Started by Nostromo, Aug 27, 2016, 03:31:59 PM
Quote from: Space.comWill we one day combine tardigrade DNA with our cells to go to Mars? Chris Mason, a geneticist and associate professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell University in New York, has investigated the genetic effects of spaceflight and how humans might overcome these challenges to expand our species farther into the solar system. One of the (strangest) ways that we might protect future astronauts on missions to places like Mars, Mason said, might involve the DNA of tardigrades, tiny micro-animals that can survive the most extreme conditions, even the vacuum of space!
Quote from: 426Buddy on Nov 12, 2019, 02:10:38 AMSounds ripe for a scifi horror film
Quote from: Local Trouble on Nov 12, 2019, 02:11:15 AMAnyone found the Klingons around Uranus yet?
QuotePrevious research has suggested that "light sailing" might be one of the only technically feasible ways to get a probe to another star within a human lifetime. Although light does not exert much pressure, scientists have long suggested that what little it does apply could have a major effect. Indeed, numerous experiments have shown that "solar sails" can rely on sunlight for propulsion, given a large enough mirror and a lightweight-enough spacecraft. The $100 million Breakthrough Starshot initiative, which was announced in 2016, plans to launch swarms of microchip-size spacecraft to Alpha Centauri, each of them sporting extraordinarily thin, incredibly reflective sails propelled by the most powerful lasers ever built. The plan has them flying at up to 20% the speed of light, reaching Alpha Centauri in about 20 years.One concern with using laser sails is that if they drift out of alignment with the propelling laser beams — which will be based here on Earth, at least initially, in Breakthrough Starshot's plan — they may veer wildly off course from their targets. Now scientists have designed and tested a new sail that could in principle automatically keep itself centered on a laser beam for the required few minutes, allowing a spacecraft to stay on course for interplanetary or even interstellar journeys.
Quote from: Gr33n M4n on Apr 08, 2020, 11:32:23 PMNASA is contemplating the idea of turning a Moon crater into a giant telescope.
