Things NASA And Space Related Every once in a while, NASA gets us a little excited by saying they are on the verge of finding proof of life, or they might find life, or something like that. The latest claim is happening on Mars. NASA sent a rover to explore what they said is a dry riverbed. They believe there is a good chance of finding microbial life there. I am sorry, but the tune is getting old. As I have said many times, I believe they are stepping over proof of intelligent life which they now know about to just string us along. How many times have they denied life so far? It seems like a lot to me. I have to admit I am interested in the new telescope which will be launched by NASA to look for life in the universe. Right now, it is only a plan but it sounds interesting. Unlike the James Webb telescope the Habitable Worlds Observatory, yes that supposedly will be the name, will have a different job than the Webb. The Webb telescope operates mostly in infrared light. The Habitable Worlds Observatory will use visible light and ultraviolet light. It will also be placed in a Lagrange point in space where it won’t move. It is going to be designed so it can be robotically serviced. Its main job will be to do what its title suggests and that is to look for habitable worlds and also look for life on them. A new technology is being developed which will allow the mirrors to be ground to less than the diameter of an atom. This will make it the most accurate precision instrument. It is believed the size of the mirrors will be the same as the James Webb telescope. New stories about the helicopter NASA sent to Mars are appearing in several places and they claim the tiny machine had more advanced technology built into it than we suspected. It did prove one thing that was for sure. It proved you could use commercial off the shelf parts and create something wonderful with them. We may even have technology superior to that which was used and that is antigravity. So many whistleblowers have said that and if it is true, we wouldn’t have to worry about aerodynamics for these machines anymore. For right now however, the tiny helicopter did an incredible job and outlasted its mission limits. It proved we might be able to fly around on other planets which have atmospheres different from earth and when astronauts finally go to another planet, perhaps they will also be able to bring a bigger version of a helicopter with them and fly around themselves. One person brought up a problem we could have in space. When I read about it, I felt that it was only one of many problems we might have to deal with in the future. What would astronauts do if one of them became violent or would not obey orders. It would be especially tough on a small crew of say 2 or 3 people. Astronauts are only human, and humans have disagreements all the time. What if one astronaut began to rip out the life support system? What could they do to stop him or her? Even if the astronaut was subdued, where could he or she be kept safely until a ship could come for transport? These situations probably have never come up yet, but if they have, would we be told? Does anyone remember Chuck Berry? He was a famous singer, musician and writer of music and known as the father of Rock and Roll. Apparently, he was the favorite of Carl Sagan. This was a bit of a surprise. Sagan did something to immortalize him and that was to include a recording of his hit song, Johnny B. Goode on a probe. The two Voyager Spacecraft which have now gone outside our solar system contain the recording by Berry of Johnny B. Goode thanks to Sagan. One type of craft which has been sought for years is a space tug. There have been some developed for smaller satellites, but they are useless for normal and bigger ones, that is until now. The idea is to use a smaller rocket for a cheaper launch cost which also contains the tug to get it into a higher orbit at a much cheaper price than using a heavier rocket for the launch. The new tug is name Helios. It was developed to fit into the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Starship, Terran R, New Glenn and Vulcan rockets. Astronomers have discovered something very creepy. It is a dark primordial galaxy. What makes this so different there seem to be no stars in the galaxy. The galaxy is filled with gas. The name of it is J0613+52. One has to wonder how they come up with these names. One astronomer said maybe there are stars there that we can’t see. Astronauts are doing experiments on the International Space Station which they hope might aid in the development of a cancer cure. It turns out cells age faster when there is no gravity, allowing experiments to get results faster. They are hoping this will give them a breakthrough in discovering treatments for the disease. China has been launching a long mission space plane into orbit much as we have been doing the same thing. That is not to say both spaceplanes have the same missions or the same capabilities. Recently the Chinese spaceplane launched 6 strange objects. They were sent into earth orbit. The Chinese have been mentioning the fact they could jam our communications during a war. This makes me wonder if these satellites which were launched were signal jammers and are now waiting in orbit for the signal to start jamming? Many people compare the space race today with the one which transpired in the past and ended with the Moon landing. That was country against country. Today while it is true countries are still involved, there are also many companies performing a key role in the race. It also seems the military is playing a larger roll. Also, it doesn’t seem like this race will end, but it will probably get more players as time goes by. LSU, Louisiana State University is working with NASA on a project to do with the moon. They are trying to figure out what it would be like to live on the Moon or Mars. It is known materials can be made from materials on the moon and planets, but we don’t know how much endurance they would have, and this is being studied. Two astronauts will be sent to the Moon to establish a long-lasting presence.
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