Monthly Archives: April 2015

Public and private solutions to space exploration

I firmly believe that for space exploration to grow by leaps and bounds, there has to be economic incentives for entrepreneurs to create companies that explore the universe. Governmental agencies can do incredible things, but they are often held back by politics and budgetary shortfalls. Thankfully we are at the forefront of this change from […] Continue reading

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“Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here.”

One of my favorite quotes from my one of my favorite movies, Interstellar, perfectly sums up my feelings towards human progression into space. Ever since I was first asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I knew … Continue reading Continue reading

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Not faster than light, but still incredible

The use of ion thrusters (literally using ionized electrons and protons as a source of thrust!) in space has been floated around as a method for interstellar propulsion in science fiction for decades, yet was not a reality until the turn of the millennium. Scientists at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio developed […] Continue reading

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The Scope of the Universe

Although we talked about the scale of the Sun, the galaxy, and the rest of the universe, it didn’t really …

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Sending Chuck Berry to Space

In 1977, NASA launched the spacecraft Voyager 1 into space to observe Jupiter and Saturn and, eventually, to travel outside …

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Is Earth a Zoo for the Universe?

The Fermi Paradox has sparked a lot of minds to find solutions, one of the more interesting was proposed by John Ball back in 1973. Known as the Zoo Hypothesis, it suggests that aliens have purposefully kept at bay from our galaxy … Continue reading Continue reading

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Thoughts

People said that the current generation is born too early to explore space, yet born too late to explore Earth. I do not believe that to be true. Humans are learning and exploring space everyday through space probes, telescopes, and other instruments. While, the current generation will probably not be able to explore space physically, […] Continue reading

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Human Expansion

The future is a terrifying, exhilarating venture regardless of the scope. As the human population on Earth grows, it is quite possible that we begin to set hungry eyes on extraterrestrial real estate (assuming technological advances that make it possible/profitable). The moon, being only a short hop away, would likely be the first extraterrestrial human […] Continue reading

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Thanks for a Wonderful Semester!

This has been an absolute whirlwind of a semester! There was not a class that went by in which I didn’t learn anything (and most of the time I learned multiple things)! And even though I feel like I understand solar systems and the universe a little better now, I can definitely say that the […] Continue reading

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Let’s Talk About Extremophiles

Extremophiles are organisms that can live in environments that are considered ‘extreme’ due to conditions that make ‘normal’ life basically impossible. These conditions could be extremely hot, reaching temperatures of 240 degrees Fahrenheit, or and environment with very little to no oxygen. There are many different kinds of extremophiles grouped into categories depending on the […] Continue reading

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