The Future of Space Exploration

If there is one company I admire, it is SpaceX. Elon Musk's team not only makes space exploration cheaper by bringing the competitive prices of the private sector to government agencies, but they also try to innovate. Let's face it, today's rocket technology, in many sense, is old and hasn't changed much over the past decades. We still discard booster rockets, dumping billions of dollars into the ocean. And that is where SpaceX comes in with their vision of reusable rockets, of which they actually came pretty close last month when they almost landed a rocket on a barge, floating in the Atlantic ocean. It did not quite work out the way they hoped, but they are on track and the future is looking bright. Here is their vision that can become reality pretty soon. Sometimes I feel we truly live in an age of wonder!

Wanderers

The short movie below was made by Erik Wernquist. It is a vision of humanity's expansion into the Solar System, based on scientific ideas and concepts of what our future in space might look like, if it ever happens. The locations depicted in the film are digital recreations of actual places in the Solar System, built from real photos and map data where available.

Without any apparent story, other than what you may fill in by yourself, the idea with the film is primarily to show a glimpse of the fantastic and beautiful nature that surrounds us on our neighboring worlds - and above all, how it might appear to us if we were there. Oh, and did I mentioned that for the narration, Wernquist used one of Carl Sagan's speeches? ;)

Watch Penny for NASA's Latest Video

I have to apologize for being a little late with this, but I was unavailable in the past month due to some overseas traveling. This video is from the non profit organization, Penny for NASA, and I think is quite relevant (as always when it comes to science and technology). The video has been released a couple of weeks ago; so, I am a little late for the game, but I wanted to mention post anyway. Enjoy and share!

Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey Tomorrow!

Just a reminder: the reboot of Carl Sagan's iconic, 1980s TV series, Cosmos, will debut tomorrow (March 9.) on Fox at 9 p.m. EDT and Monday (March 10.) on National Geographic at 10 p.m. EDT. If we can believe the early previews that are circulating on the Internet, the show is everything we have been waiting for.

In the meantime, National Geographic will air (actually it already is) the original series during this weekend. Here is the complete schedule:

Saturday, March 8:
12 p.m. - The Shore of the Cosmic Ocean
1 p.m. - One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue
2 p.m. - Harmony of the Worlds
3 p.m. - Heaven and Hell
4 p.m. - Blues for a Red Planet
5 p.m. - Travellers' Tales

Sunday, March 9:
12 p.m. - The Backbone of Night
1 p.m. - Journeys in Space and Time
2 p.m. - The Lives of the Stars
3 p.m. - The Edge of Forever
4 p.m. - The Persistence of Memory
5 p.m. - Encyclopaedia Galactica
6 p.m. - Who Speaks for Earth?

"Somewhere, something incredible

is waiting to be known."

- Carl Sagan

One Year on Mars!

Exactly one year ago today, Curiosity has landed on Mars. Followed by the unblinking eyes of millions of people around the world, the rover began its career with a daring, never before seen maneuver: lowered onto the surface from a hovering rocket-powered skycrane. Although the landing was an incredible feat of engineering, it was only the beginning, the first step in an incredible journey to unravel the mysteries of the red planet. For all the science nerds out there, here are a few quick facts about Curiosity's first year on Mars:

Curiosity has...
... sent home over 71,000 images.
... traveled a little over a mile.
... fired more than 75,000 shots from its laser spectrometer.
... drilled into and analyzed 2 martian rocks.
... discovered ancient river beds.
... found evidence of PH-neutral water.

In the coming year, the rover will began its journey to Mount Sharp where layers of sedimentary rock promise a treasure trove of scientific data, a window back to a Mars very different from the one today. Although its destination lies about 5 miles from its current position, engineers at JPL hope to cover the distance in just under a year thanks to Curiosity's newly updated driving software. They will, of course, stop several times to do what they are the best at: science.

Lastly, here are two videos from the JPL team commemorating the landing and the 12 months that followed afterwords:

A Legend Reborn in 2014

About a year ago, the news of Seth MacFarlane’s (Family Guy, American Dad) intention to recreate the late Carl Sagan’s classic Cosmos series, the show that inspired so many of today’s scientists, came as a huge surprise. Some were skeptical, of course, but I think I can say with certainty that the majority of people welcomed the idea, perhaps hoping that the 2014 remake would have similar, far-reaching impacts as the original. The possibility is certainly there! Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan’s wife and co-writer of the original show, is actively involved with the remake, while the host will be none other than everyone’s favorite Neil deGrasse Tyson. Cosmos is quickly shaping to be one of the most anticipated TV shows of 2014 (well, at least among the scientifically inclined), and yesterday Fox released the first trailer:

Curiosity on Xbox Live

Ever wondered what it would be like to witness Curiosity’s landing? Well, thanks to the recent cooperation between NASA and Microsoft, you can not only do that now but also control the rover as it descends onto the Red Planet—so to speak. :)

From yesterday morning, the Kinect game “Mars Rover Landing” is available on Xbox Live free of charge. If you own an Xbox with a Kinect sensor, I recommend you go and check it out. The game is fun, looks great, and has quite a bit of educational value, not to mention the potential to get kids excited about science and space exploration!

The cooperation between the space agency and Microsoft, however, does not end with "Mars Rover Landing." The list of real life and online events commemorating Curiosity’s landing—of which I am updating continuously as new information comes out—gained a new entry, as Microsoft will also broadcast the event via Xbox Live!

We Stopped Dreaming - Episode II

Did you like the video I posted on March 22, called "We Stopped Dreaming?" Well, it received a second "episode," which I am quite eager to share. This new video also makes use of a speech from Neil deGrasse Tyson, and it is just as touching and thought-provoking as the previous one! If you care even a little about space exploration and/or science in general, make sure you share it!

We Stopped Dreaming

I promised myself I won't post any more space videos here. There are just so many of them, and I don't want my blog to be transformed into a video library. But this one is so powerful that I had to share it (make sure you do too).

Elon Musk and SpaceX on 60 Minutes

The only comment I would like add to this video is that I wish there were more people like Elon Musk on this world!

Las Vegas

The short movie below is the next in the series I began about a year ago. It gives tribute to Las Vegas, part of Day 7 of my Route 66 journal.

As always, the film is available in Full HD on YouTube; although this time it does not make that much of a difference as my camera were not too good at handling night shots and, unfortunately, it shows on the quality. Also, due to the song I used in the video (Little Less Conversation by Elvis Presley & JXL), the audio track is muted in Germany, for which I apologize.

Please give it a thumbs up and share it with others if you like it; thanks!

Our Future in Space

I would like to share a video today that is not exactly current—it was shot back in July at the annual TAM Conference in Las Vegas—but the validity of the topics discussed in it more than justify the delay. In fact, I think I am not exaggerating if I state that, for any person with even the slightest interest in space, science, and astronomy, this video is a must-watch!

It is basically a panel discussing, as the title suggests, humanity’s future in space. What makes this video unique, however, are: 1) The participants who are all world-renowned scientists and 2) The typically thought provoking topics they discuss—and their often conflicting viewpoints.

It is a little long—53 minutes—but well worth the time!

 

The Painted Desert

It took a while, but I have finally completed the next piece of my ongoing video series from around Route 66. This time, I would like to introduce the Petrified Forest National Park and the surrounding Painted Desert of Arizona, which you can read about in Day 6.

As always, the film is available in Full HD on YouTube (please give it a thumbs up and share it with others if you like it).

The Grand Canyon Movie

Below is a short film I made about my visit to the Grand Canyon. Although it is not readily apparent, the movie is part of my Route 66 series (it covers parts of day Six and Seven). For maximum enjoyment, use the HD option and watch it in full 1080p!

Total Lunar Eclipse Captured

This is a video of the Total Lunar Eclipse captured with Slooh's Chile telescope on December 21, 2010 from 0:28 a.m. CST to 4:01 a.m. CST. The clip is actually a series of 158 photographs aligned perfectly and then blended together to form a continuous sequence. Prepping the pictures and then making the video took me about 15 hours (it was a lot of work). Hope you all enjoy!

Nature's Glory: Sierra Nevada

Below is a short film I made about my visit to the Sequoia National Park in July, 2010. Enjoy!