DailyDirt: Space Explorers Need Your Help...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

We've mentioned a few DIY space projects before where nearly anyone can participate in an effort to expand our knowledge of our solar system or to develop a cheaper way to get into space. More and more space exploration seems to rely on the help of a growing ecosystem of space geeks who can volunteer their time/resources to learn more about the universe around us. Here are just a few other crowdfunding or crowdsourcing efforts to explore space.

• Lunar Mission One is an ambitious Kickstarter project to send a probe to the moon and drill deep down below the surface in order to get a more complete picture of the moon's composition. This project also includes a "time capsule" mission so backers can send up information (and maybe hair/DNA samples?) to the moon for posterity. [url]
• In case you missed it, NASA open sourced the code for Apollo 11 -- and actually, all of the software NASA writes is open. A catalog of NASA's software is available for budding space scientists, but it's not just for space nerds -- some biologists adapted the Hubble Space Telescope's star-mapping algorithm to track endangered whales -- and presumably there are other gems just waiting to be adapted to other good uses. [url]
• NASA is looking for anyone with good suggestions on how to do something more productive with the "dead mass" that is typically ejected during the descent phase of a probe. The Mars Balance Challenge wants to know what you'd do with 150kg of mass that would be ejected at different times prior to landing a probe on Mars. [url]

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Filed Under: apollo, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, diy space, lunar mission one, nasa software, space, space exploration
Companies: innocentive, kickstarter, nasa

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]

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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]

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

DailyDirt: Crowds In Spaaaace...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Exploring the vastness of space isn't cheap, but it's becoming more accessible as the cost of satellites comes down slowly and data from telescopes is shared widely and freely. Citizen scientists can help advance astronomy in a variety of ways, donating time and/or money to projects that need more help. NASA's budget isn't exactly huge (compared to other parts of the national budget), so space scientists need all the help they can get. Here are just a few links on the wisdom of the crowd contributing to space exploration.

• A crowdfunded group of space junkies has revived the International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3) satellite, which launched in 1978 and was officially suspended in 1998. NASA has turned over control of this old satellite to the ISEE-3 Reboot Project, but the group doesn't have much time to play with the satellite unless it can figure out how to re-fire its engines. [url]
• NASA's Be a Martian project is asking citizen scientists to help map the surface of Mars. There's a lot of area to cover with a chance of finding something really, really interesting. [url]
• Citizen astronomers could help identify interesting Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) that the New Horizons spacecraft might investigate. The Ice Hunter project ended in early 2012, and out of the 143 KBO candidates identified, none were in range. (Another Ice Investigators project to look for more KBOs is underway, though.) [url]

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Filed Under: astronomy, citizen scientists, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, diy space, isee-3, kbo, kuiper belt objects, mars, new horizons, satellite, space exploration, spacecraft
Companies: nasa