SETI

Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute told Congress this past week that researchers could survey one million star systems for signs of intelligent life by 2037.

Shostak has previously said he thinks we could find intelligent signals by 2025.

Bigelow

Robert Bigelow told Congress recently that establishing a base on the Moon is the next logical step in human space exploration.

Bigelow Aerospace manufactures inlatable modules that could be used to build such a base.

Dragonfly

NASA is looking at a drone that could cover large areas of Titan in its low gravity and thick atmosphere.  It would land several times along the way.

Dragonfly could launch in the mid-2020s.

Terraforming Mars, Sort Of

Researchers are proposing terreaforming a small area on Mars by directing an asteroid to crash into the planet, creating a lake that would last thousands of years.

They suggest starting the process in 2036.

New Record

Peggy Whitson  broke the American  record for most days in space yesterday.

She is scheduled to remain in space until September.

Out, Not Up

When people talk about ISS, for example, they generally say it's "up," even though up and down have no particular meaning once we get beyond the atmosphere-- until we reach another world.  We should say ISS is "out" from Earth.

Out also suggests we are on a journey.  We are.

Opportunity

The rover Opportunity is still exploring Mars after 13 years.

It is about to attempt to reach and enter a valley to investigate whether the valley was cut by flowing water.