NASA Juno Spacecraft Blasts Off On 5-Year Trip To Jupiter

I think we should all get used to the fact that human exploratio­n of space is many, many years away. My guess is no less than 50 years. It's not NASA's fault .. there are three major obstacles.

1) living in a small, close system for years will drive people crazy.
2) The amount of energy it takes to send, explore and return from anything beyond the moon is mind boggling.
3) The radiation in space is deadly and particles (and larger) zip through the spaceship and the astronauts like a laser beam on a cloudy night. Shielding technology just doesn't exist yet.

Robots are perfect for space travel. They don't get lonely, they don't have squishy parts and they don't have to get back home.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Asteroid Vesta Photographed By NASA's Orbiting Dawn Craft

Soon there will be all kinds of theories crawling out from the underbelly of the internet, saying this is really a giant spaceship. There will be colored lines showing the outline of ports and buildings. They will say that it's unnatural for there to be 90 degree angles in nature. And of course, this will all be some giant government cover-up. This thing will be the next "Face on Mars"
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Aliens Invade Earth - Now What

Here is my comment to a blog post wondering if we could see an alien invasion before it happened.

Article -- > Could We See How Aliens Mine Asteroids - weird things

If you were an alien looking to harvest stuff for your alien overlords would you choose Earth to invade? My guess is we're probably the last place in the galaxy you would choose. For the following reason:

1. Our gravity makes it painful to get stuff off the planet. It takes a lot of energy to lift a kilo of anything into space.

2. Humans are extremely mean-spirited, suspicious, unfriendly, and prone to random and unprovoked violence. We can't even get along with each other let alone some strange being with seven legs and four arms. Furthermore, we take pleasure in hurting things - suffering is a kind of sport to us.

3. Humans are clever critters and can figure out complex systems and machinery. Accidentally lose one of yer Purple Plasma Gob Smackers - we'll find it, figure it out and use it against you.

4. Human beings are incubators of biologic and toxic agents. We literally spew bio-infection every time we breathe. Not to mention all of the toxins we excrete like mercury, arsenic, lithium - even salt. Humans are a mobile infection factory. Bring us aboard your space craft and the only way to get rid of the infection is to plunge the craft into the center of the sun. And even that is a maybe ..

5. Humans like radioactive stuff. We dig it up and then make it more radioactive. After that we let it sit in open pools of radioactive water.

6. Our God doesn't believe in you, therefore you do not exist. And if you exist then we must make you unexist to please our deity.

7. Your civilization will be seen as an untapped marketing resource. Soon you will be inundated with product placement, reoccurring revenue models and advertising events. Your offspring will be turned into zombies crying for the new Galactic Happy Meal.

8. We would never leave you alone. Constant communication - 24/7 information - we would demand that you entertain us. Appearances on Letterman, Leno and the Daily Show would be required.

9. Humans love to lie. You could never trust anything we ever told you. Also, we would tell lies about one alien to another alien. It wouldn't be long before our lies caused the Great Galactic War.

10. Even if you got rid of all the humans, there would still be all of our stuff left behind. It wouldn't take long before that stuff became such a distraction that no work got done at all. Just a whole bunch of aliens trying to figure out how to get to the next level of Angry Birds.

Solar System in Action

I just found the coolest animation of our solar system and it's interactive. It was produced by Dynamic Diagrams. I captured some of the animation for your viewing pleasure .. but heck, just check it out for yourself.



Click here ---> Dynamic Diagrams Solar System