Quick Facts
- The rocket that won the X-Prize for launching astronauts "into space", would need 25x more energy to launch the same astronauts into orbit, or 50x more to get the astronauts to the Moon.
- Spy satellites can not read license plates. To work well, a satellite must fly low, and that limits its observation time to about one minute per day for any one location on the Earth.
- To re-enter, a shuttle must lose its energy of motion. If that energy is accidentally transferred to heat the shuttle, then the temperature of the shuttle will rise to 140,000 degrees F, over ten times hotter than the surface of the sun.
- Stealth, used in military planes and even ships, is based primarily on the mirror effect. Hiding from radar with stealth is like hiding in a hall of mirrors.
Read an Excerpt >> Must We Put Humans in Space?
Few jobs are more dangerous than that of an astronaut (the most dangerous job in the United States is the presidency - future presidents, take note). What role do robots have in space?
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