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Space missions - New models


Image: Pixabay


Space exploration has been a dream of mankind since long before Jules Verne wrote From the Earth to the Moon in 1865, or Georges Méliès recorded on our retinas how the projectile launched from our planet hit the eye of the silvery satellite. As early as 1634, Kepler had already been thinking about the possibility of travelling to the Moon, while in 1584, Giordano Bruno had already stated, in Of the Infinite Universe and the Worlds, that it was absurd to think that we were the only inhabited planet in the universe.


Thus, with a mixture of ambition and curiosity, technological progress allowed what is now known as the "space race" to begin in the 1930s, mainly between the USA and the former USSR. Since then, several human beings have set foot on the Moon, and several rovers have travelled and analysed the soil of Mars. We have succeeded in landing a probe on a comet in mid-flight, built extremely powerful telescopes with which to investigate the origins of the universe, and sent probes equipped with highly sensitive cameras to the Sun, and to the planets of our system. We have gone beyond the known limits of our enclosed space, surrounded the Earth with satellites and built space stations.


The technological development that has allowed us to tackle any kind of space-related mission, as well as the economic investment, has been enormous. However, the benefits in the form of patents, new materials or mineral exploitation (should the idea of mining stations on satellites, planets or asteroids prosper) seem to more than compensate for these investments. Thus, in addition to the US and the Soviet Union, there have also been successful missions to the Moon by China, Japan and India. And the countries that have sent missions to Mars so far are the US, the former USSR, China, India, the European Space Agency and the United Arab Emirates.


The great challenge for exploration, and thus space exploitation, is to create habitable stations in situ for the extraction, processing and delivery to Earth of the materials obtained. There is, for example, a long-standing project to build an elevator connecting the earth to the moon, which China wants to have ready by 2043, so that both goods and people could travel safely and quickly between the two bodies.


Another "struggle" currently on the table is the construction of a lunar base that would allow humans to be as self-sufficient as possible, both in terms of obtaining oxygen and water and growing food, not to mention how to prevent the harsh and dangerous atmospheric conditions (or rather, the conditions resulting from having no atmosphere) from endangering the lives of the satellite's inhabitants. Or how to maintain psychological stability on long duration missions. These questions are still up in the air, but keep countries such as the US, China and Russia in fierce competition.


Likewise, given the "virginal" state of exploration (and possession) in which space still finds itself, there are, in addition to government agencies, several private companies that are developing their own projects, both in terms of satellite deployment and space flights (including tourist flights, since we are about to leave the planet) or visits to the International Space Station. Companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX, which has already sent four astronauts to the ISS; or Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, which is seeking to reduce the cost of space travel and, perhaps, to take over the logistics of shipments to human bases in space. Also Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which wants to exploit tourist space travel (which will not be exactly cheap at first); as has already been done by Space Adventure, which, for 18 million euros, has sent, along with four other millionaires, the American businessman Dennis Tito for seven days to the ISS. Another of the initiatives, somewhat cheaper (only 8.5 million euros) is Orion Spa, which, as its name suggests, is a real space resort located some 320 kilometres from Earth, orbiting like the ISS.


These, as we can see, are some of the business initiatives currently being proposed by the so-called "space conquest". And if there is already a very real space debris problem before all this becomes a reality, perhaps in a few years we will also see CSR programmes dedicated to orbital clean-up.


Sources:


Tek'n'Life ( http://www.teknlife.com/noticia/a-por-la-basura-espacial/

http://www.teknlife.com/reportaje/galileo-y-egnos-el-futuro-de-la-navegacion-europea/

and http://www.teknlife.com/reportaje/europa-cumple-50-anos-de-cooperacion-espacial-con-los-ojos-puestos-en-rosetta/)

Xataca (https://www.xataka.com/espacio/tres-paises-estan-a-punto-conquistar-marte-diez-intensos-e-historicos-dias-para-exploracion-espacial)

Mine (https://revistamine.com/spacex-y-otras-4-empresas-privadas-que-quieren-conquistar-el-espacio-exterior/)



Fátima Gordillo


 
 
 

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