The theme of the PROJECT ION site is “Working towards the radiation of Life from the Earth out into Space”. In their latest post, Jerry Stone talks about his long interest in free floating space colonies like those promoted by the late Gerard O’Neill, a noted Princeton physics professor: An Interview with Space Advocate Jerry Stone – Project Ion.
Author SF Said writes about the difficulties in the post-1960s Space Age to publish children’s books with a space theme : Children’s space stories are ready to take off again: Publishers have been wary of this kind of science fiction for years, but it’s set to thrill a new generation – theguardian.com.
His new book Phoenix, aimed at readers nine and up, is described as follows:
Lucky thinks he’s an ordinary Human boy. But one night, he dreams that the stars are singing – and wakes to find an uncontrollable power rising inside him.
Now he’s on the run, racing through space, searching for answers. In a galaxy at war, where Humans and Aliens are deadly enemies, the only people who can help him are an Alien starship crew – and an Alien warrior girl, with neon needles in her hair.
Together, they must find a way to save the galaxy. For Lucky is not the only one in danger. His destiny and the fate of the universe are connected in the most explosive way…
Here is a a very nicely done short video illustrating a dramatic reading of a section of the book:
Elon Musk has posted details of his Hyperloop mass transportation system concept :
Seems like a clever approach. More practical than the air-tube or vacuum tube concepts that have been around forever.
Elon recently said he would turn the idea over for open source style development and reserve his time for SpaceX and Tesla Motors.
I hope someone or group can push it to a hardware test level. As with innovative concepts for rockets, the upfront costs for such systems are so high, it is very difficult to get through development problems and setbacks without running out of money.
Rick Boozer is currently on The Space Show. He will discuss his new book, The Plundering of NASA: an Exposé, How pork barrel politics harm American spaceflight leadership, in which he presents the case that NASA’s SLS super heavy lifter project is a huge waste of taxpayer money and that space development and exploration with competitive commercial space transportation would be vastly more cost effective and would greatly accelerate progress in space.
Rob Abiera points me to this video in which Andrew Lewis discusses his approach to space policy. More at Ayn Rand Institute eStore : Spaceflight as It Was—and as It Ought To Be: Reviewing 50 Years of Manned Spaceflight (MP3 download)
