The Daily Galaxy: Great Discoveries Channel

Will the Future of Space Travel Be Driven by Entepreneurs or Nations?

Costa Rican-American physicist/rocket scientist Franklin Chang-Diaz is typical of the new breed of entrepreneurs driving the future of space travel. The future astronaut has some interesting insights on the kind of power and propulsion will need in order to truly colonize space. By his calculations, a trip to Mars could take as little as 39 days, and, with the development of nuclear powered travel, people could visit anywhere in the solar system within a few weeks. Chang-Diaz believes that these kinds of developments aren’t too far away.

Who Will Go to and Will They Return?

There is a lot of discussion at the moment about the future of human space travel; where will we go, and what will we do. Some don’t want us to go to Mars, others want us going to asteroids, and others want us going back to the Moon.

Plan X: Deadly Mission to the Red Planet

It’s bold and it’s bad, but some brave souls say we can overcome the biggest challenge of a mission by making it a one-way trip. A planet of extremes, is home to the largest mountain in the solar system, the largest canyon in the solar system and intensely severe dust storms. It is also home to the only other likely option for humans to live within our Solar System.

Star Trek “Ion Shield” Offers Solution for Mars-bound Space Crews

“It’s no accident that Star Trek featured this sort of technology, as it had advisers who work for NASA and it’s feasible. The shields seem to be some sort of invisible barrier, which energy bounces off, and that sort of deflector shield is exactly what we’re talking about.”

~ Dr Ruth Bamford, Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire

Branson Unveils SpaceShipTwo: “2008 is the Year of the Spaceship”

Branson announced a new era of space travel as he unveiled SpaceShipTwo, a suborbital spaceplane developed by The Spaceship Company, which is a joint venture between Scaled Composites and Virgin Group. The Virgin Galactic spaceline plans to operate a fleet of five of these craft in passenger-carrying private spaceflight service as early as late next year.

Space Roaches Develop into Super Mutants

Maybe it’s time to welcome our new insect overlords. In what sounds like the prequel to the movie Alien, Russian news Agency Novosti, reported on an experiment involving baby cockroaches conceived aboard a satellite in back in September. Apparently, they found, a trip to space gives roaches “superpowers”.

The ISS "UFO" -International Space Station to Launch a Paper Spaceplane to Land on Earth

We know that without an evil enemy to race against NASA's budget has fallen in the last few decades, but recent plans make things sound desperate: they're going to launch a paper plane -an astrogami spaceplane. 

Luckily this isn't the last gasp before we see astronauts panhandling for change with signs reading "Will mime Zero-G for rocket fuel", but an awesome expression of the childlike wonder that space travel is meant to have.

Virgin Galactic to Offer Space Cruise through Aurora Borealis

Imagine what kind of spectacular show it would be like to fly into the heart of the Northern Lights. You may not have to imagine forever. Richard Branson has been busy thinking up new ways to get people excited about private space tourism, and he’s come up with something pretty spectacular. He’s offering to fly the affluent into the world’s biggest lightshow, the Aurora Borealis.

Time or Earth Time?

What day is it? Do days exist without calendars? Does time pass when there are no human hands left to wind the clocks?

- Howard Koch, Invasion from Mars, the 1938 radio play based on H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds

NASA Faces the Big Questions: Life, Death and Sex in Space

NASA is planning ahead for a manned mission to within the next few decades. Although technologies may develop that dramatically shorten the trip, chances are that it will be a long flight there and back—around 3 years by current estimates. What do you do if someone dies or is critically injured along the way? Do you keep them alive? What do you do with the body?

Will the Future of Space Travel Be Driven by Entepreneurs or Nations?

Costa Rican-American physicist/rocket scientist Franklin Chang-Diaz is typical of the new breed of entrepreneurs driving the future of space travel. The future astronaut has some interesting insights on the kind of power and propulsion will need in order to truly colonize space. By his calculations, a trip to Mars could take as little as 39 days, and, with the development of nuclear powered travel, people could visit anywhere in the solar system within a few weeks. Chang-Diaz believes that these kinds of developments aren’t too far away.

Who Will Go to and Will They Return?

There is a lot of discussion at the moment about the future of human space travel; where will we go, and what will we do. Some don’t want us to go to Mars, others want us going to asteroids, and others want us going back to the Moon.

Plan X: Deadly Mission to the Red Planet

It’s bold and it’s bad, but some brave souls say we can overcome the biggest challenge of a mission by making it a one-way trip. A planet of extremes, is home to the largest mountain in the solar system, the largest canyon in the solar system and intensely severe dust storms. It is also home to the only other likely option for humans to live within our Solar System.

Star Trek “Ion Shield” Offers Solution for Mars-bound Space Crews

“It’s no accident that Star Trek featured this sort of technology, as it had advisers who work for NASA and it’s feasible. The shields seem to be some sort of invisible barrier, which energy bounces off, and that sort of deflector shield is exactly what we’re talking about.”

~ Dr Ruth Bamford, Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire

Branson Unveils SpaceShipTwo: “2008 is the Year of the Spaceship”

Branson announced a new era of space travel as he unveiled SpaceShipTwo, a suborbital spaceplane developed by The Spaceship Company, which is a joint venture between Scaled Composites and Virgin Group. The Virgin Galactic spaceline plans to operate a fleet of five of these craft in passenger-carrying private spaceflight service as early as late next year.

Space Roaches Develop into Super Mutants

Maybe it’s time to welcome our new insect overlords. In what sounds like the prequel to the movie Alien, Russian news Agency Novosti, reported on an experiment involving baby cockroaches conceived aboard a satellite in back in September. Apparently, they found, a trip to space gives roaches “superpowers”.

The ISS "UFO" -International Space Station to Launch a Paper Spaceplane to Land on Earth

We know that without an evil enemy to race against NASA's budget has fallen in the last few decades, but recent plans make things sound desperate: they're going to launch a paper plane -an astrogami spaceplane. 

Luckily this isn't the last gasp before we see astronauts panhandling for change with signs reading "Will mime Zero-G for rocket fuel", but an awesome expression of the childlike wonder that space travel is meant to have.

Virgin Galactic to Offer Space Cruise through Aurora Borealis

Imagine what kind of spectacular show it would be like to fly into the heart of the Northern Lights. You may not have to imagine forever. Richard Branson has been busy thinking up new ways to get people excited about private space tourism, and he’s come up with something pretty spectacular. He’s offering to fly the affluent into the world’s biggest lightshow, the Aurora Borealis.

Time or Earth Time?

What day is it? Do days exist without calendars? Does time pass when there are no human hands left to wind the clocks?

- Howard Koch, Invasion from Mars, the 1938 radio play based on H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds

NASA Faces the Big Questions: Life, Death and Sex in Space

NASA is planning ahead for a manned mission to within the next few decades. Although technologies may develop that dramatically shorten the trip, chances are that it will be a long flight there and back—around 3 years by current estimates. What do you do if someone dies or is critically injured along the way? Do you keep them alive? What do you do with the body?