Come 2018, Mars will have a potential water farm cruising around to investigate the presence of surface moisture. Confirmed earlier this year, Mars’ water is a brine-like liquid that evaporates and condenses in cycles. A Mars-exploration partnership between European and Russian space agencies known as ExoMars will launch a rover and surface platform in May…
NASA to Exit Space Station By 2028 in Move Toward Moon
When the International Space Station becomes inoperative — in 2028 at the latest — NASA has decided it won’t be seeking a replacement. At an advisory council meeting last week, according to Ars Technica, NASA’s chief of human spaceflight William Gerstenmaier announced that they’ll be moving out of the ISS in low Earth orbit and…
Space Mining Now Legal, Though Controversial, in U.S.
President Obama made history last week when he signed the SPACE Act of 2015 into law. The SPACE — Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship — Act was introduced in May to be a boon to the aerospace industry. It encourages commercial space flight — good news for Blue Origins’ space tourism goals — and…
SpaceX Might Be Next to Launch U.S. Military Satellites
SpaceX had to wage a legal battle to be considered for the military satellite launches. It’s a good thing they did, because they’re now a finalist for the contract. The United Launch Alliance — a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed-Martin — did not bid on the project, leaving room for SpaceX to potentially win the…
Space Mining Is One Step Closer to Takeoff
Last week, the Space Act of 2015 was approved by the Senate, with minor amendments, and it just hurdled another potential obstacle: approval by the House of Representatives. Next, the bill heads to President Obama’s desk. The proposed act would, among other things, allow “commercial exploration and recovery of space resources.” Not only would the…
Tree-Lined Skyscrapers Hope to Increase High-Rise Sustainability
Treescrapers – or farmscrapers – that plant trees and other plants on the exterior of skyscrapers help envision a future of progress, blending development with environmental sustainability. Nonetheless, it seems like a long-shot to have high-rises dotted with deciduous trees in the mainstream. But that architectural tide might be turning. Milan’s “Bosco Verticale” — meaning…
Walking Graphene Sheets Could Be the Key to Artificial Muscles
Scientists think they finally have the makings to create real-life Transformers — or, at the very least, create artificial muscles, micro-robots and more. This miracle material: graphene. Graphene itself isn’t anything new; it’s simply a one-atom-thick layer of carbon. A few of its stand-out qualities include being very elastic, more than 200 times stronger than…
New Satellite Surveillance Could Mean Never Losing a Plane Again
The March 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, with 239 passengers aboard, left many people reeling — how can a plane “disappear” in this day and age, and how can we make sure it never happens again? A U.N. agency has found a solution. Currently, commercial flights are tracked using ground-based radar. The problem…