Caltech reactor could convert CO2 into breathable oxygen for space trips

Although oxygen is common throughout the cosmos, most of it isn’t in the form that we as humans need to breathe – molecular oxygen, or O2. Now, researchers at Caltech claim to have created a reactor that can turn carbon dioxide into molecular… Continue reading Caltech reactor could convert CO2 into breathable oxygen for space trips

Hitchhiking to the Moon for Fun and Profit

On February 22nd, a Falcon rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral carrying the Indonesian communications satellite Nusantara Satu. While the satellite was the primary payload for the mission, as is common on the Falcon 9, the rocket had a couple of stowaways. These secondary payloads are generally experiments or …read more

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Hacking On Mars In “The Martian”

It’s been 6 years since the hacker’s treat of a book, “The Martian” by Andy Weir, was self-published, and 2 years since the movie came out. We’ve talked about it briefly before, but enough time has passed that we can now write-up the book’s juicier hacks while being careful to not give away any plot spoilers. The book has more hacks than the movie so we’re using the book as the source.

For anyone unfamiliar with the story, Mark Watney is an astronaut who’s left for dead, by himself, on Mars. To survive, he has a habitat designed for six, …read more

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OSM (Pronounced Awesome) Hardware Makes DNA in Space

OSM stands for Oligonucleotide Synthesizer designed for use in Microgravity, meaning that it’s a device that makes arbitrary DNA strands (of moderate length) in space. Cool eh? I’ve been working on this project for the last eight months with a wonderful team of fellow hackers as part of the Stanford Student Space Initiative, and I’d like to share what we’re doing, what we’ve already done, and where we’re going.

Why space? Well, first of all, space is cool. But more seriously, access to arbitrary DNA in space could accelerate research in a plethora of fields, and the ability …read more

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NASA’s Newest Interstellar Concepts Rely on Huge Laser Arrays and Gravity Surfing

Interstellar travel is evolving into a legitimate engineering challenge, rather than an idealistic pipe dream. Continue reading NASA’s Newest Interstellar Concepts Rely on Huge Laser Arrays and Gravity Surfing

News in brief: moon tourists to launch ‘next year’; health provider fined after breach; drone pilot jailed

Your daily round-up of some of the other stories in the news Continue reading News in brief: moon tourists to launch ‘next year’; health provider fined after breach; drone pilot jailed

Former Googler Laura Lark Is Spending Eight Months Living On a Simulated Mars

The computer scientist, one of the six crew members of the fifth HI-SEAS experiment, is part of a new generation redefining what it means to be an astronaut. Continue reading Former Googler Laura Lark Is Spending Eight Months Living On a Simulated Mars

A New Theory on the Mysterious Condition Causing Astronauts to Lose Their Vision

Research presented at the Radiological Society of North America meeting this week fits with previously-held hypotheses. Continue reading A New Theory on the Mysterious Condition Causing Astronauts to Lose Their Vision

A New Theory on the Mysterious Condition Causing Astronauts to Lose Their Vision

Research presented at the Radiological Society of North America meeting this week fits with previously-held hypotheses. Continue reading A New Theory on the Mysterious Condition Causing Astronauts to Lose Their Vision