Category Archives: Space

Physics, Space

A Propulsion Method for Space Probes?

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Going somewhere?
Going somewhere?

Space is vast; our current fastest spacecraft will take tens of thousands of years to get to other stars.


So fundamental breakthroughs in physics will likely be needed before it is practical to send out our first interstellar probes.


Such breakthroughs are inherently unpredictable, but here’s a hint at how one might happen: a physicist has proposed using the Large Hadron Collider to experiment on a possible propulsion method that could accelerate objects to significant fractions of the speed of light, Tech Review reports.


Physicist Franklin Felber specifically notes that high speeds “can be achieved without generating the severe stresses that could damage a space vehicle or its occupants.”


Effects on humans might be irrelevant: such a method might first be applied to very small vehicles that would send data back from other stars.  Some have even proposed that tiny spacecraft could use nanotechnology to build themselves out at their destinations.


(Image courtesy Andres Rueda, Flickr — Creative Commons license)

Aliens, Space

New Alien-Spotting Capabilities

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Exoplanet (NASA)NASA’s orbiting Kepler telescope may soon enable us to spot signs of alien life.

The observatory is designed to detect Earthlike planets. Though it is only in its testing phase, the BBC reports that Kepler has already detected the atmosphere of a planet — though not an Earthlike one — 1,000 light years from Earth.

This is a crucial capability in the search for life: some atmospheric compositions would be strongly suggestive of a living biosphere. (And some might even begin to hint at a technological civilization.) If such a planet were discovered, it could move us closer to the question of whether there is life elsewhere, and greatly boost our impulse to find out more about the phenomena, spurring attention and funding.

(Image courtesy NASA)

Apocalypse, Space

Supernova in our backyard?

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Astronomers have discovered the brightest supernova ever seen, and there is a star “near” Earth thought to be a candidate for a similar explosion.

This would have its positives and negatives:

  • On the positive side, it would be possible to read a book at night by the light of the dying star.
  • On the negative, the proximity of the blast — 7,500 light years — could make Earth vulnerable to a gamma ray blast that could severely damage the atmosphere and biosphere, even inducing an ice age. Fortunately, the odds of the blast being pointed directly at Earth are low.

Cosmiclog notes that two movies have covered supernovas:

There was a “Supernova” movie starring James Spader and Angela Bassett, as well as a “Supernova” made-for-TV movie with Tia Carrere and Luke Perry — but neither made much of a scientific or a critical splash.

Movies, Space

Upcoming: I’mmmm going to start up the sun

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Sunshine, about a mission to “trigger a device to save the dying sun,” will be released April 6th.

This sounds even less promising than The Core, which at least involved terra firma, but it was made by Danny Boyle and the team responsible for the excellent 28 Days Later.

Note: while the sun will die, it is not expected to do so for several billion years. If it were dying now, there is very little chance we could do anything about it: even if we set off every nuclear weapon we had, that would be a trivial disturbance compared to the sun’s ordinary energies.