Space population returns to 6 after Shenzhou 10 lands safely.

Yesterday, June 25, Shenzhou 10 returned it's crew of three taikonauts to Earth safely, lowering space's human population back to 6, from 9.

This mission was a success according to the PRC (People's Republic of China) government, and during it the three taikonauts spent  15 days in orbit, conducting experiments within the Chinese space station Tiangong 1, and practising various docking procedures with it.

The mission was the longest ever flown by the Chinese space program, and was the second of two planed missions to Tiangong 1.

Tiangong 1 is not a large or longterm space station, indeed, it's weight, at 18,000 lbs, is less than half of that of the first Salyut station put into orbit by the USSR. Instead, it is a testing ground for the technologies that will be needed for future planned space stations.

Tiangong 2 was planned to launch in 2013, though recent estimates place it closer to 2015, and it will weigh 44,000 lbs, this will be followed by Tiangong 3, originally planned for 2015, and then by the Chinese modular space station, which has been floated with a 2020 launch date.

The Next Generation: Andrew Rader

On June 15, I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Andrew Rader at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa. Andrew spoke eloquently about the reasons for space colonization, and about the challenges we will face on this path. Andrew is no idle dreamer in this field either. The Ottawa native is willing to lead from the front, he's an applicant for the Mars One Project which seeks to land a first wave of colonists on the Red Planet by 2023.

And Andrew is well qualified, after graduating from MIT with a PhD in Aerospace and Astrospace Engineering he worked as a spacecraft systems engineer. He's currently also applying for the Axe Apollo Space Academy, a promotion that will see the successful candidates launched into suborbital space aboard XCOR's reusable rocket plane. Finally, he's no stranger to the spotlight he'll be put under if selected as a Martian colonist, he's previously competed on a reality TV game show, Canada's Greatest Know It All, where he came out victorious.

For now though, Andrew is here on Earth with the rest of us, but he's working hard to make Martian colonization a reality. In his talk he laid out the reasons behind choosing Mars as our species next home, hi-lighting the planet's surface area, (as much as the land surface of Earth) the presence of water, the 24.6 hour long days and the atmosphere, only 1% of Earth's but made up of useful carbon-dioxide.

He then went on to talk about mission architecture, comparing the differences between the Apollo missions and what is planned for the Mars One Project, the comparative force required and the differences in payload. On point I found particularly interesting was his discussion of the one way nature of the proposed trip, if the purpose of a mission to Mars is to learn how to live there, a return trip would not only be the most dangerous part of the mission, it would also be counter productive.

Andrew acknowledges the risks of course, radiation alone will likely result in a 3% increase in the rates of cancer for the colonists traveling in the early ships until we develop better shielding, but he's willing to accept them, as I think are most of the people involved in the colonization dream.

Andrew Rader doesn't think the odds of Mars One being successful on its 2023 timetable are that good, he gives them 5%, but like me, he thinks that the potential rewards are so great that supporting the project is well worth it.

You can follow Andrew at @Rader_Andrew, vote for him to fly to space with Axe and XCOR here, see his application for Mars One here or like him on Facebook here.

The ARKYD

Have you heard of Planetary Resources? They're an asteroid mining company hoping to use robotics to extract resources for use in space and on Earth. They're already producing their first spacecraft, the ARKYD 100, a series of space telescopes for use in Earth orbit.

Planetary Resources plans to use these telescopes to find and prospect the asteroids they hope to mine, but they're making one available for the general public's use as well. Planetary Resources says that they will provide the telescope itself free of charge, but they have begun a kickstarter campaign to pay for the telescope's launch, operation, and interface.

They're looking to raise a million dollars to pay for these costs, and then cover the rest out of the company's pocket. Well a million dollars may seem like a rather low figure for the launch of a spacecraft and the development of it's interface, it should be noted that the ARKYD 100 is a very small spacecraft. at only 15 kg, it's light enough to easily lift, even on Earth, it's only 20 cm wide and tall, and only 35 cm when stowed. In orbit it will extend to 42.5 cm long, and it's solar panels will stretch to 60 cm, barely over half a meter.


The crowdfunding model is being used very successfully for this project, with numerous rewards being offered, including the ablity to aim the telescope at objects of your choosing, have it display and take a photo of a photo of you, or have your name engraved on the spacecraft. (It all depends on how much you want to give.)

When I first read about this project a little over an hour ago, they had raised $64,000, at the time I hit "publish" they have raised $111,000, it seems highly likely that they will meet and exceed their goal.

Here is their official video, including endorsements from notable figures like Richard Bronson of Virgin Galatic, and Hank Green, of Sci-Show and Crash Course.

If you want to back the project, and maybe take a picture of a picture of you in space, here's a link to their kickstarter campaign with more details.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1458134548/arkyd-a-space-telescope-for-everyone-0?ref=pripage_home

Randian heroes in our midst.

What if I told you there was a man who helped pioneer e-commerce by starting Paypal? And that he is now using that fortune to build revolutionary new rocket ships because he personally wants to go to Mars?

As much as this sounds like something out of an Ayn Rand novel, Elon Musk is a very real man, with very real dreams to see humans living on Mars. When he realized NASA would not likely put men on Mars till will after his death, and that a colony was right out under NASA, Musk decided to take things into his own hands.

So far it's been a great success, his Falcon 9 rockets are now the standard by which commercial rockets are measured, development on his Falcon Heavy is well under way, and a Dragon spacecraft is currently docked to the ISS.

But Musk plans to go to Mars, and none of his existing rockets can carry enough payload there at an economical price.

That's why he is developing the MCT, a reusable rocket that would return to Earth for refueling and reassembly after each launch. The MCT is rumoured to stand for Mars Colony Transport, although no one is certain just yet, since Musk is playing his cards tight to his vest on this project.

Musk is the sort of man who does things for himself. He wants to travel to Mars and live there. Seeing that no one else was willing to build the ships he ands his fellow colonists will need, he decided to build them himself. For that, I say congratulations to Elon Musk, a man who will make his way to Mars because it's what he wants. The rest of us will benefit from his vision and his passion, as long as we stay out of his way.

Space commercialization is well under way.

This morning, a private company delivered supplies to a remote outpost, including fresh fruit, a rare luxury for this particular outpost.

That's because this outpost is the International Space Station, currently the only manned space station in orbit, and that private company was Space X. While this cannot be said to be a fully private venture since the contract was paid with taxpayer dollars, it does show that commercial space flight has reached new heights.

And many of Space X's new contacts will be fully private. They plan to deliver the Bigelow Commercial Space Station to orbit in 2014, and to provide the majority of transport to the station, all with their existing Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. An unmanned Dragon, atop a Falcon 9 is what Space X used to deliver fresh fruit to the ISS crew.

Bigelow plans for access to it's commercial station for $26.5 million aboard a Dragon, and rental rates as low as $25 million for two months. At only $51.5 million for a two month stay in space, the Bigelow Space Station may well trigger a space population boom, indeed, Bigelow is prepared to build about ten of them, and there's no reason they can't be placed outside of Earth Orbit, affordable space stations over the Moon? Over Mars maybe? The possibilities really are endless.

Augmented reality? Google has you covered.

(Full disclosure, I'm a Google fanboy, I use a Nexus 7 as my personal computer.) Google is just about to start what is effectively a 8000 unit public beta of their new technology, Google Glass, which will provide augmented reality, voice controlled point of view camera, point of view video chat, and GPS directions and route data  right in your line of vision! Is that a left or a right? Pretty hard too get confused when you are directly comparing your maps with the world in front of you.

Some people are criticizing Glass on the basis that all of its functions are already possible on top line smart phones. While this is true, these people are missing the point. Glass is about putting augmented reality within reach, if all it did was provide Google Now cards in my field of vision I'd be thrilled.

Glass is set to do a lot more then that though. The functions shown in the "How It Feels" product demonstration will open whole new worlds for microbloggers, recreational athletes, and for anyone who might find both their hands busy, but still need communications or information.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm eager to try Glass, and that I'll be purchasing the first full release model. At which point you can look forward to first person videos of gardening and hunting. Oh, I'm sure you're just ecstatic.

Next stop, Mars.

As of yesterday, the private sector now has two significant Martian ventures planned for the next decade. While the incredibly ambitious Mars One project is planning to send one way trips to Mars to establish a human colony on the Red Planet by 2023, Inspiration Mars is planning a arguably less ambitious return trip, but on a much shorter time schedule, they hope to take two humans on a flyby of Mars by 2018. The two projects are very different, yet remarkably similar.

Inspiration Mars is a non-profit organization planning just one mission. A flyby of Mars in 2018, by two human astronauts. With only five years to make it happen, the timescale alone is ambitious. Inspiration Mars is being run by a citizen of the United States, for the United States. It is largely not an international project and it will work closely with NASA, they have not ruled out government funding for their mission, but are planning to rely primarily on donations.

As a libertarian, I'm not thrilled that the government will be involved in Inspiration Mars as it does subject them to some political pressure, nor am I pleased that it will be a rather nationalistic effort, but I am happy that the initiative is led by the private sector and will be largely funded from there.

And really, it's a bright step in the right direction, the knowledge gained will be invaluable to the team at Mars One, who will have four years to evaluate the lessons learned from Inspiration Mars before launching their first manned mission.

The travelers on Inspiration Mars will live in an inflatable habitat module for most of the trip, the sort being developed and constructed by Bigelow Aerospace.

Mars One, in contrast, will be completely private sector. The Mars One Foundation is a not for profit entity that will own the spacecraft, Earth based training outposts, and the Martian settlement itself. The colonists Mars One recruits will be employees of the Mars One Foundation. They plan to acquire funding through donations, but also through a for profit company, the Interplanetary Media Group. The Mars One Foundation owns the majority of shares in the Interplanetary Media Group, which will play a key role in the project's funding structure. Importantly, Mars One will not receive any government funding and is a fully international effort. This is to minimize the potential effects of politics on the mission, and allow it to remain focused on human achievement.

Mars One is probably the most ambitious human endeavour ever attempted, it's a real effort to take humanity from a single planet species, to one that thrives and flourishes on multiple worlds. It's the stuff of science fiction, but it's real, and it's happening.

Some controversy has been generated over the fact that there is no plan to bring the Mars One astronauts home. They will reach Mars, and live there for the remainder of their natural lives. This seems problematic at first, but remember, this isn't a one way trip just for four individuals, the plan is to continue to land new colonists every two years, with the potential to ramp up emmigration to Mars if the demand is high. These people won't be left stranded on a foreign world, they'll be the pioneers on the frontiers of space. The first colonists to the Americas never expected to return home, though they did face a more hospitable landscape in their new environment.

Both of these ventures are great steps forward for mankind. If they come to fruition, they will mark the beginning of our history as a multi planetary species. The first that we know of. Within our lifetimes, it now looks increasingly likely that we will get to bear witness to a reality where "Martians" are real, and very, very, human.