“I believe it’s roughly a 50/50 chance that young children now alive will walk on martian meadows…will swim in martian lakes,” Wood said. It is not technology, nor money, he said, the pacing ingredient is marshaled will. Scientist Calls Mars a Terraforming Target for 21st Century This little gem actually stumped me for awhile. The […]

Read More It’s springtime at the asylum…

Note: this is a guest blog post from a longtime friend of the Cynics, Monte Davis Space advocates agree that cheap access to space — frequent, highly reliable transport to orbit at a small fraction of today’s cost per kg — is essential to any rapid or large-scale expansion of space activity. It was once […]

Read More A Cold Look at CATS

One of the oft-heard metrics amongst the space-development crowd is that if we could only lower the cost of launch to under $1000 per lb to orbit, as opposed to the $10,000 per pound that the hideously expensive shuttle charges, new markets would be enabled. There may be a bigger problem to consider…. Consider these […]

Read More Using the Fed to Lower Launch Costs…?

NASA needs a new spokesperson. Here’s a hint – if you have to resort to the following as a way to make the manned space program seem interesting: “Two vehicles weighing 230,000 pounds going 17,500 mph, it’s tough stuff,” – Mission Management Team leader John Shannon you’re trying too hard. Two words: relative velocity. Unless […]

Read More Ooooh…. Aaaahh… zzzz….

Ok, I’ll admit my first reaction to this article in wired: Military Target: Solar Beaming Sats was, Oh no, not again (apologies to Douglas Adams). Those of you who have been following the Cynics since we debuted April 2006 will recall a previous blog post on why Space Solar Power is a kool-aid effort of […]

Read More You are my Sunshine…

For those who say no good can come from Microsoft (we’ll avoid any embarrassing mention of the Zune here…), I would like to share with you yet another stunning example of how technology is revolutionizing the way we see the world: Photosynth Demo I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: the new frontier is […]

Read More Electrons 2 : Atoms 0

The Space Cynics have officially opened the Cynics Lounge in Second Life! So come down, bring your favourite beverage, grab a lounge chair on the rooftop, and watch the virtual rockets being tested in the sand box. In the future, we’ll be having chat sessions at the Lounge for those who want to challenge our […]

Read More Electrons 1 : Atoms 0