The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it.
“We are what we are, and we’re doing the best we can. It is not for you to set the standards by which we should be judged!” -Capt. Picard, to Q When you think about Star Trek, a whole variety of things might come to mind. It might conjure images of space exploration, feelings of … Read more5 Things The World Needs From Star Trek: Discovery (Synopsis)
“Imagination makes us aware of limitless possibilities. How many of us haven’t pondered the concept of infinity or imagined the possibility of time travel? In one of her poems, Emily Bronte likens imagination to a constant companion, but I prefer to think of it as a built-in entertainment system.” -Alexandra Adornetto The dream of futuristic … Read moreAsk Ethan: What science experiments will open the door to the future? (Synopsis)
“Man has gone out to explore other worlds and other civilizations without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has sealed.” -Stanisław Lem One of the questions that’s fascinated humanity since we first began looking up at the night sky is … Read moreAfraid of aliens? The science doesn’t back you up (Synopsis)
“We [are] a species endowed with hope and perseverance, at least a little intelligence, substantial generosity and a palpable zest to make contact with the cosmos.” -Carl Sagan When the Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft were launched, they contained a message emblazoned on them: a map of 14 pulsars, showing the location of Earth relative to … Read moreVoyager’s ‘Cosmic Map’ of Earth’s location is hopelessly wrong (Synopsis)
“We had this whole big beautiful place for discovery, and all we could think to do with it was wipe out everything that made it worth discovering.” -Buzz Aldrin It’s been more than 40 years since humans last set foot on the Moon. The final space shuttle flight occurred six years ago already, and the … Read moreNASA’s idea for a space station in lunar orbit takes humanity nowhere (Synopsis)
“A bird cannot fly with one wing only. Human space flight cannot develop any further without the active participation of women.” -Valentina Tereshkova Sally Ride was the first American woman in space, launched aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 amidst controversy. At 32, she was the youngest astronaut in history, surrounded by questions such … Read moreThe first woman in space turns 80, and you’ve probably never heard of her (Synopsis)
“It was a strange lightness, a drifting feeling. Zero gravity. I understood that everything that once seemed solid and immovable might just float away.” -Lisa Unger If you want to experience zero gravity, all you need to do is go to space, turn your rocket off and feel that weightless sensation, right? Except, from up … Read moreAsk Ethan: Is Zero Gravity Really A Thing? (Synopsis)
“One way or another the first stars must have influenced our own history, beginning with stirring up everything and producing the other chemical elements besides hydrogen and helium. So if we really want to know where our atoms came from, and how the little planet Earth came to be capable of supporting life, we need … Read moreA Behind-The-Scenes Look At Building The Greatest Space Telescope Of All (Synopsis)
“The very closest stars would require many years to visit, even traveling at the speed of light, which is impossible according to Einstein’s theory of relativity. Today’s fastest spaceships would require 200,000 years to travel to Alpha Centauri, our closest bright star. The energy required to send a hundred colonists to another star, as Frank … Read moreAsk Ethan: Could We Reach The Speed Of Light By Christmas? (Synopsis)
“I’m coming back in… and it’s the saddest moment of my life.” -Ed White, at the end of his first spacewalk A great many of us had dreams of becoming an astronaut when we were younger, and many of us still have that dream today. But turning that dream into reality involves a lot of … Read moreAsk Ethan: how do I become an astronaut/astrophysicist? (Synopsis)