Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon can take off at a moment’s notice and escape from pursuers into space. And can land on almost any patch of ground. Why can’t we do that in 2012? The problem is the puny power of the chemical rocket.
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In a post last May, entitled The First Trillionaires Will Make Their Fortunes in Space, we speculated about how the future explorers of space will be chasing unimaginable riches: As Peter Diamandis […]
The United Nations has raised the profile of asteroid 2011 AG5 which, measuring 460 feet wide, could be set on a collision course with Earth if it is further influenced by the planet’s gravity.
The near earth asteroid 2012 DA14 discovered last year is not going to hit Earth next year, scientists say. Phew. And yet, it will still be coming in way too close for comfort, raising the question of how prepared we are.
James Cameron, Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Peter Diamandis aren’t afraid to fail. If these men were afraid, they wouldn’t be attempting the most ambitious private space exploration […]
Andy Warhol looked for fame any place he could find it, so news that a crater on the surface of the planet Mercury has been named in his honor comes […]
The robotic future is here, and it looks nothing like we thought it would. Instead of humanoid, highly-intelligent robots that do our bidding, the future is increasingly one of robotic […]
The tight squeeze in science funding means the best are forced to be even better. In an economic downturn, it’s like that across industries, but in no other area do […]
If you saw Martin Scorcese’s film Hugo you will no doubt remember the homage to the iconic 1902 Georges Méliès film A Trip to the Moon. The film depicts a lunar […]
In about five billion years, scientists estimate, the Earth will be engulfed and burned up in the expanding radius of the Sun as it evolves into its slightly cooler but much larger phase.
As budget cuts hit NASA, the space agency will seek out international partners for a new manned mission that will take humans further into space than ever before.
With state and local governments still suffering from a persistent deficit of tax revenues due to the moribund economic recovery, smart politicians are looking ahead and lobbying for spaceport development […]
The shuttle program having been terminated and a budget crunch looming, the national space program lacks a clear purpose. One astronomer says NASA should focus on saving the planet.
Future missions to space should concentrate on eliminating threats to Earth, expanding civilization beyond our planet and harvesting extraterrestrial energy resources.
If you are in the throes of a metaphysical hangover, we offer you the cure: a whimper over the Mayan prophecy of apocalypse in the year 2012, followed by a shattering meditation upon the various ways the world might end.
If astronomers spot a big one headed our way, our risk perception will switch to “It COULD happen to me, and SOON” and we’ll take the threat more seriously.
What’s the Big Idea? Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is taking some heat from fellow Republicans due to his proposal to start “a permanent colony on the moon” that would allow […]
We survey the groundbreaking ideas of 2011 from experts such as Daniel Kahneman, Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis, Sal Khan, Daniel Burrus, Michio Kaku, Steven Pinker and many others.
Two new studies propose potential spacecraft missions that would collide with asteroids in an attempt to deflect them away from our planet. Such missions may be our best hope.
Reflecting N.A.S.A.’s shift from lunar exploration to an asteroid visit, astronauts, engineers and scientists are testing four landing scenarios this week in Arizona’s northern desert.
Using the powerful Herschel Space Telescope, scientists have found evidence that the water in Earth’s oceans could have been delivered by comets rather than asteroids.
Despite a dwindling budget, N.A.S.A. is planning ahead for missions to the moon, an asteroid or Mars by engineering a habitat suitable for astronauts on long-distance missions.
It’s not the technical challenge posed by dealing with an asteroid collision with Earth but the social and political issues that most trouble us. Inevitably, an Earth-shaking rock will hit again.
Boo!Scared you, didn’t I? I’m guessing not really. If you’re a grown-up, Halloween has probably lost its edge. Or at least its scary edge. The old tricks simply no longer […]
Mapping the many paths from fully bearded to clean-shaven
Most have come to believe the dinosaurs were killed off when an asteroid struck the Earth, but some scientists remain sceptical. Will new evidence in the fossil record convince them?
Asteroid 2011 MD reached its closest point to Earth when it crept within 7,500 miles of the planet’s surface—closer than some satellites—before whipping away again like a slingshot.
Scientists believe the discovery of fully-formed building blocks of DNA in meteorites suggests an extraterrestrial origin for some of the chemicals deemed necessary for organic life.
A permanent robot presence on the Moon may be the most feasible option for future lunar exploration. Robonaut, the first humanoid robot in space, is taking baby steps in that direction.
N.A.S.A. is working with the private space exploration company, SpaceX, to plan a mission to Mars that would cost ‘millions, not billions’. The mission would search for signs of life.