Category: The Cloud
NASA Spotted a Vast, Glowing ‘Hydrogen Wall’ at the Edge of Our Solar System
By Rafi Letzter There’s a “hydrogen wall” at the edge of our solar system, and NASA scientists think their New Horizons spacecraft can see it. That hydrogen wall is the outer boundary of our home system, the place where our sun’s bubble of solar wind ends and where a mass of interstellar matter too small to bust […]
Read More NASA Spotted a Vast, Glowing ‘Hydrogen Wall’ at the Edge of Our Solar SystemWhen a Mars Simulation Goes Wrong
By Marina Koren The drive to the little white dome on the northern slope of Mauna Loa is a bumpy one. Mauna Loa, the “Long Mountain,” is a colossal volcano that covers half of the island of Hawaii. The rocky terrain, rusty brown and deep red, crunches beneath car tires and jostles passengers. Up there, more […]
Read More When a Mars Simulation Goes WrongHow Asteroid Mining Will Save Earth
I’m not sure I agree it will “save the earth” – still gotta worry about that climate change stuff. But it should help! And certainly, asteroid mining will bolster our access to technology and open up opportunities. Asteroid mining figures prominently in my work in progress, The Cloud.
Read More How Asteroid Mining Will Save EarthPower Causes Brain Damage
By Jerry Useem If power were a prescription drug, it would come with a long list of known side effects. It can intoxicate. It can corrupt. It can even make Henry Kissinger believe that he’s sexually magnetic. But can it cause brain damage? When various lawmakers lit into John Stumpf at a congressional hearing last fall, each seemed to find […]
Read More Power Causes Brain DamageHow to Get to Mars Without Going Mad
By Andrew Masterson The technological challenges involved in sending a crewed mission to Mars are daunting, but new research highlights the need to focus on the psychology of spaceflight to prevent world’s first Mars explorers arriving at their destination stark raving crazy. A paper in the journal American Psychologist reviews the already extensive research done by NASA into […]
Read More How to Get to Mars Without Going MadAdvanced Space Habitat for Plants
By Morgan Mcallister, NASA The Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), a recent addition to the International Space Station, is the largest growth chamber aboard the orbiting laboratory. Roughly the size of a mini-fridge, the habitat is designed to test which growth conditions plants prefer in space and provides specimens a larger root and shoot area. This […]
Read More Advanced Space Habitat for PlantsEvery Known Object in the Solar System
Orbital Infrastructure
Putting Down Roots in Space
By Michael Johnson Plants grow just about everywhere on Earth, and are able to adapt to extreme conditions ranging from drought to disease. Spaceflight, however, exposes plants to stresses not found anywhere on their home planet. Growing plants aboard the International Space Station provides a unique opportunity to study how plants adapt to microgravity, and a team […]
Read More Putting Down Roots in Space
Diane Morrison 