Virgin Galactic is planning to launch tourists into space via a unique system – a “mothership,” called “Eve,” will carry the actual passenger ship, called the “Enterprise,” to a hight of about 50,000 feet. From there, the Enterprise will detach from the mothership, and, propelled by a hybrid rocket system, launch into space. Yesterday saw [...]
Posts under ‘Space Travel’
SpaceX rocket tests successful
Good news for those of us following developments in private space exploration, as SpaceX successfully tested its Falcon 9 rocket over the weekend. SpaceX is contracted with NASA to provide cargo transport to the International Space Station through 2016, and is scheduled to take its first official test flight of its Dragon spacecraft sometime this spring: [...]
Opportunities expand for study of “space law”
As much as I hate to admit it, if humans are going to establish any sort of long-term presence in space, we’re going to need lawyers. The University of Sunderland, based in the UK, is leading the charge with a “module” that will explore “space law” – unique legal questions that have arisen and will [...]
From Earth to Mars in six weeks? New engine could make it happen
The biggest barrier to manned exploration of Mars is the time it would take to get there – with current technology (chemical rockets) it would take about eight months. However, a new propulsion technology that uses jets of superheated plasma to propel a craft using “steady, efficient thrust” could cut that time to merely 40 [...]
NASA finds “at least” 600 million tons of water ice on Moon
We’ve known that the Moon definitively contains water ice since late last year when NASA crashed a probe into the south pole and measured the resulting plume of debris. This evening NASA unveiled findings that measured the presence of water ice on the north pole, and we learned that ice is abundant there to the [...]
Do humans owe the universe the gift of life?
There’s a chance that humans are unique in the universe – the only species that has evolved sapience. From what we know based on our extremely limited observations of our tiny little speck of space, Earth may be the home to the only life in the universe, period. At some point, at most billions of [...]
United States to end NASA Moon program – a good thing?
To minimize existential threats that could lead to the destruction of all of humanity, humans must eventually leave the planet that has nurtured us. While the search for exosolar “New Earths” continues, near future technology could enable us to comfortably colonize bodies in our solar system, including Earth’s moon, Mars, Titan, and even large objects [...]