Setting Ground Rules

Robert Bigelow of Bigelow Aerospace is calling for clear rules-- maybe even a new treaty-- to lay out exactly what rights private enterprise will have on the Moon.

The protection of property, patent, and intellectual rights, guarantees that profits go to the producer of those profits, and access to a powerful court system are all necessary for the creation of a vibrant lunar economy.

NSS Takes On NEOs

The National Space Society is calling for increased attention to be paid to Near-Earth Objects in order to find dangerous ones before they find us.

NSS is also calling on space faring nations to add one percent to their space budgets and put that money toward planetary defense.

Asteroid 2005 EM26

Asteroid 2005 EM26 will make a close pass of Earth Monday.  There's no danger of a collision, which is good because the thing is the size of three football fields.

This encounter comes a year after two close approaches occurred the same day, including the unexpected one that exploded over Russia.

UNSEALED: ALIEN FILES

UNSEALED: ALIEN FILES is another television documentary series focused on the UFO phenomenon, this one on Destination America.  Watching a few episodes suggests this series takes a darker, more alarmist view of the subject-- even to the point of questioning whether some world leaders are in fact aliens out to destroy humanity.

That's the trouble with series television-- the need to fill airtime is constantly there.  Too often for the credibility of the effort, that pressure produces silly stuff.

Yutu Still Around

China announced its lunar rover, Yutu, dead after failing to make contact with it after a long, brutally cold lunar night.  After the announcement, however, contact was made.

Engineers are working to bring Yutu fully back.

The UN And Planetary Defense

The United Nations has established a working group to coordinate efforts to protect Earth from asteroid and comet strikes.

The first task of the group will be to establish the actual level of risk, but it's also charged with developing ways to deflect dangerous bodies, and with planning responses to strikes.

Charles Darwin

Today would have been Charles Darwin's 205th birthday.  His theory of evolution is one of the pillars of modern science.

It's good to keep Darwin in mind.  We have made mind boggling progress across a broad front of disciplines since his day.  Clearly, a technological civilization can arise with stunning speed.  That's good news for ET hunters.  The question is whether such civilizations sustain themselves over some long term.  If they do, part of the reason probably involves a move into space.