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Archive for May, 2010

Physicist Paul Davies has written a book that is exactly the kind of topic I like to read. The basic question he asks is:
If aliens exist, where are they?The physicist Enrico Fermi asked this question 60 years ago, and it has since come to be known as the “Fermi Paradox”. Given how vast the universe is, and the billions of years that life has had to spread across the cosmos, why have we not found any evidence of alien life?Paul Davies takes a fresh look at this question in his engaging and thoughtful new book, The Eerie Silence.
He goes on to discuss if life on Earth is a simple fluke or there is a possibility that life does exist somewhere out there in the vast Universe.
He also explains that communication may take time:

Even if complex life can be found elsewhere, does that mean it will be intelligent? By “intelligent,” we often mean a species that will use science to investigate the universe. Davies again throws cold water on our assumptions, saying the scientific method is a specific outcome of Greek philosophy and medieval European monotheism. Despite this, Davies gamely uses the Drake Equation to estimate there could be 10,000 civilizations in the galaxy capable at this time of communicating by radio waves.

“At this time” is an important element of his estimate, since a barrier to interstellar communications is not only distance but time. Consider aliens living one thousand light years away. Davies points out that if they were able to see Earth in their telescopes, they would not see us as we are today, but as we were in the year 1010 A.D. – long before we invented radio dishes. And because human radio technology is only about 100 years old, it will take another 900 years for our first signals to reach them.

His writing would suggest he feels we are alone in the Universe but in true scientific form he states:

Still, the fact that we don’t know and may never have the answer about alien life is reason enough to keep searching, says Davies. By stretching our minds to try to envision all the possibilities in our search for aliens, not only may we one day find what we seek, but in the process we also will learn about many other deep and enduring mysteries of the cosmos.

I would like to think that life does exist in the Universe, but then again that is why I love science fiction, and I am not being unrealistic, in my opinion, because nothing has been proven to exclude the fact that life does not exist beyond our galaxy. It is a book that gets you thinking about all the possibilities in life.

LINK.

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• The Eerie Silence: Are We Alone in the Universe? by Paul Davies: review (telegraph.co.uk)

The famous physicist Stephen Hawking believes aliens exist in the universe but that they would be likely to conquer us rather than make friends. So we are looking at meeting Klingons or Romulans as opposed to Vulcans or Betazoids! From the article:
Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has repeated his long-held belief that intelligent aliens are likely to exist, and that a visit by them to present-day humanity would probably have unfortunate consequences for us.
“To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational… If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”
“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet,” he argues. “I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”
Alternatively, in the case of aliens having originally evolved on an Earthlike world, it might simply be their goal to seize and colonise ours, as Prof Hawking says – regardless of the status of their homeworld, they might like to have another. The mere fact of their being able to get here across interstellar distances would tend to suggest they might be technically capable of overcoming humanity and exterminating or enslaving us – or confining limited numbers of us to reservations, if they were relatively kind aliens.
Ok, now I am thinking of the aliens from Stargate such as the Goa´uld or Wraith, yikes! His thoughts on the alien life are very interesting and oppose some the ideas of some of his colleagues who think that life on Earth is a fluke and no other life may exist in the universe.
You can read the entire article HERE.
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• Don’t Talk To Aliens, Warns Stephen Hawking (science.slashdot.org)

I was reading the article in TrekToday in which Goldberg talks about her role as Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation and in fact, that is the last character Gene Roddenberry ever wrote for the Star Trek series. I have heard her interviewed in the past about her strong desire to be part of TNG, but at the time, the producers did not take it seriously until she got on the phone and said she really was interested. From the article:

But those in charge of The Next Generation weren’t keen initially on having her at first. “When I got the opportunity, I asked to be part of it. But they were like ugh, they don’t wanna … The person I asked was LeVar Burton because he was doing it. I said, ‘Tell them I wanted to do it very much,’ and told them all the reasons. He said OK.”But it took a while before Goldberg got her chance. “A year went by and nothing happened. When I saw [Burton] next I said, ‘What happened?’ ‘They didn’t believe me.’ I said, ‘Give me the phone number,’ and I called them. We had a meeting with Gene Roddenberry who asked me the same question you just did (what drew her to Star Trek). I told them the same thing I told you. I never thought about it that way. So he wrote the last character that he wrote for me, and that’s how it happened.”

The episodes I like the most with the character Guinan are “Time´s Arrow” and Yesterday´s Enterprise and I have to say, Yesterday´s Enterprise has to be one of my favorite episodes of TNG.

Since the exhibition of Star Trek at Las Vegas was closed and auctioned off, there is now an option for those die-hard Trek fans:

This summer, visitors to Kennedy Space Center will be able to participate in Star Trek Live, a new stage show.Star Trek Live melds special effects, space technology and audience interaction in a half-hour production from CBS Consumer Products and Mad Science Productions.Reported by Trektoday last fall, Star Trek Live will be appearing at Kennedy Space Center beginning June 11.Star Trek Live will allow audience members to “join Starfleet Academy” where they will be catapulted into an adventure featuring special effects, science, audience interaction and on-screen appearances from Captain Kirk and Spock themselves, with clips from the 2009 Star Trek XI film enhancing the experience.The audience member “cadets” will prepare for their first day at Starfleet Academy, but their introduction is rudely interrupted by an attack from a Romulan renegade. It’s up to the cadets to adapt to living and working in space, and to figure out what has happened and how to fix it as the future of the Federation will be in their hands.There will be five performances scheduled daily at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, the cost of which is included in the KSC regular admission price.

LINK.

If you have time and money, this Saturday in Las Vegas you can bid for Star Trek props such as the famed Capt. Picard´s chair which might look great in your living room, or a uniform for the next party you attend.
From the article:
“Star Trek” fans looking for Enterprise chairs, Starfleet uniforms or a model Klingon Bird of Prey can seek out new life for the dismantled pieces of a closed Las Vegas attraction based on the famous franchise. Auctioneer Propworx Inc. plans to sell roughly 1,000 items large and small from Star Trek: The Experience at a warehouse sale Saturday in Las Vegas, CEO Alec Peters said.
The attraction, based on the beloved science fiction television series and movies, closed in 2008 after a 10-year run.
It is sad the attraction had to close but great for those who have the means to collect the items from the exhibition.
HERE is a link to the full story.
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• ‘Trek’ fans, want Picard’s chair? It’s for sale (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

As reported on Space.com, the U.S. Air Force is testing a space glider and I imagine the little money left for NASA was diverted to this kind of project. It is one thing in a science fiction show to have space craft and weapons to DEFEND yourself from other sentient aliens who have similar technology and there are no provocations, and it is another thing to build space craft to attack right here on planet Earth to provoke hostility one county against another. WOW!
A U.S. Air Force space plane and a failed hypersonic glider tested by the Pentagon represent the latest space missions to raise concerns about weapons in space. But while their exact purpose remains murky, they join a host of new space technology tests that could eventually bring the battlefield into space.
Some space technology demonstrations are more obviously space weapons, such as the anti-satellite missile capabilities tested by the U.S. and China in recent years. India has also begun developing its own anti-satellite program which would combine lasers and an exo-atmospheric kill vehicle, as announced at the beginning of 2010.
The U.S. military could even be using the cloak of mystery to deliberately bamboozle and confuse rival militaries, according to John Pike, a military and security analyst who runs GlobalSecurity.org. He suggested that the X-37B and HTV-2 projects could represent the tip of a space weapons program hidden within the Pentagon’s secret “black budget,” or they might be nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
You can read the entire article here.
I wish people in their personal lives, cities, states, and countries could live in peace and find peaceful solutions to problems, but I guess that is too much to ask. I have always enjoyed Star Trek: The Next Generation because solutions were sought through talk, treaties, meetings, peace, and fighting was usually the last resort. The entire concept of the Federation of Planets was to invite other worlds who desired a peaceful union working together. Of course there were conquering races such as the Klingons and Romulans, but there will always be a force to face that has interests opposed to your own, thus the ability to negotiate peacefully is vital.
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• U.S. military launches space plane on secret mission (cnn.com)

The Space Shuttle Atlantis will be visible in the early evening sky over the weekend. Remember, this is the last year of the manned space shuttle program by NASA, so try to take advantage of any opportunity to see the shuttle in action:

Skywatchers across the continental United States will get a fine opportunity this weekend to watch as the space shuttle Atlantis — on its final scheduled mission into space — chases and ultimately docks with the International Space Station (ISS).

Both the shuttle and space station will be visible as separate entities, each appearing as bright “stars” sailing across the evening twilight sky on Friday and Saturday. By Sunday evening, Atlantis will be docked to the ISS, and both will appear as a single bright moving “star.”

During Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, both Atlantis and the ISS will make a number of favorable passes across the contiguous U.S. Their respective ground tracks will take them on northwest-to-southeast paths. With a very few exceptions, between one and four crossings of both the shuttle and the ISS will be visible.

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• Last Chance to Spot Shuttle Atlantis in Night Sky (space.com)
• Countdown Begins for Shuttle Atlantis’ Last Flight (abcnews.go.com)
• Three Payloads Built By CU-Boulder Set For Launch On Space Shuttle Atlantis (physorg.com)

I usually muse about science fiction subjects, but I came across the film entitled Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and was entranced by this unusual and horrific story. The movie was made in 2006 but is based on a German novel written in 1985 by Patrick Suskind.
The story is set in 18th century France and shows us the deplorable living conditions of that time and focuses on Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the antihero of the story. The journey of his birth to his death describes his super human ability to smell and his eventual obsession to make the most magical perfume in the world, a perfume that could control humanity. However, the way he goes about making this perfume is beyond comprehension and not what you would expect.
If you have not seen this movie, in my opinion, it is a must see because the acting is beyond excellent, the music outstanding, and the cinematography fantastic.

When I read the article about the Pac- Man image appearing on the moon that orbits Saturn it made me laugh so hard, but it is true, the image of the tiny moon taken by the Cassini spacecraft does look like the 1980 Pac-Man figure I used to play when you actually had to go to an arcade to play video games on those monstrous machines. I played Pac-Man but my favorite game was Space Invaders, I could play that game for hours as well as air hockey on those huge tables. Sometimes it is nice to go down memory lane….
From the article:

The Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn has caught an interesting new view of the tiny moon Mimas.

The probe measured temperature differences across the object’s surface and produced a map that looks just like the 1980s Pac-Man video games icon.Scientists are unsure why Mimas should display such variations but say it is probably related to the diversity of textures in the surface materials.Some textures may retain heat better than others, they explain.Mimas is about 400km (250 miles) across. It has a distinctive scar called Herschel Crater which has led many to draw comparisons with the “Death Star” from the Star Wars movies.

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• ‘Pac-man’ shape spotted in Saturn’s moon (news.bbc.co.uk)

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the explosion of an oil rig is harming fragile animal, plant, and sea life in what was a beautiful area of water. I have personally visited the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico and I have swum and snorkeled around coral and beautiful fish and it breaks my heart to think of all the destruction this continued leak of oil is causing.
I did not realize it also affects NASA:

The expanding oil slick has cut into the deep water route typically used by NASA barges and their tugs to haul the 15-storey space shuttle fuel tanks from their manufacturing site – the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans – to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to be attached to an orbiter for launch.

Space shuttle fuel tanks are built by Lockheed Martin and are too large to be delivered by train or truck. When fully fueled at the launch pad, they weigh about 1.7 million pounds (771,000 kg), counting the 535,000 gallons of cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant.

I am sure other commerce has been disrupted and I cannot understand how this tragedy occured but I hope they end the gush of oil that is filling the water every moment.

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• Oil Spill Hinders Space Shuttle Fuel Tank Delivery (space.com)