Read more about space with these great articles.
Ten Reasons Why Going to the Moon Was the Most Badass Moment in American History
In its relatively short history, America is known for a lot of things. The Revolutionary War, Apple Pie, Honey Boo Boo, and many other cultural and historical contributions. But what event outshines them all? We believe the Apollo Program outshines them all on the scale of America's greatest moments. But why was July 20th, 1969 and the following landings so important? We discuss ten … [Read More...]
Infographic: How Large Are Moons?
The moons of our solar system are diverse, and many of which, incredibly beautiful. Every year, astronomers find new moons orbiting both planets, but asteroids as well. But which moon is the largest? How does that moon compare to our very own Earth and Moon? This infographic depicts actual scale among the largest moons in our solar system. Each name is highlighted in a different color, signifying … [Read More...]
Why Interplanetary War May Happen in This Century
In films, novels, and other forms of media, space is usually at the forefront of science fiction. In most stories, war is a central theme. Star Trek, Star Wars, Starship Troopers, Enders Game, and many other stories have been told in regards to fictional battles in the heavens. But could we actually see a war between Earth and another planet this century - perhaps within our lifetimes? The … [Read More...]
6 Amazing technologies that are illegal in the US
As a child, I was always told by my parents that somewhere, somehow there were evil companies that were secretly suppressing technology that would make life better. Hidden in a vault in some corporate HQ were pieces of paper containing things like the cure to cancer, cars that ran on water and Little Debbies that instantly made people skinny with just a few bites. As a much more cynical … [Read More...]
Could We Colonize Venus?
In our continuing series on colonization, we bring up a close, yet often maligned planet in regards to the colonization discussion: Our twin sister, Venus. Throughout history, scientists have often dreamed of visiting Venus. Once astronomers had the capability of viewing Venus closer than the naked eye via telescopes, many theorized that the planet was a lush paradise, and likely very similar … [Read More...]
Pee To Power – Teens Develop Revolutionary Generator Powered By Urine
It isn't too often that you hear of teenagers halfway around the globe creating something cool from almost nothing. Today however is different, four teenagers (The oldest of whom is only fifteen) have developed a very amazing way to generate electricity in their remote village in Africa. The process is extraordinarily simple - Take waste urine (pee) , feed the urine into a electrolytic … [Read More...]
Android powered satellite is ready for launch
Believe it or not, a group of students and come up with a pretty revolutionary idea that could change the course of history, and radically change every human’s life. Using the movie Aliens, Ridley Scott's sci-fi thriller, for inspiration they have come up with an idea for a unique type of satellite. With the help of the cell phone, cameras, a high-performance computer, and a microphone … [Read More...]
How big is the Earth compared to Mars?
Just how big is the Earth compared to Mars? Here is a little infographic we put together (Mind you, it's to scale) of the Earth, The Moon, Mars , Phobos and Deimos all compared to each other. Click the graphic to zoom in to see the full resolution image. … [Read More...]
The Colonization of Mercury – How We Could Colonize Mercury
Mercury is an often-overlooked planet when it comes to missions and discoveries. We've only sent a few probes there. But in the grand scheme of things, would it ever be worth colonizing the planet? How many people could it support? Where would they live? What would they do? Our goal is to theorize why one day, our innermost planet may see humans on it. The Big, Bright Picture Of … [Read More...]
The Blue Giant: Facts About Neptune
Throughout my life, I've always admired Neptune, our furthest planet* from the sun. As a child, I would find as many books as I could about the outer gas giants, especially Neptune. I always found it the most majestic of the gas giants, with its blue hues being a welcome contrast to the incredibly ordinary Uranus, ringed wonder Saturn, or the massive and sometimes ugly, Jupiter. But what sets … [Read More...]
Beam me up Scotty – A break through in real-life warp drives
It's the stuff that science fiction authors have written about for some time - Space ships traveling billions of miles in the blink of a eye. Up until 1994, this idea was merely fiction. That was until a man by the name of Miguel Alcubierre proposed a very unique idea that many other physicists believed was correct. That it was quite possible to send a ship through the galaxy beyond the speed … [Read More...]
Picture: What Would Mars Look Like if It Were Our Moon?
Our solar system is full of vast and differing planets and moons. Although we take our structure for example, there is a large amount of variance from planet to planet. Excluding Pluto, our planet is home to the largest moon in relation to its host - our Earth. This leads us to an interesting question: "What if we didn't have our moon, but instead had another object?". There have been a few … [Read More...]
Infographic: Our Solar System to Scale
If you had one image which fit all planets in to scale, what would it look like? This picture shows the largest planets and moons down to 1/100th of an inch. Click on the image to make it larger and more easily viewable. … [Read More...]
Which Planet Has The Most Moons?
Its a question that may change at times - "Which planet has the most and largest moons in our solar system?" On Earth, we're familiar with the one and only Moon, which shines bright almost every night in the sky, and is sometimes observable during the day, too. But what kind of moons do the other planets have? Which one has the largest moons? Which one has the most moons based on the planet's … [Read More...]
Did NASA Accidentally Detonate A Nuclear Bomb On Jupiter In 2003?
NASA has conducted countless missions since its inception in 1958. But did NASA make a decision in 2003 that went too far, creating the first inter-planetary nuclear weapon? First, lets start with the evidence that makes this incredible story even possible. On October 19th, 2003, an amateur astronomer named Oliver Meeckers took a low-resolution picture of Jupiter, and noted an anomaly on the … [Read More...]
Pictures of Jupiter – A Pictoral Journey to The Giant Planet
Our solar system is fully of beauty, mystery, and a lot of gorgeous high-definition pictures. In this post, we display some of the most beautiful pictures of the giant planet along with facts, figures, and fun. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Not only is it the largest, it also holds the largest, and some of the most interesting moons in our solar system. We hope that the … [Read More...]
Uranus: Facts About the Forgotten Planet
A cursory look into various planetary and space articles reveals a few things: what people like to read about, what they're interested, and what they don't care about. Searching the most-referenced planets turns up one stunning fact: No one cares about Uranus. Even no-longer-a-planet Pluto is more talked about than the forgotten 7th planet. (A highly stylized view of Uranus from … [Read More...]
Lunar Lifts: Science Fiction or Science Fact?
A space lift - or elevator - is a structure that can transport material from a planet"s surface into space. A lift to the Moon would consist of a long cable anchored to the surface of its visible hemisphere. The cable would extend 31,000 miles to a satellite in orbit at the Earth-Moon LaGrange Point. This is the point – the geostationary position - at which the orbiting satellite maintains the … [Read More...]
Did A 1960s TV Show Correctly Predict The Future?
Star Trek has long served as a bastion of the best that humans could hope to achieve. The futuristic fantasy of Gene Roddenberry gave us an example of potential human progress and set the standard for science fiction for decades to come. Once relegated solely to the far-fetched imagination of sci-fi writers, the futuristic science of Star Trek now seems less far-fetched than ever. The computing … [Read More...]
Astronomers Discover New “Dual Planets”, Breaking Theories Along the Way
Another day, another discovery by the Kepler Space Probe. Two planets were discovered with very unique properties, as was documented in a report published on June 21st by Science Express. The planets orbit a faraway system known as Kepler-36, approximately 1,200 light years from our solar system. Dual planets are not entirely unknown. Prior to its removal as an official planet, some … [Read More...]
Scale of things in the universe
Have you ever wondered just how big things really are in the universe? If so ,then this photo is for you! While the Earth may seem big, in actuality it is quite small. … [Read More...]
Cassini spies lakes of methane on Titan
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spied long-standing methane lakes, or puddles, within the "tropics" of Saturn's moon Titan. One of the tropical lakes seems to be about half the size of Utah's Great Salt Lake, with a depth of at least 3 feet (1 meter). The end result, which is a new analysis of Cassini information, is unexpected because models had assumed the long-standing bodies of liquid would … [Read More...]
Top 5 Questions We Want Answered from New Horizons
Although the mission is officially just over 2/3rds of the way to its primary target, Pluto, the spacecraft remains healthy and has reached important milestones, recently. In February, it was within 10 AU (Astronomical Units, or the distance from the Earth to the Sun) of Pluto. Today, its approximately 9 AU from Pluto, and closing fast. The reason for the mission is obvious: Of all the … [Read More...]
Water on the moon
Recently, it has come to the attention of NASA as well as many other groups that there may be very unlimited resources located right on the Earth's very own moon. Rare metals as well as Helium-3 , a vital resource for the creation of fusion energy are all in abundant supply on the moon. However with all these wonderful points and considerations , one question has plagued scientists and … [Read More...]
Economics of Space Travel Part 2
Economics of Space Travel Part 2 Previously we discussed the economics of space travel for big space programs in it's entirety.But what about single missions of those big programs? Previously on Economics of Space Travel it was determined that the price tag for the entire Apollo and Space Shuttle program were each worth $175 billion in tax payers money. We found out the price of each mission … [Read More...]
Nuclear Power in Space
Nuclear Power in Space. Previously we discussed Nuclear Ramjet Technology as a means of cheap transportation into space as air breathing jet engines. What about when you are already in space? Is it the same technology? Or something slightly different? Today we discuss the economics and efficiencies of using Nuclear Power as a means of getting from one planet to another in a space … [Read More...]
The Shuttle Program – End of An Age
With the space shuttles decommissioned, we may have come to the end of an age for NASA. A casual observer may merely consider the end to be an unwelcome one - the hallmark space transportation system of a generation flies no more. But there are deeper things to consider now that NASA has decommissioned the Space Shuttle program. That is, 'What comes next?'. As per NASA's announcement today of a … [Read More...]
Scale of things in Space
Scale of things in Space: Previously we talked about the many zeroes in NASA's budget for the Space Shuttle Program and the Apollo Missions. The many zeroed dollar figures! What about the many zeroes in space distances? Lets admit it, in most cases people can't really can see the practicality of these huge astronomical numbers especially when they are given in units of kilometers or … [Read More...]
Nuclear Ramjet – technology of the future abandoned 45 years ago
Nuclear Ramjet - Technology of the future abandoned 45 years ago. During the cold war the USSR and USA were in a secret tech race to perfect Nuclear Ramjet technolgy. During the cold war the USSR and USA were in a secret tech race to perfect Nuclear Ramjet technolgy. This technology dealt with enabling aircrafts/cruise-missiles to carry nuclear reactors to power their engines so that they can … [Read More...]
Economics of Space Travel
The Economics of Space Travel Every day we here about it, some ambitious project, whether it is to build a bridge, a sky scraper, to launch a space shuttle mission, to land a man on the moon. A project may be quoted in millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars, even billions! How do we begin to compare one grand project to another? Is a million dollars that much different to $10 … [Read More...]