HackingTheUniverse

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For anyone interested in the asteroid belt or space exploration, this MUST SEE video offers a viewpoint of the last thirty years of our discovery of new asteroids. The text below the video is helpful. Asteroid Discovery From 1980 – 2010 – [youtube.com] View of the solar system showing the locations of all the asteroids [...]

The future of space exploration comes in three stages: space lift – escaping the gravity well, whether by brute force impulse rocket or space elevator or some other means space habitats – space stations, space hotels, space colonies, living environments space vehicles – vehicles designed to move through space with little or no gravity have [...]

ET phone home. . . slowly. In cyber-security, a stealthy attempt at reconnaissance often involves slowing down a scan until the time frame goes below the parameters in the intrusion detection signatures and the scan effectively disappears from the radar of the defenders. SETI radio astronomers monitor space for tell-tale radio signals that might demonstrate [...]

If our Solar System and planet Earth are typical of the universe, then considering how many galaxies and how many stars there are, the place should be teeming with intelligent life. (see the link to the Drake Equation below that discusses this) The Fermi Paradox is that in spite of this logical reasoning that there [...]

There are some problems with a mission to “land” on an asteroid: Space shuttle not available – the space shuttle is due for retirement and even if it could be pulled out of mothballs, it is unlikely that it would be capable of making an asteroid rendezvous. The shuttle was designed for orbital missions and [...]

In what may be the most serious test of solar sail technology to date, Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) on May 18, 2010. IKAROS will use a rotational maneuver to unfurl and deploy the sail, which is 20 meters across, 0.0075 mm thick and [...]

Hayabusa (Falcon), the little engine that could in space, is on the way back from the asteroid belt. Nov 3, 2005 Japan’s Hayabusa Closes in on Asteroid Landing Site – [space.com] Stunning imagery is being returned by Japan’s Hayabusa space probe as it draws closer to its celestial target: asteroid Itokawa. Now just a few [...]

VASIMR is a high powered plasma engine being developed by Ad Astra Rocket Company in Houston. The VAriable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket is a drive that creates propulsion by expelling ionized hyrdrogen plasma and uses superconductors to increase the strength of the magnetic field involved and maximize thrust. VASIMR – [adastrarocket.com] The Variable Specific Impulse [...]

It has long been known that water exists in comets, asteroids, on Mars and on the Moon, but the key question has always been, “how much is there?” Shadows in craters at the Moon’s poles have been suspected to hold some ice, but there was little hope of finding enough moisture across the rest of [...]

Spider bots placed inside an active volcano that can self-organize into a mesh network of wireless sensors may be providing a prototype for exploring harsh environments in both space and here on Earth. ‘Spiderbots’ talk amongst themselves inside active volcano – [newscientist.com] Fifteen spiderbots, so-named because of the three spindly arms protruding from their suitcase-sized [...]