Chris McCay describes how to terraform Mars within about one years of starting. Chris has determined that using supergreenhouse gases like C3F8 (Octafluoropropane) would warm up the atmosphere by about 40 degrees celsius and increase the pressure by 1000 times. This would enable Mars to grow plants and trees. The terraforming analogy is that of …
Elon Musk talked many times about the importance of fully and rapidly reusable rockets. This has been coming closer and closer with several years of first stages being recovered and reused. About 80% of the value of the Falcon 9 is recovered with reused first stages and the payload farings. Fully and rapidly reusable will …
Brian Wang explores what SpaceX will be achieving this decade. Brian is a SpaceX investor and is a member of angel investment groups including Space Angels and Allocations which each make many space investments. The keys to the SpaceX decade will be the Super Heavy Starship and rapid reuse of it. The rapid reuse will …
Elon Musk has described a vision for a self-sustaining Mars City with 100k to 1 million people that would be hard on the pioneers to establish. He also has described a vision for Teslabots where it would be useful and perhaps there would be one per household. Brian Wang explores where SpaceX and Tesla and …
NASA Advanced Concepts has funded research for a high performance spacesuit for future Mars Astronauts. Dr. Bonnie Dunbar is a former NASA astronaut and is now a professor of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M. Some of her fellow astronauts couldn’t fit in an Extra Vehicular Activity suit – more commonly known as a spacesuit. Her …
Elon Musk had a Starship and Heavy Booster update. The SpaceX Super Heavy Booster will be eventually flown every hour. It will boost for two minutes and return in four minutes and refuel in 30 minutes. The SpaceX Starships that go to orbit will be flown every 6 to 8 hours. They will have to …
China is developing a megawatt nuclear reactor for moon and Mars missions according to the South China Morning Post. Jiang Jieqiong, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Nuclear Safety Technology, has suggested that the nuclear reactor could use a foldable structure – similar to an umbrella – to increase the surface …
Tesla had an employee all hands meetings. It had several interesting leaks. Elon Musk said he may go to Mars in 10 years. • Elon is maybe going to Mars in about 10 years he said — Sawyer Merritt 📈🚀 (@SawyerMerritt) September 3, 2021 Gigafactory Berlin is getting approval for production in October. I'm just …
Rocket Labs will launch a NASA mission to Mars. The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission will orbit two Rocket Lab-built Photon spacecraft around Mars to understand the structure, composition, variability, and dynamics of Mars’ unique hybrid magnetosphere. The mission will also support crewed exploration programs like Artemis through improved solar storm …
Elon Musk has said each SpaceX Starship should last for 25-30 years which mean they would be able to make about 12 missions between Earth and Mars. When will Starship production become cost effective? Booster 20? Booster 200? — SPEXcast (@SPEXcast) August 14, 2021 Starship will be crushingly cost-effective for Earth orbit or moon missions …
UC Riverside engineers have developed a catalyst to remove a dangerous chemical from water on Earth that could also make Martian soil safer for agriculture and help produce oxygen for human Mars explorers. Perchlorate, a negative ion consisting of one chlorine atom bonded to four oxygen atoms, occurs naturally in some soils on Earth, and …
