On Wednesday, the company’s Starship test model SN10 made a high altitude test flight to 10 kilometers and landed back on the launch pad. The previous two attempts with SN8 and SN9 reached their test altitude but suffered RUDs (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly, or in simpler terms, exploding) at the point of landing.

SpaceX attempted SN10’s high altitude test in the mid afternoon, but was automatically aborted by the system at T-0 due to a detected anomaly.

The second attempt successfully launched, with Starship reaching the 10 kilometer test altitude, freefalling back to earth horizontally, and thrust pivoting back to the vertical position to land. 

You can watch the full launch event here:

Starship SN10 did, however, experience an RUD a few minutes after landing, from what some are speculating to be a methane leak. However this is only a minor problem at this development stage, and landing the Starship without an RUD at the landing stage itself is a gigantic step forward. 

Watch SN10’s RUD below:

This successful test of the SN10 stage comes the day after Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, who previously purchased a civilian space flight, announced a chance for you to join him on what he calls the Dear Moon Project. The flight will go around the moon and come back to earth. Musk states that this flight will actually go a little bit past the moon in order to be the furthest humans have ever been in space.

In a joint video released with Elon Musk, Yusaku Maezawa details his vision to bring 8 people who consider themselves to be creative or artistic along with him for the ride on Starship in 2023. 

If you describe yourself as creative or artistic, as Maezawa details in the video that anyone can be, you can enter for your chance at one of the seats at DearMoon.earth. 

Judging from his Twitter handle of @yousuckMZ, yes, he’s very aware of what his first name phonetically sounds like in English.

The successful landing of Starship the day after this announcement should hopefully give people confidence that SpaceX is on track for Starship to carry people in 2 years. Under development by SpaceX, it is intended to take humans to Mars and will be the world’s first fully reusable spacecraft.

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By Andrew Follett

NASA recently announced plans to build a space station orbiting the moon to help send astronauts to Mars, but one of the scientists who designed the space agency’s plans to send humans to the Red Planet thinks it’s an awful idea.

“No one needs a lunar orbit space station for any purpose,” Dr. Robert Zubrin, who helped design plans for NASA’s manned mission to Mars and wrote the “The Case For Mars,” told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “We don’t need it to go to the Moon. We don’t need it to go to Mars. We don’t need it to go to asteroids. It is strictly a liability, not an asset.”

NASA plans to use the proposed lunar space station send a mission to Mars in 2033. NASA wants to launch four manned flights between 2018 and 2026 to the space around the moon in order to build a “gateway” station. The station will consist of a science research module, a power source and an airlock for visiting vehicles and is intended to test systems used to send astronauts to Mars.

However, the station would be virtually useless and exceedingly expensive, according to Zubrin.

“We don’t need it to go anywhere, and making the construction of such a station NASA’s next major objective will waste tens of billions of dollars and postpone for at least a decade any major accomplishments by NASA’s human space flight program,” Zubrin said.

After the station is built, NASA will send the “Deep Space Transport vehicle” to the station. The U.S. manned missions to Mars in 2033 will use that vehicle, allegedly so it can be refueled. There are no resources in lunar orbit to exploit, very little science to do, and no terrain to explore.

NASA constructing a base on the lunar surface would have at least some scientific utility and could be used as a refueling depot Zubrin noted in the National Review. However, building a space station in orbit around the moon wouldn’t be useful for refueling a Mars bound craft.

“A craft going from Earth to Mars should be launched on a trans-Mars trajectory directly from low Earth orbit (LEO),” Zubrin told TheDCNF. “It takes as much propellant to go from from LEO to lunar orbit as it does to go from LEO to Mars. So going from LEO to lunar orbit on your way to Mars makes as much sense as flying from New York to Saskatoon on your way to Paris.”

When asked by TheDCNF why a spacecraft sent to Mars couldn’t just be refueled in Earth’s orbit Zubrin replied, “It can.”

“That is where any refueling should be done if the spacecraft is launched from Earth,” Zubrin said. “There is an argument to be made for making propellant on the Moon. If that is to be done, we need a base on the Moon, not in lunar orbit. There are materials that could be potentially by used to make propellant on the Moon. There is nothing in lunar orbit.”

Zubrin suspects that the entire purpose of the lunar space station is to justify a rocket and capsule program NASA wants to spend money building.

“During the Apollo program, the NASA’s mission-driven human spaceflight program spent money in order to do great things,” Zubrin wrote in The National Review. “Now, lacking a mission, it just does things in order to spend a great deal of money.”

The U.S. is better prepared to visit Mars than it was to visit the moon in the 1960s, according to a study by NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Current plans to send astronauts to Mars are projected to cost about $35 billion by 2025 to arrive at the Red Planet in 2030.

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, outlined his plan to send humans to orbit Mars by 2020 at the same conference NASA’s new plan was announced at. Aldrin thinks that with adequate political support, he could send astronauts to orbit Mars, but doing so would require NASA to use a rocket built by a private company instead of developing its own.

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By Andrew Follett

NASA plans to build a “deep space gateway” around the moon as part of plans to send astronauts to Mars, the space agency’s director of human exploration announced this week.

NASA will launch four manned flights between 2018 and 2026 to the space around the moon in order to build a “gateway” station. The station consist of a science research module, a power source and an airlock for visiting vehicles and is intended to test systems used to send astronauts to Mars.

After the station is built, NASA will send the “Deep Space Transport vehicle” to the station. The U.S. manned missions to Mars in 2033 could take off from the moon using that vehicle.

“If we could conduct a yearlong crewed mission on this Deep Space Transport in cislunar space, we believe we will know enough that we could then send this thing, crewed, on a 1,000-day mission to the Mars system and back,” Greg Williams, an administrator in NASA’s human exploration division, said at the Humans to Mars 2017 conference in Washington D.C.

Williams noted the station will be carried into cislunar space by NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

“We’re trying to lead this journey to Mars with a broad range of partnerships,” Williams said. “One of the things we’ll be doing over the next few years is, putting that package together: what players want to provide what — both nationally and internationally — and how we can together, with NASA in an orchestrating role, really move out on these crewed missions to Mars.”

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, outlined his plan to send humans to orbit Mars by 2020 at the same conference. Aldrin thinks that with adequate political support, he could send astronauts to orbit Mars, but doing so would require NASA to use a rocket built by a private company instead of developing its own.

The Trump administration wants to send a manned mission to the moon in 2019, and then a manned mission to Mars in 2033.

The president vowed to “unlock the mysteries of space” in his inaugural address, fueling speculation he discussed sending humans to Mars in a private meeting with billionaire Elon Musk who heads the company SpaceX.

Landing on Mars would be a massive achievement, but experts say a lot of technical problems must be overcome before we can get there.

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By Andrew Follet

The Cassini space probe detected hydrogen coming from Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, which suggests alien life could develop there, according to NASA.

NASA said Enceladus has “almost all of the ingredients needed to support life as we know it on Earth,” but admitted they found no living organisms. Hydrogen is an excellent source of chemical energy that supports life near deep sea hydrothermal vents on Earth. Scientists think this kind of chemical reaction could have been the origin of life on Earth.

NASA also announced similar activity may be occurring on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The Hubble Space Telescope spotted plumes on Europa, suggesting powerful thermal sources on the moon’s surface.

Enceladus and Europa are protected by an ice shell which maintains a liquid water ocean. Both of these moons are fairly similar and are judged as the two of the most likely places in our solar system to find alien life.  Life on Earth may have emerged from similar deep-ocean hydrothermal vents.

“Here on Earth there are a number of things that protect life. With this research, we are making a big step forward towards answering the question, ‘Is there life out there?’” associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen said during the NASA press conference announcing the discovery.

Enceladus and Europa probably have watery and salty oceans similar to those of Earth’s below the ice, likely kept warm by complex gravitational interactions and the planet’s core.

“The search for life beyond Earth has enthralled humans for ages,” Republican Rep. Lamar Smith, who chairs the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 directs NASA to continue to search for life and advance the science of astronomy, astrophysics and astrobiology. NASA’s effort to search for life on ocean worlds is an important step in these efforts.”

The Europa Clipper is a NASA robotic probe intended to launch sometime in the early 2020s. The probe will investigate the icy moon’s potential for human colonization and alien life.

Geologists announced in September that earthquakes on Earth can produce hydrogen. They concluded that the same kind of “Marsquakes” could also produce hydrogen on Mars, removing a major barrier to life. The Red Planet’s atmosphere is rich in oxygen, so an ample supply of hydrogen may indicate that water is more common on Mars than generally believed.

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By Emma Colton

A NASA probe snapped a picture of one of Saturn’s moons that looks a lot like a flying saucer.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft snapped a photo of the moon, Pan, from just 15,268 miles away. This image is the closest picture ever taken of Pan.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Pan is a small moon, only 21 miles across and shaped like a walnut. This is so small that Pan wasn’t detected until 1990.

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The post Saturn’s Moon Looks Just Like A Flying Saucer [PHOTO] appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

By Amber Randall

Chicago residents plan to moon Trump Tower next week to protest President Donald Trump.

The event, “Chicago Moons the Trump Tower,” is planned for Feb. 12, reports CBS Chicago. Hosted by  S#!tshow, the event is meant to get Trump to release his tax returns.

“Donald Trump doesn’t think the American people want to see his tax returns, so let’s show him that we do in the classiest way possible!” the event page says.

At 4 p.m. Feb. 12, protesters will gather outside Chicago’s Trump Tower and pull down their pants.

“Certain things get people on their feet. Not everybody is going to watch ’60 Minutes’ because they think it’s boring,” Bailey Davis, an organizer, said. “If you ridicule (Trump) or make him feel like he’s the loser, that’s how he blows up. That’s what makes The Donald implode.”

Three hundred and three people have already said that they will be going — over a thousand people have said they are interested in the event.

Davis said mooning Trump Tower will grab the attention of the public.

“If 500 people go up to that tower and pull their pants down it’s not going to go unnoticed, and that’s the goal,” Davis said.

The event page also claims that mooning is protected by the First Amendment.

“In 2006, a Maryland state circuit court determined that mooning is a form of artistic expression protected by the First Amendment as a form of speech,” according to the Facebook event page.

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The post Hundreds Plan To Moon Trump Tower To Get Trump To Release His Tax Returns appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Scientists think humans could start mining for resources on the moon within the next seven years.

Official NASA estimates suggest mining could begin as soon as 2022 with a $10 billion government investment. A mining base on the moon could be developed relatively cheaply using 3-D printing, autonomous robots, and other recently-developed technologies.

“[D]uring the Bush Administration (2001-2009), NASA entrtained the possibility of creating a ‘lunar outpost.’ Consistent with their Vision for Space Exploration (2004), the plan called for the construction of a base on the moon between 2019 and 2024,” summarized Universe Today. “One of the key aspects of this plan was the use of ISRU techniques to produce oxygen from the surrounding regolith. These plans were cancelled by the Obama administration.”

Studies show the U.S. could return to the moon within five to seven years and build a permanent base after that. Currently, NASA has no plans to return to the moon.

Johann-Dietrich Woerner, the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), announced the agency plans to build a permanent base on the Moon by 2030. European space bureaucrats intend to use huge 3D printers to build the base using natural resources on the moon. Construction of the manned lunar base could begin within five years, Woerner said in a YouTube video.

Russia’s space agency also plans to land a person on the moon and start construction of a permanent base by 2030, according to reports published last November by TASS, the official state news agency. The country plans to assemble a 20-ton base complex in orbit around earth, then assemble a spacecraft to move the base into lunar orbit. Russia claims construction of some components has already started.

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill in November, later signed by President Barack Obama, that legalized asteroid mining and granted property rights in space to private companies. Under the new law, companies own the resources they extract from asteroids, such as platinum and water. Experts at think tanks routinely noted the lack of legal recognition of property rights in space as one of the major road blocks to the development of space-based industries.

Previously, the international Outer Space Treaty declared that no nation could own property in space. The wording of the treaty is vague enough that companies want to ensure that they will own the resources they mine from asteroids before investing. The bill Congress passed would make those property rights official, at least under U.S. law.

A recent wave of private companies have been encouraged by a rapidly changing legal environment to consider mining asteroids. The CEO of Deep Space Industries previously told The Daily Caller News Foundation that his goal was to mine enough asteroids to provide “all the material and equipment needed to build cities in space” in the next 30 years.

The company thinks it can sell air, building materials, water and propellant to other companies in space cheaper than launching them from Earth. It plans to launch a probe called Prospector-1 to an asteroid next year, which will rendezvous with a near-earth asteroid by 2020 to assess its value for mineral mining. This survey could be followed up with the first commercial space mining mission.

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The post There’s A Plan To Start Mining The Moon By 2022 appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, has flowing rivers on its surface, meaning it’s more likely the moon is is capable of developing alien life.

Scientists used NASA’s Cassini spacecraft to observe deep canyons on Titan filled with vast bodies of liquid hydrocarbons like methane and ethane. The discovery could make life on Titan much more likely, as some scientists speculate that these hydrocarbons could take the place of water in living cells in alien life.

“Earth is warm and rocky, with rivers of water, while Titan is cold and icy, with rivers of methane. And yet it’s remarkable that we find such similar features on both worlds,” Dr. Alex Hayes, who studies Titan at Cornell University, said in a press statement. “The canyons found in Titan’s north are even more surprising, as we have no idea how they formed. Their narrow width and depth imply rapid erosion, as sea levels rise and fall in the nearby sea.”

It remains extremely unclear how canyons on Titan formed, and other anomalies detected by NASA’s Cassini mission could potentially have been generated by methane-producing organisms. If life does exist on Titan, it would be far different from life on Earth.

Additionally, there is strong evidence that actual liquid water could also be present on Titan below the surface. Saturn’s powerful gravity stretches and deforms Titan as the moon orbits the gas giant. Scientists have concluded that if Titan were composed entirely of stiff rock, the gravity of Saturn would cause bulges, or solid “tides,” only 3 feet tall. Instead, Cassini detected huge tides of roughly  30 feet in height, indicating a liquid core.

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The post Finding Alien Life Just Got A Lot More Likely On This Moon Of Saturn appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Edgar Mitchell, one of only 12 human beings to walk on the moon, died Friday, meaning only seven moonwalkers still live.

Mitchell, Alan Shepard and Stuart Roosa were the crew of Apollo 14, which landed on the moon Feb. 5, 1971. Mitchell was the sixth man to walk on the lunar surface.

The remaining men who have walked on the moon are Buzz Aldrin (age 86), Alan Bean (age 83), David Scott (age 83), John W. Young (age 85), Charles Duke (age 80), Eugene Cernan (age 81) and Harrison Schmitt (age 80). Every living person to walk on the moon is past the average American life expectancy of 79 years.

Attempts to get some new moonwalkers, however, aren’t going well.

“The Obama administration has consistently tried to cut NASA’s space exploration budgets in order to fund increases for Earth science programs,” Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Science Committee, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Just this year, the president proposed drastically cutting NASA’s exploration systems by more than $440 million dollars while Earth Science accounts have increased by 63 percent over the last 8 years.”

President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress are more interested in funding global warming science than going back to the moon. Obama has repeatedly attempted to cut the parts of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that focus on science and exploration, so that money could be redirected to earth science.

The budget of NASA’s Earth Science Mission Directorate, which handles global warming, grew by 63 percent over the last eight years, making it the largest and fastest growing budget of any NASA science program. The directorate’s goal is to help NASA “meet the challenges of climate and environmental change.” The organization is also responsible for global warming models proven to be inaccurate. 

Over the same time period, the general NASA budget grew only by 10.6 percent– just enough to account for inflation.

Even Bill Nye the “Science Guy,” who’s also the CEO of the Planetary Society, has criticized Obama’s attempts to cut NASA’s space exploration and planetary science programs in favor of global warming. NASA’s planetary science program has previously held car washes and bake sales to gain political support to maintain funding.

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