Space

When I was a kid, my father would drag us out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to watch a rocket launch, on our fuzzy little 9" black-and-white TV. They were momentous occasions. When I was 7, the Apollo 11 mission took us to the moon. I saw that happen! It was awesome.

For years after that, my father would point out satellites as they traveled across the night sky. It was amazing to see them out there. But that was about 50 years ago. Today there are so many satellites that you almost always see one. And with the new mega-satellite arrays being developed, that number is going to explode. SpaceX alone plans to launch more than 30,000 in the near future. While this will make huge advances possible in various technologies, it will also add to a new problem—satellite pollution. 

Japan and India have decided to join forces in the race to discover water on the moon, with the two countries planning to try to land an unmanned rover on the moon’s south pole as early as fiscal 2023.

Frozen water is believed to exist inside craters and other areas of the moon’s poles where sunlight does not reach. The countries plan to use the rover to excavate in such areas and discover water on the moon for the first time. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have already held meetings on the project.

Japan will be in charge of launching the rocket and developing a lunar rover, while India will develop a lander for the mission. The rover will explore an area 500 meters square to try to detect water using onboard analysis equipment.

Scientists have recently discovered two exoplanets, Kepler-62f and Kepler 186f, which are located within the habitable zones of their respective stars, and the best part is that the planets probably have stable climates and regular seasons. The astronomers also believe that one of them is similar in size to our home planet. 

Researchers from the Georgia Tech and Harvard University found out that both Kepler-186f and Kepler-62f seem to be steadily tilted on their axis, just like Earth, giving them stable climates and seasons. "Our calculations show that their spin would have remained constant over tens of millions of years," said Georgia Tech's Assistant Professor Gongjie Li. According to the scientists, these exoplanets are capable of harboring life.

Well-heeled space tourists will have a new orbital destination four years from now, if one company's plans come to fruition. The California-based startup Orion Span aims to loft its "Aurora Station" in late 2021 and begin accommodating guests in 2022.

"We are launching the first-ever affordable luxury space hotel," said Orion Span founder and CEO Frank Bunger. A 12-day stay aboard Aurora Station will start at $9.5 million, which is quite a bit less than orbital tourists have paid in the past. From 2001 through 2009, seven private citizens took a total of eight trips to the International Space Station, paying an estimated $20 million to $40 million each time.

Aurora Station will be about the size of a large private jet's cabin and will accommodate four paying guests and two crewmembers. Orion Span plans to add more modules onto the original Aurora Station core over time as demand grows.