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more about #esa disatess: lunar should hopefully be easier now that we found water on the moon . more » mordicai: Sometimes I feel like I must be a terrible science fan-- I'm bored with Mars, lets nuke its caps & start terraforming already! more » tamoko: We're not even on the map, but I guess we have to start somewhere... The ISS is a start. more » Klebert L. Hall: Not very close. It isn't colonization until people are born and grow up there. -Kle. more » Segador: How close are we to colonizing space? A long, long ways. Looooooong ways. more » TheFu: Radiation is tough to protect against. LOE provides very significant protection, but as you move further out, that is lost. Being exposed to a solar... more » HfAsianInvasion: I totally remember that illustration from a book I was looking at in Elementary school. more » esophus: I used to own the book this image comes from...anyone remember the name? more » Lunargent: Sounding an awful lot like Stephen Baxter's idea of "Bootstrapping" as laid out in his Manifold series [Manifold: Time to be precise]. Basically, if ... more » SJ_Edwards: The first time you hear anybody say: "We are going to need this many dollars." "We are going to need this many years." "We are going to need to send... more » PistachioWildebeest: Two really interesting things at the moment are Bigelow Aerospace and SpaceX. It's not out of the question that there could be a commercial space stat... more » SpammerOvTheGods: NOT CLOSE ENOUGH. #@! more » GuyNermie: Another example of the "the next 20 years" or "our lifetime" rule - "We'll have a moonbase in.....", "We'll have fusion power in...", "......land on M... more » Ryanrule: wonder what the 2 TRILLION plus spent on the iraq war could have put up there. more » gorehound: probably this century we should at least see a moon colony. more » benizdead: does anyone know why they haven't added a 'greenhouse' to the ISS yet??!? and is it me, or do the plans for long-term lunar colonies seem to be taken... more » tipsymongoose: I think the day they find a way to actually profit off space exploration is the day colonies will actually be built. more » cletar: In 1970, NASA said there would be a human landing on Mars by 1984. The shuttle was suposed to be so cheap and easy once it got up and running, there w... more » OakRidge: It will happen when it becomes more necessary. more » crashedpc - Haifisch: I suggest that we send up as many millionaire clowns up in space as first generation space colonist guinea pigs just to make sure that it's viable. An... more » -
#spacecolonies
How Close Are We To Colonizing Space?
How close are we to long-term human habitation beyond low-Earth orbit? Colonies on the moon or Mars are still many years off, but the good news is there are several serious efforts underway to make it happen. More » -
#spaceporn
The Mystery Of The Scarlet Nebula
Why do parts of the Iris Nebula appear so red? Based on these new NASA/ESA images, researchers believe an unknown chemical, maybe hydrocarbon-based, is at work. Click through for a wide-field image that shows why it's called the Iris Nebula. More » -
#titan
Titan's Drone Boat Could Be Joined By a Nuclear Hot-Air Balloon
It's been reported that a planned mission to Titan will use a robotic boat to explore the liquid-methane seas. But the project will also have eyes in the sky: a hot-air balloon will circumnavigate Titan and observe its multiform topography. More » -
#spaceprogram
Should the Space Program Join Forces with Reality TV?
First Virtuality, and now Defying Gravity, predict we'll someday watch the adventures of cloistered astronauts broadcast from space. But why wait? Some suggest the upcoming simulated Mars missions offer the perfect opportunity to introduce the space program to reality television. More » -
#spacepornographers
Pack Your SPF-5 Billion: We're Going To The Sun!
We're sending not one, but two probes to the sun in the next few years. Hopefully making first contact with the super-hot aliens who have been watching us from inside the solar coronas. Gallery below. More » -
#liveactionvideogames
Europeans Play Asteroids — For Real!
Europe's Rosetta space probe just flew past the Steins asteroid earlier today, and here's an artist's impression of the event. The plucky little probe flew into an asteroid belt and did a close flyby of Steins, which is a rare E-type asteroid. The data from the flyby will give us way more insights into the evolution of our solar system by allowing scientists to examine matter dating from different eras. Click through for another asteroid flyby image, plus an impression of Rosetta reaching its final destination in 2014: the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (And then Rosetta will follow the comet around the sun.) More » -
#darkenergy
Heaviest, Farthest Cluster Points Toward Dark Energy
The XMM-Newton space telescope has been really into dark and heavy stuff lately. No, the x-ray observatory didn't find its parents' old Black Sabbath albums — it found the most massive galactic cluster on record, a conglomerate of galaxies weighing more than 1,000 times as much as the Milky Way. The cluster's extreme distance is a puzzling paradox, or it might help prove that the universe is full of mysterious dark energy. More » -
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#darkmatter
Galactic Cluster Collision Divides Ordinary Matter from Dark Matter
Almost six billion years ago, two of the largest gravitational structures in the universe slammed into each other with velocities in the millions of miles per hour. Galactic clusters are collections of galaxies (sometimes thousands of them) that seem to hang together in violation of the known laws of physics. Not only did this ancient collision result in a stunningly beautiful image, but it's given astrophysicists an important clue about the nature of dark matter. More » -
#spaceporn
Hardcore Martian Moon Pix — In 3D!
The European Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter passed within a few kilometers of Phobos last week. While it was there, it took some stunning high resolution photos of the irregular Martian moon. We're talking almost "Phobos Street View" resolution here. Mars Express also took some shots with its stereo cameras. So put on your blue and red cardboard glasses and check out Phobos in thrilling 3D. More » -
#marsporn
The Frozen Waterfalls of Mars
This deep gorge known as the Echus Chasma was ripped into the Martian soil by gushing water, and scientists speculate that it may once have boasted giant, 4000-meter-high waterfalls. This image, by the European Space Agency's Mars Express satellite, was released this week along with a few others. We've got an even more gorgeous one for you below. More » -
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#scienceart
The Earth Has A Halo Of Space Crap
Did you know there are at least 9,000 chunks of trash orbiting the Earth? Turns out they look gorgeous and wreath-y, at least in this gallery images depicting Earth's space junk. [U.S. News & World Report] More »
