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Category Archives: Space
A Diary in Space
I recently read a fascinating book – a diary of a man who spent about a year on a space station. In his journal, he expresses his excitement about learning to live and work in space. He’s proud of the … Continue reading
Posted in NASA, Space
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What drives me nuts about “The Martian”
“The Martian:” Yeah, Martian dust storms are nothing. Yeah, Rich Purnell could’ve explained his maneuver to the NASA top brass with about six acronyms and the phrase “gravity assist.” Yeah, real-life-JPL has almost nothing to do with human space exploration. And … Continue reading
Posted in NASA, Science Fiction, Space
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Spaceships of the Expanse
I have been enjoying “The Expanse” series by James Corey. It’s a space opera set a couple hundred years from now, after humans have colonized and populated the moon, Mars, the asteroid belt, and outer planet moons. Spaceships journey between these worlds, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Movies, Science Fiction, Space
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Space programs are not ambitious enough
This week, NASA announced the selection of nine instruments for a proposed mission to Europa. Europa is probably the best place we know about to find alien life, and the discovery of alien life would surely be an achievement rivaling the … Continue reading
Posted in NASA, Science, Space
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How to Get to Mars
NASA wants to go to Mars. Great! The approach, as the agency has been publicizing with fancy graphics like the one below, seems to consist of the following: Send astronaut Scott Kelly to the International Space Station for one year, … Continue reading
Posted in Concepts, NASA, Science Fiction, Space
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Space to get excited about
Last month, NASA repeated an accomplishment they first checked off in 1964 – with some few improvements hardly worthy of the intervening half-century. But tomorrow morning, assuming the weather is a “go,” we will get to see a space travel event that … Continue reading
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Back to the Future
This week, NASA launched the Orion spacecraft on a test flight. I have a conflicted viewpoint about this event. To me, Orion is both exciting and deeply disappointing. On the one hand, Orion is NASA’s first entirely new spacecraft for … Continue reading
Posted in Concepts, NASA, Skepticism, Space
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