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So where are the extraterrestrial beings?
Not so very long ago, astronomers were theorising about life on practically every planet in the solar system whereas today the Earth is sometimes envisaged as the only haven for living beings... have the extraterrestrial beings disappeared in-between times?
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The rapid growth of New Space
For several years, entrepreneurs have been aspiring to develop a new approach to the space industry and targeting a reduction in launch costs. Is the private sector going to revolutionise human space flight?
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Avatar’s Venture Star
The spaceship from James Cameron’s film is far less fanciful than it appears and even plausibly deals with several problems posed by interstellar travel.
Mercury’s map
Launched in August 2004, NASA’s Messenger probe has completed 3 Mercury flybys, the last being in September 2009 (it is to return to go into orbit around Mercury in 2011). The numerous pictures taken during these flybys at a few hundred kilometres from the closest planet to the Sun have been collated to produce a global map. Photographs taken during previous missions, including that of Mariner in the 1970’s, have also been used. This map of Mercury is the most accurate ever plotted; it covers 97.72% of the planet’s surface. It can be downloaded free of charge from the USGS, United States Geological Survey, website on this page.
Published on 28 December 2009
