Important Innovations

  GM & Lockheed Martin's Lunar Rover Source:  GM, Lockheed, NASA One Big Moonshot For automotive giant GM and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, their new partnership to develop a commercial lunar rover is one big Moonshot.  Their prototype looks a bit like a toy but this is not fun and games.  They intend to deliver their Lunar Mobility Vehicles (LMV) to customers by 2025.  The electric moon vehicle could prove to be an important part of NASA's Artemis Mission that will bring astronauts back to the Moon this decade, 50 years after the Apollo mission. A Big Commitment With or Without Government Funding Lockheed and GM intend to build the Moon vehicles with or without government funding.  There is no guarantee that they will win the NASA bidding process and be awarded a contract for use of the vehicle during the Artemis mission, set to launch in 2025.  The companies say they are building the LMV 100% for industrial use. They anticipate accelerating demand for lunar vehicles fr

  Search For Life in Space                                                  Source:  US Department of Defense & NASA Unexplained Aerial Phenomena For the first time in 50 years, the US Congress held a public hearing on UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) otherwise known as UAPs (Unexplained Aerial Phenomena).  We learned from US Navy Intelligence leadership that there have been 400 officially reported cases of UFO sightings since 2004.  That is a significant uptick from the 143 cases sighted in an official government report in 2021.  One explanation for the increased sightings is accelerating amounts of "aerial clutter" like drones.  But also, according to intelligence officials, the government is deploying highly advanced sensors which are better able to detect the unidentified flying objects. Why Are the Incidents Going Unexplained? According to Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray in his testimony before Congress yesterday, the UFO sightings raise more quest

Fleet of Rovers Being Developed to Carry People & Cargo on the Moon & Mars                                        Source:  Venturi Astrolab California's Venturi Astrolab California-based startup Venturi Astrolab has developed an interplanetary rover to transport people and cargo on the surface of the Moon and eventually on Mars.  The company has plans to build a fleet of rovers to meet NASA and commercial space companies' needs as humans become an interplanetary race.  Venturi Astrolab says the rovers will help establish and build bases on the Moon and the planets.  They add the rovers will "solve the local transportation problems" on the Moon.  The rovers are called FLEX for Flexible Logistics and Exploration. Capabilities and Technologies FLEX is incredibly flexible and dexterous.  It can crouch down, pickup payloads on the lunar surface and carry them to designated locations.  It can maneuver semi-autonomously and be controlled remotely. It can even be modi

  NASA's 1st Moon Rocket Mission Since Apollo                                                Source:  NASA Artemis 1 Artemis 1 NASA is making a return to the Moon.  The NASA Artemis 1 mission will be launched in February 2022.  It will contain the latest, next-generation of deep space exploration technologies for Artemis 1 to explore on and around the Moon.  NASA will use it huge and powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to reach the Moon.  The SLS rocket is 332 feet tall!  The Apollo missions officially ended in 1975.  NASA is investing a great deal of technology, strategic goals and NASA agency scientific aspirations into their newest venture to the Moon.  Integrated Testing Underway for Take-off This mission will be conducted without any human crew onboard.  What NASA calls final integrated tests are now taking place.  The tests include interface verification, total end to end communications systems, specific engineering programs and much more.  The technology involved is aw

California Institute of Technology's New Space-Based, Solar Energy Generating System                             Caltech space-based solar power system                                                                                 Wireless Power Transfer                                                                                  Photovoltaics                                                       Source:  Caltech Ultralight Structures $100 Million Donation Helping to Fund the Research Researchers at California Institute of Technology are preparing to test what they call a "breakthrough" space-based, solar power generating technology system that would beam solar energy to Earth.  Caltech and its Space-based Solar Power Project have received a $100 million donation from Caltech Board of Trustee member and Chairman of the Irvine Co. Donald Bren to fund the research.  The technology that they are preparing to test is phenomenal.  It aims to ultimately produce a global su

  Virgin Galactic & Richard Branson Make History                                                   Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson Soaring into Space                                                         SpaceShip Unity Launching from VMS Eve                                        VMS Eve with Unity in Center Branson flying to space with co-workers in Unity                             SpaceShip Unity Flying Back to Earth                                                  View from Unity                                        Unity Detaching from VMS Eve                                             Source:  Virgin Galactic Dawn of Space Tourism Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson has successfully soared into space and returned safely to Earth.  The British billionaire undoubtedly had the greatest adventure of his life.  His SpaceShipTwo Unity took off from New Mexico's Spaceport America attached to the underside of the huge, double fuselage WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircra

  Virgin Galactic & Richard Branson Make History                                                       Richard Branson Soaring into Space onboard Unity SpaceShip Unity Launches from Eve                                        VMS Eve with Unity in Center Branson flying to space with co-workers in Unity                                                       SpaceShip Unity                                                  View from Unity                                        Unity Detaching from VMS Eve                                             Source:  Virgin Galactic Dawn of Space Tourism Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson has successfully soared into space and returned safely to Earth.  The British billionaire undoubtedly had the greatest adventure of his life.  His SpaceShipTwo Unity took off from New Mexico's Spaceport America attached to the underside of the huge, double fuselage WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft VMS Eve.  50 minutes after takeoff, spaceship Unity fired

  Space Balloons For a Leisurely Space Visit Source:  Space Perspective Space Trip With No Rockets & No Rocket Fuel Space Perspective, a human space flight company based in Cape Canaveral, Florida, is offering a unique space adventure.  Luxury balloon trips to 20 miles above the Earth into the stratosphere. There are no rockets and no rocket fuel involved.  The company says it is a safer and smoother way to experience the edges of space.  In fact, the approach is completely different from a rocket flight.  The space craft takes off at a leisurely pace of 12 mph.  A huge hot air balloon gently carries the passenger capsule aloft into the upper atmosphere and then gently returns it for a splashdown in the ocean, according to the company. Passenger Tickets to Space Space Perspective has started selling tickets for the first trip in late 2024 aboard the Spaceship Neptune.  It's a hot air balloon type space vehicle that gets lift from hydrogen.  The company is taking $1,000 deposits

  Space Balloons For a Leisurely Space Visit Source:  Space Perspective Space Trip With No Rockets & No Rocket Fuel Space Perspective, a human space flight company based in Cape Canaveral, Florida, is offering a unique space adventure.  Luxury balloon trips to 20 miles above the Earth into the stratosphere. There are no rockets and no rocket fuel involved.  The company says it is a safer and smoother way to experience the edges of space.  In fact, the approach is completely different from a rocket flight.  The space craft takes off at a leisurely pace of 12 mph.  A huge hot air balloon gently carries the passenger capsule aloft into the upper atmosphere and then gently returns it for a splashdown in the ocean, according to the company. Passenger Tickets to Space Space Perspective has started selling tickets for the first trip in late 2024 aboard the Spaceship Neptune.  It's a hot air balloon type space vehicle that gets lift from hydrogen.  The company is taking $1,000 deposits

  Tracked by a Powerful Telescope in Canada                            Source:  CHIME & 1st Radio Signal Burst Intergalactic Mystery International researchers using a high powered, new Canadian telescope named CHIME, have detected hundreds of fast and mysterious radio bursts in space that quickly disappear.  These bright flashes of light last for a millisecond.  The quickness of the signal makes it unpredictable and extremely difficult to track the origin and determine the reason why. As a result, astronomers are baffled and the source remains shrouded in mystery. These fast radio signals from space have a name - FRB's.  140 FRB bursts of lighted radio signals in space were observed between 2008 and 2018.  Experts believe, because of the CHIME telescope, the vast majority of radio bursts have gone undetected, until now. CHIME in British Columbia The highly advanced telescope CHIME went live in 2018 in British Columbia.  In the first year of its operation, it detected 535 fast r

  Tracked by a Powerful Telescope in Canada                                                                      Source:  CHIME & 1st Radio Signal Burst Intergalactic Mystery International researchers using a high powered, new Canadian telescope named CHIME, have detected hundreds of fast and mysterious radio bursts in space that quickly disappear.  These bright flashes of light last for a millisecond.  The quickness of the signal makes it unpredictable and extremely difficult to track the origin and determine the reason why. As a result, astronomers are baffled and the source remains shrouded in mystery. These fast radio signals from space have a name - FRB's.  140 FRB bursts of lighted radio signals in space were observed between 2008 and 2018.  Experts believe, because of the CHIME telescope, the vast majority of radio bursts have gone undetected, until now. CHIME in British Columbia The highly advanced telescope CHIME went live in 2018 in British Columbia.  In the first yea

Bezos & Brother Mark to Launch into Space in July on Blue Origin                                                                                               Source:  Amazon  Billionaire Launches into Space on His Own Rocket Amazon founder & CEO Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark are flying to space on a Blue Origin flight on July 20th.  Blue Origin is the space company founded by Jeff Bezos.  This will be the first human flight launched by Blue Origin and the first mission manned by pilots.  In a post on Instagram, Jeff Bezos said going to space was something he wanted to do "all my life".  He will be taking the ride of his life on his own rocket, joined by his brother, the manned flight crew along with a soon to be announced passenger. A Seat Is Up For Grabs Blue Origin is auctioning off a seat in the capsule for someone who would like to join the Bezos brothers for the space flight.  Bidding for the seat has already reached $2.8 million and the auction closes on June