Category Archives: Space Travel

Humankind has yearned to explore space since our ancestors began to study the night sky millennia ago. What weve been able to accomplish in the last 63+ years has taken the dedication, perseverance, and imagination of countless people. While many nations have aided in scores of missions outside of the Earths atmosphere, NASA has certainly had the lions share of firsts. Indeed, NASA successfully landed astronauts on the surface of the moon, collaborated with European governments on the exploration of Saturns largest moon, and developed space telescopes that capture the far reaches of the universe. While this list isnt meant to outline every major accomplishment, it will lend some perspective on what this U.S. space agency has been able to achieve since its creation in 1958 (via History).

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Formed in part as a response to the successful Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite, NASA raced to pull the U.S. ahead of their Cold War rival by the end of the following decade. Throughout some serious tragedies that have taken the lives of nearly 30 NASA crewmembers in different incidents over the years, the space agency stayed the course and continues to pave the way for the continued exploration of worlds beyond our own.

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When President John F. Kennedy gave his famous We choose to go to the Moon speech at Rice University on September 12, 1962, the United States was already behind the Soviets in the space race (via Science Focus). In an effort to boost both public and congressional support for increasing NASAs budget, Kennedy delivered an address that declared that the United States would land on the moon before the end of the decade.

The Apollo 11 mission was launched on July 16, 1969, carrying astronautsNeil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Buzz Aldrin. Four days later on July 20, Aldrin and Armstrong touched down on the moon via the Lunar Module. Together, they spent 21 hours and 36 minutes on the surface of the Earths moon (via NASA).

The three crew members of Apollo 11 safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24. They were picked up by the recovery ship, the U.S.S. Hornet.

Humankind had finally accomplished a feat that only imagination could have previously captured. Altogether, it is estimated that 650 million people worldwide watched this event live, setting a new record that would be unsurpassed until Prince Charles married Lady Diana in 1981 (via Reference).

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Some NASA missions primarily result in data being transmitted for several years. Others continue to give scientists information for decades. The latter is certainly the case for both the Voyager 1 and its sister spacecraft Voyager 2. First launched on September 5, 1977, the Voyager 1s primary mission was to perform fly-bys of Saturn and Jupiter and relay images back to Earth for study (via Solar System). More than 44 years later, this spacecraft is still being propelled through space, having left our solar system in August of 2012. It is still transmitting data to this day.

Onboard the Voyager 1 is the Golden Record, which contains Earthly greetings to prospective other-worldly beings in over 55 languages. Recordings of music ranging from Chuck Berry to Beethoven are also contained in the record, as well as various images of Earths people.

There have been many observations made by Voyager 1 that have helped map out our solar system. The discoveries of two additional moons of Jupiter (Thebe and Metis), a thin ring around Jupiter, and five newly observed moons of Saturn have changed the known makeup of the bodies that rotate around our sun.

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The ability to capture images far beyond what Earthly telescopes can achieve was recognized in 1990. On April 24th of that year, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit via the space shuttle Discovery. Orbiting the Earth at more than 300 miles above its surface, the Hubble has been transmitting images back to Earth for over 30 years now (via HubbleSite).

Hubble has been able to show the people of Earth both the beauty and vastness of the worlds that exist beyond what our naked eye sees. Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson quipped, No matter what Hubble reveals planets, dense star fields, colorful interstellar nebulae, deadly black holes, graceful colliding galaxies, the large-scale structure of the Universe each image establishes your own private vista on the cosmos, (via Rocket Stem).

Hubble is able to stay functional in part due to various servicing missions that keep the space telescope maintained and updated. The last servicing mission was carried out in 2009.

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The first robotic rover to land on the surface of Mars, the Mars Pathfinder touched down on the surface of the Red Planet on July 4, 1997 (via NASA). Far outlasting its expected useful life, the Mars Pathfinder transmitted data to Earth until September 27, 1997, NASA also noted. Over that period, more than 2.3 billion bits of information were sent back to scientists on Earth, along with nearly 17,000 images.

NASA released information about an additional 15 separate soil tests conducted by The Pathfinder, in which the martian surface was analyzed. The test results concluded that the surface of Mars was once very wet and warm. Analyses of various rocks, along with the wind on the planets surface, help to build a better picture of how wind erosion impacted the planet.

This spacecraft consisted of two parts: a space lander and a rover (via NASA). The lander was named the Carl Sagan Memorial Station after the late famed astronomer. The rover itself was given the moniker Sojourner, after 19th century abolitionist and civil rights leader Sojourner Truth.

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The idea to maintain and constantly crew an orbiting space station was conceived early on in the NASA program. But it would take years of technological advances and international cooperation before this dream would become a reality. Under orders given by then-President Ronald Reagan, NASA began cooperating with the Japanese space program and the European Space Agency in 1984 (via ISS NationalLaboratory). By 1998, this collaboration would grow to include Russias Roscosmos and the Canadian Space Agency (via National Geographic).

Construction started in late 1998 and the International Space Station (ISS) was first occupied in 2000. It has been continuously occupied since, sometimes with as few as three crew members aboard.

The ISS continues to grow, and improvements are almost always occurring. While crew members carry out a large portion of these duties, they are also tasked with experiments and lab studies. The results will help steer humankind in the direction of being able to live indefinitely off the surface of the Earth. Learning how to deal with near weightlessness, exposure to radiation, and other hazards of space travel are just part of what scientists need to overcome before this is possible.

As of April 2021, 244 people from nine nations have been aboard the ISS (via Space).

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Kepler was an orbiter craft launched on March 7, 2009 (via NASA). The primary purpose of this spacecraft was to discover and observe exoplanets that are within the Milky Way galaxy. Exoplanets, a name given to planetary bodies that exist outside of our solar system, could be detected by Kepler via its observation of distant stars. Kepler watched stars for dips in the light that they emitted. The only body large enough to cause a noticeable dip in a stars light would be an orbiting planet.

Designed to monitor over 100,000 stars for the existence of exoplanets, Kepler eventually discovered more than 2,600 of them (via Exoplanets). Kepler stopped transmitting to Earth in October 2018, after more than nine years.

The legacy of the Kepler spacecraft is the sheer number of exoplanets that are mapped out, coupled with the knowledge that it helped to show scientists just how many more planetary bodies there are within our galaxy.

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Not only did the Soviets launch the first successful satellite into orbit in 1957, but they also beat the United States in putting a human being into orbit. As noted by Space, on April 12, 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth for 108 minutes while onboard the Vostok 1. Per NASA, not wanting to fall too far behind the Soviets, NASA recruited U.S. Navy test pilot Alan Shephard to be the first NASA astronaut to be sent into orbit. He was sent into space aboard the Mercury capsule (dubbed Freedom 7) on May 5, 1961.

While traveling in a sub-orbital trajectory for less time than his Soviet cosmonaut counterpart, Shephard went down in history as the first American to do so. This buoyed the spirits of the American people, as they saw that the United States remained capable of competing with the Soviets in the space race.

Shephard became an important figure within NASA, eventually walking on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 (via Biography).

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Before NASA could attempt a human landing on the moon, it needed to show that doing so could be done safely. Simulations performed on Earth only show so much, and the data and projections from these endeavors really dont do any justice to what a real lunar landing is like. This is where the Apollo 8 mission came into play.

Launched into space on December 21, 1968, this Apollo mission carried aboard three crewmembers, astronautsFrank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders. This was the first manned crew to leave aboard a rocket and the first to observe the Earth from a distance (via Solar System).

According to Smithsonian Air and Space, the purpose of Apollo 8 was to carry a crew to the moon and back, without landing on the moons surface. In order to carry out an actual moon landing, it was first necessary to make certain that the Apollo program was capable of not only reaching the moon but could also successfully orbit this body.

As an aside, the astronauts aboard Apollo 8 were the first to capture images of the Earth from lunar orbit. Their stunning photographs are still widely circulated today.

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As noted above, the Soviet governments successful launch of the Sputnik space satellite on October 4th, 1957 sent the United States government into a panic. With the knowledge that the Soviets also shared the capacity for nuclear warfare, U.S. government officials foresaw a nightmare scenario in which their Cold War enemy would dominate the night sky, forcing the United States to be at their mercy.

Not wasting any time, theU.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency commissioned the Jupiter rocket to carry its own satellite into orbit. OnJanuary 31, 1958, Explorer 1 was launched (via NASA). This satellite orbited the Earth more than 58,000 times before it crashed into the Earths atmosphere on March 31, 1970.

With the success of Explorer 1, the space race stepped into high gear. The U.S. government immediately constructed additional Explorer satellites, attempting four subsequent launches throughout 1958. Of the five total Explorers launched, only three made it out of the Earths atmosphere.

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The Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched on July 23, 1999. As the Earth itself absorbs X-rays as they enter its atmosphere, Chandra needed to be launched and situated beyond Earths orbit. After a successful launch, Chandra became renowned for being the worlds most powerful telescope (via NASA).

NASA launched the Chandra X-ray Observatory in order to detect and observe X-ray emissions from some of the hottest events in the universe. According to Chandra, this includes gathering data from stars that have exploded, areas around black holes, and galaxy clusters.

Four sensitive mirrors are on board, which bounce X-rays off of an optical bench. The images this observatory has captured include of a black hole in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, the separation of dark matter from normal matter, and the regions surrounding black holes. Chandra has also been able to detect black holes across the universe, helping scientists begin to map out the vastness of what lies beyond the naked eye.

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As the costs associated with one-time use rockets took their toll on the federal governments budget, NASA scientists began to imagine a reusable vessel that could carry astronauts safely to and from space. According to Spaceline, designers presented their plans for the original space shuttle in late 1969, with NASA hopeful that a successful launch would be achieved no later than 1977.

History tells us that NASA was a little off the mark in their prediction. The first successful shuttle launch occurred on April 12, 1981. On this date, astronautsJohn Young and Robert Crippen were launched into space aboard the space shuttle Columbia. This mission marked the first of many for this particular shuttle until disaster struck decades later. On February 1, 2003, the Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry into the Earths atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard the spacecraft.

Over the course of the so-called Space Shuttle Era, NASA successfully launched five shuttles into space. Between the five shuttles, 135 shuttle missions were flown, carrying 833 different crew members. The shuttle program officially ended in 2011.

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July 20, 1976, marks the date when NASA first successfully landed a spacecraft on Mars (via Space). Following several failed Soviet attempts to land probes on the Red Planet, NASAs touchdown allowed the probe to transmit data for 90 days. The Viking probe was able to capture martian images for nearly six years, however.

Before transmission was ended in 1982, Viking 1 was able to send over 52,000 images back to Earth to be studied by scientists (via Solar System). It also successfully collected and analyzed soil samples from Mars, the results of which are still being analyzed. Scientists hope these photos provide a glimpse into how humans may be able to integrate into life on the red planet, with particular emphasis on how food might be grown sustainably.

Sophisticated instruments also were able to record temperatures on the surface of the planet at different times of the day and night. This data is being used, alongside the additional materials, to help determine how sending human astronauts to Mars can be safely accomplished in the future.

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The Cassini-Huygens Project shows what can be accomplished when different space agencies pool their resources and knowledge to move humanity forward in the age of space exploration. With a mission to explore Saturn and its moons, this endeavor was a collaboration of the European Space Agency, NASA, and the Italian governmentsAgenzia Spaziale Italiana (via NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory). With a focus on the moon Titan, in particular, the Cassini-Huygens Project was developed to hopefully discover what chemical reactions are happening in this moons atmosphere, as well as determine the source of the abundance of methane on Titan.

This mission consisted of two separate spacecraft, the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe. Cassini was constructed to continuously orbit Saturn, while the probe was to be launched from Cassini so that it could land on Titan.

Overall, this mission was structured so that the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe could conduct 27 separate scientific investigations. When the Huygens probe safely landed on the surface of Titan in 2005, scientists learned that the moons surface had the consistency of wet sand and was comprised of tiny ice pebbles (via ESA Education). The probe also detected carbon dioxide on the ground, which wasnt found in Titans atmosphere.

Cassini continued to orbit Saturn until September of 2017 when it ended its mission by plunging into Saturns atmosphere and disintegrating.

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Learning about the formation of what is perhaps the oldest planet in our solar system is key to learning about how our own planet was formed. Believed to have its beginning at a time when our sun was new, Jupiter was formed when massive amounts of dust and gases formed into a giant sphere (via Space).

Launched on August 5, 2011, the Juno spacecraft was engineered to give NASA scientists the most in-depth study of Jupiter to date. The mission was to hopefully learn more about Jupiters origin, atmosphere, interior, and magnetosphere. While Jupiter has been observed to be a gaseous sphere, it is thought to have a stable and solid core. According to NASA, testing this theory is an additional aim of the spacecrafts mission.

As described by NASA and shared with Phys.org, this spacecraft is built to withstand the intense amount of radiation that is emitted from Jupiter. While it has been orbiting the solar systems largest planet, Juno has observed never-before-seen low lightning and detected water near Jupiters equator.

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Launched in August 2003, the Spitzer Space Telescope has succeeded in being the first observatory to capture photos of planets that lie outside of our own solar system (via NASA). Known as extrasolar planets, images of these bodies were unable to be captured before this mission. Spitzer was able to discover the most remote planet from the Earth, orbiting a star nearly 13,000 light-years away. This telescope has also been able to capture a previously unknown ring of Saturn, a cluster of seven Earth-like planets rotating around a distant star, and has shown NASA the existence of the most remote galaxy in the universe, according to NASA (linked above).

The images transmitted from Spitzer are breathtaking. Since 2003, scientists have been able to study detailed photos showing weather conditions on some extrasolar planets, as well as photographic proof of water vapor on others (see link above).

What was originally intended to be a two-and-a-half-year mission has far exceeded NASAs expectations. Still in orbit, the telescope continued to send photos of bodies outside our solar system until the funding for this project ended on January 30, 2020 (via Space).

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The 15 Most Groundbreaking NASA Missions - SlashGear

Today, The Expanse comes to its end. Prime Video released the show's final episode, "Babylon's Ashes," depicting the showdown between Marco Inaros' (Keon Alexander) Free Navy and the united forces of Earth, Mars, and Kamina Drummer's (Cara Gee) Belters. The Expanse lasted for six seasons, rescued by Prime Video after Syfy unceremoniously canceled the series following its third season. Based on the first six novels in James S.A. Corey's (Ty Franck & David Abraham's) 9-volume sci-fi series, The Expanse's blend of realism and space opera has firmly etched its way into sci-fi history as one of the best genre television shows of all time.

To sum up The Expanse as succinctly as possible, one might call it sci-fi Game of Thrones, though that doesn't entirely do it justice, especially since it avoids most of Game of Thrones' excesses. It does bear a similar structure, following multiple point-of-view characters across a galaxy divided by seemingly unending and unchanging simmering conflict at the moment when an existential threat appears poised to wipe all other players off the board. And, as Game of Thrones deconstructed certain fantasy tropes, creating a sense of gritty realism in its fantasy world, The Expanse made a point of embracing many of the realities of space travel that other franchises choose to gloss over.

Concerns about fuel in Star Wars: The Last Jedi seemed like a jarring break in the franchise's rules, and Star Trek essentially treats spaceships like sea vessels. By contrast, The Expanse embraced the nuances and challenges of space travel physics as storytelling opportunities. Scarcity is omnipresent, making every bullet and torpedo fired during a space battle -- which directors often pointedly linger on -- matter. Important characters die due to the stress of the increased gravity from a hard burn through space. An entire system of inequality sprung up around humanity's extraplanetary evolution.

In The Expanse's galaxy, the United Nations, based on Earth, and the Martian Congressional Republic, an independent colony on Mars, divide power. Mars and Earth have long opposed each other on philosophical grounds that permeate their citizens' lifestyles. Practically everyone on Earth is reliant on some form of government assistance. Mars culture emphasizes hard work, fetishizing struggle in a way that appeals to its many soldiers and technocrats alike. It's essentially the blue- and red-state divide blown up to planetary-scale to encompass our solar system's blue and red planets.

And then there's the Belt, those doing the dirty work that keeps the galaxy going. They're disenfranchised, eking out an existence by working to supply the Inner Planets with resources even though Belters struggle going down a gravity well after generations spent living in zero or artificial gravity. Through their eyes, whatever conflicts may exist between Earth and Mars is nothing but petty squabbling among the privileged who jointly keep their boots on Belters' necks, viewing them only as terrorists and troublemakers.

This treatment leads to an entire Belter subculture, the rag-tag Outer Planets Alliance insurgency network, and some of the show's most fascinating characters. Detective Joe Miller (Thomas Jane) worked for the Earth company that owned his home station and, as a Belter, grew tired enough of living in what he saw as a defeatist culture that he embraced the Inners' cultural aesthetic. He went as far as to wear a hat despite never having had a sky above his head. Fred Johnson (Chad Coleman) was an Earther. He became disgusted enough at his role in keeping the Belters in their place that he defected and became the face of the OPA. His protege, Drummer, is a trueborn Belter, living in a polyamorous family made up of her shipmates. Thanks to Gee's performance, the inner conflict she goes through as she allies with the Inners against other Belters proves heartbreaking.

The divide also led to the rise of charismatic insurgent Marco Inaros, who irrevocably shifted the balance of power with a single rock flung at Earth. But, as eternal optimist James Holden (Steven Strait) concedes in the finale, Inaros was evil, but he had a point regarding the Inners' treatment of Belters.

And then comes that existential threat. Where Game of Thrones' invading White Walker horde was pretty straightforward, and its dragons interpretable as symbols of nuclear power, the protomolecule discovered in The Expanse's first season is both more sinister and more adaptable as a symbol. That's because the protomolecule itself isn't good or evil. It's an advanced technology, and like all technology, its moral value comes from its use. The Expanse cleverly uses the protomolecule to depict how the promises of technological advancement that will make all lives better often serve as cover for enhancing the lives of the already wealthy, often through creating new weapons for war or advanced tools for oppression. The threat of whatever wiped out the protomolecule's creators is out there, haunting every use of the ring gates like an ecological disaster waiting to happen. Yet, at the same time, The Expanse drives home the idea that humanity is plenty capable of wiping itself out well before that crisis could rear its head.

What's an average person to do in the face of all this existential dread? That, in part, is what The Expanse's final episode drives home. There are plenty of noble deeds to be done in "Babylon's Ashes." The show's heroic warriors -- the tempestuous Amos Burton (Wet Chatham) and battle-ready Bobby Draper (Frankie Adams) -- are at their most courageous. The intrigue is at its most intriguing, with the equally stately and ferocious Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) setting the pace. But ultimately, the moment that will linger is Naomi Nagata (Dominque Tipper) and Holden's conversation after the fighting ends.

It's Naomi's monologue about how we'll never fully understand the effects our actions have on others, how our kind words may linger, or cruel ones may haunt a person throughout their entire lives, and we'd likely never know. All we can do is live our best lives and hope that others do the same and that things change for the better. After all the warfare and politics, that's the lasting message The Expanse leaves us with as it comes to its end.

Or does it? Fans who have read Corey's novels know that there's a 30-year time jump after the end of the sixth book, which is where the television adaptation concludes. And yet, The Expanse spent a significant chunk of its final six episodes introducing Laconia and its leader, Admiral Duarte (Dylan Taylor), and revealing what the stolen sample of protomolecule has wrought. These subplots only pay off in the final three books of the series and, despite a dramatic line about Duarte dealing with gods, they go unresolved in The Expanse's finale.

The last line of The Expanse is Naomi, in response to Holden bringing up the still missing protomolecule sample, telling him to stay in this moment for the time being. It's possible to read this as Naomi speaking to the audience. One might take it as a concession to the parts of Corey's story that The Expanse never got to tell. Or, perhaps with a dash of Holden's optimism, it could be telling viewers to savor the series' conclusion for now while awaiting whatever might come next.

Or maybe that's wishful thinking. Perhaps viewers will get to return to The Expanse's universe sooner or later, be it through a trilogy of films or a revival series years down the line. Or maybe they won't. Either way, the six seasons we've already seen are enough for The Expanse to stand alongside the likes of Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica as one of the great sci-fi shows in television history.

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The Expanse's Finale Cements Its Place as One of TV's Best Sci-Fi Shows - ComicBook.com

William Shatner has been an icon in the realm of fictional space travel going all the way back to the original Star Trek in the 1960s, and it wasnt until 2021 that the actor made the trip to the stars in real life. He made history in the process as the oldest person launched into space at the age of 90; upon his return to Earth, he found three words to describe his experience beyond the atmosphere.

The Star Trek legends trip into space was documented for fans with a one-hour documentary special fittingly called Shatner in Space, and William Shatner took to Twitter to hype the special and describe the experience for those of us who havent also traveled in space. He said:

Space travel, in three words, is you go fast.

While William Shatners experience on Jeff Bezos Blue Origin rocket wasnt quite as fast as what Captain Kirk experienced during his years in Star Trek, the speed clearly left a strong impression on the actor. And it clearly wasnt too much for him, despite his status as the oldest person ever launched into space. Of course, the man also filmed with live sharks for a Shark Week special that aired over the summer, so perhaps its no surprise that space really was the next frontier for him!

Shatner was open with his excitement even before he made the trip, sharing a back-and-forth on social media with none other than Lynda Carter to encourage her to give space a shot as well, although he also admitted that he was terrified off and on about what he was going to do. Neil DeGrasse Tyson even weighed in on the question of whether it was safe for a man of Shatners age to make the journey, and he broke it down for any fearful fans.Shatner also shared his initial response to taking off:

The first thing I said after takeoff and the rumble of the rockets, and I knew there was no escape, was 'Oh shhhh...' and I never finished the word.

Now that Shatner has returned (and dropped some comments about it directed at former co-star George Takei), fans will be able to follow along with his experience courtesy of the Shatner in Space special. Check out more of what he had to say about his time in space:

Shatner in Space is available streaming on Amazon Prime now, and it covers the events before, during, and after the journey itself. It will also cover the dynamic between Shatner and Amazons Jeff Bezos, who founded Blue Origin and was evidently inspired by the original Star Trek. If this puts you in the mood to revisit the days of William Shatners Captain Kirk, Leonard Nimoys Spock, and DeForest Kelleys Dr. McCoy, you can find the original series streaming on Amazon.

For the full Star Trek catalogue of Shatners appearances as Kirk in the TV shows and films, however, be sure to check out Hulu. And if youre in the market to look ahead to 2022 for the shows that are on the way in the new year, swing by our 2022 winter and spring premiere schedule!

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The Three Words Star Trek's William Shatner Used To Describe Space Travel After Record-Breaking Flight - CinemaBlend

Gong Yoo plays the leader of a perilous space mission in 'The Silent Sea.'

Gong Yoo originally thought his future lay behind the camera, as he wanted to create advertising content. The first time he faced the camera lens was in college, when he got a part-time job as a VJ for a music show

From that point on, I found myself wanting to express my emotions through the camera lens, said Gong. It was fascinating to influence peoples emotions with my eyes, voice, and the subtle changes in my facial expressions.

That led to a desire to experience life through different characters.

I think the part-time job might have been a turning point in my life. That is how I eventually started acting and it has been more than 20 years since I started to share different emotions with audiences and live vicariously through various characters.

It has been an impressive 20-year career. Gong landed his first leading roles in the TV dramas Hello My Teacher and One Fine Day and after his role in Coffee Prince quickly became an international star. He appeared in the film Silenced, a story so powerful it prompted legislative change in Korea. He played a supportive husband in the award-winning film Kim Ji-young: Born 1982, fought zombies in the international hit Train to Busan and guarded a clone in the sci-fi film Seo Bok. He played the title role in Guardian: The Great and Lonely God, aka Goblin, which became the fifth highest rated drama in Korean cable television history. A wider audience met him through his cameo as a recruiter in Squid Game and hes now taking k-dramas to space with the Netflix NFLX production The Silent Sea.

Gong has a gift for choosing successful projects.

I believe that a good script holds all the answers for a good story, which is why I am cautious when selecting/reviewing a script, he said. When it comes to the veiled parts of a scriptfor instance, the hidden intentions of the directorI first review them in detail with the director to make sure that we are on the same page. After that, I add my own imagination to bring the character to life. That is how I build the core of a character. Nonetheless, there are other aspects I potentially may add as I interact with other cast members; however, only to an extent that these new additions do not undermine the essence of the character.

Gong Yoo played the recruiter in 'Squid Game.'

He was attracted to The Silent Sea because his character Han Yun-jae is an experienced leader, who has a strong sense of responsibility and is calm under difficult circumstances.

Not everyone can become a leader and it is a lonely title that comes with great responsibility. I sympathize with him to a certain extent. But Yun-jae is also an ordinary dad who worries about the well-being of his child. To be honest, I selected The Silent Sea not only because I was drawn to my character, but because I was drawn to the creative theme and how the story portrays its universe. I wanted to challenge myself in a genre that has never been tried out in Korea. As someone who always looks to broaden his spectrum into various genres, I wanted to be a part of this amazing journey to the moon. This aligns with the reasons why I chose Train to Busan.

His characters tend to exude a sense of inner calm, which reflects his own efforts to maintain an even keel.

Personally, I tend to try to stay calm under pressure, said Gong. Of course, it doesnt always work, but I think disciplining myself to remain calm can be very helpful in life. I believe that mental strength is pivotal in terms of physical health. If you allow your emotions to overwhelm you, you may not always make the best choices. And in any game, whoever loses their temper is most likely to lose.

While traveling to space might seem like an appealing idea, Gong suggests the story of The Silent Sea should prompt renewed concerns for this planet.

Ma Dong-seok and Gong Yoo battle zombies in 'Train To Busan.'

As wonderful as space travel is, being forced to migrate to another planet for survival as portrayed in The Silent Seadue to desertification or in the face of extinctionwould be a tragedy. I try to remind myself that I need to stay alert and do better to protect our planet. Yun-jae ultimately takes risks and heads to the moon for survival. He is a selfless father who would sacrifice himself for his daughter. I dont have a child yet, but I think I would make the same choice as Yun-jae did. In the big picture, it also can translate into the sacrifice made by this generation for the welfare of the next generation to come.

Space travel is a new genre for Asia so The Silent Sea can be seen as a giant step forward for k-content. The story, which also stars Bae Doona and Lee Joon, focuses on a perilous 24-hour mission on the moon. Gong and his team must retrieve samples from an abandoned research facility steeped in classified secrets.

Similar to zombie content, space travel sci-fi is a ubiquitous theme in Hollywood, which has set audience standards, said Gong. After Train to Busan, I gained the assurance that great content has less to do with the amount of production budget, but more to do with the clever use of it. Creative themes, premise, along with the design of a story are the crucial factors. The creativeness and refreshing themes are what absorb the audience.

Filming The Silent Sea involved many physical challenges. To film an elevator fall, Gongwore about 10 to 12 wires.

I have had my fair share of wirework for action films, but it was challenging nonetheless. Wirework stunts not only inversely bend your back, but also its almost impossible to sustain a balanced position while hanging upside-down. I had to take short breaks after every take because blood would circulate to my head. Therefore, it was physically tiring for both myself as an actor and the film crew.

There were scenes where he ran through narrow, low-height passages while wearing a heavy outfit.This damaged my knees, but Im fully recovered now.

The weightlessness in the spacecraft and the low gravity on the surface of the moon were challenging to portray, but Gong found it fun because hed never done it before.

I did use the wires for support, but for scenes where I only needed to bend down my torso, itwas easier to naturally demonstrate the movement than to depend on wires. For these scenes wirework was a severe challenge, because if my coordination with the crew slightly went off, the movements started to look awkward. Generally for these scenes, we had to take multiple takes for each scene.

Gong was already an international star before his cameoin Squid Game, but he notes a bump in interest.

Even though I wasnt a part of the main cast for Squid Game, I think a lot of viewers have been checking out my other works after watching the series. That interest continued to extend to The Silent Sea, which Im very grateful for.

He worked with Squid Game director Hwang Dong-hyuk on the film Silenced and they are still good friends.

I knew about Squid Game from its very initial phase of production and we had some brief chats about it. I found the story engaging from the very beginning and anticipated its success; however, I never knew to what extent it would succeed. I made a cameo appearance to support director Hwang, but it turned out that I ended up benefiting a lot more from Squid Game. I was so happy for him. Director Hwang is a great filmmaker that I have always believed in, but now Im even more excited for his next steps. I hope he can continue to focus on creating the many stories that he likes.

Gong sees the popularity of Squid Game as a positive sign, introducing international viewers to the wider world of Korean content.

I think it will open new doors to bigger opportunities for creators and actors in Korea. We will have to be smart about effectively leveraging those opportunities. We live in an era where content produced in different countries can be accessed globally as long as you have a TV or a phone, for various platforms. As an actor, Im both very grateful and fascinated to be alive in a time like this.

Acting has led to some soul searching and taught him a lot about himself.

Kim Shin in Goblin is one example. The character gave me an opportunity to take a step back and reflect upon myself before turning 40. It also helped me to realize how valuable I am and that I needed to love myself more. The process was tough, but ultimately, it helped me to find myself again.

Being an actor also gave him the gift of bringing comfort to others.

I am not sure if this is the right comparison, but back when I was going through an emotionally tough phase, a film and the characters it portrayed offered me great comfort, said Gong. The film was titled Manchester by the Sea. Ironically, the protagonist was portrayed in a very dry and understated tone and intriguingly it was a sad story.

To Gong, that is what films are all about.

Sometimes a film makes me laugh, or cry, but sometimes it just embraces me with a silent hug. And I sincerely hope my performances and films/series do the same for other people. I am still in the middle of that journey and plan to continue on that path. I want to remain an actor who can offer great comfort to people.

More:

Why Gong Yoo Explores Space Travel And A New Genre In The Silent Sea - Forbes

MONTREAL -- The rapid development of space tourism and the planning of long missions to the Moon or Mars mean that humans will sooner or later have sex in space, and it is important to start thinking about how this sexuality will be experienced, argues a Montreal researcher.

NASA asserts that no sexual relations have ever taken place in space but its only a matter of time before this happens, believes Concordia doctoral student Simon Dub.

As we continue to expand into space, as we go on longer and longer missions, either in orbit, or to the Moon, or to Mars or elsewhere eventually, we obviously have to confront all the complex bio-psycho-social issues related to sexuality, and then human intimacy," said Dub.

A wealthy couple who takes a trip to space might decide to join the 62-mile-high club (the ultra-exclusive club of those who have been intimate in orbit, at an altitude of 100 kilometers, compared to the mile-high club of those who have done the deed on an airplane). Astronauts trapped aboard a spacecraft for several months could end up giving in to temptation.

So far, studies conducted on the subject show that sexual and romantic relationships will eventually develop between space explorers, Dub and his colleagues write in the Journal of Sex Research. They argue that banning such relationships or imposing sexual abstinence on astronauts is not a viable option.

Healthy sexuality is an essential component of human physical, psychological and emotional health, the study authors say. The crew of a spacecraft or members of a permanent mission to the Moon or Mars, on the other hand, will have limited access to compatible sexual or romantic partners, and this can be a source of stress and conflict.

Its easy to imagine a situation that might arise if two crew members develop a relationship that ends badly or if one crew member refuses the advances of another. And who would dare in a situation where collaboration is essential and each is dependent on the other to refuse a rapprochement with the person in charge of medical care, for example?

Thousands of kilometers from Earth, it is simply not possible to get out of an uncomfortable or dangerous situation by taking a cab home.

The likelihood of such risks emerging likely increases with the amount of time people spend in space and their distance from Earth resources, the authors argue.

Imagine if it happens in contexts where youre on a long-duration mission, and for several months or even years, with a relatively small crew. You cant run away. What are the solutions?" asked Dub.

The articles authors cite Quebec scientist Judith Lapierre as an example, who participated in a European space mission simulation at the turn of the millennium. She is also the co-author of the new article.

Now a researcher at Laval University, Lapierre was locked in a train-car sized chamber (which replicated the defunct Mir space station) with a few men for 110 days. She recounted being grabbed and forcibly kissed by the Russian mission leader, to the point where she felt the need to start sleeping with a knife under her pillow.

She was also allegedly subjected to a sexist discussion in which she was objectified by other participants.

These deplorable events highlight the likelihood of sexual harassment and violence on a space mission, the authors write.

The experiences of some members of the armed forces during long overseas deployments can also serve as a point of comparison for what lies ahead for space explorers. In Canada, for example, the military has been plagued by a succession of sex scandals for more than a year.

To contain the risks and harness the benefits of sex in space, it is important to first understand them better, the authors argue.

We really need to take a proactive approach, and then start studying [the subject] to develop training, courses, preparations, for people who are going to live in space for long periods of time, to prepare them for that reality," Dub said.

We need to address sexuality in space before space travel becomes even more prevalent and unfortunate events occur," he added.

Intimacy and sexuality like entertainment could help normalize life in space by making it more enjoyable and less lonely, the authors write.

[Sexuality can] have benefits for cardiovascular health, for psychological well-being, Dub said. It can help you sleep, it can help you relax. It can also help normalize life in space. It can help people adapt to contexts that are very stressful and demanding, that is, living and working in a restricted environment.

The authors propose that technology could be used to satisfy astronauts sexual needs, much as participants in long-duration scientific or military missions might have pornography or sex toys in their possession.

And if humans aspire to permanently colonize other worlds, we will need to better understand how they will then be able to reproduce, since procreation in space would come with multiple challenges such as weightlessness and radiation exposure. Experiments conducted on mice have shown, for example, that microgravity can interfere with sperm motility and embryo development.

In the event of a slip-up, the authors warn in conclusion, the space agencies, whether public or private, will not be able to plead ignorance since studies on related subjects have been carried out for some thirty years. They could therefore one day be held accountable for the health and safety of those they send to the stars.

If we dont study and plan for these issues, there can be a lot of problems that will arise.

This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press on Dec. 23, 2021.

The rest is here:

Humans will one day have sex in space: Montreal researcher - CTV News Montreal

Earlier this month, the World Inequality Lab, founded by Thomas Piketty, among others, released its annual data on inequalities of wealth, income, gender, and ecology. As usual, the report is expansive and worth reading in full. A particular highlight, however, comes in the section on global carbon inequality, which extensively details the disproportionate share of carbon emissions produced by the superrich. While people in wealthy countries do tend to emit more as a group, the very richest people worldwide are truly in a category of their own: taken as a whole, in fact, those in the global top 1 percent of income account for some 15 percent of emissions more than double the share of those in the bottom half.

The reasons for this are straightforward enough. The lifestyles of the ultra-wealthy, almost by definition, involve consumption habits and patterns of behavior that carry a much bigger carbon footprint. As the Financial Times Stefan Wagstyl succinctly put it this summer: Almost everything the wealthy do involves higher emissions, from living in bigger houses to running larger cars and flying more often, especially by private jet. Eating meat comes into it, as does owning a swimming pool. Not to mention a holiday home. Or homes.

Its hard to imagine a starker illustration of carbon inequality than the recent phenomenon of recreational space flights, like those undertaken by Jeff Bezoss Blue Origin, Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic, or Elon Musks SpaceX earlier this year flights whose ambition was clearly to mainstream the whole idea of commercial space travel so that it can eventually become a more common (and perhaps profitable) enterprise.

So, just how much carbon do such flights emit?

Dig into this years World Inequality Report and youll find the astonishing estimate that a single, eleven-minute space flight emits at least seventy-five metric tons of carbon per passenger (according to researchers, this is actually an extremely conservative estimate, and the figure may well be in the range of two hundred fifty to a thousand metric tons per passenger). For comparison, the reports data shows that as many as 1 billion people emit less than a single metric ton per year meaning that a single passenger on a short space flight produces more carbon pollution in a few minutes than people belonging to roughly one-eighth of the global population will throughout their entire lifetimes.

Were commercial space travel to successfully expand beyond brief, suborbital flights, to lengthier trips or even prolonged orbital stays, its both easy and terrifying to imagine how much more significant the carbon footprint would quickly become. As it stands, at least one company is currently boasting of its plans to build and launch a luxury space hotel before the decades end. If those plans succeed as currently written on paper, the so-named Voyager Station will house nearly three hundred guests and more than a hundred crew members, putting the pollution produced by private space travel on an entirely new scale.

Its as yet unclear, of course, whether commercial space flight can actually represent a viable or profitable business model in the decades ahead. What is clear is that the ever-rising consumption habits of the extremely wealthy are already placing an unsustainable burden on the global climate and that private space travel undertaken on a larger scale could effectively represent a death sentence for the planet.

Originally posted here:

Billionaire Space Flights Are a Carbon Bomb That Will Destroy the Planet - Jacobin magazine

With European tech funding reaching more than 100 billion in 2021, according to the European Tech Report 2021, Europe seems to be on the right track to becoming the tech hub it has been dreaming about for so many years.

We are also seeing many more European unicorns most of them in fintech, e-commerce or speedy grocery delivery. The likes of Northwolt represent this trend the Swedish sustainable battery startup is differentiating itself from the crowd with its solutions and reached a total funding of 1.7 billion this June.

The European Tech Report also shows that planet positive and purpose-driven startups are beginning to be taken more seriously. Investment in the sector rose to 11% of the total funding, climbing at twice the rate of overall investment into tech.

While the tech scene is undeniably booming, we shouldnt get complacent. The road ahead might be still a long one. Europe needs to build much more than fintech and grocery delivery startups if it really wants a global startup ecosystem thats a force to be reckoned with.

So, what can Europe do to further grow the startup scene? Is it about attracting more talent, investing in more sustainable and purpose-driven startups? Or, is looking more into deep tech, such as solutions for space travel, an option?

Diving into space tech could be a promising way to boost Europes reputation for startup success. The continent has a long history in the industry and also has the talent and expertise needed to expand. Its also a massive growth area worldwide, providing solutions for future sustainability.

NASA aims to land astronauts on Mars in the 2030s, however, it has some competition in the race to get there. Both Boeing and SpaceX hope to get to the Red Planet first, with SpaceX setting the lofty goal of arriving in 2026. Its a sector that is on fire competitive and growing at a fast pace.

With this in mind, lets take a look at some of the European startups trying to create a dent in the universe with their space travel or related solutions.

The Exploration Company is first up on the list. The company was founded just this year in June and it has already closed an oversubscribed seed round of 5.3 million. The funding round was led by Promus Ventures, with co-investors Vsquared and Cherry Ventures. The startups team is made of former and experienced Airbus and ArianeGroup employees with a mission to make space exploration affordable, available, and open. Headquartered in Munich, the young company develops a group of reusable spacecraft that fly around the Earth, go to the Moon, and come back.

Next up is Leaf Space, an Italian startup focused on microsatellites that raised a Series A round of 5 million at the beginning of the year, bringing its total funding to 10 million. Leaf Space is using the funds to further develop its ground segment services for microsatellite operators in the NewSpace economy and globally scale up its business. Founded in 2014, Leaf Space is focused on creating satellite telecommunications as-a-service.

The now older kid on the block is Oxford Space Systems. Oxford Space Systems (OSS) builds satellites, including deployable antennas and structures, that are lighter, less complex and cost less than those that are currently available. The UK-based company has raised a total amount of 11.34 million since its launch in 2013.

We continue with the Finnish SpaceTech scaleup ICEYE. ICEYE designs, manufactures and operates its SAR satellites in-house, with manufacturing timelines brought down to months for its spacecraft. The young company has raised a larger than planned round of approx. 74 million Series C funding, led by return investor True Ventures and additional investment of OTB Ventures in 2020. Founded in 2015, ICEYE has so far successfully launched 5 satellite missions and is on course to launch at least an additional 8 by the end of 2021. To date, ICEYE has raised a total of around 129.3 million in financing.

And last but not least, the Estonia-based startup UP Catalyst. The startup began this year to boost their novel way of oxygen production for space travel to Mars, with the support of the European Space Agency. UP Catalysts innovative carbon capture method works in the same way as the better known Nasas MOXIE and even at the same temperature. The difference is that UP Catalyst is reprocessing the carbon dioxide into valuable carbon nanomaterials. The produced nanomaterials could be used in various fields of the space industry, e.g. in battery and ultracapacitor technologies, conductive and strengthening coatings, polymer formulations, water filters etc.

Go here to read the rest:

Beam me up Scotty: 5 European startups having a meaningful impact on the future of space tech - EU-Startups

Inspiration4's Crew Dragon capsule stands ready for launch at Kennedy Space Center. Photo: Derek Demeter / WMFE

The first all-civilian space mission back in September had people whove never even dreamed of leaving the planet looking toward space. The goal of SpaceXs Inspiration4 was to show space travel is available to all.

The crew of the all-civilian mission was half male and half female a perfect representation of gender equality. But is it really available for all? Based on reports, gender equality is still an issue in the aerospace industry.

Women often face discrimination in the space industry. Unfortunately, I dont know of a woman who hasnt experienced discrimination for being a woman or gender minority in the space sector, said Laura Forczyk, a space policy analyst and consultant.

She said it was a rude awakening, finishing school and joining the workforce because in school there were more women in her classes. While working in a male dominated field, shes gotten a lot of negative comments that have to do with her being a woman. The discrimination was most prevalent when she decided to expand her family.

That specially changed when I became a mother, and went out more in business settings with a belly bump, or with a brand new baby, and did not care what other people thought of that, despite the fact that I did receive, discrimination for having a baby, Forczyk said. Its one of those things where we still have a long way to go.

Even though a lot of people who major in STEM fields join the space industry, there are still some concerns. According to Census.gov, women made up 8 percent of STEM workers in 1970. By 2019, that percentage had increased to 27 percent. However, that growth has mainly been in the social sciences, which makes up only 3 percent of STEM occupations.

The problem seems to also be reflected in the private space sector. Recently, current and former employees from Blue Origin, a private space company owned by Jeff Bezos, published an article talking about the companys lack of diversity. Staff noted that the company employs 3,600 people and the majority are male and white. Employees also spoke of women being paid less and women being sexually harassed by a senior executive who got a promotion instead of being reprimanded.

Lately, other women in the space industry have also been speaking out about sexual harrasment in the space industry. Emily Carney is founder of Space Hipsters an online space exploration community. She said her opportunities became even more limited after speaking out about the sexual harassment she experienced.

I applied for a few events, and I was turned down, Carney said. I was qualified.

She said if she could offer advice to any girl interested in space or woman entering the field, it would be to not let sexism bring them down. Dont listen to idiots, basically.

To fix the gender equality issue in the space industry, there are organizations working to get more women and non-binary people into careers in space.The Brooke Owens Fellowship was started in 2017. It helps undergraduate students by pairing them with a mentor and offering students summer internships.

Consultant Laura Forczyk is a mentor for the program.Its a real Community for a lot of the students that Ive spoken with who are Brookies or were applying to become Brookies, said Forczyk, who is also a mentor for the program. They are the only women or you know, very few women in their programs, and they feel like the odd person out.

Lifelong connections are built through the fellowship. Forczyk said not being afraid of speaking up and calling out inequities also serves her well as a woman in the space industry.

This is a group thats meant to show them that they belong and theres a community of supporters behind them.

Maria Briceno was an intern with WMFE during the Fall 2021 semester. She is a journalism student at the University of CentralFlorida.

Originally posted here:

Despite high-profile missions highlighting diversity, aerospace industry still struggles with gender inequality - WMFE

Is time travel possible? Short answer: Yes, and you're doing it right now hurtling into the future at the impressive rate of one second per second. You're pretty much always moving through time at the same speed, whether you're watching paint dry or wishing you had more hours to visit with a friend from out of town.

But this isn't the kind of time travel that's captivated countless science fiction writers, or spurred a genre so extensive that Wikipedia lists over 400 titles in the category "Movies about Time Travel." In franchises like "Doctor Who," "Star Trek," and "Back to the Future" characters climb into some wild vehicle to blast into the past or spin into the future. Once the characters have traveled through time, they grapple with what happens if you change the past or present based on information from the future (which is where time travel stories intersect with the idea of parallel universes or alternate timelines).

Related: The best sci-fi time machines ever

Although many people are fascinated by the idea of changing the past or seeing the future before it's due, no person has ever demonstrated the kind of back-and-forth time travel seen in science fiction, or proposed a method of sending a person through significant periods of time that wouldn't destroy them on the way. And, as physicist Stephen Hawking pointed out in his book "Black Holes and Baby Universes" (Bantam, 1994), "The best evidence we have that time travel is not possible, and never will be, is that we have not been invaded by hordes of tourists from the future."

Science does support some amount of time-bending, though. For example, physicist Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity proposes that time is an illusion that moves relative to an observer. An observer traveling near the speed of light will experience time, with all its aftereffects (boredom, aging, etc.) much more slowly than an observer at rest. That's why astronaut Scott Kelly aged ever so slightly less over the course of a year in orbit than his twin brother who stayed here on Earth.

Related: Controversially, physicist argues that time is real

There are other scientific theories about time travel, including some weird physics that arise around wormholes, black holes and string theory. For the most part, though, time travel remains the domain of an ever-growing array of science fiction books, movies, television shows, comics, video games and more.

Einstein developed his theory of special relativity in 1905. Along with his later expansion, the theory of general relativity, it has become one of the foundational tenets of modern physics. Special relativity describes the relationship between space and time for objects moving at constant speeds in a straight line.

The short version of the theory is deceptively simple. First, all things are measured in relation to something else that is to say, there is no "absolute" frame of reference. Second, the speed of light is constant. It stays the same no matter what, and no matter where it's measured from. And third, nothing can go faster than the speed of light.

Read more: Hidden in Einstein's math: faster-than-light travel?

From those simple tenets unfolds actual, real-life time travel. An observer traveling at high velocity will experience time at a slower rate than an observer who isn't speeding through space.

While we don't accelerate humans to near-light-speed, we do send them swinging around the planet at 17,500 mph (28,160 km/h) aboard the International Space Station. Astronaut Scott Kelly was born after his twin brother, and fellow astronaut, Mark Kelly. Scott Kelly spent 520 days in orbit, while Mark logged 54 days in space. The difference in the speed at which they experienced time over the course of their lifetimes has actually widened the age gap between the two men.

"So, where[as] I used to be just 6 minutes older, now I am 6 minutes and 5 milliseconds older," Mark Kelly said in a panel discussion on July 12, 2020, Space.com previously reported. "Now I've got that over his head."

The difference that low earth orbit makes in an astronaut's life span may be negligible better suited for jokes among siblings than actual life extension or visiting the distant future but the dilation in time between people on Earth and GPS satellites flying through space does make a difference.

Read more: Can we stop time?

The Global Positioning System, or GPS, helps us know exactly where we are by communicating with a network of a few dozen satellites positioned in a high Earth orbit. The satellites circle the planet from 12,500 miles (20,100 kilometers) away, moving at 8,700 mph (14,000 km/h).

According to special relativity, the faster an object moves relative to another object, the slower that first object experiences time. For GPS satellites with atomic clocks, this effect cuts 7 microseconds, or 7 millionths of a second, off each day, according to American Physical Society publication Physics Central.

Read more: Could Star Trek's faster-than-light warp drive actually work?

Then, according to general relativity, clocks closer to the center of a large gravitational mass like Earth tick more slowly than those farther away. So, because the GPS satellites are much farther from the center of Earth compared to clocks on the surface, Physics Central added, that adds another 45 microseconds onto the GPS satellite clocks each day. Combined with the negative 7 microseconds from the special relativity calculation, the net result is an added 38 microseconds.

This means that in order to maintain the accuracy needed to pinpoint your car or phone or, since the system is run by the U.S. Department of Defense, a military drone engineers must account for an extra 38 microseconds in each satellite's day. The atomic clocks onboard dont tick over to the next day until they have run 38 microseconds longer than comparable clocks on Earth.

Given those numbers, it would take more than seven years for the atomic clock in a GPS satellite to unsync itself from an Earth clock by more than a blink of an eye. (We did the math: If you estimate a blink to last at least 100,000 microseconds, as the Harvard Database of Useful Biological Numbers does, it would take thousands of days for those 38 microsecond shifts to add up.)

This kind of time travel may seem as negligible as the Kelly brothers' age gap, but given the hyper-accuracy of modern GPS technology, it actually does matter. If it can communicate with the satellites whizzing overhead, your phone can nail down your location in space and time with incredible accuracy.

General relativity might also provide scenarios that could allow travelers to go back in time, according to NASA. But the physical reality of those time-travel methods are no piece of cake.

Wormholes are theoretical "tunnels" through the fabric of space-time that could connect different moments or locations in reality to others. Also known as Einstein-Rosen bridges or white holes, as opposed to black holes, speculation about wormholes abounds. But despite taking up a lot of space (or space-time) in science fiction, no wormholes of any kind have been identified in real life.

Related: Best time travel movies

"The whole thing is very hypothetical at this point," Stephen Hsu, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Oregon, told Space.com sister site Live Science. "No one thinks we're going to find a wormhole anytime soon."

Primordial wormholes are predicted to be just 10^-34 inches (10^-33 centimeters) at the tunnel's "mouth". Previously, they were expected to be too unstable for anything to be able to travel through them. However, a new study claims that this is not the case, Live Science reported.

The new theory, which suggests that wormholes could work as viable space-time shortcuts, was described by physicist Pascal Koiran. As part of the study, Koiran used the Eddington-Finkelstein metric, as opposed to the Schwarzschild metric which has been used in the majority of previous analyses.

In the past, the path of a particle could not be traced through a hypothetical wormhole. However, using the Eddington-Finkelstein metric, the physicist was able to achieve just that.

Koirans paper was described in October 2021, in the preprint database arXiv, before being published in the Journal of Modern Physics D.

While Einstein's theories appear to make time travel difficult, some researchers have proposed other solutions that could allow jumps back and forth in time. These alternate theories share one major flaw: As far as scientists can tell, there's no way a person could survive the kind of gravitational pulling and pushing that each solution requires.

Infinite cylinder theory

Astronomer Frank Tipler proposed a mechanism (sometimes known as a Tipler Cylinder) where one could take matter that is 10 times the sun's mass, then roll it into a very long, but very dense cylinder. The Anderson Institute, a time travel research organization, described the cylinder as "a black hole that has passed through a spaghetti factory."

After spinning this black hole spaghetti a few billion revolutions per minute, a spaceship nearby following a very precise spiral around the cylinder could travel backwards in time on a "closed, time-like curve," according to the Anderson Institute.

The major problem is that in order for the Tipler Cylinder to become reality, the cylinder would need to be infinitely long or be made of some unknown kind of matter. At least for the foreseeable future, endless interstellar pasta is beyond our reach.

Time donuts

Theoretical physicist Amos Ori at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, proposed a model for a time machine made out of curved space-time a donut-shaped vacuum surrounded by a sphere of normal matter.

"The machine is space-time itself," Ori told Live Science. "If we were to create an area with a warp like this in space that would enable time lines to close on themselves, it might enable future generations to return to visit our time."

There are a few caveats to Ori's time machine. First, visitors to the past wouldn't be able to travel to times earlier than the invention and construction of the time donut. Second, and more importantly, the invention and construction of this machine would depend on our ability to manipulate gravitational fields at will a feat that may be theoretically possible, but is certainly beyond our immediate reach.

Time travel has long occupied a significant place in fiction. Since as early as the "Mahabharata," an ancient Sanskrit epic poem compiled around 400 B.C., humans have dreamed of warping time, Lisa Yaszek, a professor of science fiction studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, told Live Science.

Every work of time-travel fiction creates its own version of space-time, glossing over one or more scientific hurdles and paradoxes to achieve its plot requirements.

Some make a nod to research and physics, like "Interstellar," a 2014 film directed by Christopher Nolan. In the movie, a character played by Matthew McConaughey spends a few hours on a planet orbiting a supermassive black hole, but because of time dilation, observers on Earth experience those hours as a matter of decades.

Others take a more whimsical approach, like the "Doctor Who" television series. The series features the Doctor, an extraterrestrial "Time Lord" who travels in a spaceship resembling a blue British police box. "People assume," the Doctor explained in the show, "that time is a strict progression from cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff."

Long-standing franchises like the "Star Trek" movies and television series, as well as comic universes like DC and Marvel Comics revisit the idea of time travel over and over.

Here is an incomplete (and deeply subjective) list of some influential or notable works of time travel fiction:

This article was adapted from previous work by Space.com contributor Elizabeth Howell.

See original here:

Is time travel possible? | Space

Free printable PDF lesson plans, word banks, quizzes and games for EFL/ESL teachers & learners

SPACE and SPACE TRAVEL

Reading LessonsSPACE and SPACE TRAVEL

Space Travel Video Quiz

SPACE AND SPACE TRAVEL

10 Questions about space travelLevel: Intermediate to AdvancedTime: 5:02

ACTIVITY SUGGESTION

Consider introducing the topic of space and space travel to your learners by showing them this video to test their general knowledge. Pause the video after each question and give your learners a minute or two discuss before continuing the video so they can check their answers.

Students read, rank their opinions, and then discuss in pairs or small groups

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Approximate Time: 20 minutes

'Find Someone Who'ActivitySPACE

Whole class activity

Activity Notes on Page 2 (with ActivityVersion 1 and Version 2)

Level: Elementary to Intermediate

Approximate Time: 15 - 20 minutes

Discussion PracticeSPACE

These questions can be used with students seated in pairs or in small groups, or with students standing.

Activity Notes on Page 2

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Approximate Time: 10 - 15 minutes

Pair Work DiscussionSPACE

Pair work

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Approximate Time: 15 minutes

Reading and GrammarSPACE ('Apophis')

Level: Intermediate

WorksheetSPACE and SPACE TRAVEL

Use a dictionary to help you complete the chart below. All of the words must begin with the letter of the alphabet given. Some letters may have many different answers, while others may not have an answer.

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Approximate Time: 20 minutes

Also, consider giving this worksheet to your students for homework.

Board GameSPACE and SPACE TRAVEL

For groups of two to three players

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Approximate Time: 20 to 25 minutes

Dice required

Discussion & Writing ActivitySPACE: 'SECOND EARTH'

Includes a discussion on what 10 things to bring.

Reading ExerciseTHE EIGHTS PLANETS OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

Page 2Vocabulary Practice, Comprehension Questions and Discussion

Level: Advanced

63 Essential Words About Space and Space Travel

alien lifeasteroidastronomerastronomyatmosphereBig Bangblack holecometcountdowncraterdiscoverdistancedistant

EartheclipseexperimentexplodeexploreexplorationfrictionfuelgalaxygravityJupiterlaunchlight year

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space suitstarsunsunlightsurfacetelescopeuniverseUranusVenusvacuumworld

15 Essential Words About Space and Space Travel

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Earth explore gravity Mars planet

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Word Bank - Writing ActivitySPACE and SPACE TRAVEL

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Approximate Time: 25 - 30 minutes

Word SearchSPACE and SPACE TRAVEL

Answer Key attached

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Approximate Time: 15 minutes

See the original post here:

Space and Space Travel - All Things Topics