Known Space

Via Chris Roberson. Wow.

Time-Lapse of the Galactic Center of The Milky Way

Posted using ShareThis

Space Diving: Sport of the Future!

Thanks to Joel Shepherd for pointing this out. And from Armadillo Aerospace.

Peter Diamandis: Taking the Next Giant Leap into Space

Via TED: Ideas worth spreading. Peter Diamandis, who runs the X Prize Foundation, says it's our moral imperative to keep exploring space in this talk, "Taking the next giant leap into space."

RIP: Sir Arthur C Clarke

Sir Arthur C Clarke has died at age 90. Truly one of the greatest SF authors of all time. I never corresponded with him personally, though he was a decades-long friend to Pyr's parent company, Prometheus Books, and we were just about to send him a case of Pyr books. My son is named for him in part. Very sad, if not unexpected, news.

Last Leg of the Space Race

(via Futurismic) I'd love to see this work its way through the SF bloggosphere. Dr. J. Richard Gott III's Copernican Principle gives a 95% likelihood that the human race will survive at least 5,100 more years but not longer than 7.8 million. These odds can be improved if we colonize other planets, but - get this - he gives a 50% chance that we're already at the midpoint of the space program, giving us only another 46 years to beat the odds. I'd love to see some smarter minds than mine discuss this, though his answer to the Fermi Paradox should be of interest to all writers and readers of speculative fiction.