June 2015
Ultimate sunbather: NASA and ESA collaborate on Solar Orbiter
... from the spacecraft, then a further layer of low-temperature foil and a support structure. The entire assembly is isolated or ‘thermally decoupled’ from the spacecraft using titanium ‘blades’ as supports. The sunward facing surface of the titanium...
June 2015
The new space ethics: COSPAR, Planetary Protection and beyond
... ethical issues relating to crew psychology on a trip to Mars, see Chris Chambers (2013), Mars One: The psychology of isolation, confinement and 24-hour Big Brother, The Guardian, September 9, 2013 http://www.theguardian.com/science/headquarters...
October 2015
From post-humanity to fractals: is human space exploration doomed?
... are such hotbeds from one another? If the Earth’s biosphere is unique to our observable universe, we are doomed to isolation. But if our observable universe contains many such biospheres, there would be a real possibility of encountering fellow...
February 2016
Nuclear Flashlamps in Space
... thus any civilization we detect might not be so far beyond us. The information content that could be transmitted with an isolated nuclear pulse is small, but contains the most important piece of information imaginable: we exist.
March 2016
Space Oddities: The Problem with Imagination
... three of the women - Jerrie Cobb, Rhea Hurrle and Wally Funk - went on to Phase II testing which involved isolation tank and psychological tests. Cobb was the first one to move on to and pass Phase III testing...
March 2016
Time for European visionary goals
... in ways we did not anticipate even 20 or 25 years ago. What about Europe? Certainly we can no longer view events in isolation from the rest of the world. Just in the past decade we have undergone a banking crisis and Euro...
