Book Review: X-15: The World’s Fastest Rocket Plane and the Pilots Who Ushered in the Space Age

X-15: The World’s Fastest Rocket Plane and the Pilots Who Ushered in the Space Age by John Anderson and Richard Passman; Zenith Press/Quayside Publishing Group, Minneapolis, MN.; Licensed by Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum; $30.00 (hard cover); 2014. This...

Project Moon Dust: A Kickstarter Educational Initiative

It’s called Project Moon Dust – intended to inspire and educate the next generation of space travel hopefuls. Behind the effort is Zybek Advanced Products, founded in Boulder, Colorado in 1996. The group has established a project funding effort for a Lunar...

New Survey Poll Data: Funding the Final Frontier

An interesting poll was taken last year focusing on space and funding the final frontier. Done by the London-based YouGov, the fieldwork was done between Nov. 28 and Dec. 1st. YouGov is an international, full service online market research agency founded in the UK in...

Book Review: Alien Seas – Oceans in Space

Alien Seas – Oceans in Space by Michael Carroll, Rosaly Lopes (Editors); Springer, New York; $29.99 (hardcover); 2013. Thanks to the editors for this captivating “wet look” at an under-appreciated aspect of planets and moons in our celestial neighborhood – those “seas...

Origami Space Solution: Know When to Fold ‘Em!

Origami is a source of inspiration for mechanical engineering students who are working with NASA/JPL, the National Science Foundation, and origami master Robert Lang to design novel mechanisms for use in space and in other applications. Brigham Young University (BYU)...

Space Rock 101: Asteroid Doomsday or Payday?

That Feb. 15 asteroid that burst over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk has reset thinking regarding damage caused by smaller space rocks. Also, there may be more small asteroids than formerly thought. These findings and other research observations are on view tonight...