Preparations for Space W6

To explore space, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has to think about what will help them progress to where they want to be. The first thing they want to try is to crash an unmanned spacecraft on to the surface of the moon. In NASA Attacks the Moon, it was said that NASA wants to know if the impacts will reveal any ice or water under the moon's surface. The estimated cost of the LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and its Sensing Satellite) is around $79 million and that is just to make something that will be destroyed. Along with trying to discover if the Moon has traces of ice or water, there is also finding a way to launch people into space. In Blasted into space from a giant air giant air gun, Jules Verne wrote about a giant gun that could launch people into space and people didn't expect it to be a reality. The estimated cost to build the gun is around $500 million. With all missions comes the approval needed from the higher authority. The approval is needed for more money to send more stuff into outer space. In 'Deep space' mission is frontrunner in NASA review, a proposal to send astronauts to visit asteroids and and orbit Mars scored highly in ratings in the White House. "Since 2005, NASA has been working towards returning astronauts to the moon by 2020. But in May, the Obama administration ordered a review of the agency's human space flight plan, leaving a question mark over the lunar return.The review panel, headed by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine, released a summary report in September that presented five main options, including continuing with the current moon plan.One of the other options, called the 'deep space' or flexible path, would send astronauts to visit an asteroid and eventually to orbit Mars.The panel is expected to submit a final report later in October, which will score the various options on a set of 12 criteria, such as cost, safety, benefits to science, and fostering international cooperation." with this in mind, if the certain critia are met, then NASA will have the funds to accomplish what they wanted to by sending peopel to Mars.

Discoveries Being Made In Space and Tests Done W5

With our goal to discover mush about space, we need new discoveries. The first discovery made was an additional ring to Saturn, largest found up to date in the galaxy. In the article Largest ring in solar system found around Saturn, it was stated that this ring expands from 3 to 20 times the radius of Saturn. It was found that space weather has been relatively calm in the past three years. In the article Phantom storms: How our weather leaks into space, "And Murtagh should know - his job is to forecast space weather, which comprises any disturbance in near-Earth space, including the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere where satellites roam. Many of the serious events involve disturbances in the charged portion of the atmosphere, known as the ionosphere, which stretches from 80 to 1000 kilometers above sea level. The finger of blame has always been pointed at the sun, which bombards the Earth with a stream of charged particles in the form of the solar wind. During the last three years, though, the sun's cycle of activity has hit a trough, and as Murtagh observes, space weather is temporarily calm." If space weather is to stay calm, then we can send out space crafts to discover new findings. After that, the worlds most powerful ion engine was made. In Rocket company tests world's most powerful ion engine, "Rockets that would use charged particles to propel super-fast missions to Mars are one step closer, now that a small-scale prototype has been demonstrated at full power. The ion engine may be used to maintain the orbit of the International Space Station within the next five years, and could lay the groundwork for rockets that could one day travel to Mars in about a month." Once this is done, discovering new things in space will be easier on the humans.

Problems Within Space W4

With so many tasks at hand in space exploration, there are problems to deal with in space. The first problem is what affects us humans, which is radiation. If we are to go into space the radiation would affect us but not in Earth because of our magnetic fields. This was found in Space radiation hits record high. If we are to go into space, then we need to know what is there and what is not. Recently astronomers stated that "either dark matter is weirder than we thought or that it doesn't exist at all." If they aren't able to figure this out then we cannot be able to go into space without this information. This was found in Galaxy study hints at cracks in dark matter theories. Along with having problems in space, there are problems with technology that we use for space research. Recently an asteroid hunting telescope suffered some problems that researchers are now looking into. If they are not able to see asteroids in space, then it can prove to be dangerous for the space crafts. This was found in Killer asteroid hunter suffers from poor vision.

The Future Of Space W3

Recently many tests and research was being done to determine certain things. The first thing was how far anyone would be able to travel in a space ship. Research was done to determine whether or not an astronaut can travel the whole universe. They conclude in How far could you travel in a spaceship that you can go on for billions of light years but ought to be careful on when to hit the brrakes. The universe is growing faster then we are able to research it and keep up with its speed. It was brought forward that an asteroid was going to collide with Earth. This was found in Asteroid attack: putting Earth's defences to the test and that the U.S air force brought together a group of major people to access the chance of this passing the planet and if not, then how to cope with it. Recently scientists found 62 meteor showers unknown to them. This was brought out in public in Found: 62 meteor showers new to sciene, this was suprising news to hear because of the number of them foundd in one area. These showers recur once every year when Earth passes through a trail of debris left behind by debris or comets.

Space Exploration and Steps to Get Their W2

Currently NASA has been trying many things to complete their vision of deep space exploration. But first in order for them to go that far, they need to explore their own solar system. In the article Mock lunar landers set to compete for $1 million prize, an aerospace team competed for mock tests of lunar probes that can launch off certain objects and if they can stay afloat for a certain amount of time and land in a specified area. Then, NASA wants to switch from using metric to imperial measurement units. In the article NASA criticised for sticking to imperial units, NASA is being critized by multiple groups for this change. "We in the private sector are doing everything possible to create a global market with as much commonality and interoperability as possible," says Mike Gold of the US firm Bigelow Aerospace, which hopes to fly commercial space stations in orbit. "But NASA still can't make the jump to metric." After that, with NASA now trying to discover hidden secrets of Mars, two rovers which are sitting in the dust, discovered an moving object on the surface. This piece of news came from the article, Space robot 2.0:Smarter than the average rover. Now at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, they are trying to figure te object that the rovers spotted moving. Once they complete this, the program feels as if they have taken a big step towards reaching their dream of space exploration.

NASA's Problems W1

Currently the space program has been having many downfalls. The first main issue is the amount of money they have to spend. Currently they are under funded and have other organizations pay for them. In the article about a X-30 plane, the Us military is paying most of the $2 billion to launch a plane into the space. because the budget is really short, the space program is unable to send astronauts to the planet Mars. This was confirmed by an article written about Astronauts could reach Mars in 2020. The other issue is the failure of some research tries. In one research attempt, lunar probes were trying to find water ice on the moon. With most attempts at research for things beyond our world, their are failures along with it, like the one mentioned in the article One partner stumbles in lunar probe pas de deux. In this article it was stated that while tring to fix the US's probe's programming and estimation of India's probe, the grounds crew lost communication with India's Chandrayaan probe. Because of the loss in communication with the probe, it was called a death knell for the mission, for the mission couldn't be complete without a second probe.

NASA