h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

They will, SpaceX, Bigelow and a few others are well on their way to filling in some of the human spaceflight gaps. This is the type of work that private companies could have been doing a decade ago. The Space Shuttle should have been replaced by private companies sooner and NASA should have been more actively developing deep space projects. But private business will never do the big bold projects. A good comparison was the mission of Columbus. That was a big bold government exploration project. Most of the naval explorers were backed by governments because they were large, expensive and risky endeavors. Then in their wake private interests followed up and made profits from the discoveries.

Here's a rather dire article from the local paper about the current state of affairs at NASA and JSC. It explains some of the political idiocy responsible for the current dismal state of affairs in human space exploration.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/nasa/adrift/1/

Oh, and Elon Musk will unveil the manned Dragon capsule tomorrow.

http://www.universetoday.com/111534/spacex-ceo-elon-musk-to-unveil-manned-dragon-space-taxi-on-may-29/

Just wanted to say - this is one of my favourite threads to check on, whenever I get back to h2g2.

Oh, thank you.


I have fun finding these things.

Ha! Seen this? http://www.theonion.com/articles/modernized-space-camp-allows-kids-to-simulate-frus,36148/

It's almost not even funny...

Oh, also, while I'm a-linkin' stuff here, this was written by a friend of mine, and is quite excellent:
http://aeon.co/magazine/living-together/how-anti-vaxxers-fuel-the-spread-of-polio
(Although it might be a better fit in the 'stupidity' thread? This one _is_ more easily available, so just kinda got lazy.)

Ooh, thanks for the Onion article. I had to share that elsewhere. That one hit home. I loved it, but yeah, I didn't laugh.


The article on antivaxxers I'll pass on for now as such stories make my head explodey.

http://www.iflscience.com/space/outstanding-time-lapse-stellar-explosion-hubble

Wow! Literally awesome. A time lapse video of a stellar explosion recorded by Hubble over 4 years. I've become a bit jaded with Hubble imagery and I found this very impressive. It's nice to regain that awe.

Absolutely brilliant combination of 360° fisheye panoramics and time lapse night skies.

By another "amateur".

http://www.wired.com/2014/06/9-stunning-panoramas-of-starry-skies-captured-with-a-homemade-camera-rig/

That's quite beautiful

The Paleoclock.

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2416.htm

I reckon that's the speed most city bureaucrats move at, especially when you need some kind of application approved.

In ultraviolet, we should all wear black-face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9BqrSAHbTc

I kinda pretty much just stay indoors

I as well. I tell people that if they want to know what it's like if I were to lay on the beach, just put a fork in the microwave.

...and for God's sake, don't forget to apply your sunscreen to the back of your neck, your throat, every crevice of your nose and ears, behind your ears... ...but keep it away from the corners of your eyes and off your eyelashes...

PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid) tablets can also help.

PABA is one of the essential B vitamins.

One of the strongest possible defenses against skin problems generally (including chapped lips, hangnails and split ends in your hair for that matter, is elevated B vitamins generally.)

(Solar UVA and UVB is also one of the strongest arguments for military camo paint.)

http://go.engineer-ng.net/forum/topics/camouflage-face-paint-resists-intense-heat-from-bombs

http://www.pinterest.com/jackiesonnet/war-paint/

Click on any of the images in the second wrbsite to expand.