Check out these stunning images captured by the LRO cameras in 2010. I felt great pride when I viewed these images. Seeing them brought back some of the emotions I felt back in 1969 when the U.S. sent astronauts to the moon. If our country ever turned its attention from villainizing and attacking entire countries and cultures, maybe we could get back to serious space exploration, as well as other cutting edge science.
Then watch this video, shot from the International Space Station. Here's more information. The views are fantastic.
Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.
As reported by The Independent, the Mars rover called Opportunity is still up and running (unlike its companion rover, Spirit, which stopped sending signals last year). And there is still a lot to explore, including a huge crater at which Opportunity has just arrived. This is an incredible story and a laudable accomplishment for the many scientists who have worked behind the scenes. At least, it's a laudable story for those of us who still appreciate first-rate science. This inspiring story of the Mars rovers makes it all the more frustrating that every year the U.S. spends as much money air conditional soldiers' tents in Iraq and Afghanistan ($20 B), as it spends every year for the entire budget of NASA.
Ever wonder how it must have looked as clouds of space dust combined to form the Earth. National Geographic offers this awesome animation: Also from National Geographic, here's a theory of how some species of animals, but not large dinosaurs, survived the the aftermath of an enormous asteroid crashing into Earth. And here is a theory regarding the formation of the moon.
Neil deGrasse Tyson bemoans that "no one is dreaming about tomorrow anymore." At some point, "you gotta look up." He reminds us that NASA enables our dreams: "The most powerful agency on the dreams of a nation is currently underfunded to do what it needs to do. . . . How much would you pay for the universe?” NASA now runs off of .58% of the national budget. Compare this to the 1960s, when a full 5% of the national budget was allocated to NASA. Compare the NASA budget to the money we are wasting on our military adventures and it's intensely depressing.