Well, not quite. But here are a ton of links about one of the funniest SF (well, mostly)-related shows out there! MST3k! Everybody sing! more...

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To follow up on two previous postings about explorations of our Solar System, it is nice to see NASA finally realizing that a working spacecraft in outer space is definitely cheaper than a spacecraft that is designed from scratch. Two probes had successful missions: Deep Impact rendezvoused with Comet Tempel-1 on July 4, 2005, examining the comet as it flew by and also getting a peak inside by releasing a probe that impacted with the comet. The Stardust mission flew through the tail of Comet Wild-2 in order to collect samples of the comet's coma as well as (later in the mission) samples of interstellar dust. These samples were returned to Earth on January 15, 2006. Missions over, right? more...

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Jay Lake's Mainspring is on the ever-tottering Mount Toberead. Over at SF Signal (their review here), they link to a posting by David Levine. I think I've found Project Rho's (see the Atomic Rockets sub-site) missing twin!

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Sad news in private space this week. Rand Simberg has some thoughts, and we turn to Robert A. Heinlein for more thoughts.

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Following up on this posting, here's a quick update. Both Spirit and Opportunity are being threatened by large dust storms that are girdling the martian globe. It's not so much the force of the winds involved (remember that sequence from Mission to Mars?), but the amount of dust being raised. Both Spirit and Opportunity rely on solar power to keep them going and the amount of light getting through the dust is decreasing, as this sequence of pictures from the Astronomy Picture of the Day site shows. Will this be the end of these plucky devices?

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Following up on the Scaled Composites post, there's a lot of other interesting stuff going on in the areas of private and quasi-private space. more...

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So Burt Rutan, Scaled Composites and Northrop Grumman have announced that NG is going to increase their stake in Scaled Composites from 40% to 100%. A buyout, in other words. Maybe this is a positive, and NG will allow Rutan to run a Skunk Works for NG, employing his talents. Possibly, or equally possibly they take the current ideas, find that the cultures "don't match" and he'll move on. Klyde Morris has the best take on why it might be that somebody who was so independent seemed to agree to the deal that ran contrary to much of what we heard from this smaller shop.

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Following up on last week's posting, that concentrated on the inner planets, we now move outward in our solar system and visit three current or pending missions.

First up is the Dawn Mission, designed to explore the Asteroid Belt. This could almost be called the Phoenix Mission (except that name is already taken!) as the mission has gone from being active, to almost being canceled, and then back to a go again. more...

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(2006 continued...)

Is Spirit starting to show more than wear and tear on Mars?

"Once, when we radioed her to please leave the lecturing and hypothesis-making to the mission project team, she responded by forming her robotic arm into an obscene gesture," Banerdt said. "That arm contains a state-of-the-art spectrometer meant to provide crucial mineralogy data."

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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be seen here.

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(Part 1 of 2. Part 2 to come soon.)

This post is the second update on the current state of exploration in our solar system. This installment will skip Mars, although there is still plenty to talk about. I'll refer you back to my previous posting and mention that the dust storm circling the planet is still delaying the entry into Victoria Crater. Stay tuned! more...

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(2006 continued and part of 2007...)

Rick N Tumlinson and Erin R. Medlicott(editors): Return to the Moon.

Made up of: The Moon (Rick Tumlinson); The Next Age of Lunar Exploration (Andrew Chaikin); Marketplace of Competing Ideas Will Determine Alternate Futures (Courtney A. Stadd); The Moon: A New Destination in Space for America (Dr. Paul D. Spudis); Manned and Robotic Explorations of Space (Dr. Yoji Kondo); History and Frontiers: What Works, What Doesn't (Alex Gimarc); Returning to the Moon Will Transform NASA (Howard E. McCurdy); Making a Business Case for a Return to the Moon (Dr. Mike H. Ryan); The Extraterrestrial Enterprise (Philip K. Chapman, Sc.D.); Brave New World? (Robert Zimmerman); LunaMars: The Challenge (Robert D. Richards); Transporting a Legal System from the Earth to the Moon (Rosanna Sattler); The Space Settlement Initiative (Alan Wasser); Lunar Prospector: Lessons Learned (Alan Binder, Ph.D.); A Real Return to the Moon (David Gump); The New Space Revolution and Return to the Moon (Charles Lurio, Ph.D.); Access to Luna (John K. Strickland, Jr.); Lunar High-Risk Manufacture (Simon P. Worden); The Future of Lunar Tourism (Patrick Collins); Asteroidal Resources and the Cis-Lunar Industrial Economy (Dennis Wingo); Astronomy from the Moon (Yoji Kondo); The Overview Effect from the Moon (Frank White); The Conscious Evolutionary Choice (Steven Wolfe); The Social and Spirtual Significance of Lunar Settlement (Edward Hudgins, Ph.D.); Moon Age Daydreams (Allen M. Steele); The Lunar Declaration; Moon Facts; Moon Statistics.

Counts as four entries in the 2006 short story project.

Part of the 2007 Short Story Project.

Part of the 2008 Year in Shorts.

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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be viewed here.

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It's an interesting time to be studying Mars. In addition to the orbital looks of the ESA's Mars Express and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and 2001 Mars Odyssey (I'll have a writeup on these three in the future), we're still reaping the benefits from two other missions, both of which have lasted well past their "expiration dates."

(Update! The entry into Victoria Crater (see below) has been delayed due to a dust storm!) more...

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In conjunction with the Robert A. Heinlein Centennial, Dwayne A. Day (writing at The Space Review) provides us with an excellent look at the relationship between Heinlein and the U.S. space program.

Particularly of interest is a memo that Heinlein wrote in 1945. Has history overlooked a piece of writing as important as the letter Einstein wrote to Roosevelt regarding the creation of the atomic bomb? more...

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