Fastest Spacecraft

According to NASA, the fastest spacecraft ever made is the Parker solar probe going very close around the sun on a highly elliptical orbit. It is traveling 430,000 miles per hour, over a million kilometres per hour. There is a shield on it made of carbon foam that is stopping the  spacecraft from melting in the sun's intense heat, but it is very close to the star. 

~Image generated by artificial intelligence (chatGPT). 

If you go within 4 million miles of the sun's surface, you need to be moving fast to achieve orbit. Otherwise the intense gravity of the sun you pull you down. The speed is to stop the probe cascading down to the surface of the sun. 

Too Fast

One of the reasons why NASA don't send probes to land on the surface of Mercury is because the planet is moving too fast. Mercury is traveling at 48 kilometres per second. It is the fastest moving planet in the solar system. The closer you are to the sun the faster you have to move to stop yourself cascading into the star. It is very hard to get probes to travel at close to 48 kilometres per second

image generated by artificial intelligence (chatGPT) 

Earth is traveling slower than mercury but it is still moving fast, 30 kilometres per second. It is possible to meet the planet in it's path but the sun's gravity would interfere in the rendezvous. Mercury is 3 times closer to the sun than Earth although it has a highly elliptical orbit and can be as far as 70 million kilometres from the sun. 

Sources : 

Book: The Planets by Professor Brian Cox

Website: https://science.nasa.gov/mercury/

Website: Wikipedia

Astronomical Unit

The distance between the Earth and the sun is used as a measurement of large distances of space. The earth is roughly 150 million km from sun on average, that distance  is called an astronomical Unit, AU. They did it this way to reduce the size of the numbers that represent the distances so humans can begin to imagine the scale of the solar system and deep space. 

image created by artificial intelligence (chatGPT) 

Distances from the sun 

Earth is 1 AU astronomical Unit (150 million km) 

Mercury is about ⅓ of an AU. 

Venus is 0.72 AU. 

Mars is 1.5 AU, about 50% further than Earth. 

Jupiter is 5.2 AU, 5.2 times further from the sun than Earth.

Saturn is 9.4 AU, nearly 10 times further from the sun than Earth. 

Uranus is 19.22 AU . 

Neptune is 30.06 AU, nearly twice as far from the sun as Uranus, that is why you need a telescope to see it. 

Pluto is 39.53 AU 

Sources 

Nasa Website: https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/

Book: The Planets By Professor Brian Cox, ISBN 9780007488841

Privatisation of Space

NASA has been privatising space travel, they have been reaching out to private companies to make spaceships for them. 

They have so far given out two contracts, one to SpaceX and one to Boeing. The two companies make space vehicles that bring astronauts to the international space station. 

They believe that private companies would deliver space vehicles more efficiently and with a smaller budget. 

Recently the Boeing Star liner space capsule has had some serious faults and has been forced to return to earth without the astronauts. 

Thin Air

According to astronaut 'Tim Peake', the air quality on the international space station is the same as Earth at sea level. 

Image generated by artificial intelligence (wonder) 

However on commercial airlines the air is usually pressurised to 1,830 - 2,400 meters. The air on a plane is akin to the air on the top of a small mountain, thin and dry.  The air on the international space station is better than the air on an airplane. 

Source : Ask an Astronaut by Tim Peake, ISBN : 978 -1 - 784 - 75948 - 3

Space Sickness

Living for long periods of time in space can cause a range of illnesses. One such illness is Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome. The sickness is caused by fluids flowing into the head because the lower portion of your body forces blood upward. 

Image generated by AI. 

NASA was recently experimenting with cuff clothing you wear to help put pressure on your body and decrease the sickness. 

Source NASA.gov

Dizzy Facts

You don't have five senses, you have more than that. You can sense the direction of gravity. The organ that senses the direction of gravity (what way is up or down) is called vestibular system, it can be found deep in your ears.

Image generated by artificial intelligence (wonder AI) 

JellyFish have a similar system, if one is born in a  micro gravity environment, they become dizzy after  they're brought back to earth. The sudden introduction of gravity causes them to get vertigo. 

Source : 'Can You Get Jellyfish in Space' by Dr Sheila Kanani, ISBN 978-0-241-66983-9