space

Space: The Final Frontier. Exploring space developments and theorizing about how humans fit into the universe.

Summer Space Reading List: The Interstellar Age
The 1960s and 70s were inspirational times for young nerds, like me. Hard science fiction from Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle drove my passion for an exciting human future in space. Isaac Asimov’s prolific output of science essays and books grounded that passion. Real world space exploits by NASA operationalized it. America’s national space agency seemed to be everywhere at once during that period; going to moon, building an orbital space plane, and exploring the solar system from Mercury to Neptune! Three NASA programs strongly influenced my personal goal to eventually to secure a career in the space world: the Apollo Moon landings, the Viking Mars landing, and the exploration of the outer solar system by the Voyager probes. The two Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977, were particularly influential to me because their missions occurred when I was a teenager, that important time in one’s life when you are young enough to be amazed by technology but finally educated enough to grasp some of the science behind it. I wasn’t the only one captivated by these robots. The Voyagers were immortalized in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a film that required me to ditch a day of high school and wait in line for eight hours in order catch the first showing. While I was pleased to see the Star Trek future included funding for six Voyager missions (alas, there were only the two), it was less heartening to see one them going postal; V’Ger returns from interstellar space to threaten the Earth with a destructively high-powered delivery of its research findings. On a more positive note, real Voyager images also inspired the flyby sequences of Jupiter and Saturn in the original opening sequence of the Star Trek: Next Generation TV series. Of course, most of the Voyager excitement occurred back in the 80s when I was busy being an entrepreneur in the software, computer, and networking space. I didn’t have direct access to the cool kids from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, like I do now. I eagerly followed the Voyager flybys of Jupiter (1979), Saturn (1981), Uranus (1986), and Neptune (1989) in newspaper and magazine stories (sigh, no Internet kids). It was Jim Bell’s description, over a recent dinner with colleagues, of the challenges he had in recording the audio version of The Interstellar Age that reminded me of my love for those missions and prompted me to take up the audio version of his 2015 book. I’m a fan of many excellent voice actors who do audiobook narrations. I particularly love Wil Wheaton’s narration of modern Sci Fi classics. However, when an author does the reading of his or her own work, the result can be fantastic, and I was not disappointed here. With The Interstellar Age on audio, I know the pronunciations are precise, as in not saying “probing Uranus” as gleefully as the proverbial twelve-year-old. A good, author-read audiobook can also conveys subtle humor from text to the listener. My favorite humorous anecdote appears when Jim discusses the “grand adjectives of exploration.” These are the words like “plucky”, “intrepid,” or “courageous” which are often applied to our favorite space robots by the media. Of course, the Voyagers are simply doing what they were built to do so long ago and executing the code that we send to them. They are unaware of the frightening risks they face, a given requirement for sentient beings who aspire to be plucky, intrepid, or courageous! However, this harsh reality doesn’t stop us science fanboys from loving metallic space critters, so Jim must set us straight with the advice of Voyager Project Manager John Casani, “Don’t anthropomorphize the spacecraft, they don’t like it.”
By Ionut4 years ago in Futurism
The Starry Night
No matter how far along you are in your sophistication as an amateur astronomer, there is always one fundamental moment that we all go back to. That is that very first moment that we went out where you could really see the cosmos well and you took in the night sky. For city dwellers, this is a revelation as profound as if we discovered aliens living among us. Most of us have no idea the vast panorama of lights that dot a clear night sky when there are no city lights to interfere with the view.
By maria constantin4 years ago in Futurism
NASA Photographed a Gigantic “White Tower” on the Moon
Some people claim that the structures found on the Moon follow a geometric pattern, as if they were placed there by intelligent beings.
By Georgenes Medeiros4 years ago in Futurism
NASA will Return the Artemis Moon Rocket to the Assembly Building
NASA's space launch system will take the lunar rocket back to the vehicle assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center to replace faulty valves and repair hydrogen leaks found during launchpad testing, the agency announced Saturday night.
By rayyan4 years ago in Futurism
The world's wealthiest person Musk has also moved into a "container," indicating that the trend of small residences is on the rise.
Thoreau would sit in the sun at the doorway of a log cabin by the lake from daybreak until noon, after taking his normal bath, meditating alone, surrounded by pine, hickory, and sumac trees, in quiet. And the birds would sing till the sun shined through his west window, reminding him of how quickly time had passed. He grew like corn at night back then.
By Susan Elizabeth Vickers4 years ago in Futurism
What would happen if you were travelling through space and suddenly fell into a black hole
Do you know what a black hole is? No, so let's first know what it is. Then you will know what will happen if you are thrown into a black hole in any way or fall into it?
By Jayveer Vala4 years ago in Futurism
Top 10 facts about Moon
(1). Moon is not a planet, it is a satellite: There is a difference between a planet and a satellite. Moon is a satellite of Earth. Similarly, Saturn, Jupiter, and Pluto also have satellites i.e. moon. According to scientists, there are satellites larger than the moon, of which the largest is located near the planet Jupiter, Kalisto. Apart from this, Titan and Eo of Saturn are also bigger than the Moon. Moon is also called a fossil planet.
By Jayveer Vala4 years ago in Futurism
55 Cancri e - the Diamond Exoplanet
Among the exoplanets discovered so far, one of them seems to stand out by a special characteristic. It is located in the constellation Cancer, at a distance of about 40 light-years away from the Earth, which in cosmic terms, is very near to our planet. When the night sky is free of clouds, the host star of this exotic planet is visible to the naked eye. The name of the exotic planet is 55 Cancri e and scientists have concluded that it is made of diamonds. The term exoplanet defines any planet that is situated outside the Solar System. 55 Cancri e revolves in only 18 hours around a star called 55 Cancri A. Its size is twice the size of Earth and its surface is extremely hot, at about 5000 degrees Fahrenheit or 3000 degrees Celsius. 55 Cancri e has eight times the mass of our planet and this is why it is also called the super-Earth. The planet is believed to be a carbon planet. No water has been discovered on its surface, but helium and hydrogen were detected.
By Algieba4 years ago in Futurism
Martin Rees interview: From the Big Bang to a billionaire space race
Learn about the exciting promise of quantum computing and how it can solve problems in basic physics. I have been looking for a book that will teach me the science of climate change as an illiterate person. Here you will find facts, processes, and complex physics of complex and changing weather, but delivered with skill and urgency. We are fortunate that Lawrence Krause is also a talented writer.
By suresh crouch4 years ago in Futurism
A small asteroid hits Earth just hours after astronomers detect it
A small asteroid collided safely with the Earth on March 11, causing a space explosion above the North Pole just hours after astronomers spotted it. This weekend, just hours before a meteorite plunged into Earth's atmosphere and disappeared, an astronomer spotted an asteroid.
By suresh crouch4 years ago in Futurism
2021 In Review: Space Tourism Begins – For Billionaires, Anyway
On Sunday, Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson will be the first of three billion to go to space if the launch of New Mexico is successful. British millionaire Richard Branson flew more than 50 miles in the New Mexico desert on Sunday boarding his rocket Virgin Galactic and returned safely to the first spacecraft test, marking a symbolic milestone that began 17 years ago. . British billionaire Richard Branson, six ready-to-go employees of Virgin Galactic Holding Inc have hailed the campaign as a precursor to a new era of space travel, when Virgin Galactic is ready to sell next year. The success of the flight also gave British billionaire Richard Branson the privilege of boasting in a controversial debate with another millionaire Jeff Bezos, an Amazon retailer who had hoped to fly in space with billionaire Jeff Bezos of his space company.
By suresh crouch4 years ago in Futurism
Milky Way Shakes: The Cosmic Collisions That Made Our Galaxy
The magnificent new "Cosmic Collisions" offers an amazing and unprecedented understanding of these events - both catastrophic and creative - that shape the Earth, our galaxy, and the changing atmosphere. Then, moving billions of years into the future, a spectacular new cosmic collision predicts the collision of amazing galaxies when two galaxies collide. Then, the glorious new “Earth Collision” takes viewers from the earth's orbit around our galaxy, the Milky Way, to see the dense stars in a distant globular galaxy.
By suresh crouch4 years ago in Futurism