Jumping the Timestream – A Note from 08-09-2012

Because no one can be certain about one’s own ability to participate in the future, I have a couple of ideas in the works that I’d like to post to the future just in case I (for some reason) don’t get around to it before then. First amongst these is this, an idea Chris Hackman and I […]

The “Wow! Reply” – SETI Stunt, Science, or Threat?

A little less than a year ago, the National Geographic Channel (NatGeo) executed a truly novel crowdsourcing initiative that I feel is deserving of greater critical attention. Hailed by some as innovative public engagement, derided by cynics as mere marketing spectacle, and condemned by others as a threat to our very way of life, hindsight […]

Forecasting the End: The Science of Rogue Planets

I’m pleased to report that I had the opportunity to consult on (and occasionally appear in) an astronomy/geoscience/climate science crossover project for the Weather Channel this past year, entitled, Forecasting the End. The show, which premiers this evening, uses extremely-low-probability astronomical or geophysical disasters as a hook to explore and present astronomy, geology, meteorology, and […]

Surviving Radiation in Space

For those who are interested in the reality of radiation exposure on Earth, in space, on the Moon, and what this exposure means for our prospects of manned exploration of the Solar System, read on! The Myths and Truths of Death by Space Radiation There are persistent groves of misinformation taking root about the lethality […]

Escape Trajectory Artifacts at WAC-7

Just a quick update today on something I’ve been excited to talk about for some time: I’ve been working during the past year with Dr. Colleen Beck of the Desert Research Institute on long-term planetary science/space archaeology crossover research, the first fruit of which has just hit the cyberverse. In short, in an upcoming presentation […]

Pluto’s Pain: The Unsung Story of Ceres

Pluto is once again in the press, astronomers having recently discovered a fifth moon about the tiny, icy world. -And, again, Pluto’s official designation as a “dwarf planet” is coming under fire. However, Pluto’s pain really hearkens back to a much older story – one of an unsung planet that stood proudly in the rightful […]

Xenoarchaeology: Reality and Fantasy

Cultural Xenoarchaeology For reasons I can’t immediately explain, (the recent rash of technical publications addressing the concept of “xenoarchaeology” or “non-terrestrial artifacts” nonwithstanding,) there is a tantalizing idea cropping up in a number of recent and upcoming films and television programs. (See: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Prometheus, Ancient Aliens.) This concept, simply, involves the […]

Summer Hits: Martian Water, Asteroid Nukes, Orbital Antimatter!

Here’s a recap of some of this summer’s greatest hits in space news that you might have missed: Water on Mars In an utterly tantalizing development, scientists analyzing imagery from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have announced what appears for all the world to be direct evidence of water on Mars! Because the MRO has […]

“Planet X” lost in space?

Researchers at the University of Kansas and the Smithsonian Institute have performed one of the most extensive analyses of Earth’s past extinction patterns to date. So, what did researchers Adrian Melott and Richard Bambach conclude? Planet X cannot exist. Planet X, also known as Nemesis, is a proposed “dark” (i.e. dim) companion star to the […]

Humanity’s outpost in the sky

A short note this morning on humanity in the cosmos. In the above image, an outstanding French photographer managed to capture what otherwise would have whipped by in the blink of an eye. For an instant on May 22nd, the International Space Station (ISS) and the docked Atlantis orbiter (space shuttle) moved between Earth and […]