The Athenaeum

"... it works anyway." Washpost

 

"NASA scientists have been daydreaming about a new kind of rocket engine that could carry astronauts to Mars in 70 days without burning any fuel. Now, in a new paper published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Propulsion and Power, they say that it might really work.

The paper, written by astrophysicists at NASA's Eagleworks Laboratories, tested a electromagnetic propulsion system, or “EM drive,” that generates a small amount of thrust simply by bouncing microwaves around a cone-shaped copper chamber. No propellant goes in, no exhaust comes out, and yet, somehow, the engine can make things move.

If you think that news sounds too good to be true, you've got good instincts — it just might be. This “impossible” fuel-less engine appears to violate one of the fundamental laws of physics."  Washpost

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I look forward to the learned discussion to follow.  pl 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/11/22/this-rocket-engine-breaks-a-law-of-physics-but-a-nasa-test-says-it-works-anyway/

"...on the Road to Mars?" Musk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/did-spacex-just-pass-nasa-road-mars-180960629/?no-ist

"Is NASA about to crack interstellar travel?" AJC.com

"The other Eagleworks discovery announced at NASASpaceFlight.com doesn't need much introduction. Thanks to the Star Trek franchise, most people already know what warp drive is. (Video via Paramount Home Video / "Star Trek: The Motion Picture")

In 2011, Dr. White made national news when he claimed warp drive might actually be feasible.  

"In principle, a space warp would allow you to go to places like Alpha Centauri in time periods measured in weeks, months, as opposed to decades or centuries or millenia," White told Bloomberg.

Ever since, White has been working on a proof of concept, trying to create a tiny warp bubble at the Eagleworks lab. According to the forum post, he finally got a reading just a few weeks ago. 

It would be hard to overstate just how amazing either one of these findings would be if they're confirmed. "  AJC.com

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Not the Alderson Drive yet but worth discussing.  pl  

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/national/nasa-about-crack-interstellar-travel/nk75M/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alderson_drive

Will we like the aliens when they come?

"... there’s now a perception that advertising our existence could be a mortal threat to the planet.

The reasoning is this: While no one has yet offered decisive proof for life beyond Earth, in the past two years astronomers have learned that tens of billions of habitable planets suffuse our galaxy. Consequently, to believe that only Earth has spawned intelligence is to insist that our world is the site of a miracle. That point of view rarely appeals to scientists.

The aliens could very well be out there. And that realization has spurred a call by some for broadcasts intended to elicit a communication from at least the nearest other star systems. But we know nothing of the aliens’ possible motives or behavior. Therefore, it’s conceivable that betraying our existence might prompt aggressive action from space.

Broadcasting is likened to “shouting in the jungle” — not a good idea when you don’t know what’s out there. The British physicist Stephen Hawking alluded to this danger by noting that on Earth, when less advanced societies drew the attention of those more advanced, the consequences for the former were seldom agreeable."  NY Times

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I love this.  It appeals to the naturally suspicious and cautious military mind.  It is also reminiscent of the first short story I wrote.  This was long ago and the theme was attractive.  I know I have posted it before, but, indulge me.  pl 

Download Carolina in the Mornin'dblspc

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/opinion/sunday/messaging-the-stars.html?ref=opinion

But, will Sean Connery still be sheriff?

 
"While executives at Planetary Resources are no doubt interested in avoiding being wiped out by incoming cosmic boulders, they are in the game for others reasons. The firm is on the lookout for asteroids that it can land on and harvest all of valuable minerals many contain using robot miners and automated smelting facilities.

The firm is backed by Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, Charles Simonyi, and James Cameron, and was launched in 2012 with lofty claims of mining its first space rock by 2022. So far that plan has slipped a bit already.

Initially the company had planned to get its first asteroid spotting orbital telescope into orbit by 2014, and held a successful $1.5m crowdfunding campaign. But its first test platform was distributed over a wide area of Eastern Virginia when the Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket carrying it detonated over NASA's Wallops Flight Facility last October.

Planetary Resources will be taking another shot at getting a telescope into space next month, but there's still a long way to go before it can send out the planned automating mining and processing bots to likely targets. Then there's the piffling problem of getting the minerals back to Earth, or at least orbit, safely and economically."  The Register

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I have seen this movie and I liked it.  It would seem that the moon would be an even more promising source of rare earths, helium and other materials hard to come by on earth.

I would expect to see the prompt emergence of a "ban the strip mining" movement here on earth.  As I recall, a "Red Mars," political faction quickly appeared in the famous Mars trilogy.  pl 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/16/nasa_wants_you_to_help_space_mining_corp_strip_mine_the_solar_system/

"NASA preps station for commercial taxis" Space Reporter

"Astronauts will need to open docking doors to create parking spots for the space taxis: Boeing’s CST-100 and SpaceX’s Dragon capsules. The taxis will also need what are known as docking targets as well as communications systems, which will be installed over a course of seven spacewalks this year.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule, which is set to launch later this year, will deliver two International Docking Adapters to allow the space taxis to attach to the ISS.The first spacewalk will be today when station commander Barry Wilmore and flight engineer Terry Virts make the first of three trips to ready cables and communications gear for those visits, with two more spacewalks planned for Tuesday and March 1.

All in all, it will be a lot of work for the ISS crew. However, the plan has always been to have a docking capability operational by 2015, and the agency remains on track, according to space station program manager Mike Suffrendini as quoted by Discovery News.

NASA expects to deliver four astronauts on each trips with the new space vehicles, which is one more than were capable of flying on Russian Soyuz capsules, allowing the crew on ISS to expand from six to seven." Space Reporter

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 Good!  pl 

http://thespacereporter.com/2015/02/iss-spacewalks-to-begin-this-week-as-nasa-preps-station-for-commercial-taxis/

Mars or bust!

"Buoyed by billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the industry has surged more than sixfold since 2010 to more than 800 companies, according to market researcher NewSpace Global, with investment in private ventures in that span poised to reach $10 billion by year’s end. SpaceX led the way with $1 billion from Google Inc. and Fidelity Investments on Jan. 20 -- a day after satellite maker Planet Labs Inc. announced that it raised $95 million. 

“It’s impossible to overestimate the degree of rock-star engineering talent that has come pouring into the commercial space sector,” said Matt Ocko, co-managing partner of venture capital fund Data Collective, an early investor in San Francisco-based Planet Labs. “For great scientists and engineers, this is incredible catnip.”  Bloomberg

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"The stars like dust shine down on us."

I presume that the first really commercial venture will be mining on the moon for rare earths, helium, and the like.  Structural materials for deeper space ventures as well as fuel could be manufactured there.  pl

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-05/galactic-gold-rush-private-spending-on-space-is-headed-for-a-new-record