Former astronaut Jeffery Hoffman is proposing a hybrid system to protect future astronauts; on long voyages through the solar system they will be exposed to lethal doses of radiation from cosmic rays. He has recieved funding from NASA through NIAC (NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts) to research the idea of a superconducting magnetic radiation shielding system to supplement (or replace) traditional passive shielding. The idea of using a magnetic field to shield a craft from radiation is not new; as Dr. Hoffman points out “the Earth has been doing it for billions of years!” Using magnetic shielding was proposed in the late 1960’s, but not pursued after plans for further space exporation were scrapped.
December 14th, 2004
On Mars: Earth-Like Clouds and a New Type of Rock
NASA’s Mars rovers have returned new evidence for past water, pictures of Earth-like clouds seen for the first time from the planet’s surface, and a rock that doesn’t look like anything scientists have ever seen. Meanwhile, officials say both robots are in surprisingly good health and could continue their science investigations for months more, despite nagging health problems.
December 14th, 2004
Life-Swapping Scenarios for Earth and Mars
Evidence is mounting that the time-weathered red planet was once a warm and water-rich world. And a Mars awash with water gives rise to that globe possibly being fit for habitation in its past
December 9th, 2004
Space Cooking: Feeding Astronauts on Mars-bound Missions
While NASA engineers toil away with spacecraft designs to determine how humans will explore the moon and Mars, other researchers are developing devices to help future astronauts feed their hunger. Future long-duration space crews may need up to 40 different food processing machines to turn crops such as wheat and tomatoes into edible foods like bread and cereals, NASA officials estimated.
December 3rd, 2004
Robotic Tomato Harvester Ready For Space
Astronauts on space missions are busy — too busy to tend the hydroponic gardens that will keep them alive on long trips to distant worlds, or on the surface of the Moon or Mars. Using a $100,000 NASA grant, Peter Ling of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center has created a robotic tomato harvester to keep astronauts on task. NASA understands that long-term space missions depend on some form of farming as a matter of survivial. Plant cultivation not only yields foodstuffs and organic material, but also helps make air breathable and can provide water filtration.
December 2nd, 2004
With Proof of Ancient Water on Mars, Researchers Consider Life’s Chances
Researchers can now say definitively that Mars once supported a watery environment, but whether the red planet could have ever supported life is still far from certain. The success of NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity in finding tell-tale signs of past water at its Meridiani Planum landing site has left some researchers believing the region could have once been a habitable, albeit still hostile, environment.
December 1st, 2004
Fly Higher, Fly Lighter: ‘Ballute’ Technology Aimed at Moon Missions
NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate is on the lookout for new concepts for its Vision for Space Exploration — the White House-backed Moon, Mars and beyond agenda. And on November 16th, NASA selected a concept from Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation for inflatable thin-film ballutes for return from the Moon. Not only Moon-to-Earth traffic could benefit by using the ballute/aerocapture technique. So too could missions to Mars, as well as future probes to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, and other distant destinations.
November 25th, 2004
Artificial Gravity: A New Spin on an Old Idea
Keeping an astronaut crew in tip-top shape during lengthy treks to and from distant Mars may demand portable gravity. There
November 24th, 2004
Bigelow Space Module Flight Gets Government Okay
The U.S. Government has given payload approval to Bigelow Aerospace permitting the entrepreneurial firm to launch its inflatable space module technology. Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas, Nevada has blueprinted a step-by-step program to explore the use of inflatable Earth orbiting modules. Those modules would not only support made-in-microgravity product development, but serve as the technology foundation for eventual space tourist housing and use of similar structures on the Moon and Mars.
November 15th, 2004
NASA To Test Laser Communications With Mars Spacecraft
Work is underway to establish the first interplanetary laser communication link. The $300 million NASA experiment, if successful, will connect robotic spacecraft at Mars with scientists back on Earth via a beam of light traveling some 300 million kilometers. For scientists eager to download bandwidth-intensive imagery and other data collected by planetary orbiters, probes and landers, the laser communications would offer a dramatic breakthrough in the amounts of information spacecraft can reliably transmit back to Earth.