"What Earth Would Look Like with Saturn's Rings" is a YouTube video that gives Earth its own ring system. It provides views of the planet and rings from space ... but then takes it a step further and shows what the rings would look like from the planet's surface (a thin edge rising through the sky on the equator, a wide band near the poles). Very, very cool.
According to CNN, thirty-two new planets have been discovered outside of our solar system, bringing the grand total to 400. I've got to say that as a science fiction geek and space enthusiast, I love that we live in a world in which we've confirmed the existence of so many exoplanets. I can't wait until we reach the next stage: identifying terrestrial planets with Earth-like atmospheres.
According to Reuters.com, NASA's Ares 1-X rocket -- the proposed successor to the space shuttle, and a scaled down version of the rocket that could return the U.S. to the moon -- is being rolled out to its launch pad. It's scheduled to be launched on October 27th and you can be sure I'll be near a computer to watch a live stream on that day. I can still remember Columbia's maiden launch, and if this rocket (and its descendants) really do return us to the Moon, the asteroids and Mars, then this launch could be every bit as monumental.
I should note that I'm not personally in favor of a renewed moon program; given the end game of reaching Mars, it seems to me that deep space missions to near-Earth asteroids are a better use of resources (especially given how asteroids and comets have a nasty history of actually hitting the Earth, where as the Moon is ever-so-slowly getting further away from us). Sinking trillions into a moon won't bring us any closer to Mars, and it certainly won't help with the deep space experience we need to actually get to Mars.
Regardless of its initial destination, I'm sure that the launch is going to be one hell of an impressive display ... and there's no way I'm missing it.
I offered a plan to save Heroes. It looks like SciFi Wire's ready to grab their shovels. This review of the series to date, and the first episode of the "Redemption" arc, echos my own sentiments (and those who've commented here). The general sense I get from the comment thread is either "I'm done with it" or "I've come this far ... I must watch it until the end." No one seems particularly pleased with the series opener, which isn't surprising; it's less of shot to the series' heart, than it is a gentle kick to a recently deceased corpse.
My column about science fiction folks worth following on Twitter is up on SciFiWire.com. It's a pretty expansive list, with 18 people in the main story, and another five that didn't make the active list, but were still worth noting. This pretty big project -- you wouldn't think it would be, Twitter being Twitter -- but it takes a goodly amount of time to find, follow and read this amount of Twitter feeds (actually, there were more than this during the research phase).
According to SF Scope, Realms of Fantasy is going to be with us a while longer. Sovereign Media has sold the magazine to Tir Na Nog Press, which will continue publishing it.
It's good news -- I'd hate to see another genre fiction market fold -- but I have to admit that while I've seen it on news stands, I've never bought it. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy a good fantasy story but I find that when it comes to short fiction, I prefer scifi. Still, good news is good news (particularly in this economy) now that it's gotten a new lease on life, I might just pick up a copy.
NASA is retiring the space shuttle fleet in 2010 and is actively looking for museums and other organizations interested in displaying one of the historic spacecraft, according to this CNN article. They don't come cheap -- NASA is looking for $42 million for mothballing and transporting one of the orbiters. Engines not included; you'll need to buy those separately.
No, I'm not talking about those Space Balls.
NASA will be landing the truck-sized Mars Research Laboratory on Mars in Fall 2009. If the Swedes have their way, the gigantic rover will be accompanied by a number of ball-shaped probes that will roll around the larger probe. The idea is that the balls can go places the rover can't, and that their round shape will prevent them from getting stuck.
It all reminds me of the probes that used to orbit seaQuest DSV (yes, I used to watch seaQuest). Sure, we're talking sand instead of water, but it's the same basic idea, and very cool either way.
Bulky space suits are so 20th Century. This is the 21st and those with enough cash can book suborbital tourist flights and round-trip visits to the International Space. So why hit the final frontier wearing yesterday's rags? This article on CNN discusses how the embryotic space tourism biz (which I'm sure will come out of hibernation just as soon as folks can afford its sky-high prices again) could inspire future fashions.
One of the exceedingly cool things about living in the time we live in is this: some of the really hardcore science fiction ideas of the past 50 years are becoming technically possible. Now they may not be practical, but I find it amazing that we can seriously contemplate building something like a space elevator.
This article on CNN talks about a world-wide conference being held in Japan this fall to discuss the feasibility of such a project. As the article states, the space elevator was first suggested by Arthur C. Clarke in his novel The Fountains of Paradise in 1979. It's shown up in other novesl since then; the most memorable one I can remember is Kim Stanley Robinson's martian space elevator in Red Mars (a technological feat made easier by the Red Planet's lower gravity; the elevator's fall from orbit during the Martian revolution is one of the book's most amazing scenes.