space

Space

Space (1207)
Space debris (23)
Space environment (7)
Space exploration (38)
Space exploration vehicle (37)
Space mission (23)
Space probe (9)
Space program (8)
Space regions (37)
Space science (9)
Space shuttle (16)
Space station (88)
Space technology (11)
Space travel (13)
Spacecraft (209)
Spaceflight (31)
Spacesuit (11)

The smallest spacecraft in orbit As I type this, there a satellite sitting on the desk in front of me.

but this spacecraft is little bigger than a postage stamp, and around the width of a slice of processed cheese.

It may not look much like a typical spacecraft, but next month, 100 miniature satellites like this one will be blasted into orbit.

through the Kickstarter crowdfunding website to enable people to have their own personal spacecraft, known as a sprite.

and here at BBC Future we have been following it for the past two years. he idea is to make space super-cheap

easier than anything that flown into space before. Getting to this point however, has proven far more difficult for Manchester than ever expected.

It also required careful thinking about how to safely launch a hundred tiny bits of potential space debris without them posing a danger to bigger orbiting spacecraft.

squeezed into a Falcon 9 rocket alongside an International space station (ISS) Dragon supply capsule. here typically a bunch of space left little nooks and crannies

The slight delay is to avoid a space debris disaster like the movie Gravity. It be a risk

if 100 tiny satellites end up pinging around the world at high speed in exactly the same orbit as the space station.

The mothership will spend at least seven days in orbit before the sprites themselves are released. here are some space debris mitigation concerns

and a bit of know-how, will be able to follow all the spacecraft from the ground. hat wee been able to do with Kicksat is tap into the developments in consumer electronics,

Indeed, paperwork headaches stopped BBC Future sending its own satellite to space. Due to a mix-up, the particular sprite we had planned was loaded not into the mothership

For most of them, this will be the first space mission where they have direct involvement. We can all be rocket scientists now and that certainly not a little thing

creates some unique challenges. ne of the most important aspects of any AR system is the ability to track image, space environments, objects,

we could store 100,000 times more information in the same space-instead of one movie, you could store 100,000 movies.

a nation waits with baited breath as a spacecraft door is opened. Slowly an astronaut emerges, the blackness of space behind him.

He gestures to the camera before edging his way out. A few moments later a flag is waved, red with gold stars on it.

what is known in space exploration as an EVA (extra vehicular activity). The man in the suit, Zhai Zhigang, joined Russia's Alexey Leonov and America's Ed white in the history books as his nation's first space walker.

Of course, the then Soviet union and the Americans did this back in the 1960s, a time in

Its progress in space, when compared with the United states, has been likened to the story of the tortoise and the hare.

the China National Space Administration (CNSA) launched Chang'e-3, a lunar mission named after a Moon goddess with a six-wheeled rover named Yutu,

since the US and Soviet union to put exploratory spacecraft on the Moon#the last time being the Soviet Luna 24 mission in 1976.

Senior Curator in the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum,"help to answer some important questions about the origins of the Moon and geologic processes there.#

deep space and human space flight#completing EVAS, space rendezvous and dockings. According to Pollpeter,"by the end of the decade the Chinese say they want to move from being

what is classed as a major space power to being a strong space power.##This would put them on par with the US, Russia and Europe.

Within a little more than a decade, the only working space station in orbit could be Chinese. It announced plans to take international astronauts aboard its larger space station,

scheduled for completion at the end of the decade#a time when the International space station may be out of service. While Apollo was about the Cold war,

it is harder to glean the exact motives for China's lunar programme. Pollpeter thinks it is"mainly for symbolic reasons#.

China is in a space race, but it's with other Asian countries like India, Japan, Malaysia and Korea.

#because of its collaboration with smaller nations assisting with space programmes and satellite launches. And India seems keen to keep up with the Chinese in space achievements,

launching a probe to Mars last month. Although India is still far behind, its efforts to reach a similar level are perceived indicative of the regional strategic benefits.

But, as with the US and Soviet union, the early days of China's space programme is military to some extent."

"Ninety-five percent of space technology is considered dual use, meaning of value to both the civilian and military communities,

"China can use space to project power further from its shores, and to more accurately carry out strikes against adversaries.#

#Earlier this year, for example, China's space agency said it launched three satellites to clean up space debris orbiting the Earth:

or prevent the use of space-based assets by adversaries during times of crisis or conflict.#

#Not that China is the only nation working on space weaponry#America is too#though US law prohibits Nasa from collaborating

Yet the idea of seeing another Apollo-type event may just be a case of wishful thinking, a consequence of perceiving it as the epiphany of the space exploration agenda.

The US supports its space programme, but is reluctant to increase Nasa's funds. Nasa's budget for 2014 is more than a billion less than 2012,

"Funding a space programme is much harder in democracies.##However, Launius believes similar Apollo-style missions may not resonate with the public in the same way as it did four decades ago.

China seems determined to inspire its citizens through its own space achievements. Earlier this year, female taikonaut Wang Yaping gave the first live lesson from space to 60 million students on the effects of zero gravity.

One user posted in response on the social media site Weibo, according to CNN: The US used to be proud of their space class,

#Africa, Clooney and an unlikely space race What do George Clooney and Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir have in common?

They both have their eyes on space #and in particular, harnessing the satellites orbiting above Africa's skies.

The pair join various governments and companies now looking to harness space research across the African continent.

and Morocco#currently have space programmes of their own, others are racing to catch up, including Ghana and Ethiopia.

So what's driving Africa's soaring ambitions for space? And are the plans realistic?

Africa's interest in space arguably began half a century ago, as the US and Soviet union's space race was heating up.

In 1964, a Zambian science teacher named Edward Mukaka Nkoloso appointed himself the director of the Zambia National Academy of Space Research,

and unofficially launched the first#and most eccentric#space programme on the continent. His rather lofty goal was to put a Zambian on the moon before anybody else.

In the following decades, South africa developed its own space research projects, mostly for military purposes.

at the turn of the century, African nations began to ramp up their space efforts. In 2001 Nigeria established its National Space Research and development Agency

and launched its first small satellite in 2003. The satellites it put into the space provide everything from high-resolution imagery to monitor the country's shrinking farmland, to cheaper wireless and internet coverage.

Last year, Ghana launched its Space science and Technology Center, to"foster teaching, learning, commercial application of space research,

#as a precursor to a full-blown space agency by 2016, intended to lead the nation's civilian space exploration efforts.

And Ethiopia#one of the world's poorest countries#has unveiled two new telescopes atop a mountain on the outskirts of Addis ababa

To Western eyes, it may seem rather innappropriate to launch space programmes in Sub-saharan africa, where nearly 70%of the population still lives on less $2 a day.

Yet Joseph Akinyede, director of the African Regional Centre for Space science and Technology Education in Nigeria, an education centre affiliated with the United nations Office for Outer space Affairs,

says that the application of space science technology and research to"basic necessities#of life#health education, energy, food security,

chairman of the Ethiopian Space science Society argues that enhancing local expertise via space research is vital."

"Almost every sector here in Ethiopia is using space science technology, #he says, citing mobile phones, agricultural activities, and aviation."

Nearly all of Africa's space programmes are partnered with foreign countries#arguably limiting their autonomy and control of data and information generated.

An AU working group on space chaired by South africa, with members representing Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt and Algeria, will present their recommendations on how to make Afrispace a reality to an AU parliament in November next year.

For years, African leaders have seen space investment as"a luxury, at the bottom of the list of priorities,#says Hakim.

The expertise required to rival other large space agencies may also be a long way off#at least judging by the way some existing African space organizations present themselves to the world.

Our use of space of technology is not to its full potential.##Still, there is no doubt that activity is ramping up across the continent,

"See you in space, #he said, before ending the call,"#one day#.#If you would like to comment on this

when they are used to probe big questions about the fundamental nature of matter, space and time.

doughnut-shaped spaceship sitting in the middle of a large green field. Get much closer and youl find researchers trying to better understand how modern car engines work,

or requiring separate office spaces for women, have restricted employment opportunities. Shifting sands Times, however, are changing. round 400,000 jobs will be created in the next few years for Saudi women,

All its freeways have been turned into public spaces, their multiple lanes of traffic replaced with extensive linear parks.

and reduce the amount of urban space devoted to cars. These smart cars would act more like a fleet of shared, self-driving taxis.

including making improvements to its urban space that will help make its cities more welcoming to pedestrians.

Wework, a real estate start-up, is quickly expanding its brand of community-driven co-working spaces to San francisco and LA.

#Edge-of-space planes to free-up congested skies Making predictions about the future of aviation is dangerous;

developing a spaceplane that could one day fly between these cities, but other concepts are being investigated.#

which could make space travel a long-haul passenger's reality. In the UK, a company called Skylon has attracted just#60m ($110m) of government funding to develop a futuristic type of engine known as a"reaction engine#.#

However, these flights are likely to run from dedicated spaceports and it will be some time before mixed-mode airports that can operate both spacecraft

and aircraft become possible. The early space systems will probably involve gliding back to Earth

#which may mean our airports will have to be redesigned to make them useable by these different designs.

The futuristic visions of the 1950s and 60s imagined neighbourhood airports and helicopters in our back gardens-but space travel is more likely.

the city was started by developers so there is an abundance of high-quality office and residential spaces.

when multinational companies looked for office space to house thousands of employees in call centres in India,

they make software used for everything from designing car parts to building vehicles sent into space.

Behind them are huge posters of the Curiosity rover on Mars. Nasa's Jet propulsion laboratory used a portfolio of design software made by Siemens to digitally design,

and then we put a bunch of stuff on the backside to allow us to move it around in space.#

like the Hubble space telescope, the JWST will be launched into space with its mirror out of focus. Only this time, unlike when Hubble was launched,

the telescope will be launched into space with deliberately bumpy mirrors and out of focus optics. The progress of the JWST has been slow and costly.

Mr Lin's tech incubator appworks provides office space for around 40 start-ups. He says the number of start-ups in Taiwan has doubled at least in the past three years to several thousand.

where incubators and start-ups compete for space among the coffee shops and restaurants. There are similar tech hubs in many cities throughout the world,

The french-led Corot spacecraft, launched in 2006, greatly outlived its original two-and-a-half year mission of spotting terrestrial-sized exoplanets,

and let it burn up as it re-enters the atmosphere#the usual fate of our mechanical helpers in space.

Nasa's $600 million space observatory Kepler, launched in 2009, has also been crippled recently. Kepler has helped spot thousands of potential exoplanets#over 130

and located in the so-called Goldilocks zone#an area of space around a parent star that is not too cold or too hot,

as if snapped in space. But even with these adaptive optics tools, existing ground-based telescopes can only"see#planets bigger than Jupiter#gas giants that orbit their parent stars at a huge distance.

Telescopes can produce much clearer images in space, free from our turbulent atmosphere. The Hubble space telescope has been circling Earth

In April this year, Nasa gave the go-ahead to another space-based mission that will work similar to Kepler,

we will have to go to space, he adds#with a giant telescope fully designed for planet hunting

as featured in Lost in Space, Silent Running and The Fifth Element, in which Leeloo puts chicken pills into a microwave

and because of the ample and cheap office space. However, Ljung admits his firm's new hometown doesn't cover all bases."

has rented space to over 15 companies, including Soundcloud. The city also now has a lot more of

with one seat and a large bank of computer processors taking up most of the internal space, but the final design calls for two seats, one behind the other."

being surrounded by glass helps give the perception of space too, but I am not sure how

meaning it can split lanes and park in motorcycle specific spaces. Lit Motors also has big plans for the future,

where the purpose of a particular space can be decided by the person using it. One example is protocells lifelike chemistries that mimic natural processes

a mall, meeting spaces and a museum. Solar panels on the structure top will generate power.

Persephone aims to build a synthetic biological interior for the spaceship, working with teams from the fields of science, technology, architecture

Fundamental design principles may not only help create a viable concept for life in space, but could be translated into models and prototypes to deal with real-world challenges back here On earth,

space is used more efficiently. he real value you get is you can get more safety, lethality or operational capability from the same space,

the firm that stands as the only private company to ever return a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit.

being used for the first time in the restricted space found on cruise ships. The systems will enable Carnival Corporation to meet new regulations that place a cap on sulfur content of fuel oil at 0. 1 percent

For the first time this combination is being developed to accommodate restricted spaces on existing ships. Carnival Corporation plan incorporates a two-pronged system one to reduce particulates from the ship engine emissions,

Unlike traditional building-applied photovoltaic (PV) systems, restricted to use in direct sunlight on very limited skyscraper rooftop space,

Completion of the certification gives assurance that products designed for use in indoor spaces meet strict chemical emissions limits,

whether the panels are deployed terrestrially or in space. Their significantly reduced weight is one clear benefit.

which they are subjected in space. In terrestrial use the flexibility means that solar panels can be wrapped onto any suitable structure, flat or curved.

such as nuclear objects or space. And much closer to home, we could have robotic assistants able to help elderly or disabled people,

and Space Programme and was coordinated by the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) at the University of Sheffield in collaboration with partners in Belgium,

and assess large numbers of proteins in a very short space of time, thus opening up much wider possibilities for genuinely novel vaccines.

how this inheritance is controlled in space and time. This represents a major step in understanding the role of epigenetic systems t

View from space DORIS used the new mapping technologies offered by the Copernicus system of Earth observation satellites operated by the European space agency.

With the system we can see exactly where the patient is in space, how fast he is moving,

which manages more than 3 billion square feet of building space globally, has helped its commercial real estate clients reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 12 million metric tons while saving them $2. 5 billion in energy costs over the past seven years.

The first study shows that the microneedle therapy would inject drugs into space between two layers of the eye near the ciliary body

##In contrast to the larger hypodermic needles the microneedles are tailored to penetrate the eye only as far as needed to deliver the drugs to internal spaces within the layers of the eye.

which is long enough to penetrate through the sclera the outer layer of the eye to the supraciliary space.

and stored in semi-hollow spaces inside bones. To access the stored calcium the inner bone goes through a process called resorption in

We exploited the intermediate design space of viscoelastic materials known as gels says Ziegler thus avoiding some of the drawbacks of these other dosage forms.

##In that early developmental gestational period the brain is developing synapses the spaces between neurons where electrical impulses are turned into neurotransmitting chemicals that leap from one neuron to another to pass messages along##Â#Hertz

That process, known as syneresis, defeats the purpose of defining the space doctors hope to fill with new tissue. f the transition gellation temperature is one or two degrees below body temperature

and the range of space they have the freedom to explore. As usual the crystals melt on heating but unexpectedly on heating further they re-solidify.

The design builds on existing technology and creates a magnetic field within a closed space to hold plasma in place long enough for fusion to occur allowing the hot plasma to react and burn.

The researchers reached data transmission rates of 32 gigabits per second across 2. 5 meters of free space in a basement lab at the University of Southern California.

because the pressure removes all the space between them. his benzene then becomes highly reactive so that when we release the pressure very slowly an orderly polymerization reaction happens that forms the diamond-core nanothread.

#Rare molecule found in space hints at life s origins The discovery of an unusual carbon-based molecule near the galactic center of the Milky way suggests that the complex molecules needed for life may have their origins in interstellar space.

The carbon structure of this molecule known as isopropyl cyanide is branched making it the first interstellar detection of such a molecule says Rob Garrod a senior research associate at the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research at Cornell University.

This detection opens a new frontier in the complexity of molecules that can be formed in interstellar space

adjusting the length of the spaces between nanorods. his arrangement allowed us to narrow the output spectrum to one individual color instead of the typical muted shades that are produced usually by aluminum nanoparticlesshe adds.

or reflect it back into free space. The metallic nanostructures use surface plasmons waves of electrons that flow like a fluid across metal surfaces.

and in how small a space the light can be trapped. By coupling electromagnetic waves with surface plasmons the oscillating electrons found at the surface of metals researchers were able to squeeze light into nanosized spaces

but sustaining the confined energy was challenging because light tends to dissipate at a metal s surface.

hat hath God wrought. reating a market for printed electronic devices Lipson says could be like introducing color printers after only black and white had existed. t opens up a whole new space that makes the old look primitive. ource:

The cosmic microwave background is a sea of photons (light particles) left over from the big bang that pervades all of space at a temperature of minus 270 degrees Celsiusâ##a mere 3 degrees above absolute zero.

The find was made using an instrument aboard Europe s Herschel Space observatory. The molecule argon hydride was seen in the crab nebula the remains of a star that exploded 1000 years agothe noble gases

what happens in these stellar explosions. ast year we used the European space agency s Herschel Space observatory to study the intricate network of gas filaments to show how exploding stars are creating huge amounts of space dust. urther measurements

As molecules spin in space they emit light of very specific wavelengths or colors called mission lines. he precise wavelength is dictated by the composition and structure of the molecule.

Studying the emission lines observed by the SPIRE instrument allows astronomers to study the chemistry of outer space.

The system can also alter the signature of a cloaked object making it appear bigger smaller or even shifting it in space.

and processing radio-frequency signals are much harder to miniaturizesays project co-leader Kenneth Shepard an electrical engineering professor. hese off-chip components take up a lot of space and electrical power.

If you think about the beauty of an egg yolk there is some empty space inside with space for the yolk to expandyu says.

Using observations obtained with the Hubble Space Telescopeâ and the large telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory researchers found an excess of oxygenâ##a chemical signature that indicates that the debris had once been part of a bigger body originally composed of 26 percent water by mass.

As the atmosphere of the Earth blocks the ultraviolet light such study can only be carried out from space.

and gases can t interact with themhe says. o we started thinking of ways to create space between them. nter zeolites. hese zeolites are cages with big cavities

They take almost no space at all. ther researchers from Rice university the University of Texas at Austin Oak ridge National Laboratory

and generate more heatâ##all in a smaller and smaller space as evidenced by the warmth emanating from the bottom of a laptop.

Now imagine as many as 10000 of our suns crammed into that relatively small space. his galaxy is more massive than any ultra-compact drawfs of comparable sizesays Jay Strader assistant professor of physics

and in space. ur intention is to completely move away from conventional liquid or gel-type electrolytes,

maintaining the minute space between the graphene sheets and conducting electricity. Unlike in traditional#hard#porous carbon where space is wasted with unnecessarily large pores density is maximized without compromising porosity in Li s electrode.

To create their material the research team used a method similar to that used in traditional paper making meaning the process could be easily

000 kilometers away from Gale crater where the Curiosity rover is now roamings covered in ridge-like features called inverted channels.

By taking pictures from different points in its orbit, the spacecraft was able to make stereo images that have allowed scientists to determine the topography of the martian surface.

a science fiction idea of a space elevator that could connect an orbiting satellite to Earth by a long cord that might consist of sheets of CVD graphene,

It has become increasingly important to be able to understand the Sun#s magnetic activity as it is the changes in its magnetic field that are responsible for#space weather#phenomena including solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

When this weather heads in the direction of Earth it can damage satellites endanger astronauts on the International space station and cause power grid outages on the ground.

which provide data center space as a service, are beginning to offer clean energy options, too. On Thursday Phoenix, Arizona-based data center service provider IO announced that customers purchasing data center space in the company Arizona facility can buy 100 percent clean energy, at an incremental cost increase

through a new deal with Arizona utility Arizona Public service. IO President Anthony Wanger said that the new offering came

I had the chance to see Ember in action at Autodesk Pier 9 manufacturing space in San francisco. It a digital light processing machine,

Spire is among a growing number of startups to be launching large constellations of satellites into space.

leaving behind an empty space known as a vacancy. The displaced atoms are called interstitials and they,

#NASA probe will reveal 3d architecture of forests from space NASA is developing a laser-based instrument for deployment on the International space station that will probe the depths of Earth's forests from space in a bid to reveal more about their role in the planet's carbon cycle.

ever since the first Lunar rover went for a spin during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971.

including the nuclear-powered Curiosity Mars rover, which is essentially a semi-autonomous 4x4 with six wheels."

and software analysis that could have uses both On earth and in space. The ultimate goal is to produce zero-emission proof-of-concept vehicles capable of self-navigation in difficult situations,