Space Trips: Getting Too Costly?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser room from Disney World.

I thought we were trying to bring down the cost of space travel. Someone may need to inform Disney. It was already expensive enough for visit Disney World under normal circumstances, but now it is crazy if you want to be part of the new Star Wars adventure. Would you like to spend up to $20,000 for a two night stay in its Star Wars’ themed luxury suite? It is less than a spaceflight on Blue Origin, but at least you leave the ground with Blue Origin.

The new Star Wars immersive experience hotel opened March 1st, and I am sure plenty of people in this economy will plop down the money given that TSA will not be asking for the Covid test results before letting them return to Earth (unlike a trip to Earth-bound France).

Here is how Disney World sells it:

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is a revolutionary new 2-night experience where you are the hero. You and your group will embark on a first-of-its-kind Star Wars adventure that’s your own. It’s the most immersive Star Wars story ever created—one where you live a bespoke experience and journey further into a Star Wars adventure than you ever dreamed possible.

Looking at the website, you should plan to spend about $4,800 for a two night stay for two, and about $6,000 if you are a group of four. I would expect each room to come with massage droids, but I did not see that on the list of services. However, you do get a hair dryer with your room. Even with these prices, I found only six available nights over the next three months.

The Washington Post just had a piece about the high prices at the Disney parks, wondering whether the magic is gone. I am not sure about finding magic in a hotel room with no real windows, but I want to point out that Florida has other less expensive ways to get into the space spirit, from the Kennedy Space Center to the US Air Force Space and Missile Museum. Spend what you want, but I think you can keep the dream alive without giving the t-shirt off your back.

Source/Credit: Kennedy Space Center.

More Angst Regarding the International Space Station

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: Image of Russian section breaking away from the ISS from NASA Watch.

You may have already seen this ridiculous Russian video that NASA Watch shared with the world. It is very disturbing. Presumably created by the Russian space program Roscosmos, it shows the Russian portion of the International Space Station (ISS) breaking away as a result of the worldwide sanctions against the Russians for invading Ukraine. Here is the NASA Watch tweet and related video (an image of which is shown above):

Russian gov’t-controlled RIA Novosti @rianru posted a video on Telegram made by @Roscosmos where cosmonauts say goodbye to Mark Vande Hei on #ISS, depart, and then the Russian segment detaches from the rest of ISS. @Rogozin is clearly threatening the ISS program. #NASA#Ukraine

One person provided some hope among all this foolishness with this reply:

Basically all astro-/ cosmonauts said that after a couple of days in space they only see a fragile planet, and that nation states start to disappear in their minds.

And now we have former US astronaut Scott Kelly and SpaceX’s Elon Musk battling with Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos. Scott Kelly was clear in his dislike of Rogozin’s comments about the ISS:

Maybe you could find yourself a job working at McDonalds if McDonalds still exists in Russia.

None of this is helpful when we have lives in space depending on a competent ground team. Let’s hope all these egos do not get in the way of the professionalism we expect from the US, Russia, and others with regards to the safe operation of the ISS.

Pic of the Week: Test-Bed Telescope 2

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: Test-Bed Telescope 2 from the ESA.

This week’s photo is from the European Space Agency (ESA) and shows a recently-completed telescope in Chile designed to detect dangerous asteroids. Here is the full story:

Part of the world-wide effort to scan and identify near-Earth objects, the European Space Agency’s Test-Bed Telescope 2 (TBT2), a technology demonstrator hosted at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, has now started operating. Working alongside its northern-hemisphere partner telescope, TBT2 will keep a close eye on the sky for asteroids that could pose a risk to Earth, testing hardware and software for a future telescope network.

Podcast: The End of the World

Posted on by onespaceman2000

Yes, the title is bleak, but it is worth going through this earlier podcast to ponder the future of mankind in a universe that has not shown any other inhabitants to date. Is this because of some internal or external filtering mechanism, such as nuclear war or the dangers or space travel? Is there something special about humans here on Earth? Josh Clark, who you may know from the podcast Stuff You Should Know, does a nice job narrating this inquiry. He discusses his new show here.

Here are some of the same episodes from The End of the World:

—Episode 2: Great Filter

The Great Filter hypothesis says we’re alone in the universe because the process of evolution contains some filter that prevents life from spreading into the universe. Have we passed it or is it in our future? Humanity’s survival may depend on the answer.

Interviewees: Robin Hanson, George Mason University economist (creator of the Great Filter hypothesis); Toby Ord, Oxford University philosopher; Donald Brownlee, University of Washington astrobiologist (co-creator of the Rare Earth hypothesis); Phoebe Cohen, Williams College paleontologist.

—Episode 7: Biotechnology

Natural viruses and bacteria can be deadly enough; the 1918 Spanish Flu killed 50 million people in four months. But risky new research, carried out in an unknown number of labs around the world, are creating even more dangerous humanmade pathogens.

Interviewees: Beth Willis, former chair, Containment Laboratory Community Advisory Committee; Dr Lynn Klotz, senior fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Just think of it as a long investigation of the Fermi Paradox – the conflict between the expectation that intelligent life can be found throughout the universe and the lack of any clear evidence that this is so. Are we the issue, or is it something out there?

The podcast came out in 2018 (before COVID, so the biotechnology episode missed the latest crisis), but the points in each episode remain relevant. Josh Clark gives you a lot to ponder.

Another Space Telescope is Coming: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from NASA.

With all the excitement about the James Webb Space Telescope coming online shortly, we do not want to forget about another space telescope in development. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, expected to be launched in 2027, will be even more productive than the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA noted the new space telescope will be:

Providing the same crisp infrared resolution as Hubble over a field of view 200 times larger, Roman will conduct sweeping cosmic surveys that would take hundreds of years using Hubble. Roman will map stars, galaxies, and dark matter to explore the formation and evolution of large cosmic structures, like clusters and superclusters of galaxies, and investigate dark energy, which is thought to accelerate the expansion of the universe.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will also have a Coronagraph Instrument that will be able to detect more exoplanets, including smaller, rocky exoplanets similar to Earth. By using the parent star’s reflected light on a larger exoplanet, this instrument will also allow astronomers to analyze the colors of the exoplanet’s atmosphere and learn more about the content of that atmosphere (complementing other studies of large exoplanets, one of which was noted here earlier). If successful, this technology could be refined further to one day help to detect oxygen, methane, and other elements/compounds in the atmosphere of distant, Earth-sized exoplanets.

Astronomer Vanessa Bailey from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory stated:

To image Earth-like planets, we’ll need 10,000 times better performance than today’s instruments provide…The Coronagraph Instrument will perform several hundred times better than current instruments, so we will be able to see Jupiter-like planets that are more than 100 million times fainter than their host stars.

The telescope is named after Nancy Grace Roman, who was NASA’s first chief astronomer and also known as the “Mother of Hubble” for her efforts in making the Hubble Space Telescope a reality. You can read more about her here.