Archive for 'Space'
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch – success!
Update on previous post: The SpaceX company of Elon Musk launched its Falcon 9 into orbit for the first time today – this is one of the private spacecraft that NASA is counting on for future access to space. After one aborted launch attempt that shut down automatically when telemetry readings were not correct, a [...]
Full StorySpaceX Launch of Falcon 9 today – watch it
The SpaceX company of Elon Musk is scheduled to launch its Falcon 9 for the first time today – this is one of the private spacecraft that NASA is counting on for future access to space. Live launch video feed is available right now. Watch if you can…
Full StoryOur Future In Space
I grew up in space. Not literally, obviously, but in my sense of future possibilities. When Colliers and other magazines in the 1950’s featured the Von Braun space station on their covers – the great wheel in space that became an iconic image – this locked in for me a life-long interest in space exploration. [...]
Full StoryMoving to next solar system
An enduring image in space-based science fiction, and an enduring question in science is whether there are other inhabitable solar systems, with earth-like planets. Now there is tantalizing evidence of such a possibility, in a solar system just 10 light years from Earth. This system, Epsilon Eridani, has two asteroid belts that observations suggest are [...]
Full StorySpaceX Successful Launch to Earth Orbit
We all would like some good news about the future. Here is some. One of the most impressive people I have met is Elon Musk, whom I have seen at Future In Review conferences. He was founder of PayPal as well as Zip2 Corporation, and after selling them poured his efforts and money into two [...]
Full StoryWelcome news…from Mars
Amid all the turmoil on the home planet, it is nice to know that we continue to learn about the history of, and potential future habitability of Mars. For example, this recent announcement from NASA of further evidence for the presence of water, and the rather amazing observation of snow falling in the Martian atmosphere. [...]
Full StoryOur Future on Mars
As a child of the original space age, I’ve been hoping that a human mission to Mars will happen within my lifetime. While this is still a long shot, two recent developments suggest that the possibility is improving. First, the several successful NASA missions to Mars have culminated with the confirmation of water ice by [...]
Full Story0 Carbon Future – Now is the time
Ok, now Al Gore has gone and done it. This speech calling for a 10-year program to shift the entire U.S. electricity production to “0-carbon” via solar, wind, and geothermal is magnificent. It is the embodiment of what “bold vision,” “big hairy audacious goals,” and the “one thing” that changes everything are all about. Can [...]
Full StoryFollow-up to Global Warming vs. Space Race
Synchronicity, or maybe just the luck of a vague clue about the issues, strikes today. I posted yesterday about a coming budget tension between space (defense, weapons, and exploration) and climate change mitigation. Well, today, Wired is displaying an article headlined: Bush Budget Funds NASA, Cuts EPA, by Luke O’Brien. The article suggests that we [...]
Full StoryThe Tension Between Global Warming and the Space Program
There has always been tension between space exploration and everything else. Expect that tension to become visible again soon. The fiscal drain of the Iraq war will be set against two needs with far greater long-term impact on our future than the war. First, there will be more demand for funding for climate change mitigation. [...]
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