Category: Science

Carbon emissions may spur Antarctica towards climate tipping point by 2060

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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While US Secretary of State Antony Blinken draws attention to climate change in the Arctic at meetings with other national officials this week in Iceland, an even greater threat looms on the other side of the planet.

New research shows it is Antarctica that may force a reckoning between the choices countries to make today about greenhouse gas emissions and the future survival of their coastlines and coastal cities, from New York to Shanghai.

That reckoning may come much sooner than people realise. The Arctic is losing ice as global temperatures rise, and that is directly affecting lives and triggering feedback loops that fuel more warming. But the big wild card for sea-level rise is Antarctica.

It holds enough land ice to raise global sea levels by more than 200 feet (60 meters) roughly 10 times the amount in the Greenland ice sheet and we’re already seeing signs of trouble. Scientists have long known that the Antarctic ice sheet has physical tipping points, beyond which ice loss can accelerate out of control.

The new study, published in the journal Nature, finds that the Antarctica ice sheet could reach a critical tipping point in a few decades when today’s elementary school kids are raising their families. The results mean a common argument for not reduce greenhouse gas emissions now that future technological advancement can save us later is likely to fail.

The new study shows that if emissions continue at their current pace, by about 2060 the Antarctic ice sheet will have crossed a critical threshold and committed the world to sea level rise that is not reversible on human timescales.

Pulling carbon dioxide out of the air at that point won’t stop the ice loss, it shows, and by 2100, sea level could be rising more than 10 times faster than today. The tipping point Antarctica has several protective ice shelves that fan out into the ocean ahead of the continent’s constantly flowing glaciers, slowing the land-based glaciers’ flow to the sea. But those shelves can thin and break up as warmer water moves in under them.

As ice shelves break up, they can expose towering ice cliffs that may not be able to stand on their own. There are two potential instabilities at this point. Parts of the Antarctic ice sheet are grounded below sea level on bedrock that slopes inward toward the centre of the continent, so warming ocean water can eat around their lower edges, destabilising them and causing them to retreat downslope rapidly. Above the water, surface melting and rain can open fractures in the ice.

When the ice cliffs get too tall to support themselves, they can collapse catastrophically, accelerating the rate of ice flow to the ocean. The study used computer modeling based on the physics of ice sheets and found that above 2 C (3.6 F) of warming, Antarctica will see a sharp jump in ice loss, triggered by the rapid loss of ice through the massive Thwaites Glacier.

This glacier drains an area the size of Florida or Britain and is the focus of intense study by US and UK scientists. To put this in context, the planet is on track to exceed 2 C warming under countries’ current policies.

Other projections don’t account for ice cliff instability and generally arrive at lower estimates for the rate of sea-level rise. While much of the press coverage that followed the new paper’s release focused on differences between these two approaches, both reach the same fundamental conclusions: The magnitude of sea-level rise can be drastically reduced by meeting the Paris Agreement targets, and physical instabilities in the Antarctic ice sheet can lead to a rapid acceleration in sea-level rise. The disaster doesn’t stop in 2100 The new study, led by Robert DeConto, David Pollard and Richard Alley is one of the few that looks beyond this century. One of us is a co-author.

It shows that if today’s high emissions continued unabated through 2100, sea-level rise would explode, exceeding 2.3 inches (6 cm) per year by 2150. The level would be 10 times higher than it is expected to be if countries meet the Paris Agreement goals. A warmer and softer ice sheet and a warming ocean holding its heat for centuries all prevent refreezing of Antarctica’s protective ice shelves, leading to a very different world.

The vast majority of the pathways for meeting the Paris Agreement expect emissions will overshoot its goals of keeping warming under 1.5 C (2.7 F) or 2 C (3.6 F), and then count on future advances in technology to remove enough carbon dioxide from the air later to lower the temperature again.

The rest require a 50 percent cut in emissions globally by 2030. Although a majority of countries including the US, UK and European Union have set that as a goal, current policies globally would result in just a 1 per cent reduction by 2030.

It’s all about reducing emissions quickly

Some other researchers suggest that ice cliffs in Antarctica might not collapse as quickly as those in Greenland. But given their size and current rates of warming far faster than in the historic record what if they instead collapse more quickly? As countries prepare to increase their Paris Agreement pledges in the run-up to a United Nations meeting in November, Antarctica has three important messages that we would like to highlight as polar and ocean scientists. First, every fraction of a degree matters.

Second, allowing global warming to overshoot 2 C is not a realistic option for coastal communities or the global economy. The comforting prospect of technological fixes allowing a later return to normal is an illusion that will leave coastlines under many feet of water, with devastating economic impacts.

Third, policies today must take the long view because they can have irreversible impacts on Antarctica’s ice and the world. Over the past decades, much of the focus on rapid climate change has been on the Arctic and its rich tapestry of Indigenous cultures and ecosystems that are under threat.

As scientists learn more about Antarctica, it is becoming clear that it is this continent with no permanent human presence at all that will determine the state of the planet where today’s children and their children will live.

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China’s spacecraft lands on Mars successfully: Here’s what it will study

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China’s Tianwen 1 rover, named Zhurong, successfully landed on Mars on May 15, news agency Xinhua reported citing the China National Space Administration officials. China created history by becoming the only second country after the US to successfully land its rover on the Red planet.

The Zhurong rover landed on a site known as Utopia Planitia and the orbiter got separated from the landing module three hours after the landing, according to official China Space News.

Like the US Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, Zhurong will be powered by solar panels, which are retractable so that it can shake off any accumulated dust periodically.

What is China’s Mars mission?

China launched its Mars mission, Tianwen-1, last July, aiming at taking advantage of the window of the two years’ time when the Red planet is closest to the Earth during their revolution around the Sun.

The mission consists of an orbiter, a lander and a rover.

The Tianwen-1 orbiter pulled into Martian orbit on February 10 and has been circling the planet at a safe distance, preparing for the landing attempt, since then.

According to the CNSA, around 1 am Saturday (Beijing time), Tianwen-1 probe lowered its altitude from the Martian parking orbit, before its lander-rover separated from the orbiter around 4am. The lander-rover combination then took another flight of three hours, before entering the Martian atmosphere, Chinese newspaper Global Times reported.

After the separation, the orbiter rose and returned to its parking orbit to provide relay communication for the landing craft, the Chinese space agency told Global Times.

After entering the Mars atmosphere, the spacecraft spent nine minutes decelerating, hovering to avoid any obstacle, and cushioning, before its soft landing on the designated site at the Utopia Planitia, CNSA said.

The mass of Zhurong is about 240 kilograms, a bit heftier than the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that NASA landed on Mars in 2004.

Zhurong has seven instruments, including cameras, ground-penetrating radar, a magnetic field detector and a weather station.

What will it study?

It landed in Utopia Planitia, or Nowhere Land Plain, a couple of thousand miles wide basin in the northern hemisphere, most likely carved out by a meteor impact. The same region was visited by NASA’s Viking 2 lander in 1976.

One of the goals of the Tianwen-1 mission is to understand the distribution of ice in the region better.

China’s space mission and future plans

China’s first mission to land its spacecraft in Mars, Yinghuo-1, failed nearly 10 years ago as the spacecraft burned up in Earth’s atmosphere when the Russian rocket that was carrying failed in flight.

Last month, it launched the main section of a permanent space station. It is the same station, a part of which was being carried by Long March 5—the very rocket, a three-storey-high segment of which re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and fell in the Indian Ocean on May 9.

In 2020, another Chinese mission brought back nearly four pounds of rocks and soil from the moon.

Next month, the country plans to send three astronauts into space.

The Mars success establishes China as a principal contender in space competition.

Following this, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent warm congratulations and sincere greetings to those involved in the mission.

NASA, which recently criticised the Chinese space programme over the Long march debacle, also congratulated China for Saturday’s feat.

Congratulations to CNSA’s #Tianwen1 team for the successful landing of China’s first Mars exploration rover, #Zhurong! Together with the global science community, I look forward to the important contributions this mission will make to humanity’s understanding of the Red Planet. pic.twitter.com/KexElIu8OH

— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) May 15, 2021

“Congratulations to CNSA’s #Tianwen1 team for the successful landing of China’s first Mars exploration rover, #Zhurong! Together with the global science community, I look forward to the important contributions this mission will make to humanity’s understanding of the Red Planet,” Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science, tweeted.

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China completes historic Mars spacecraft landing

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of Mars on Saturday, state news agency Xinhua reported, making China the second space-faring nation after the United States to land on the Red Planet.

The Tianwen-1 spacecraft landed on a site on a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia, “leaving a Chinese footprint on Mars for the first time,” Xinhua said.

The craft left its parked orbit at about 1700 GMT Friday (0100 Beijing time Saturday). The landing module separated from the orbiter three hours later and entered the Martian atmosphere, the official China Space News said.

It said the landing process consisted of “nine minutes of terror” as the module decelerates and then slowly descends.

A solar-powered rover, named Zhurong, will now survey the landing site before departing from its platform to conduct inspections. Named after a mythical Chinese god of fire, Zhurong has six scientific instruments including a high-resolution topography camera.

The rover will study the planet’s surface soil and atmosphere. Zhurong will also look for signs of ancient life, including any sub-surface water and ice, using ground-penetrating radar.

Tianwen-1, or “Questions to Heaven”, after a Chinese poem was written two millennia ago, is China’s first independent mission to Mars. A probe co-launched with Russia in 2011 failed to leave the Earth’s orbit.

The five-tonne spacecraft blasted off from the southern Chinese island of Hainan in July last year, launched by the powerful Long March 5 rocket.

After more than six months in transit, Tianwen-1 reached the Red Planet in February where it had been in orbit since.

If Zhurong is successfully deployed, China would be the first country to orbit, land and release a rover in its maiden mission to Mars.

Tianwen-1 was one of three that reached Mars in February, with U.S. rover Perseverance successfully touching down on Feb. 18 in a huge depression called Jezero Crater, more than 2,000 km away from Utopia Planitia.

Hope – the third spacecraft that arrived at Mars in February this year – is not designed to make a landing. Launched by the United Arab Emirates, it is currently orbiting above Mars gathering data on its weather and atmosphere.

The first successful landing ever was made by NASA’s Viking 1 in July 1976 and then by Viking 2 in September that year. A Mars probe launched by the former Soviet Union landed in December 1971, but communication was lost seconds after landing.

China is pursuing an ambitious space programme. It is testing reusable spacecraft and is also planning to establish a manned lunar research station.

In a commentary published on Saturday, Xinhua said China was “not looking to compete for leadership in space” but was committed to “unveiling the secrets of the universe and contributing to humanity’s peaceful use of space.”

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View: Now the world needs nuclear power, more than ever

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Fossil fuels that emerged during the Iron Age are a major cause of environmental degradation. But these non-renewable energy sources are still powering civilization in the 21^st century.

Of course, the world has limited options to replace fossil fuel which is fast depleting; but humanity cannot rely indefinitely on non-renewable sources for most of its energy needs.

The emphasis on renewables is prudent but their intermittent nature and low baseload factor circumscribe their heavy usage. Meanwhile, nuclear energy with a much higher capacity factor and lesser stress on climate has unfairly not been appreciated enough. Safety concerns, rather than absolute facts, have often governed national nuclear energy policies. The world needs to reconcile with the fact that advancement in reactor technology has made nuclear energy safer, feasible and more sustainable than fossil fuel.

On the basis of sporadic nuclear disasters that caused relatively small fatalities during the last seven decades, a negative perception on nuclear technology has been built. Undeniably, fatal incidents in the nuclear sector have resulted in the loss of precious lives but the sensitive nature of the nuclear sector has earned it more negative attention in comparison to other industries.

At present, nuclear power supplies about one-sixth of global electricity requirements and has the potential to provide electricity on a large scale with practically no greenhouse gas emissions. Post-Fukushima, there has been a visible drive for phasing out of nuclear projects in some European countries, who plan a major shift towards natural gas, although ignorant of the fact that natural gas usage will cause more emissions.

As per the research findings by Pushker Kharecha and James Hansen, “If nuclear power never existed, the energy it supplied certainly would have been generated through fossil fuels instead, which would have caused much higher pollution-related mortality and GHG emissions per unit energy produced.”

Their findings further suggested that nuclear power prevented an average of 1.8 million net deaths worldwide and an average of 64 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent net green-house-gas emissions between 1971 and 2009. If a complete nuclear energy phase-out is undertaken, it would lead to an average of 420,000 to 7 million deaths and 80-240 GtCO2-eq emissions globally.

In order to minimize the impact of climate change, while also meeting the increasing demand for cheaper but sustainable energy, nuclear energy needs to be rapidly expanded. This cannot be achieved without addressing the safety concerns involved with nuclear technology. With seven decades of operational experience and lessons from past few disasters, nuclear technology is maturing with innovations.

One such engineering innovation is the use of liquid sodium, instead of water, to cool the reactor at a lower pressure, which helps avoid meltdowns. Other technologies like the small modular reactor (SMR), generation IV variants (molten-salt reactor), advanced fission and fusion reactors, etc. have the potential to revolutionize the nuclear industry. In America, China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia, and elsewhere, a dozen new nuclear reactor designs are at advanced stages of planning or construction, while several others are at the primitive research and development stage.

If sincere patronage is given, the emerging nuclear technologies will herald a paradigm shift in the nuclear industry. Such reactor variants have been licensed or deployed in Russia and China only. Indian nuclear establishment was reportedly in the final throes of developing a (conceptual) design for Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) as the stepping stone to its third stage of the nuclear energy program.

Safety is touted as the key factor in any country’s nuclear programme. Furthering its commitment towards the peaceful use of nuclear energy, India has strengthened its collaboration with Russia. The two countries have collaborated well on the setup of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Work on units 3 and 4 of Kudankulam NPP has progressed significantly with the undeterred cooperation from Rosatom, the Russian state energy corporation. Six VVER-1000 reactors are to be built at Kudankulam with Russian support.

Notably, the VVER-1000 reactors meet enormous safety standards. It combines various active safety systems and passive safety systems, which have resulted in the maximum protection of the plant from internal and external risks. Modern VVER units also feature active heat removal systems, hydrogen combiners and core catchers, which are all instrumental in ensuring the safety of the units during natural or man-made hazards.

Apart from the safety aspects, nuclear energy is being used for other important tasks such as desalination, production of hydrogen, space heating, process-heat applications, extraction of carbon from CO2 to combine with hydrogen to create synthetic liquid fuels, etc. The need of the hour, therefore, is to hasten the process of innovation in nuclear technology and not abandon or demonize it. After all, we need to introspect whether nuclear technology failed us or we failed nuclear technology.

–Dr Sitakanta Mishra is an Associate Professor of International Relations at Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gujarat. The views are personal. 

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The only total lunar eclipse of 2021 on May 26: How to see it

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The only lunar eclipse of the year will be happening on May 26. The rare celestial event will occur when Earth is positioned perfectly in line between the moon and the sun creating a shadow that gives the moon a reddish-orange glow.

The Moon will look slightly larger and brighter than usual as it will be near its closest approach to the Earth.

This event will be visible throughout Australia, parts of the western United States, western South America or in South-East Asia.

Eclipse is expected to start at 1:46 am PT (2.16 PM IST). Around 2:45 am PT (3:15 PM IST) the moon will enter the darkest part of Earth’s shadow and the Moon’s surface will be completely covered by Earth’s umbra between 4:11 am and 4:26 am PT (4:41 PM and 4:56 PM IST). The eclipse will be visible in totality for 14-15 minutes.

Since January 21, 2019, this Lunar Eclipse will be the first total eclipse of the Moon. It is also called the Blood Moon because of the reddish-orange hue of the moon during the eclipse.

Generally, there are four to seven eclipses every year. Some total and some partial. Here is this year’s Eclipse list.

• May 26: Total Lunar Eclipse
• June 10: Annular Solar Eclipse
• November 19: Partial Lunar Eclipse
• December 4: Total Solar Eclipse

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Chinese rocket debris lands in Indian Ocean, draws criticism from NASA

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Remnants of China’s biggest rocket landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, with most of its components destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere, ending days of speculation over where the debris would hit but drawing U.S. criticism over lack of transparency.

The coordinates given by Chinese state media, citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office, put the point of impact in the ocean, west of the Maldives archipelago.

Debris from the Long March 5B has had some people looking warily skyward since it blasted off from China’s Hainan island on April 29, but the China Manned Space Engineering Office said most of the debris was burnt up in the atmosphere.

State media reported parts of the rocket re-entered the atmosphere at 10:24 a.m. Beijing time (0224 GMT) and landed at a location with the coordinates of longitude 72.47 degrees east and latitude 2.65 degrees north.

The U.S. Space command confirmed the re-entry of the rocket over the Arabian Peninsula, but said it was unknown if the debris impacted land or water.

“The exact location of the impact and the span of debris, both of which are unknown at this time, will not be released by U.S. Space Command,” it said in a statement on its website.

The Long March was the second deployment of the 5B variant since its maiden flight in May 2020. Last year, pieces from the first Long March 5B fell on Ivory Coast, damaging several buildings. No injuries were reported.

“Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, a former senator and astronaut who was picked for the role in March, said in a statement after the re-entry.

“It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris.”

ANXIETY OVER POTENTIAL DEBRIS ZONE

With most of the Earth’s surface covered by water, the odds of populated area on land being hit had been low, and the likelihood of injuries even lower, according to experts.

But uncertainty over the rocket’s orbital decay and China’s failure to issue stronger reassurances in the run-up to the re-entry fuelled anxiety.

“It is critical that China and all spacefaring nations and commercial entities act responsibly and transparently in space to ensure the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of outer space activities,” Nelson said.

Harvard-based astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told Reuters that the potential debris zone could have been as far north as New York, Madrid or Beijing, and as far south as southern Chile and Wellington, New Zealand.

Since large chunks of the NASA space station Skylab fell from orbit in July 1979 and landed in Australia, most countries have sought to avoid such uncontrolled re-entries through their spacecraft design, McDowell said.

“It makes the Chinese rocket designers look lazy that they didn’t address this,” said McDowell.

The Global Times, a Chinese tabloid, dismissed as “Western hype” concerns the rocket was “out of control” and could cause damage.

“It is common practice across the world for upper stages of rockets to burn up while reentering the atmosphere,” Wang Wenbin, a spokesman at China’s foreign ministry, said at a regular media briefing on May 7.

“To my knowledge, the upper stage of this rocket has been deactivated, which means most of its parts will burn up upon re-entry, making the likelihood of damage to aviation or ground facilities and activities extremely low,” Wang said at the time.

The rocket, which put into orbit an unmanned Tianhe module containing what will become living quarters for three crew on a permanent Chinese space station, will be followed by 10 more missions to complete the station by 2022.

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Huge chunk of Chinese rocket in free fall towards Earth, Beijing rules out fear of damage: Reports

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A huge segment of a Chinese rocket is in a free-fall towards Earth and could make an uncontrolled re-entry into the atmosphere over the weekend, even as Beijing downplayed the fear of damage, several reports suggested.

The 18-tonne main segment of the Long March-5B rocket, which launched the first module of China’s new space station into the Earth’s orbit on April 29, is now in a free fall.

Even as the experts did not say anything precisely about where and when it will re-enter the atmosphere, it is expected to be around 2300 GMT on Saturday (4.30 AM IST on May 9), according to Pentagon. They have kept a window of nine hours on either side.

Speaking in Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China was closely following the rocket’s re-entry into the atmosphere and that most of its components would be burned up upon re-entry. “The probability of this process causing harm on the ground is extremely low,” he said, a Reuters report mentioned.

Meanwhile, the United States was tracking the rocket segment, Pentagon said, according to a CNN report.

Though many experts fear that it is expected to fall in a populated area, an astronomer at Paris-PSL Observatory said the chances of debris landing on an inhabited zone are probably one in a million, news agency AFP reported.

The argument is that the debris of the rocket will fall into the ocean, given Earth is 70 percent water.

The debris from another Long March rocket fell on villages in the Ivory Coast last year, causing damages but no injuries or casualties.

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Space Tourism: Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin invites bids for a seat in its rocket

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Following six years of developing a space tourism rocket, Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin has announced that New Shepard — designed to carry up to six tourists per flight — will leave for its first commercial sub-orbital journey on July 20.

The company has invited bids for a seat in its New Shepard rocket. The winner of the auction will travel to space and proceeds will be donated to Club for the Future, a youth-focused foundation meant to inspire kids to study science and technology.

According to the company, New Shepard has flown 15 successful consecutive missions to space.

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How to get a seat in the New Shepard?

Blue Origin, the spaceflight services company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has announced that it will launch a five-week-long online auction where the highest bidder will get a seat in the New Shepard rocket and get a chance to travel to space. 

In the first space sortie of the New Shepard rocket, only one tourist seat has been kept open for the winner of the online auction. However, if the space trip goes on as planned, the New Shepard is likely to make more such trips, probably with more than one tourist.

In a tweet, Blue Origin said, “On July 20th, #NewShepard will fly its first astronaut crew to space. We are offering one seat on this first flight to the winning bidder of an online auction. Anyone can place an opening bid by going to http://BlueOrigin.com.”

On July 20th, #NewShepard will fly its first astronaut crew to space. We are offering one seat on this first flight to the winning bidder of an online auction. Anyone can place an opening bid by going to https://t.co/6DpTdTxo36. #GradatimFerociter pic.twitter.com/jBMFYX7xHg

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) May 5, 2021

How much would space travel cost?

The New Shepard rocket is sure to usher a new era in private commercial space travel; however, sub-orbital sorties are likely to remain in the reach of elites for some time now.

Although Blue Origin has not announced the charge for a seat in its New Shepard rocket, tickets are likely to be in the range of several thousand dollars.

According to Blue Origin, the auction will be held in three phases with the first leg continuing from May 5 to May 19. The bids are to be unsealed on May 19 and on June 12; Blue Origin will hold a live auction to decide the winner.

Who is the first space tourist?

US millionaire Dennis Tito became the world’s space tourist after he reached the International Space Station (ISS) on-board a Russian Soyuz rocket on April 30, 2001. He had to shell out $20 million to complete his childhood dream of a space sortie.

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Jeff Bezos sets July 20 date for Blue Origin’s first space tourism flight

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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It’s official. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will send its first crew to space on July 20. The company will be flying on its space tourism rocket named New Shepard. The passengers will include company personnel, astronauts, and one commercial passenger. The commercial passenger will be chosen after an online auction.

“On July 20th, #NewShepard will fly its first astronaut crew to space. We are offering one seat on this first flight to the winning bidder of an online auction. Anyone can place an opening bid by going to http://BlueOrigin.com. #GradatimFerociter,” Blue Origin tweeted.

Bezos’ space venture had announced last month about the public auction for the seat in the spacecraft. “It’s time. You can buy the very first seat on #NewShepard. Sign up to learn how at http://blueorigin.com. Details coming May 5th. #GradatimFerociter,” the post read.

It’s time. You can buy the very first seat on #NewShepard. Sign up to learn how at https://t.co/XNq9WALA7u. Details coming May 5th. #GradatimFerociter pic.twitter.com/K9jugCs9yz

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) April 29, 2021

A closed online auction will run until May 19 and bids are expected to reach $50,000. There will be a $10,000 deposit for higher bids. The company will also require additional identification information for the bid.  The funds raised will go to its foundation, which promotes science and technology education.

New Shepard’s flights will be sub-orbital. The shuttle is designed to take passengers on a straight up-and-down trip that goes above 100 km in altitude. The 100-km mark, also known as the Karman Line, has been designated by an international agreement as the starting point of space.

Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin’s director of astronaut sales, said, “Only 569 people have ever been over the Karman Line. With our New Shepard vehicle, we’re about to change that and change it dramatically.”

Blue Origin’s announcement is the latest update in space tourism. Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX is expected to launch SpaceX Dragonship in autumn with an all-civilian crew aboard. The Dragonship will go orbital and will stay up for several days.

New Shepard can carry six people on a ride past the edge of space, with the capsules on previous test flights reaching an altitude of more than 340,000 feet.

During the flight, the booster unit lifts the pressurised passenger vessel to 76 km, where the units then separate. Momentum then carries the capsule upwards into space before dropping back down to the ground with the aid of three parachutes. The booster also touches down in a controlled manner, making a propulsive landing on a designated concrete pad.

Blue Origin is hoping that the New Shepard experience will prove to be a big draw. The capsule has massive windows to give passengers a spectacular view, as they spend a few minutes in zero gravity before returning to Earth.

The company expects to earn around $200,000 per seat, at least initially. “This is a nascent market,” said Ariane Cornell. “We’re opening the doors and look forward to seeing what the market says.”

Blue Origin’s announcement was timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the first spaceflight made by an American astronaut — Alan Shepard, in whose honour the new vehicle is named.

Alan Shepard conducted a 15-minute sub-orbital flight in his Project Mercury Freedom-7 capsule on May 5, 1961. July 20, the date of the first flight, will also mark the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

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SpaceX launches, lands Starship in 1st successful flight

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SpaceX launched and successfully landed its futuristic Starship on Wednesday, finally nailing a test flight of the rocketship that Elon Musk intends to use to land astronauts on the moon and send people to Mars. The previous four test flights ended in fiery explosions before, during, or soon after touchdown at the southeastern tip of Texas, near Brownsville.

This latest upgraded version of SpaceX’s full-scale, stainless steel, bullet-shaped rocketship soared more than 6 miles (10 kilometers) over the Gulf of Mexico before flipping and descending horizontally, and then going vertical again just in time for touchdown.

Starbase Flight Control has confirmed, as you can see on the live video, we are down. The Starship has landed! announced launch commentator John Insprucker.

A fire at the base of the 160-foot (50-meter) rocket quickly was extinguished, and the rocket remained standing after the six-minute flight. Musk tweeted the landing was nominal by the book, in other words.

Success came on the 60th anniversary of the flight of the first American in space, Alan Shepard. And it capped a stunning two weeks of achievements for SpaceX: the launch of four more astronauts to the space station for NASA, the nation’s first nighttime crew splashdown since the Apollo moonshots, and a pair of launches for its mini internet satellites.

Less than a month ago, NASA chose SpaceX’s Starship to deliver astronauts to the lunar surface in the next few years. The USD 3 billion contract was halted last week, however, after the losing companies Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Dynetics protested the selection.

Musk said last month that the NASA money will help the development of Starship, which is meant to eventually launch atop a Super Heavy booster. He said it’s been a pretty expensive project so far and mostly funded internally. The first high-altitude test was in December.

As you can tell, if you’ve been watching the videos, we’ve blown up a few of them. So excitement guaranteed, one way or another, Musk told reporters after the private company’s second crew flight on April 23.

Long after Wednesday’s touchdown, Starship was still standing tall.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow