What’s New Concerning Space? One thing we are finding out when we look deeply into space for habitable planets is there are quite a few planets that have moons circling them and sometimes a lot of moons. These moons are increasing the chances of finding life since some could be very planet like. Recently 121 giant planets were found which have moons orbiting them. Some of these planets are like a solar system unto themselves because they have so many moons circling them. There may be far more moons around some of them than we can tell since they are so far away. The planets I mentioned are in what scientists call the habitable zone which increases chances of finding life even more. Some moons get a goodly amount of energy from the planet they orbit and from the star the planet and moon orbit. This could also increase the chance of finding life. There has been a lot of talk about colonization of Mars and even though some experts are now saying Mars may have an atmosphere most believe we will not be able to breathe on Mars without some sort of suit or mask. This may change however. Bacteria have been discovered by Australian scientists which can exist in very low light and hostile conditions. Scientists feel this bacterium known as a cyanobacterium has a process for generating oxygen and it could be useful in discovering how to generate oxygen on Mars. I remember a college student suggesting we could terraform Mars much quicker using bacteria than any other way. Perhaps he was responsible for this new way of thinking. Anyway this bacterium has existed on earth for 2.5 billion years so it is safe. If scientists can replicate this process the bacteria will do the job for them. Scientists have announced they have found the interstellar dust which created our solar system. As always I am very skeptical. To me it is like saying I found the needle used to sew our first flag in a pile of hundreds of thousands of antique needles. Scientists said they found the dust in the earth’s upper atmosphere. That would mean the dust stayed there for approximately 4.5 billion years. Couldn’t that dust have come from some other place but resembled interstellar dust? Perhaps it was spit out by ancient volcanoes or traveled here from some other solar system or galaxy which resembled ours that just happens to be similar. I just don’t see how this will ever be proved to everyone’s satisfaction. To make matters even more confusing it was said the scientists believe it comes from comets getting close from the sun. This would mean the comets are dusted with the original dust without it being ripped off by the solar wind and such. NASA is discussing sending a robotic mission to Venus in advance of a human mission. The idea is to build a very light probe which would float in the planet’s atmosphere and study the planet. One thing scientists learned the hard way was the pressure on the surface of Venus will crush almost anything we send there. The pressure on the surface is 90 atmospheres which means it is 90 times more than on earth. The atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide with clouds of sulfuric acid. It is not a very nice place to say the least. The new probe will be aptly named HAVOC or High Altitude Venus Operational Concept. I have to wonder if NASA picked the designation of HAVOC first then figured out what it meant or vice versa. The ultimate aim is to send humans to Venus. If they went to the surface they would need to be in something which resembles a submarine to withstand the pressure. I believe most of us already know the International Space Station is composed of modules from different countries. NASA is talking about something which surprised me and probably a lot of other people. They are talking about commercializing the station and if need be splitting up its parts. Supposedly it is a monetary thing. The head of NASA said it costs up to 4 billion dollars a year to maintain the space station. He wants to consider different ways to turn it into a private entity even if some of the parts have to be deorbited. I would like to know what the other countries which are involved have to say about this. I just can’t see Russia being too happy getting disconnected. It seems the new head of NASA; Jim Bridenstine is entertaining all sorts of ideas about partnerships with private companies. When the robotic lander was cancelled which was scheduled to go to the moon scientists were upset. One scientist said it was “viewed with both incredulity and dismay by our community.” The astronauts are not happy about the idea of using spaceships from private companies and one complained saying NASA was working on something which was made specifically for transporting humans in safety while the private spaceships would be converted cargo carriers. There is another problem with private companies launching rockets to carry parts for a moon base. The rocket NASA is working on can lift as much tonnage as six of the SpaceX Heavy Launch Falcon rockets according to some sources so even though a launch is cheaper when you figure the extra launches needed no money is saved. If we are hearing about all this going on concerning space and space travel can you imagine what is going on we don’t know about. We are living in an exciting time and in a few years things may become so spectacular we might be able to travel to the moon as easily as traveling to another country.
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