space

What is the NASA Mission to the Sun all about?

by

There is an old joke that goes as follows. A few guys in a bar are boasting about the progress that their various nations are making in space … A Russian guy boasts, “Next year we will put a man on the Moon“. An American boasts, “That’s no big deal, we have done that. Next year we will … Read more

Trump’s Plan to Eliminate NASA Climate Research Is Ill-Informed and Dangerous

by

Phil Plait, whom I do know and have personally met, has written an article within Slate that strike a deep cord within me. Normally I would perhaps extract an appropriate quote and suggest that the article merits your attention, and perhaps also offer some additional commentary. This time I am instead reproducing it in full because … Read more

The anti-science committee in Congress

by

It is indeed wholly appropriate for congress to have a House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. However, what currently makes the entire endeavour a complete fiasco is that it needs to be renamed to something more like “House Committee on Anti-Science, Religion, and Superstition” because that is the direction the current chair appears to have taken. The Republicans … Read more

Mars One debunked

by

When I’ve previously written about Mars One, the Dutch proposal to send people there on a one-way trip, I’ve expressed a considerable degree of doubt that the entire enterprise was in any way a realistic proposition, and while I would truly love it to be real, I’ve never thought it was, there are simply too … Read more

Packing for Mars … would you be willing to go?

by

There now exists a shortlist of 100 who have signed up for a one way trip to Mars … yes really. So the 100 who have signed up truly believe they are going, and the Mars One folks claim they are serious about really doing this. If curious about what happens when, then here is their … Read more