A consortium of seven European companies and academic institutions has been awarded a 2 million Euro financial grant from the 7th European Framework Program. Responding to a call for proposals entitled “Space,” the team aims to develop a fully autonomous self-deployable habitat that could be used for further research in space architecture as well as a convenient housing for scientists [...]
Articles written by: Tereza Pultarova
S.H.E.E. Brings Space Architecture to Earth: Pan-European Consortium Launches an Innovative Project
Everything You Wanted to Know about Space Tourism but Were Afraid to Ask
For at least the past ten years, space tourism has been the next big thing coming. With all the private human space flight companies announcing, postponing, and re-announcing the dates of the foreseen commencements of their operations, the public might have grown a little bit tired of waiting. One American news website even wrote earlier this month that with XCor [...]
Are You Healthy Enough for Commercial Spaceflight?
None of the private space companies planning to offer commercial human space flight opportunities have started their operations yet, however, discussion has been going on regarding the medical constraints limiting the possibilities of an individual to join either a suborbital or orbital space trip. So far it seems that authorities would prefer less strict medical requirements in order not to [...]
Will Apollo Training Inspire MarsOne?
In the past months, two companies announced their plans to train and launch a human crew to space in the next decade. Whereas the European based MarsOne promises to establish a Martian outpost by 2023 and plans to initiate an astronaut selection process in 2013, American Space Exploration Corporation recently announced their Lynx Academy competition that will award the best [...]
UFO versus a Weather Balloon: Recent Californian Mystery Solved
It must have been a huge disappointment for all mystery lovers and UFO believers when, shortly after the sighting of a strange object bursting high in the atmosphere above Sacramento, meteorologists pointed out the most probable cause of the phenomenon. Neither an alien spaceship, nor a collision creating space debris, but a simple weather balloon – the type of device used [...]
Recycling for Cheaper Space Travel
It seems now that space debris considerations have entered the daily agenda of most space agencies worldwide, other environmental issues are slowly following. As noticed appreciatively by many “green” writers in the past weeks, NASA has embarked on a project that should develop a way to utilize garbage produced by astronauts in space. Researchers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center are [...]
Was the Virgin Land Campaign only a Giant Cover-up for the Baikonour Construction?
According to a post in the Friends of NASA forum on LinkedIn in December, a 2006 Russian documentary movie called Secrets of the Century: Baikonour suggested that the large 1950s Soviet agricultural campaign, known also as Raising of the Tzelina, was nothing more than an extreme cover up designed to conceal the logistically demanding construction of what is today known [...]
Canadian Experiment to Focus on the Deadliest Radiation
High energy neutron particles cause the most dangerous type of space radiation. Representing approximately 30 percent of all radiation the astronauts aboard the ISS receive, it has the ability to damage biological cells and tissues. Created when charged particles collide with physical matter, such as the space station walls or equipment, the neutrons can penetrate organic tissues, harm the DNA, [...]
It’s All about People: NASA Psychiatrist Explains Why Space Itself Is Not Detrimental
Speaking to IO9.com earlier this month, current NASA psychiatrist Gary Beven explained why his job is important for the success of human space flight. Being only the fifth full-time NASA psychiatrist since the commencement of the American space program, Beven recalled that prior to the beginning of space stations and long duration stays in space, the need for psychiatry or [...]
Astronauts’ Little Helper or an Electronic Pet: Japan Builds a Robot for ISS
When Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata embarks on his mission to ISS later next year to become the Expedition 39 commander, he will have a little humanoid robot to help him run the operations and carry out daily tasks. A consortium of several Japanese companies including car-manufacturer Toyota, are currently building a 34 centimeter tall humanoid robot. Weighing just one kilogram, the [...]
