Also in news-of-the-future, China sets a lunar launch date of 2024.
Category: Space
Hawking Colonies.
“‘It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species,’ Hawking said. ‘Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.‘” Stephen Hawking makes the case for colonies in space. And Stephen Hawking is a very smart man (and, of course, not a bad MC.)
Great Eye in the Karoo.
The WP takes a gander at the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), which “can see 13 billion years back in time, nearly to the big bang. With its 10-by-11-foot hexagonal mirror — the largest of its type in the world — SALT concentrates the faintest, most distant light in the universe. If a candle were to flicker on the moon, SALT could detect it.“
Burning like a Silver Flame.
The European Space Agency releases the first new pics from their recent “Express” mission to Venus. The Venus Express probe entered Venusian orbit on Tuesday.
Pas de vingt-sept. / Yuri + 45.
A very happy belated birthday to my sister Gillian, who turned 27 yesterday. (We celebrated on Monday, but, as y’all might know, I haven’t posted here since then.) Update: Also, a very happy Yuri’s Night to you and yours — tonight is the 45th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first-ever trip into space, as well as the 25th anniversary of the first space shuttle mission. (By way of Blivet.)
Dust to Dust.
After discovering a disk of gas, dust, and rubble orbiting a pulsar, astronomers believe they’ve figured out how planets are made. “It shows that planet formation is really ubiquitous in the universe. It’s a very robust process and can happen in all sorts of unexpected environments.“
Cartography of Mars.
“‘The idea is to look at Mars and not think of it as a mysterious alien place,’ Christensen said.” Along the lines of Google Moon, one can now journey to Google Mars.
Nothing Ever Happens on Mars.
“I think that this mission will re-write the science books on Mars.” More happy space news following the discovery of water on Enceladus: NASA successfully pilots the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter into Martian orbit. “It was picture perfect. We could not have planned it any better.” (Phew…looks like everyone successfully converted to metric this time.)
Eye on Enceladus.
“All these worlds are yours, except Europa…oh, and Enceladus.” In very big news, NASA announces that Cassini has found water plumes on Enceladus, Saturn’s moon. “This finding has substantially broadened the range of environments in the solar system that might support living organisms, and it doesn’t get any more significant than that…I’d say we’ve just hit the ball right out of the park.” What’s more, “unlike Europa, which researchers believe harbors a vast ocean beneath kilometers of thick ice, Enceladus’ water may be just below the surface.”
Fore!
“Is this the right message to be sending to taxpayers in America, Russia, Europe and Japan — that it’s OK to do a stunt like this?” The Russian space agency weighs the financial pros and safety cons of an orbital chip shot from the ISS. “The golf shot is hardly the first commercial venture in space. The cash-strapped Russian space agency has taken three ‘space tourists’ to the orbiting laboratory for a reported $20 million apiece. An Israeli company, Tnuva Food Industries, paid the Russians $450,000 to show two cosmonauts drinking milk, and Pizza Hut paid $1 million to slap a logo on the side of a Proton rocket and have cosmonauts deliver a pizza to the space station. The Russians aren’t alone. Last year, the Japanese space agency arranged for the filming of an instant ramen noodle commercial on the space station.”