United Nations Will Launch Its First Space Mission

First Posted: Oct 03, 2016 04:06 AM EDT
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United Nations recently announced that they are planning to their launch their first ever space mission. Included in this plan is to invite other countries that cannot afford a trip to orbit the space.

This idea of the United Nations is to launch the "Dream Chaser," a reusable spacecraft with the size of a regional jet that can land on an ordinary airport. Inside it, there will be 20 to 25 laboratory stations that will allow countries to conduct an experiment in microgravity. Their target date will be in 2021 and the first run will be a 14-day flight in low Earth orbit. UN members can apply to participate, especially the developing countries, according to Futurism.

Together with the Sierra Nevada Corporation, manufacturer of the Dream Chaser, UN will discuss about their plan at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico this week. This partnership aims to give a chance to other countries to explore space.

The head of Sierra Nevada Corporation space division, Mark Sirangelo, said that "the main goal is to reach out to communities and to countries and to young people around the world who may never have had the opportunity to do something in space." He added that countries do not have to purchase a single mission, instead they could be part of the collaboration with other countries abroad, reports KPCC.

Meanwhile, UN's Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is also planning to give technical support to other countries that have not experienced any microgravity experiments yet. The chief of UNOOSA's Space Applications Section, Luc St-Pierre, shared that "It's not only the experiment itself, it's the whole preparation, the training, the courses that are necessary to be developed with the students.

The funding is still a major concern. But Sirangelo shared that the collaborations will look for sponsors and each country will pay an experiment fee for them to go to space. Thus, their target is to get a low manageable number so that everybody has a chance to participate. In line with this, one of the UNOOSA's advocacies is to promote a peaceful use of outer space, but until now it does not launch a mission itself.

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