Churchilll On Aliens

An essay written by Winston Churchill has been discovered among his papers.  It was written in 1939, when Europe was sliding into war.

In the essay, Churchill speculates about life elsewhere in the universe, and lays out essentially the same logic scientists use today to argue advanced life may be fairly common.  He also wrote he saw no  reason to think humans were the only, or the most intelligent, advanced race in the cosmos.

104 For India

India successfully launched 104 satellites into orbit on one rocket last night.

The nation is quietly building quite a capable space program.

North Korea

North Korea tested a new ballistic missile over the weekend.

Some analysts have always argued North Korea's space efforts were simply a cover for rocket development.

Europan Lander

NASA is looking at a mission concept that would put a lander on Europa to search for life.

The mission would launch in 2024 and reach Jupiter five years later.

Benji-Colombo

A joint Europe-Japan mission to Mercury is scheduled to launch in 2018.

After several gravity assists, Benji-Colombo will reach Mercury in 2020.

Trump Space?

A new report holds that the Trump administration might refocus NASA on helping the private sector build a space-based economy.

Done correctly, such an effort would fundamentally change the future.

Forming Luna

With the help of atomic tests, scientists are building a case that the Moon is so dry because volatiles like water were driven out if the material that formed the Moon when a huge body crashed into Earth.

The Moon does have water ice, but it was probably brought by comets.