3 minute read - What's in a name? More than you might think. KMI's first spacecraft needed a title that not only symbolized its mission but also paid homage to the myths of old. After much debate, we landed on "Laelaps"—a name rooted in Greek legend. But what does a mythic hound, destined to catch everything it chases, have to do with space?
5 minute read - When it comes to sending hardware to space, it’s no easy task - but incredible things are possible when passionate minds join forces. With KMI's first space-bound hardware now aboard the ISS, Austin Morris shares the journey of REACCH. From early concepts to our launch success, dive into the story of resilience, ingenuity, and teamwork behind this monumental step of KMI #KeepingSpaceClearForAll.
5 minute read - How can nature's ingenuity revolutionize technology? From the archerfish's precision aim to the self-cleaning properties of lotus leaves, nature's designs are incredibly efficient and effective. Biomimicry harnesses these natural marvels to solve human problems in innovative, sustainable ways. Discover how bio-inspired locomotion, structure, grasping, sensing, and even the creation of living machines are shaping a sustainable future.
5 minute read - Adam Kall further explores fusion: the often-described future of energy and the key to unlocking the utopian Star Trek existence of a post-scarcity economy. Ideals of fusion energy have continued to run into issues of reality, and there may be a new form of energy generation based on the same principles but far more appropriate for creating a future of abundance.
8 minute read - Among the ways to power a spacecraft, nuclear power is often brought up as a long-lasting source of energy for a mission - although it is not being used in KMI’s missions. In today’s column Adam Kall walks through how power is actually made from nuclear fission and goes over the good and bad when it comes to nuclear power generation here on Earth.
5 minute read - A well-made chart can be an amazing way to convey a lot of information and associations in a short amount of time and a small amount of space. With the multifaceted aspects of orbital debris, KMI often uses charts to demonstrate massive amounts of information. The issue is in the abundance of very poorly made charts, which at best don’t convey much usable information and at worst purposefully mislead. Many articles have been written that go over examples of bad charts and why they are bad, but in this column, Adam Kall, Director of Technology, focuses on explaining ways to make charts more useful.
4.5 minute read - The current way humanity gets into space is highly expensive, and even worse, not great at bringing things back. Discussions about a space industry have an often unspoken clause, that if we do achieve orbital manufacturing or asteroid mining, it would be expensive and difficult to get those goods back to Earth for use by the average person or industry. The main problem is that it takes a lot of speed to get into Earth orbit, plus a lot more to go farther, and you need to slow down a lot before returning to Earth if you don’t want to end up as barbeque. However, there is an exciting exploit of the universe that may help us change this whole dynamic, and really start to connect the people and industries of Earth with the rest of the solar system, known as the skyhook.
6 minute read - In previous columns, we have discussed some common misconceptions regarding orbit, notably the concept that achieving orbit is difficult not because it involves a lot of vertical velocity, but because it involves a lot of horizontal velocity. Specifically, achieving orbit typically takes something like 30 times more energy applied horizontally than vertically. This is an important dichotomy to realize for numerous reasons.
6 minute read - “Space is for everybody. It’s not just for a few people in science or math, or for a select group of astronauts.” Christa McAuliffe, American educator and astronaut aboard the ill-fated Challenger. In her time moving from the front of the classroom to the forefront of scientific endeavor, Ms. McAuliffe demonstrated an eager appetite for all that space could offer. Her spirit has been shared by many in the field, offering insight into how space works, sharing awe-inspiring images of the cosmos, and even opening up the engineered innovations of aerospace to the greater public.
4 minute read - While working on the long mission of preventing massive orbital disasters, with components moving at 7,500 m/s, considering time is a common occurrence. There are a few things in life that bring the human experience to move at incredible speeds, yet leave us feeling incredibly still. The list of these unique experiences may be longer than will be discussed here, but three of the most different examples are of varying frequency in an average lifetime: falling in love, falling from this mortal coil, and free-falling through the atmosphere (not even at re-entry speeds).
