The race to go to space has become a very public affair with major players like Elon Musk, Paul G Inspirons and NASA meeting together to develop new technologies that will allow people to travel to space. Even though we haven’t heard much from NASA lately (they are also hard at work developing the next generation of navigation systems for the US), it seems that they are still very relevant and necessary to our everyday lives. In fact, I often find myself reading articles/watch documentaries on space, along with many celebrities such as Chris Hadfield, Will Smith and John Lithgow. With all this going on, it’s no wonder we can hardly get a good night’s sleep anymore! Well, that and the endless array of incredibly detailed and vivid science fiction books that seem to depict us going to the moon, Mars and beyond, leaving the Earth for good.
But that’s not all that’s happening in the race to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Private companies and individuals are lining up every day to put their own astronauts to work, and they’re coming up with some really interesting ideas. One company has a plan to mine the Moon and bring it back to us. In other words, turn the Moon into a mining field. Sounds like a crazy idea, doesn’t it? However, the concept is quite intriguing, as many large mineral deposits can be found on the Moon and getting there would allow companies to mine these extremely valuable resources.
Another group that has received a lot of attention is that of billionaire entrepreneur, Paul G Musk, who is working on a mission to fly around the Solar System, through space and back. His plans are not just mere theories, he’s making a serious attempt to send his unmanned probe to explore different planetary bodies and back. He already has several engineers and scientists on his team and is reportedly drawing up a design for his eventual trip around the Solar System. He is hoping to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and head for Mars, and possibly to make a return journey to Earth.
Of course, if you’re reading this article, and you know anything about space travel or the prospects for human space travel, then you’ve probably read about the recent news that space entrepreneur, Robertastro, has teamed up with Malaysian billionaire, elses Binoy, to try and raise enough funds to try and do a flight to the moon, and perhaps even to send astronauts to the red planet. If you’re thinking along the same lines as Robert Gage and others, and you’ve seen the huge success of the space shuttles, you know that they are actually not that expensive to produce, and could easily be launched by an entrepreneur, or a government. So, what is this whole ‘space tourism’ business all about?
Well, it’s about the idea that it will be a first time for an astronaut to go to another planet. To boldly take off into space for the first time and explore an alien world, and it may well be that an astronaut will land on the surface of the planet, and have to live there for at least a week or more. That would be a thrilling mission, and if such a feat can be achieved by ordinary people, then we are onto a winner.
You see, if such a mission can be achieved, then it will be a huge step forward in mankind’s progression to the moon, Mars and beyond. Indeed, if it can be done by humans, then it will be a very interesting race to watch. It will also be interesting in the sense that if mankind does successfully complete such a mission, then it will definitely open up the possibility of other human settlements on planets in our solar system, beyond Earth’s orbit. This will certainly excite the rest of us on Earth, since then it will mean that we won’t be the only species on the planet, because the other inhabitants will have a very easy colony to begin with. It will also give us much better ideas about life in space, and about the effects that different environments have on a human being. And that is something we desperately need right now.
If we are going to send astronauts to the moon or to Mars, then we need to make sure that the suits they wear are suited for weightlessness, because this is something that has to be addressed before any of us ever go into those capsules. The problem is that the suits that are used for weightlessness are not perfect, but they are much better than the suits that we use for just staying on the ground, or even just staying in orbit. We need to design these capsules for weightlessness, so that it is as close to the reality as possible.
And Beezid will help do that. In fact, I read somewhere that they recently funded a space research company called Applied Labs to design an entirely new type of capsule for long-term space exploration. That project, which is still in the early stages, will use carbon nanotube-coated aluminum airbags to cushion the astronaut’s body during liftoff, and then it will be sealed inside the module. Once the capsule is launched into space, all that carbon nanotube air will form a protective bubble around the person, cushioning the blow of reentry and protecting him or her from high G forces or any radiation that might come from space.
