2010 -
04.29
Tags: 24 themis, asteroid, ice, surface, themis, volatiles, water Category Space Articles, Space News | No Comments »
The main belt asteroid 24 Themis has been observed to have surface water and organics. What’s interesting about this discovery isn’t just the water itself, but also the fact that it shouldn’t be there. At roughly 3.2AU from the sun, surface water ice and volatiles shouldn’t survive long at all. This fact has scientists now considering how this surface water might be replenished. Dr Henry Hsieh from Queen’s University Belfast, UK observes that “Now there seems to be a lot going in the asteroid belt that we don’t actually understand, so again these bodies are exciting.”
In a letter to the Journal Nature, scientists Andrew S. Rivkin & Joshua P. Emery commented: “We conclude that water ice is more common on asteroids than was previously thought and may be widespread in asteroidal interiors at much smaller heliocentric distances than was previously expected”. Other authors reporting on the subject stated that water and other volatiles are not only present, but prevalent. Previous measurements had detected the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, CH2 and CH3. Previous measurements have observed water in the form of hydrated minerals and potentially transient trace amounts due to interaction with the solar wind. However, this is the first time that exposed water ice has been observed.
This is indeed a very interesting observation that lends support to the idea that we can find significant and useful amounts of water and other critical volatiles in many places throughout the near-Earth system. Stay tuned!
Further Information:
JPL Small Body Database: Asteroid 24 Themis
JAVA Orbital diagram at JPL for Asteroid 24 Themis
Water ice and organics on the surface of the asteroid 24 Themis
Also Check Out: Directory of Space Science, Exploration, & Development Journals
2010 -
04.21
Tags: Areopagitica, boulder, colorado, Gagarin, Institute for Space Development Research, Joe Tanner, Lazy Dog, Night, Party, space, Yuri, Yuri's Category Advocacy, Institute Updates | No Comments »
The Institute for Space Development Research has once again sponsored the Boulder Colorado celebration of Yuri’s Night World Space Party!
Yuri’s Night is a global celebration of Humanity’s first steps into space and is named after Yuri Gagarin, the first human being in space. The date, April 12th, is the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight and that of the first flight of the space shuttle. Yuri’s Night happens each year in hundreds of cities all over the world (and even Antarctica). This year was the 10th annual party and the fifth in Boulder Colorado. The 2010 party was held at the Lazy Dog on Pearl street.
Some photos of the best Yuri’s Night in Boulder so far!
6 hours of great turnout!
Dressed right for a space party!
Word apparently reached neighboring systems
Areopagitica plays their second Yuri's Party!
Astronaut Joe Tanner and Fans
Thanks to the Lazy Dog on Pearl for hosting the event!
Everyone had a great time and the word was spread that we really are going to space to stay!
- Keep Looking Up!
- J. Thomas
2010 -
03.04
Tags: carbon dioxide, chandrayaan, data, dioxide, ice, LCROSS, lunar, moon, resources, spacecraft, sulfur, volatiles, water Category Cool Space Sites, Space News | No Comments »
A sensor aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar spacecraft has identified thick deposits of water-ice near the Moon’s north pole. The NASA’s Mini-Sar experiment found over 40 small craters containing water-ice. Additionally, other compounds like as hydrocarbons are present in lunar ice according to new results from the Moon mission LCROSS. The findings were presented at the 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas.
Dr Paul Spudis, from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, has estimated there is at least 600 million metric tonnes of water-ice held in these craters. Expressed as rocket fuel, would be enough to launch one space shuttle per day for 2,200 years, he told journalists. He also said that “Now we can say with a fair degree of confidence that a sustainable human presence on the Moon is possible. It’s possible using the resources we find there”. He added, “The results from these missions, that we have seen in the last few months, are totally revolutionizing our view of the Moon.”
Spectral measurements from the LCROSS impact indicate some of the water-ice was in a crystalline form, rather than the “amorphous” form indicating that the water has formed bulk ice. In addition to water, researchers have seen a range of other volatiles including sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
Data from the Moon continues to indicate that volatile resources there are sufficient to support significant human activities!
Keep Looking Up!
- J. Thomas
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PS: Check out this great picture captured by LRO of a boulder on the Moon that has rolled into a small nearby crater!
2010 -
03.02
Tags: boulder, colorado, conference, CRuSR, NASA, NSRC 2010, Spaceflight, SpaceX, suborbital, SWrI Category Institute Updates, Space News | No Comments »
NSRC 2010 High Turnout
The 1st Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in Boulder Colorado was a fantastic success. The conference attracted over 250 people and a wide diversity of businesses, entrepreneurs, and scientists to discuss doing research work on private sector suborbital spaceflights. A good number of companies are on the the verge of private spaceflight operations. Companies like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems and XCOR Aerospace are all very far into the development phases of their technology and it won’t be long at all before private spaceflight including tourism, research, and ISS servicing will be a reality.
NASA showed a commitment to suborbital flight and research by announcing that over the next five years, more than $75 million could be committed for spending on suborbital space research. The bulk of that money is expected to come from NASA itself. Lori Garver, NASA deputy administrator, said during the keynote address that the Obama administration’s budget proposal calls for spending $15 million a year on suborbital space research between 2011-2015. She also unveiled the Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR) program, which would distribute the money to develop experiments for suborbital flights.
Alan Stern, associate vice president of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) division of Space Science & Engineering in Boulder Colorado announced that the institute would invest more than $1 million of its own money over the next three years to build and fly research experiments on commercial suborbital vehicles, potentially with human attendants.
ISDR Attended
ISDR was fortunate enough to be able to attend a lot of this conference. Great ideas were exchanged among a broad variety of interests and the overall venue was great. ISDR was also present to show our support for Laura Stiles of CUSEDS at the University of Colorado Boulder (ISDR is a CUSEDS sponsor) who came in second place in the suborbital research proposal student challenge. Congratulations Laura! Some photos:
SpaceX presentation at NSRC 2010 including an update on Falcon 9 and Dragon
NSRC 2010 had a great turnout
Virgin Galactic Suborbital Spacecraft
Laura Stiles of the University of Colorado Boulder takes 2nd at the NSRC 2010 suborbital student challenge
2010 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference | Sponsors
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Universities Space Research Association
Commercial Spaceflight Federation
Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation
NASA Ames Research Center
Southwest Research Institute
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)
Special Aerospace Services
The National AeroSpace
NASTAR Training and Research Center
United Launch Alliance
Virgin Galactic
SpaceRef.com
Masten Space Systems
Keep Looking Up!
- James Thomas
2010 -
02.20
Tags: boulder, colorado, conference, deployable, laura stiles, nanosat, NSRC, reflector, suborbital Category Institute Updates | No Comments »
CUSEDS Student Takes 2nd Prize in Suborbital Experiment Proposal Competition at NSRC 2010
Laura Stiles presents at the NSRC 2010 in Boulder Colorado
CU student (and CUSEDS chapter president) Laura Stiles has come in 2nd place in the Student Suborbital Experiment Proposal competition at the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in Boulder Colorado (NSRC 2010).
Laura has designed a self-deploying reflector capable of fitting inside a spacecraft as small as the modern nanosat (where separate deployment hardware won’t fit). CUSEDS was also voted chapter of the year at the recent annual SEDS conference and Laura’s work exemplifies why. ISDR is a proud supporter of the Students for Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) chapter at the University of Colorado, Boulder (CUSEDS).
Congratulations Laura!
- J. Thomas
2010 -
02.17
Tags: NSRC 2010, research, researchers, suborbital, tourism, virgin galactic, xcor Category Space News | No Comments »
NSRC 2010 | Boulder Colorado
The first Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC 2010) will be held this week (Feb 18-20) in Boulder Colorado. This exciting conference will focus on the emerging commercial suborbital access industry and the ways in which it can be used to provide low cost access to Earth’s orbital regions for researchers from around the globe. Leveraging the emerging space tourism and commercial rocket industries, scientists will very soon have frequent and low-cost access to space for the first time. This opportunity presents many new avenues for scientists to gain new insight into the workings of the Earth’s atmosphere, the interaction between our world and the sun, and launch payloads for Earth and deeper space observation. Suborbital access providers, in turn, will have the opportunity to utilize this research to financially support their growth efforts and potentially subsidize the cost of taking tourists on suborbital flights. The synergy couldn’t be better and this year is when we’ll see the beginning of this new industry truly emerge!
Tourism Plus
Many of you have heard of the plans by Virgin Galactic, XCOR, and other companies to shuttle “tourists” to the edge of space using suborbital flights. 2010 will be an important year for this industry, and the emerging commercial rocket industry (think SpaceX). These companies are testing and finalizing a lot of hardware this year and it won’t be long at all before tourists are on their way to space on these flights. Currently, a seat will cost you well over $100,000 and more likely about $200,000. However, Virgin Galactic reports that a significant number of people have already reserved flights and made their deposit.
What isn’t as well known is that the atmospheric and space research communities are also interested in reserving flights. The “tourists” on these flights will be researchers and instruments as this new industry promises to open the door to the nearest regions of space for good. This conference will focus on the research community and the ways in which the emerging suborbital industry will provide incredible new opportunities for space science research.
Broad Community
The conference will see a wide variety of visitors as professionals from academics and the “NewSpace” industry convene. Representatives from companies like SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and Virgin Galactic will sit along side professionals from NASA and research organizations like Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).
The conference aims to bring together researchers from government, industry, and academia. Conference organizers state the objectives:
- to educate a broad array of research communities to the opportunities that the new wave of human suborbital vehicles offer for research and education missions (REM);
- to hear from this broad array of researchers what their questions, feedback, and ideas are for REM applications and REM user requirements;
- to demonstrate strong interest by working researchers and education/public outreach representatives to NASA, the National Institute of Health (NIH), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the National Science Foundation (NSF), industry, and other potential funding entities for REM applications.
Continuing coverage of this conference will be posted as well as summaries of presentations and discussions.
Keep Looking Up!
- J. Thomas
2010 -
02.09
Tags: astronomy, directory, media, science, space Category Cool Space Sites | No Comments »
Check out the Astronomy & Space Section at Science Resource World Directory. In it you’ll find all sorts of information and reference sources, astronomy equipment, news and articles sources, and more. SRW directory is operated by our web development and science media partner Digital LaunchPad.
2009 -
11.29
Tags: boulder, colorado, development, institute, news, research, space Category Institute Updates | No Comments »
Thanks for visiting!
This blog is maintained by the Institute for Space Development Research in Boulder Colorado. In it, we’ll publish occasional articles that feature news headlines, research topics, new concepts, and commentary and we’ll keep you up to date on institute activities.
Our non-profit institute conducts research and technology exploration activities in order to accelerate the expansion of humanity into the nearby solar system. We believe that the time is now to begin to move out into space in order to address many of the challenges facing our world and access the vast expanses and infinite resources to be found there. Space offers the best long-term solutions to our resource, energy, and habitation needs.
As our human numbers grow tremendously, and a larger fraction of us are living in more developed societies, our need for resources will quickly explode. Many resources are already becoming increasingly costly to source as we have begun to deplete the economically viable reserves our world offered. Other resources (especially newer commodities and resources for the technology age) are rare, expensive, or concentrated in the hands of one or two nations in the world (not all of them very friendly or reliable). As prices and demand rise sharply for some commodities, price volatility and manufacturing costs will increase as well. Further, the geopolitical issues of resource access are always tricky and uncertain.
In time, many useful resources may become more affordably sourced in space. Additionally, these space-based resources will provide the raw materials for an entirely new space industry and permit the significant development of space infrastructure upon which private industry can grow and space commerce can prosper. The first nations and individuals in this new industry will be the economic giants of tomorrow. The development of natural resources has been the economic backbone of nearly every great human civilization throughout time. Natural resources are often the spark of economy in new territory and the source of considerable economic expansion. Which nation(s) will take the first step into space and be the economic powerhouse of the next century?
Collectively, Humanity is beginning to realize that we are outgrowing the world that has sustained us for so long. We are right to be talking about sustainability, renewability, and reduced impact. However, we are leaving something out – Space. We have limited our “system” to that of the Earth when we talk about the future of resources, energy, living space, and human sustenance. 65 miles straight up is what separates us from the infinite resources of space. Many of you reading this may have driven that far just today. It’s the steepest 65 miles we could encounter, but our future lies on the other side. Opening the door to space is the greatest gift we can leave our children and the great guarantor of our survival.
The time to step into space is now. Our world is embedded in an endless sea of resources, space awaits our arrival.
