NASA Rejects Lunar Partnership With Russia

Despite having previously pioneered the journey to the final frontier, Russia it seems is unable to complete that journey towards the moon. They were previously looking towards NASA to help them out, although NASA is showing little interest in partnering with their former rivals.

(International Herald Tribune) The chief of Russia's space agency said that the United States has rejected a proposal by Moscow to explore the moon jointly, a Russian news agency reported. [...]

But Roscosmos chief Anatoly Perminov was quoted by the Interfax news agency Sunday as saying that the United States had rebuffed the offer.

"We are ready to cooperate but for some reasons the United States has announced that it will carry out the program itself," he was quoted as saying.

Despite the fact that NASA is expressing interest in partnering with England for a lunar visitation, they may be reluctant to pursue a partnership with Russia for political reasons. Russia has not been very friendly towards freedom of speech lately, although NASA could simply be rebuffing the Russians due to a potential lack of talent.

Update (5/1): NASA is claiming that it did not rebuff Russia's offer (as there was no official offer of help) while conspiracy theories are developing on why NASA is avoiding Russia (Hat Tip: NASA Watch)

Venus: An Interplanetary Garbage Dump?

For thousands of years, Venus has captured the attention of humanity across our slightly larger world. Whether it was through spiritual religion, science fiction stories or modern observation, Venus has had its fair share in the celestial spotlight, only to be out shined in modern times by Mars, the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn.

But Venus may again regain its spot light in our solar system, although not as a potential colony world full of happy residents. With surface temperatures approaching 482 degrees Celsius (or 900 degrees Fahrenheit), an atmospheric pressure 92 times greater than that of Earths and sulfuric acid covering this boiling world, Venus could easily serve as an interplanetary garbage dump for the inner solar system.

Although humanity could ultimately attempt to recycle everything in space (and should at least try), it may be worth casting some items such as nuclear waste, biological virus (via mad scientists), chemical weapons and other deadly unmentionables into the sulfuric abyss for the safety of humanity. These products may not be worth risking human life over to salvage, and Venus would provide the perfect spot to cast them away from our presence.

Asteroid colonies may also benefit from a planetary dumping ground. Unlike their larger terrestrial friends like Earth, the Moon and Mars, future asteroid colonies would be limited in the amount of space they could conserve for general garbage.

With humans producing several pounds of trash per day (in some cases), colonists will need a better alternative to removing their trash aside from burying it (which can be expensive), burning it (which may not be recommended) or simply banishing it into space.

Providing an interplanetary dumping ground on Venus for these colonies may be an alternative solution, as it would help keep our cosmos clean of space junk, as well as keep the cost of mining these space rocks down.

Venus could also serve as a location where scientists could conduct fairly dangerous experiments without the results affecting a future home world for humanity. Scientists could orbit the sulfuric world in orbital space stations, and if their experiments turned up unpleasant results, they could simply cast the dangerous contents onto Venian soil to face the wrath of the planet.

Venus, unlike most of the other terrestrial worlds that orbit Sol, will probably never become an attractive home for humanity. With the conditions on the surface unsuitable for carbon and mechanical life, it is unlikely that scientist would find any lifeforms living on the surface, or at least life as we know it.

Despite the hostile environment, Venus may be able to serve humanity by hosting some of our most hostile (and least enjoyable) creations. By storing our garbage and other dangerous substances on the planet, we may be able to free up space on Earth (and in the future Mars, the Moon and Mercury) for future generations.

Google And NASA To Send A Satellite To Mars?

It looks like the search engine king and NASA are in discussions of exploring the red planet together. Although these are nothing more than conversations at best, doing so may be in both organizations best interests, if not humanities.

(Red Orbit) Among the companies with technical partnerships with NASA is search-engine operator Google. Google declined to send a representative to the event, but according to Terry Fong, a NASA group leader, the two organizations are busy on several projects and have even discussed the possibility of a satellite venture that Fong described as "really far" off. [...]

According to Fong, Google and NASA will begin in five weeks to unveil technology that will bring NASA data, such as atmospheric observations and sea temperatures, to the satellite navigation service Google Earth. The two organizations are working as well on a disaster-response project that will place real-time disaster data on Google Earth. That data could include the plume of a wild fire, the condition of a damaged bridge, or even the position of monitoring aircraft.

"At some point in time, they might become involved in missions" in space, said Fong, referring to the satellite venture.

Google is already partnering with NASA regarding its application program, Google Earth and their are rumors on a Martian collaboration as well.

If Google were able to actually finance a mission towards the red planet one could easily see them incorporating that information within a future Google Mars. Ironically while the search engine king's competitors worry about conquering cyberspace on Earth, Google seems to be expanding its empire to other worlds.

Video: NASA Wants Another Giant Leap

(Hat Tip: NASA Watch)

It looks like NASA's marketing department is get slightly better at creating video's in order to communicate its message. Instead of attempting to rationalize the nation on the reasons why we need to go back (whether it be because of potential resources, science, or an "insurance policy" against extinction) they simply sum it up in one word--exploration.

Note: For those interested in seeing a higher quality version of this video, click here. (requires Quick Time)

India Seeks Military Free Space Exploration

It looks like India is reversing an earlier decision regarding weaponizing the heavens above us and is instead pursuing an exploration of the cosmos free from military influence.

(ZeeNews.com) Implying that Chinese anti-satellite missile tests had no influence on India's space programme, President A P J Abdul Kalam has made it clear that New Delhi's space ambitions had no military interest.

"Indian space programme has no military interest," he said during a question-answer session at the International Space University here last night.

"It has been built to be locally relevant when globally challenging and its foundation is the quest of India and other space faring nations to use the collective wisdom of the humanity to solve the socio-economic problems of our society," he said.

Although this is a noble stance, India may have to reverse course on this decision once the moon begins to buzz with human activity. Despite our best wishes, humanity has never been known to ever visit a land without military escorts (during or after) and the Moon will probably be no exception.

India is currently seeking to expand its influence as an upcoming space power, as evidenced by its first successful rocket launch not too long ago. If any nation were to lead the way towards peaceful exploration, India would be the one to do it as it has yet to commit the cosmic sin of shattering a satellite in ones atmosphere.

Another Earth Spotted?

(Image Credit: ESO, via Space.com)

Note: Nothing to do with our own solar system, but it is interesting nonetheless.

It looks like scientists may have spotted the first planet outside of our solar system that is potentially habitable for life.

(Space.com) An Earth-like planet spotted outside our solar system is the first found that could support liquid water and harbor life, scientists announced today.

Liquid water is a key ingredient for life as we know it. The new found planet is located at the "Goldilocks" distance—not too close and not too far from its star to keep water on its surface from freezing or vaporizing away. [...]

The new planet is about 50 percent bigger than Earth and about five times more massive. The new "super-Earth" is called Gliese 581 C, after its star, Gliese 581, a diminutive red dwarf star located 20.5 light-years away that is about one-third as massive as the Sun.

This is the first terrestrial world discovered outside of our solar system that orbits within the habitable zone of a star. Although the planet orbits a short distance around its star (about 13 Earth days), life forms could easily survive on this world due to the dimness (or rather lack of heat) from the red dwarf sun.

Scientists are probably going to take a second look at this, and it will be interesting to see whether or not we will be able to locate features upon this world in the future.

Note: I've just alerted Paul over at Centauri Dreams, who should have an interesting analysis regarding this discovery.

Update (4/25): Paul has posted his analysis here with a video over here. Exciting stuff!

NASA Wants England To Join Lunar Adventure

With NASA focused on returning humanity back to the moon, other nations, such as England seem to have placed their priority in robotic missions. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, probably one of the most vocal voices for human space flight, is proposing that the United Kingdom should join the Americans on lunar soil by sending one of their own.

(Skymania News) But NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has made it clear to Skymania News that he wants Brits to join American astronauts in walking on the Moon and helping set up lunar bases.

He recently told me: "The invitation absolutely is there for the UK to join us in those journeys. I hope that that level of participation would go so far as to include astronauts. If it does, then of course we will participate in training them."

The United Kingdom has been rather slow about considering human spaceflight, which probably has to do more with their budget than their desire (as sending robots is definitely cheaper than flesh and blood).

But if England desires to receive its fare share of the Universe's resources, then they will need to commit human bodies towards space flight, as robots can only do much.