Carnival of Space 500

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The Carnival of Space 500 is up at Links Through Space.

Planetaria – Could the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system be home to alien life?

Artist’s conception of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system as seen from one of the seven Earth-sized planets. Image Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesse

Planetaria – MAVEN spacecraft makes evasive maneuver to avoid impact with Mars’ moon Phobos

Universe Today – Mineral Points To A Water Rich Mars

According to a new study from an international team of scientists from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), it seems that Mars may have been a lot wetter than previous estimates gave it credit for. With the help of Berkeley Laboratory, they conducted simulations on a mineral that has been found in Martian meteorites. From this, they determined that Mars may have had a lot more water on its surface than previously thought.

Nextbigfuture – China is developing an advanced new rocket. This spaceship is expected to be able to be operable both in the lower orbit of Earth, as well as capable of landing humans on the moon.

It will also have rooms for several astronauts per Zhang Bainan, chief designer of manned spacecraft at China Aerospace Science and Technology Cooperation. The next-gen rocket from China will not only be reusable, but also offer a higher carrying capacity when compared to its foreign counterparts. This craft will apparently be able to carry up to six members in the lower orbit of Earth and nearly three or four astronauts during a moon landing operation per Zhang.

Nextbigfuture – There is a $19.5 billion funding bill that has been approved by the US congress. This is a slight increase from last years $19.3 billion funding. he new plan says make a roadmap to send people to Mars by 2033 and the US will still fund the overpriced by 10 times or more space launch system.

Journey to Mars — asks NASA for a roadmap to send people to Mars by 2033 and moves NASA away from the Asteroid Redirect Mission.

Assuring Core Capabilities For Exploration :
an uncrewed launch of SLS and Orion in 2018
a crewed mission to the moon in 2021
more trips to the moon and Mars after that date.

NOTE -Spacex and Elon Musk have discussed unmanned Mars missions in 2020 and a manned Mars mission around 2024. Spacex and Elon Musk would have costs that are ten times less than NASA and 8 to 10 years earlier.

It is more of the same NASA funding that has been mostly repeating since George Bush 2 and even George Bush 1 and Clinton and Obama.

Nextbigfuture – A Massive commercial space push and a variety of new robotic capabilities could self supporting and rapidly growing space economy.

Several companies will collectively be launching about 20,000 satellites over the next few years. SpaceX, OneWeb, Telesat, O3b Networks and Theia Holdings — all told the FCC they have plans to field constellations of V-band satellites in non-geosynchronous orbits to provide communications services in the United States and elsewhere. So far the V-band spectrum of interest, which sits directly above Ka-band from about 37 GHz to the low 50 GHz range, has not been heavily employed for commercial communications services. In orbit satellite servicing is being developed. DARPA and commercial ventures are looking at in orbit satellite repair and servicing. Rob Hoyt indicates that the challenges of effectively spreading off-world and colonizing the cosmos are overcome by making it easier to manufacture and assemble large systems and structures in space. This visionary physicist, engineer, and CEO is leading a team of scientists to overcome those challenges.

Rob co-founded Tethers Unlimited Inc. in 1994, and built it into a space and defense research and development firm. He is now building a spin-off, Firmamentum, to commercialize in-space manufacturing. Rob has won more grants from NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program than any other researcher.