Elon Musk plans a self-sustaining civilization on Mars

Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species 

Elon Musk talked about sending humans to Mars at the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico on Sept. 27, 2016. Following are a few of his key points.
• Being a multiplanetary species
• How to create a self-sustaining city on Mars
• Mars is better suited than the moon to scale up to a self-sustaining civilization
• We can warm up Mars and get a thick atmosphere and liquid oceans
• Full reusability
• Refilling in orbit
• Propellant production on Mars
• Choosing the right propellant

SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System 

Hinode solar observatory celebrates a decade of sun watching

Hinode spacecraft

The Hinode solar observatory has been watching the sun since Sept. 22, 2006, and has captured images in great detail, from the delicate motion of solar spicules to solar explosions.  Hinode is a joint mission of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA.

Read the full article and find many images at “Highlights from a Decade of JAXA and NASA’s Hinode Solar Observatory.”

About the Hinode mission, "Hinode: Mission to the Sun."

Solar explosion.

The sun’s chromosphere.

Sunspot during a solar flare.

Comet Lovejoy – seen here as an orange streak in the lower left of the frame.

This image of Venus was taken during the Venus transit of June 5, 2012.

The thread-like structures – which somewhat resemble grass waving in the wind – are spicules, giant plumes of gas that transfer energy through the sun’s various regions.

NASA’s MMS four spacecraft flying four-and-a-half miles apart

NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission set a new record on Sept. 15, 2016, by flying its four spacecraft only four-and-half miles apart. They are flying in a pyramid shape called a tetrahedron, enabling them to capture three-dimensional observations of magnetic reconnection.

Read the full article “NASA's MMS Achieves Closest-Ever Flying Formation.”

China’s space station might fall to Earth in 2017

China’s Tiangong-1 space station

China’s Tiangong-1 space station might fall back to Earth in late 2017, reported Popular Mechanics. During a press conference last week, it was implied that China’s space agency is no longer able to control the space station and perform a controlled burn over the ocean. At this point, it is impossible to know when and where the fall might happen.

Read the full article “China Confirms Its Space Station Is Falling Back to Earth” dated Sept. 19, 2016.

Largest sky survey of celestial objects by ESA’s Gaia satellite

Gaia’s first sky map

The European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite published the first catalogue of more than a billion stars on Sept., 14, 2016. A detailed 3D map of our Milky Way galaxy is currently being assembled. The map put out today shows the density of stars across the entire sky.

Read the full article Gaia’s Billion-Star Map Hints at Treasures to Come at the ESA website.

Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way

20 planets similar to Earth cataloged by astronomers

This figure from the Planetary Habitability Laboratory shows a generous habitable zone for stars of different temperatures, as well as the location of terrestrial size planetary candidates and confirmed Kepler planets described in new research. Some of the solar system terrestrial planets are also shown for comparison. Credit: Chester Harman

NASA’s Kepler mission provided astronomers with the data they needed to catalog planets similar to Earth. The 20 candidate planets are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit their star in the conservative habitable zone where liquid water could pool on the surface of the planet.

Of the 20 candidates, nine of them have been determined to be verified planets. They include:

Kepler-62f
Kepler-186f
Kepler-283c
Kepler-296f
Kepler-442b

The paper “A Catalog of Kepler Habitable Zone Exoplanet Candidates” lists the candidates and their properties. 

An imaginative illustration of Kepler-186f, one of the planets found by the Kepler mission believed to be in the habitable zone. Credit: Danielle Futselaar

MoonEx has permission to land on Moon in 2017

Moon Express, Inc. (MoonEx), a private enterprise, has been granted permission from the U.S. Government to travel beyond Earth’s orbit and land on the Moon in 2017. Up until now, only governments have sent missions to other worlds. MoonEx will participate in peaceful space exploration while advancing technology, science, research, and development, including commercial ventures.

MoonEx is an American privately held company that—aside from the goal of winning the Google Lunar XPrize—plans on mining the Moon for natural resources.

Co-founder and CEO, Bob Richards said:

“The recent discovery of water on the Moon is an economic game changer for humanity’s future. Water is the oil of the solar system, and the moon has become a gas station in the sky.”