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 […]

Remembering September 12, 1962

Exactly a half-century ago today, President John F. Kennedy declared in a landmark speech America’s rationale for achieving the impossible: Going to the Moon. And it is in this speech, which we commemmorate on the day after another anniversary marked by such tragedy, in a social climate today burdened with so much loss, strife, and economic depression, […]

The Science Behind “Chasing UFOs” – Episodes 7 and 8

Well, so I’ve gotten a little behind here on the personal blog, life’s unexpected twists and turns being what they are. However, for completeness’s sake, I’m including links to my final two web contributions to the National Geographic Channel’s TV series, “Chasing UFOs.” Without getting nostalgic, it’s been a heck of a ride. Based on […]

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 […]

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 […]

Spaceflight simulators, space games, and STEM

For those who aren’t familiar, “STEM” is a particularly hot-button acronym in the professional space education community these days that stands for, “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.” These are the college degrees and professions that ultimately keep the economy, innovation, and space exploration in particular going. These are also the fields that have been suffering […]

Xenoarchaeology Critical Mass

Xenoarchaeology Rising 2011 has been a good year for the nascent pursuit of xenoarchaeology as serious science. After beginning a conversation with a 2010 Viewpoint article I authored in the journal Space Policy, which was intended as a broad, conceptual justification for the further development of xenoarchaeology as a field, I was rewarded with a generally favorable review […]

Japanese lunar light farming

Definition of mixed emotions: Reading an ambitious plan recently released by the Shimizu Corporation of Japan that effectively wields fear of radiation to incentivize lunar colonization for solar power generation. Wow. While I abhor anything that preys upon the irrational fear of nuclear energy, I’m all for the use of solar power. (I’d like to make the ironic […]

NASA exploration goal to be announced

A NASA media advisory released yesterday alerted the world to what may be a landmark announcement later this afternoon. Specifically, the advisory states that an agency decision has defined the need for a human “deep space” transportation system. What does this tell us? Well, if we visit NASA’s exploration website, the first story would have […]

Finding the incentive to settle space…

To many, the outward expansion of humanity into the cosmos is inevitable. It seems that a portion of our population is (and has always been) innately possessed of a drive toward the frontier, wherever that might be at the time… Whether venturing to the New World, exploring the farthest reaches of the Earth’s poles, probing the abyssal oceanic depths, or rocketing […]