Note: I have not been as faithful as I desired to in posting here (as life has been fairly busy) but these are some of the stories that may catch your eye regarding our future among the stars.
Astroprof discusses the dangers of bone loss due to the lack of gravity in space.
Despite NASA's attempts at reducing the loss, the percentage rate exceeds that of a woman with osteoporosis, leading I. Tenor (a commenter) to conclude that exile from Earth may be the price we pay for colonizing the stars.
Jack Kennedy from Spaceports discusses Matsen Space System's attempts at winning the Lunar Landing Analog Challenge later on this year.
There main competitors are Armadillo Aerospace and Blue Origin, who may put up some fierce competition.
The Space Review has an article about finding life in the solar system. My views of this are fairly dim (as finding microbes does not help us reach the stars).
However, since scientists are looking for life near water ice, this research should prove quite useful in helping us locate future settlements as water is the main ingredient for life (at least carbon based life forms).
Centauri Dreams has an excellent article discussing how the sun's rays spin asteroids. Although this alone may not amaze anyone who is not a hard core space geek, this revelation does help put some weight behind the solar sail.
Ted Semon from the Space Elevator Blog informs everyone that Germany is forming their very own space elevator competition scheduled for February of 2008.
This competition is not as ambitious as the Spaceward's Space Elevator competition, however the fact that they are organizing it may help inspire other nations to follow suit.
Hopefully I will have some time tonight to discuss some other issues on the back burner, including NASA's paradox, Jupiter's Ganymede, and the missing ingredient to call the Moon, Mars and Europa home.
Stay tuned. ;-)
Update: Corrected spelling of Ted's last name (Semon it is! Curse the spell checkers!) Also, I should have some free time later on today (at last). :-)
Posts
