Wow! Almost at the end of “100 Days of Science.” People keep asking what I’ll do at the end, and I still don’t know. I do know that I’ll take a two-week reprieve, at least from daily posting, while I go visit some family members. I also know that I have a very exciting announcement to [...]
What does Antarctica have to do with a mission to search for Earth-like planets around other stars? Maybe not much, usually. But yesterday, NASA’s Kepler mission sent back its first images of the patch of the Milky Way where it will stare for the next three-plus years, hunting for planets in the habitable zones around [...]
Well, I tried to take an evening off! After checking out the Great Moonbuggy Race at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville yesterday, I drove just out of town to Monte Sano State Park. The website advertised trails and primitive camp spots — all I needed, I thought, to stop thinking and writing [...]
The weather cooperated swimmingly for the Great Moonbuggy Race in Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday. The moonbuggies, not always. It’s challenging, after all, to model a craft after lunar rovers — combining featherweight gear with the durability to withstand craters, gravel pits and undulating erosional features called rills. Teams from high schools and colleges across the [...]
I saw a few great April Fool’s jokes today, but this one at NASA Watch really got the prize: “Pluto is Now Just a Fairly Large Rock” With perfect mock-serious delivery, blog author Keith Cowing reported it like straight news — given the growing number of solar system bodies in Pluto’s neighborhood, the beleaguered little [...]
