October 2018
Using space-based data for humanitarian causes
... equality of opportunity, or the right to have access to various things deemed necessary or desirable to the human condition: food and water, housing, education, freedom of expression, etc. If nations are to take these documents as guiding lights for...
December 2018
Coffee roasting in space
... science has been giving us spinoffs since the early days of the Apollo era, from freeze-dried food to super-insulating blankets. The Space Shuttle era and the ISS have produced even more, like...
January 2019
Materials make the space mission
... family of processes and technologies and can be applied to a wide range of materials from polymers, metals and ceramics to food, living cells and organs. The high cost of qualifying new materials and processes means that established...
February 2019
Reflections on the future human condition
... duration of interplanetary trips using current (and even future) modes of transport, the need to find oxygen and food resources, not to mention the imperative to reproduce in a context of ageing and mortality: ultimately, the human condition turns...
February 2019
Building a space museum from scratch
... Lladro ceramic statue of a US astronaut came out of the next box, along with an old Gemini-era astronaut food pack, the type you add water to and suck the resulting concoction out of a tube. On to the crates...
May 2019
Cold comfort for astronauts
... through engineering and technological means, aligned with the current paradigm. For example, metabolic needs, including food, water and air, are sustained by the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS). Habitats and...