BMU 449 is online with a story "Deep Web" from David Scholes

welcome to Beam Me Up, episode 449.



This week I gripe about the lack real news or at least news that isn’t focused on death and depravity!

I take a break and play “Luna Industries” theme music for the movie “Moon”.

From there I found an article describing the sling shot effect that the larger planets have on smaller craft.

The Keplier space telescope has made a startling new discovery.

Finally, David Scholes’ story “Bad Dreams” finishes out the week.

Enjoy

Kepler Space Telescope Finds Most Earthlike Planet Yet

NASA's  Kepler space telescope has spotted the most Earth-like alien planet yet discovered.

The XO planet is designated Kepler-452b.  This Earth-like planet is only slightly larger than Earth and orbits a sun-like star at about the same distance Earth circles the sun.

Other small, possibly habitable exoplanets have been discovered, but those previous finds orbit red dwarfs, stars much smaller and cooler than the sun.

The Kepler-452b system resides 1,400 light-years away (Just for giggles the number 5865696 followed by 6 zeros and that is how many miles light travels in just 1 year. So you do the math by timing that already huge number by how many light years K-452b is from Earth).

Kepler 452b is about 60 percent wider than Earth and the planet is probably about five times more massive than our own, making it what astronomers call a "super Earth",most likely possessing a thick atmosphere, lots of water, active volcanoes and a "year" lasting 385 days, only slightly longer than Earth's.

Kepler-452b orbits a sun like star that's just 10 percent bigger and 20 percent brighter Sol. It would feel very much like Earth.

For more check out the Space.com link

Rick and Morty

Just a quick reminder here everyone. Rick and Morty, (one of my favorite shows), will be returning Sunday night on Adult Swim at 11:30pm eastern time. They need to be starting on season 3 now. Because if 2 is as good as 1, there will be another season, and I am almost willing to bet, it's going to be better this season.

     Told you I'd be back for anything good or really interesting I found. This is just an update, but an important one. And I'll be back fully again this winter. Oh winter, please get here. (Seriously, I really miss this place). Come on winter. Set me free.

Ice Mountains on Pluto

Icy mountains on Pluto are among the several discoveries announced Wednesday by Nasa's New Horizons team, just one day after the spacecraft’s first ever Pluto flyby.

A new close-up image of an equatorial region near the base of Pluto’s bright heart-shaped feature shows a mountain range with peaks jutting as high as 11,000 feet above the surface of the icy body.

Philae Lander Phones Home Again

 The European lander Philae has once again contacted Earth after more than two weeks of silence.

Philae now on the surface of  Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko once again sent data to its Rosetta mothership.

Philae has had a rough start to its' cometary exploration mission. When it arrived at comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, aboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, drift off course for two hours before a rough landing in a shadier spot. This ment less power to its solar panels which may explain why Philae went quiet for months.  

It wasn't until the comet drew closer to the sun that Philae chould get in touch with Rosetta on June 13, then falling silent once more on June 24.  However, a transmission on July 9 confirmed Philae was working.

The lander is now ready for work 186 million miles from Earth as the comet makes its closest approach to the sun.

New Horizon Probe Arrives at Pluto

It is easy to be amazed at the newest photo of Pluto.  Just the Herculean effort to get NASA's New Horizons probe 3 billion miles in 9 years, and then to take the clearest photos mankind has ever seen.  The photos it is now beaming back to Earth will be nothing short of stunning.

The spacecraft has made it closer to Pluto than any other in history, coming within 7,800 miles from the surface of the dwarf planet, snapping high-res photos in the process.  The photo above was taken July 13, I for one can not wait until the photos that New Horizon is beaming our way, are made available.

New Horizon is on a high speed pass and as such will not be sticking around long (a few hours at most), then it is off into the deep black of the Kuiper belt then deeper towards the Ort cloud.

BMU #448 is now online

This week I do a live gig! Mainly for the extra time to get the story "A Matter of Character" by Ed McKeown, ready.   It still had glitches, but not so bad. 

Next, from the blog  Kallimus says goodby for now.  

David Scholes tells us that his newest book is on  Amazon.  

NASA is showing great interest in Shackleton's crater.  

The Star Trek merch store has a new item that I am sure all Trekies would love to add to their collections.  

I review Jupiter acceding. 

Lastly:  I found an article that speculated on China's capabilities of landing a man on the moon. 

You can go to the podcast episode directly  HERE   or log to the podcast HERE

 

David Scholes just sent me a note concerning his newest book. He wrote:

The paperback version of my new book “Human Hunter and Other Science Fiction Stories” is now available on Amazon for $7.95: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1514245272

The e-book will be available shortly for the introductory price of $1.99. 

The book contains 20 varied, fast moving, and action packed science fiction and science fantasy short stories. These are: “There Will Not Be Time” ,“Grey Power – Consolidation”, “The Time House”, “Unexpected Visitor”,  “The Benefactor” ,“Bad Dreams” , “The Immortal  Equalizer”, “Interruption”,  “Deep Web”, “Living on Compressed Time”, “Even a Non Corporeal Can Get Lonely”, “The Facility”, “Social Experiment”, “Good Intentions”, “(In) Vulnerable World”, “New Generation”, “The Foreseer Scrolls”, “The Empress Voluvita” , “Dystopian Transcontinental Journey,” and my complete “Human Hunter” story arc.

NASA Considering "Luna"forming Moon

NASA is looking for funding for rather ambitious research projects.  One very unusual project concerns the moon and Shackleton (wow, those that listen to the podcast may well recognize that name) Crater.  NASA's plan is to send autonomous robots to transform the crater into an environment habitat to house the robots and associated equipment.  NASA is aiming at eventually turning the crater habitat into one that can also house human beings. 

Much more can be had at the Popular Science web page HERE

We are going to lose, badly/ And so long

     Yeah, you read that right. We went and did something really stupid; again. Megabot, the American company that just recently released their design to the world, went and challenged Japan, yes, I said Japan, to a robot duel. Is congress running this company? Suidobashi has now responded. They are in. And they have this to say, and I quote,

     "Just building something huge, and putting guns it. It's....Super American."

     And I have to agree with them. 

     The only chance we have, is for some total freak like me, that has wished for this from the time they knew what a robot was. 

     Fact is, Japan is going to kick our ass. And the worst part is; I'm on Japan's side here, all the way. What can you expect when I grew up with Astro, Johnny Sokko, my Japanese Sensei, etc. And still watching those and every new robot anime, and live action I can get. No choice for me here. I stand with Japan, all the way. And not just because I am sure they'll win. Even if I thought we could win, I'd still be with Japan. Giant robots and Japan go together, period. And they aren't living in insane fear of an AI takeover like the silliness we hear in this country and Europe.

     And now I say goodbye. I'm leaving BeamMeUp. Not for good, but for probably quite awhile. Too much happening and just no time to write or research folks. I haven't even been able to work on my own novel. It's why I haven't been around here much. I can't even keep up with Pluto info at present. (That alone should say how hectic life has become when I can't keep up with news on Pluto). But if something really good crosses my path, I'll get it up here, like this battle challenge. But for now, goodbye folks. You all take care, and have a blast. Live Long And Prosper my friends. So long for now.

Star Trek Communicator That Actually Works!

Ohhhhh Yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah  Here is a piece of tech that I suspect that many a fan will lust after. 

Right now, available for pre-order at the  Star Trek merchandise store. is a delightful piece of communication equipment.  

What am I going on about?  Well it is a Bluetooth reproduction of the Star Trek (first gen) communicator that really works by connecting through your phone.  

It doesn't come cheap however.  The original article quotes $149 dollars, but I imagine that hard core fan will still be all over this sweet piece of tech. 

Original Geek link

Review: Jupiter Ascending

 Cast

Mila Kuni as Jupiter Jones

Channing Tatum as Caine 

Sean Bean as Stinger 

Apini Douglas Booth as Titus Abrasax 

Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Famulus 

Terry Gilliam as the Seal and Signet Minister 

Charlotte Beaumont as Kiza 

Tim Pigott-Smith as Malidictes 

Edward Hogg as Chicanery 

Night Nikki 

Amuka-Bird as Diomika Tsing 

Vanessa Kirby as Katharine Dunlevy 

Maria Doyle Kennedy as Aleksa 

Christina Cole as Gemma Chatterjee 

The main plot revolves around Mila Kuni in the guise of Jupiter Jones, a cleaning woman who is disenchanted with her lot in life.  At least that is what I could glean from the first third of the film.  The plot seems to jump forwards and back in time, while characters come and go and change. 

It seems there is a worm hole in Jupiter's atmosphere  that is used by the "owner of Earth" to come and go as he pleases.  

I would love to tell you how much I loved this movie.  The CGI is great, costumes make sense and the special effects are mind bending.  But it is all attached to  an extraordinarily confusing screenplay. I really can not, in good conscience,  recommend Jupiter Ascending, its confusing, hard to follow and the end results are an unwatchable film. 

In best out of 10, I can only give it a five for visuals.  Maybe rent it if you are still curious, otherwise, just walk away.....


Additional comments by Kallimus

Have to agree. 99 cent movie rental at best. Don't waste even 2.99 on this one. Wait for it to show up for free, or a very cheap rental. Right on every count there. It should have been a great movie, and maybe would have been, if they had done it in two parts or so. A fair comparison I think would be trying to shove all three lord of the rings into one movie, and try to understand it then. Agree 110% on this one. 

Could China Land People on the Moon by 2020?

You have to admit, it's an intriguing idea, one that would really shake the US and NASA's asses up and get us into space with a vengeance. Especially if the rumors mentioned by Jason Torchinsky in his article for the blog Flight Club.

Jason writes that China is designing a new suit for it's Taikonauts, one that would be able to void liquid from inside the suit, outside for the purpose (only hearsay now, and yeah it IS a bit far fetched and damn unlikely) of pissing on our flag and footprints.

China lacks a man rated heavy launcher but in the down and dirty moon-launch a pair of Long March 2f rockets could be used with little or no modifications. The only truly new unit that would be needed in a landing unit capable of transporting men to the surface and returning them to orbit (think Luna excursion Module - LEM).

 

The complete article can be read HERE

Beam Me Up Podcast Episode 447 Now Online

Yep, Episode 447 of Beam Me Up is now available.

Articles from the blog here, stories include the conclusion of the English Dead and
In Plain Sight episode 34.

Plus Herb sets in to add to the mayhem.

Episode Link