Scotius

Cool animation But yeah - that Jumbo would be scrap metal in a second under such weight (even empty).

Most "rare" elements like iridium, platinum etc are rare, because they sank to Earth's core while our planet was a blob of molten rock. What we mine and use today is in 90% a second batch - delivered by the asteroids crashing into the surface after it solidified. And Moon got its fair share of these too And speaking of asteroids and their wealth of materials - Mars is a perfect stepping stone to get our hands on the bonanza of the Belt. Venus - not so much

Yup. Taken straight from thick, respectable astronomy books in public library of my town Which, granted - weren't probably super up-to-date. But it still would take several years before prof. Wolszczan's team found the first proven extrasolar planetary system - around a pulsar of all places.

Old, used fighter jet probably would be cheap - but precisely for that reason maintenance would be a nightmare. And you could forget about 3 hour turnaround.

It looks like pea soup Thin atmosphere, my gluteus maximus. It still carries some nasty weather patterns. Global sandstorm, geez...

35 kilometers above the surface. We will have tons and tons of high quality photos soon. Good news for astrographers making maps of Ceres surface.

Unless there is natural outgassing from the rocks, any gases would escape anyway - just slower Theoretically, on Mars we can maaaaayyyybbeeeeee find caves with higher concentrations of CO2 and methane. But it will be nothing like early atmosphere.

Now we just need a functional FTL drive to start colonising and mining And to think i remember the times when some astronomers (pessimistic ones) theorised that number of planetary systems in our Galaxy was at low hundreds. I'm so glad they were proved wrong

Bad weather on Mars, folks - and plucky little Opportunity is caught right in the middle of a very, very nasty dust storm. Will its batteries hold out long enough to survive this predicament? Will rover's solar panels continue to work when sand settles on them? Scott Manley did video on this topic:

From the trailer it looks like most of Neil Armstrong's astronaut career will be crammed into one movie. And in true Hollywood manner it will be overdramatised a bit Still, potential is there.

Yeah, that. For the same reasons modern seaships carry binoculars and signal rockets, despite radars, radio and other advanced doodads onboard . Things break, and Murphy's Laws waste no occasion to strike.

A big cruise ship is not something you can hide in your sleeve to stealthily pop on the table. There would be a lot of people involved in this supposed switcheroo - and inevitably some of them would babble about it in the following years. Human nature

They found the box in which a teapot once was. Current location of the teapot itself is currently unknown.

Rocket parts next to a dilapidated shack Oh, it reminds me of so many old-timey SF stories...

Looking at this picture gave me an interesting idea. Crew quarters are essentially a cylinder with an empty tunnel in the center. Start rotating the BFR, and there will be artificial gravity Not much of it, sure - but i guess it could be useful on long trips. A bit of gravity is better than zero-g, right?

Oh for the love of Jeb... NASA - if you have something interesting to say (but it's not Earth-shattering like finding extraterrestial life), then just say it. Do we really want hype circus every time scientists find a new type of mineral? Keep the hype for truly interesting things, or else you will desensitize the public. Soon no one will care about your announcements.

Yeahhhhh. Private rocket launches are so boring and mundane nowadays. Only landings, very important interplanetary missions or test flights of new vessels bring any attention. Huh. Who would think it could ever happen...

I wonder if there's a storm cellar somewhere. Also, there is something looking like a circular tank wrapped around the bridge - RCS fuel, oxygen reserve, extra water?

Then map of the Solar system is a good start. Also making clay orbs and engraving them with silhouettes of all continents and biggest islands(more or less acurately LOL). Make sure your orbs are properly fired before burying them everywhere around.

I'd say we should preserve natural monuments. Like unique rock formations, scientifically valuable places and so on. But if there happens to be a vein of useful ore or frozen underground lake in the middle of a nondescript area... then by all means - let's mine that stuff! Trash, junk and refuse though... no. Let's recycle as much as possible, while destroying or at least compacting the rest somewhere isolated.

Ariane 5 was meant to be the launcher stage for European shuttle "Hermes". Too bad it never materialised

Technical warnings or weather being uncooperative? Inquiring minds want to know

So, in a nutshell: CNES underestimated SpaceX abilities and thought their reusability plan laughable. Now they are feeling the pressure, flail wildly to keep as much of their share of the market as they can - and finally, FINALLY are making tentative plans to develop reuseable rocket. Too little too late - if you ask me. Ariane 5 is awesome, but it will not carry European spaceflight industry as far as her builders had planned. Not with new rules of the game. Shame on you CNES. Shame on you.

Did not fall apart in flight Always a plus.

That seems a bit premature. BO don't even have a Moon rocket, but they are "offering the Moon"? PR stunt if i ever seen one