Space Exploration Technologies
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…
Psyche is Still Sending Data Home at Broadband Speeds
When I heard about this I felt an amused twinge of envy. Over the last year I have been using…
What’s the Most Effective Way to Explore our Nearest Stars?
It was 1903 that the Wright brothers made the first successful self-propelled flight. Launching themselves to history, they set the…
NASA’s Next Solar Sail is About to Go to Space
Everyone knows that solar energy is free and almost limitless here on Earth. The same is true for spacecraft operating…
What a Swarm of Probes Can Teach Us About Proxima Centauri B
You've likely heard of the Breakthrough Starshot (BTS) initiative. BTS aims to send tiny gram-scale, light sail picospacecraft to our…
What Could We Build With Lunar Regolith?
It has often been likened to talcum powder. The ultra fine lunar surface material known as the regolith is crushed…
Why is it so hard to drill off Earth?
Humans have been digging underground for millennia - on the Earth. It's where we extract some of our most valuable…
NASA is Working on Zero-Boil Off Tanks for Space Exploration
No matter what mode of transportation you take for a long trip, at some point, you'll have to refuel. For…
NASA is Done Setting Fires Inside its Doomed Cargo Spacecraft
Fire on a spacecraft can be catastrophic. It can spread quickly in a confined space, and for trapped astronauts, there…