May 13, 2010

One of the biggest hurdles preventing humanity from settling the final frontier is micro gravity. While it may be fun to float in the air like jelly fish floats in water, micro gravity can wreck serious damage upon our bodies, turning strong bones into brittle skeletons. Fortunately it looks as if the boys and girls at NASA may have...

May 12, 2010

Unless you are fortunate enough to live on a water abundant world (like Earth, the red planet, and yes, even the Moon), future space travelers are going to have to recycle every drop of water that exits their body (regardless of origin). Since bacteria have a tendency to thrive in micro gravity, astronauts will need to find a way to...

Feb 23, 2010

(Image Credit: Phil Wilson of the New York Times) Having existed for thousands of years on Earth, soap has helped keep our human hands clean since the days of ancient Babylon. Unfortunately if our species ever travel beyond the sky, creating this cleanser via fats and oils may be just a ludicrous as importing it from the home world (aka...

Nov 13, 2009

(Image Courtesy of Gizmodo) One of the beauties of living on planet Earth is that if you ever have an organ fail, you can easily sign up for a new one before the rest of your body expires (well, at least you can in China). However if one lives upon say Mars, the dwarf world Ceres or the Galilean mega moons of Ganymede and Callisto, your...

Nov 13, 2009

(Image Credit: Pat Kenny, via National Cancer Institute) Despite the beauty and tranquility that comes with viewing the cosmos close up, the reality is space is a very dangerous place thanks to radiation. Aside from the fact that it can turn your brain into mush, space radiation can also encourage cancer to form, leading to an early...

Nov 5, 2009

(Image Credit: Space Chimps) If humanity is to ever conquer the final frontier, then we have to understand the effects of radiation beyond current assumptions. Since human subjects are hard to find, it looks like NASA has chosen the next best thing–monkeys. (Telegraph.co.uk) If a manned mission to Mars ever takes place, the human...

Apr 28, 2009

Despite having the potential to feed our energy gluttonous world, lunar dust can be fetal to both humans and our robot friends, not to mention very electric (thanks in part to the solar wind). While scientists have suggested melting down nearby Moon soil in order to counter the rough dust particles, it may be better to...

Apr 27, 2009

Aside from radiation, micro gravity and cabin fever, keeping a space ship clean can easily spell the difference between life and death. Since micro gravity has a way of encouraging the growth of deadly organisms, future explorers will probably have to spend a lot of time keeping their “space trailer” squeaky...