Elon Musk’s SpaceX company has been in the news recently for their ability to land a launch vehicle back at the launch site after a mission. They are working to make the reuse of launch vehicles routine which will lower the cost of launches substantially.
For the most part, I have used this blog to talk about practical matters such as space launch facilities and rocket engines. I have also talked about plans for near future developments of space technology. Today I thought I would go a little further out and talk about an interesting but radical proposal for space infrastructure.
There are major national players in space exploration and exploitation such as the U.S., Russia, China and the European Union. There are minor national players such as India, Japan, Israel and others. And there are new players who want to get into the game such as New Zealand.
I started this blog with a series of articles about the ambitions of China in space exploration and exploitation. They are currently working on an Earth orbit space station and returning men to the Moon to staff a permanent lunar base. One part of their preparations is having people live in a simulated Moon base on Earth.
There is a big debate in the U.S. and across the globe in other space-faring nations and organizations. The question being debated is whether the focus for the next phase of the exploration of space should be the Moon or Mars. At the moment, NASA is planning to stage a manned mission to Mars by the early 2030s while other groups are calling for a return to the Moon.
Recently I blogged about six companies who were awarded grants by NASA for research on space habitats under the NASA NextSTEP program. Today I am going to write about the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NAIC) program.
Certain regions on Earth have had an outsized impact on trade in important commodities. For instance, the Middle East has been important because of the amount of oil some in the countries there. Without those huge oil reserves, much less global attention would have been paid to conflicts in that region.
The international treaty that governs the exploration and exploitation of space by the members of the United Nations forbids the placing of weapons in Earth orbit or on other astronomical bodies. One of the great fears is that a space faring nation could place nuclear weapons in orbit which would give it an advantage in a possible exchange of nuclear warheads with another country.
Currently, the main habitat space in Earth orbit is the International Space Station. Its future is in doubt with the U.S. only allocating funds until 2024. Many of the nations and private companies involved in space exploration and exploitation support the continued presence of human beings in orbital habitats.
I have been blogging a lot lately establishing a manned base on the Moon.
