simple photography: Space exploration

Monday, May 17, 2010

Artificial Gravity on the International Space Station

NASA is working on artificial gravity for the International Space Station and possibly for space craft as well. Now this feels like it is right out of science fiction! I have been watching some episodes from Star Trek:Deep Space Nine and I always have in the back of my mind that the station is in space while everyone walks around as if they had the gravity of a planet holding them down because everytime I see pictures from the ISS, they are floating around as the astronauts try to complete their daily tasks. The astronauts also need to exercise regularly and take medication to curb bone loss, from the article:

New plans for artificial gravity tests in space using centrifuges may hold the key to helping future astronauts ward off the debilitating loss of muscle and bone due to weightlessness on long missions to asteroids or the moon under NASA's revised space exploration plan.
Space station residents currently rely upon different exercises to keep themselves fit for the eventual return to Earth. But a spinning centrifuge device could create artificial gravity, which simulates the gravitational tug a planet, like Earth, has. The giant spinning device will give astronauts a healthy break from the weightlessness of space.
"You can try to treat each of the effects of weightlessness system by system, with certain pills for bone loss and certain exercise regimens for the muscles," said Laurence Young, an aeronautics and astronautics engineer at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. "Or you can treat the root cause of weightlessness by restoring gravity."

Artificial gravity sets the stage for long term visits to the ISS but if implemented into a craft that could travel long distances in space, could imply longer trips into the solar system as long as fresh air, food supply, and water, can be available for that same amount of time.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Space Weapon Being Tested

As reported on Space.com, the U.S. Air Force is testing a space glider and I imagine the little money left for NASA was diverted to this kind of project. It is one thing in a science fiction show to have space craft and weapons to DEFEND yourself from other sentient aliens who have similar technology and there are no provocations, and it is another thing to build space craft to attack right here on planet Earth to provoke hostility one county against another. WOW!

A U.S. Air Force space plane and a failed hypersonic glider tested by the Pentagon represent the latest space missions to raise concerns about weapons in space. But while their exact purpose remains murky, they join a host of new space technology tests that could eventually bring the battlefield into space.
Some space technology demonstrations are more obviously space weapons, such as the anti-satellite missile capabilities tested by the U.S. and China in recent years. India has also begun developing its own anti-satellite program which would combine lasers and an exo-atmospheric kill vehicle, as announced at the beginning of 2010.
The U.S. military could even be using the cloak of mystery to deliberately bamboozle and confuse rival militaries, according to John Pike, a military and security analyst who runs GlobalSecurity.org. He suggested that the X-37B and HTV-2 projects could represent the tip of a space weapons program hidden within the Pentagon's secret "black budget," or they might be nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

You can read the entire article here.
I wish people in their personal lives, cities, states, and countries could live in peace and find peaceful solutions to problems, but I guess that is too much to ask. I have always enjoyed Star Trek: The Next Generation because solutions were sought through talk, treaties, meetings, peace, and fighting was usually the last resort. The entire concept of the Federation of Planets was to invite other worlds who desired a peaceful union working together. Of course there were conquering races such as the Klingons and Romulans, but there will always be a force to face that has interests opposed to your own, thus the ability to negotiate peacefully is vital.