Seven Earth-sized planets orbit the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, 40 light-years away from the Earth [1]. This makes TRAPPIST-1 the planetary system with the largest number of Earth-sized planets discovered so far. These planets are also relatively temperate, making them a tantalizing place to search for signs of life beyond our Solar System. Now, an international team […]
Read More TRAPPIST-1 Planetary Atmospheres May Be HabitableBy Michael Johnson Plants grow just about everywhere on Earth, and are able to adapt to extreme conditions ranging from drought to disease. Spaceflight, however, exposes plants to stresses not found anywhere on their home planet. Growing plants aboard the International Space Station provides a unique opportunity to study how plants adapt to microgravity, and a team […]
Read More Putting Down Roots in SpaceA Case of Conscience by James Blish My rating: 5 of 5 stars Read for the 12 in 12 Challenge, the Hard Core Sci-Fi Challenge, and the SF Masterworks Challenge, as well as the Science Fiction Masterworks Book Club here on Goodreads. This book won the 1959 Hugo Award. I loved this book! I have […]
Read More Book Review: A Case of Conscience by James BlishBy Matt Williams It would be no exaggeration to say that we live in an age of renewed space exploration. In particular, the Moon has become the focal point of increasing attention in recent years. In addition to President Trump’s recent directive to NASA to return to the Moon, many other space agencies and private aerospace […]
Read More Chinese Lander to Send Insects & Plants to the MoonThis guy talks a lot, so you may want to skip through the video a bit like I did, but it’s well worth the look!
Read More What Does the Sun Look Like from Other Planets?Episode 2 – Space Opera: livestreamed February 18, 2018. #SpecWomenChat is a livestreamed panel discussion featuring women who work in, and write, SFF. Our Panel: Ann Leckie has worked as a waitress, a receptionist, a rodman on a land-surveying crew, a lunch lady, and a recording engineer. The author of many published short stories, and […]
Read More #SpecWomenChat Episode 2 – Space OperaI have an interest in the mining of asteroids, which features as a central driver of the plot in my upcoming novel The Cloud. By Philip Metzger Mining asteroids might seem like the stuff of science fiction, but there are companies and a few governments already working hard to make it real. This should not be surprising: […]
Read More Want Faster Data and a Cleaner Planet? Start Mining AsteroidsDownbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh My rating: 5 of 5 stars Read for the 12 in 12 Challenge, the LGBTQ Speculative Fiction Challenge,, the Military Spec-Fic Reading Challenge, the Women of Genre Fiction Challenge, the Grand Mistresses of Genre Fiction Challenge, the Hard Core Sci-Fi Challenge, the Read the Sequel Challenge, and the Space Opera […]
Read More Book Review: Downbelow Station by C.J. CherryhMagazine issue: Vol. 193, No. 2, February 3, 2018, p. 7 OXON HILL, Md. — Future spacecraft could navigate by the light of dead stars. Using only the timing of radiation bursts from pulsating stellar corpses, an experiment on the International Space Station was able to pinpoint its location in space in a first-ever demonstration. The technique […]
Read More Spaceships Could Use Pulsars as a GPS
Diane Morrison 