The most important space issue that must be solved in space exploration

[serhiy1635]

What are the most important issues we have now in the space exploration area? As we can see now space explorations are developing very rapidly and by doing this, it causes a lot of issues to solve. Humans have a lot of stuff to figure out to get closer to a particular purpose and which one do you consider is the most important and must be solved first?

 

[Wolfshadw]

In my opinion, I think the biggest issue that needs to be resolved is long-tern survival in space. That means testing of artificial gravity and radiation protection.

-Wolf sends

 

[serhiy1635]

In my opinion, I think the biggest issue that needs to be resolved is long-tern survival in space. That means testing of artificial gravity and radiation protection.

-Wolf sends

Yeah, you are right. It would increase the possibility of some long crewed space journeys and make space exploration campaign easier

 

[Clovis]

Only one thing we can currently do for artificial gravity and it's been brought up here several times. And it isn't magnetic boots which would never work anyway. That concept has been abandoned years ago. Even in SciFi. Sufficient food and water would be another obstacle.

 

[Clovis]

And what about a mission that's very long term? 20 years one way locked in a space ship would drive anyone crazy. Cryogenic or some other form of suspended animation ,hibernation has been put on the table as an IF.

 

[Clovis]

But, we are getting much more advanced and smarter along the way.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Only one thing we can currently do for artificial gravity and it's been brought up here several times.

It's not cost effective to send up a rotating space station only to find out your astronauts suffer from un-ending nausea.

And it isn't magnetic boots which would never work anyway. That concept has been abandoned years ago. Even in SciFi.

No one mentioned anything about "magnetic boots". They wouldn't do anything to offset the adverse effects of zero-G. As for Sci-Fi, they are still used in The Expanse (2015 - Present), but again, not as a solution to zero-G.

Sufficient food and water would be another obstacle.

True, but what is the point of sufficient food and water if no one is alive to consume it?

And what about a mission that's very long term? 20 years one way locked in a space ship would drive anyone crazy. Cryogenic or some other form of suspended animation ,hibernation has been put on the table as an IF.

Cryogenics isn't an option. Unless we're talking sperm and eggs, our bodies would never survive the process (thermal inertia). Topor-induced hibernation (a.k.a suspended animation) is still in it's infancy and we're having problems duplicating successes.

But, we are getting much more advanced and smarter along the way.

Absolutely!

-Wolf sends

 

[Clovis]

It's all only speculation anyway. We never know what might be just around the bend. I only mentioned the boots, because a lot of people still think that's what it will be. I still remember a Star Trek episode where people were using them. You mention centrifugal and they just look at you funny lol.

 

[Clovis]

It's not cost effective to send up a rotating space station only to find out your astronauts suffer from un-ending nausea.

Not if it's done right. Think of it like a carnival ride that spins in circles.
Some people barf and some people don't. Weightlessness causes some people to puke also. I'm one who would barf. What about the training, the G -centrifuge would detect that also. That's one of the reasons they do that.

 

[Clovis]

If it effects you like that they won't send you up. But, it's been found to be an acclamation process in many test subjects. It's vertigo nothing more.
There are nonnarcotic drugs for dealing with that. Ive used them before and they work.

 

[Slarty1080]

IMO the thing that is now needed is the development of a fully reusable spacecraft to greatly reduce the cost of getting into orbit. If we continue throwing tens of millions of dollars of precision engineering hardware into the Atlantic ocean at every launch its going to act as a serious obstacle to further development.

 

[Clovis]

Fear of heights is also in that category. It's a phobia, more mental than anything else.

 

[serhiy1635]

I wanna say that one of the biggest issues in the space exploration area is space debris. I have already touched this issue in another thread on this forum. A lot of space projects are about to be launched soon in order to clean the Earth`s orbit from space debris. On the website of space news 2021 I found another ``cleaning`` space mission which is called ‘The Claw’ and it`s gonna be launched in 2025

 

[serhiy1635]

The big number of space junk can damage expensive spacecrafts The growing number of space items can lead to the state where he object density is so high that one collision is enough to generate a cascade effect, leading to further collisions.

 

[Clovis]

The big number of space junk can damage expensive spacecrafts The growing number of space items can lead to the state where he object density is so high that one collision is enough to generate a cascade effect, leading to further collisions.

And they are wanting to put a lot more satellites up there. And replacing some that no longer work. Been up there since the 1960s and 1970s.

 

[serhiy1635]

The usage of satellite technology is vital for us in the modern world. So we cannot just stop sending it. Unfortunately, microsatellites do no have a long lifespan, as a result, they increase the number of space debris

 

[serhiy1635]

Interesting fact Musk recently said that Starlink microsatellites will be able to lead themself in the atmosphere of Earth to burn down there and not to increase the number of space junk

 

[Misha Marchuk]

I think now there are a lot of tasks in space, but with some people should start working now or in the near future. These are tasks such as: 1) This is to increase the range and duration of space travel 2) Remove orbital debris near the earth and not only, and make it as small as possible in the future (Mr. Musk hello), 3) Increase the duration of stay and human survival in space. This is one of the main tasks, and everything cannot be counted.

 

[Slarty1080]

Interesting fact Musk recently said that Starlink microsatellites will be able to lead themself in the atmosphere of Earth to burn down there and not to increase the number of space junk

Yes this is true. Starlink satellites can be commanded to undergo propulsion-assisted orbital decay to help prevent the buildup of space debris. Even without this once their propellent is exhausted they will re-enter within a few years anyway as they are in relatively low orbits.
https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/starlink-deorbit-1

All Starlink satellites (except the first 75) have been designed to burn up completely in the atmosphere so should not pose a hazard on Earth regardless of the location of Earth re-entry.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk...arlink-satellites-to-eliminate-casualty-risks

 

[Catastrophe]

The most important space issue that must be solved in space exploration

Send robots first.

Cat

 

[serhiy1635]

Some more information about space junk. 1. Space junk, which is the issue for the Earth ecology as well as the space exploration and observation. It tells us some promising steps of high-level collaboration. 2. Effectiveness for Mars and the Moon exploration and at least exploration stations there for a short term human presence. 3. Asteroids collision monitoring and prevention. Detection has a lot of potential to move forward. In this case 1, 2 and 4 also count. 4.Effectiveness of near-earth orbit exploitation (e. g. surveillance, internet provision to far places), inter-satellite coordination (e. g., Machine Learning implementation.

 

[Catastrophe]

Certainly space junk is a problem demanding attention. How can you make those responsible for putting it there, also responsible for 'removing' it when it has fulfilled its purpose? Could it be restricted to certain latitudes, so that space traffic could come and go safely at other latitudes?

Cat

 

[Lariliss]

Looks like, the orbit is so overcrowded with junk, that it is the nearest orbit to start with cleaning:
1. Make working services safe.
2. Make any further launch safe.

Having that, the place is already not safe if everybody fully stop any launches. Occasionally existing satellites or debris collide (can anyone tell what progression of collision probability is, with 22 000 pieces there?).

ESA announced robot-junk-remover test launch till 2025.
Would this announcement to bring activity increase in this field.
Hopefully, till that time there will be more consolidation between racing countries, and test launches will not bring more danger, but more supervision launches.

Several different engineering ideas on how to catch the junk in space, presented by different countries/companies.

 

[Pogo]

We don’t even clean up after ourselves here. How many commercial buildings are just abandoned when businesses move or close up with no mechanism for removal (housing, too). We just leave them as someone else’s problem. And how much junk have we left on the moon and Mars? I guess they’ll be museum pieces when we finally do get there.

 

[Lariliss]

We don’t even clean up after ourselves here. How many commercial buildings are just abandoned when businesses move or close up with no mechanism for removal (housing, too). We just leave them as someone else’s problem. And how much junk have we left on the moon and Mars? I guess they’ll be museum pieces when we finally do get there.

And even after passing thousands of years,
we will be known by space junks, candy wrappers
and the music of spheres.