Research For A Future In Space

During its more than 50-year history, NASA's success in human space exploration has depended on the agency's ability to effectively address a wide range of biomedical, engineering, physical sciences, and related obstacles. This achievement is made possible by NASA's strong and productive commitments to life and physical sciences research for human space exploration, and by its use of human space exploration infrastructures for scientific discovery. Research for a Future in Space: The Role of Life and Physical Sciences explains how unique characteristics of the space environment can be used to address complex problems in the life and physical sciences. This booklet also helps deliver both new knowledge and practical benefits for humankind as it embarks on a new era of space exploration. Research for a Future in Space: The Role of Life and Physical Sciences is based on the in depth report, Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era. To learn more about the future of space exploration, visit our catalog page and download this report for free.

This book details current international collaborations in space exploration and outlines a path for inclusion of private sector space missions.

More than four decades have passed since a human first set foot on the Moon. Great strides have been made in our understanding of what is required to support an enduring human presence in space, as evidenced by progressively more advanced orbiting human outposts, culminating in the current International Space Station (ISS). However, of the more than 500 humans who have so far ventured into space, most have gone only as far as near-Earth orbit, and none have traveled beyond the orbit of the Moon. Achieving humans' further progress into the solar system had proved far more difficult than imagined in the heady days of the Apollo missions, but the potential rewards remain substantial. During its more than 50-year history, NASA's success in human space exploration has depended on the agency's ability to effectively address a wide range of biomedical, engineering, physical science, and related obstacles-an achievement made possible by NASA's strong and productive commitments to life and physical sciences research for human space exploration, and by its use of human space exploration infrastructures for scientific discovery. The Committee for the Decadal Survey of Biological and Physical Sciences acknowledges the many achievements of NASA, which are all the more remarkable given budgetary challenges and changing directions within the agency. In the past decade, however, a consequence of those challenges has been a life and physical sciences research program that was dramatically reduced in both scale and scope, with the result that the agency is poorly positioned to take full advantage of the scientific opportunities offered by the now fully equipped and staffed ISS laboratory, or to effectively pursue the scientific research needed to support the development of advanced human exploration capabilities. Although its review has left it deeply concerned about the current state of NASA's life and physical sciences research, the Committee for the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space is nevertheless convinced that a focused science and engineering program can achieve successes that will bring the space community, the U.S. public, and policymakers to an understanding that we are ready for the next significant phase of human space exploration. The goal of this report is to lay out steps and develop a forward-looking portfolio of research that will provide the basis for recapturing the excitement and value of human spaceflight-thereby enabling the U.S. space program to deliver on new exploration initiatives that serve the nation, excite the public, and place the United States again at the forefront of space exploration for the global good.

This is a critical time for the space program, and for all of us. Even the significant steps that we have taken since the dawn of the space age in 1957, including orbital flight, the Moon landings, and orbiting space stations, will in retrospect seem to be tiny steps compared to what lies ahead. Migrating into space will challenge us beyond anything we have previously accomplished, and we are destined to face adventures that are both fantastically breathtaking and supremely dangerous. "Beyond Earth" is for everyone interested in humankind's next great adventure -- the human settlement of the Solar System. A unique collection of world-class scholars, scientists, engineers, managers, astronauts, artists, authors, and professors examine the key questions of our unique circumstance at the dawn of a new era in space exploration and development: Why does space matter to us? What can we use it for? How can we get there efficiently? What will ordinary life be like in space? What will our homes be like on the Moon? On Mars? In orbit? Will we play? Will we love? The book does not stop with questions. It goes beyond the dramatic, the superficial, and the overly technical to the prescriptive, literally laying the brick and mortar for our future space faring civilisation. Contributing authors come from both hard and soft sciences; include education and the arts; and ask children, who will be the future space dwellers, for their visions. They document needed research. There are three underlying assumptions driving this book: First, that the human urge for flight, exploration and survival, plus its curiosity about the universe, are deeply embedded in our genes and in our minds; Second, that even if these urges were ignored, the continual improvement of the quality of life for the human race on earth, and perhaps even its ultimate survival, hinge on the successes of human exploration and habitation of space; and, Third that our generation can use the opportunity presented by outwards expansion to design a rewarding and exciting future of collaboration to capitalise on the lessons learned from human history on Earth.

The emergence, existence and development of the surrounding world, both on Earth and throughout the universe, are due to the gravitational interactions of many bodies. This book is devoted to the calculation of bodies movements in various cases of interaction that are relevant now and in the future. They are developed for the free access of the Galactica system, which is designed to provide the numerical solution for problems of the gravitational interaction of N-bodies. It tackles a whole range of problems: The optimal motion of the spacecraft, the evolution of the solar system for 100 million years, the influence of the Sun on Mercurys perihelion, the motion of near-Earth asteroids, the evolution of Earth's rotation axis, etc. As a result of solving a number of problems, new knowledge about our world was obtained. The optimal trajectory of the spacecraft approaching the Sun is determined by numerical integration of the equations of motion for spacecraft, planets, the Sun, and the Moon. Exact solutions to the problem of the Newtonian gravitational interaction of N material points moving around N2 concentric circular orbits are reviewed. Each circular orbit contains N3 located bodies and the body system rotates as an entity. Solutions in various forms were obtained. A computer program has been developed. Structures comprising up to one million bodies have been calculated. The Galactica system is used for computing movements of two asteroids: Apophis and 1950DA. The evolution of their movement over a span of 1,000 years is investigated. The moments of their closest passages near the Earth are defined. The different ways of asteroid trajectory transformations into orbits of the Earths satellites are considered. This book proves that the rate of Mercurys perihelion rotation and relatively motionless space coincides with the Newtonian interaction of the planets and the oblate Sun. The issues connected with the Astronomical Theory of Ice Ages from the perspective of celestial mechanics are examined. Differential equations of rotational motion are solved with the help of the numerical method without simplification. The evolution of the Earth's axis was examined, and the periods of its oscillations that coincide with the observed ones were obtained. The calculations for a hundred thousand years demonstrate significant oscillation of the Earths axis. The oscillations of the Earths axis result in such oscillations of insolation that explain the paleoclimate changes. The exact solution to the problem, in which the bodies are uniformly distributed over a sphere, were obtained; they move experiencing no mutual collisions. The problem solution allows the formation of several planets for instance, one hundred planets resembling the Earth and moving under identical conditions with respect to the Sun. The latter possibility opens a way toward unrestricted progress for mankind. The book describes all the theoretical, practical issues and the Galactica system manual so that even a novice researcher could use it in his/her works.

The instant New York Times bestseller! A Wall Street Journal Best Science Book of the Year! A Popular Science Best Science Book of the Year! From a top scientist and the creator of the hugely popular web comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, a hilariously illustrated investigation into future technologies -- from how to fling a ship into deep space on the cheap to 3D organ printing What will the world of tomorrow be like? How does progress happen? And why do we not have a lunar colony already? What is the hold-up? In this smart and funny book, celebrated cartoonist Zach Weinersmith and noted researcher Dr. Kelly Weinersmith give us a snapshot of what's coming next -- from robot swarms to nuclear fusion powered-toasters. By weaving their own research, interviews with the scientists who are making these advances happen, and Zach's trademark comics, the Weinersmiths investigate why these technologies are needed, how they would work, and what is standing in their way. New technologies are almost never the work of isolated geniuses with a neat idea. A given future technology may need any number of intermediate technologies to develop first, and many of these critical advances may appear to be irrelevant when they are first discovered. The journey to progress is full of strange detours and blind alleys that tell us so much about the human mind and the march of civilization. To this end, Soonish investigates ten different emerging fields, from programmable matter to augmented reality, from space elevators to robotic construction, to show us the amazing world we will have, you know, soonish. Soonish is the perfect gift for science lovers for the holidays!

NASA's Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) program within the Office of Space Flight has proposed a new framework for space technology and systems developmentâ€"Advanced Systems, Technology, Research, and Analysis (ASTRA) for future space flight capabilities. To assist in the development of this framework, NASA asked the National Research Council to convene a series of workshops on technology policy issues concerning the relationship of the various stakeholders in advancing human and robotic exploration and development of space. The first workshop, which is the topic of this report, focused on policy issues about the development and demonstration of space technologies. Four policy topicsâ€"selected by the project steering committee as the foci of this first workshopâ€"are discussed in the report: the rationale for human and robotic space exploration; technology as a driver for capability transformation; risk mitigation and perception; and international cooperation and competition.