ticket holders around the world are also waiting for a turn on the spaceplane, which flies above 80 kilometres but does not pass the Karman line the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and the beginning of space.

The first passenger flight, which carried Virgin owner Richard Branson himself, was completed last summer.

But, shortly after, authorities grounded the spaceplane for deviating from its flight path. Virgin Galactic announced that operations would resume at the end of this year.

So it could be a few years until Ms Azim gets her ride to space, but she remains excited.

I am excited, but I know my mum is already scared and we dont even have a date for it yet, Ms Azim said, who is currently a university student in Toronto, pursuing a double major in neuroscience and public policy and a minor in psychology and astrophysics.

Im her only daughter and I have two brothers younger than me, so I do understand her fear. My dad is also excited, but not more excited than me.

Ms Azim would be the first hijab-wearing space tourist, but not the first female Muslim to go to space.

In 2006, Iranian-American businesswoman Anousheh Ansari went to the International Space Station on a self-funded mission for which she paid about $20 million.

Also, Emirati engineer Nora Al Matrooshi is the first Arab female to be selected as an astronaut. She is in line to become the first hijab-wearing astronaut on the space station if she gets a chance to go there before the floating laboratory is retired in 2031.

The UAE's new astronauts Nora Al Matrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla at the Address Hotel, Dubai Mall in Dubai. All pictures by Chris Whiteoak

Apart from feeling enthusiastic about the suborbital flight experience, Ms Azim said she also feels uncomfortable about spending such a hefty amount on the ticket.

She hopes that space tourism companies will create programmes that give easier access to those who could not such sums.

I am excited about it, but I want to go to space is not enough for me to spend $250,000 on a ticket, she said.

There needs to be a bigger reason and a bigger goal. It has to create an impact for other people. I don't feel comfortable doing that for myself.

Over the past few years, Ms Azim has participated in many conferences and workshops around the world as a speaker and mentor to encourage young people to pursue their passions in stem.

Last year, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs selected her as a mentor for the Space4Women Network, which runs initiatives to promote gender equality in space fields.

Discrimination against women was rife at Nasa in the 1960s when the space exploration began.

While that gender gap has somewhat narrowed, the space sector continues to be male dominated in some parts of the world.

More than 600 people have flown to space so far, but only 10 per cent of them were women.

British businessman Sir Richard Branson during the launch of Virgin Atlantic Airways on April 6, 1984.

Updated: February 14th 2022, 3:00 AM

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Student given $250,000 Virgin Galactic ticket set to be first hijab-wearing space tourist - The National

The International Space Station is a unique laboratory that is returning enormous scientific, educational, and technological developments to benefit people on Earth and is enabling our ability to travel into deep space. The Biden-Harris Administrations commitment toextend space station operationsuntil 2030 will enable the United States to continue to reap these benefits for the next decade while U.S. industry develops commercial destinations and markets for a thriving space economy.

As NASA looks forward to a decade of results from research and technology development aboard the International Space Station, the agency is taking steps to ensure a successful transition of operations to commercial services. In response to Congressional direction, NASA has now provided an updatedInternational Space Station Transition Reportthat details the goals for the next decade of station operations leading to a smooth transition to commercial services, the steps being taken to develop both the supply and demand side of the low-Earth orbit commercial economy, and the technical steps and budget required for transition.

The International Space Station is entering its third and most productive decade as a groundbreaking scientific platform in microgravity, said Robyn Gatens, director of the International Space Station at NASA Headquarters. This third decade is one of results, building on our successful global partnership to verify exploration and human research technologies to support deep space exploration, continue to return medical and environmental benefits to humanity, and lay the groundwork for a commercial future in low-Earth orbit. We look forward to maximizing these returns from the space station through 2030 while planning for transition to commercial space destinations that will follow.

Today, with U.S. commercial crew and cargo transportation systems online, the station is busier than ever. The ISS National Laboratory, responsible for utilizing 50 percent of NASAs resources aboard the space station, hosts hundreds of experiments from other government agencies, academia, and commercial users to return benefits to people and industry on the ground. Meanwhile, NASAs research and development activities aboard are advancing the technologies and procedures that will be necessary to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon and the first humans to Mars.

The extension of operations to 2030 will continue to return these benefits to the United States and to humanity as a whole while preparing for a successful transition of capabilities to one or more commercially-owned and -operated LEO destinations (CLDs). NASA has entered into a contract forcommercial modulesto be attached to a space station docking port and awarded space act agreements for design of threefree-flying commercial space stations. U.S. industry is developing these commercial destinations to begin operations in the late 2020s for both government and private-sector customers, concurrent with space station operations, to ensure these new capabilities can meet the needs of the United States and its partners.

The private sector is technically and financially capable of developing and operating commercial low-Earth orbit destinations, with NASAs assistance. We look forward to sharing our lessons learned and operations experience with the private sector to help them develop safe, reliable, and cost-effective destinations in space, said Phil McAlister, director of commercial space at NASA Headquarters. The report we have delivered to Congress describes, in detail, our comprehensive plan for ensuring a smooth transition to commercial destinations after retirement of the International Space Station in 2030.

It is NASAs goal to be one of many customers of these commercial destination providers, purchasing only the goods and services the agency needs. Commercial destinations, along with commercial crew and cargo transportation, will provide the backbone of the low-Earth orbit economy after the International Space Station retires.

The decision to extend operations and NASAs recent awards to develop commercial space stations together ensureuninterrupted, continuous human presence and capabilities; both are critical facets of NASAs International Space Station transition plan.

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NASA Extends Operations of the International Space Station - HamletHub

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Its a common retort when the expense of space exploration comes up: Arent there bigger problems to solve here on Earth? The implication is that humanity has enough to worry about, and maybe space is too expensive in light of all these issues. This oversimplification ignores the nature of humanity, the drive that has made us the dominant species on Earth. If we want to stay that way, space exploration is vital. Here are five reasons why we belong up there.

Humans did not evolve to go into space, but we go there anyway. That has led to the development of various technologies that feed back into the economy and improve our lives on Earth. Without space programs, we wouldnt have GPS, accurate weather prediction, solar cells, or the ultraviolet filters in sunglasses and cameras. Theres also medical research happening in space right now that could cure diseases and prolong human lives, and these experiments cant be done on Earth. Space exploration could save your life.

Speaking of saving lives, space exploration could save all our lives. The solar system has calmed down a lot since the early eons, but there are still an unknown number of big asteroids and comets out there that could smack into the planet and really ruin your day. Its happened several times in the past, each one causing a mass extinction. Its not a matter of if another large asteroid hits Earth, but when. A robust space program is the only hope we have of deflecting such an object. If were not working toward that goal, humanity already has an expiration date.

There are currently more than 7 billion humans, which is a lot. However, were all crammed together on this one planet. If something happened to Earth, our species could be wiped out. For example, the aforementioned asteroid impact. Colonizing other bodies in the solar system (or building our own orbiting habitats) is a way to create a backup of humanity that will survive no matter what happens to Earth. Maybe future humans will be Martians who will never set foot on Earth. The technology to make that possible isnt going to develop itself.

As we develop new technologies on Earth, the strain on our natural resources continues to increase. The extraction of valuable minerals has led to a host of problems, including environmental damage and human exploitation, but theres a wealth of precious materials in space. Startups like Planetary Resources want to mine asteroids instead of Earth, which would mean an effectively unlimited supply of raw materials that are rare on Earth.

There are more practical reasons for space exploration, but one of the principal reasons we must continue is that were explorers. Thats why humans number in the billions from our earliest upright steps, weve endeavored to learn more about the world around us, and this allowed us to build civilization. Exploring space is an opportunity not only to discover new worlds and build advanced technologies, but to work together toward a larger goal irrespective of nationality, race, or gender. If we stop exploring, we stop being human.

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5 Reasons Space Exploration Is More Important Than Ever ...

Aid efforts are continuing as the Kingdom of Tonga recovers from the recent volcanic eruption of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Haapai. The violent blast generated a Tsunami and blanketed the islands in volcanic ash. Video / Supplied

Engineers for SpaceX, owned by the world's richest man Elon Musk, are reportedly in Fiji with plans to help restore internet to the Kingdom of Tonga.

The devastating eruption in mid-January damaged an undersea telecommunications cable, which experts have said could take a month to repair.

National Party MP Dr Shane Reti wrote a letter to Musk, who also produces electric cars under the Tesla brand, asking for help to provide his Starlink satellite technology to the Pacific country.

The technology uses satellites to deliver internet access to remote locations around the world.

Musk replied offering to assist Tonga, asking on Twitter whether Tonga authorities could inform him whether Starlink terminals were needed.

The Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, FBC News, reports that the team from SpaceX are now in Fiji to work on an internet gateway for the Kingdom of Tonga.

Minister for Communications Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum confirmed the news to FBC News, saying the engineers from SpaceX will establish and operate a temporary ground station in Fiji for six months.

"The Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (Space X) had applied for a temporary emergency telecommunications license on the 20th of Jan, the sole purpose of this license is to provide an internet gateway," Sayed-Khaiyum told FBC News.

"Space X and FINTEL are currently, however, in commercial negotiations to co-locate the earth station and connect to Fiji's internet gateway."

SpaceX has also reportedly shown interest in providing internet services in Fiji.

15 Sep, 2021 05:28 AMQuick Read

The Herald has approached Sayed-Khaiyum for comment.

Reti said it was "wonderful news".

"I am just really pleased for Tonga and all the Pacific that they will be getting modern telecommunications."

Reti said he had been in contact with the Tongan consul and Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio, who were pleased to hear the news.

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Tonga volcanic eruption and tsunami: Elon Musk's SpaceX reportedly in Fiji preparing to help with telecommunications - New Zealand Herald