Space – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Introducing: Asteroid Day LIVE Speakers

Posted by Brett Gallie II in space | 1 Comment on Introducing: Asteroid Day LIVE Speakers

Jun 1
2017

You can watch the entire 24-hour broadcast right here: http://asteroidday.org/live | View the full schedule, here.

Asteroid Day LIVE Speakers from Luxembourg

Time is running fast! There’s officially only one month left until Asteroid Day 2017 and our live broadcast programme is taking clear forms. The schedule is set, the outline drafted, a studio set being built and most of the speakers confirmed. Here’s our rundown of whom you can expect during the 6 hours live from Luxembourg on June 30th from 12 – 6 PM (Berlin time / UTC+2). This line-up in addition to the many guests and speakers over the course of the 24-hour-live-broadcast during the other programme slots by our partners at ESA, JAXA, NASA, the University of Arizona and many others.

This is What Happens When Galaxies Collide

Posted by Dan Kummer in computing, space

May 31
2017

Astrophysicist Paul Sutter details how galaxies collide, merge, and rip each other apart.

NASA outlines Parker Solar Probe mission to ‘touch the sun’

Posted by Dan Kummer in space

May 31
2017

The mission is named after Eugene Parker, whose work has revolutionized scientists’ understanding of the sun.

Declining costs to enter orbit

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in space

May 31
2017

The New Kids in Space Take Off

Posted by Klaus Baldauf in Elon Musk, space

May 31
2017

Private companies enter the conquest of space. Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos are some of the examples of the “New Space” era.

Gallery: Stratolaunch, founded in 2011 by Paul G. Allen, is developing an air-launch platform to make access to space more convenient, reliable, and routine

Posted by Klaus Baldauf in space

May 31
2017

NASA announces historic mission to finally ‘touch the sun’

Posted by Dan Kummer in physics, space

May 31
2017

CHICAGO — NASA is revealing new details Wednesday about its first-ever mission to fly into the sun’s atmosphere.

The Solar Probe Plus will be the first spacecraft to fly directly into the sun’s atmosphere.

NASA says it will zoom within 4 miles of the sun’s surface and will hopefully answer decades old questions about the physics of how stars work.

For The First Time Ever, CRISPR Gene Editing Was Used in Humans. So What’s Next?

Posted by Dan Kummer in bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics, space

May 29
2017

With Chinese scientists announcing that they have tested CRISPR on a human for the first time, the U.S. must decide soon whether it will be a leader or a follower in advancing the tech.
While gene editing technology could be used in nefarious ways, it could also cure diseases and improve millions of lives, but we won’t know how effective it is until we begin human trials.

While the middle part of the 20th century saw the world’s superpowers racing to explore space, the first global competition of this century is being set in a much smaller arena: our DNA.

Russia thinks microorganisms may be living outside the space station

Posted by Dan Kummer in space

May 28
2017

May 26 (UPI) — Officials with Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, say their scientists have identified plankton and other microorganisms among dust samples collected from the outside of the International Space Station.

“The micrometeorites and comet dust that settle on the ISS surface may contain biogenic substance of extra-terrestrial origin in its natural form,” Roscosmos officials said in a news release. “The ISS surface is possibly a unique and easily available collector and keeper of comet substance and, possibly, of biomaterial of extra-terrestrial origin.”

NASA officials said they couldn’t confirm the story.

Near-Term Interstellar Probes: Some Gentle Suggestions

Posted by Montie Adkins in innovation, space

May 28
2017

A bit of every speculative propulsion system.

When Greg Matloff’s “Solar Sail Starships: Clipper Ships of the Galaxy” appeared in JBIS in 1981, the science fictional treatments of interstellar sails I had been reading suddenly took on scientific plausibility. Later, I would read Robert Forward’s work, and realize that an interstellar community was growing in space agencies, universities and the pages of journals. Since those days, Matloff’s contributions to the field have kept coming at a prodigious rate, with valuable papers and books exploring not only how we might reach the stars but what we can do in our own Solar System to ensure a bright future for humanity. In today’s essay, Greg looks at interstellar propulsion candidates and ponders the context provided by Breakthrough Starshot, which envisions small sailcraft moving at 20 percent of the speed of light, bound for Proxima Centauri. What can we learn from the effort, and what alternatives should we consider as we ponder the conundrum of interstellar propulsion?

by Dr. Greg Matloff

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