Asteroid 24 Themis as a Space Gas Station?

Image by FlyingSinger via Flickr

The discovery of water compounds on the asteroid 24Themis brought a possibility of having a space gas station for manned space flights. Water can easily be converted to hydrogen fuel through a simple electrolysis or can be purified to be used as drinking water for the astronauts.

Today's space mission carries a lot of supplies from the earth (i.e water) which makes the rocket payload much heavier. Having a water supply on or along the way to the destination will be a big reduction on the weight of the space craft and the power requirement of the rocket that will carry it.

The challenge though lies in the fact that the gravity on 24 Themis is far less than that of the Earth. It will be a real challenge on how extract water from the lonely asteroid.

Read the full story on the link below.
Yahoo News-24 Themis

NASA to Partner with Commercial Firms in Developing Space Technology

Image via Wikipedia

Consistent with the goal of President Barack Obama to further the commercialization of human space flight, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected several commercial companies to help them develop space flight technology.

NASA awarded a total of $50 Million through funded agreements to the following companies.

Blue Origin of Kent, Washington

The Boeing Company of Houston

Paragon Space Development Corporation of Tucson, Arizona

Sierra Nevada Corporation of Louisville, Colorado

United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado

Will this further boost the technological capability of humans to fly to space? Or will this be the final demise to the decreasing popularity of space programs?

The full story is available in the link below.

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=9111