Misc. – Page 26 – astroengine.com

Interview with World of Weird Things: Colonizing Space, at a Profit

A manned outpost, could be a reality if the business opportunities are there.

This morning I had a thought-provoking interview with Greg Fish, owner and writer for the superb website World of Weird Things. Greg wanted to get my insight to the world of commercial spaceflight and future colonization of other worlds, writing up a brilliant article called Colonizing Space, At A Profit based on my interview.

We examined the benefits mankind can reap from the exploration of space, but the responsibility of doing so is not exclusive to NASA or any other government-funded agency. The future of spaceflight rests in the hands of entrepreneurs, enthusiasts, and primarily, businessmen. Manned exploration of the Moon, Mars and the asteroid belt could open a new frontier of mineral exploitation, in turn opening a new era for mankind. It may be our best hope in the long-run to survive as a race.

We could be on the verge of a Solar System-wide “gold rush”, it just depends who will be the first to have the vision for such an endeavour.

“If you were the company to build the first colony on Mars, the planet is all yours for the taking,” – quote from Colonizing Space, At A Profit, on World of Weird Things

Thank you Greg for wanting to speak with me, and for preparing a very inspiring interview! Be sure to check out World of Weird Things, there are some very interesting articles and essays, delving into a huge array of topics, each written with a high degree of thought and intellect. A firm favourite on my reading list.

Astroengine Live #3: The Search for Life, What’s the Point?

Listen to Astroengine Live, today at 4pm PST (7pm EST).

Today’s Astroengine Live was going to be devoted to a discussion about the search for extraterrestrial life in the Universe, but the alien amoeba will have to make room for some news from the entire space blogosphere in this week’s Carnival of Space, plus a bonus look into the world of space tourism. Yesterday (Tuesday), I had the superb opportunity to attend XCOR’s press conference in Beverly Hills where a new partner was announced, my colleague Angela and I had a chat to a Shuttle astronaut and we found out a little more about the future of “cheap” (if you have $95,000 in your piggy bank that is) access to space.

So, tune in to WPRT Radio at 4pm PST to get your weekly dose of Astroengine Live!

Get Involved!

Is the search for extraterrestrials really worth it? How would mankind benefit if aliens were discovered? Have an opinion? Email me on astro@wprtradio.com and I’ll be sure to give you mention. Eventually, I hope to have telephone call-ins, but for now, email will do. For your reference, check out my article: The Search For Life, What’s the Point?. Feel free to comment on any points raised…

Listen to Astroengine Live using your default streaming audio player.

Addendum: Astroengine Live Email Address

Woops, it looks like I’ve been quoting the incorrect email address for my Astroengine Live radio show. Disregard the contact email address I have been quoting and update your address books with astro@wprtradio.com.

So, huge apologies for that, if you have sent any tips/research/articles/questions to any other email address apart from astro@wprtradio.com, I probably haven’t read it. So please re-send it to this correct address.

Remember, my live show will commence on Wednesday at 7pm EST (4pm PST) for it’s third episode! I will post an update later in the day about the content of the show.

If you have anything you want me to read/investigate/shout out on air, feel free to email me on astro@wprtradio.com and I will be sure to give you a mention.

Thanks and sorry again for the wrong address–it seems the tech gremlin that hit my laptop on my first show has crept into my brain too, hence the correction!

Hopefully speak to you soon!

Cheers, Ian

Carnival of Space Week 81 – Tiny Mantras

For this week’s “Happy Thanksgiving” Carnival of Space, we jet over to the excellent Tiny Mantras website, hosted by Tracy Zollinger Turner. Be sure to check out all the space blogosphere has to offer; everything from buried glaciers on Mars, Shuttle Endeavour’s STS-126 space station “home improvements” mission, using Uranus as a source of energy, to Astroengine’s musings about whether the “search for life” is a worth-while cause. Be sure to check it out, there’s way more cosmic goodness where that came from!

Enjoy! Cheers, Ian

Listen to Astroengine Live Today at 4pm PST

On Tuesday night I was resigned to the fact that episode #2 of Astroengine Live would be more Astroengine Recorded Yesterday.

The original plan was to drive to Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with family, heading out today. Therefore I’d miss doing Astroengine Live and I was working to record the show on Tuesday. All was fine… until it rained. Two hours later, the meaty storm hadn’t passed and we began getting newsflashes that it’s not a good idea to be driving anywhere, let alone 5 hours cross-state! So we decided an early morning road trip on Thursday might be a better plan.

So, Astroengine Live is back on and we’ll still make it to Vegas on time to eat turkey!

Tonight’s invigorated show will have a variety of space news and indepth topics of interest (with an extra special focus on the space blogosphere), so be sure to tune in to WPRT Radio at 4pm PST (7pm EST or midnight GMT)!

Listen to Astroengine Live!

If you listened to episode #1, you probably noticed a few technical glitches my end. Since then, I’ve slapped Windows Vista around a bit to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again. We will be in for clear airwaves and a show stacked with space science goodness, even if it is pouring outside. This time, I will actually record an archived version of the show…

As always, send me your titbits of news, especially if you find any small institution research you think I’d like. Fire an email to: astro@wprt.com and I’ll try to feature your stuff!

Cheers, Ian

Carnival of Space Week 80 – Starts With A Bang!

There is a decidedly festive theme about this week’s Carnival over at Ethan Siegel’s astrophysics blog. Somehow, he’s managed to associate each blog’s CoS posting with something from Thanksgiving – from turkeys to beer to homemade baked macaroni and cheese to a sickly-looking dessert… it’s all there with each post from around the space blogosphere scattered like tinsel over the proceeds.

If anything, go to Starts With A Bang! with your notebook ready, you’ll get some fine cooking tips. And if you don’t know what a Turducken-style turkey is, you’d better read on… it’s a feast for the eyes and I’m suddenly feeling very, very hungry!

Back to the space stuff, for Astroengine’s part, I sent the announcement about my new radio show, Astroengine Live. In fact the next show will be the day before Thanksgiving, but I won’t be trying to compete with Ethan’s Carnival, it looks like he’ll be having way too much fun!

Cheers, Ian

Another Exoplanet Candidate Identified by ESO

It would appear that yet another extrasolar planet has been directly observed!

Only last week, the Hubble Space Telescope released news that it had spotted an exoplanet orbiting the star Fomalhaut. This is the first ever direct observation of an exoplanet in optical wavelengths. On the same day, joint observations by the ground-based (adaptive optics-powered) Keck II and Gemini infrared telescopes discovered a collection of three large alien worlds orbiting a star catalogued as HR 8799.

Today, a completely different observatory appears to have discovered yet another exoplanet orbiting the hot star Beta Pictoris (in the constellation of Pictor). European Southern Observatory (ESO) astronomers have directly imaged β Pictoris b, an alien planet orbiting 8 AU from its host star.

A phenomenal achievement considering β Pictoris is over 63 light years away…
Continue reading “Another Exoplanet Candidate Identified by ESO”

Meteor Explodes Over Canada

Only a month ago, a series of all-sky cameras in the Canadian region of southern Ontario captured a long-lasting meteorite fireball as it streaked across the skies. Last night it was the turn of the central province of Saskatchewan to see the spectacular fireball of a meteroid dropping through the atmosphere. According to eye witnesses, the intense light lit up the dark skies and a series of thunderous booms shook the ground.

Another day living in the interplanetary shooting gallery I suppose…
Continue reading “Meteor Explodes Over Canada”

Astroengine Live Notes #1 (Nov. 19th)

Astroengine Live is officially launched!

If you were listening to last night’s show, you might have noticed the slight (8 minute) delay to the proceeds, but let’s just say Jack (my wingman, covering me from all angles at WPRT Radio) and I have uncovered a compatibility gremlin hiding inside Windows Vista. I’m not about to start a Vista-bashing tirade (as, in all honesty, this is the only “major” flaw I’ve come across in the last 10 months of using the OS), but it was annoying nonetheless.

However, I think we won in the end. Although the whole two hours were filled with my chatter about the International Space Station, Kuiper Belt Objects, lost space spiders and the awesome Spirit rover, the one thing I forgot to do was click the “record” button in the broadcast software… bummer. So Astroengine Live #1 will be forever known as the “Lost Show”…
Continue reading “Astroengine Live Notes #1 (Nov. 19th)”