Category Archives: Future space

Proposals, speculation, etc regarding the future of space and humanity’s place in it.

Videos: Leading edge space technologies presented at the 2018 NIAC Symposium

Check out the latest leading edge technology ideas presented this week by winners of NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program grants at the 2018 NIAC Symposium underway in Boston till Thursday. The agenda (pdf) lists the talks and you can watch the presentations at the NIAC 2018 Livestream.

Below are videos of three of the sessions on Tuesday. The presenters included, for example, Ryan Weed of Positron Dynamics on antimatter catalyzed fusion propulsion, Stephanie Thomas of Princeton Satellite Systems on a plasma magnetic fusion propulsion design, and James Woodward of the Space Studies Institute on a Mach Effect drive.

This video from Princeton Satellite Systems describes their fusion propulsion design:

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SpaceX to present plan to fly paying passenger around the Moon

Tonight Sept. 17, 2018,  at 6:00 pm PDT (9:00 pm EDT), SpaceX will hold an event to lay out the company’s plan to fly a private passenger around the Moon on the next-generation, fully-reusable Big “Falcon” Rocket or BFR. According to  SpaceX on Twitter:

“SpaceX has signed the world’s first private passenger to fly around the Moon aboard our BFR launch vehicle—an important step toward enabling access for everyday people who dream of traveling to space. Find out who’s flying and why on Monday, September 17.”

You can watch the webcast here – SpaceX on Twitter:

Meet BFR’s first private passenger tomorrow [Monday Sept.19.2018] at 6:00 p.m. PDT → spacex.com/webcast

A couple of artist’s views of the BFR in flight (click for larger versions):

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Videos: TMRO Orbit 11.12 – “Humanity amongst the starts with Isaac Arthur” + TMRO Science: Bionic Future

Here is the latest episode of the TMRO.tv weekly Space program: Humanity amongst the stars with Isaac Arthur – Orbit 11.12 – TMRO:

Futurist Isaac Arthur joins the cast of TMRO to talk about humanities future amongst the stars as well as living in a simulation, faster than light communication and galactic intelligence.

Updates on launches and space news:

Launches:

Falcon 9 Launches SES-12
Long March 3A Launches Fengyun -2H
Soyuz Launches new Space Station Crew

Space News:

Curiosity Confirms Complex Organics on Mars
Northrop Grumman completes Orbital ATK acquisition
Pluto Has Sand Dunes, But They’re Made of Methane

TMRO is viewer supported:

TMRO shows are crowd funded. If you like this episode consider contributing to help us to continue to improve. Head over to http://www.patreon.com/tmro for funding levels, goals and all of our different rewards!

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And here is the latest TMRO.tv Science program: Our bionic future – Discovery 1.06 – TMRO

Lisa, Jade and Athena discuss the past and future of prosthetic enhancements to the human body. How advanced have they become? Should we be upgrading ourselves past normal human limits? Leave your comments below and continue the conversation!

News:

Bubble curtains saving the world!?
New link between fat, energy and diabetes
Living longer lives with bacteria in our gut?!
Green tea could prevent strokes and heart attacks

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Video: Webcast of Breakthrough Initiatives conference at Stanford Univ.

The Breakthrough Initiatives is holding a symposium at Stanford today and tomorrow. The theme is “Alien Life” – Diversity in the Universe.

You can watch the presentations via the live webcast:

Here is the schedule:

Day 1 Schedule: Presenters/Panelists

Live on YouTube: youtu.be/nFoTyKGHdLc

Pacific Time USA

09:00 Welcome to Breakthrough Discuss 2018: Hosts Charles Alcock, Penelope Boston, Jamie Drew, Peter Michelson, S. Pete Worden
09:15 Keynote: Carolyn Porco, “Enceladus: Little Moon, Big Possibilities”
10:00 Session One: Search for Life in our Solar System: Chairs Penelope Boston, Chris McKay
10:10 David Smith, “Why Aren’t Clouds Green?”
10:30 David Grinspoon, “The Case for Venus: Life in Acid Clouds?”
10:50 Britney Schmidt, “Robots Under the Ice, and One Day, In Space?”
11:25 Alfonso Davila, “Search for Life Beyond Earth: Motive, Means and Opportunity”
11:45 Morgan Cable, “Dragonfly: In situ exploration of Titan’s prebiotic organic chemistry and habitability”
12:05 Penelope Boston, “Wherever You Go, There You Are: The Questions That Drive the Destinations”
13:40 Panel One: Search for Life in our Solar Systems: Chairs Penelope Boston, Chris McKay, Panelists Dale Anderson, Steven Benner, Nathalie Cabrol, Cynthia Philips, Carol Stoker
15:10 Session Two: Possibilities for Non-Terran Life in the Universe: Chairs Svetlana Berdyugina, Lisa Kaltenegger
15:20 Lynn Rothschild, “Universal Biology: Investigating Life as it Must Be”
15:40 Steve Benner, “Chemical Constraints on Non-Earth Life”
16:00 Sara Seager, “A New View of Life’s Journey Through Chemical Space”
16:30 Charles Ofria, “Using Artificial Life to Uncover Universal Evolutionary Dynamics”
16:50 Emilio Enriquez, “Searching for lifeform-independent technosignatures
17:10 Lee Cronin, “The Evolution of Inorganic Life in the Universe

Day 2 Schedule: Presenters/Panelists

Live on YouTube: youtu.be/3GiN-tWAV_k

Pacific Time USA

09:00 Welcome Remarks, S. Pete Worden
09:10 Keynote: Martin Rees, “Will SETI Detect Organic or Electronic Intelligence?”
10:05 Panel Two: Possibilities for Non-Terran Life in the Universe:
Chairs Svetlana Berdyugina, Lisa Kaltenegger, Panelists Penelope Boston, Chris McKay, Anders Sandberg , Clara Sousa-Silva, Sara Walker
12:30 Session Three: Progress in Novel Space Propulsion: Chairs Sigrid Close, Zachary Manchester
12:40 Sonny White, “Pilot Wave Model for Impulsive Thrust from RF Test Device”
13:00 Ryan Weed, “Scaled Radioisotope Positron Propulsion for Interstellar Spacecraft”
13:20 Geoffrey Landis, “Sails: From the Solar System to the Stars”
13:50 Robert Zubrin, “Dipole Drive for Space Propulsion”
14:10 Kevin Parkin “Progress in Beamed Energy Propulsion”
14:30 Les Johnson, “Solar and Electric Sailing: Stepping Stones to the Stars”
15:00 Panel Three: Progress in Novel Space Propulsion:
Chairs Sigrid Close, Zachary Manchester, Panelists Elena Ancona, Harry Atwater, Heidi Fearn, Mateusz Józefowicz, Kelvin Long

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Videos: 2017 Advanced Propulsion Workshop

The Space Studies Institute (SSI) recently posted videos of talks given at a workshop last fall co-hosted by The Aerospace Corp on topics related to exotic propulsion concepts and experiments such as those involved with the Mach Effect and EM Drive:

Here is a sampling:

** Marc Millis, Founder of The Tau Zero Foundation, former head of NASA’s visionary Breakthrough Propulsion Physics project, presents “Playful Thought Experiments About Breakthrough Spacedrives

** Heidi Fearn, Professor of Physics at The California State University Fullerton, Space Studies Institute NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Team Principle Investigator and SSI Senior Associate presents “The Mach Effect Gravitational Assist Drive

** Raymond Chaio, Professor Emeritus at The University of California, Merced, Co-Author of “Quantum Optics“, Editor of “Amazing Light: A Volume Dedicated To Charles Hard Townes On His 80th Birthday” and Co-Editor of “Visions of Discovery: New Light on Physics, Cosmology, and Consciousness” – “The Dynamical Casimir Effect and the Possibility of Laser-Like Generation of Gravitational Radiation.”

** John G. Cramer – Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Washington, Author of “The Quantum Handshake: Entanglement, Nonlocality and  Transactions” and the Science Fiction novels “Twistor” and  “Einstein’s Bridge” – “The Quantum Handshake Explored”

Update: Saw this video this evening. Fun to watch Jansson’s enthusiasm and openness about an usual experimental phenomena they have seen repeatedly. I expect, though, they will turn out to be an instrumentation error of some sort.

** Dr. Peter M. Jansson – Associate Professor of Engineering at Bucknell University, President of Integrated Systems – “An Empirical Pursuit of Mach’s Principle: Experimental Results Indicating a ‘Machian’ Inertial Reaction Force is Detectable and Electromagnetic.”

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