Does the US have what it takes to put a man on Mars?

Carl Sagan once said "All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct." a truly pesimestic or hopeful opinion depending on your point of view. It only took eight years for JFK’s dream to land a man on the moon to be fulfilled, but plans to to land a man on is going to take just that little bit longer -24 years to be exact. Casey Kazan writing in The Daily Galaxy blog puts down this caustic but fair "glove" asking in a recent post does the Us have "the right stuff" to get a human footprint on the surface of Mars.

Kazan isn't putting any new information on the table and even less speculation. What he is doing is putting all the most important interest points together and the general opinions help by the general populace. All the major mission facets from returning to the moon to stepping off on Mars with comment on what equipment and other problems have to be overcome to get this mission "off the ground and flying" Nothing new, except maybe a clear set of eyes and for that reason, I would give the article a read to get a well rounded look at the problems facing NASA as it pushes for a Mars landing

Swift discovers a Magnetar?!

Shaun loves to find the strange when it comes to astronomy. As we have seen with some of his earlier stories on BMU (*Last Light, Hubble, Curtain Call) and this discovery is no exception.

On June 10, 2007, a spike of gamma-rays lasting less than five seconds was detected by NASA's Swift satellite. But this high-energy flash wasn't a gamma-ray burst - which would herald the formation of a black hole. During the next three days, the object brightened and faded in visible light 40 times! Eleven days later, it flashed again, this time at infrared wavelengths. Then, it disappeared from view.

Astronomers think the object was a neutron star -- the crushed core of a massive star that long ago exploded as a supernova. A team of 42 scientists have concludes that the object is a special type of neutron star called a magnetar, of which only a dozen have been discovered so far.

Although measuring only about 12 miles across -- neutron stars have the strongest magnetic fields in the cosmos. magnetars may have magnetic fields more than 100 times the strength of typical neutron stars.

So what caused this particular magnetar to put on such a dazzling show? Neutron stars have massive gravities as well as incredible fast rotation. Mix that with the ultra strong magnetic field and you have the makings of what is called a star quake. These quakes are so strong that they fracture the surface of the magnetar and eject huge amounts of energy which is spun up by the magnetic fields.

> NASA's Swift Web site

*these stories and many others by Shaun Saunders can be found in his book Navigating the New World are available from Anti Sf

Is the Planet Trapped in a Space-Time Bubble?

Here is a story that has science fiction written all over it. The question: Is the Planet Trapped in a Space-Time Bubble? Now how, are you asking, did we arrive at THAT bizarre conclusion? Let me explain. In a recent article published in the Daily Galaxy the argument was made for some of the odd actions that far off galaxies and other object exhibit. Really far off object seem to be expanding away from Earth. Every far off object, no matter what direction you look in is moving away. Forever expanding. Weider still they ALL are accelerating. Now most astronomers almost to a person will put forth that there is an unseen force and "dark matter" that is between every galaxy and there for producing a force that is pushing these objects away. Some recent discoveries have even shown, if not directly, made a very convincing argument for the existence of dark matter. Now comes the weird twist. It's well known that our region of space is remarkably devoid of matter. Yes, there are stars and planets where ever we look. But outside our local area there is a veritable vacuum containing almost no matter. Some scientists have put forth that this lack of matter can "warp" our perception of the space around us. If this is the case then light coming through this void would be distorted in such a manner as to make it appear as though far reaching objects were moving away from us in an ever accelerating manner. One experiment that can help clear up this inconsistency is the upcoming Joint Dark Energy Mission, planned by Mission and the US Department of Energy, and set to launch in 2014 or 2015, hopes to measure the expansion of the universe precisely by observing a large number of supernovae.

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Fox buys a whole season of Fringe

Just about everyone from TV Squad on down is plastering the blogosphere with the news that Fox Tv has made the move and has bought the remaining episodes for the first season if its' hit series Fringe. After just four episodes the show continues to gain an audience share making it the number one new show. For those of you that have not caught the program yet, its about an
BI Special Agent who during an investigation is asked to be part of an inter-agency task force. With the help of an Einstein class genius who just happened to be in a mental hospital for 17 years, his estranged son whom he hasn't talked to for an equal amount of time, a Homeland Security Agent who seems to be part of a much larger secret agency and a multi billion dollar corporate executive that may be aiding but more likely is part of a huge conspiracy. The conspiracy? Think X Files only with weird science, corporate intrigue, time travel? and aliens (well maybe aliens...not sure what is going on yet)

I just couldn't get into XFiles but Fringe yanked me in and held my interest. Maybe it the strange quasi sceince that is uncovered from week to week. Big corporations fighting over scientific resources is nothing new, but a female corporate shark seems to spice things up. I am glad that Fox gave this strange/quirky new show an extention. It's worth the attention.

Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles still on chopping block?

From TV Squad comes the persistent rumor that SCC may still be meeting an untimely end at the hands of Fox tv schedulers. There are reports that the network is going to cancel the Monday night show because of bad ratings worse than FOX expected. The show is down 34% from last year. Even the 18-49 demo loved by networks and advertisers aren't watching the show.

Reviews and fans seemed to have drifted away from the show. I for one look for it. If I miss it on TV then I hit it on the Fox site. Maybe that is where Fox might be dropping the ball. There are no ads on any of the SCC shows, which I find it hard to believe that no one can be found to throw money at the show? Are the watchers of the online version even counted? Besides that, I think Allison from Palmdale was a great show. I was never quite sure who the off camera interrogator was until the very end of the program. There is still some indication that John's "repair" boardered on a reset instead of fix. The head on a pike line was chilling. I hope they don't axe the show too quickly. I'm really getting into it.