A just released study published in the journal Plants documented the results of experiments to find the best ratio of compost to Martial soil simulant to effectively grow nutritious butter lettuce with the least amount of water while optimizing crop performance. Such findings will enable in situ resource utilization and reduce the mass of supplies needed to be transported to Mars to support farming in human settlements.
Relativity Space to 3D print entire rocket
The California company is opening an autonomous factory in Long Beach which will use additive manufacturing to print both its Aeon engine and Terran 1 rocket. The unprecedented agile manufacturing process will slash production costs by reducing parts count and increasing throughput enabling a competitive advantage in this class of launchers (1250 Kg to LEO).
Beyond EmDrive
As reported in Wired, former Eagleworks leader Dr. Harold “Sonny” White has moved on to join the Limitless Space Institute, an organization fostering research into advanced space power and propulsion technologies that will enable interstellar travel. For more details tune into The Space Show on Tuesday June 16 at 7pm PST when Dr. White will be interviewed by Dr. David Livingston
Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats
Shirley Dyke, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering at Purdue University is the head of the school’s RETH (Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats) Institute. Her work seeks an understanding of what characteristics make habitats safe through “cyber physical testing”, a discipline that combines computer models with physical testing to validate results. A habitat’s resilience level is paramount to this endeavor, which results in intelligently designed structures that mitigate risks of numerous hazards to humans anticipated in the lunar environment. Her team models the effects of meteoroid impacts, moon quakes, problems with lunar regolith (which is highly abrasive) and others that may impact the performance of outposts on the Moon.
Project “Lunark Habitat”
A danish design company called SAGA Space Architects has developed an origami-like folding structure for space habitation. Designed for two astronauts, the exterior is composed of an aluminum frame layered with solar cells”, while the interior has living quarters with desks and shelves. The designers, Sebastian Aristotelis and Karl-Johan Sorensen will test the facility this fall in arctic conditions for three months in Greenland.
The Artemis Accords
The Trump Administration is working with international partners to create a regulatory framework for administration of “safety zones” around future lunar mining installations to prevent damage or interference from competing entities operating nearby.
Biotechnological strategies for a sustained human presence on Mars
A stepwise strategy for the application of biotechnology to address four key challenges of Martian settlement is presented in a Comment in Nature Biotechnology. As settlement progresses, a phased developmental approach is proposed starting on Earth with gradual migration of industry to Mars for the production of food, materials, therapeutics and waste reclamation toward an efficient closed-loop life support system.
Living off the land (and air) on Mars
If we ever settle Mars, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is essential for sustainability of a Martian colony as dependence on Earth for resupply would be too expensive. UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab chemists are developing a biohybrid system which attaches bacteria to nanowires that when exposed to sunlight and locally available carbon dioxide and water, produce a useful organic compound called acetate. Acetate is a building block for a range of products including fuels, plastics, drugs or even yeast. A byproduct of the chemical reaction is oxygen, which could be used for breathable air. There is even a dual use on Earth for carbon capture.
SHEPHERD: A Concept for Gentle Asteroid Retrieval with a Gas-Filled Enclosure
Although somewhat dated this paper is still relevant and the technology is not only feasible, its open source and available for any startup company interested in capitalizing on the the resources available from asteroid mining. Be sure and catch the Ted Talk by Dr. Bruce Damer himself.
Lockheed Martin’s McCandless Lunar Lander
Selected by NASA as a pre-qualified provider for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, the company offers commercial lunar mission services including pre-launch integration and testing of payloads, launch, transportation to the Moon’s surface, power and data handling, and deployment of payloads (e.g rovers). Lockheed Martin published a user guide for the McCandless Lander in September of last year.
Named for astronaut Bruce McCandless perhaps best known for the iconic image of him flying untethered in Earth orbit while testing the Manned Maneuvering Unit during the Shuttle program, the lander honors his legacy after working for Lockheed Martin for over two decades as an advocate for space exploration and commercial space development.
