Paper Made Space Vehicles: The Future of Space Exploration?

It might sound like an over-wrought April Fool’s Joke but aerospace engineers in Japan has already considering for a few years now the viability of paper made space vehicles – will it be the future of space exploration? 

By: Ringo Bones 

University of Tokyo aerospace engineer Shinji Suzuki has been “toying” with the idea of an origami paper airplane as a reentry vehicle for a number of years already. The concept was originally envisioned by Takuo Toda, president of the Origami Paper Airplane Association of Japan who asked Suzuki a few years ago to study the possibility of a paper airplane reentering the Earth’s atmosphere from orbital space. 

At first many aerospace engineers thought that a paper airplane would certainly burn up as it reenters the Earth’s atmosphere from Earth’s orbit says Suzuki. Objects returning from space begin their atmospheric reentry at speeds of Mach 20. By the time a typical space vehicle – like NASA’s Space Shuttle or the Russian Soyuz Reentry Vehicle – drops to an altitude of 37 miles, temperatures of the crafts’ leading edges can reach as high as 2,900 degrees Fahrenheit. But a much lighter paper-made aerodynamically shaped reentry vehicle can be made to slow down to Mach 6 earlier in its descent maneuver at altitudes of 62 miles up or so where the air is much thinner. As a result, aerodynamic heating would be much reduced to a degree much cooler than that experienced by the NASA’s Space Shuttle. 

Suzuki knew a method / technique developed by a small Japanese company to coat paper with a kind of glass that would increase its heat resistance while still allowing it to be folded easily. Nature is also providing clues that paper-made reentry vehicles might be a viable concept. Some number of meteorites rich in organic compounds – like the Ivuna and Orgveil Meteorites - managed to land on the Earth’s surface with their “delicate cargo” intact given that some of these amino-acid compounds can be destroyed above the boiling point of water – i.e. 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit.  

The US Republican Party: Bad Luck For America's Manned Space Exploration?

Even though it may be just an “unfortunate coincidence”, but have you notice that most American manned space exploration accidents happen during a US Republican Party administration? 

By: Ringo Bones 

It may be just an “unfortunate coincidence” from the perspective of any rational observers but have you noticed that an overwhelming number of misfortunes and tragedies of NASA’s major manned space exploration missions – and even their big-buck billion dollar unmanned space missions – tend to occur during a US Republican Party administration at the White House? Any conspiracy theorist with a “liberal streak” may think it is something else entirely, but ever since the “Space Race” began, it seems that the GOP seems to serve as a bad omen of America’s manned space exploration program. 

NASA’s first major space exploration tragedy – the Apollo 1, also known as Apollo Saturn-204 or “AS-204” fire that happened back in January 27, 1967 is probably the only manned space exploration tragedy that happened while a Democrat was in the White House – i.e. then US President Lyndon B. Johnson. And it seems that after the tragic incident, America’s manned space exploration program had been “good to go” until they became first to send a man to the Moon. 

The “(in)famous” Apollo 13 oxygen tank explosion disaster that happened back in April 13, 1970 that nearly ended in tragedy if not for astronaut Jim Lovell and his fellow astronaut’s heroism happened during a Republican’s watch under then US President Richard M. Nixon. Though it resulted in no loss of life as all astronauts returned safely back to Earth in April 17, 1970 - this incident seems to reinforce the notion that lends some credence that the GOP is a jinx on America’s manned space exploration. And let’s not forget that the “Apollo Moon Landing Conspiracy” that states that the Apollo 11 Moon landing was staged in a movie studio soundstage in Burbank, California was probably the result of a tit-for-tat political battle between America’s liberal and conservative population after the then US President Richard M. Nixon – who belonged to the “conservative” US Republican Party – earned the ire of American liberals of the time after he called the iconic Pulitzer Prize winning “Napalm Girl” photograph as “staged liberal propaganda”. 

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that happened back in January 28, 1986 happened under the watch of the most famous US Republican Party stalwart in recent history in the name of then US President Ronald Reagan. Though it is probably the most expensive single unmanned space program NASA undertook so far, the Hubble Space Telescope misshapen mirror debacle happened under Reagan’s watch when the aerospace / defense contractor who built the Hubble Space Telescope’s main mirror, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, was refused access to the mirror testing rig used to test the main mirrors of the Keyhole reconnaissance satellites and could have saved millions of dollars in American taxpayers’ money if the optical defects of the Hubble’s main mirror was fixed down here on Earth in Lockheed’s clean room – as opposed to those risky EVA missions by astronauts to fix the Hubble Space Telescope that was later done in 1993. 

And let’s not forget the relatively recent Space Shuttle Columbia disaster back in February 1, 2003 where the venerable but aging workhorse of NASA’s manned space exploration program tragically burned up during the reentry as it returned back to Earth. Though US President Barack Obama – a Democrat – has been the current “piñata” of the US Republican Party due to his decision to retire the aging, expensive to run and now largely unsafe Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, only time will tell if another Republican administration will “jinx” America’s manned space exploration program into a yet dramatic tragedy.

Should Astronauts And Cosmonauts Carry Firearms To Space With Them?

Though no space exploration agency officially admits that this is part and parcel of their operational policy but are there “incidental precedents” that necessitating astronauts and cosmonauts to carry firearms with them to space? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Just imagine the Soyuz capsule or any other human astronaut ferrying space exploration vehicle while returning to Earth from the International Space Station suddenly develop problems from their ballistic computer that inadvertently resulted in landing off-course hundreds of miles from their intended landing site and what if said astronauts suddenly find themselves in the middle of a conflict zone or remote wilderness area? Would one ask if they have the appropriate guns with them to defend themselves? Though I’ve been wishing since as far back as 1992 after seeing a somewhat similar scenario on the TV series Seaquest DSV and during 2005 after not seeing such scenarios featured in various “War on Terror” era action TV series such as The Unit, 24 or The E-Ring to pitch such a military operation scenario to rescue stranded astronauts held hostage on the Taliban controlled parts of Helmand Province in Afghanistan or North Korea. Even though not a single NASA director or the top brass at the current Russian Space Program both officially and openly discuss on allowing astronauts and cosmonauts the requisite firearms with them to space but should astronauts and cosmonauts carry appropriate firearms and other weapons systems in order to defend themselves whenever they got “stranded” in a hostile environment here on Earth and not just in case they meet hostile green or gray-skinned extra-terrestrial biological beings? 

The April 2008 Soyuz Space Capsule landing hundreds of miles off-course incident, though fortunately not in a hostile warzone or into a very remote Siberian wilderness may have saved mission commander PeggyWhitson and team from contemplating such a somewhat “unthinkable” scenario but back in 2010, someone managed to leak on the internet that carrying firearms with them to space has been part and parcel with Soviet-era cosmonauts since the early years of the “Space Race”. Since 1965, Soviet era Russian cosmonauts began carrying compact version shotguns with them on their space missions after a few months before a Soyuz capsule returning from Earth orbit landed hundreds of miles off-course from its intended landing spot in Kazakhstan and instead landed in a very remote spot in Northern Siberia. It took the then Soviet Air Force 3 days to reach the stranded cosmonauts and for a few nights only used the onboard flare guns to defend them from an incident involving being attacked by wolves. 

Some of today’s kids often quip the most often quoted answer that these astronauts are “non-combatants” and “are protected under international law” unbeknown to these kids who probably never been in a camping trip never mind part of their local Boy Scouts that “existing international laws and treaties” can never prevent astronauts, offshore oil rig workers, freight ship crew, etc. from having their heads cleanly blown off from a 666-Grain .50 caliber bullet travelling at 3,000-feet-per-second or being killed by wild animals like bears and wolves – never mind held for ransom for millions of dollars. With existing precedents and events, don’t be alarmed if NASA astronauts began to be seen with the same firearms being carried by NASA security personnel – like the Knights Armament Company’s Personal Defense Weapon / PDW with them whenever they go to and return from the International Space Station.

British Food: The Ideal Space Food?

Despite most Americans joking about Victorian Era British food as the “worst tasting gourmet food ever”, is British food the ideal provision for long-term space missions?

By: Ringo Bones

Most Americans might joke all they want behind the double-entendre of the iconic British pastry called spotted dick, but if British astronaut Major Timothy Peake gets his wishes, the “British Taste” could gain as much worldwide favor as the “British Sound” did in the global hi-fi world. UK Astronaut Timothy Peake has recently raised a competition among British middle-school students to improve his “space meals” for his deployment onto the International Space Station scheduled for 2015. In response to the challenge, the British students already had recently produced a number of potential “British space food” prototypes for Timothy Peake’s meals for the ISS next year.

According to Timothy Peake’s past experiences while training to become an astronaut in NASA, dehydrated food currently made my NASA currently consumed by astronauts working out their scientific experiments in the International Space Station are not exactly “gourmet tasting” – i.e. it tastes bland and seems to have a “life of its own” when it comes to texture. Were the provisions used on the British Antarctic Survey during the beginning of the 20^th Century tastes better than NASA’s current space food? Sadly, it is not just Major Timothy Peake that’s been complaining about NASA’s space food on the ISS.

Most astronauts that had served on the International Space Station – including the American ones – say that regular dehydrated freeze-dried food being served on the ISS isn’t as nice tasting as it should be. Given that one of the world’s greatest military geniuses, Napoleon Bonaparte, said that “an army marches on its stomach”, would there be eventually a space food revolution on the ISS? And this time, it was a Brit who fired the first shot?

Space Junk Cleaning Satellites, Anyone?

Given that space junk has now grown in number to threaten “commercial” activities in space, can a space junk clearing satellites provide a viable solution?

By: Ringo Bones

Since the launching of Sputnik and other related space faring satellites in the late 1950s, there are now about 12,000 objects in orbit that can be tracked by radar. Unfortunately objects 1 centimeter in diameter or smaller that can potentially damage commercial and manned spacecraft entering low earth orbit that can’t be tracked by ground based radar are believed to number around 750,000. Given these number of orbiting space debris or orbital space debris, it is now a statistical possibility that the International Space Station could experience a serious hull breaching collision by orbiting space junks once every 3 years. Would space junk capturing satellites be a viable solution of making the orbital space around our planet safer for both multi-million dollar commercial and scientific satellites – not to mention manned spacecraft?

The Clean Space family of satellites one prototype called Clean Space One had been developed and functional prototypes now exist. Designed by Herbert Shea and co designer Volter Grass of the Swiss Space Center uses an artificial muscle equipped robotic arm to grab non functioning satellites or satellites that have ended their service lives and drag them back down to lower orbit in order to burn up in the earth’s upper atmosphere. The main disadvantage of these satellites is that they are not reusable and they can “dispose” or clean up” only one satellite at a time – a single clean up mission could end up costing tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. Though improved prototypes based on the artificial muscle equipped robotic arm concept could someday clean up tiny debris with diameters of 1 centimeter or smaller that can be reusable by sending the recovered space junk to a manned mother-ship, as opposed to a burn-up reentry. Sadly, Ronald Reagan era "Star Wars" or Strategic Defense Initiative type laser based systems are still not powerful and reliable enough to clean up orbital space debris. 

Is NASA’s Terra Satellite Seeing Optical Illusions?

When the data of the sun-synchronous environmental research satellite showed that the Amazon Rain Forest was greener than it actually was during a drought proof that the NASA Terra satellite is plagued with an optical illusion? 

By: Ringo Bones

Ever since it was launched in Vandenberg Air force Base back in December 18, 1999, NASA’s Terra satellite was expected to be a warts-n’-all environmental science instruments that was expected to provide an “unbiased” environmental assessment of our planet’s most critically endangered ecosystems. But does the recently discovered “optical illusion” provided by the multi-million US dollar optics of the said satellite discovered by a team of scientists at Swansea University about to cast doubt the most recent scientific data about the extent of climate change and global warming? 

Professor Peter North of Swansea University in the UK was one of the consulted experts that checked out why NASA’s Terra satellite was seeing “optical illusions” given that it is an unbiased scientific instrument after providing data that the Amazon Rain Forest is greener than it actually does – even during times of recent prolonged unseasonable drought – despite scientists actually in the Amazon Rain Forest providing contradictory data “seen” by the Terra satellite. Professor North explains that it was due to the Terra satellite seeing the Amazon Rain Forest at a particular angle in its sun-synchronous orbit that made its advanced optics – despite of the satellite’s high-tech false color far infrared and deep ultraviolet capabilities - see as if the Amazon Rain Forest is greener than it actually is even in times of the recent prolonged drought that affected the environmentally sensitive region. 

Professor Danny McCarroll of Swansea University also states that the recent revelation that the Terra satellite is plagued by “optical illusions” could probably throw back all the research done so far on how “preventable” greenhouse gas emissions produced by our industrial activity thrown into the atmosphere affect our fragile climate. The Terra satellite data might be hijacked by climate change deniers who so far had resorted to conservative right-wing evangelical activism to disprove recent climate data supporting climate change and global warming. 

Olympic Torch in Space: A Prelude to Space Olympics?

With the Olympic Torch for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in a six-hour sprint to the International Space Station, is this just a prelude for an eventual “Space Olympics”? 

By: Ringo Bones

After blasting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, together with NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata of Japan will be carrying the Olympic Torch slated for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics up to the low-Earth orbit of the International Space Station for a first-ever space-walk with the Olympic Torch in a literally out-of-this world venue. Even though the Olympic Torch will be tethered for safety reasons to whomever be carrying it for an EVA (extra-vehicular activity – i.e. space-walk) this Saturday, it would be the first time ever in the history of the Olympic Games that the torch has taken an “out-of-this –world-route” en route to its venue for the opening ceremonies of the next year’s Winter Olympic Games. But will it also signal for a first ever “Space Olympics”? 

Imagine new legitimate Olympic events like “Weightless Rhythmic Gymnastics” of “Weightless Wrestling” or any other Olympic games performed in the weightless environment of low Earth orbit like that of the International Space Station. Would the launching of the Olympic torch for a space-walk eventually inspire the beginnings of the “Space Olympiad”?