Cold Comfort: Antarctic Research Stations

Check out THIS very cool photo article from WIRED (warning: a six-page slide show) showing detailed photos and stats of cutting-edge research bases in Antarctica.

These bases are fascinating in and of themselves, but if you're into writing science fiction or scifi RPGs, these are probably the closest in real life you're going to come to the kind of bases we may eventually establish on other worlds and moons and (maybe someday) in other star systems. A number of space agencies have been involved with the designing of antarctic bases for decades now, and view them as good real-world tests for not only technologies but in seeing how crews adapt and interact with each other over long periods of isolated deployment together. The latter could come in very useful on future long term voyages to nearby planets and asteroids.

Constellation Given A Reprieve

The Constellation program has apparently been given at least a partial reprieve by President Obama. See the full story HERE in an article from spaceref.com.

Good news indeed that the administration has decided not to let US manned space program languish entirely in the hands of private business. Not that I don't believe that a number of private firms will eventually be up to the task, but for the time being they're still a largely unproven commodity. It really is best that NASA and the US government keep pushing forward with manned space flight for the time being, and give private enterprise time to prove their worth before we shift anything major over to them.

((And sorry about lack of updates lately, life has a habit of getting in the way of such things. Hopefully soon I'll be able to contribute a lot more than I have.))