Physical infrastructure on the Moon will be critical to any long-term human presence there as both America and China are gearing up for a sustained human lunar presence. A self-deploying tower is one of the most essential parts of that physical infrastructure. These towers can hold numerous pieces of equipment, from solar panels to communications arrays.
A student team at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs looked at the use case of a space elevator on Ceres. They found that it could be done with existing technology. The findings of the team are published in the journal 2024 Regional Student Conferences.
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Scientists are using biological matter to create unique new materials that are able to adapt to their environment and repair themselves. The idea of living materials has been a staple of science fiction for decades. It is in the process of becoming real in the near future.
Increased interest and investment in space exploration are driving efforts to develop the technologies needed to make the moon a viable home for humans. Developing lunar infrastructure requires building materials which would be costly and inefficient to launch from Earth. This has led to research into the in-situ processing and use of raw materials naturally found on the Moon's surface.
Researchers have designed a state-of-the-art walking robot called E-Walker to take on the difficult task of space construction. A robot prototype has already been tested on Earth by assembling a twenty-five-meter Large Aperture Space Telescope. The telescope would usually be built in space.
Science fiction authors have dreamed for decades of terraforming Mars for human habitation. Previous studies have suggested that it would take enormous effort and centuries to accomplish this. New studies suggest that just a few specks of particles added to Mars’s atmosphere would heat it by over fifty degrees Fahrenheit in months. This would potentially make it hospitable for liquid water.
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Craddock said, “It just seems like a good piece of the business we want to chase after, but in no way is going to stop us from going SSTO [single-stage-to-orbit] or creating a small satellite launcher.”
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One of the major health risks for astronauts may have a cure on the way. A specially-formulated medical compound has been shown to prevent bone loss in mice, and perhaps humans, aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
