May 15, 2023
ESA Wants Your Ideas for Living off the Land… on the Moon
Challenges have been a mainstay of space exploration for several years at this point. In the past, they have ranged from making a potential space elevator to designing a solar power system on the Moon. The European Space Agency is continuing that tradition and has recently released a new challenge focusing on lunar resources. Called the Identifying Challenges along the Lunar ISRU Value Chain campaign, this new ESA platform is the next step in the agency’s efforts to develop an entire “value chain” of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies. This isn’t the first ESA challenge in the field, either. Recently teams competed in the Space Resources Challenge that utilized rovers to prospect for resources on the lunar surface. The challenge winners (FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik of ETH Zurich and Team Glimpse of the University of Zurich) were announced on April 19th, the same day the next challenge was released. While the first challenge focused on prospecting, that is only the first step in the seven-step value chain that ESA has developed for thinking about space resources. The new challenge focuses on the other six. It is specifically intended to take input from the public about what challenges should be the focus of the next round of challenges similar to the first. UT video discussing the tradeoffs between going to Mars or the moon first. That is in part because there are so many challenges to conquer. ESA itself released a 120+ page report on the gaps in the ISRU value chain, and more than 50 of those gaps are listed as potential areas to discuss in this new challenge. Ranging from longer-life motors to recycling technologies for disused or broken-down parts, these gaps could be filled by any number of technologies. Many of those technologies would only be ideas at this point, and ESA is also actively encouraging individuals to submit those ideas. But what incentive do they have? They quickly point out that there is no cash prize for this challenge. However, several potentially interesting prizes don’t necessarily have a monetary value. The first is the opportunity to see your technology be tested in a real-life ground-based ISRU pilot plant. The pilot plant is a cornerstone of ESA’s Space Resource Strategy. It can be used as a proving ground for technologies that might someday make it onto the lunar surface and extract oxygen and metals from the lunar regolith. UT video on ISRU, especially on the lunar surface. If a team’s prototype performs well enough in a first round of testing, the next step would be to literally go to space. Technologies that make it this far will potentially have an opportunity to fly on board an ESA mission into space to validate their system’s operation further. A final step for any such technologies that make it past the space testing would be having a technology land on the Moon. However, the challenge statement points out that before any technology could benefit from this step, it would require a significant increase in the resources devoted to the project. However, there is a chance of that happening if the challenge does take off. Even so, only competitors from within an ESA member state can fully benefit from all the rewards. However, the agency encourages participants from outside to apply as well, pointing out that they will be exposed to excellent networking opportunities in the world of space resources. They also point out that, while this current challenge specifically deals with lunar resources, there are plans in the works for both Martian and Asteroid equivalents, as each would require its own set of technologies to overcome the challenges of those hostile environments. As of the time of writing, there haven’t been any ideas submitted yet, and if you’re interested in participating in the challenge, you have a little more than a month (June 30th, 2023) to submit your ideas. With luck, this challenge will result in plenty of great ideas for space resource experts to ponder in the near future. Learn More:ESA – Wanted: new ideas to live off Moon resourcesESA – Identifying Challenges along the Lunar ISRU Value ChainUT – 13 Rovers Recently Competed to Scour the (Simulated) Moon to Harvest ResourcesUT – The Moon has Resources, but Not Enough to Go Around Lead Image:A University of Manchester developed regolith extraction demonstrator takes a scoop of regolith simulant on the moon.Credit – ESA The post ESA Wants Your Ideas for Living off the Land… on the Moon appeared first on Universe Today.
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Mary Trump 'energized' as uncle 'Donald's campaign spirals into chaos'
Mar 29, 2024
Donald Trump's campaign is in chaos, and his niece says she's energized.Mary Trump, the niece of the former president and a psychologist by trade, has previously been critical of her uncle.On Thursday, she said her uncle's failures are adding up.ALSO READ: A neuroscientist reveals how Trump and Biden's cognitive impairments are different"As the RNC’s fundraising falters and Donald’s campaign spirals into chaos, I am energized!" she said in a Substack post.She then continued:"When Donald dominates the news cycle, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed. Every bad headline has a negative impact. But then I remember something crucial: There’s usually more to the story than meets the eye. I’m determined to cut through the media noise and share with you all the good that happened this week. These are the headlines we need to remain energized and hopeful that the media largely ignored."Mary Trump goes on to highlight President Joe Biden's recent fundraising hauls."President Biden’s $155 million+ war chest has just received another turbo boost, bringing the total of cash on hand to at least $180 million. (By comparison, between his campaign and the RNC, Donald barely has over $50 million — and continues to drain the accounts to cover his absolutely staggering legal expenses)," she wrote. "This is a development that could significantly increase Biden’s ability to influence the narrative in crucial swing states."This, she says, also tells us a lot about voter excitement for Biden."While critics have expressed doubts about the degree to which the Democratic base is fired up as compared to 2020, today’s $25 million fundraiser, raised with donations ranging from $250 to $500,000, should put any doubts to rest — yes, we are absolutely behind President Biden and Vice President Harris and we’re in this fight until the end," she wrote.Read the full post here.
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