Hi Pluto!

New Horizons is a success!  Today's flyby is an amazing accomplishment.  It's hard to believe that we finally know what Pluto looks like in great detail.  As a kid, I loved looking at images of the solar system, but I was frustrated by the fact that our best images of Pluto were so blurry.

That's not a problem anymore!

Say hi!

(NASA)

Billions of miles traveled.  9 years have passed since New Horizons loaunched, and it took many years of planning to even get to that point.  Congratulations to the people who made it possible!

Orion Embarks on First Test Flight

For those of you who haven't yet had a chance to see it, here's the video of Orion launching into space for its first test flight. 

I hope NASA keeps going and follows through with their plans to eventually land human beings on Mars.  

I know budget concerns can always be problematic, so we'll see.

Wanderers: A Short Film

I don't know what else to say.  This is amazing and inspiring.  I hope we find a way to make this future a reality sometime soon.


Wanderers - a short film by Erik Wernquist from Erik Wernquist on Vimeo.

Landing on a Comet: A Love Song

For those of you who somehow haven't heard the news, a man made space craft has landed on a comet for the first time.  Hello 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko!

The Rosetta mission has been in the works for a long time.  This mission was approved in 1993, and the craft itself was launched in 2004.  You can see a timeline of the mission HERE.  This is an amazing moment, not only for the ESA, but for humanity as a whole.  Let's celebrate!




You can also hear the comet "sing" to you!  Apparently the sound is caused by weak oscillations in 67P's magnetic field.  You can find a more in-depth explanation for this HERE.  Keep in mind, we wouldn't normally be able to hear these sounds.  The frequency has been increased by a fair bit (about 10,000 times) to make your enjoyment possible.




A big congratulations and thank you to all the scientists who made this achievement possible!

C is for Colonization

One of the most common themes present in science fiction is colonization.  Even if the process of colonization is not present in a story, you often see humans living on alien worlds, or living on ships and exploring the cosmos.  This exploration/colonization is an undeniable part of our history.  Explorers have always pushed the boundaries of the known world, seeking out the unknown.  Though the exploration of space comes with expenses and challenges different from what has come before, there seems little reason to assume that we will not one day set forth and colonize other worlds.

Movies like Wall-E show humans leaving Earth due to severe pollution making the environment inhospitable to life.  Other scenarios show us spreading out due to overpopulation concerns.  The environment can, after all, sustain a certain number of human beings before we lose the ability to produce enough food to feed us all.  Some scientists estimate that maximum capacity to be about 10 billion people.

How do we go about the colonization process?  Terraforming is the process by which humans make uninhabitable worlds suitable for human needs, and is frequently used in sci-fi, though some scientists question whether such a project would be practical.  Sometimes humans simply look for worlds that are already suited to our biology, though those worlds may have their own life forms that would protest our plans.  We also see artificial environments such as biodomes set up on planets like Mars, or humans living on space stations.

Image courtesy of Shadow-Trance/
DeviantArt

Each method of colonization comes with its own concerns.  Regardless of whether it is practical to alter the environment of another planet, would it be ethical to do so?  If we colonize another world with other living creatures, how will our presence impact them?  What kind of responsibility would we have for those other life forms?  Do you think we really are destined to move between the stars, or will we allow concerns about money or a lack of ambition to keep us on the ground?

Video: Let's Go to Space!

The human species is full of differences, and those differences often lead to conflict.  Yet we all share a common interest in creating a better future for us all.  I've always believed that a crucial part of creating that future is venturing into space.

When I saw this video, I knew I had to share it.  It captures my feelings on the subject perfectly.  We may be different from one another in many ways, but our shared sense of curiosity and wonder, our shared humanity, must eventually lead us to the stars.  At least, I hope that's the case.

Sir Patrick Stewart as Jade Rabbit

Though I know plenty of people have already seen this, I just had to share it here.  Sir Patrick Stewart gives an awesome performance as the lunar rover known as Jade Rabbit.  Poor broken rover.

The Daily Show
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N is for NASA

NASA was founded in 1958, the year after the Russians put Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, into orbit around the Earth.  The space race was on, and the hard work and dedication of those working for NASA took America into space.  That's something worth celebrating.

You can also find more information on the NASA's founding HERE.

L is for Lagrange Points

Lagrange points are great for astronomy.  These points in space give us a nice, stable spot to keep telescopes and things.  However, I don't feel like I can give a proper description of what Lagrange points are.  I'll let Phil Plait, also known as The Bad Astronomer, explain what they are and why they're important.

An Interview With Neil deGrasse Tyson

I love interviews with Neil deGrasse Tyson.  His enthusiasm is infectious.  That's why I wanted to share this interview with all of you.  There is a total of three parts, but it's worth the time to watch.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Asteroids and Meteors, Oh My!

I support the space program, and I always have for many reasons.  The dangers posed by asteroids and other cosmic objects are as good a reason as any to consider the future of the space program and how dependent we are on this planet of ours.  

People complain that the space program is a waste of money.  I say that if we want to ensure the continuation of our species, this isn't an issue we can afford to ignore.  We can't afford not to invest time, money, and intellect in space.

A Flight Through the Universe

Mars Curiosity Landing in HD

Here's a great video of a truly awesome moment.  These things are proof that it's great to be a nerd!

Legos: Not Just For Kids

As a kid, I saw Legos as neat toys that were fun to play with.  Now as an adult, I'm realizing that they can do just about anything!

They can be used to repair a wall.

Taken from HERE.

They can be used to recreate a scene from a movie.

Taken from HERE.

They can even go into space!

Taken from HERE.

Seriously!  How cool can a bunch of little chunks of colored plastic be?  Too cool to express.  Simply too cool.

3D Dreams

When I first heard about this, I thought I had to be dreaming.  Oh the beauty of it all.

There are more videos on You Tube demonstrating this capability. Perhaps it isn't practical technology, but having seen some of the other 3D printers out there, I'm encouraged by the sophistication of technology. Who knows where it might go from here? Here's an example of the practical applications of 3D printing (not in chocolate though).  The implications for the space program alone are enormous.te


 

Apollo 11-A Piece of History

Have any of you ever thought it would be cool to look at the rocket engines that blasted Apollo 11 into space? It was, after all, the historic mission that culminated in man setting foot on the moon for the first time.  And anything powerful enough to put a Saturn V into orbit is pretty darn impressive.

Well, you may get the chance to see such a thing.  The founder of Amazon.com Jeff Bezos located the five engines 14,000 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean and plans to retrieve at least one of them.

I hope the effort succeeds, because that's something I'd like to see.  After that I'd like to see us land on the moon again and send people to Mars, but I'm not holding my breath for that one.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Inspires Me

Okay, I've always been into this stuff, but when I hear him speak about space and our need to explore further, I get excited all over again.  Now, yes, he played a role in Pluto's demotion.  To learn more about that, watch The Pluto Files.  Yet, as much as I love Pluto, I've come to forgive him for that.  Pluto may no longer be considered a planet, but it's still cool.

Now, I found these videos inspiring, so I figured I'd share them.  After watching these, I can't help but feel that exploring the universe is an inextricable part of who we are.









I'm still dreaming. Hopefully you are too.

Anyone Got Some Sunglasses?

This is cool.  In the effort to confirm whether extrasolar harbor extraterrestrial life, scientists need to be able to look directly at the planet itself.  Of course, the light of the parent planet inevitably creates a viewing problem as it drowns out the image.  Now scientists are playing with an idea originally conceived in the '60's by Lyman Spitzer.  They want to build a spaceshade that would be positioned out ahead of the telescope so it could filter out the interfering light.

Now, before anyone offers NASA their used sunglasses so they can save money, it isn't that simple.  The shade needs to be very specifically shaped to avoid the other problem of sunlight bending around the shade to screw up the image.  In short, we're hoping to build a giant sunflower in space.  Wow, that sounds even cooler here than it did in my head.

Scientists are also entertaining other ideas to combat the problem, including coordinating multiple telescopes to cancel out the light or techno-babbly add-ons for future telescopes.

I hope they get this figured out soon, because I really can't wait to see where the aliens might be.

Star Trek Tribute

I found myself in a Star Trek mood, which is quite the common occurrence for me. I found this beautiful 40th anniversary tribute on You Tube and just had to share it here. Wow, I hope we get our space program going again. We need to explore out there. And I hear plenty of people complaining that it costs too much, yada yada. So many people don't realize how much we get back from it. There's just no pleasing some people. But to my fellow nerds, hopefully this video might prove enjoyable. Maybe I should really learn video editing so I can make videos like this myself. I've just never found the time to really work at it. Does that mean I'm not a real geek? I sincerely hope not.