Everything You Wanted to Know About BEAM but Were Afraid to Ask

Humanity’s first human-habitable inflatable spaceship, (or as those in the industry prefer to call it, “expandable” spacecraft), is soon to launch off-world. Tucked inside a Dragon cargo transport‘s “trunk” and perched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, this momentous departure targets the International Space Station (ISS) and is slated to occur today. The precious expandable […]

Recalling Dr. Edgar Mitchell

We recently lost one of humanity’s pioneers – one of twelve to step on another world and a man who made a distinct impact on me, though in an unexpected way. Famous for his belief in extraterrestrial life and dabbling in the science of consciousness and extrasensory perception, he is most widely known for […]

“Astronaut Politics” Meme

One of the universally-championed benefits of human space exploration is not actually related to any physical activities performed while in space. Instead, an important aspect of leaving our world is the change in perception that space exploration has upon astronauts themselves, and the societies that receive them, upon their return. Irrespective of country of origin, […]

Hacking Classrooms via Mars

A short report today on the inspiring Mars Education Hackathon I recently had the good fortune to be invited to attend in San Francisco. Hosted by the Mozilla Foundation, digital studio MX, and local PBS affiliate KQED, the two-day blitz included six ad hoc project teams – fresh and interdisciplinary collaborations between planetary scientists, computer […]

Treatise: Abandoning OldSpace’s Conceit

Space Exploration is suffering an identity crisis. Like atmospheric flight before it, space exploration is evolving to include a spectrum of public and private participants, motivations, and goals. However, even amongst space enthusiasts and professionals, there is much (mostly friendly – I’ll get to that) debate regarding just what exactly it is that qualifies as […]

Why Support Human Spaceflight?

It seems that an eternal question plagues conversations about the future of commercial or governmental spaceflight: “To man (a spacecraft), or not to man?” -This query is one I am often posed when I reveal my own spaceflight ambitions. Many wonder why we bother with the incredible expense of sending humans off-world when critics argue that 1) […]

Calling the Space Privateers

Today, I’d like to offer a rejoinder to Michael Hanlon’s article from The Telegraph a couple of weeks back, entitled, “There’s only one question for NASA: Is anybody out there?” In it, Hanlon offers an argument against regular human space exploration in favor of dedicated robotic missions devoted exclusively to astrobiology research. Whether via orbiters, landers, rovers, or […]

Revisiting Schmitt’s National Space Exploration Administration

Nearly a year ago, famed geologist, former United States Senator, and former Apollo Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt recommended what to many was the utterly unthinkable: Dissolve NASA. To be frank, I agree with him. While to those who have paid even a passing visit to this blog, such an admission may seem completely counter-intuitive. But the reality […]

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 […]

Looking forward to 2012

At a year’s close, before looking ahead, one can’t help but become a little retrospective. 2011 was a big one for me. Looking back, this year included a regular fleet of red-letter firsts: We celebrated the birth of my first child, Grayson. I decided to stick my toes into the NewSpace entrepreneurial maelstrom and started my […]