Space Exploration Technologies
CubeSat Propulsion Technologies are Taking Off
CubeSats are becoming ever more popular, with around 2,400 total launched so far. However, the small size limits their options…
Swarms of Orbiting Sensors Could Map An Asteroid’s Surface
It seems like every month, a new story appears announcing the discovery of thousands of new asteroids. Tracking these small…
A Concentrated Beam of Particles and Photons Could Push Us to Proxima Centauri
Getting to Proxima Centauri b will take a lot of new technologies, but there are increasingly exciting reasons to do…
Growing Habitats and Furniture in Space Out of Mushrooms
Over the years we have often seen astronauts gently and deftly moving structures into place with their bare hands. Thinks…
Slingshotting Around the Sun Would Make a Spacecraft the Faster Ever
NASA is very interested in developing a propulsion method to allow spacecraft to go faster. We've reported several times on…
A New Way to Survive the Harsh Lunar Night
The Moon is a tough place to survive, and not just for humans. The wild temperature extremes between day and…
Warp Drives Could Generate Gravitational Waves
Will future humans use warp drives to explore the cosmos? We're in no position to eliminate the possibility. But if…
NASA has a New Database to Predict Meteoroid Hazards for Spaceflight
There are plenty of problems that spacecraft designers have to consider. Getting smacked in the sensitive parts by a rock…
Lighting Up the Moon’s Permanently Shadowed Craters
The Moon's polar regions are home to permanently shadowed craters. In those craters is ancient ice, and establishing a presence…
NASA Takes Six Advanced Tech Concepts to Phase II
It's that time again. NIAC (NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts) has announced six concepts that will receive funding and proceed to…