Category Archives: Space Travel

Humans are bags of fragile bones and organs that need to be kept in precisely the right conditions to flourish. But we push at the limits of those conditions all the time, daring to see how far we can go: the hottest, the coldest, the lowest, the highest we can bear, using our ingenuity to design ways to survive.

Fungi doesnt need to be so clever. Some fungi can survive in extreme temperatures and without oxygen.

They can lie dormant and wait for the right conditions to wake up, warm up, spread. They can grow in soil, in wood, on plastic, on pollution. Why wouldnt they be able to survive space?

Beast Travel Digest

Get the entire world in your inbox.

We already know that they can at least, within the confines of human-built space stations, where many types of fungi have successfully grown, sometimes in a monitored capacity as part of experiments to ascertain the viability of different kinds of life in those conditions, and sometimes . . . not.

Mir, the first modular space station, was built in low orbit around the Earth in 1986 what a feat of science and engineering and it operated as a research laboratory until its orbit decayed in 2001. In my mind, when I think of it, I picture Mir as a perfect, clean environment, innovative and experimental. But this was not so; those who visited Mir commented on first being hit by the smell. British chemist Steve Pearce described it as a mixture of sweaty feet, nail-polish remover, body odor and vodka, among other things. He later attempted to recreate the smell as part of a NASA experiment. This unique scent could be due, in part, to the stowaways on board Mir that came as a shock to the astronauts: bacteria and fungi, found living happily behind panels, on spacesuits, on cables and around window frames. The discovery led to a flurry of news articles at the time. If you ever wondered if fearmongering in the media has extended to fungi, then take a look back at the BBC News article of Thursday, 8 March 2001, entitled Mutant Fungus from Space. All it lacks is an exclamation mark or two to turn it into a 1950s science-fiction movie. With Mir about to return to Earth, the article moots the idea that the fungi on board will have mutated to the point where they can do "serious damage to humanity."

The International Space Station, first launched in 1998, has had similar fungal issues, and study suggests that those fungi with high quantities of melanin thrive in space-station conditions, being better suited to resist high radiation levels. The genera of fungi that have been found surviving in the ruins of the reactor of Chernobyl, such as Cladosporium, have also been discovered on board the ISS, along with Penicillium and Aspergillus. The possibility of mutation, caused by the effect of radiation, remains under investigation, although the real area of concern continues to be fungi that can survive outside craft, exposed to open space, rather than within the human-friendly confines of a space station. An organism that grows over solar panels, say, or gets into the exterior sections of a multi-million-dollar craft, to cause havoc right in those very places that cannot be reached without extreme difficulty, could jeopardize the future of space travel.

This is not purely a theoretical area of concern. There are fungi that, amazingly, survive in open space. A 2009 Russian experiment into space exposure called Biorisk revealed that both Aspergillus versicolor and Penicillium expansum underwent changes while exposed for seven months that helped them to survive, increasing their layers of melanin to resist radiation.

If a space station makes for happy fungi, and even open space doesnt necessarily present a problem, then where next? NASA has been investigating the possibility of using mycelia to create living shelters on Mars using melanin-rich fungi to absorb radiation and protect the human inhabitants within. If mycelia can create strong, flexible structures on Earth then they might well offer such possibilities elsewhere, and they could be constructed, effectively grown, on location, making them easier to transport. They also offer the proposal of easy, organic disposal after use, putting little strain on the alien environment.

A mycelial home on Mars a magnificent achievement for both man and fungi, if the success of a species lies in its ability to adapt to the most challenging of conditions. We have both done just that: we erupt from our planet, in our rockets, with our plans. We are both destined to spread. And we will, eventually and inevitably, decay.

Excerpted from The Secret Life of Fungi: Discoveries From a Hidden World by Aliya Whiteley (Pegasus Books).

Original post:

The Stowaways That Made the First Space Station Stink - Daily Beast

Nuclear thermal spaceflight might be a lot closer than you think. DARPA's DemonstrationRocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program is underway with the U.S. Pentagon agency having recently announced its three prime contractors:General Atomics, Blue Origin, and Lockheed Martin.

The goal of the DRACO program is to demonstrate a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) system above low Earth orbit in 2025, DARPA explains in a press statement. With mission success, DARPA would have built the first rocket using a technology that could halve our travel time across the Solar System.

The limitations of electric and chemical space propulsion systems mean they are unable to achieve the speeds required to travel to thedistant reaches of the universe. DRACO's nuclear thermal propulsion system may change as it has the potential to achieve high thrust-to-weight ratios comparable to in-space chemical propulsion at the same time as match the high propellent efficiency of electric systems. The program is focused on rapid transit between the Earth and the Moon, though it would likely be further developed to also reach Mars and beyond.

In a press release, the Sierra Nevada Corporation announced that it will be working with General Atomics on the NTP program. The company stated that "NTP offers a high thrust-to-weight ratio around 10,000 times greater than electric propulsion and two to five times greater specific propellant efficiency than chemical propulsion." It also explained that the nuclear thermal propulsion system will use a liquid hydrogen propellant heated by a nuclear fission reactor. This will provide double the energy output of today's most advanced liquid propellant rocket engine.

"The NTP technology we seek to develop and demonstrate under the DRACO program aims to be foundational to future operations in space,"said Maj Nathan Greiner, USAF, program manager for DRACO. The DRACO program is currently in Phase 1. This will last 18 months, during which the recently-announced contractors will design the nuclear thermal propulsion reactor and propulsion subsystem concept. The contractors will also produce an "Operational System (OS) spacecraft concept to meet mission objectives and design a Demonstration System (DS) spacecraft concept," DARPA says. According to Greiner, the"first phase of the DRACO program is a risk reduction effort that will enable us to sprint toward an on-orbit demonstration in later phases."

All going according to plan, Phase 1 will inform follow-up phases, which will include the fabrication and on-orbit demonstration of the rocket. DARPA's project isn't the only one trying to improve the efficiency and speed of space travel via nuclear propulsion. In March, radiation detection firm U.S. Nuclear Corp called on NASA to sign a contract to develop a nuclear fusion-powered spacecraft for crewed flight to Mars. The UK Space Agency also announced in January that it is collaborating withRolls Royce to develop a nuclear propulsion systemthat it estimates will reduce the travel time to Mars by half.

Read the original post:

DARPA Wants to Have Nuclear Thermal Rockets Ready by 2025 - Interesting Engineering

TheInspiration4crew has lifted off onboard aSpaceX Crew Dragon. By the time the gentle reader sees that it will likely have already returned to Earth after one of the most unusual and heartwarming space missions ever undertaken.

Most people have seen thoseSt. Judes Research Hospitalcommercials. The children many with hair gone from chemotherapy, their voices halt and raspy from the struggle to stay alive before their lives have well begun have the ability to tear out the heart. Cancer, next to Alzheimers, is the cruelest of diseases. It takes life slowly, painfully, with the treatment at times almost as bad as the disease. It is horrible for anyone to have to endure it and doubly horrible when the patient is a child.

Inspiration4 is the brainchild of Jared Isaacman, who made his billions by founding a company called Shift4 Payments, which processes retail payments. His idea was to buy a space mission from SpaceX, including the use of a SpaceX Dragon, to raise money for St. Judes. Isaacman is also an accomplished pilot.

Isaacman is joined by Chris Sembroski, a data engineer who acquired a seat because a friend, who had won it in a lottery of doners transferred it to him. They are joined by Dr. Sian Proctor, a geology professor and science communicator, and Haley Arceneaux, a physicians assistant at St. Judes.

Arceneauxs backstory is especially poignant. Arceneaux was once herself a patient at St. Judes, suffering from bone cancer. The hospital and its staff of health care professionals saved her life so that she could grow up to help other children to live and now to fly in space.

The crew represents the qualities of leadership (Isaacman), generosity (Sembroski), prosperity (Proctor) and hope (Arceneaux.) They lifted off with the plan to fly in Earth orbit for three days, before splashing down in the Atlantic.

The praise for Inspiration4 has been near universal. The spaceflight is one of the few feel-good stories in a news cycle filled with disaster and mendacity. However, an exception likely exists.

It should be noted that Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersPelosi says House members would not vote on spending bill topline higher than Senate's Groups push lawmakers to use defense bill to end support for Saudis in Yemen civil war Congress must address the looming debt crisis MORE (I-Vt.) has not, to anyones knowledge, offered any snarky comments about the flight of Inspiration 4. His silence is telling despite his well-known disdain for billionaires flying in space. Isaacman, who bought the space flight, and Elon MuskElon Reeve MuskElon Musk mocks Biden for ignoring his company's historic space flight Inspiration4 and the quest to cure childhood cancer SpaceX all-civilian crew returns to Earth, successfully completing 3-day mission MORE, who sold it to him, are both billionaires.

Sanders likely has another objection to Inspiration4.According to the Washington Examiner, Sanders has expressed opposition to private charity going back to his days as mayor of Burlington, Vt., in the early 1980s. As a democratic socialist Sanders believes that government should be the purveyor of all social services, including health care. Under his preferred system, not only would the money the wealthy use to fund private philanthropybe taxed awaybut hospitals like St. Judes, which largely subsists on private donations, would be nationalized into Medicare for All(it should be noted he has not singled out St. Jude in particular).That development would be a tragedy. Parents of children who are treated at St. Judes do not have to pay anything, a better deal than any government-run healthcare.

Since capitalism persists as Americas economic system, the flight of Inspiration4 took place. The mission will not only raise money for childrens cancer research, but it will also providesome valuable medical dataon the effects of space flight on the human body. The crew of the Inspiration4 did not spend all their time looking out at the glories of heaven and Earth through the transparent cupola SpaceX has installed on the Crew Dragon.

Each of the astronauts wore an Apple watch that collected biomedical data such as EKGs, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, as well as external data such as light and cabin noise. The astronauts used a Butterfly IQ ultrasound device connected to an iPhone to scan their internal organs during the spaceflight. Finally, the crew used an app stored on an iPad to take cognitive tests before, during and after the mission.

The ultrasound test will determine whether an ordinary person with minimal training can take ultrasound images that can then be transmitted to a physician for evaluation. Ordinarily, ultrasounds are taken by a highly trained technician at a clinic or hospital. A home ultrasound device would be a boon for remote medicine.

Inspiration4 proves that space travel can provide solutions to problems on Earth. If the mission advances the day when all childhood cancers can be cured, billionaires flying in space proved that they could address problems on Earth with more alacrity than virtue-signaling politicians.

Mark Whittington, who writes frequently about space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration entitledWhy is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?as well asThe Moon, Mars and Beyond, and, most recently,Why is America Going Back to the Moon? He blogs atCurmudgeons Corner.He is published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Hill, USA Today, the LA Times and the Washington Post, among other venues.

Excerpt from:

Inspiration4 and the quest to cure childhood cancer | TheHill - The Hill

Chinese officials have announced that their mission with the Shenzhou-12 human team was a complete success, the Chinese Media Group (CMG) said today.

Three Chinese astronauts or principals, Ni Heisheng, Liu Booming and Tang Hongpo, are in good condition.

Launched on June 17, the captains of the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft entered the base space of the Chinese space station Djengkong Tianhe, thus becoming the first citizen of the Chinese space station.

During the three months of life in orbit many missions were successfully completed.

All equipment, such as next-generation space cases and machine tools and other support facilities, have proven to be successful, and technologies such as fast automatic docking and docking have laid a vital foundation for future unmanned missions.

Huang Weipen, chief designer of the Chinese space center, told CMG that the three principals would spend some time in isolation to ensure health due to the traditionally weakened immune system after a long stay in space.

See the rest here:

Three Chinese astronauts have returned from space travel - the world - The Press Stories

|

Two print X-Men Krakoan comic books out today and one digital-only this is going to be the way it is going forward, as the third X-Men Unlimited Weekly hits. So what's going down in and around Krakoan territory this week, what common threads can be pulled and conclusions drawn? We start with Hickman and Shalvey in space with Wolverine, tackling an AIM incursion on mutant space.

Looks like MODOK's AIM has no interest in working with pro-human anti-mutant Project Orchis like all the other AIM scientists who defected, along with Hydra, SHIELD, and others.

And kidnapping mutants is their bag. What could they be doing with them looking for signs of resurrection? In Trial Of Magneto #2, that remains a big secret.

Although not so much of a secret that they won't blurt it out around visiting humanoid aliens looking to blow up bits of Arakko.

Keep it quiet, Sebastian! And if that looks like a hive of scum and villainy, well yes, it does have a Tattooine flavour to it on Arakko.

While in X-Men: The Trial Of Magneto #2, it does look like someone is getting resurrected, even if she's not meant to be

It's not just the life and death of Scarlet Witch and Magneto -that are up for grabs. Three members of th Quiet Council may have survived Arakko, but not its departure.

Resurrection awaits. Away from the Xbooks, Last Annihilation: Wakanda reminds us of the Wakandan connection, including an intergalactic one.

Mutants in space, but thankfully not subject to its vacuum right now.

And up in space, or at least in orbit, is where Wolverine has freed another member of the Quiet Council from being blasted into the vacuum too.

And it's time for a digital road trip it seems. Not too far from each other just three thousand miles.

X-MEN TRIAL OF MAGNETO #2 (OF 5)MARVEL COMICSJUL210615(W) Leah Williams (A) Lucas Werneck (CA) Valerio SchitiHABEAS CORPSES! Heroes of the Marvel Universe came to Krakoa for a memorial. Now they've got a fight. Magneto pushes Krakoa and the Council to the brink! Also there's something wrong with the body Rated T+ In Shops: Sep 15, 2021 SRP: $3.99

MARAUDERS #24MARVEL COMICSJUL210649(W) Gerry Duggan (A) Phil Noto (CA) Russell DautermanSPACE PIRATES!The Marauders hit the highest seas of all when they point their bow to the stars! But what threat awaits them and why has it sworn vengeance?! Rated T+In Shops: Sep 15, 2021 SRP: $3.99

X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic (2021) #3Writer:Jonathan HickmanArtist:Declan ShalveyLetterer:Vc Joe SabinoEditor:Jordan D. WhiteFormat:Digital Vertical ComicDescription:Wolverine's battle against A.I.M. hits a (giant) head Guest-starring M.O.D.O.K. and Nightcrawler!September 13, 2021

LAST ANNIHILATION WAKANDA #1MARVEL COMICSJUL210593(W) Narcisse, Evan (A) German Peralta (CA) Philip TanWith the universe itself at stake, Black Panther enlists the might of the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda to help stop the dreaded Dormammu! And leading the Wakandan forces is none other than the legendary M'Baku! Will T'Challa and M'Baku be able to defeat Dormammu's army of Mindless Ones? Don't miss this critical chapter of the LAST ANNIHILATION event as a new hero emerges! Rated T+In Shops: Sep 15, 2021 SRP: $4.99

See original here:

Trials, Resurrections & Space Travel - Krakoan X-Men Today (Spoilers) - Bleeding Cool News

This week, Gov. Ron DeSantis leveled a new threat against Florida cities and counties.

The governor said any Florida municipality that requires its employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine will be fined $5,000 per infraction.

Local governments around the state, like Tampa and Orange County, have plans to require employees to get vaccinated.

At a news conference Monday, DeSantis said he feels it's wrong that first responders and other government employees could get fired for not getting the vaccine.

"People that have put in ten, 15, 20 years and now they're just going to get cast aside by some onerous mandate? That is wrong, and so we let it be known today, we're going to be enforcing Florida law against that," DeSantis said.

The law in question bans private businesses and government agencies from requiring customers to provide proof of vaccination.

DeSantis plan to fine municipalities could cost them millions.

Orange County already has a vaccine requirement. Mayor Jerry Demings announced a mandate that all Orange County employees must be partially vaccinated by Sept. 30, and fully inoculated by the end of October.

We reviewed the alleged statutory authority that the governor cites on the Senate Bill ... that was passed by the Florida Legislature and we do not believe that the current law is applicable in this instance, said Demings. Our county attorney's office has reviewed it and believes that we are on solid ground to be able to do what we have done here as an employer to require our employees on both federal and state law to be mandated to receive the vaccine.

A State Rep. Takes Legal Action For More COVID Data

A coalition of local and national media organizations has joined a lawsuit against the DeSantis administration that seeks more transparency from the state in releasing COVID-19 data.

The outlets asking to join the complaint include the New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald and more.

State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Democrat from Orlando, filed the lawsuit.

Smith said he realized there were gaps in the information when school districts sought county level information on pediatric COVID hospitalizations as schools prepared to open for the new academic year, but could not get the information they needed.

The realization prompted him to file a lawsuit against the state. He said Floridians have a right to access information about COVID hospitalizations and deaths in real time.

What started all of this was, of course, the need to get local data as it related to forming smart and science-based school mitigation plans here in Orange County, said Smith. What the governor is doing by continuing to refuse public records is he's suppressing the severity of the crisis if we can't see the specific details about how COVID is being transmitted in our area, then how can we put together a plan to be able to respond? There's basic information that we don't have now.

The Future Of Standardized Testing In Florida

Standardized tests may be on the way out in Florida classrooms.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed new legislation that could do away with annual testing in Florida public schools.

Under the proposal, this current school year would be the last one for the Florida Standards Assessments, or FSAs.

DeSantis made the announcement Tuesday.

Schools would replace FSA testing with a system of progress monitoring that already occurs during the school year.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush implemented standardized testing in Florida two decades ago. The argument then was that the exams help to improve the education system.

Orlando Sentinel education reporter Leslie Postal said teachers in the state have been using progress monitoring for quite some time.

I think the big question in all this is, just because you get rid of the FSA and replace it with these smaller tests, what about all the high stakes? And they haven't really answered that, said Postal. I mean, keep in mind, in Florida, testing is tied to promotion to fourth grade, high school graduation, teacher evaluations, school grades. And so I think there is some worry that if you're still tying all that to progress monitoring instead of an end of the year test, you haven't really fully solved what a lot of critics most worry about.

All-Civilian Flight Crew Launched Into Space

All eyes were on a historic space mission that launched from Kennedy Space Center.

The private aerospace company SpaceX sent an all-civilian crew into orbit as part of the Inspiration4 mission.

The crew will spend three days in space aboard the Crew Dragon capsule. The mission was made possible with help from NASA and the launch marks a new chapter for commercial space travel.

SpaceX was started two decades ago, by billionaire Elon Musk. Brendan Byrne, WMFEs space reporter, said the company was founded to help make humans an "interplanetary species."

"So the Crew Dragon capsule that the Inspiration4 crew are in, that was built for NASA to help get astronauts to the International Space Station, Byrne said. But it's also designed to get regular people like this crew into space and to learn about how regular human beings behave and how they react to being in space.

Byrne said there are more SpaceX projects in the works.

They're also building a massive rocket in Texas that's going to be used to take humans to the surface of the moon and eventually take SpaceX and passengers to Mars, Byrne said. So everything that they do is towards this goal of getting people onto other planets.

The Inspiration4 crew is projected to return to Earth and land off the Florida Coast Saturday.

Continue reading here:

DeSantis Threatens Vaccine Mandate Fines, The End Of Standardized Testing?, And An All-Civilian Space Trip - WUSF News

As Hayley Arceneauxs voice echoed through the LSU Health student union building Wednesday afternoon, members of LSU Health Shreveport School of Allied Health Professions joined to speak about the youngest American heading to space Wednesday evening.

In the LSU Health student union, the aroma of popcorn and space memorabilia flooded the room as Arceneauxs Netflix episode played on the big screen. Arceneaux, a 2016 graduate of the Physician Assistant (PA) program in the School of Allied Health Professions at LSU Health Shreveport is serving as the Chief Medical Director for the Inspiration4 Mission.

The Inspiration4 Mission is a three-day flight in which the Crew Dragon capsule will circle Earth dozens of times before re-entering the atmosphere for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida. This will be just the fourth flight of the Crew Dragon capsule with people on-board, following three launches that carried NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.

The Inspiration4 Mission, comprised of Hayley, Chris Sembroski, Jared Isaacman and Sian Proctor who will serve as commander, is set to become the first human spaceflight to reach orbit with a crew comprised entirely of private citizens.

Arceneaux, a survivor of childhood cancer, is no friend to fear and has always lived an adventurous life. So, when the professors who taught her at LSU Health heard about her new adventure, they were not shocked.

One of the things that I really remember is when we interviewed her for PA school long before exams or anything, we interviewed her via Skype because she was studying abroad in Spain and she's always loved to travel. So, you know it's just one of the things that I remember that makes her stand out from other people, Lindsay Ferrington, Clinical Coordinator and Assistant Professor for the PA program at LSU Health said.

Arceneaux dreamed of becoming an astronaut as a child but at 10 years old Arceneaux was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer that doctors discovered in her left leg. Arceneaux endured surgery that ultimately left her with a prosthetic femur.

At 10 years old Arceneaux would spend a year at St. Judes hospital receiving chemotherapy and ultimately finding her true passion in life.

After she came through childhood cancer with her leg she decided she would go into the healthcare field and from the time that she started here her goal was always to get back to St. Judes, Valorie Lurry, Director of Student Life and Alumni Affairs at LSU Health Shreveport School of Allied Health Professions said. I guess she put space on the back burner at that point. The way the stars aligned for this to work out is incredible.

Arceneaux will also become the first person with a prosthesis in space as well as the first cancer survivor.

Current students at the School of Allied Health Professions joined Wednesday afternoon to write letters and watch Arceneaux on the big screen.

I'm just really rooting for Hayley I think she's a wonderful woman and I'm really looking forward to hearing her story when she comes back down, Peter Nguyen, LSU Health Shreveport School of Allied Health Professions student said.

This mission is not only huge for Arceneaux and St. Judes but also for the people of Louisiana.

Governor John Bel Edwards posted on Facebook Wednesday afternoon his congratulations and his pride, stating Louisianans are out of this world.

My heart is filled with pride for her but I'm also nervous, but I've been praying for her every day and I know Gods got big plans for her so I'm proud of what she's going to accomplish, Lurry said.

Go here to see the original:

'Louisianans are out of this world', LSU Health Shreveport celebrates graduate's space flight - Shreveport Times

If all goes as planned, four private citizens who had never met until a few months ago will launch atop a SpaceX rocket from Kennedy Space Center nextweek for the first all-civilian mission to orbit the Earth.

Dubbed "Inspiration4," this flight will be far more advanced than the recent suborbital "hops" that carried billionaires and other civilians.

Rather than just climbing to the edge of space and returning to land in less than an hour as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin did, Inspiration4 will circle the Earth for three days and do so in a higher orbit than the International Space Station.

Paying for it all is Jared Isaacman, a 38-year-oldbillionaire high-school dropout, who is promoting the flight as massive fundraising effort for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Anddocumenting the entire processa la a reality-TV show are camera crews from Netflix.

Life on the Red Planet?: NASA is looking for 4 people to live inside their 3D-printed Mars module for a year

As of Friday, SpaceX said the launch was set for no earlier than 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday.It expects to narrow that down to a five-hour window about three days ahead of time. The crew, who arrived at Kennedy Space Center Thursday,will launch from Launch Complex 39-A at the KSC, the same pad from which Apollo 11 launched to the moon.

Isaacman, who started his internet company Shift4 Payments as a 16-year-old in the basement of his parent's house, says he knows some people will see this mission asa billionaire going ona joyride."

But in the Netflix series "Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space" Isaacmansaid it was much more than an ego trip for a rich man.

"Were not going to do this if we cant make a huge difference for the problems the worlds faced with today or we dont earn the right to go up into space. We gravitated right to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital," he said.

Isaacman, an accomplished pilotwhois listed as the "Mission Commander and Benefactor,"sees the mission as a vehicle to raise $200 million for St. Jude. He has pledged the first $100 million himself.

Isaacman is basing Inspiration4 around four "mission pillars:" Leadership, Hope, Generosity, and Prosperity, with each represented by a seat in the Dragon capsule.

"We're not going to go up with a bunch of fishing buddies," Isaacman said.

Space tourism: Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic shoot for the stars

Isaacman will fill the Leadership seat. The other three crew members are

Issacman, a pilot who is qualified to fly commercial and military jets,was on a phone call with some people from SpaceX in 2020 on a unrelated matter. Toward the end of the conversation, he said,"Whenever you guys are ready to really open this thing up, just, like, keep me in mind."

The SpaceX folks told him they were just about ready to send civilians to space and offered him the opportunity to be first. "And I was just all over it," Isaacman said on the Netflix series.

Isaacman and SpaceX were able to quickly reach a deal. Neither is saying how much he is paying SpaceX for the launch, though Isaacman has said it was far less than $200 million he hopes to raise for St. Jude.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk calledthis first private orbital space flight animportant step toward his goal of eventually colonizing Mars.

"Hopefully, as the name suggests, it inspires people about spaceflight," Musk said in the Netflix series. "You need pioneers likeJared in order to have the future mission and ultimately making science fiction not fiction forever."

Launch of a new era or flights of fancy?: Branson, Bezos ventures may open space travel to all

SpaceX and Isaacman unveiled their project to the world in a TV ad that ran during the Super Bowl in February encouraging people to apply for the mission.

The Super Bowl ad and the all-civilian crew aren't the only signs that Inspiaration4 is something completely different from a NASA mission, which until now was the only way people reached orbit from U.S. soil.

For one thing, the timing of NASA missions are normally set far in advance of the planned launch.

But since Inspiration4 doesn't have to rendezvous with the International Space Station or plans to place a satellite in a particular orbit, the normal timing restraints don't apply.

Instead SpaceX has said it has two back-to-back 24-hour windows that open at 8 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept 14. It expects to narrow that down closer to launch.

Brevard County activates emergency management forlaunches and has a plan for crowd control for the launch, but can't put anything into place until it has a narrower launch window. "We are still in the dark for it ourselves," said county spokesman Don Walker. "We are in a holding pattern."

Another sign that this is not a NASA mission has been the presence of Netflix cameras from almost the time the mission was conceived.

The first two episodes of the series, which became available Sept. 6, tells the story of the crew members, how they were selected, what training they've received and how their families are dealing with their loved ones tackling space travel.

While "Countdown: Insporation4 Mission to Space" is labeled a documentary series, it is more akin to reality television than a Ken Burns film. Video cameras seemed to have been omnipresent around the crew for months, capturing everything from the moment the crew members first found out they were headed to space(via Zoom calls in which reactions varied from shock to tears) to them sharing the news with friends and family to a trip to KSC to visit the launch pad where they will blast off. It even includes video footage of Arceneaux as 10-year-old patient at St. Jude.

A deeper look at Jeff Bezos' trip to space: Plenty of elbow room and the largest windows in space

The crew of Inspiration4 has had to cram all its training into six months, while basic astronaut training takes two years at NASA.

Among the training the crew has received are centrifuge rides to simulate G forces, Zero-G plane training and time in a Dragon capsule simulator.

Of course, the flight is fully automated and Inspiration crew will never have to take control of the capsule.

Also setting Insporation4 apart from other space missions is the passel of goodies the crew canbring with them to space that will be auctioned off with proceeds going to St. Jude. NASA astronauts head to the space station are allowed to bring along 3.3 lbs. of personal items, with the rest of the cargo load set aside for science experiments and essential supplies.

Among those items heading up on Inspiration4:

As the name suggests, Isaacman hopes the Inspiration4 inspires people and to look forward to the day when space travel is not limited to highly trained astronauts.

And its hard to find a more inspiring story than Arceneaux's. She will be the youngest person ever to orbit the Earth, the first cancer survivor in space and, because of a metal rod in her leg, the first person with a prosthetic to fly on a rocket.

A 'new breed' of astronaut: Meet the citizen space traveler who'll be on Virgin Galactic's next flight

Inspiration4 and the recent space hops by billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos have drawn pushback from those who argue that the billions of dollars spent to make space tourism possible would have been better spent helping to solve problems on Earth.

In the Netflix series, though, Musk argues that humanity can both tackle problems on Earth and explore the heavens.

"I think we should spend the vast majority of our resources solving problems on Earth. Like 99% plus of our, you know, economy should be dedicated to solving problems on Earth,"he said. "But I think maybe something like 1% or less than 1% could be applied to extending life beyond Earth. ...If life is just about problems I mean why … whats the point of living."

Follow John McCarthy on Twitter:@JournalistJohnM

Read the original here:

The first all-civilian SpaceX flight is set to launch next week from Kennedy Space Center - USA TODAY

On July 21, 2021, billionaire Jeff Bezos rocketed about 65 miles above the Earths crust. Another billionaire, Sir Richard Branson, did the same nine days before, but his vehicle could only climb to 53 milessome do not consider that a space flight, really.

Clearly, this was not the first time man ventured into space. However, in all earlier cases, explorers pursued a publicly defined mission and were paid from the public purse. Whereas Bezos and Branson were motived by private interest. Although Bezos thanked his companys workers and customers for paying for his trip, it was, nonetheless, a privately financed venture. These two aspects, private interest and private financing, make these billionaires the worlds first space barons.

The public reception of the emerging elite space travelers club is mixed. Space enthusiasts celebrate the renewed interest in space travel, which could spark future technologies that, one day, help bring life to other planets. Critics suggest that the money used would be better spent for fighting global hunger and poverty.

There is more to both sides of this argument than meets the eye, and further inquiry is warranted. For starters, I shall rule out an otherwise interesting, but notoriously complex, dimension that gave economists a headache for decades. That is the problem of interpersonal comparison of utility. In this case, can we really compare the utility gained by Bezos from his $5.5 billion trip with that of 37 million people had the money been used to end their hunger? The question may seem rhetorical, but it is not.

The problem remains an interesting one even after Bezos, and thus the need to compare his well-being with that of others, is taken out of the picture. Let us look exclusively from the viewpoint of potential beneficiaries in the developing world. Would a transfer of cash to them be better than using the money on space tourism? Surprisingly, the answer is not necessarily affirmative.

Nobel laureate economist Angus Deaton suggests that technological innovations like antibiotics, pest control, and vaccines have been the primary drivers of humanitys escape from destitution, including in developing countries, far surpassing development aid in impact. By this logic, space tourism could muster moral support, in addition to cash, if it also facilitates significant technological advances (in addition to conspicuous consumption).

So far, blasting billionaires off to the edge of space has not exactly been earth-shattering, technically. Mankind had previously stepped onto the moon on six separate occasions; astronauts and cosmonauts have visited space routinely, often without such commotion; and Mars is already inhabited by robots. The NASA Voyager, built half a century ago, has become the first man-made object to exit our solar systemcurrently drifting at 14.2 billion miles away from usthat is about 21 hours of light-travel time from Earth (solar light reaches us in about eight minutes).

Previous research on space technology has undoubtedly improved life on earth. Modern water filtration systems, solar cells, firefighting equipment, insulin pumps, and artificial limbs are all reported to have been initiated by space research. It is too soon to see such impact from the new billionaire-driven space race. However, Bezos company Blue Origin is reported to hold at least 19 patents, whereas Elon Musks SpaceX has followed a different path: The company has not submitted any patent applications to avoid technological disclosure. Yet, there are some obvious advances including reusable rockets, which have reduced the cost of space flight dramatically.

Nonetheless, even in the presence of such innovations, there may remain significant doubts. Would for-profit innovations diffuse for public benefit as much as the publicly funded ones? The reluctance to lift intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines has been a sobering test just recently.

In some highly specialized settings, when a group tries to help those outside the group, their joint action can actually hurt the outsiders instead of helping them. This is called the Samaritans Curse and was recently discussed by Kaushik Basu, a Brookings nonresident senior fellow. In the case of foreign aid, a similar argument is considered when donors respond to deteriorating conditions in a country by providing more aid while the recipient country government acts strategically by leaving needs unfulfilled to qualify for further aid.

In space tourism, a Samaritans Curse argument can hold even without such mischievous behavior by potential recipients. Suppose the poor could benefit significantly from future innovations driven by selfish (for-profit) motives of space travelers. Then, using the space tourism money for simple cash transfers instead could be the worse option for the poor themselves. For example, in Africa, cellphone technology may have improved life more than a hypothetical transfer of equivalent size.

For such prominent technology effects, it is not enough if private space ventures muster a whole lot of innovations. The effects on the global poor will also depend on how easily those innovations can be utilized for practical purposes in daily life and how quickly those applications can diffuse to developing countries. This is an area where public policy can go a long way: Capping intellectual property protections at a reasonable level, especially when public funds are used, could help broadly. Similarly, a technology-focused assistance scheme for developing countries can complement other international aid programs. Without such discretionary actions, the benefits of space tourism could take a long time to trickle down.

The bottom line is that space tourism can hold its moral ground if it achieves life-changing technological advances. However, a public nudge is most likely needed to distribute such benefits beyond the elite space travelers club. Otherwise, humanity may jump out of the Samaritans Curse into the trickle-down economics for the space age.

Original post:

On space barons and global poverty - Brookings Institution

Did you knowSHIFT is taking the stage this fall? Together with an amazing line-up of experts, we will explore the future of mobility during TNW Conference 2021.Secure your ticket now!

In the world of mobility there are two main types of insurances: motor vehicle and travel insurance.

And while, Im sure, you all know the basics of what each of them covers, let me surprise you here by saying that travel insurance will expand to space.

Yes, you read that correctly. Travel insurance company Battleface has launched its services for space tourists, Travel Daily News reports.

So, what does a space travel insurance cover? As per Battleface, there are many benefits included such as accidental death and permanent disablement.

Well, going to space is and inherently dangerous business. Say the spaceship catches fire during launch everything goes wrong and youre lost in space forever. But dont worry, at least you can be insured.

Sasha Gainullin, CEO of Battleface, said:

Todays landscape mirrors the early days of air travel back at the beginning of last century. [] The first policy for aviation was written in 1911 and in 1927 the first transatlantic flight flown by Charles Lindbergh was insured. We are excited to be one of the first companies in 2021 to be providing insurance to space tourism pioneers who want to have the freedom to travel into space.

Of course, not everyone will have the freedom to travel into space, or to be exact, the financial means.

Too expensive

Battlefaces policy is valid for any of the space flights operated byElon MusksSpaceX, Jeff Bezoss Blue Origin, Richard BransonsVirgin Galactic, and high-tech balloon manufacturers, Space Perspective, among others.

A seat on SpaceXs Crew Dragon costs the exorbitant amount of $55 million. Trips aboard the Blue Origins New Shepard were auctioned for $28 million. Riding on Virgin Galactics VSS Unity will cost passengers $250,000 apiece. And tickets for Space Perspectives Neptune One balloon start at $125,000.

All this seems very excessive, given that were at least decades aways from seeing suborbital transportation and space travel becoming an integral part of mobility.

But if we really think about it, they are indeed infiltrating it.

Civilians, although not regular ones, like Musk, Branson, and Bezos have already made their first trip to space. Plus, all the companies mentioned in the insurance plans are planning commercial flights within the next three years.

So, it is kinda happening now.

Yes, commercial space travel is still in its infancy, but the fact that insurance companies are eyeing a place within this industry makes me wonder whether well be alive to witness mobility moving from the earth to the stars.

Do EVs excite your electrons? Do ebikes get your wheels spinning? Do self-driving cars get you all charged up?

Then you need the weekly SHIFT newsletter in your life.Click here to sign up.

Link:

You can book travel insurance for your next trip to space wait, what? - The Next Web