Category Archives: Mars Colonization

Humanitys exploration into the final frontier is notoriously costly, despite SpaceX drastically reducing the price per kilogram of a spacecraft into the hundreds in recent years. With rockets burning thousands of pounds of fuel per second upon liftoff, seizing every opportunity to reduce craft payloads is critical.

Downsizing payloads is significant as NASA and China plan to create moon bases, and SpaceX intends to help establish Mars colonization. What if the heavy fuel and oxygen needed to take us to Mars was not brought from Earth but instead synthesized along the journey?

Lunar soil samples extracted by Chinas ChangE 5 spacecraft suggest that minerals available on the moon could be used to help convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and fuel.

Nanjing University material scientists Yingfang Yao and Zhigang Zou published a study in the journal Joule exploring this idea on May 5th, 2022. Success in this endeavor could turn the moon into a lunar gas station of sorts, potentially expediting the mission to Mars.

Details of Discovery

Chinas ChangE-5 spacecraft returned moon samples to Earth in 2020, harvesting them from a moon site called Oceanus Procellarum (the Ocean of Storms) because this area was thought to hold more recently formed material.

This was the first time man had retrieved moon soil since the Soviet Unions Luna 24 mission in 1976, and they were the youngest samples ever retrieved, aged just 1.2 billion years old. This is much younger than the samples NASAs Apollo astronauts returned, which varied between 3.1 and 4.4 billion years old.

ChangE-5 gathered 3.7 pounds of rock from 2 meters below the moons surface before transferring them to a return capsule which was left in lunar orbit. The return capsule landed in inner Mongolia on Dec. 17th, 2020, with the samples still intact.

The Nanjing University researchers discovered the rocks taken from the Oceanus Procellarum to be exceptionally high in iron and titanium compounds, which held the potential for extraterrestrial chemistry on the moon. Using iron and titanium as catalysts could create valuable products like oxygen, methane, and water.

Chemistry on the Moon

The study proposes a process called extraterrestrial photosynthesis, using techniques and elements readily available on the moons surface to assist in obtaining desired results. The plan is to utilize sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide exhaled and collected by astronauts in combination with the natural minerals found.

The system outlined in the journal entry uses soil minerals to electrolyze available water into hydrogen and oxygen, powered by sunlight collected on the moon. Then, the accumulated carbon dioxide is combined with the new hydrogen in a hydrogenation process, creating methane, a usable fuel source.

This process has been tested on Earth with the samples brought back by ChangE-5s rover with some success. Researchers found the samples were able to create desired products but are not nearly as efficient as purer minerals found on Earth. The team looks forward to testing this process on the moon and is developing new ways to make extraterrestrial photosynthesis more efficient and practical.

Scientists have previously proposed extraterrestrial survival processes, but this is the first approach that functions solely on resources available outside of Earth.

Research is funded by several organizations, including, but not limited to, the Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Program for Guangdong Introducing Innovative and Entrepreneurial Teams and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

This Could Be Huge for NASA & SpaceX

Yaos team expects the future spaceflight industry to develop rapidly and sees plans to reduce fuel and oxygen payloads as necessary preparations. If refined and made practical, Chinas extraterrestrial photosynthesis project could affect future space travel on a global scale.

NASA announced its Artemis mission in 2017 and planned to return to the moon and establish long-term residency. They are partnering with five private companies, including SpaceX and Blue origin, to help realize their plans for moon exploration and the establishment of an Artemis Base Camp.

They are currently aiming to send the first Artemis uncrewed spacecraft to the moon later this year and two crewed spacecraft in 2024 and 2025.

They will gather data that can only be obtained by living on the moon and use it to propel the first astronauts to Mars. The moon is located 238,900 miles from Earth, while Mars is 148.41 million miles from Earth, a far longer journey.

In addition to establishing the Artemis base camp at the moons south pole, they plan to have a space station called the Gateway remain in the moons orbit. NASA sees establishment on the moon as a vital staging point for travel to Mars.

As described in the Artemis mission plan, they will utilize both locations to simulate the multi-month mission to and from Mars, the most extended amount of time astronauts have remained in space.

These missions will be by far the longest human deep space missions in history. They will be the operational tests of our technical and operational readiness for the first human Mars mission. writes NASA.

Elon Musk of SpaceX was cited predicting a crewed mission to Mars for 2029, a goal contingent on the success of the Artemis program. So if adopting an extraterrestrial photosynthesis from Chinas space exploration program could mean sustaining life on the moon, sending astronauts to Mars before the end of the decade could be more realistic than it sounds. This, of course, will take much polishing, as Yaos journal represents only a prototype for a complex process.

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Could Lunar Soil be the Key to Reaching Mars? - The National Herald

NASA is set to join the league of major sectors that are harnessing the potential of the metaverse. The space agency is looking for virtual reality simulations of Mars exploration, Gamerant reported.

The interest in colonizing Mars has been heating up for the past few years. Not only is SpaceX getting more and more confident about landing people on Mars, but NASA has also been working to get astronauts more acclimatized to staying on the Red Planet. Last year, we reported how NASA wants people to stay in Martian habitats created on Earth to learn about the impact of extended stays in these alien environments. Since all simulations cannot be practically done in real-life, the space agency is turning to the next best thing, the metaverse.

According to the Gamerant's report, NASA has created five categories of Martian simulations, namely,"Set Up Camp," "Scientific Research," "Maintenance," "Exploration," and "Blow Our Minds" for these environments. As the name suggests, the last one gives free rein to creativity and can be used to spring up the most bizarre or incredibly imaginative scenarios.

Submissions need to be made within 80 days, and there are up to four prizes for each category. Yes, this challenge is indeed open to all, and you could be a company or an individual and still take part in it. That's exactly why HeroX, a crowd-sourcing platform, tweeted it out.

In case you are wondering if there is so much to do in such little time, you actually do not have to do everything from scratch. Using the Unreal Engine 5, developers will aim to build their experiences to be used inside NASA's MarsXR Operations Support System. This environment already has a world with Martian terrain, realistic weather, day/night cycles, Martian gravity, and other assets like spacesuits and rovers.

So, your unique experience can be built on top of this existing platform, which allows you to focus on the experience and not worry about the nitty-gritty of it. Gamerant has reported that over 150 teams from around the world have already entered this challenge.

This could be your shot to fame and contribution to the next step in human space exploration, colonizing Mars if you are keen too.

Read more from the original source:
NASA will use the metaverse to build VR scenarios for Mars missions - Interesting Engineering

Design by Yoora Kim

Much like the many tricky-to-navigate facets of being young, the teen movie genre is one of the most intricate ones to get right. Over the years, studios have spawned some of the most iconic teen movies of all time like Mean Girls, LOL (did Miley Cyrus shape anyone else's formative years?), and Booksmart, but flicks that cater to the Gen Z experience are hard to come by. Thankfully, 2022 has provided us with a more accurate representation of teens today I mean, we finally have some of the best new teen movies dropping that cover a range of topics from grief to navigating first relationships (and queer ones, at that). While it's a small step toward seeing our real lives reflected on-screen, it's still progress.

We don't know about you, but this is by far our favorite movie genre, and lucky for us, we can expect to see a lot of them this year. So whether you are looking to find a new rom-com couple to stan or just looking for an easy way to escape, we've rounded up the 10 best new teen movies of 2022 (well, so far, anyway).

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Release date: January 14, 2022

Where to watch: Hulu

When overachiever Avery's long-distance boyfriend hints at wanting to take their relationship to the next level, she creates a study to get in touch with her sexuality. She enlists the help of her oldest friend, Larson, as a test subject. It results in more than sex education Avery learns that theres more to sex and love than mechanics.

Release date: February 11, 2022

Where to watch: Apple TV+

Seventeen-year-old musical prodigy Lennie Walker struggles with overwhelming grief after her older sister, Bailey, suddenly passes. When Joe Fontaine, the charismatic new guy at school, enters Lennie's life, she's instantly drawn to him. Lennie's vivid imagination helps her navigate her first love and first loss to create a song of her own.

Release date: February 11, 2022

Where to watch: Netflix

Tall Girl is back and better than ever. This time around, Jodi is popular, confident, and landed the lead role in her school's musical. Did we mention she also has a boyfriend now? Her new status brings on a ton of pressure and insecurities, and she's having trouble getting adjusted to all the changes. Jodi also forms new relationships while old ones are tested, and she realizes that standing tall comes with a whole new world.

Release date: February 23, 2022

Where to watch: Paramount+

In this coming-of-age comedy, Troye Sivan plays a punk gay teenager from Miami who's exposed to HIV the weekend of his high school graduation. As he waits the three-month period to get tested, he builds a bond with someone from his support group and makes some discoveries about himself along the way.

Release date: March 15, 2022

Where to watch: Disney+

Thirteen-year-old Nate has big Broadway dreams, but he faces an issue when he isn't cast in the school play. So, he and his best friend Libby embark on an adventure to New York City where he unexpectedly reunites with his long-lost Aunt Heidi. Together, they must prove that life's greatest adventures are only as big as your dreams.

Release date: March 31, 2022

Where to watch: HBO Max

Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse's romantic comedy is set in the future, where the best of the best humans reside and colonize on Mars. They play two very different college students, Sophie and Walt, who join forces for an unlikely adventure so they can meet their significant others on Mars. The duo forms an unexpected friendship (and maybe something more) along the way.

Release date: April 8, 2022

Where to watch: Netflix

In this comedy, two metal-loving friends Hunter and Kevin start a band but can't find a bassist. They end up enlisting the one girl in their high school who plays the cello so they can win the Battle of the Bands. Their friendship and musical skills are tested along the way, but it's all worth it in the end if they get to be worshipped like some of their favorite rockstars.

Release date: April 29, 2022

Where to watch: Hulu

Rowan Blanchard stars as Paige, an aspiring artist who's forced to join her high school track team as punishment for painting punny murals across her high school campus. The only problem is she isn't the one who did it. She uses her new stint on the track team to track down the culprit and also pursue the girl shes been crushing on since elementary school. She soon finds herself falling for an unexpected teammate and discovers what real love feels like.

Release date: May 13, 2022

Where to watch: Netflix

In this comedy, Rebel Wilson stars as a high-school cheerleader who falls into a coma right before the biggest night of her senior year: prom. Twenty years later, she wakes up from her coma and decides to finish her high school education to reclaim her popularity and be crowned prom queen.

Release date: June 3, 2022

Where to watch: Disney+

Grace VanderWaal will be reprising her role as Stargirl Caraway for the movie's sequel where the beloved character heads to Hollywood. She's set to perform original music for the new movie, which follows Stargirl as she meets aspiring filmmakers and stars in their movie musical.

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10 Best New Teen Movies of 2022 Most Anticipated Teen Movies 2022 - Seventeen

After six months, three U.S. astronautsdeparted the International Space Station on Thursday and splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico early Friday. The SpaceX capsule carried the Americans and one German from theEuropean Space Agency.

Is this mission special? The partnership between NASA and SpaceX gives American astronauts another route home after research assignments aboard the space station. Since NASA ended its shuttle program in 2011, U.S. astronauts have hitched rides on Russian spacecraft, often landing in Kazakhstan. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent degrading of the relationship between Washington and the Kremlin, there was some concern that the Russian space agency, Roscosmos,would leave Americans stranded in space. Roscosmos did ferry Mark Vande Hei back to Earth in March as planned.

Dig deeper: Listen to Bonnie Pritchetts report on The World and Everything in Itpodcast about how the war in Ukraine is threatening long-standing international partnerships in space.

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SpaceX mission returns to Earth | WORLD - WORLD News Group

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

(THE CONVERSATION) Satellites help run the internet and television and are central to the Global Positioning System. They enable modern weather forecasting, help scientists track environmental degradation and play a huge role in modern military technology.

Nations that dont have their own satellites providing these services rely on other countries. For those that want to develop their own satellite infrastructure, options are running out as space fills up.

I am a research fellow at Arizona State University, studying the wider benefits of space and ways to make it more accessible to developing countries.

Inequity is already playing out in access to satellites. In the not-so-distant future, the ability to extract resources from the Moon and asteroids could become a major point of difference between the space haves and have-nots. As policies emerge, there is the risk that these inequities become permanent.

Where to park a satellite

Thanks to the rapid commercialization, miniaturization and plummeting costs of satellite technology in recent years, more countries are able to reap the benefits of space.

CubeSats are small, cheap, customizable satellites that are simple enough to be built by high school students. Companies such as SpaceX can launch one of these satellites into orbit for relatively cheap from $1,300 per pound. However, there are only so many places to park a satellite in orbit around Earth, and these are quickly filling up.

The best parking is in geostationary orbit, around 22,250 miles (35,800 kilometers) above the equator. A satellite in geostationary orbit rotates at the same rate as Earth, remaining directly above a single location on Earths surface which can be very useful for telecommunications, broadcasting and weather satellites.

There are only 1,800 geostationary orbital slots, and as of February 2022, 541 of them were occupied by active satellites. Countries and private companies have already claimed most of the unoccupied slots that offer access to major markets, and the satellites to fill them are currently being assembled or awaiting launch. If, for example, a new spacefaring nation wants to put a weather satellite over a specific spot in the Atlantic Ocean that is already claimed, they would either have to choose a less optimal location for the satellite or buy services from the country occupying the spot they wanted.

Orbital slots are allocated by an agency of the United Nations called the International Telecommunication Union. Slots are free, but they go to countries on a first-come, first-served basis. When a satellite reaches the end of its 15- to 20-year lifespan, a country can simply replace it and renew its hold on the slot. This effectively allows countries to keep these positions indefinitely. Countries that already have the technology to utilize geostationary orbit have a major advantage over those that do not.

While geostationary orbital slots are the most useful and limited, there are many other orbits around Earth. These, too, are filling up adding to the growing problem of space debris.

Low Earth orbit is around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) above the surface. Satellites in low Earth orbit are moving fast in a highly congested environment. While this may be a good place for Earth imaging satellites, it is not ideal for single communication satellites like those used to broadcast television, radio and the internet.

Low Earth orbit can be used for communications if multiple satellites work together to form a constellation. Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are working on projects to put thousands of satellites into low Earth orbit over the next few years to provide internet across the globe. The first generation of SpaceXs Starlink consists of 1,926 satellites, and the second generation will add another 30,000 to orbit.

At the current rate, the major space players are rapidly occupying geostationary and low Earth orbits, potentially monopolizing access to important satellite capabilities and adding to space junk.

Access to resources in space

Orbital slots are an area where inequity exists today. The future of space could be a gold rush for resources and not everyone will benefit.

Asteroids hold astounding amounts of valuable minerals and metals. Later this year, NASA is launching a probe to explore an asteroid named 16 Psyche, which scientists estimate contains over US$10 quintillion worth of iron. Tapping huge resource deposits like this and transporting them to Earth could provide massive boosts to the economies of spacefaring nations while disrupting the economies of countries that currently depend on exporting minerals and metals.

Another highly valuable resource in space is helium-3, a rare version of helium that scientists think could be used in nuclear fusion reactions without producing radioactive waste. While there are considerable technological obstacles to overcome before helium-3 is a feasible energy source, if it works, there are enough deposits on the Moon and elsewhere in the solar system to satisfy Earths energy requirements for several centuries. If powerful spacefaring countries develop the technology to use and mine helium-3 and choose not to share the benefits with other nations it could result in lasting inequities.

Existing international space laws are not well suited to handle the complicated web of private companies and nations competing for resources in space. Countries are organizing into groups or space blocs that are uniting on goals and rules for future space missions. Two notable space blocs are planning missions to set up bases and potential mining operations on the Moon: the Artemis Accords, led by the U.S., as well as joint Chinese and Russian plans.

Right now, the major players in space are establishing the norms for exploiting resources. There is a risk that instead of focusing on what is best for everyone on Earth, competition will drive these decisions, damaging the space environment and causing conflict. History shows that it is hard to challenge international norms once they are established.

Moving forward

Access to space is critical for the functioning of a modern nation. Space access will only become more important as humanity rapidly advances toward a future of space hotels and colonies on Mars.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the founding document of space law, says that space should be used for the benefit and in the interests of all countries. The policies taking shape today will dictate whether this is the case in the future.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/wealthy-nations-are-carving-up-space-and-its-riches-and-leaving-other-countries-behind-182820.

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Wealthy nations are carving up space and its riches and leaving other countries behind - Jacksonville Journal-Courier

THERE is perhaps no individual more closely associated with humanity's mission to explore space than Elon Musk.

As the founder and CEO of SpaceX, Musk has overseen the development of hundreds of launches - some more successful than others.

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Last month, Elon Musk bought Twitter in an attention-grabbing hostile takeover - but his other businesses are still redefining the future.

SpaceX is the second highest-valued private company in the world with an estimated worth of over $100billion dollars.

They are producing, launching and reusing rockets and charging $55million dollars for a commercial ticket.

Here is a catalogue of the best models and most disastrous failures from all 160 SpaceX launches.

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The Falcon family of rockets was named after Luke Skywalker's Millennium Falcon.

The Falcon 1 design was used for five launches, two were successful and three failed.

On the third launch, the rocket malfunctioned after it separated from the first booster and it did not reach orbit.

The Falcon 1 made history on September 28, 2008 when it became the first privately-developed rocket in orbit.

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No one said going to space and using the same rocket to do it would be easy.

SpaceX has had a string of wins lately, with successful launches and government contracts, but when you're working with rocket fuel, explosions happen.

The Falcon 9v1.1 never successfully landed.

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The Grasshopper is a now-retired SpaceX prototype that provided key insights for landing a rocket.

During tests, the Grasshopper climbed up to 2,441 feet in the air and came to a safe landing, proving that rockets could be reused.

Musk used the Grasshopper to correct a statement rival billionaire Jeff Bezos made on Twitter.

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The Falcon 9 is the first reusable rocket of its kind - it made history as the first orbital rocket to be landed and re-launched in 2017.

In the years since, the Falcon 9 has pioneered sustainability in the spaceflight industry - one iteration of the spaceship, model B1051, made headlines for its dusty look after 10 space trips and few cleanings.

As for recent work, a Falcon 9 rocket just brought a shipment of 53 Starlink satellites to lower Earth orbit.

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The Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket developed to date.

The SpaceX site boasts the rocket "can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle" and generates more than five million pounds of thrust to propel the mighty ship to Earth-exiting speeds.

The Falcon Heavy had its first test launch in 2018 and later in the flight it ejected the Tesla vehicle it carried on board - Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster is set to orbit the cosmos for centuries with the phrase "Made on Earth by humans" etched into the dash.

The Falcon Heavy's specs - three cores and 27 engines - means the rocket is capable of bringing almost 40,000 pounds in payload all the way to Mars.

The Falcon Heavy has blasted off three times and will bring the first components for Gateway space station to the Moon in 2024.

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The Starship spacecraft is designed to fly SpaceX's most ambitious interplanetary missions.

In the Starship user guide, the company writes "the Starship crewconfiguration can transport up to 100 people from Earthinto [low Earth orbit] and on to the Moon and Mars."

Musk has been candid about his aspirations to colonize the Moon and Mars - in 2019, he tweeted "One day Starship will land on the rusty sands of Mars."

The Starship is slated to bring Japanese mogul Yusaku Maezawa and a space tourism crew on a flyby of the Moon during a week-long journey in 2023.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with capital he earned from taking PayPal public.

The company celebrated their 20th anniversary on May 6th by launching their 17th rocket this year, leaving a "space jellyfish" in the sky.

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Engineers at Taylor University have developed a 3D printer thats said to be capable of constructing extraterrestrial bases far more quickly than current systems allow.

Unlike other proposed off-world habitat-building platforms, which are restricted to single-site production, the teams Mobile Gantry is mounted on wheels, enabling it to traverse planetary surfaces and print on-demand. Thanks to this flexibility and the machines gantry without rails layout, its creators say it could allow for the sequential building of Martian bases, with areas that open as theyre ready.

Preparing for Martian colonization

In recent years, space agencies and contractors around the world have begun to accelerate their preparations for new exploratory missions. These dont just include the likes of NASAs Artemis program, which aims to return humankind to the Moon by 2025, but plans to send orbiters and landers to the red planet, being organized by agencies based in the US, China, Russia, Japan and India, amongst others.

One of the many issues that has arisen around future extraterrestrial missions, is how best to establish permanent, habitable bases in the cold vacuum of space. If facilities were to be built on terra firma and fired to lunar or Martian landing sites, they would be astronomically expensive to launch, as well as being restrictive to settler population growth.

Similarly, using traditional manufacturing methods to build on planetary surfaces would be made difficult by numerous factors, not least the shipping of construction materials, thus 3D printing has gained traction as an alternative. Theoretically, at least, its possible to process resources like lunar regolith via the technology, plus its inherent flexibility allows for the realization of unique, modular structures.

However, the team highlights how existing Fixed Base Radial Arm systems are hamstrung by both their limited reach, and inability to move between locations until builds are finished. Mobile robotic and gantry-based approaches have also shown promise as extraterrestrial construction mechanisms, but the engineers say the methods constrain habitat design and possess limited speed respectively.

Introducing the Mobile Gantry

To get around the limitations of current construction 3D printing approaches, the Taylor University team has effectively decided to combine the technology behind mobile and gantry units into a single system. In practice, this means their machine is able to create an X-axis by rolling along, before using prismatic joints as a means of achieving Y and Z-axis motion, and ultimately print without relying on rails.

In order to ensure that the Mobile Gantry doesnt cause errors by running off-course, the engineers have also fitted it with a local positioning system, enabling it to determine the position, orientation and velocity of its printhead. This, the engineers theorize, will allow the machine to operate wirelessly, rapidly update and create quality structures with precision, all while taking surface bumps in its stride.

Already, the researchers have managed to realize their concept in the shape of a prototype, complete with terrain compensation, fine positioning and 3D printing subsystems. During initial testing, this Mud Dauber design has proven capable of traversing uneven terrain and using a Cartesian positioning system with three degrees of freedom, to extrude a slurry of sulfur concrete into complex structures.

With further R&D, the engineers believe that Mobile Gantry systems have the potential to enable the parallel construction of sites with vast internal volumes and tapered junctions that allow for their expansion. Given the size and simplicity of their design, the team also anticipate that in future, their bot can be deployed in packs, as a way of completing prints much faster with a higher quality.

Advances in lunar 3D printing

Lunar regolith-based 3D printing approaches continue to gain momentum as a means of building resilient, habitable infrastructure for settlers on the Moon. Just last year, it was revealed that the University of New South Wales had been drafted in to help Luyten develop its Platypus Galacticas 3D printer, a 9m x 12m gantry-mounted system designed to aid Australias bid for a permanent lunar presence.

Netherlands-based firm MX3D, meanwhile, has come up with a skeletal 3D printed lunar floor concept for a prototype European Space Agency Moon settlement. Using additive manufacturing, the company has been able to realize its smooth, web-like design while producing it from lightweight steel, and at the time, it was said to be possible to embed functional monitoring systems into the structure.

Elsewhere, at a more experimental level, scientists from the Technical University of Braunschweig and Laser Zentrum Hannover have also developed a lunar rover with 3D printing capabilities. As part of their project, codenamed MOONRISE, the researchers have already managed to mount a laser to a MIRA3D vehicle, before utilizing it to melt moondust into large, spherical prototype structures.

The researchers findings are detailed in their paper titled The Mobile Gantry: A Robotic Architecture for 3D Printing Structures on Mars, which was co-authored by Peter Staritz, Caleb Miller and Josiah McClurg.

To stay up to date with the latest 3D printing news, dont forget to subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter or follow us on Twitter or liking our page on Facebook.

For a deeper dive into additive manufacturing, you can now subscribe to our Youtube channel, featuring discussion, debriefs, and shots of 3D printing in-action.

Are you looking for a job in the additive manufacturing industry? Visit 3D Printing Jobs for a selection of roles in the industry.

Featured image shows the engineers Mud Dauber Mobile Gantry 3D printer prototype. Image via Taylor University.

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Introducing the 'Mobile Gantry' 3D printer that could facilitate the future colonization of Mars - 3D Printing Industry

NASA and SpaceX launched the first all-private space crew, Axiom-1, on April 8. The team included three wealthy businessmen and one astronaut. Whilst this marks one small step for the future of commercial space travel, it could also mark one giant leap backward for mankind.

In the Oscar-nominated Netflix film, Dont Look Up, a comet heads towards Earth and is set to destroy humanity. When billionaire CEO Peter Isherwell discovers that the raw materials of the comet are worth trillions of dollars, he calls off the launch meant to destroy the comet. When Isherwells own attempt to destroy the comet fails, he and a handful of global elites board a spaceship in hopes of fleeing Earth and finding life on another planet. While humorously dark and satirical, the story of Isherwells character is not entirely dissimilar from the numerous billionaires hoping to tap into the lucrative commercial venture of space.

In 2019, NASA was called upon to expand commercial modules onboard the International Space Station (ISS), as it was recently announced that the station is expected to retire in 2031. In offloading these human space missions to private companies, NASA hopes that the increased competition between private companies will accelerate the time we reach commercial space travel.

Were taking commercial business off the face of the Earth and putting it up in Space, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said before the Axiom-1 launch on Friday.

This ambition for future space travel draws into question who will be able to go. The three billionaires who boarded Axiom-1 Larry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eyten Stibbe each paid a sum of $55 million. While they are up there to conduct research during their stay in the ISS, this money could have also been used to fund important and life-saving research on Earth.

Dr. Wendy Whitman Cobb, an Air Force political scientist for space argues that the privatization of space is for the better, stating that it enables NASA to pursue future projects like starting moon or Mars colonies and exploring deeper space.

The more normal people we see fly into space, more of the public will see this as possible and be excited by it, Cobb said in an interview with the New York Times.

Yet, with Elon Musk valuing space travel at between $100,000-$500,000, it is hard to see that so-called normal people will ever be able to afford this luxury experience. In an interview with TED Creator Chris Anderson, Musk proposed that space travel can be affordable for anyone if people are willing to work and save up for it.

If moving to Mars costs, for arguments sake, $100,000, then I think almost anyone can work and save up and eventually have $100,000 and be able to go to Mars if they want, Musk said.

With the median income in the United States standing at $67,521 in the 2020 census, the CEO of SpaceX has underestimated the difficulty of saving $100,000, let alone for people in developing nations. Perhaps the future of commercial space travel appears more like a luxury hobby for the elite millionaires of the world rather than a goal for the average person. Somehow, we are reminded of that in the final scene in Dont Look Up where Isherwell and his high society associates flee a dying planet.

Dont Look Up is an allegory for climate change and our lack of action to prevent it. If space travel becomes commercialized, the emissions produced by rockets will significantly contribute to making climate change irreversible. It is estimated that the emissions per passenger will be around 100 times that of a long-haul flight. For some scientists, this is a worrying statistic considering some companies ambitions to fly tourists to space several times a day. Without finding a means of eliminating the carbon footprint of rockets, they are as much of a vehicle for finding new life in space as they are for destroying life on Earth.

The emissions produced by rockets also affect the Earths atmosphere in a way that no other carbon-fuelled technologies might. The use of kerosene to power rockets produces a significant amount of soot, a type of black carbon emission. When this is released into the middle and upper atmospheres, the soot has a warming effect 500 times greater than when it is closer to the Earths surface. This is because there are few clouds competing with the soot to absorb the suns rays. If rocket launches start to become far more frequent in the future, the effect of these emissions could substantially hinder the Earths ability to repair its ozone layer.

With the move towards commercialized space travel accelerating, so is the speed of global warming. Private companies like SpaceX must conduct further research to assess the ecological impact of their rockets before further expanding their commercial space flights.

Whilst the thought of flights to space remains an exciting prospect, the affordability and environmental effects of commercialized space travel should be kept firmly on the minds of the billionaires looking to invest.

Thomas Brierly is an Opinion intern for the 2022 spring Quarter. He can be reached at tbrierly@uci.edu.

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The Billionaire Space Race: Should We Be Worried? - New University

Learning more about Mars history, and how the planet formed and evolved throughout time, has been a goal for astronomers for decades. Now, though, a new discovery could give us insight into the Red Planets brutal and violent history. If what the scientists posit turns out to be true, future expeditions on the planet could prove more about Mars violent history.

Researchers published the new study in Icarus. It posits that rocks found by NASAs Spirit Rover, and in the region that Perseverance is exploring could be ignimbrite. The rock type is igneous and sedimentary, and it forms as the result of cataclysmic, volcanic eruptions. The rocks, the researchers say, could point toward Mars having a violent history.

There are lots of ideas for the origin of the olivine-rich bedrock that covers large portions of a region called Nili Fossae, Steve Ruff, lead researcher on the study said in a statement. Its a debate thats been going on for nearly 20 years.

Ruff says that he found some correlation between the rock samples that Spirit found and a specific volcanic rock found on Earth. Olivine-rich bedrock is a fairly common silicate mineral. It comes from magma generated in the mantle of Mars (and Earth). As such, scientists have posited that Mars had volcanic processes playing a part in its history and formation. However, this new study points towards a more violent Martian history than previously expected.

Ruff compared mosaics of images taken by the Mars Spirit rover with some from Earth. He noticed a correlating pattern between it and similar rocks on Earth. As such, Ruff and his fellow researchers believe that the correlation shows more about Mars violent history. Additionally, it could tell us more about how volcanic activity helped form the planet we know today.

Of course, theres still a lot we dont know about Mars. Without any new rocks to look into, its impossible to say for sure whether Mars violent history was as bad as the researchers suspect. The answer to that question will ultimately come from the rock samples Perseverance collected. Future missions may also tell us more.

Theres a lot to look forward to when it comes to learning more about the Red Planet. Not only is NASA looking for ways to colonize Mars. But theyre also trying to come up with ways to breathe on Mars. With so many missions planned to the Red Planet in the coming years, learning more about Mars violent history continues to be paramount to understanding the planet as a whole.

All we can do now is look at the work that Ruff and others have put in, and try to learn more about the Martian surface as Perseverance, and even Insight work to tell us more.

Excerpt from:
Martian rocks may give insight into the Red Planets violent history - BGR

There are many changes that youll notice in Galactic Civilizations IV. One of these is a distinction between core worlds and colonies. Likewise, although old mechanics have been retained, we might as well take a look at how youll further expand your empires domains. Heres our Galactic Civilizations IV guide to help you with core worlds and colonies, as well as how you can colonize new planets.

Note: Well have a Galactic Civilizations IV guides and features hub soon, so stay tuned.

The basics

The key distinction in Galactic Civilizations IV is how core worlds and colonies function. Firstly, core worlds are the only planets that you can manually manage (i.e., build structures or change citizen specialization). Your home planet is automatically considered a core world, as are others that have a governor assigned to them.

Colonies, meanwhile, are all the planets that youve colonized, culture flipped, or conquered, provided that they dont have a governor assigned to them.

All resources generated by that colony will be funneled into the nearest core world, boosting that planet even further. You can see these as thin lines leading from one planet to the next.

Keeping a planet a colony or turning it into a core world

Colony upgrades can be acquired if you research certain techs or acquire specific resources. Examples include an Orbital Shield (+10 planetary defense), Colony Beacon (+3 influence growth), and Monitoring Station (-5% crime).

Alternatively, you can select a colony and click on Assign Governor to pick a character that will be in charge. However, do keep in mind that turning a colony into a core world means that youll need to construct tile improvements and handle citizens manually. Still, you may also open the Leaders screen to fire a Governor. This will cause that planet to revert back into a colony.

Note: Galactic Civilizations IV does not have an AI governor feature for core worlds. As such, its better to focus only on wealthy/high-class planets that can be turned into core worlds. You dont want to have headaches due to tedious micromanagement.

Colonizing new planets in Galactic Civilizations IV

All major factions in Galactic Civilizations IV start with at least one Colony Ship, allowing you to gain a foothold on new frontiers from the get-go. Also, if the faction allows it, you can activate the Draft Colonists Executive Order. It costs 33 Control and youll lose a bit of approval. But, you do obtain a free Colony Ship instantly. For example, if youre playing as the Terran Alliance, you can swiftly colonize Mars and Artemis.

Note: Some planets that you colonize will trigger an event. The decision that you make can provide resources, Ideology points/spread, additional leaders, and more.

Colony Ships can be built by default via the shipyard. However, certain kinds of planets might require techs to be researched first before your people can claim them safely. Youll want to check the Colonization (green) tab for the following:

Last but not least, colonization in Galactic Civilizations IV requires a citizen from the core world to board it. This citizen will be that new planets first settler, subsequently improving its growth in the long run.

Note 1: The Mimot Brotherhood faction has the Fertile and Proliferation abilities. This allows these cute furballs to rapidly breed, and any ship you construct will also have a duplicate. You should be able to rush planets to create a massive empire. Just be forewarned that Mimot Brotherhood citizens tend to consume a lot of food as well.

Note 2: When playing on larger galaxy maps, be sure to defend Subspace Streams. Since these lead to other sectors with countless planets, you can keep your opponents at bay with a stationary fleet.

Galactic Civilizations IV is available via the Epic Games Store.

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Galactic Civilizations IV: Core worlds, colonies, and colonization guide - PC Invasion