(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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(2006 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

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(2005 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

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(2005 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

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(2005 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

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(2005 continued...)

The review can now be read here.

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(2005 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

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(2005 continued...)

The review can now be found here.

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Got this in the mail. The message header says that it was transmitted on Thursday, January 1, 1970 (retroactive internet?). I thought you all would be interested.

Spelling, punctation, etc., as it was in the original. more...

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(2005 continued...)

Review can now be found here.

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NASA
You have one cow.
The cow just runs around in circles in the field.
You miss your old cow.
You can't rely on any other farmers (because farming is just too hard).
You retire your cow, dig up your old cows bones and wrap it in new leather. more...

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"It has spaceships, a bank heist, Interplanetary cannibal zombies, geishas, ruthless government operatives, and a hot psychic kung fu fighting chick, how could you possibly have been bored!"

(A fan's reaction to a non-fan's dislike of Serenity.) more...

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Can we travel to other planets? Will the expense (or the transit times or the awful aching black) overwhelm us? Charles Stross considers the concept of interplanetary and interstellar travel and colonization.

This has (naturally!) generated a lot of talk among fans of space travel, science fiction, etc. Here's an excellent entry from Centauri Dreams, Paul Glister's site. Check out his book!

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Space Shuttle Atlantis and the ISS attacked by forces of the Empire? Say it ain't so!

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The late Dr. Robert Forward pioneered the idea of using tethers in space for all sorts of things such as propulsion. NASA and JAXA are working together on an experiment to explore some of these ideas.

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(2005 continues...)

The review can now be found here.

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