After 3 failed attempts, SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) has launched their Falcon 1 launch vehicle into earth orbit. This is a big step for commercial space launches, and SpaceX isn’t finished. They plan to have Falcon 9 ready to launch next year, which will be able to provide manned spaceflight for NASA to the ISS with the Dragon module until the Orion project is up and running. This is very exciting news!

Watch the launch here:

New Horizons is still a long way away from Pluto.  It won’t arrive until July 14, 2015.  So, what can we do in the meantime?  We can watch the New Horizons Real-Time Simulation!  You can watch as the numbers count down in real-time.  As of this time, New Horizons is 35.934% of the trip to Pluto by distance, but only 27.98% by time.  Also, it is 1 hour and 31 minutes away from Earth by light time.  It has travelled 12.617 AU and has 22.494 AU to go.  Next big event is March 18, 2011, when it crosses Uranus’ orbit.  By the way, New Horizons is travelling at 64,257 km/h.  That’s fast!

It’s amazing what technology can do today.  The internet has provided the world a way for people to communicate with anyone anywhere in the world.  It has also given us a way to find any information we need, go shopping, be entertained, read news, and more.  Well, for those of you who frequent fark.com, one user, joe8122 has appealed to the users of Fark for donations for his 9 year old son, Brett, who has a very rare form of brain cancer.  The treatment, which is in clinical trials, has shown to be very effective in putting the cancer into remission.  However, they need $100,000 for the treatment, as Medicaid won’t pay for it.  Thanks to the efforts of Fark members, they have made over $30,000.  Their story has been covered by Tuscaloosa News, thanks to Fark.  But they still need more help.  For more information, check out their website.

One thing that this has shown is that Fark actually does have a lot of decent, generous people.  I’m shocked!

/slashies

I recently had a comment on my future planetary probes post about another planned mission to Mars. From the Open Space Exploration Journal:

AMSAT-DL, the German chapter of the international amateur satellite organization AMSAT, is set to prove this in late 2010 to early 2011, when their P5-A probe is to launch from the Earth to begin a year-long voyage towards our closest planetary neighbor, Mars.

If an open source space probe could be made, anyone with money could use the design and send their own probes to other planets. Read more at the Open Space Exploration Journal. Thanks to afeder, who wrote the article. This is very interesting!

I while ago, I did a post about space probes currently on their way to planets or currently at the planets. Well, here’s the follow-up. Now, enjoy finding out about future planetary space probes that have yet to be launched.

Mercury has a pair that will be going in 2019. BepiColumbo is a cooperation of JAXA and ESA, and it is the next probe to go to Mercury. The European component, Mercury Planetary Orbiter, will map the entire surface of Mercury. The Japanese component, the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, will study the magnetosphere of Mercury, which is unusually strong for such a small planet. A European lander has been cancelled.

Venus has 4 planned missions. First, in 2010, will be JAXA’s orbiter called PLANET-C. Its mission is infrared surface imagine and a search for lightning and volcanism. In 2013, NASA plans to send a lander, Venus In-Situ Explorer. It will examine a core sample, and study the minerals on the surface. This is not approved yet, though. In 2016, Russia is planning Venera-D. It’s going to map the surface, as well as look for future landing sites. Not much information is in English about this project. Another planned lander is Venus Surface Explorer, to be launched by NASA in 2020. However, it’s only a concept at the moment.

On to the Moon. To be launched next month is India’s Chandrayaan I. It will map the surface’s chemical composition, as well as 3D topography. Many space agencies have contributed to this mission. Later in 2008 or early 2009 is NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. It’ll provide a very detailed map of the Moon, much in the way that MRO has done for Mars. It will be very useful for searching for future landing sites. I’m very interested in this mission. LRO will also be bringing LCROSS to the Moon, an impactor that will go to the Moon’s permanently dark south polar craters. And finally, in 2009 is China’s Chang’e 2. It will map the surface of the Moon.

Mars’ future is busy. First is NASA’s 2010 launch of Mars Science Laboratory. It’s a large rover. Much bigger than any other Mars rover. And it will have a lot of scientific instruments, will do a lot of research, and will travel farther than any other rover has traveled. Scoops, drills, you name it, it has it. It will also be searching for evidence of past or present life. In 2013 will be ESA’s ExoMars. It will explore the surface of Mars, studying various things such as possibility of life and safety of future manned missions to Mars. Under study is a 2016 launch of NASA’s Astrobiology Field Laboratory. It’s specifically designed to search for the chemistry involved in life. And finally is the 2018 launch of the NASA/ESA Mars Sample Return Mission. It will probably be an orbiter, lander and rover. Basically, it’s designed to return a sample to Earth.

Mars’ own moon Phobos is getting a probe. In 2009, Phobos-Grunt is expected to be launched. The Russian probe will be a sample return mission. This will be launched with China’s Yinguo-1 probe to Mars. However, not much is known about that mission. It will study the magnetosphere and ionosphere interaction with space.

Jupiter’s future isn’t so busy. The planned 2016 NASA launch of Juno to Jupiter will study the planet’s composition, gravity field, magnetic field and polar magnetosphere. It will help scientists understand the formation of the planets and solar system.

Now to skip 2 planets. Neptune has a 2030 NASA mission under study. The Neptune Orbiter will study the planet, the rings and moons, Triton in particular.

That’s about it for now. There are other missions under study, particularly ones to Europa, Enceladus, Titan and Venus. But they are not finalized, and are still under study. Some will not be chosen, as they are in competition with each other for funding.

There’s a video on Youtube that makes the absurd argument about how if the Big Bang was true, then everything would be pulled apart, including our solar system.  Well, this post isn’t about that.  It’s about the video’s discussion.  That is, the comments are pending approval, and the only comments that get approved are ones that support the creationist’s video.  Any form of debate is prevented.  Why?  Probably because the creationist is afraid that someone who actually knows something about science will say something contrary to their argument.  But, I guess it’s useless to argue against fundamentalists.  They’ll believe what they believe and push logic and reason aside.

The word of God is truth?  The word of God was written by people.  People write books.  I guess any old book could be thought of as truth.  Imagine if Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were the Bible.  I have to wonder what religion would be like.

Why do you hate the world so much?  You seem to act like the world is your playground and you can do whatever you want.  Well, now you’re taking the scientists out of the equation when determining whether to develop where protected species live.  Basically, you removed the experts.  Developers can just build without waiting for an assessment by federal agencies and scientists.  I’ll be happy when you’re out of office, and someone who is actually competent takes over the presidency.  Dubya, you are the worst president in American history.  It amazes me how you could have been re-elected 4 years ago.  Are you getting paid off by developers for making this asinine decision?  Clinton went through impeachment for an extra-marital affair.  What does Bush get?  Nothing at all, and he broke many international laws.  Bush, you are a criminal, plain and simple.

Phoenix is returning some information that makes me happy. The conditions on Mars make it favourable to support life. That is, the soil and water that is there can make it possible to grow Earth plants on Mars. According to an article at SpaceRef.com, Mars has a possibility of being habitable to life. There is plenty of water, which has been analyzed by Phoenix. The soil has a chemistry that makes it possible to grow some plants. This does not mean that life exists on Mars now or in the past. But it means that when humans go to Mars, we can use the soil and water to grow food and to get drinking water. We could have a self-sustaining colony. Now, the only problem we need to solve is solar radiation. Mars’ weak magnetic field won’t block the solar radiation, which would kill the plants. In a properly shielded habitat, it would be possible. Now, my question is, can we terraform? From what I’ve heard, we’ll be able to grow plants there. This is exciting for the future!

I’ll be brief. Just watching a CBS documentary about the Lord’s Boot Camp where kids have do religion related activities in preparation for going to third world countries to help people (more likely try to convert the people to Christianity in addition to trying to help them). What saddens me is to see some of these kids say things like this: “I can’t believe there are people who believe in these things like the Big Bang and evolution and crazy stuff like that.” And then there was a former Atheist who said that it was hard to give up believing in evolution and science. One kid actually doesn’t care about the religion, she just wanted to go to Africa to help kids. She just went through the whole thing for that. The leader of the boot camp said that they are just bringing truth to these kids. I’d like him to say why he knows it’s the truth. Meanwhile, there are a bunch of kids in the USA who are going around to talk to kids age 10-19, and basically try to convert them to Christianity. One kid said that she felt sorry for people who wouldn’t take her survey. The kid talked to a Mormon, and said to her that she will pray for her to be a Christian. The Mormon’s mother was not at all happy!

I’d like to say one thing. If you are feeling sorry for me for not believing there is a god, please don’t. Don’t feel sorry for me. I don’t need your pity. I’m happy with my life, and I feel very fortunate to have the life I have. God didn’t give me life, my parents did. God isn’t in my heart, my family is. It’s the way I want to live, so please don’t try to change it.

Anyway, one thing that really struck me about this documentary is that some of these kids were against science. People who believe in science are crazy, apparently.

So, did we really go to the moon? There are some people who think the Apollo missions were a hoax. They talk about how it must have been done in a studio, they argue about how things are all wrong with the mission by using “science” and so-called “logic.” Well, here’s a video that will convince everyone that it was a hoax.

Now, I hope that you’ve watched it completely and agree with me……ok, never mind. We did go to the Moon. This video was, of course, a joke. But a very funny one that mocks the hoax theory believers. I laughed quite a bit when I saw this.

Now, let’s get back to the Moon and start living there!