Issue #4(6) 2015
Mercury has completed its transit across the Sun and the next chance to see it is 2019
Issue #4(6) 2015
The SHEE test bed is the world’s only easily transportable analogue space habitat. A unique structure capable of supporting two people for two weeks, it can be moved by land, sea or air to environments on or off the Earth. Developed by a European consortium of industry and research institutions, it gives the international research community the ability to perform habitation simulation tests.
Issue #4(6) 2015
RSC Energia has been conducting activities in rocket-space industry since 1946 when a team of specialists developing long-range ballistic missiles was organised under the leadership of the Chief Designer S.P. Korolev, generally recognised as the founder of practical cosmonautics. The enterprise initiated all lines of activity related to national rocket and space technology. Today, RSC Energia is Russia’s leading rocket-space enterprise and the top organisation in the field of human space systems. In this special article, company President Vladimir Solntsev looks at some of the long term implications for astronautics and the need for international cooperation.
Issue #4(6) 2015
Earth’s annual journey around the Sun represents a perilous cosmic voyage and for thousands of years humans have remained blissfully ignorant of the dangers of asteroids and comets, coronal mass ejections, solar radiation flares and other cosmic events that threaten our daily existence. The Global Space Governance Study is now addressing the technical challenges and regulatory actions for a comprehensive planetary defence strategy.
Issue #4(6) 2015
Launching nuclear explosives into space seems like a bad idea and is not something to be treated lightly but there might be times when we need to think seriously about why it might be useful to use nuclear explosives in deep space - and ponder what can be learned just by thinking about it.
Rick Tumlinson is one of the most prolific men in today’s space industry. His beliefs are an inspiration for anyone interested in bringing humanity one step closer to conquering space, the frontier so vastly endless that he says it is an act of ignorance and hubris to label it as ‘final’.
Systems to monitor asteroids and space debris to predict and help prevent space-linked emergency situations are still in their infancy. ROOM presents an overview of methods, technologies and software used in creating a data analysis system for monitoring potentially dangerous asteroids and man-made space debris.
NASA Space Shuttle astronaut and spacewalker Nicole Stott writes for ROOM about the inspiration that comes through the integration of art and science brought about by the revelation of seeing Earth from space, and witnessing the awe of the overwhelming beauty of our home planet from a truly unique vantage point.
The British government hopes to capture 10 per cent of the world’s space market by 2030 and is laying the groundwork for the country’s first spaceport in anticipation of a growing spaceplane industry and tourism market.
Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who flew to the International Space Station in 2014 on ESA's Futura mission, provides a true insider’s view on what it is like to live and work for 200 days in orbit high above the Earth.
