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The team used semiconductor catalysts to turn carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and ethylene, a hydrocarbon commonly used to produce spacecraft propellants, according to the SCMP. “This technology mimics the natural photosynthesis process of green plants through engineered physical and chemical methods, utilizing carbon dioxide resources in confined spaces or extraterrestrial atmospheres to produce oxygen…
Almost seven minutes following liftoff, the Super Heavy booster returned to its launchpad, where the launch tower caught it using arms that SpaceX has nicknamed the “chopsticks.” https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/24269029/spacex-starship-launch-super-heavy-chopstick-launch-tower-return-fifth-flight-test
Worth it for the drone footage… A Chinese space startup conducted what it called a “high-altitude” test flight of its Nebula-1 rocket on Sunday, launching the vehicle to an altitude of about 5 km or so before attempting to land it back at the Ejin Banner Spaceport in Inner Mongolia. The test flight went well…
Not long ago, Eubanks and his colleagues produced research papers addressing some big questions about interstellar exploration, including communications and what we might learn from a flyby of Proxima b. During the 2024 NIAC Symposium, which took place from September 10th to 12th in Pasadena, California, Eubanks and his colleagues had the opportunity to present their latest findings. As…
At some point in the future we’ll say “we were warned”… this was the first warning we got about feckin’ about with asteroids: When NASA deliberately smashed the asteroid Dimorphos with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft back in 2022, it was seen as a technological triumph because it demonstrated that humans have the ability to redirect a…
I knew it was good… but I had no idea: How much antimatter is needed to heat 1 T of H2 from cryogenic liquid to 4000 K? About 300 micrograms. 1200 T of H2 requires 360 milligrams of antimatter. If that antimatter is cryogenically frozen solid antihydrogen, it occupies about 4 mL. Somewhat less than…
In short, only one company—SpaceX—is thriving in NASA’s commercial space ecosystem. https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/07/spacex-just-stomped-the-competition-for-a-new-contract-thats-not-great/ There seems to be a whiff of regulatory capture…
… because of progress like this:
Dave5 