Tag: space

Scientists turn human waste into rocket fuel

Pratap Pullammanappallil from the University of Florida with his anaerobic digesterResearchers at the University of Florida (UF) claim to have discovered a way to turn human excrement into rocket fuel.

The engineers have conducted trials at the behest of NASA and fit into plans to build a site on the moon and needed to solve the conundrum of what to do with something that’s essentially excess baggage.

The UF scientists said they attempted to discover how much methane could be made from uneaten food, packaging and human waste.

Faculty member Pratap Pullammanappallil said: “The idea was to see whether we could make enough fuel to launch rockets and not carry all the fuel and its weight from Earth for the return journey. Methane can be used to fuel the rockets.  Enough methane can be produced to come back from the moon.”

Experimenting with a package containing all sorts of rubbish, they ran tests and discovered a process they used would make 290 litres of methane per crew per day.

They formulated an anaerobic digestion process which destroys pathogens and produces a biogas which also, incidentally, can produce around 200 gallons of non drinkable water annually from the waste. That water can be split electrolytically into oxygen and hydrogen, the former element being used as a back up breathing system.

Russian sex mad geckos die in space

lizardA team of sex mad geckos who were sent by the Russians to see what they could do in zero gravity returned to earth stone dead.

The geckos were sent aboard Russian satellite Foton M-4 to study effects of zero gravity on reproductive systems.

According to officials at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, the geckos – four females and one male died a week before the landing.

Apparently the satellite’s other randy cargo, the fruit flies were still alive and bred like crazy in space.

As the Foton satellite was not equipped to transmit live feeds back, Russian scientists will have to pick apart the 44 days of footage to know when exactly and why the geckos met their death.

Other than the fruit flies the entire experiment was a disaster. The Foton-M4 satellite was launched on 19 July, 2014 from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan. Though slated for two months, the capsule was recalled after 44 days following problems that began a few days after the launch.

Senators fire rocket at SpaceX

spacex-grasshopperIt seems that SpaceX has rattled the chains of the defence establishment and is doing its job a little too well.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is putting payloads into orbit for less money than the big government contractors charge and it appears that has angered those in the defence community who have been making a fair bit of dosh flogging more expensive projects and gear to NASA.

In the US when a corporate feels threatened it uses one of its tame lobby senators to go on the attack and so far their weapon of choice has been Senator Richard Shelby. He threw needless layers of bureaucracy at SpaceX .

Now it appears that more senators have been drawn in on the side of the other defence contractors.

Three House members—Mike Coffman, Mo Brooks, and Cory Gardner have sent a memo to NASA demanding that the agency investigate what they call “an epidemic of anomalies” with SpaceX missions.

The three are insisting that as a contractor, the company should be accountable to the American taxpayer. On this they are on a sticky wicket. According to Space News, NASA did not actually pay for the development of the Falcon 9; Elon Musk did so there is no public funds being used to develop the rockets in the first place.

The three senators are also moaning that SpaceX has experienced launch delays and other problems that has prevented payloads getting into space. However that is normal and it is unlikely that NASA could have done any better.

The congressmen’s complaint that SpaceX is behind schedule is also deeply ironic when the Sentator’s chum’s own project NASA’s Space Launch System—a next generation rocket that is supposed to replace the Shuttle—is also delayed.

Space expert Phil Plait  thinks that what the big defence contractors are worried about is that the space launch system is so behind that  SpaceX is catching up with its Dragon V2 and the Falcon Heavy which will launch next year.  The Space Launch System will not test launch until 2017.

Plait said that it is a transparent attempt from members of our Congress to hinder a privately owned company that threatens their own interests.

Boeing, which is the major SLS contractor has a big plant in Alabama, Brooks’ and Shelby’s home state. The United Launch Alliance has its HQ in Colorado, home to Gardner and Coffman – coincidence perhaps?