As humanity explores beyond our Earth we will need new systems to adapt to our life in space. We envisage colonies on the Moon and Mars and will need to plan new structures and what such buildings may look like. We may wish to easily transform satellites to respond to changes and build new structures in space that can easily adapt on command. Spaceoneers spoke with Pavlina Vardoulaki, who together with her team at the Design Research Laboratory at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London developed a self-assembly system that allows cubes to be reconstructed on demand. These “Hypercells” are dynamic and can respond to changes in their environment. Every cell can make its own decisions and has the ability to climb, roll and change its shape. A number of cells can come together without pre-defined instructions to form larger structures.

The iconic launch pads, Pads 39A and 39B at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39, have been the starting point for many space flights including the first manned lunar landing. The original design for Launch Complex 39 called for three to five launch pads, designated 39A – 39E, that would have been spaced approximately 1.6 miles apart to protect them from damage if any mishaps occurred at an adjacent pad. Also part of Launch Complex 39 is the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB. Towering more than 500 feet, it can be seen easily from miles away. The Launch Control Center, or LCC, where all the launch controllers, support personnel, and equipment required to safely launch a vehicle from either of the launch pads is also a part of the large complex.

So far, only the Russians have used balloons for planetary exploration. However, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has recently looked into designs that could be used for exploring Venus, Mars and Titan. This article covers the advantages and disadvanteges of using balloons for planetary exploration and explains some of the concepts NASA has been working on.

"Welcome back, baby!" - Those were Elon Musk's words after the successful landing of the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket. But what do these harmless sounding words really mean? Was there an actual human baby on board the rocket?

This past year has seen the space sector take some remarkably huge leaps forward. The NewSpace companies, by their focused approach to it, have redefined reusability, and brought it within reach of our technology. If you missed all the excitement, or seem unsure what it is all about, now might be the time to get up to speed and catch an early glimpse of the future, because it’s here. What remains to be seen is where we can go from here- the universe is on our doorstep.

Connecting everyone is an important step in the right direction, of course, but internet connectivity is only a small part of the problem. To make any kind of substantial impact here, one would need technology that can actually work, a way of delivering this technology effectively and efficiently, and a means of reaching all of the end users. What will be important is how this can play out – there is enough space in the market for different solutions at different stages of the connectivity graph to coexist. In a sense, there is a need to make this about the internet of people, rather than the internet of things.

Since times immemorial, there has been a huge hue and cry over the ostensibly large sums of money we spend on research and development in space technology with no apparent benefits to mankind. This, however, can’t be further away from the truth. We have seen, in the past five decades, that not only has the space industry itself grown in leaps and bounds, but it has also led to advancements in the vastly different fields of science that are associated with it.

Over the past few years, it has been becoming more and more difficult to not notice a promising upsurge in activities in the commercial space industry. The developments in the space sector seem to be experiencing a fundamental shift from heavy dependence on government agencies towards a more independent private sector with quite a few dominant players. Case in point, Elon Musk and the ground-breaking technologies developed by SpaceX or Richard Branson and the space tourism efforts of Virgin Galactic, are the front-runners of what is already being touted as the "Second Space Age". These names, among other developments in the commercial sector of the space industry, fit under the umbrella term of "NewSpace."