Scientists want to use a silica blanket to terraform Mars
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If we are going to colonise other planets then somehow we need to make them less inhospitable to life, and this is one step in the terraforming process. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recently I wrote about...
First spacecraft piloted by a humanoid robot docks with ISS
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Space navigation is challenging so scientists are exploring new ways to use robots and automation to take the strain off humans. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. It’s easy to think that increasingly there are more robots in...
NASA tests it’s newest artificial gravity system in an office on Earth
WHY THIS MATERS IN BRIEF As humanity continues to eye space as the next great adventure we need more efficient anti-gravity systems. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. A little while ago I discussed NASA’s Artificial Gravity experiment, and like me, if you’ve seen...
ESA’s first self-driving spacecraft heads to space for maiden tests
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Transportation on Earth is going fully autonomous, and now so too are spacecraft. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. You’ve heard of self-driving cars and trucks, flying cars, and probably even self-driving cargo ships, but soon we’ll be able...
JAXA and Toyota team up to create a Moon buggy with a 10,000km range
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It’s a question of when, not if, we go back to and live on the Moon, and we’ll need transportation… Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. As more nation states, space agencies and billionaires, like China and NASA, Elon...
NASA announces it’s opening the ISS up to space tourists
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the costs of accessing space fall by multiples of a hundred it might not be long before you too consider space as your next vacation. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Following on in the footsteps of other...
Jeff Bezos lays out his vision to take millions of people to the stars and beyond
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the world gets more crowded billionaires are lining up to make humans an inter-stellar species, with interesting results. The plan of Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, to transport humans from Earth to the Moon and house millions of us in space colonies...
China announces plans to build a Moonbase in the next decade
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Space exploration and building colonies on Mars and the Moon are in vogue as countries and billionaires vie to out do one another. Just like the European Space Agency, Jeff Bezos, who wants to also move heavy industry off Earth, and NASA, China has...
This is the first ever photo of a black hole
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Up until now it’s been thought it’d be impossible to take a photo of a black hole, but where there’s a will there’s a way. Recently scientists managed to find a way to read information from the very heart of a black hole, but...
Pentagon demands satellites that can dodge incoming fire like an NBA all star
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Once satellites are in orbit they stay there, in the same position until they run out of fuel, then they fall back to Earth, but as the militarisation of space hots up satellites need to be able to move. In the event of a...
NASA to test revolutionary X-Ray communications system on the ISS soon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Traditional RF communications in space are slow, and can be blocked by the Earth’s atmosphere during re-entry, X-Ray communications have no such problems. Recently NASA tested the world’s first interplanetary space internet by sending a selfie from the Arctic to the International Space Station...
Elon Musk’s SpaceX capsule lands successfully in crucial step toward human spaceflight
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One of Elon Musk’s ambitions is to allow people to live off world, but first you have to get them there and this is the first step in a long journey. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which Elon Musk first showed off a few months ago,...
Luxury space hotel preps for launch in 2021
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the cost of getting to space falls, and access to space becomes more democratised, it will eventually become a tourist destination. Well heeled space tourists will have a new orbital holiday destination four years from now, that is if one company’s plans come to fruition,...
Russia unveils new nuclear powered spacecraft destined for Mars
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many countries have tried to develop miniaturised nuclear reactors for space flight applications, but Russia’s by far the closest. Elon Musk wants to travel to Mars using SpaceX’s planned monolithic rocket booster, the Big Falcon Rocket. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in...
After four year wait Cape Canaveral gets its license to launch commercial space planes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the past you would need a rocket to get into space, but today there are more planes taking on that role, and Cape Canaveral wants to dominate the future of commercial space flight. As the race for space heats up, Cape Canaveral is...
Pentagon seriously considers using rockets to move soldiers and equipment around the globe
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the cost of access to space continues to fall it opens up new possibilities for a wide range of industries, the us military included. Today the US already uses its unmatched fleet of cargo planes to project its influence and move its forces...
Space Tango unveil their autonomous, robotic space based manufacturing platform
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The benefits of manufacturing products in space are clear, but it’s still complex and expensive, this technology could help make space based manufacturing a commercial reality. Over the past year or so I’ve been seeing more and more references made to not just space...
Virgin Orbit strapped a rocket to their 747 to democratise access to space
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many companies are trying to lower the cost of launching goods and people into space, and this is one of the craziest yet, but it’s likely going to work. A number of companies are exploring ways to launch a rocket not from a launchpad,...
NASA starts assembling the spacecraft that will save Earth from an asteroid strike
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Somewhere out there there’s an asteroid withEarth’s name on it, and NASA’s new spacecraft will be the one to try to deflect it. Within near-Earth space there are a crazy 18,000 asteroids whose orbit occasionally brings them close to Earth. Over the course of millions of...
World first as Japanese rovers relay incredible photos from distant ancient asteroid
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In galactic terms Earth’s neighbourhood is huge, and we’re only just beginning to explore it. First Japan wants to be the world’s first country to drill a hole through the Earth’s mantle, and build the world’s first space elevator, and now the Japan Aerospace...
