Author Archives: Andrew

Fewer Habitable Planet Candidates

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Andrew

This morning, I checked the Habitable Exoplanets Catalog and discovered a disappointing surprise. New information has come in, and the number of known habitable planet candidates has dropped by 17 to only 28. Worse, the 4 of the 5 candidates … Continue reading →

Posted in Exoplanets, Interstellar Destinations | 4 Comments

Extraterrestrial Mining: A First Step

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Andrew

In an article titled New Space Venture the Next Google? –”Could Add Trillions of Dollars to the Global GDP Mining Asteroids”, the Daily Galaxy reports today “Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and billionaire co-founder Larry Page have teamed up with … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Future Space Travel, How to Travel to Space | 5 Comments

The Earth Is Full?

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Andrew

According to Mr. Gilding, the Earth is full.  He states that our current global economy requires 150% of the resources the Earth can support, and current expectations are to double to quadruple global economic output.  We’re essentially driving ourselves into … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Videos | 1 Comment

Could Life Have Started in Hydrothermal Vents?

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Andrew

The Daily Galaxy has another excellent article Did Replication of Life Originate in Ancient Undersea Cauldrons?. To quote the article: “Lab experiments revealed that the precursor of life may have learned how to copy itself thanks to simple convection at … Continue reading →

Posted in Exoplanets | 1 Comment

How to Reach KOI-494.01 Within Your Lifetime

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Andrew

This video shows how travelers could reach habitable planet candidate KOI-494.01 within their lifetimes.  By sustaining 1 g acceleration (the same acceleration experienced on the Earth’s surface) the travelers would begin after about a year to experience significant time dilation … Continue reading →

Posted in Exoplanets, Future Space Travel, Physics & Special Relativity Theory | 3 Comments

Small Stars and Habitable Plants

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Andrew

New information has arrived that reinforces the possibility of habitable exomoons and brown dwarf satellites.  Specifically, the European Southern Observatory has reported results showing that super-Earths are common around “red dwarf” stars.  To quote ESO: Habitable Red Dwarf Planets Abound … Continue reading →

Posted in Exoplanets, Physics & Special Relativity Theory | 1 Comment

Brown Dwarfs and Habitable “Planets”?

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Andrew

I had a thought recently that I’d like to share. One possible class of habitable worlds are the moons of superjovian exoplanets. For most satellite systems in our solar system, the largest satellite mass is about one ten-thousandth of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Exoplanets | 3 Comments

No FTL Neutrinos After All

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Andrew

Via The Daily Galaxy, reports are now coming in that CERN’s reported FTL neutrinos didn’t travel faster than light speed after all. A sister experiment of the one that found FTL neutrinos has found no such evidence in its own … Continue reading →

Posted in Physics & Special Relativity Theory | 1 Comment

Is Photosynthesis Possible For The Known Habitable Planet Candidates?

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Andrew

Most of the known habitable planet candidates, including the current best confirmed candidate GJ 667C c, orbit small relatively cool “red dwarf” stars. This isn’t really a surprise because red dwarf stars are simply the most common type of star … Continue reading →

Posted in Exoplanets | 1 Comment

Introducing Guest Author William Mook

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Andrew

William Mook has commented extensively on some posts on this site, particularly Extreme Acceleration. If you haven’t seen them, these comments have focused mainly on harnessing minature black holes and doing wonderful things with them. Now I’ve invited William to … Continue reading →

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