journey to the space essay

The Meaning of Human Spaceflight: 20 Essays on Its 50th Anniversary

On the anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's historic trip around the Earth, NASA administrators, former astronauts, science museum curators and other thinkers from various fields reflect on 50 years of human spaceflight

Fifty years ago today, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, then just 27 years old, became the first human to journey into outer space. Gagarin, strapped inside of his Vostok spacecraft, completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961, instantly making himself a subject of international conversation. Before he died seven years later when a training jet crashed outside of Chkalovsky Air Base, Gagarin was awarded numerous medals and honors.

To commemorate 50 years of manned spaceflight, we reached out to NASA administrators, former astronauts, science museum leadership and many others who have written intelligently about space in the past. We've gathered their responses, ranging from the story of the Blue Marble Shot, that photograph seen above, to a moving celebration of colleagues from a former Space Shuttle pilot, on this page.

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Essay on Space Exploration

• Updated on  
• Jun 11, 2022

For scientists, space is first and foremost a magnificent “playground” — an inexhaustible source of knowledge and learning that is assisting in the solution of some of the most fundamental existential issues concerning Earth’s origins and our place in the Universe. Curiosity has contributed significantly to the evolution of the human species. Curiosity along with the desire for a brighter future has driven humans to explore and develop from the discovery of fire by ancient ancestors to present space explorations.  Here is all the information you need and the best tips to write an essay on space exploration.

What is Space Exploration?  

Space Exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While astronomers use telescopes to explore space, both uncrewed robotic space missions and human spaceflight are used to explore it physically. One of the primary sources for space science is space exploration, which is similar to astronomy in its classical form. We can use space exploration to validate or disprove scientific theories that have been created on Earth. Insights into gravity, the magnetosphere, the atmosphere, fluid dynamics, and the geological evolution of other planets have all come from studying the solar system.

Advantages of Space Exploration 

It is vital to understand and point out the advantages of space exploration while writing an essay on the topic.

New inventions have helped the worldwide society. NASA’s additional research was beneficial to society in a variety of ways. Transportation, medical, computer management, agriculture technology, and consumer products all profit from the discoveries. GPS technology, breast cancer treatment, lightweight breathing systems, Teflon fibreglass, and other areas benefited from the space programme.

It is impossible to dispute that space exploration creates a large number of employment opportunities around the world. A better way to approach space exploration is to spend less and make it more cost-effective. In the current job market, space research initiatives provide far too much to science, technology, and communication. As a result, a large number of jobs are created.

Understanding

NASA’s time-travelling space exploration programmes and satellite missions aid in the discovery of previously unknown facts about our universe. Scientists have gained a greater understanding of Earth’s nature and atmosphere, as well as those of other space entities. These are the research initiatives that alert us to impending natural disasters and other related forecasts. It also paves the way for our all-powerful universe to be saved from time to time.

Disadvantages of Space Exploration

Highlighting disadvantages will give another depth to your essay on space exploration. Here are some important points to keep in mind.

Pollution is one of the most concerning issues in space travel. Many satellites are launched into space each year, but not all of them return. The remnants of such incidents degrade over time, becoming debris that floats in the air. Old satellites, various types of equipment, launch pads, and rocket fragments all contribute to pollution. Space debris pollutes the atmosphere in a variety of ways. Not only is space exploration harmful to the environment, but it is also harmful to space.

A government space exploration programme is expensive. Many people believe that space mission initiatives are economical. It should be mentioned that NASA just celebrated its 30th anniversary with $196.5 billion spent.

Space exploration isn’t a walk in the park. Many historical occurrences demonstrate the dangers that come with sad situations. The Challenger space shuttle accident on January 28, 1986, must be remembered. The spacecraft exploded in under 73 seconds, resulting in a tremendous loss of life and property.

Conclusion 

There are two sides to every coin. To survive on Earth, one must confront and overcome obstacles. Space exploration is an essential activity that cannot be overlooked, but it can be enhanced by technological advancements.

Space Exploration Courses

Well, if your dream is to explore space and you want to make a career in it, then maybe space exploration courses are the right choice for you to turn your dreams into reality.

Various universities offering space exploration courses are :

• Arizona State University, USA
• Bachelor of Science in Earth and Space Exploration
• Earth and Space Exploration (Astrobiology and Biogeosciences)
• Earth and Space Exploration (Astrophysics)
• University of Leicester, UK
• Space Exploration Systems MSc
• York University
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) in Space Engineering

Tips to write an IELTS Essay  on Space Exploration

• The essay’s word count should be at least 250 words. There is no maximum word count. If you write less than 250 words, you risk submitting an incomplete essay. The goal should be to write a minimum of 250-words essay.
• There will be more than one question on the essay topic. The questions must be answered in their entirety. For example, for the topic ‘crime is unavoidable,’ you might see questions like 1. Speak in favour of and against this topic, 2. Give your opinion, and 3. Suggest some measures to avoid crime. This topic now has three parts, and all of them must be answered; only then will the essay be complete.
• Maintain a smooth writing flow. You can’t get off track and create an essay that has nothing to do with the issue. The essay must be completely consistent with the question. The essay’s thoughts should be tied to the question directly. Make use of instances, experiences, and concepts that you can relate to.
• Use a restricted number of linking phrases and words to organise your writing. Adverbial phrases should be used instead of standard linking words.
• The essay should be broken up into little paragraphs of at least two sentences each. Your essay should be divided into three sections: introduction, body, and conclusion. ( cheapest pharmacy to fill prescriptions without insurance )
• Don’t overuse complicated and long words in your essay. Make appropriate use of collocations and idioms. You must be able to use words and circumstances effectively.
• The essay must be written correctly in terms of grammar. In terms of spelling, grammar, and tenses, there should be no mistakes. Avoid using long, difficult sentences to avoid grammatical problems. Make your sentences succinct and to-the-point.
• Agree/disagree, discuss two points of view, pros and disadvantages, causes and solutions, causes and effects, and problem-solution are all examples of essay questions to practise.
• Make a strong beginning. The opening should provide the reader a good indication of what to expect from the rest of the article. Making a good first impression and piquing your attention starts with a good introduction.
• If required, cite facts, figures, and data. It’s best to stay away from factual material if you’re not sure about the statistics or stats. If you’re unsure about something, don’t write it down.
• The essay’s body should be descriptive, with all of the points, facts, and information listed in great detail.
• The conclusion is the most noticeable part. Your IELTS band is influenced by how you end your essay.
• Make sure there are no spelling errors. If you’re not sure how to spell something, don’t use it. It is preferable to utilize simple, everyday terms.
• Do not include any personal or casual remarks. It is strictly forbidden.
• Once you’ve finished drafting your essay, proofread it. It enables you to scan for minor and large grammar and spelling problems.

This was the Essay on Space Exploration. We hope it was helpful to you. Experts at Leverage Edu will help you out in writing your essays for IELTS, SOPs and more!

Sonal is a creative, enthusiastic writer and editor who has worked extensively for the Study Abroad domain. She splits her time between shooting fun insta reels and learning new tools for content marketing. If she is missing from her desk, you can find her with a group of people cracking silly jokes or petting neighbourhood dogs.

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The History of Space Exploration

During the time that has passed since the launching of the first artificial satellite in 1957, astronauts have traveled to the moon, probes have explored the solar system, and instruments in space have discovered thousands of planets around other stars.

Earth Science, Astronomy, Social Studies, U.S. History, World History

Apollo 11 Astronauts on Moon

A less belligerent, but no less competitive, part of the Cold War was the space race. The Soviet Union bested its rival at nearly every turn, until the U.S. beat them to the finish line by landing astronauts on the moon.

NASA photograph

We human beings have been venturing into space since October 4, 1957, when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth. This happened during the period of political hostility between the Soviet Union and the United States known as the Cold War. For several years, the two superpowers had been competing to develop missiles, called intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), to carry nuclear weapons between continents. In the U.S.S.R., the rocket designer Sergei Korolev had developed the first ICBM, a rocket called the R7, which would begin the space race. This competition came to a head with the launch of Sputnik . Carried atop an R7 rocket, the Sputnik satellite was able to send out beeps from a radio transmitter. After reaching space, Sputnik orbited Earth once every 96 minutes. The radio beeps could be detected on the ground as the satellite passed overhead, so people all around the world knew that it was really in orbit. Realizing that the U.S.S.R. had capabilities that exceeded U.S. technologies that could endanger Americans, the United States grew worried. Then, a month later, on November 3, 1957, the Soviets achieved an even more impressive space venture. This was Sputnik II, a satellite that carried a living creature, a dog named Laika. Prior to the launch of Sputnik, the United States had been working on its own capability to launch a satellite. The United States made two failed attempts to launch a satellite into space before succeeding with a rocket that carried a satellite called Explorer on January 31, 1958. The team that achieved this first U.S. satellite launch consisted largely of German rocket engineers who had once developed ballistic missiles for Nazi Germany. Working for the U.S. Army at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, the German rocket engineers were led by Wernher von Braun and had developed the German V2 rocket into a more powerful rocket, called the Jupiter C, or Juno. Explorer carried several instruments into space for conducting science experiments. One instrument was a Geiger counter for detecting cosmic rays. This was for an experiment operated by researcher James Van Allen, which, together with measurements from later satellites, proved the existence of what are now called the Van Allen radiation belts around Earth. In 1958, space exploration activities in the United States were consolidated into a new government agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). When it began operations in October of 1958, NASA absorbed what had been called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and several other research and military facilities, including the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (the Redstone Arsenal) in Huntsville. The first human in space was the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who made one orbit around Earth on April 12, 1961, on a flight that lasted 108 minutes. A little more than three weeks later, NASA launched astronaut Alan Shepard into space, not on an orbital flight, but on a suborbital trajectory—a flight that goes into space but does not go all the way around Earth. Shepard’s suborbital flight lasted just over 15 minutes. Three weeks later, on May 25, President John F. Kennedy challenged the United States to an ambitious goal, declaring: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth." In addition to launching the first artificial satellite, the first dog in space, and the first human in space, the Soviet Union achieved other space milestones ahead of the United States. These milestones included Luna 2, which became the first human-made object to hit the Moon in 1959. Soon after that, the U.S.S.R. launched Luna 3 . Less than four months after Gagarin’s flight in 1961, a second Soviet human mission orbited a cosmonaut around Earth for a full day. The U.S.S.R. also achieved the first spacewalk and launched the Vostok 6 mission, which made Valentina Tereshkova the first woman to travel to space. During the 1960s, NASA made progress toward President Kennedy’s goal of landing a human on the moon with a program called Project Gemini, in which astronauts tested technology needed for future flights to the moon, and tested their own ability to endure many days in spaceflight. Project Gemini was followed by Project Apollo, which took astronauts into orbit around the moon and to the lunar surface between 1968 and 1972. In 1969, on Apollo11, the United States sent the first astronauts to the Moon, and Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on its surface. During the landed missions, astronauts collected samples of rocks and lunar dust that scientists still study to learn about the moon. During the 1960s and 1970s, NASA also launched a series of space probes called Mariner, which studied Venus, Mars, and Mercury. Space stations marked the next phase of space exploration. The first space station in Earth orbit was the Soviet Salyut 1 station, which was launched in 1971. This was followed by NASA’s Skylab space station, the first orbital laboratory in which astronauts and scientists studied Earth and the effects of spaceflight on the human body. During the 1970s, NASA also carried out Project Viking in which two probes landed on Mars, took numerous photographs, examined the chemistry of the Martian surface environment, and tested the Martian dirt (called regolith ) for the presence of microorganisms . Since the Apollo lunar program ended in 1972, human space exploration has been limited to low-Earth orbit, where many countries participate and conduct research on the International Space Station. However, unpiloted probes have traveled throughout our solar system. In recent years, probes have made a range of discoveries, including that a moon of Jupiter, called Europa, and a moon of Saturn, called Enceladus, have oceans under their surface ice that scientists think may harbor life. Meanwhile, instruments in space, such as the Kepler Space Telescope , and instruments on the ground have discovered thousands of exoplanets , planets orbiting other stars. This era of exoplanet discovery began in 1995, and advanced technology now allows instruments in space to characterize the atmospheres of some of these exoplanets.

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On the campus essay: learning to travel through time with my astrophysics professor.

For 35 years I’ve been traveling through time with the Princeton professor who showed that time travel is possible.

It’s 1981. I’m a senior in the astrophysics department, choosing a topic for my undergraduate thesis. I’m in the Peyton Hall office of J. Richard Gott III *73, an astrophysicist who’s building a reputation as one of the best and quirkiest teachers at Princeton. I’m 20 years old, he’s 34.

Professor Gott is a native of Louisville, Ky. He studied math and physics at Harvard before getting his Ph.D. in astrophysics at Princeton. He has a strong Kentucky drawl and a special enthusiasm for Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the equations that link space and time and gravity. He leans forward in his chair and fervently talks about curvature tensors and spacetime metrics. And as I listen to him, I start to feel the same excitement.

He finds a recent issue of Scientific American and opens the magazine. “Here’s something interesting. It’s about Flatland, a hypothetical universe with only two spatial dimensions. It has length and width, but no height. You could do a thesis on that.”

I’m confused. “Flatland?”

“You could figure out how general relativity would work in a universe with only two spatial dimensions, plus the dimension of time.”

He draws a spacetime diagram to make things clearer. The vertical dimension in this diagram is the dimension of time. The top of the page is the future, and the bottom is the past. Every object in our universe follows a “world line” in this diagram, moving left and right through the spatial dimensions but also traveling inexorably upward, toward the future.

That meeting in Peyton Hall is the beginning of our journey. My world line and Professor Gott’s run close and parallel for the next six months as I struggle with the mathematics of relativity. I finally derive a solution for Flatland and rush to Dr. Gott’s office. He smiles and gives me the highest compliment that one theorist can give another: “This solution is non-trivial!”

The theory of relativity, we discover, would work very differently in Flatland than it does in our universe. There would be no gravitational attraction between massive objects, and yet those objects still would alter the geometry of the spacetime around them. It’s an interesting result. Dr. Gott and I co-author a research paper that’s published in a somewhat esoteric journal called General Relativity and Gravitation.

After I graduate from Princeton, though, I stop studying astrophysics. I fall in love with poetry and get a master’s degree in creative writing. Eventually I become a journalist. My world line diverges from Professor Gott’s.

But then something remarkable happens. My Princeton education isn’t over yet. Our world lines come back together.

It’s 1998. Oddly enough, I’m now an editor at Scientific American. My wife and I go to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to hear a lecture by Dr. Gott. He’s made an amazing discovery: Under extraordinary circumstances, the theory of relativity allows for time travel to the past. The circumstances involve cosmic strings, infinitely long strands of high-density material that may have been created in the first moments of our universe’s history. If cosmic strings really exist — astronomers haven’t observed any yet — Professor Gott believes they could be used to build a time machine.

With his usual enthusiasm, he explains to the audience in the lecture hall how the time machine would work. First, you’d have to find two cosmic strings that are zooming past each other at nearly the speed of light. Then you’d jump into a spaceship and steer around the pair of strings in a tight circle. Because the strings radically change the geometry of the surrounding spacetime, the rocket would return to your starting point at a time before you embarked on the journey. Upon your arrival, you could shake hands with your slightly younger self and reassure him or her that the trip will be successful. Your world line has twisted into a closed curve, allowing you to loop back to an event in your past.

But wait, Dr. Gott tells the audience, there’s more! Researchers have discovered other methods of time travel allowed by Einstein’s equations, including scenarios involving wormholes — shortcuts through spacetime, like the one shown in the movie Interstellar — and exotic vacuum states. “I’m not talking about a Hoover vacuum,” Gott says passionately in his characteristic drawl. “I’m talking about a negative-energy quantum vacuum!” Even stranger, it’s possible that our universe began as a closed time loop, a vacuum state that whirled back and forth in time and simultaneously sent a branch of spacetime into the future, where it became our modern-day cosmos.

This cosmological model is appealing to physicists and philosophers because it cleverly answers an age-old question: What started the universe? If our cosmos branched off from a closed time loop, then the universe has no beginning, because every moment in time is preceded by an earlier moment. There’s no need to imagine a cosmic birth that created everything out of nothing, because it didn’t happen. Instead, the universe created itself.

These ideas about time travel and cosmology dazzle the audience at the museum. After the lecture, several people rush toward the stage to talk to Professor Gott. My wife pushes me forward. “Go on, say hello to him.”

Researchers have discovered other methods of time travel allowed by Einstein’s equations, including scenarios involving wormholes — shortcuts through spacetime, like the one shown in the movie Interstellar — and exotic vacuum states. “I’m not talking about a Hoover vacuum,” Gott says passionately in his characteristic drawl. “I’m talking about a negative-energy quantum vacuum!”

I shake my head. “No, he won’t remember me.” But I go to the stage anyway and say hello.

He smiles. “Of course, I remember you! That research we did together? On Flatland? That led to my work on cosmic strings.”

As it turns out, the spacetime around a cosmic string is very similar to the distorted geometry around massive objects in Flatland. When Dr. Gott tells me this, I sense a strange tug in my own world line. I’m looping across time.

Einstein, in one of his last letters: “The distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion.”

It’s 2007. I’m having lunch with Professor Gott at a Chinese restaurant near Princeton. We’ve stayed in touch over the past decade; we follow each other’s work and occasionally discuss the latest science news. The relationship is incredibly rewarding. I feel as if I’ve enrolled in an open-ended astrophysics course that has no final exam but keeps giving me credits.

I arranged this lunch so we can discuss a manuscript I’ve written. It’s my first novel, Final Theory, a thriller about Einstein and apocalyptic physics. Dr. Gott has scribbled comments on dozens of Post-It notes. He points at the novel, which has several physicists in its cast of characters. “Well, I recognize which character is me,” he says. “And I know which one is you. So who should play us in the movie?”

He has a soft spot for science-fiction movies, especially any film that features time travel. After we go over the casting choices, Dr. Gott corrects several mistakes I made in the first draft of the novel. In one scene, I put the wrong constellations in the summer sky. That would’ve been a humiliating error for a former astrophysics major.

It’s 2015. I’m in Professor Gott’s office again, but now my 16-year-old son, Tommy, is there too. He’s thinking about applying to Princeton and wants to meet my favorite teacher.

Dr. Gott is generous with his time. He gives Tommy a tour of the astrophysics department. He tells stories about the Intel Science Talent Search, the contest for which he served as a judge for many years. (He was a contestant when he was in high school, winning second place in 1965.) Then he switches gears and talks about space exploration and the War of the Worlds broadcast, the famous Orson Welles radio play that terrified the country in 1938 by describing a Martian invasion of New Jersey. He says he recently celebrated the anniversary of the broadcast by visiting Grover’s Mill, the site of the fictional Martian landing. It’s just a few miles from Princeton.

He keeps us enthralled for almost two hours. After we leave Peyton Hall, Tommy is thoroughly intimidated. “If you have to be that smart to get into Princeton, I don’t have a chance,” he says.

I reassure him by pointing out that very few people in the world are as smart as Professor Gott.

It’s 2016. In one of the most important discoveries of the century, scientists detect gravitational waves for the first time, providing the best evidence yet for the theory of relativity. And at the end of the spring semester, Dr. Gott will retire from the Princeton faculty. I’m 55 years old, he’s 69.

I’m glad we stayed in touch. I tell all my friends and fellow alumni that they should look up their former professors. It’s like another kind of time travel.

And you don’t even need any cosmic strings. 

Emil Friedman *73

Is Prof. Gott's time travel example two-way? After going back to the past can he return to the future? What about the paradox proposed by Larry Niven? If a method of traveling to the past were discovered, would somebody go back and do something to prevent the discovery? (One-way time travel to the future is clearly possible. All of us do it continuously.)   Nicholas Meyler '81 

The key problem in time-travel is traveling to the past. Travel to the future is already a known phenomenon (according to Relativity and the Lorentz contraction equations). A sufficiently fast rocket, near light-speed, could easily travel to the future, while the astronaut onboard ages less due to the time-dilation effect.

So, Gott's solution is about time-travel to the past, primarily. Would a paradox result? According to the "many worlds" hypothesis of Hugh Everett III (a Princeton PhD), each time-travel event creates a new universe, so that paradoxes need not exist.

When we refer to "time-travel," we are mostly referring to events that are spatio-temporally discontinuous, so not quite like just aging, although I think that counts, too.

The classical "paradox" in time-travel is called "the grandfather paradox" (i.e. could I go back in time and kill my grandfather before I was born?) ... If so, how would I get born in the first place? Everett's solution is that yes, you can go kill your grandfather, but you wouldn't be in the same Universe or "time-line" anymore, and you obviously have already been born, so you wouldn't simply "disappear," like the silly "Back to The Future" photograph.

Whether paradoxes really would ensue is somewhat dubious, though, even if time-travel were to the same Universe as it started from. Kip Thorne did extensive "thought experiments" that proved time-travel to the past was possible, with some degree of interaction. Scientists in Australia have also found similar results modeling sending particles back through wormholes, where the particles have the opportunity to interact with their previous "selves." No paradoxes arose, from what I understand.   Nicholas Meyler ’81

"Time Travel in Einstein's Universe" was an excellent book, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was under the impression, though (and a bit sadly), that Gerard t'Hooft had shown that Gott's proposed time-machine can't work because it would "collapse the Universe".

Also, given that in Relativity (which might be true), even if two cosmic strings are rushing past each other, each nearly at the speed of light, that doesn't "add up" to faster-than-light relative motion between the two strings... since the relative speed measured from one point on one string to one point on the other string still cannot exceed lightspeed. So, my question is what mathematics justifies this contention, and what would be the slowest two cosmic strings could be moving past each other and still produce the required exotic space-time effects for a looping rocket trip to travel backwards in time?

Has Gott done any research on the idea of spinning cosmic strings (approximating a Tipler cylinder)? This might be of some interest...

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Essays on Space Exploration

Space exploration is a worthy pursuit, and writing a space exploration essay can teach you more about it. Many space exploration essays follow the story of the first cosmonaut in the world, Yuri Gagarin, as he flew around the earth's orbit on April 12, 1961. Since then more than 550 people went to outer space. Another favorite topic for essays on space exploration is Apollo 11 landing on July 20, 1969. Then humanity started the exploration of Venus in 1970 with a spacecraft Venus-7 and Venus-9, Jupiter in 1977 with Galileo, Uranus and Neptune in 1977 with Voyager-2, Saturn in 1997 with Cassini, Mercury with MESSENGER in 2004, Mars with Spirit, Opportunity in 2004 and Curiosity in 2012, Pluto in 2006 with New Horizons. Peruse our space exploration essay samples – we put together the best essay samples on the topic for you to enjoy!

A small micrometeroid massing 6.0 grams hits the space station at a velocity of 22,000 m/s. a) What’s its kinetic energy? Kinetic Energy (KE) = 0.5× mv2 where m = mass (Kg), v = velocity (m/s) Kinetic Energy (KE) = 0.5× (0.006 Kg) (22000 m/s)2 = 1.452×106 J (Kgm2/s2) b)...

Words: 1820

Major disasters such as Challenger or Apollo 13 had one cause, there were not several causes that led to them.             True – On both occasions, warning signals to prevent the launch were neglected. Question 2 My receiver get 1/4th the power of what was transmitted from Earth, how many dB is that? P (dBW)...

Words: 2203

The Issue of Budget Allocations and the Government The issue of budget allocations and the government is always a hot topic for discussion. But what if the budget allocations fall on NASA and their space exploration programs? Is it still worth it? Some people would argue that the country can better...

Words: 1531

Exploration and Technological Progress One of the fundamental reasons for living is exploration. Humans are known to value exploration and new discoveries; hence, the constant adoption of novel technologies. It is the desire to discover new things that led to the knowledge regarding other planets, space, and the moon among other...

Words: 1227

The launch of the Falcon Heavy The launch of the Falcon Heavy has been received with excitement because it is clear indication that SpaceX is staying ahead of others when it comes to coming up with the best rockets. The defense department is one of the biggest beneficiaries of this great...

Many editorials and comments have argued that the Republicans were for larger space projects while the Democrats were for the president in light of the recent development of the space policy positions of the Obama and Romney campaigns on space and platform statements. Only one person in history has ever...

Words: 1150

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Armstrong's Famous Words: "One Small Step for a Man, One Big Step for Mankind" Armstrong said, "One small step for a man, one big step for mankind," at a time when people had lofty aspirations, pondered profound visions, and achieved some of the dreams that many saw as impossibilities, like setting...

British space physicist Monica Grady is best known for her work on meteorites. She was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, the United Kingdom, on July 15, 1958. As a Professor of Planetary and Space Science, Grady is presently employed by the Milton Keyes Open University in the United Kingdom. She...

Words: 1756

Whether it was the government-run National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) or Morton-Thiokol, the commercial business engaged in the Challenger disaster, these two groups made some grievous blunders. Morton-Thiokol nitiated the project while knowing it was risky to preserve O-ring integrity due to low temperature, which NASA was also aware...

An organization's ability to handle a crisis can be significantly impacted by effective crisis communication tactics. Agencies struggle to find ways to communicate both internally and externally in the absence of a crisis communication plan that is effective. An organization's reputation may be significantly impacted by how it responds to...

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The Future of Space Exploration Essay

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Space Exploration

Benefits of space exploration, negatives of space exploration, increase in space exploration and possible future impacts, ways of space exploration with the least damage.

Space exploration is one of the most rapidly developing science which is known for its high financial implications and advanced cutting-edge technologies. Life beyond the planet was always an object of researches and investigation. Many new developments, equipment, and discoveries from space are notably useful and efficient for improving the level and the quality of life on the Earth. The history of that kind of researches started in ancient times when philosophers tried to investigate the night sky to find out the system of stars arrangement. Since then, studies in this field have progressed in a significant way, and now people even have their own space station in Earth orbit. Nowadays, there are specialized organizations such as the Aerospace Industries Association or American Astronautical Society the goal of which is to explore space. The purpose of this paper is to describe the particularities of space exploration, taking into consideration its advantages and disadvantages for humanity, ethical questions, and predictions about the future of this industry.

It is an erroneous belief that the exploration of space does not have any impact on the life of ordinary humans. It improves the quality of the life of millions of people every day: the technologies designed for space studies are now used in the medical sphere and for conducting other experiments (Rai et al., 2016). Nevertheless, space research also poses many ethical questions to society concerning colonization, financial resources, and ecological issues. With the advancement of this science, increasingly more questions rest without any answers. For many people who are not very familiar with the topic, it seems to be a complete waste of the governmental budget and just a way for experts to entertain themselves.

In the era of Gagarin and first trips into space, being a cosmonaut was considered to be highly prestigious, respected, and, at the same time, romantic. At the present moment, this science went too far away frthe om basic understanding that people regret that their taxes are spent on the exploration of the place that they would never visit. The attitude of the researchers in this field is rather ambivalent; the main beneficial and negative points of space exploration would be covered in the next parts to make the argumentative and clear statement.

The investigation of space has many advantages for society despite the fact that they are not highly notable for an ordinary person. For example, space researches encourage studies of different types of science (Panesor, 2009). What is more, the young specialists in chemistry, biology, or engineering become interested in the space sphere (Panesor, 2009). It is profitable for both sides – students provide innovative ideas, and the research centers help the new generation of scientists to get the job and to be well-paid. The benefits of space exploration cannot be counted only in money because the impact on society is non-quantifiable. According to Jacksona et al. (2019), a woman plays a crucial role in space studies. Thanks to women-cosmonauts, the level of social inequality declined rapidly in the last decade of the 20th century. A variety of studies show that women and men think and act in contrasting ways. It helps the industry of space exploration to function in a more efficient way considering several distinct points of view.

Space exploration is often claimed to be the sphere for wasting a large sum of money. This industry is one of the most expensive because of the intellectual resources and high-priced equipment details (“Cost of Space Exploration,” 1961). Nonetheless, Baum (2009) proposes the idea of cost-beneficial analysis; from his point of view, it is necessary to keep in mind the ethical risks and the alternative options of the distribution of the budget. In his other study, he raises the issue of the problem of colonization (Baum, 2016). According to his research, if people cannot save nature on the planet, there is no use to attempt to find other places to live. Moreover, the ecological situation becomes significantly severe because of the desire of humans to leave the Earth.

It is important to mention that the cost of space explorations is not always high. It generally depends on the type of research and its goal (“International Space Exploration Coordination Group,” 2013). If the data of previous experiments were used, it would help to make the price for the surveys lower (Battat, 2012). However, it requires more time and effort from the staff and makes this task, not an easy one. Another disadvantage is that it takes years or even decades for inventions and technologies to be a part of the life of ordinary people. The negatives of space exploration are highly notable for society because they cannot see the real impact.

The industry of space studies plays an essential role in the political, social, and economic spheres. If there were more money invested, it might result in a financial crisis in the country. Even though space exploration is supposed to have many non-material benefits and unexpected advantages in the nearest future. For example, the recent developments would be directly integrated into different fields of science. The robotics like the mechanic hand or neurotransmitter are now saving and improving thousands of Roboticsnks to space technologies. The level of intellectual needs in this sphere would encourage cultural and cognitive growth for many people interested in this area of study (Crawford, 2019). If the specialists would not find any place for colonization, it may influence the attitude of the society to the planet and its beautiful nature. People might become more accurate and carrying about the ecological situation on Earth.

First of all, the previous experience and results should be attentively analyzed to make the price of the new inventions lower. Secondly, there should be specialists in public relations who would explain the society why space explorations are too crucial and what are the benefits of it. Finally, space study should become a global issue for developed countries (Krichevsky, 2018). It would reduce the cost for each separate country and would make the process more efficient.

In the modern world, space exploration has its benefits and negatives. The advantages are mostly non-economical and concern the social sphere of life, while the disadvantages are centered around the high costs of the researches. Nevertheless, there are several ways to improve the financial situation and to make the price lower: by using the experience of previous generations or by optimizing the process. Ethical questions should also be taken into consideration and make humanity reflect on ecological and moral questions. Space study is one of the fascinating spheres of science in the 21st century.

• Battat, J. A. (2012). Technology and architecture: Informing investment decisions for the future of human exploration [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Baum, S. (2009). Cost-benefit analysis of space exploration: Some ethical considerations. Space Policy, 25 (2), 75–80.
• Baum, S. (2016). The ethics of outer space: A consequentialist perspective. The Ethics of Space Exploration, 2 (1), 109–123.
• International Space Exploration Coordination Group. (2013). Benefits Stemming from Space Exploration .
• American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1961). Cost of Space Exploration. Science, 133 (3470), 2055–2055.
• Crawford, I. (2019). Widening perspectives: The intellectual and social benefits of Astrobiology, Big History, and the exploration of space. Journal of Big History, 3 (3), 205–224.
• Jacksona, M. S., Knezek, P., Silimon-Hill, M. D., & Cross, M. A. (2019). Women in exploration: Lessons From the past as humanity reaches deep space. International Astronautical Congress, 1 (1), 1–15.
• Krichevsky, S. (2018). Super global projects and environmentally friendly technologies used in space exploration: Realities and prospects of the Space Age. Philosophy and Cosmology, 20 (1), 92–105.
• Panesor, T. (2009). Space: Exploration and exploitation in a modern society . Institute of physics. Web.
• Rai, A., Robinson, J. A., Tate-Brown, J., Buckley, N., Zell, M., Tasaki, K., & Pignataro, S. (2016). Expanded benefits for humanity from the International Space Station. Acta Astronautica , 126 (2 ) , 463–474.
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Do You Think You Will Ever Travel to Space?

A SpaceX rocket launched the first all-civilian crew into orbit. Do you think spaceflight will one day become as ordinary as air travel?

By Jeremy Engle

There’s a new space race!

This time it’s not a race to the moon, but to see who will dominate a future space tourism industry. It’s a competition not between nations (as it was in the 1950s and ’60s) but largely between billionaire entrepreneurs and private spaceflight companies.

This summer, the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the British entrepreneur Richard Branson both flew to space in rockets designed by their companies, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic — although each flight was less than 11 minutes.

Then, on Sept. 15, a rocket launched by SpaceX, the company founded by the billionaire Elon Musk, carried the first all-civilian crew on an adventure to orbit the Earth for three days.

Have you been following the recent spaceflights? Are you excited by renewed interest in space travel? Is the new era of space exploration good for humanity? Do you think spaceflight will one day become as ordinary as air travel?

In “ SpaceX Launches Astronaut Crew Like No Other on Orbital Adventure ,” Kenneth Chang writes about the historic all-civilian flight:

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — A SpaceX rocket lifted off on Wednesday night from a launchpad here, carrying four Americans on an adventure to orbit the Earth for three days that will be like no other. None of the crew works for NASA. The mission, known as Inspiration4 , is the first orbital trip where not one of the people aboard is a professional astronaut and where government is, by and large, a bystander and observer. The evening sky was nearly devoid of clouds when the nine engines of the Falcon 9 rocket ignited, lifting the rocket and its passengers to space. Jared Isaacman, a 38-year-old billionaire and founder of Shift4, a payments processing service, financed the trip. As the mission’s commander, he thanked those who made it possible, and said that it had brought him and the crew, to the “door step of an exciting and unexplored frontier.” Mr. Isaacman’s public profile is far less prominent than that of Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos, two billionaires who flew to the edge of space in July in vehicles operated by companies they own. Those trips lasted just minutes before returning to the ground. But Mr. Isaacman’s three-day adventure is perhaps more noteworthy, a step toward a future where space travel might be like airline travel today — accessible by almost everyone. That is because Mr. Isaacman decided not to just bring along his friends on this trip to space. Instead, he opened opportunities to three people he did not know. “We set out from the start to deliver a very inspiring message,” Mr. Isaacman said during a news conference on Tuesday, “and chose to do that through an interesting crew selection process.” The result is a mission that carries a crew that is more representative of wider society — Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis; Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old community college professor who would be the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft; and Christopher Sembroski, a 42-year-old data engineer. Mr. Isaacman has declined to say how much he is paying for this orbital trip, only that it was less than the $200 million that he hopes to raise for St. Jude with an accompanying fund-raising drive, one of the stated purposes of the trip.

Students, read the entire article , then tell us:

What’s your reaction to the recent spaceflights? If you could have flown on the Inspiration4 mission, what would thrill you the most about the ride? Making history? Experiencing weightlessness? Viewing Earth from orbit? Something else?

Mr. Chang writes that the Inspiration4 mission is “a step toward a future where space travel might be like airline travel today — accessible by almost everyone.” What do you think the success of the recent flights means for the future of space travel? Do you think you will travel to space during your lifetime?

Are you fascinated by space — the moon, the stars and other celestial bodies? If not, why do you think so many others are captivated by the cosmos and its mysteries? Have you ever dreamed of becoming an astronaut or working for NASA?

If you had an opportunity to go anywhere in space, where would you visit? The moon? Mars? Another planet? Or even beyond our solar system? Why? If you don’t want to journey to outer space, where would you prefer to go instead?

Make some predictions: Will humans ever live in space? If so, by what year? Do you think that you ever will?

Want to explore space further? You can learn more about the old and new space race in our related Lesson of the Day .

Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column . Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Jeremy Engle joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2018 after spending more than 20 years as a classroom humanities and documentary-making teacher, professional developer and curriculum designer working with students and teachers across the country. More about Jeremy Engle

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My Journey To Space (Essay Sample)

My journey to space started one night while I was dreaming. It was as if my body was empty and that my consciousness was flying. I felt that my soul had left my body, and flew to the space, above my country, I then saw the earth that was happy, a sentient being, conscious and free. I perceived that the earth was a mother to all, she was caring and nurturing and loving, she would come to our rescue whenever we call.

As my body flew out, I saw that my body was sleeping amongst many other identities that inhabited the planet. I realized that I was only a small spec of existence amongst this vast number of sentient humans. I was only a part of a whole, as I watched my person getting smaller and smaller, as I now saw that there were many other souls who journeyed beyond their bodies at night and went to space to roll. These souls, like me, were conscious and adventurous, it was as if a higher self has taken over the “me” and now it granted the self an opportunity for adventure amongst the infinite expansion of space.

The advantage of journeying through space within a dream, is that one can travel beyond the speed of light. How? Well, travelling at the speed of light is the limit in the physical world, but in the dreamscape, the speed of thought transcends all. Through the power of consciousness and its instantaneous calibration of a reality, within the dream, travelling through space took no time at all. However, this dream had an undeniable and unforgettable sense of clarity and realness. It was another world, beyond the minds of normal men, those of whom were imprisoned in the limited physical life. The void of space has already affected my feelings, as it showed that the universe is a giant pulse of consciousness that made the setting for consciousness to discover itself. The space partnered with time, gave way for sentience and that all is a living manifestation of the vibratory source of the big bang.

This journey to space has given me some very profound insights and a mix of intangible emotions of excitement, awe, and wonder and unspeakable admiration. The infinity that permeated towards the distance suddenly became so much attainable through the power of the mind within the dreamscape. It was then that I realized that I had the power to go up close and personal to other heavenly bodies. I first went to mars, and it told me a story about its supposed past. That Mars was another dimension wherein life prospered and sentient beings roamed around the surface. It showed me a deep history of a people that were not able to save their own planet, by bringing their planet’s destruction upon their own hands. These people were so much indulged in their separation with each other that they started wars with each other. It was this that brought upon the planet’s desecration through their use of weapons of mass destruction. It was sad, yes, but for me, it was a very deep message of remembrance, that now, it is a very near possibility of humanity’s future. This dream of space has brought to my mind an unforgettable experience of the vastness of space, and the most urgent responsibility of humanity in its miniscule planet amongst many others in millions of other galaxies. It has reiterated the value of life and the appreciation of a chance to perceive a part of the infinite expanse of creation itself. I hope to dream more about space and have adventures on many other planes, so that I may bring its lessons and stories to this miniscule world of mine.

Essay on Space

Students are often asked to write an essay on Space in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Space

Introduction.

Space is a vast, infinite expanse beyond Earth’s atmosphere. It is where everything, including our planet, is located.

What is Space?

Space is the boundless, three-dimensional area where objects and events occur. It’s a vacuum, meaning it’s almost completely empty.

The Mystery of Space

Space holds many mysteries. Scientists use telescopes and spacecraft to explore and understand it better. However, there’s still much we don’t know.

Space Travel

Humans have been traveling to space since 1961. Astronauts conduct experiments and learn how to live in space.

Space exploration helps us understand our universe. It’s an exciting field with lots to discover.

Also check:

• 10 Lines on Space
• Speech on Space

250 Words Essay on Space

Introduction to space.

Space, often referred to as the final frontier, is the vast, seemingly infinite expanse that exists beyond the Earth and between celestial bodies. It is a boundless sphere of activity where the laws of physics persistently apply.

Understanding the Universe

Space is a dynamic field of study, with astronomers using advanced technology to delve into its mysteries. It contains all known celestial bodies, including our solar system, galaxies, stars, planets, and even the tiny particles of matter that drift aimlessly. Space is not just a void but a canvas on which the universe unfolds its narrative.

Space Exploration

Human curiosity has led to remarkable advancements in space exploration. From the first manned moon landing to the ongoing Mars Rover missions, our understanding of space has dramatically improved. Space exploration is not only about discovery but also about the survival and future of humanity. It has the potential to provide resources and habitats that could secure the human race’s existence.

Theoretical Perspectives

Theoretical physics offers fascinating perspectives on space. Theories like the Big Bang propose that space and time originated from a singularity. Meanwhile, String Theory suggests that multiple dimensions may exist beyond our perception. These theories challenge our understanding, pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.

Despite the advancements, space remains largely unexplored and mysterious. As we continue to probe its depths, space offers endless possibilities for discovery, innovation, and understanding. The exploration of space not only satisfies our curiosity but also holds the key to our future.

500 Words Essay on Space

The infinite expanse: a journey into space.

Space, the final frontier, is a vast, unending expanse filled with galaxies, stars, and planets. It is a place of infinite possibilities and endless mysteries, a realm that humans have long yearned to explore and understand.

The Fascination with Space

The fascination with space is as old as humanity itself. Ancient civilizations looked up at the night sky and saw patterns in the stars, creating myths and legends to explain the cosmos. Today, our understanding of space has grown exponentially due to advancements in technology. We have sent spacecrafts to distant planets, landed humans on the moon, and even captured images of black holes. Yet, despite these achievements, space remains largely unexplored and misunderstood.

The Importance of Space Exploration

Space exploration is not merely a quest for knowledge. It also has practical implications. For instance, studying other planets can help us understand our own. Mars, in particular, has been a subject of interest because of its similarities to Earth. By studying Mars, we can learn about Earth’s past and future, and possibly about the potential for life on other planets.

Moreover, space exploration has led to numerous technological advancements. Satellite technology, for instance, has revolutionized communication, weather forecasting, and navigation. Additionally, research conducted in space has contributed to advancements in fields such as medicine, materials science, and agriculture.

The Challenges of Space Exploration

Despite its benefits, space exploration is fraught with challenges. The harsh conditions of space, including zero gravity, extreme temperatures, and radiation, pose significant risks to astronauts. Furthermore, the vast distances involved make space travel incredibly time-consuming and expensive. For instance, even at the speed of light, it would take about four years to reach the nearest star to our solar system.

The Future of Space Exploration

The future of space exploration looks promising. With the advent of private space companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, space travel is becoming more accessible. These companies are developing reusable rockets, which could significantly reduce the cost of space travel.

Moreover, there is a growing interest in colonizing other planets. While this idea may seem like science fiction, it could become a reality in the not-so-distant future. Such a colony could serve as a backup for humanity in case of a catastrophic event on Earth, and it could also pave the way for further exploration of the cosmos.

Space, with its infinite mysteries and possibilities, continues to captivate our imagination. As we continue to explore this vast frontier, we are not only learning about the universe around us, but also about ourselves. Space exploration challenges us to push the boundaries of what is possible, and in doing so, it brings out the best in humanity: our curiosity, our ingenuity, and our desire to understand the world around us. As we look to the stars, we are reminded of our place in the universe and our responsibility to protect our home planet.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on A Day in Space
• Essay on If I Could Fly
• Essay on A Day in My Life as a Fly

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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Students write their way to profound experience at nasa spaceport.

By Jim Cawley NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Winning essays resulted in the trip of a lifetime for a group of young space enthusiasts from different parts of the country. Amanda Gutierrez, an 11th-grader from Lincoln, Nebraska, Taia Saurer, an eighth-grader from Laguna Beach, California, and Austin Pritts, a sixth-grader from Wolcott, Indiana, were selected in 2021 as winners of the Artemis Moon Pod Essay Contest .

The grand prize: a trip with their families to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which coincided with the first targeted launch date of the agency’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission. Though the rocket did not launch on its first attempt from Kennedy, the essay winners participated in several other activities, including media interviews, tours of various sites throughout America’s multiuser spaceport, and a visit to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Amanda and Taia also were able to meet and interact with a group of NASA astronauts.  

“This experience has been one in a lifetime,” said Gutierrez, who is interested in aerospace engineering. “I was able to experience the energy, the people, and the positivity. And being able to see (the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex) was so eye-opening and incredible. I feel like I’m part of history.”

Gutierrez’s essay, “ Dream Big Moon Pod ,” features a chemist, hydrologist, and astronautical engineer who team up to install an Endothermic Electrolysis Reactor (EER), designed to provide fuel and oxygen for future crews at the Moon’s Shackleton Crater.

In “My Mission to the Moon,” Pritts imagines himself as a mechanical engineer, working with a test pilot and chemist to set up a permanent Moon base powered by a nuclear power supply so future astronauts can research the hydrogen and oxygen found in regolith on the Moon’s South Pole. 

In Saurer’s composition, “ One Week on the Moon – The Artemis Adventure ,” a four-person crew – including the first woman to step onto the Moon – builds a habitat for future astronauts using a combination of lunar soil and a fibrous fungal material called mycelium.

“I’ve been interested in space since I turned 4 and saw Curiosity land on Mars,” Saurer said. “It feels so right being around everyone here. I know this is definitely what I want to do; I want to work at NASA, be an astronaut, and hopefully go to Mars.”

Nearly 14,000 students competed in the event – a collaborative effort between NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement and the agency’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, in partnership with the online platform  Future Engineers .

Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon. In collaboration with commercial and international partners, NASA will establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. Then, humanity will use what it learns on and around the Moon to begin the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.

Following the historic liftoff of Artemis I from Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B on Nov. 16, Orion successfully completed its three-week, 1.4 million mile mission beyond the Moon on Dec. 11, setting the record for the farthest from Earth any spacecraft built for humans has ever traveled.

Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era (2011)

Chapter: summary.

SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION

More than four decades have passed since a human first set foot on the Moon. Great strides have been made since in our understanding of what is required to support an enduring human presence in space, as evidenced by progressively more advanced orbiting human outposts, culminating in the current International Space Station (ISS). However, of the more than 500 humans who have so far ventured into space, most have gone only as far as near-Earth orbit, and none have traveled beyond the orbit of the Moon. Achieving humans’ further progress into the solar system has proved far more difficult than imagined in the heady days of the Apollo missions, but the potential rewards remain substantial. Overcoming the challenges posed by risk and cost—and developing the technology and capabilities to make long space voyages feasible—is an achievable goal. Further, the scientific accomplishments required to meet this goal will bring a deeper understanding of the performance of people, animals, plants, microbes, materials, and engineered systems not only in the space environment but also on Earth, providing terrestrial benefits by advancing fundamental knowledge in these areas.

During its more than 50-year history, NASA’s success in human space exploration has depended on the agency’s ability to effectively address a wide range of biomedical, engineering, physical science, and related obstacles—an achievement made possible by NASA’s strong and productive commitments to life and physical sciences research for human space exploration, and by its use of human space exploration infrastructures for scientific discovery. * This partnership of NASA with the research community reflects the original mandate from Congress in 1958 to promote science and technology, an endeavor that requires an active and vibrant research program. The committee acknowledges the many achievements of NASA, which are all the more remarkable given budgetary challenges and changing directions within the agency. In the past decade, however, a consequence of those challenges has been a life and physical sciences research program that was dramatically reduced in both scale and scope, with the result that the agency is poorly positioned to take full advantage of the scientific opportunities offered by the now fully equipped and staffed ISS laboratory, or to effectively pursue the scientific research needed to support the development of advanced human exploration capabilities.

Although its review has left it deeply concerned about the current state of NASA’s life and physical sciences research, the Committee for the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space is nevertheless

_____________

* These programs’ accomplishments are described in several National Research Council (NRC) reports—see for example, Assessment of Directions in Microgravity and Physical Sciences Research at NASA (The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2003).

convinced that a focused science and engineering program can achieve successes that will bring the space community, the U.S. public, and policymakers to an understanding that we are ready for the next significant phase of human space exploration. The goal of this report is to lay out steps whereby NASA can reinvigorate its partnership with the life and physical sciences research community and develop a forward-looking portfolio of research that will provide the basis for recapturing the excitement and value of human spaceflight—thereby enabling the U.S. space program to deliver on new exploration initiatives that serve the nation, excite the public, and place the United States again at the forefront of space exploration for the global good. This report examines the fundamental science and technology that underpin developments whose payoffs for human exploration programs will be substantial, as the following examples illustrate:

• An effective countermeasures program to attenuate the adverse effects of the space environment on the health and performance capabilities of astronauts, a development that will make it possible to conduct prolonged human space exploration missions.

• A deeper understanding of the mechanistic role of gravity in the regulation of biological systems (e.g., mechanisms by which microgravity triggers the loss of bone mass or cardiovascular function)—understanding that will provide insights for strategies to optimize biological function during spaceflight as well as on Earth (e.g., slowing the loss of bone or cardiovascular function with aging).

• Game changers, such as architecture-altering systems involving on-orbit depots for cryogenic rocket fuels, an example of a revolutionary advance possible only with the scientific understanding required to make this Apollo-era notion a reality. As an example, for some lunar missions such a depot could produce major cost savings by enabling use of an Ares I type launch system rather than a much larger Ares V type system.

• The critical ability to collect or produce large amounts of water from a source such as the Moon or Mars, which requires a scientific understanding of how to retrieve and refine water-bearing materials from extremely cold, rugged regions under partial-gravity conditions. Once cost-effective production is available, water can be transported to either surface bases or orbit for use in the many exploration functions that require it. Major cost savings will result from using that water in a photovoltaic-powered electrolysis and cryogenics plant to produce liquid oxygen and hydrogen for propulsion.

• Advances stemming from research on fire retardants, fire suppression, fire sensors, and combustion in microgravity that provide the basis for a comprehensive fire-safety system, greatly reducing the likelihood of a catastrophic event.

• Regenerative fuel cells that can provide lunar surface power for the long eclipse period (14 days) at high rates (e.g., greater than tens of kilowatts). Research on low-mass tankage, thermal management, and fluid handling in low gravity is on track to achieve regenerative fuel cells with specific energy greater than two times that of advanced batteries.

In keeping with its charge, the committee developed recommendations for research fitting in either one or both of these two broad categories:

1. Research that enables space exploration: scientific research in the life and physical sciences that is needed to develop advanced exploration technologies and processes, particularly those that are profoundly affected by operation in a space environment.

2. Research enabled by access to space: scientific research in the life and physical sciences that takes advantage of unique aspects of the space environment to significantly advance fundamental scientific understanding.

The key research challenges, and the steps needed to craft a program of research capable of facilitating the progress of human exploration in space, are highlighted below and described in more detail in the body of the report. In the committee’s view, these are steps that NASA will have to take in order to recapture a vision of space exploration that is achievable and that has inspired the country, and humanity, since the founding of NASA.

ESTABLISHING A SPACE LIFE AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH PROGRAM: PROGRAMMATIC ISSUES

Research in the complex environment of space requires a strong, flexible, and supportive programmatic structure. Also essential to a vibrant and ultimately successful life and physical sciences space research program is a partnership between NASA and the scientific community at large. The present program, however, has contracted to below critical mass and is perceived from outside NASA as lacking the stature within the agency and the commitment of resources to attract researchers or to accomplish real advances. For this program to effectively promote research to meet the national space exploration agenda, a number of issues will have to be addressed.

Administrative Oversight of Life and Physical Sciences Research

Currently, life and physical science endeavors have no clear institutional home at NASA. In the context of a programmatic home for an integrated research agenda, program leadership and execution are likely to be productive only if aggregated under a single management structure and housed in a NASA directorate or key organization that understands both the value of science and its potential application in future exploration missions. The committee concluded that:

• Leadership with both true scientific gravitas and a sufficiently high level in the overall organizational structure at NASA is needed to ensure that there will be a “voice at the table” when the agency engages in difficult deliberations about prioritizing resources and engaging in new activities.

• The successful renewal of a life and physical sciences research program will depend on strong leadership with a unique authority over a dedicated and enduring research funding stream.

• It is important that the positioning of leadership within the agency allows the conduct of the necessary research programs as well as interactions, integration, and influence within the mission-planning elements that develop new exploration options.

Elevating the Priority of Life and Physical Sciences Research in Space Exploration

It is of paramount importance that the life and physical sciences research portfolio supported by NASA, both extramurally and intramurally, receives appropriate attention within the agency and that its organizational structure is optimally designed to meet NASA’s needs. The committee concluded that:

• The success of future space exploration depends on life and physical sciences research being central to NASA’s exploration mission and being embraced throughout the agency as an essential translational step in the execution of space exploration missions.

• A successful life and physical sciences program will depend on research being an integral component of spaceflight operations and on astronauts’ participation in these endeavors being viewed as a component of each mission.

• The collection and analysis of a broad array of physiological and psychological data from astronauts before, during, and after a mission are necessary for advancing knowledge of the effects of the space environment on human health and for improving the safety of human space exploration. If there are legal concerns about implementing this approach, they could be addressed by the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections.

Establishing a Stable and Sufficient Funding Base

A renewed funding base for fundamental and applied life and physical sciences research is essential for attracting the scientific community needed to meet the prioritized research objectives laid out in this report. Researchers

must have a reasonable level of confidence in the sustainability of research funding if they are expected to focus their laboratories, staff, and students on research issues relevant to space exploration. The committee concluded that:

• In accord with elevating the priority of life and physical sciences research, it is important that the budget to support research be sufficient, sustained, and appropriately balanced between intramural and extramural activities. As a general conclusion regarding the allocation of funds, an extramural budget should support an extramural research program sufficiently robust to ensure a stable community of scientists and engineers who are prepared to lead future space exploration research and train the next generation of scientists and engineers.

• Research productivity and efficiency will be enhanced if the historical collaborations of NASA with other sponsoring agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, are sustained, strengthened, and expanded to include other agencies.

Improving the Process for Solicitation and Review of High-Quality Research

Familiarity with, and the predictability of, the research solicitation process are critical to enabling researchers to plan and conduct activities in their laboratories that enable them to prepare high-quality research proposals. Regularity in frequency of solicitations, ideally multiple solicitations per year, would help to ensure that the community of investigators remains focused on life and physical science research areas relevant to the agency, thereby creating a sustainable research network. The committee concluded that:

• Regularly issued solicitations for NASA-sponsored life and physical sciences research are necessary to attract investigators to research that enables or is enabled by space exploration. Effective solicitations should include broad research announcements to encourage a wide array of highly innovative applications, targeted research announcements to ensure that high-priority mission-oriented goals are met, and team research announcements that specifically foster multidisciplinary translational research.

• The legitimacy of NASA’s peer-review systems for extramural and intramural research hinges on the assurance that the review process, including the actions taken by NASA as a result of review recommendations, is transparent and incorporates a clear rationale for prioritizing intramural and extramural investigations.

• The quality of NASA-supported research and its interactions with the scientific community would be enhanced by the assembly of a research advisory committee, composed of 10 to 15 independent life and physical scientists, to oversee and endorse the process by which intramural and extramural research projects are selected for support after peer review of their scientific merit. Such a committee would be charged with advising and making recommendations to the leadership of the life and physical sciences program on matters relating to research activities.

Rejuvenating a Strong Pipeline of Intellectual Capital Through Training and Mentoring Programs

A critical number of investigators is required to sustain a healthy and productive scientific community. A strong pipeline of intellectual capital can be developed by modeling a training and mentoring program on other successful programs in the life and physical sciences. Building a program in life and physical sciences would benefit from ensuring that an adequate number of flight- and ground-based investigators are participating in research that will enable future space exploration. The committee concluded that:

• Educational programs and training opportunities effectively expand the pool of graduate students, scientists, and engineers who will be prepared to improve the translational application of fundamental and applied life and physical sciences research to space exploration needs.

Linking Science to Needed Mission Capabilities Through Multidisciplinary Translational Programs

Complex systems problems of the type that human exploration missions will increasingly encounter will need to be solved with integrated teams that are likely to include scientists from a number of disciplines, as well as engineers, mission analysts, and technology developers. The interplay between and among the life and physical sciences and engineering, along with a strong focus on cost-effectiveness, will require multidisciplinary approaches. Multidisciplinary translational programs can link the science to the gaps in mission capabilities through planned and enabled data collection mechanisms. The committee concluded that:

• A long-term strategic plan to maximize team research opportunities and initiatives would accelerate the trajectory of research discoveries and improve the efficiency of translating those discoveries to solutions for the complex problems associated with space exploration.

• Improved central information networks would facilitate data sharing with and analysis by the life and physical science communities and would enhance the science results derived from flight opportunities.

ESTABLISHING A LIFE AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH PROGRAM: AN INTEGRATED MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH PORTFOLIO

Areas of Highest-Priority Research

NASA has a strong and successful track record in human spaceflight made possible by a backbone of science and engineering accomplishments. Decisions regarding future space exploration, however, will require the generation and use of new knowledge in the life and physical sciences for successful implementation of any options chosen. Chapters 4 through 10 in this report identify and prioritize research questions important both to conducting successful space exploration and to increasing the fundamental understanding of physics and biology that is enabled by experimentation in the space environment. These two interconnected concepts—that science is enabled by access to space and that science enables future exploration missions—testify to the powerful complementarity of science and the human spaceflight endeavor. For example, the research recommended in this report addresses unanswered questions related to the health and welfare of humans undertaking extended space missions, to technologies needed to support such missions, and to logistical issues with potential impacts on the health of space travelers, such as ensuring adequate nutrition, protection against exposure to radiation, suitable thermoregulation, appropriate immune function, and attention to stress and behavioral factors. At the same time, progress in answering such questions will find broader applications as well.

It is not possible in this brief summary to describe or even adequately summarize the highest-priority research recommended by the committee. However, the recommendations selected (from a much larger body of discipline suggestions and recommendations) as having the highest overall priority for the coming decade are listed briefly as broad topics below. The committee considered these recommendations to be the minimal set called for in its charge to develop an integrated portfolio of research enabling and enabled by access to space and thus did not attempt to further prioritize among them. In addition, it recognized that further prioritization among these disparate topic areas will be possible only in the context of specific policy directions to be set by NASA and the nation. Nevertheless, the committee has provided tools and metrics that will allow NASA to carry out further prioritization (as summarized below in the section “Research Portfolio Implementation”).

The recommended research portfolio is divided into the five disciplines areas and two integrative translational areas represented by the study panels that the committee directed. The extensive details (such as research time-frames and categorizations as enabling, enabled-by, or both) of the research recommended as having the highest priority are presented in Chapters 4 through 10 of the report, and much of this information is summarized in the research portfolio discussion in Chapter 13 .

Plant and Microbial Biology

Plants and microbes evolved at Earth’s gravity (1 g ), and spaceflight represents a completely novel environment for these organisms. Understanding how they respond to these conditions holds great potential for advancing

knowledge of how life operates on Earth. In addition, plants are important candidates for components of a biologically based life support system for prolonged spaceflight missions, and microbes play complex and essential roles in both positive and negative aspects of human health, in the potential for degradation of the crew environment through fouling of equipment, and in bioprocessing of the wastes of habitation in long-duration missions. The highest-priority research, focusing on these basic and applied aspects of plant and microbial biology, includes:

• Multigenerational studies of International Space Station microbial population dynamics;

• Plant and microbial growth and physiological responses; and

• Roles of microbial and plant systems in long-term life support systems.

Behavior and Mental Health

The unusual environmental, psychological, and social conditions of spaceflight missions limit and define the range of crew activities and trigger mental and behavioral adaptations. The adaptation processes include responses that result in variations in astronauts’ mental and physical health, and strongly stress and affect crew performance, productivity, and well-being. It is important to develop new methods, and to improve current methods, for minimizing psychiatric and sociopsychological costs inherent in spaceflight missions, and to better understand issues related to the selection, training, and in-flight and post-flight support of astronaut crews. The highest-priority research includes:

• Mission-relevant performance measures;

• Long-duration mission simulations;

• Role of genetic, physiological, and psychological factors in resilience to stressors; and

• Team performance factors in isolated autonomous environments.

Animal and Human Biology

Human physiology is altered in both dramatic and subtle ways in the spaceflight environment. Many of these changes profoundly limit the ability of humans to explore space, yet also shed light on fundamental biological mechanisms of medical and scientific interest on Earth. The highest-priority research, focusing on both basic mechanisms and development of countermeasures, includes:

• Studies of bone preservation and bone-loss reversibility factors and countermeasures, including pharmaceutical therapies;

• In-flight animal studies of bone loss and pharmaceutical countermeasures;

• Mechanisms regulating skeletal muscle protein balance and turnover;

• Prototype exercise countermeasures for single and multiple systems;

• Patterns of muscle retrainment following spaceflight;

• Changes in vascular/interstitial pressures during long-duration space missions;

• Effects of prolonged reduced gravity on organism performance, capacity mechanisms, and orthostatic intolerance;

• Screening strategies for subclinical coronary heart disease;

• Aerosol deposition in the lungs of humans and animals in reduced gravity;

• T cell activation and mechanisms of immune system changes during spaceflight;

• Animal studies incorporating immunization challenges in space; and

• Studies of multigenerational functional and structural changes in rodents in space.

Crosscutting Issues for Humans in the Space Environment

Translating knowledge from laboratory discoveries to spaceflight conditions is a two-fold task involving horizontal integration (multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary) and vertical translation (interaction among basic,

preclinical, and clinical scientists to translate fundamental discoveries into improvements in the health and well-being of crew members during and after their missions). To address the cumulative effect of a range of physiological and behavioral changes, an integrated research approach is warranted. The highest-priority crosscutting research issues include:

• Integrative, multisystem mechanisms of post-landing orthostatic intolerance;

• Countermeasure testing of artificial gravity;

• Decompression effects;

• Food, nutrition, and energy balance in astronauts;

• Continued studies of short- and long-term radiation effects in astronauts and animals;

• Cell studies of radiation toxicity endpoints;

• Gender differences in physiological effects of spaceflight; and

• Biophysical principles of thermal balance.

Fundamental Physical Sciences in Space

The fundamental physical sciences research at NASA has two overarching quests: (1) to discover and explore the laws governing matter, space, and time and (2) to discover and understand the organizing principles of complex systems from which structure and dynamics emerge. Space offers unique conditions in which to address important questions about the fundamental laws of nature, and it allows sensitivity in measurements beyond that of ground-based experiments in many areas. Research areas of highest priority are the following:

• Study of complex fluids and soft matter in the microgravity laboratory;

• Precision measurements of the fundamental forces and symmetries;

• Physics and applications of quantum gases (gases at very low temperatures where quantum effects dominate); and

• Behavior of matter near critical phase transition.

Applied Physical Sciences

Applied physical sciences research, especially in fluid physics, combustion, and materials science, is needed to address design challenges for many key exploration technologies. This research will enable new exploration capabilities and yield new insights into a broad range of physical phenomena in space and on Earth, particularly with regard to improved power generation, propulsion, life support, and safety. Applied physical sciences research topics of particular interest are as follows:

• Reduced-gravity multiphase flows, cryogenics, and heat transfer database development and modeling;

• Interfacial flows and phenomena in exploration systems;

• Dynamic granular material behavior and subsurface geotechnics;

• Strategies and methods for dust mitigation;

• Complex fluid physics in a reduced-gravity environment;

• Fire safety research to improve screening of materials in terms of flammability and fire suppression;

• Combustion processes and modeling;

• Materials synthesis and processing to control microstructures and properties;

• Advanced materials design and development for exploration; and

• Research on processes for in situ resource utilization.

Translation to Space Exploration Systems

The translation of research to space exploration systems includes identification of the technologies that enable exploration missions to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere, as well as the research in life and physical sciences that

is needed to develop these enabling technologies, processes, and capabilities. The highest-priority research areas to support objectives and operational systems in space exploration include:

• Two-phase flow and thermal management;

• Cryogenic fluid management;

• Mobility, rovers, and robotic systems;

• Dust mitigation systems;

• Radiation protection systems;

• Closed-loop life support systems;

• Thermoregulation technologies;

• Fire safety: materials standards and particle detectors;

• Fire suppression and post-fire strategies;

• Regenerative fuel cells;

• Energy conversion technologies;

• Fission surface power;

• Ascent and descent propulsion technologies;

• Space nuclear propulsion;

• Lunar water and oxygen extraction systems; and

• Planning for surface operations, including in situ resource utilization and surface habitats.

For each of the high-priority research areas identified above, the committee classified the research recommendations as enabling for future space exploration options, enabled by the environment of space that exploration missions will encounter, or both.

Research Portfolio Implementation

While the committee believes that any healthy, integrated program of life and physical sciences research will give consideration to the full set of recommended research areas discussed in this report—and will certainly incorporate the recommendations identified as having the highest priority by the committee and its panels—it fully recognizes that further prioritization and decisions on the relative timing of research support in various areas will be determined by future policy decisions. For example, and only as an illustration, a policy decision to send humans to Mars within the next few decades would elevate the priority of enabling research on dust mitigation systems, whereas a policy decision to focus primarily on advancing fundamental knowledge through the use of space would elevate the priority of critical phase transition studies. The committee therefore provided for future flexibility in the implementation of its recommended portfolio by mapping all of the high-priority research areas against the metrics used to select them. These eight overarching metrics, listed below with clarifying criteria (see also Table 13.3 ) added in parentheses, can be used as a basis for policy-related ordering of an integrated research portfolio. Examples of how this might be done are provided in the report.

• The extent to which the results of the research will reduce uncertainty about both the benefits and the risks of space exploration ( Positive Impact on Exploration Efforts, Improved Access to Data or to Samples, Risk Reduction )

• The extent to which the results of the research will reduce the costs of space exploration ( Potential to Enhance Mission Options or to Reduce Mission Costs )

• The extent to which the results of the research may lead to entirely new options for exploration missions ( Positive Impact on Exploration Efforts, Improved Access to Data or to Samples )

• The extent to which the results of the research will fully or partially answer grand science challenges that the space environment provides a unique means to address ( Relative Impact Within Research Field )

• The extent to which the results of the research are uniquely needed by NASA, as opposed to any other agencies ( Needs Unique to NASA Exploration Programs )

• The extent to which the results of the research can be synergistic with other agencies’ needs ( Research Programs That Could Be Dual-Use )

• The extent to which the research must use the space environment to achieve useful knowledge ( Research Value of Using Reduced-Gravity Environment )

• The extent to which the results of the research could lead to either faster or better solutions to terrestrial problems or to terrestrial economic benefit ( Ability to Translate Results to Terrestrial Needs )

Facilities, Platforms, and the International Space Station

Facility and platform requirements are identified for each of the various areas of research discussed in this report. Free-flyers, suborbital spaceflights, parabolic aircraft, and drop towers are all important platforms, each offering unique advantages that might make them the optimal choice for certain experiments. Ground-based laboratory research is critically important in preparing most investigations for eventual flight, and there are some questions that can be addressed primarily through ground research. Eventually, access to lunar and planetary surfaces will make it possible to conduct critical studies in the partial-gravity regime and will enable test bed studies of systems that will have to operate in those environments. These facilities enable studies of the effects of various aspects of the space environment, including reduced gravity, increased radiation, vacuum and planetary atmospheres, and human isolation.

Typically, because of the cost and scarcity of the resource, spaceflight research is part of a continuum of efforts that extend from laboratories and analog environments on the ground, through other low-gravity platforms as needed and available, and eventually into extended-duration flight. Although research on the ISS is only one component of this endeavor, the capabilities provided by the ISS are vital to answering many of the most important research questions detailed in this report. The ISS provides a unique platform for research, and past NRC studies have noted the critical importance of its capabilities to support the goal of long-term human exploration in space. † These include the ability to perform experiments of extended duration, access to human subjects, the ability to continually revise experiment parameters based on previous results, the flexibility in experimental design provided by human operators, and the availability of sophisticated experimental facilities with significant power and data resources. The ISS is the only existing and available platform of its kind, and it is essential that its presence and dedication to research for the life and physical sciences be fully utilized in the decade ahead.

With the retirement of the space shuttle program in 2011, it will also be important for NASA to foster interactions with the commercial sector, particularly commercial flight providers, in a manner that addresses research needs, with attention to such issues as control of intellectual property, technology transfer, conflicts of interest, and data integrity.

Science Impact on Defining Space Exploration

Implicit in this report are integrative visions for the science advances necessary to underpin and enable revolutionary systems and bold exploration architectures for human space exploration. Impediments to revitalizing the U.S. space exploration agenda include costs, past inabilities to predict costs and schedule, and uncertainties about mission and crew risk. Research community leaders recognize their obligations to address those impediments. The starting point of much of space-related life sciences research is the reduction of risks to missions and crews. Thus, the recommended life sciences research portfolio centers on an integrated scientific pursuit to reduce the health hazards facing space explorers, while also advancing fundamental scientific discoveries. Similarly, revolutionary

† See, for example, National Research Council, Review of NASA Plans for the International Space Station , The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2006.

and architecture-changing systems will be developed not simply by addressing technological barriers, but also by unlocking the unknowns of the fundamental physical behaviors and processes on which the development and operation of advanced space technologies will depend. This report is thus much more than a catalog of research recommendations; it specifies the scientific resources and tools to help in defining and developing with greater confidence the future of U.S. space exploration and scientific discovery.

More than four decades have passed since a human first set foot on the Moon. Great strides have been made in our understanding of what is required to support an enduring human presence in space, as evidenced by progressively more advanced orbiting human outposts, culminating in the current International Space Station (ISS). However, of the more than 500 humans who have so far ventured into space, most have gone only as far as near-Earth orbit, and none have traveled beyond the orbit of the Moon. Achieving humans' further progress into the solar system had proved far more difficult than imagined in the heady days of the Apollo missions, but the potential rewards remain substantial.

During its more than 50-year history, NASA's success in human space exploration has depended on the agency's ability to effectively address a wide range of biomedical, engineering, physical science, and related obstacles—an achievement made possible by NASA's strong and productive commitments to life and physical sciences research for human space exploration, and by its use of human space exploration infrastructures for scientific discovery. The Committee for the Decadal Survey of Biological and Physical Sciences acknowledges the many achievements of NASA, which are all the more remarkable given budgetary challenges and changing directions within the agency. In the past decade, however, a consequence of those challenges has been a life and physical sciences research program that was dramatically reduced in both scale and scope, with the result that the agency is poorly positioned to take full advantage of the scientific opportunities offered by the now fully equipped and staffed ISS laboratory, or to effectively pursue the scientific research needed to support the development of advanced human exploration capabilities.

Although its review has left it deeply concerned about the current state of NASA's life and physical sciences research, the Committee for the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space is nevertheless convinced that a focused science and engineering program can achieve successes that will bring the space community, the U.S. public, and policymakers to an understanding that we are ready for the next significant phase of human space exploration. The goal of this report is to lay out steps and develop a forward-looking portfolio of research that will provide the basis for recapturing the excitement and value of human spaceflight—thereby enabling the U.S. space program to deliver on new exploration initiatives that serve the nation, excite the public, and place the United States again at the forefront of space exploration for the global good.

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50, 100, And 300 Words Essay on Space In English

Table of Contents

Introduction

Children are interested in space because it is a fascinating topic. It generates curiosity and interest among us when we hear about space missions or astronauts flying into space. In our minds, there are many questions. 

At takeoff, how intense is the acceleration for astronauts? When you are floating weightlessly in space, how does it feel? What is the sleeping environment like for astronauts? How do they eat? When viewed from space, how does Earth look? In this essay on space, you will find the answers to all of these questions. To gain a deeper understanding of space, students should read it.

50 Words Essay on Space

Space is the area outside the earth. Planets, meteors, stars, and other celestial objects can be found in space. Meteors are objects that fall from the sky. There is a lot of silence in space. If you scream loudly enough in space, no one will hear you.

Air does not exist in space! What a strange experience that would be! Yes, indeed! Basically, it’s just a vacuum. No sound waves can travel in this space and no sunlight can scatter in it. A black blanket can sometimes cover space.

There is some life in space. Stars and planets are separated by a vast distance. Gas and dust fill this gap. Celestial bodies also exist in other constellations. There are many of them, including our planet.

100 Words Essay on Space

The sound of your scream can’t be heard in space. The vacuum in space is caused by the lack of air. Vacuums do not permit the propagation of sound waves.

A 100 km radius around our planet marks the beginning of “outer space.”. Space appears as a black blanket dotted with stars due to the absence of air to scatter sunlight.

There is a common belief that space is empty. However, this is not true. Massive amounts of thinly spread gas and dust fill the vast gaps between stars and planets. A few hundred atoms or molecules per cubic meter can be found even in the most empty parts of space.

Radiation in space can also be dangerous to astronauts in many forms. Solar radiation is a major source of infrared and ultraviolet radiation. A high-energy X-ray, gamma ray, and cosmic ray particle can travel as fast as light if it comes from a distant star system.

Related Topics For Students

50, 100, 500 Words Essay on Entertainment In English

• 150, 300, And 500 Words Essay On Crime In English

300 Words Essay on Space

Our countrymen have always been fascinated by things related to space. It was only through imagination and stories that man could dream of traveling in space when it was absolutely impossible to do so.

Space Travel is Now Possible

Until the twentieth century, the man had significant success in space research, giving this dream a simple form.

India has grown so much in science in the 21st century that many mysteries of space have been solved by the country. Additionally, visiting the moon has become very easy now, which was the dream of many long ago. As a side note, human spaceflight began in 1957.

First Life in Space

‘Layaka’ was sent into space for the first time via this vehicle to explore how space affects animals.

A spacecraft named Explorer was launched by the United States of America on January 31, 1958, giving another title to the world of space.

An enormous magnetic field above the Earth was to be discovered through this vehicle, along with its effects on Earth as a whole.

First Passenger

Our space research history is remembered for the event of July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin became the first Americans to set foot on the moon on this day.

Sitting on a spacecraft named ‘Apollo-11’, he reached the surface of the moon. A third passenger in this spacecraft was Michael Collins.

He said, “Everything is beautiful” when he first landed on the moon. With this, he became the first person in the world to land on the moon.

Conclusion,

It would have been impossible to have imagined that the era of space tourism would also come in the future following the dawn of the space age. The first space tourist in the world was India’s Dennis Tito in 2002.

Long And Short Essay On Water Conservation In English

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The Journey to Outer Space - Essay Example

• Subject: Creative Writing
• Type: Essay
• Level: Undergraduate
• Pages: 1 (250 words)
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Extract of sample "The Journey to Outer Space"

My Journey to Outer Space Ever since I was a young child, I used to look at the stars and wondered how they glowed. It was until now that I discovered that this brightness as monitored from Earth referred to apparent magnitude and the stars or any other celestial body’s intrinsic brightness referred to as its absolute magnitude. Last weekend when I was watching a movie known as Star Trek (of which I am a great admirer), I suddenly fell asleep and found myself within the spaceship along with all the other characters of the movie.

It was an experience of my journey to outer space which I will always remember. My presence on the spaceship put me in a state of shock but gradually I adapted to the situation. The spaceship was headed towards the planet Saturn where the team members of my crew were to witness certain changes in the outer shell of the planet. This change was considered to have happened because of a reported explosion. I wandered around the spaceship and was delighted by seeing objects and machines that I had never seen.

Despite being in a different place, I started to like my surroundings. My attention drifted to one of my crew members, Ronald, who was sitting around a table that had navigation and mapping devices. The charm of those devices attracted me towards Ronald and lured me to ask the meaning of the terminologies that he was mentioning to the pilot of the ship. Later, it was Ronald and the pilot who explained to me that the term light-year and Parsec were both units of length and that the spaceship had to travel 4.

28 light-years to reach Saturn and to ascertain the distance, a method referred to as parallax was used. During our journey, I witnessed different stars, meteors and asteroids. Few of the celestial bodies that I witnessed glowed in such a way that it displayed a red shade; this was referred to as Redshift in the astronomical language. When I first heard about the distance I thought that it would take many years to reach the destination but within a few hours, I heard an announcement that stated that we were approaching our destination.

I was really looking forward to stepping on Saturn but at that particular moment, I fell with a thud on the floor and my eyes opened. I realized that it was just a dream.I found myself lying on the floor in front of the television and the credits were rolling down on my television screen. The movie had finished along with the dream of my journey to the outer space.

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Chang’e-6 spacecraft dock in lunar orbit ahead of journey back to Earth

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HELSINKI — An ascent vehicle docked with the Chang’e-6 service module Thursday, in a critical step towards bringing the first lunar far side samples to Earth.

The lunar orbit rendezvous and docking was completed at 2:48 a.m. Eastern (0648 UTC) June 6, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced . Transfer of a lunar material container to a reentry module was completed at 3:24 a.m.  

The Chang’e-6 orbiter will next jettison the ascent vehicle, which will then be deorbited into the moon. The orbiter, or service module, will remain in lunar orbit for around two weeks, awaiting a window for a return to Earth. It will release the reentry capsule for reentry and landing in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia around June 25.

The robotic lunar orbit rendezvous is only the second such operation conducted, following the 2020 Chang’e-5 mission. The docking path, rather than a direct return, mirrors aspects of the Apollo mission profile, and is as such applicable practice and experience for China’s plans to put astronauts on the moon before the end of the decade .

China launched the complex, four-spacecraft Chang’e-6 mission May 3. A lander, topped with an ascent vehicle, separated from the orbiter and landed in Apollo crater on the lunar far side late June 1. 

The lander collected samples with a scoop and drill. These were loaded the samples into the ascent vehicle. The ascender lifted off with up to 2,000 grams of unique samples just over 49 hours after the landing, making four orbital adjustments. The orbiter used short-range autonomous control to complete the orbital rendezvous, according to CNSA.

The reentry module will be released shortly before the orbiter returns to Earth. The reentry capsule will skip off the atmosphere to kill some of the energy of a high velocity return from the moon. It will then make its reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. 

Recovered lunar far side samples could contain material ejected from deep below the moon’s crust, as well as from multiple impact sources. These could provide insight into why the near and far sides are so different, and clues about the history of the early solar system.

The Chang’e-6 orbiter meanwhile will likely be sent on an extended mission, depending upon propellant reserves. The Chang’e-5 orbiter visited Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 before returning to the moon to test out a distant retrograde orbit . 

Chang’e-6 is part of China’s fourth phase of lunar exploration. The country will follow up with two missions to the south pole of the moon. These are Chang’e-7 in 2026 and Chang’e-8 —an in-situ resource utilization and technology test—around 2028. 

The latter pair will serve as a basis for the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) program. A number of countries and organizations have signed up to the project.

Andrew Jones

Andrew Jones covers China's space industry for SpaceNews. Andrew has previously lived in China and reported from major space conferences there. Based in Helsinki, Finland, he has written for National Geographic, New Scientist, Smithsonian Magazine, Sky... More by Andrew Jones

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