I’m in the process of migrating my sites off of HostMonster and upon ________ (will reveal all later).

While Hostmonster has been an excellent host, I’ve worn out my welcome (more or less) and I need a host who loves WordPress more than I do.

Since I’m tired of my sites going down, creating errors anytime I create a post, tweak the site, etc., I’m switching away.

Update: Migration of Colony Worlds complete! Now I can finally blog again without fear of the site going down!

So the site will appear weird for awhile, but no need to fear! Everything should return to normal in 24-96 hours. :-/

–Posted from my iPhone

After promising the world that India would become a space power by 2015, it looks as if the world’s largest democracy is now scheduling its first human encounter with the stars by 2017.

India has aspirations to establish a lunar colony in the future as well, and has even proposed teaming up with Japan as well as Russia to help achieve their space goals.

Hopefully the land of a billion people will be able to to meet its timeline within seven years, as any further delay could result in India ceding dominance to China (who currently reigns as the space king in the east).

(via Spaceports)

One of the biggest hurdles preventing humanity from settling the final frontier is micro gravity.

While it may be fun to float in the air like jelly fish floats in water, micro gravity can wreck serious damage upon our bodies, turning strong bones into brittle skeletons.

Fortunately it looks as if the boys and girls at NASA may have found a solution to our woes via a fatty acid by the name of Omega-3.

(NASA) NASA-sponsored studies have found that omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil may play a role in mitigating bone breakdown that occurs during spaceflight and in osteoporosis. Ongoing research for decades has looked for ways to stop bone density loss in astronauts. [...]

In a series of cell-based studies, scientists documented that adding a specific omega-3 fatty acid to cells would inhibit the activation of factors that lead to bone breakdown. This was true in both typical cell cultures and those designed to mimic weightlessness. The inhibited factor is known as “nuclear factor kappa B” or NFκB. NFκB is involved in immune system behavior and the inflammation process. The activation of NFκB in different tissues can lead to bone and muscle loss.

Combined with medical drugs (which will help keep our muscles strong), humanity may finally be able to dwell among the heavens above without fear of their bodies deteriorating in deep space.

While this probably means that sea food, will become apart of the future diet (especially for water rich worlds like the Moon, Mars and Callisto), this revelation may also help make living off world a little bit easier (if not tastier as well).

(via SpaceRef, Image Credit: Medline Plus)

Unless you are fortunate enough to live on a water abundant world (like Earth, the red planet, and yes, even the Moon), future space travelers are going to have to recycle every drop of water that exits their body (regardless of origin).

Since bacteria have a tendency to thrive in micro gravity, astronauts will need to find a way to kill off these microscopic creatures before they kill us off via recycled sweat and other bodily fluids (especially since our immune system becomes weaker in zero-G).

Fortunately for us a company may have a quick solution that is not only effective but inexpensive as well.

(Homedics, note: PDF file) UVC [ultraviolet C] light, with wavelengths between 100 and 280 nm, is commonly referred to as “germicidal light” due to its effectiveness in destroying microorganisms. UVC light acts as a natural outdoor air purification system by deactivating the DNA of microorganisms and destroying their ability to multiply. [...]

Utilizing the germ-killing benefits of UVC light, HoMedics, the leader in health and wellness products, developed Restore®, a complete water purification system in an easy to use pitcher. Restore combines UV Clean technology to remove bacteria, viruses and microbial cysts with a filtration system to reduce heavy metals, chlorine (taste and odor), and some industrial and agricultural pollutants.

Although this technology could also be used for off world settlers (who may have to drink recycled water until they can melt enough space ice), this technology would also benefit residents of orbital space stations around Earth, Venus or even a gas giant.

It could also help reduce the overall cost of filtering space water, allowing corporations and governments alike to invest money into other area’s (like propulsion or food).

(via Gizmodo, Image Credit: HoMedics.com)

(Image: Zhai Zhigang waving from outside the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft, Credit: CCTV / Xinhua)

Probably seen as America’s biggest space rival, China has recently emerged as a major space power after conducting their first space walk in 2008 (not to mention launching a lunar satellite around the Moon).

With future plans of launching a space station and sending Taikonauts (aka Chinese astronauts) to the Moon, China is going to need a lot of space pioneers–provided they are hitched to a spouse.

(Space.com) Earlier this year, Chinese space officials said that one requirement for China’s first female astronauts was that they were married, a requirement that is also upheld for China’s male astronaut candidates.

Excluding the single masses from participating in the final frontier may sound like an odd rule, especially when you consider the fact that there are numerous single males in China on the prowl (which is of itself a major issue).

However by requiring Taikonauts to be married, China could be planning on moving families off world in the not so distant future (a strategy that may help them establish a permanent presence on both the Moon and Mars).

Note: To my knowledge neither NASA or Russia require their astronauts and cosmonauts to marry, respectively, although the Chinese are insisting that married astronauts are better than bachelors (at least psychologically).

Sorry about the lack of posts over the last few weeks. Apparently this site has become a favorite target of human spammers (I guess they were upset after I found a way to block their bots), plus I was busy posting upon other blogs I write for.

I have been staying updated on the space front, and while I am not too pleased with America’s new direction, I am still hopeful thanks in part to the private sector (mainly SpaceX and Bigelow).

Stay tuned! More posts should be coming later on!

(Image Credit: No Where Nevada)

Last weeks Carnival of Space was hosted by Kathryn Laurent of Celestial Spider. Articles ranged from time machines to free falling from space to how to analyze the atmosphere of another planet.

Articles ranging within our own star system include:

• Paul Spudis of The Once and Future Moon has an excellent post analyzing how NASA lost its way, which can be summed up in three words: lack of vision.
• Brian Wang from Next Big Future has an excellent post about Nuclear rockets and Space planes.
• Louise Riofrio from A Babe in the Universe shows her displeasure about the closing of Constellation.

Be sure to check out the rest of the articles, and if you are a space geek with a blog, website or podcast, feel free to contact Universe Today for details on how to enter.

(Image Credit: NASA)

Before we can build homes, fertilize the soil and raise up forests upon the red planet (not to mention bring our animal friends as well), we are going to have to figure out a way to safely get to Mars.

Despite the advances of chemical rockets, taking a 6 month journey to that crimson world would not only be unreasonable (as you would have to pack a lot of food and water for the journey) but dangerous as well due to space radiation.

In order to shorten the time span between the blue and red worlds, we may have to resort to Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket’s (aka VASIMR).

(video via Spaceports)

(Space.com) Future Mars outposts or colonies may seem more distant than ever with NASA’s exploration plans in flux, but the rocket technology that could someday propel a human mission to the red planet in as little as 40 days may already exist.

A company founded by former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz has been developing a new rocket engine that draws upon electric power and magnetic fields to channel superheated plasma out the back. That stream of plasma generates steady, efficient thrust that uses low amounts of propellant and builds up speed over time. [...]

A mission trajectory study estimated that a VASIMR-powered spacecraft could reach the red planet within 40 days if it had a 200 megawatt power source. That’s 1,000 times more power than what the current VASIMR prototype will use, although Ad Astra says that VASIMR can scale up to higher power sources.

Although VASIMR could help shorten the trip towards Mars, future astronauts would probably still need a magnetic shield to protect them from the ravages of space radiation.

It may be wise for NASA to team up with Ad Astra in order to perfect this rocket, as it could enable us to not only reach and settle Mars within our life time, but perhaps Callisto, Ganymede and Saturn’s Titan as well.

(Image Credit: Unknown)

Ever since we discovered water on the Moon, scientists have been trying to figure out how much water is upon the lunar surface, and whether or not there would be enough to sustain not only colonists but perhaps a few rockets as well.

Now it looks like there may be “3 different flavors” of lunar water, which could help decide where future moon bases are established.

(Physorg.com)  ”If you converted those craters’ water into rocket fuel, you’d have enough fuel to launch the equivalent of one space shuttle per day for more than 2000 years. But our observations are just a part of an even more tantalizing story about what’s going on up on the Moon.” [...]

“So far we’ve found three types of moonwater,” says Spudis. “We have Mini-SAR’s thick lenses of nearly pure crater ice, LCROSS’s fluffy mix of ice crystals and dirt, and M-cube’s thin layer that comes and goes all across the surface of the Moon.”

Although this still means that most of Luna is still drier than a terrestrial desert, the fact that many craters contain vast amounts of water ice means that future lunar outposts will become a reality in the near future.

While these “oasis craters” may spark debate about lunar property rights and perhaps some tension amongst the first lunar powers, their presence may signal that humanities first home beyond the sky will be upon our celestial next door neighbor.

With President Obama cancelling Constellation and outsourcing space to the private sector, many politicians have been complaining that ditching the NASA rockets will leave America in the hands of the Russians.

Now it looks like SpaceX, a company who thus far has been able to launch one successful rocket into space is challenging Russia for the right to launch Americans into space.

(Earth Times) As lawmakers weigh the pros and cons of turning over US manned spaceflight to contractors, one commercial hopeful vowed Thursday that her firm could fly US astronauts to the orbiting space station for less than a trip on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Gwynne Shotwell, president of Space X, said she could guarantee her company would be able to provide at least three flights to the International Space Station (ISS) for less than 50 million dollars a seat. A ride on the Soyuz currently costs the US space agency NASA 51 million dollars per astronaut, and that price is likely to rise when current agreements expire. [...]

While other industry executives declined to offer such an exact price for their services, all said they would be ready to fly to orbit within three or four years.

SpaceX has designed the Dragon spacecraft (pictured above) to not only transport humans into space, but also cargo for the International Space Station.

Whether or not Congress will choose SpaceX over Russia has yet to be seen (note: it would be very foolish if they chose otherwise), but either way this could help the private space industry gain some much needed respect among the bureaucrats in Washington, DC.