Food, urine, and feces as radiation shield for Mars mission

David Pescovitz 9:54 am Tue Mar 5, 2013

The Inspiration Mars team planning to send a couple on a fly-by mission to Mars in 2018 have an idea of how to protect the astronauts from cosmic rays on the long journey: pack the walls of the spaceship with food, shit, and piss. "Dehydrate (the human waste) as much as possible, because we need to get the water back," team member Taber MacCallum told New Scientist. "Those solid waste products get put into a bag, put right back against the wall… (Also,) food is going to be stored all around the walls of the spacecraft, because food is good radiation shielding." The food he adds, would block the cosmic rays but wouldn't become radioactive itself.

Beautiful time-lapse video of the longest partial lunar eclipse in 600 years

Early Friday morning, the Moon moved through the Earth's shadow to create the longest lunar eclipse in almost 600 years. During this near-total eclipse, 97% of the Moon went dark. The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles captured the three and a half hour event and sped it up into the lovely one minute video above. READ THE REST
Earth's "second moon" isn't quite that, but it's likely a chunk of our Moon

Kamoʻoalewa, "wobbling celestial object" in Hawaiian, is the name of a 165-foot rock that swings around the Earth on the reg, sometimes just 9 million miles from us. It's easy to think of Kamoʻoalewa as a second moon but there's one big difference: Our Moon orbits the Earth, but even though Kamoʻoalewa gets (kinda) close… READ THE REST
Astronauts ate space tacos on the ISS with green chiles they grew onboard

Even though it wasn't Taco Tuesday, last Friday the astronauts orbiting Earth in the International Space Station made tacos spiced up with green chiles grown in space. From NPR: Astronaut Megan McArthur shared photos of what she called her "best space tacos yet," which were made using fajita beef, rehydrated tomatoes and artichokes, and the hatch chile… READ THE REST
33 Black Friday deals that fit perfectly in your budget

We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. The holidays are supposed to be a joyous time, but with the ever-growing gift list you've got going, it's easy to feel more stressed than ever. Lucky for you, here's a… READ THE REST
This Black Friday, gift yourself a new skill with Doorbuster deals on e-learning courses

We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. Every year on Black Friday, we see incredible deals in every industry. TVs, appliances, toys, even vehicles. This roundup concerns a different Doorbuster story: skills. Each of the 20 items on… READ THE REST
Take advantage of huge Black Friday discounts on these apps and software deals

We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. Black Friday is here, and it's time to take advantage of the deals of the year. Whether you're using this unofficial holiday to get a head start on your holiday gift… READ THE REST