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Space

U=(N/T)M*G: Debris

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The announcement of the mission extension for the ISS gives me mixed feelings. I mean, I love the Station. Wrote about it here a few times. Hell, wrote a whole trilogy on board the “little” thing. I’m such a nerd about it that I’ve got the Haynes manual. It’s a thing I plow through regularly. I’m pretty concerned about it though. Not the drama over Russia’s will they, won’t they attitude in regards to continuing with the Station’s mission. I always knew they’d keep on with the ISS. I’m talking about all the little bits and bobs of debris up … Read more

U=N/T(M*G): Core

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Planet in the light of the Galactic Core.

Once every couple of years, I get the wild hair to reread C. S. Friedman’s Coldfire trilogy. I love this story, no lie. It’s one of the best I’ve ever read and has some of the most complex characters I’ve ever seen. And the premise is amazing. In fact, it’s the premise that brings up this post. See, Coldfire trilogy is set on a planet called Erna close to the Galactic Core. Humans came and settled it a long time before the story starts (though you see pieces of what happened to the original settlers at the start of various … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Strands

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Like something out of Star Trek, or Star Trek fanfiction, this is one of those stranger than fiction moments. In fact, I think I’ve read this ST fanfiction. So, there’s cosmic threads cutting through the heart of our galaxy. A whole lot of other galaxies too. The fun part is no one knows what the hell they are. Galactic heartstrings? Road to Hell? Connections to a parallel dimension? No clue. Scientists think it might be from the black hole blowing out radiation, maybe. Honestly though, I think that’s the fun part. That point in time when we find a new … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Shaun

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It always surprises me when NASA is about to do something major, and their collective goofiness as people and nerds smacks me right in the face. The Artemis launch is one such example, though there have been many. The Mission Control mohawk guy is probably still one of my favorites. I have no doubt the Artemis mission will be a success, and with it humanity’s ambitious plan to set up the first major part of our path to Mars. It’s a wildly exciting time for space nerds like me and I’m vibrating in my chair with anticipation. A lot of … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: ISS

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I saw this in the news a few weeks ago and only got around to reading what was going on in the last couple of days. I gotta say, I’m pretty damned sad its come to this. Russia has decided it will no longer participate in the ISS after 2024. This ISS is an amazing triumph for humanity, not just the US and Russia. It was a symbol of hope for a lot of people, that no matter what drama was happening on the political stage, those who could actually do good for our world were still working together without … Read more

Telling ET Friend From Foe

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Despite the naive storylines about interstellar travel in science fiction, biological creatures were not selected by Darwinian evolution to survive travel between stars. Such a trip would necessarily span many generations, since even at the speed of light, it would take tens of thousands of years to travel between stars in our galaxy’s disk and 10 times longer across its halo. If we ever encounter traces of aliens, therefore, it will likely be in the form of technology, not biology. Technological debris could have accumulated in interstellar space over the past billions of years, just as plastic bottles have accumulated … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Ground

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Lot of stuff happening here on Earth. We’ve got all eyes on every corner of out little mud ball and it’s a pretty mixed bag of news. New variants and new launches to the ISS. Tardigrades and Bezos in space. Hell, we’ve even got Disney cycling back to their evil empire ways. So I’m gonna change pace a little and direct your eyes, or thoughts anyway, over to the ground game of two other planets. Yep. Our neighbors, Mars and Venus. Sure, their parties are a little more subdued than ours currently, but they’re still partying. Well, I say subdued, … Read more

FOR READERS & WRITERS: Getting There From Here

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FOR READERS & WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Scott: Today, we’re talking about how we might reach another planet or star. Nothing’s off limits here. Readers, share your favorite solutions from books you’ve read. Writers, tell us about how you get us there. Writers: This is a reader/writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat: FB: https://bit.ly/1MvPABVMeWe: https://bit.ly/2mjg8lf

FOR WRITERS: Mission to Mars

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FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Scott: Our article of the day is all about three unmanned missions arriving at Mars this week. So for our discussion – authors, what might they find? And what have you written about the Red Planet? Writers: This is a writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat: FB: https://bit.ly/1MvPABVMeWe: https://bit.ly/2mjg8lf

U=(N/T)M*G: Asymmetry

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Not gonna lie, spiders are both really curious to me and creepy as hell. Just my opinion and I’m not making a judgement on anyone who likes these little guys. They aren’t my jam, that’s all. However, they’re very interesting once I get past the makes-my-scalp-crawl part. So, here’s a content warning for anyone who doesn’t like spiders: the links have spiders. You’re warned. When the news piece that spawned this little post came across my feed, I scrolled down quick because spider! But then my brain kicked in and I remembered seeing space in the headline. What I found … Read more