DailyDirt: Rockets, Man
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
International space races don't quite inspire the same awe or fear as they did in the 1960s. There are a bunch of countries still trying to launch rockets into orbit for various reasons, but there are also quite a few commercial and amateur organizations working on space-worthy rockets. Here are just a few examples.- North Korea tried to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of its national founder Kim Il-sung with a big rocket launch. The rocket was also a thinly-disguised test for a long-range missile, but it failed by blowing up a little over a minute after launching. [url]
- The world’s first student-made rocket to hit space hasn't quite succeeded in reaching an altitude of 100 km, but there are a number of schools working on it. A pass or fail grade for this project seems like tough grading... [url]
- SpaceX is working on designing safer and cheaper manned spacecraft, anticipating an upcoming boom in commercial space ventures. For example, its launch abort system has integrated escape thrusters mounted to the side of the crew capsule, and these engines aren't jettisoned or wasted if the mission goes as planned. [url]
- To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]
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Filed Under: north korea, rockets, space, spacecraft, usc
Companies: spacex
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And then there's Planetary Resources
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27776/
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Re: And then there's Planetary Resources
But just imagine how much money they'll need. They need to reserch on the ff key points:
1. Detect which asteroid/planet/moon has the target resources.
2. How to mine the asteroids/planet/moon.
3. How to get all the mined stuff back here.
KickStarter can't fund this.
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Re: Re: And then there's Planetary Resources
I agree that steps 1 and 2 are problematic, but it at least looks like we have some sense of what the rough makeup of many of the asteroids are, and what it will take to reach them, even if not economically feasible under any existing models.
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Re: Re: And then there's Planetary Resources
Here is and DIY induction furnace melting aluminum suspended on air.
Youtube: induction heater levitation melting aluminum
Magnetism is such a beautiful thing :)
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Re: Re: And then there's Planetary Resources
4. Prevent the extinction of the human race from alien bacteria.
I've seen enough movies to know that bringing aliens rocks back to Earth never ends well! ;)
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Re: And then there's Planetary Resources
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Re: Re: And then there's Planetary Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining#Asteroid_selection
However, this is just quick and dirty research, and the source cited by wikipedia is not one I'm familiar with, and also seems to have "this is possible!" leanings.
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Re: And then there's Planetary Resources
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“thinly-disguised test for a long-range missile”
Remember the US’s early rocket launches? The Redstone and Atlas rockets were explicitly designed to launch ICBMs, no “thinly-disguised” about it! Yet both went on to serve peaceful purposes as well, launching Mercury and Gemini manned missions into space.
You have this mindset that your country is always implicitly the “good guys”, that a military capability is good when you possess it, but bad when someone else has it. The world has never revolved around the US. Deal with it.
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Re: “thinly-disguised test for a long-range missile”
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