When Chris and Karen take Sea Monkey to Disney World, Dad can get some first-hand space sim experience. Perfect family vacation, and Aunt Deana can come along too.

NASA reported Thursday that they’ve found a really old planet, three times older than Earth and only a bit younger than the universe.

By now you may have heard of the discovery of a new planetary system that looks a whole lot like our own. It’s 90 light years away, but as a wise man once said, “that’s peanuts to space.” Seriously, 90 light years is the kind of distance we’ll be able to travel in a few months (relative) once we get the basics of interstellar flight taken care of.

Even better, seeing a solar system like our own so close to home makes it even more likely that we’ll find one with Earth-like life sometime fairly soon. That’s why I like reading this:

ESA is leading the way with its Darwin mission to analyse the atmospheric composition of Earth-like planets. This flotilla of six space telescopes will launch in around 2014.

How very 21st century!

SpaceDaily has an interesting opinion piece about NASA’s role in the future of space exploration. Most intriguing is the author himself; he’s a scientist who was part of the Apollo program, which gives him real credibility in these matters.

UPDATE: I think this is the leading edge of a group of dire, bitter pronouncements about NASA. Just remember, folks, NASA isn’t the only way into space.
Continue reading →

“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.”

– Carl Sagan
From “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space,” Random House, 1994