Despite developing innovative ways of combating radiation, micro gravity and how to go to the bathroom in space, we still have yet to solve the space glove dilemma which can cause an unlucky astronaut to lose their fingernails.

Fortunately researchers are working on a solution, although it looks like Dava Newman (who is a professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems) may actually have a solution for us.

As part of her ongoing research on EVA performance, Newman is exploring how robotic technology can work in parallel with gas-pressurized suits, including ways to use actuators to help hand muscles fight against pressurized gloves.

She has also spent several years developing technology for the MIT BioSuit, a spacesuit that relies on mechanical counterpressure to enhance astronaut performance. Instead of pressurizing the air inside a bulky spacesuit, the BioSuit applies pressure directly to the skin through tightly wrapped layers of flexible material that function like a “second skin” and enable enhanced mobility and flexibility. Using mechanical counterpressure would get around the hand problem that results from traditional spacesuits, Newman said. (MIT News)

This is great news to hear as it means future explorers will be able to comfortably explore the final frontier in person instead of using robots to perform the most basic tasks such as picking up rocks, digging small holes, etc.

It will also help encourage people to explore off world themselves as fears of damaged nails could severely deter the masses from wearing space gloves (let alone space suits).

While Newman’s approach has yet to provide a solution to the nail drama, it hopefully is a step in the right direction.

(via Physorg.com, Image Credit: Patrick Gillooly)

I’m in the process of migrating my sites off of HostMonster and upon ________ (will reveal all later).

While Hostmonster has been an excellent host, I’ve worn out my welcome (more or less) and I need a host who loves WordPress more than I do.

Since I’m tired of my sites going down, creating errors anytime I create a post, tweak the site, etc., I’m switching away.

Update: Migration of Colony Worlds complete! Now I can finally blog again without fear of the site going down!

So the site will appear weird for awhile, but no need to fear! Everything should return to normal in 24-96 hours. :-/

–Posted from my iPhone

Unlike Earth with its vast population of kidney donors (that is if one is lucky), future space settlers will likely be on their own if any of them experience kidney failure.

While future scientists on Mars, Callisto, Ganymede, etc. could always grow organs from pigs, off world inhabitants may prefer an artificial solution instead.

The device, which would include thousands of microscopic filters as well as a bioreactor to mimic the metabolic and water-balancing roles of a real kidney, is being developed in a collaborative effort by engineers, biologists and physicians nationwide, led by Shuvo Roy, PhD, in the UCSF Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences.

The treatment has been proven to work for the sickest patients using a room-sized external model developed by a team member in Michigan. Roy’s goal is to apply silicon fabrication technology, along with specially engineered compartments for live kidney cells, to shrink that large-scale technology into a device the size of a coffee cup. The device would then be implanted in the body without the need for immune suppressant medications, allowing the patient to live a more normal life. (Science Daily)

While one would hope in the future that kidney failure would become an issue of the past, having one’s kidney’s fail hundreds a millions of kilometers from the nearest donor does not bring too many pleasant thoughts to mind.

By using artificial kidney’s, doctors can focus more on the replacing the dead kidney rather than on finding a suitable donor (not to mention the dialysis which would take an astronaut out of commission).

Although this technology was developed for the intention of serving residents upon the home world, it can potentially benefit hundreds (if not millions) of off world settlers in the future by giving them one less problem to worry about just in case something goes wrong.

(via Gizmodo)

(Image: A concept of a VASIMR-powered space craft. Credit: Ad Astra Rocket Company)

Seen by many to be the “great red hope,” VASIMR has the potential to shorten a six month journey to the red planet to about 40 days.

Unfortunately it looks like brighter minds have weighed in on the realities of VASIMR, and have concluded that the technology has more in common with Star Trek than reality.

Another concern is that for a Mars mission, VASIMR would have to use a nuclear power system that doesn’t exist yet. Mars Society president Robert Zubrin warned that mission designs that used VASIMR had unrealistic expectations about the mass of such reactors. The largest space nuclear power systems, the Topaz nuclear reactors developed by the former Soviet Union, generated 10 kilowatts and had a specific power, or alpha, of 100 kilograms per kilowatt. NASA had hoped to get alpha down to 65 kg/kW with its now-cancelled Prometheus program, and Zubrin said that if one is “quite optimistic” an alpha of 20 kg/kW was possible. The VASIMR-based Mars mission concepts, he said, assume an alpha of 1 kg/kW. “That’s like steel with the weight of Styrofoam,” Zubrin said. “It has no relationship with reality.”

Assuming an alpha of 20 kg/kW, Zubrin said, means that a reactor that generates 200 megawatts would weigh 4,000 tons. (By contrast, the VASIMR mission architectures with the 39-day travel times had assumed an overall mission mass of approximately 600 tons.) Moreover, the best travel time you could get with this much more massive system is six to eight months, comparable with conventional chemical propulsion systems, Zubrin claimed. “The numbers don’t add up,” he said. (The Space Review)

If humanity can not find a way to shorten the trip to Mars, then future explorers face the risk of being too weak to walk the crimson soil due to the effects of micro gravity.

Worse, a long journey can expose astronauts to excessive amounts of radiation which can not only damage equipment, but our fragile brains as well.

While humanity could always resort to portable magnetic fields, heavy shielding and a steady diet of fish (as omega-3 can keep bones strong in micro gravity), finding ways to shorten the trip is probably wiser if we want to see Mars colonized within our life times.

Hopefully someone else can come up with a reasonable solution that doesn’t include our grandkids earning their grey hairs wondering why we never set foot on Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor (after Venus that is).

(Image Credit: Bigelow Aerospace)

For those of you who envisioned outposts made out of metal, plastic and off world dirt, you may soon be disappointed that NASA and ESA have a different vision for conquering the final frontier, one filled with lots of hot air.

Gary Spexarth, manager of lunar surface systems design at NASA, believes that, despite their appearance, current inflatable habitats are far better suited than metal structures to the harsh environments of space. ’You could think of these inflatable modules as a big spacesuit,’ he said. ’The fabric is extremely tough and durable, but also designed to be as lightweight as possible. Unlike rigid metallic structures that can shatter or bend if hit by a micrometeorite, flexible material is able to recover to a certain extent.’ [...]

A promising candidate is US company Bigelow Aerospace, which was founded by real-estate tycoon Bob Bigelow to develop inflatable extensions for the ISS. In 2004, Bigelow acquired the licences to NASA’s Transhab programme and has since successfully launched the Genesis I and II inflatable test craft. It now hopes to launch an 180m3 spacecraft called the Sundancer while looking at the possibilities of creating an inflatable Moon base. Bigelow’s work has far exceeded what others have been able to achieve in the field, largely thanks to the massive amounts of private funding. The company also recently announced that it is working with Boeing on the development of a commercial space-station system. (The Engineer)

Although inflatable structures have their own challenges (mainly dealing with the issue of folding them properly), deploying them upon the surface of the Moon, Mars, etc. is wiser than attempting to build settlements directly from extraterrestrial soil.

NASA has previously announced their intentions on using inflatable outposts for space as well as on the Moon, although they have yet to materialize thanks to the political makeup of Congress.

Currently Bigelow Aerospace is leading the front with its inflatable space stations, and with NASA stuck in budget limbo (due to Congress’s opposition to Obama’s first vision for space) we may have to rely upon Bigelow to establish beachheads upon the Moon.

(via Spaceports)

After helping humanity rediscover over 600 million metric tons of lunar water, India has decided to “open source” its data by releasing it to the public.

“People will have free access to the huge data obtained from our first moon mission on a web portal that will be launched by this year-end,” a senior scientist of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said here.

“The data has been split into two seasons, with the first dealing from November 2008 to February 2009 and the second from March to August 2009. The first season data will be archived by year-end and the second by mid-2011,” said ISRO’s space application centre director B Gopala Krishna. (Moon Daily)

This data will be invaluable to researchers, who will be able to not only pour over ISRO’s findings, but hopefully construct detailed maps of the lunar surface.

India’s generosity will hopefully encourage other nations (like China) to also share their data, which could help foster a spirit of cooperation (instead of competition) in our attempts to conquer the final frontier.

(Image Credit: ISRO)

(Image Credit: NASA (assumed), via ITECS Insider)

Aside from government politics, space radiation is one of the biggest threats to humans seeking to leave our home world.

Unless we find a way to protect ourselves, humanity will only be able to settle upon only a few worlds within our star system.

As shown in the video below, scientists are attempting to find innovative ways to counteract radiation’s effects, as failure to do so can result in a few dead astronauts.

Scientists are currently working on ways to deal with radiation via medicine, nano particles and portable magnetic fields, as well as mapping out “safe havens” (i.e. off world caves on the Moon and Mars).

Thus far our closest neighbor has some temporary protection thanks to Earth’s magnetic field, although hopefully we can come up with a more permanent solution aside from just settling Jupiter’s Callisto and Saturn’s Titan.

(Hat Tip:  Spaceports)