The White House will announce plans to stop funding the International Space Station after 2024 when it unveils its proposed budget Monday, Fox News has confirmed.
A senior NASA official told Fox News that the agency is working on a transition plan that would allow the station, known as the ISS, to be operated by a commercial concern.
The administration’s plan for the ISS was first reported by The Washington Post.
The Post reported that the White House will request $150 million from Congress for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 in order to “to enable the development and maturation of commercial entities and capabilities which will ensure that commercial successors to the ISS —potentially including elements of the ISS — are operational when they are needed.” – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Yesterday, Elon Musk’s SpaceX made history with the successful launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket, but that wasn’t the only notable space “first” to happen on February 6th. On board the International Space Station, Russian cosmonauts and astronauts from NASA and the Japanese space agency played what is being considered the first sporting event in space. It was a doubles game of badminton, and it sure looks like a lot of fun.
Played in zero gravity, the match took place in one of the space station’s larger modules, and required a special set of “space rules” that are a whole lot different from what you’d expect here on Earth. Needless to say, the entire thing was pretty weird.
Only in space: Cosmonauts face off against astronauts for the inaugural title of space badminton champion aboard the International Space Station. @roscosmos @NASA @Space_Station pic.twitter.com/BSwtniq2sz
— Cormac Walsh (@CormacWalsh) February 6, 2018
During the match, American astronauts teamed up with Russian cosmonauts as well as one of the Japanese astronauts. The somewhat cramped conditions and lack of gravity inside the module facilitated some very creative play styles, including the players anchoring themselves to any side of the module that made sense. This resulted in teammates often being upside down from each other, because space. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]Simply packing enough food to last for the entirety of the trip would be terribly inefficient and would leave space travelers in a tight spot if their return is delayed and they somehow run out of things to eat. Growing traditional foods onboard is also a tough sell due to the length of time it would take to grow and harvest it. Now, researchers from Penn State have come up with a novel alternative, and it starts with something astronauts will have no shortage of: poop.
You already know that astronauts recycle their own waste, particularly urine, which is filtered and turned into drinking water, but feces is a whole different ball game. Penn State scientists have developed a system that converts solid human waste into something not only edible, but nutritious as well.
“We envisioned and tested the concept of simultaneously treating astronauts’ waste with microbes while producing a biomass that is edible either directly or indirectly depending on safety concerns,” Christopher House, a professor of geosciences at Penn State, explains. “It’s a little strange, but the concept would be a little bit like Marmite or Vegemite where you’re eating a smear of ‘microbial goo.” – READ MORE
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