DailyDirt: DIY Space Exploration

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The cost of getting an object into space is getting cheaper with time, so it's not too surprising that amateurs are starting to mess around with small satellites and vehicles that reach the edge of the Earth's atmosphere. Amateurs haven't achieved low Earth orbit without the help of actual aerospace companies, but citizen scientists could be getting closer to doing real space science on shoestring budgets. Here are just a few space exploration projects that didn't cost billions of taxpayer dollars.

• There are more than a handful of crowdfunded projects aiming to shoot stuff (including humans) into space. Copenhagen Suborbitals has an impressive following, but there are other amateur rocket scientists putting nano-satellites into low earth orbit and building novel thruster systems and space suits. The ability to do experiments in space has never been as accessible as it is today. [url]
• The Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) project is launching a 3D printed rocket at an altitude of over 65,000 feet from a helium balloon. It's a bit more complicated than most weather balloon projects, but it would need more sophisticated tech to get to the edge of space and beyond. [url]
• NASA is considering proposals to let some cubesats hitch a ride to Europa to complement its Clipper mission to Jupiter's icy moon. Ten universities are among the finalists to get a $25,000 grant to develop their cubesat experiments. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: crowdfunding, cubesats, diy space, europa, inexpensive space projects, leo, lohan, low orbit helium assisted navigator, satellites, space, space exploration
Companies: copenhagen suborbitals, nasa

DailyDirt: To Infinity Mars And Beyond!

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The space race to get people to the moon and other destinations in our solar system has pretty much stalled. But a few billionaires and some really passionate hobbyists are trying to build rockets that will get people off our planet (with wildly varying success). Suborbital flights are difficult, but they're not really enough to get some serious space exploration going again. Still, we gotta start somewhere, right? Here are just a few projects that could get people into outer space on the cheap.

• It doesn't take a rocket scientist to build a spacecraft that can take a human passenger to an altitude of about 60 miles up. It takes two rocket scientists. Plus, a lot of crowdfunding and volunteers to get Copenhagen Suborbitals into a DIY space race on a shoestring budget. [url]
• Mars One may be a one-way suicide mission to Mars, but the project is still making an investment in getting its life support systems to work. Paragon Space Development Corp will design the life support systems, but Paragon's previous experience includes Biosphere 2. Uh, maybe work out the bugs in a totally enclosed system on Earth before making the jump to Mars? [url]
• Elon Musk is aiming to get a Mars settlement going as an insurance policy for the human race. Musk also estimates that it would take at least a million settlers to make a viable Mars colony, and even with that many people, each person's productivity would have to be incredibly high. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: biosphere2, crowdfunding, diy space, manned missions, mars, mars colony, mars one, space, space exploration
Companies: copenhagen suborbitals, paragon space development corp, spacex