June 22, 2008

It's Official: Water-Ice on Mars

It's official water-ice is on Mars! Check out the Emily Lakdawalla's blog on the Planetary Society for a great article!

June 9, 2008

Why We Should Continue Manned Spaceflight

Here's a major quickie post: We should continue manned spaceflight because when we develop new technology for spaceflight, we make discoveries that improve our everyday lives. Want proof? Check out this awesome site on Discovery.com.

When We Left Earth

When We Left Earth is an awesome documentary from the Disocvery Channel that has been airing. I absolutely think it's just awesome; it presents all sorts of footage in a visual and stylistic way.


It certainly is something to watch with the whole family. I'm going to try to get my kids to watch it with me tonight (I have it on DVR; the Box Set pictured is available on July 24, 2008.)

The "secret" footage isn't actually very secret. Anyone can watch it, and people have for many years. Some of the footage is just rarely seen.

However, even though this footage is new or "secret", it looks a heck of a lot better: Discovery Channel was granted access to NASA's footage and remastered it all digitally and converted it to HD. In turn, they gave the footage back to NASA for future generations to enjoy.


This is a must watch that anyone can enjoy!

June 2, 2008

Best Ever Skeptic Comment Against Alien Life

This is a real zinger...

In 2000, a group based in the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology in Wales declared they had found alien microbes in a Leonid fireball based on an infrared spectra of the organic material. Skeptic Matt Genge had this to say:

The infrared spectra of the Leonid meteors are not evidence for bacteria, nor
are the infrared spectra of comets," Genge said. He added that the data show a
feature that is common in all organic material.

"If you took me, put me in an oven, dried me at 300 degrees and then took my
infrared spectra, I'd have [this feature] too. This would certainly not be
evidence that you'll find Matt Genges on comets.

SOURCE: Space.com

Alien Life On Mars?




Alien life on Mars is a very real possibility. It's not green men, martians, or anything like that, but the organic basis of life, in my opinion, and the opinions of some others, is that there's a big possiblity that life exists on Mars in a very primitive form.

Many conditions on Mars prohibit life from evolving, but not from existing. Many phenomenon that occur on Mars are, if we observe them on this planet, of an organic nature. And there are plenty of inorganic ways that these can be achieved, but my hypthesis is that if their are multiple processes occuring that appear to be of an organic nature, and you can explain each one individually in an inorganic way, doesn't the likelihood of life increase with each seemingly organic process?

For a more detailed post definitely check out my previous post about why I think theres life on Mars.

Is this Ice?


Does this look like ice to you? It's the new scoop of dirt from the Phoenix lander. This very well could be the first color ice picture from the Red Planet. Check out the white substance to the right; definitely looks like ice chips to me, but there is a possibility it is salt.

Exciting times for Mars enthusiasts indeed! I am glued to my computer and NASA TV non-stop around 2-3pm, waiting for the latest news updates.

Come on... let's find a Martian microbe... now THAT would make the 11 o'clock news!

Deep Sky Blog on Google

Just for those who would like to know, we have progressed to Google PageRank of 4. Awesome!

Has Anyone Else Noticed The Similarity?



VS.






I think the likeness is uncanny. What do you think?