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Fox News on the Antares rocket failure
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Tag Archives: space
Avoiding “Sagan Syndrome.”
Nathan Taylor, Why Astronomers and Journalists should pay heed to Biologists about ET.
Years ago I wrote something that mentioned similar issues: Extraterrestrial Intelligence: A skeptical view. This was long before the Kepler space probe. However, Taylor seems to be saying the fundamentals of the issue have not changed.
As Taylor points out, there is an ad hominem issue here. Frank Tipler, who was a forceful advocate of the no-ETs view in the early and mid 1980s, subsequently became a “crackpot” (Taylor’s word, but I agree completely). However, this does not invalidate Tipler’s earlier work.
Taylor also points out that for practical (creating life) purposes, the universe is still very young. Star formation will continue for a long time, a necessary condition for life. ETs may yet turn up, but you will need to be very patient.
China: The The Next Space Superpower
A lunar rover, a crewed space station, and new rockets top China’s space agenda
As 2014 dawns, China has the most active and ambitious space program in the world.
Monday Night Irish Class, October 28, 2013
Irish Class, October 28, 2013
Rang Gaeilge, an 28ú lá Mí Dheireadh Fómhair 2012
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Spásairí ón Stáisiún Spáis Idirnáisiúnta leaindeáilte go sábháilte
The death of Vladimir Komarov — Another look
I posted about this before.
Yuri Gagarin was one of the good guys in this story. Another was a KGB officer. The villains were Leonid Brezhnev and Dmitry Ustinov.
I can remember when Brezhnev and Ustinov were names known to everybody. However, younger readers may not recognize them, so I included the Wikipedia links. In the grand scheme of human history, they deserve to fall into obscurity.
Life in zero-G
From the transcript of the Apollo 10 Flight
More on Dyson Spheres and similar feats of mega-engineering
Hunting for Alien Megastructures
See also The Best Way to Find Aliens: Look for Their Solar Power Plants, which I referenced here and the Chicon Dyson Sphere Update.
Space News
Putin unveils $50 bn Russian space drive
The total proposed NASA budget for Fiscal Year 2014 (which starts Oct. 1, 2013) is $17.7 billion. This is $55 million lower than 2012, and $170 lower than 2013. That’s a drop of roughly only 1 percent, which these days can be considered holding steady.
The Language of Space
Want to be an Astronaut? Learn How to Speak Russian
You may wonder: “Shouldn’t Cosmonauts have to speak English?” I expect most of them learned it long before joining the space program.
In fact the situation is not symmetric. American astronauts as well as Russian Cosmonauts fly to space from a Russian-speaking site (the Baikonur Cosmodrome) in a Russian vehicle (the Soyuz).
Russia’s Soyuz Spacecraft
46 Years and Still Soaring High
While many improvements have been made to the Soyuz rockets and spacecraft since the first launch in 1966, the bottom line is that the Soyuz have become the world’s most used launch vehicles due to their consistent performance and relatively low cost.
“This is a safe and reliable and proven way to leave the Earth, and each successive Soyuz is different; each one has small changes. The role of the astronaut is to learn those small changes… and learn to apply them.”
– Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 