Category: Universe Today

More Good News of an Elon Musk Nature!

More Good News of an Elon Musk Nature!

So this past week, I managed to get a bit of a celebrity encounter. Elon Musk, the founder of SpacX, Tesla, the Boring Company, Solar City, commented on an article I wrote. The article itself (“New Model Predicts That We’re Probably the Only Advanced Civilization in the Observable Universe“) was about a recent study that took a fresh look at the Fermi Paradox.

Based on the range of uncertainties that are inherent in the calculations of the Drake Equation, they claimed, it is quite likely that humanity is alone in the observable Universe. Hence why we have failed to find evidence of extra-terrestrial intelligence (ETI) yet. In response, Musk posted that this conclusion made it all the more important for humanity to explore and colonize the known universe.

WELL! As you can imagine, everything that Musk says and does becomes news. Shortly after he posted his responses to this article, a number of news sources picked up the story and ran with it. The first that came to my attention (thanks for my friend and colleague Paco) was Business Insider, which quoted Musk and mentioned the original study. I immediately told my boss, who said that countless media outlets were reporting on this. He started sending me thinks. They included…

Tech Insider
CNBC
Yahoo News!
Nature World News
CNET

I’m sure there are others, but I got tired of my boss posting links and I felt he had made his point. And while NONE of the publications happened to mention then original article, Universe Today, or the author (i.e. ME!), they did draw attention to the original research and the questions it raised. As for the rest, they focused strictly on Musk himself. Damn famous people, getting all the attention!

Needless to say, I wrote to Musk on Twitter and thanked him for taking an interest. He didn’t respond, but that was to be expected to. He’s a busy man and thousands of people were posting about the article. In the end, its okay to catch a ray of sunshine as it shines on someone else!

 

Universe Today Stats for January and February

internet-of-things-2

Good news, folks! It seems that the traffic report came in for the previous two months from Universe Today. And in my haste, I forgot to publish them. But luckily, there are no deadlines on a blog, just chances to catch up. How’s everybody doing? Oh, and I should also mention that my stint working with Green Tree Recycling is done for now, so there will be more time in the near future for posts like these. 🙂

In any case, things have changed over at Universe Today lately in terms of format. Basically, the managers wanted to do fewer publications a month overall and focus on those that were likely to draw more of a crowd. This means that the total number of articles I got to do for January/February was less than in previous months, but that didn’t seem to hurt viewership that much.

In fact, February has been my best month so far, with a record-topping 282,176 views! Check out the total stats below:

January:

1/1/2015 2015 Expected to be a Record-Breaking Year for Soyuz-2 Workhorse 1965
1/2/2015 Rogue Star HIP 85605 on Collision Course with our Solar System, but Earthlings Need Not Worry 17554
1/6/2015 Exoplanet-Hunting TESS Satellite to be Launched by SpaceX 1161
1/6/2015 Japan’s Akatsuki Spacecraft to Make Second Attempt to Enter Orbit of Venus in December 2015 2317
1/9/2015 New Mission: DSCOVR Satellite will Monitor the Solar Wind 886
1/13/2015 Faster-Than-Light Lasers Could “Illuminate” the Universe 36082
1/13/2015 One of the Milky Way’s Arms Might Encircle the Entire Galaxy 10543
1/16/2015 Some of the Best Pictures of the Planets in our Solar System 25777
1/16/2015 Elon Musk Releases Dramatic Imagery of Mostly Successful Falcon 9 1st Recovery Attempt, Hard Landing on Drone Ship 9009
1/30/2015 Exploring the Universe with Nuclear Power 21687
Total Views 126981

February:

Which Planets Have Rings?  2/5/2015  8910
What Could Explain the Mysterious Ring in Antarctica?  2/9/2015 239263
How Can Mars Sometimes Be Warmer Than Earth?  2/9/2015  11509
What is Hooke’s Law?  2/13/2015  6229
Here’s a Better Use for Fighter Jets: Launching Satellites  2/13/2015  7937
What is Mars Made Of?  2/25/2015  8328
 Total Views  282176

Universe Today – Total Views for October

internet_trafficGood day all! Recently, I got some good news. It seems that one of the perks of writing for a major website is that they keep tallies on how your articles did. And in addition to getting paid for all the submissions I wrote for the month of October, I was also sent a list with the official numbers.

Here’s what it looked like:

10/13/2014 Bigelow Inflatable Module to be Added to Space Station in 2015 3913
10/16/2014 NASA Investigating Deep-Space Hibernation Technology 7032
10/20/2014 Water On The Moon Was Blown in by Solar Wind 1811
10/21/2014 How NASA and SpaceX are Working Together to Land on Mars 3871
10/22/2014 Is Dark Matter Coming From The Sun? 6857
10/23/2014 The Physics Behind “Interstellar’s” Visual Effects Was So Good, it Led to a Scientific Discovery 14318
10/27/2014 Small Spacecraft Ejected from Space Station Airlock Will Provide Same-Day, On-Demand Parcel Delivery 2303
10/27/2014 Make a Deal for Land on the Moon 1420
10/28/2014 100,000 Ice Blocks Mapped Out at the South Pole … of Enceladus 3124
10/28/2014 Just In Time for Halloween: Jupiter Gets a Giant Cyclops Eye! 4386
10/29/2014 Cassini Probe Spots Methane Ice Crystals In Titan’s Atmosphere 1009
Total Views 50044

Judging from this table, it seems that far more people will pay attention to you when you write about space news – instead of a combination of zombies, guns, star wars and gynoids. Who knew?

New Articles and Apologies

solar1Let’s start with the apologies. I’m very sorry for the prolonged absence of late, and I trust that people actually noticed I haven’t been around 😉 But both my day and my side job have both been very busy and have left me mentally and physically taxed by the end of the day. However, I do have things to show for it, mainly in the form of a new list of articles that were recently published on both Universe Today and HeroX.

I’ve taken to posting the new entries on their respective pages (over on the right there). However, if you’re like me, you don’t bother to check these out much and would rather be notified if something new is happening. And the way I see it, a post now and again that contains the links to all the latest is something people won’t mind hearing about (as opposed to being notified every time one does!)

So here they are, in order of publication:

  • Small Spacecraft Ejected from ISS Will Provide Same-Day, On-Demand Delivery – Basically, the ISS is getting a small fleet of return vehicles that will allow them to deliver samples back to Earth in less than 24 hours. This will help research and experiments quite a bit, and could also open the way for commercial use of the ISS’s National Lab.
  • Make a Deal for Land on the Moon – This one was not only fun to write, it contains a cautionary tale worth sharing. No matter what some realtors may tell you, there’s absolutely no way to buy land on the Moon… yet! However, given the way that commercial aerospace and space industries are heating up, this may soon change.
  • HeroX News: The Promise of Solar Power – This is probably the longest article I’ve written for either publication of late. It deals with recent innovations that are causing solar power to break its own the efficiency limits and usher in an age of renewable energy. And none too soon either!

Latest Articles Over At Universe Today!

center_universe2As the title would suggest, my third and fourth articles have just been published over at Universe Today. First off, let me assure people that I plan to post a link to UT in the near future so I don’t feel the need to do this every time a new article comes out. But since this is still a new experience to me, I naturally feel the need to share whenever a new one is published.

The first of the two, which was published on Monday, deals with a recent determination made about the source of the Moon’s water. This is based on research conducted by scientists over at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. Back in 2009, India’s Chandrayaa-1 probe conducted a near-infrared survey of the Moon during a flyby that showed signs of surface water.

moon_waterAfter years of speculation that claimed that the surface water – which exists strictly in icy form – was deposited there by meteors and comets, the National Museum team concluded that its actually formed by solar wind interacting with oxygen in the Moon’s surface dust. Quite the odd little occurrence; but then again, even Mercury appears to have icy spots on it’s molten surface.

www.universetoday.com/115215/water-on-the-moon-was-blown-in-by-solar-wind/

The second is about a recent collaboration between NASA and SpaceX. While the latter was testing their Falcon 9 rockets, NASA filmed the performance using Infrared cameras. The information gleamed from this is helping SpaceX to develop their reusable rocket, but will also help NASA to figure out how they will land habitats and heavy equipment on the surface of Mars.

NASA_thermal1Sort of a win-win scenario, one that shows how the public and private sector are working together like never before to make the future of space exploration happen. And it’s another indication of just how serious NASA and its partners are in making a mission to Mars a reality.

www.universetoday.com/115408/how-nasa-and-spacex-are-working-together-to-land-on-mars/

Feel free to check them out, and stay tuned for the next subject of interest: Dark Matter Emanating From The Sun!

Second Article Published at Universe Today!

"Sleeping to Mars" concept, by SpaceWorks
“Sleeping to Mars” concept, by SpaceWorks

Good news! My second article, which deals with the development of deep-space hibernation, just went public over at Universe Today! This one was especially fun to research, since it deals with a subject that is science fiction gold! Whether it’s from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Alien franchise, Halo, Avatar, or the literature of Alastair Reynolds, the idea of astronauts going into cryogenic suspension has been well-explored over the past few decades.

And now, NASA is collaborating with a private aerospace company called SpaceWorks to research the possibility of using such a procedure when it sends astronauts to Mars and beyond. The advantages are numerous, from cost-cutting to ensuring that astronauts don’t go all nutter-butters during the many, many months (or even years) that it takes to drift through space.

NASA_hibernationAs seems to be the case more and more these days, researchers and planners are getting serious about it. Much like manned missions to Mars, colonizing Mars, a settlement on the Moon, the Space Elevator, or exploratory missions to Europa, science fiction is fast becoming science fact. Man, am I happy to be alive right now!

Come and check out the full article at:

www.universetoday.com/115265/nasa-investigating-deep-space-hibernation-technology/

First Article Published at Universe Today!

bigelow-expandable-activity-moduleHey all! Just wanted to let people know, my first article for Universe Today just went public. The subject of the article was the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, a new type of space habitat that is being shipped to the ISS next year. Researching and writing the article itself was not unusual for me. It’s pretty much what I do here every single day. However, the real fun came in speaking to NASA and Bigelow Aerospace themselves via phone and email.

Interviewing the people behind big ideas and technological innovation is something a humble blogger like myself doesn’t get to do!  While I’ve really enjoyed talking to luminaries like Andraka and Makosinski in the past, this was a first for me. Looking forward to doing more of it in the near future!

In any case, follow the link below to check it out and don’t forget to comment and Like us on Facebook… no pressure 😉

www.universetoday.com