SpaeCor News

Eve-Online Planetary Interaction

Bryan — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:30:50 +0000

After many months staying away from Eve-Online I was finally pulled back by the allure of Planetary Interaction. It is an interesting expansion to the Industrial Robustness that Eve-Online boasts, so I wanted to experience it first hand.

Planetary Interaction on the surface is extremely exciting and does have a learning curve that you would expect of such a complicated game. It took me a few tries to figure out what i was doing exactly and how you go about setting up your colony. What it comes down to is power-grid and CPU. Setting up your colony isn’t extremely difficult after you train the necessary skills: Command center upgrades, interplanetary consolidation and remote sensing your ready to begin your colony. First you must find a suitable planet, you can choose from the eight planets available: Gas, Barren, Oceanic, Plasma, Ice, Lava, Temperate, and/or Storm. After you’ve chosen you planet you must then purchase the corresponding command center and place it in your cargo and then head into space and then build it on your planet.

When your Command center is built you are then free to manage your colony, its best to keep everything compact so build factories and mining nodes as close as you can. You use interplanetary links in order to move goods from your mining colonies too the factories. The best method in order for you not to waste materials is to have a centralized location that your route your supplies too. You can either use a warehouse, or better yet the launch pad. The launch pad can hold a ton of M3 and then launch it to space, so of course its the building of choice.

When your product is read to be shipped out you can launch it from the launch pad and then sell it in market. As of this writing it can be a very lucrative business but this may change in the future.

There are a few drawbacks to Planetary interaction For example you need to keep clicking your 5 planets and 50 extractors either ever 6 or 23 hours in order to keep your colony running smoothly. It can be a tedious never ending grind, and after you’ve set up your colony its the only thing you ever do. That brings me to my next drawback Planetary Interaction is that it is too small, You cant do enough. I want them to expand on it and make it even more immersive. The good news is its going to be tied to CCP’s new first person shooter Dust 514 which is a risky venture but could prove to be the coolest game ever.

Lunar Lander Challenge Update!

Bryan — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:02:26 +0000

Its been a while since I’ve last given an update on this exciting space race so I thought it was about time to revisit the Subject. The Google Lunar Lander Challenge is now officially underway. The year 2010 was the market for the beginning of the challenge period, so any team has the opportunity to win as early as Tomorrow! Although we would probably know about any attempts weeks ahead of time. The teams now have 2 years in order to grab the full 20 million dollar first prize, after that the prize will drop incrementally, The final deadline being the year 2014. The full list of teams that are competing is available on the Space companies page.

The secrecy of the different teams has tightened up since the competition has officially gotten underway. The lunar X prize forums have also been shut down, because of so called in adequate ability to manage the forum, thus most chatter has been cut to a minimum since the start of 2010. A few teams still stand out as the best possible teams for achieving the challenge in the near future. These teams include: Odyssey Moon, Astrobotic, ARCA, and Frednet. Currently the main challenge for the rest of the teams that sets them behind these ones is launch capabilities. For Example Odyssey Moon, works closely with NASA and has the intellectual know how working for them. ARCA has developed a balloon launching system that seems promising, And the Frednet and Astrobotic, either have large pocket books or the ability to Raise the funds for a ride on SpaceX’s Commercially driven Launch Systems.

New Space Race: The Race for Water on the Moon

Bryan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:05:33 +0000

I’m sure its come as a shock to everyone as it has to me. The Moon contains actual liquid water. Its unbelievable that it took us 40 years to discover water on the moon, but we’ve finally done it. For those of you that are still unaware of the current Moon Situation I will be happy to enlighten you.

A couple weeks ago NASA shot a rocket into the centaur crater, to analyze a debris plume. The rocket was then followed closely by the satellite LCROSS which would analyze the plume transmit data and ultimately meet the same fate as the rocket. The study was to discover if the debris that was shot up from the moon contained any form of water. After many weeks later the results were astounding, In the debris they found significant amounts of water, gallons to be exact. This completely counteracts the beliefs that the moon was as dry as a bone. This new discovery is a significant opportunity to the space industry, for those in it and those still looking to become a part of it.

Talks of a moon base went from being, purely distant future to a reality in our lifetimes. I expect that we will have a functioning moon base 10-15 years from now. However it may come as a surprise to you that NASA may not be the ones to do it. Private enterprises will be at the forefront of this one, because of NASA budget cuts there is no way the United States can do this solely as a governmental exercise. If you’ve ever dreamed of owning your own space company now is the time! With the current plans of colonizing the moon there will be many support opportunities to fill in the marketplace, be it from habitat building materials to software equipment there will be opportunities a plenty within the coming years for a budding space company to get its start.

While this poses great opportunities for space companies to get their foot in the door, this discovery is known worldwide, countries such as China (who has been looking to land on the moon by the year 2020) . I believe we are on the brink of a new world order created by the space race of our time: the race for water on the moon. China has been steadily increasing its presence in space. For Example they’ve even issued statements about creating manned weapons platforms in space. They also stand on being the first country to return to the moon, and this was before water was discovered! This new knowledge can only amplify the situation.

In an effort to maintain space superiority in a world of economic stagnation and limited funding, America has gone so far as to offer joint space operations with China. These talks will occur next year and I just hope we don’t give up to much to a country who has historically been a one way door. Sure China has opened some economic opportunities but it still has a long way to go before it can be trusted with such delicate information. Especially when the country has publicly stated its intentions for a manned weapons platform. Its up to global Space corporations to step up and make sure no one country settles the moon or space for its own advancements.

Stargate Universe (SG-U) Holds TV Space Monopoly

Bryan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:45:52 +0000

You can watch the first two episodes of Stargate Universe by downloading them free on I-tunes.

The Latest Addition to the Stargate Saga couldn’t have come at a better time. With Battlestar Galactica finished and a lack of interesting Sci-Fi Space Genre’s SG-U truly has a monopoly on the market.

Stargate Universe takes a page directly out of Battlestar Galactica’s book. Instead of focusing on more of a Star Trek feel, SG-U focuses on Battlestar Galactica style with more character development.

The TV show will take place on an ancient ship sent out billions of years ago. They truly are lost in space. To survive they will have to work together to get them through the universe and hopefully make it home in the end.

**Spoilers below**

The TV show starts out leaving you wondering whats going on, but quickly reverts to a flashback where Eli, one of our main characters, is playing a video game and cracks a Stargate Code. I really love this move on the show as it immediately throws some witty comic relief into the show. Our other main characters are the subsequently introduced at a distant base where they are working on a project named Icarus. Needless to say the base is attacked and they are forced to dial an unknown number and end up on the Ancient Space ship.

I’m really excited about this new addition to the Stargate Saga because it seems to take the best of everything and molds it into a unique but familiar Sci-Fi Experience.

Moon Contains Water! Apollo Missions an Embarrassment.

Bryan — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:17:59 +0000

Well I guess I can add another to my list of reasons to return to the moon. The moon may not be the barren wasteland that the Apollo missions stated it to be those many years ago. Satellite imaging has confirmed the presence of H2O in some form or another on the moon. This is a huge discovery and may very well turn around 40 years of assumptions that the moon is barren.

The water may not be as you may think though. The H2O molecule is believe to be mixed in with the dirt much like in the Arizona desert. Even the most Arid of climates can harbor some form or another of water.

Now that we’ve confirmed water on mars which is a year away we discover water on the moon which is only days! It seems that we have gone about our search for water in the wrong ways when we should have much more extensively looked at the moon. It is interesting though why this is being discovered now what with The Google Lunar X only months away from launching.

You may have heard about a little competition called the Lunar X prize. Well its basically a competition backed by Google where teams from around the world compete to probe the moon and send back HD video content back to earth. The teams have been getting ready for the competition for many years now and its scheduled to begin in the year 2010. In light of the recent water on the moon discovery more media and public attention may be focused on the moon and this competition. Which leads me to wonder if this is only just a publicity stunt. Whatever it may be I think it can only do good for the Lunar X prize, and prove that even a barren wasteland can have an oasis.

4 Reasons to Return to the moon

Bryan — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:48:53 +0000

1. National Security: A lot more countries are looking to the stars these days and beginning to become spacefaring nations. Countries such as China and India are newly entering space while Japan and Russia are planning more space missions. All of these countries have their eye on the moon. Many Americans still fear communism and what would happen if China were the first to establish a base on the moon.

2. Resources: The moon is not so much a barren wasteland as the original Apollo missions claimed it to be. The Presence of PGM’s(Platinum Group Metals) may trigger a moon rush. Platinum is the most rare and valuable metal on the planet, and the moon may have an abundant amount of PGM’s deposited by asteroids over millions of years. The moon dust (Regolith) also possesses multiple minerals and even includes oxygen. The moon dust can be broken down into its components and used for building bases on the moon.

3. Exploration: There has been many debates on what process would be used to colonize space. One side of the debate is we should head straight for mars because of its likeness to earth and it would be easier to colonize. The other side of the debate is that the moon should be used as a gateway to mars. Its better to get experience on a celestial body that is only days instead of months or even years away.

4. The Economy: lets not sugarcoat it the economy is going to crap. The only way we were dragged out of the depression was from the world wars and a greater push to industrialism. Today the economy is experiencing the same stagnation and needs to move to a new realm of economic stability. This stability will come from space exploration and development. It will Create millions of jobs in electronics, and even create entirely new jobs the world has yet to see.

What is Moog FTS? Newspace race picks up steam.

Bryan — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:16:00 +0000

What is this unknown company and why is it suddenly so important? Well, as it turns out Moog is an aerospace manufacturing company that chose Space Port America for its testing site. Working in conjunction with UP Aerospace Moog launched its test rocket using UP’s Launch systems. While the flights were not successful in nature it created much needed data for engineers to work with.

Although I am embarrassed to admit I’ve never heard of Moog until today, but the company is actually very large and covers multiple sectors of the economy. Moog covers Aerospace, Energy, Industrial Technology and even Medical Tech just to name a few of their markets. Throughout these markets Moog specializes in motion control.

(To learn more about Moog you can visit their website by checking out my space companies tab.)

Moog’s demonstration is an important step for Space Port America’s survival. If Space Port America hopes to be successful it must not only attract tourism but be a bed for innovation and future space travel testing. The absence of red tape that is usually a pain when dealing with military establishments makes Space Port America much more hospitable towards innovation, hopefully pushing America into a much more involved space future.

Space Port America is slated to finish construction at the end of 2011. Hopefully with the influx of space tourism, Moog will be a leader in a much larger job market for the state of New Mexico. Not only will hotels and tourist activities be built but maybe even a larger community will blossom to support testing facilities and high tech industry. If your looking for a place to invest I would have my money in New Mexico.

Hot New Space Exploration Investments that can Make You Rich!

Bryan — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:56:31 +0000

The space exploration and space tourism sector may be the next dot com boom. Space Travel has been getting a lot of private sector love lately, with Google’s lunar challenge and privatization of ISS transportation needs. There are even plans for future moon bases and surveying operations within the next decade. With So many attractive space exploration businesses sprouting up the potential for “YOU” to profit may be just around the corner.

Currently many of the space companies in existence do not offer stock, but as this section of the economy gets more media attention IPO’s may spring up as fast as they did for the dot com’s in the late 1990′s. One successful company may begin offering stock as early as 6 months from now. Space exploration Technologies also known as SpaceX began promises of going public after the successful launch of two falcon 9 launches, we can only assume he meant commercial launches. Today SpaceX boasts 1 successful commercial launch with more to come. The contract with ISS begins in 2010 but will be offering test runs with the falcon 9 at the end of 2009. Keep a lookout for SpaceX’s IPO in the near future, because it may very well be worth your investment.

Virgin Galactic may also be planning on letting some investors get a piece of the action. However, Branson may only be interested in floating the company rather than offering a full blown IPO. Nonetheless if you can get a piece of the company, your sure to be in really good shape because Richard Branson has a knack for success. Hopefully in the near future, private space enterprise will go entirely public, but for now I’ll be waiting on the sidelines just waiting for the opportunity to invest.

For those of you more well funded individuals, you may be interested in venture capital opportunities with Space Angels Network. Space Angels is dedicated to helping new space start ups through coaching, promoting, networking and most of all funding entrepreneurs visions.

Subscribe to my RSS feed at the top of the page and get future updates on the best outer space companies to invest in, along with interesting updates on the new space exploration and space tourism industry.

COTS to Create Space Jobs for Millions

Bryan — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:13:27 +0000

Imagine one day you look up at the full moon, and instead of seeing a bright surface, you see tiny dark spots. What are these dark spots? Moon settlements. This is all because of the new reality painted by private space business, also known as the newspace movement. Private enterprise just got a new push in the right direction, the retirement of the space shuttle created a problem and COTS may be the answer.

COTS also known as Commercial Orbital Transportation Services is a program created by NASA to spur competition and development in the commercial space program. Orbital Sciences and SpaceX are two companies that have received money from COTS and are well on their way to supplying the international space station after the shuttles retirement.

SpaceX has planned missions to ISS all the way up to the year 2015, and will be doing a COT’s demonstration in 2010. SpaceX has already proved that they can launch their falcon into orbit without problems. However they have they have yet to test their Dragon model, that will ferry passengers to the space station. They were given the COTS’ money in order to speed up their research and development to ensure that they can take the space shuttles place.

COTS has caught on not only as a way of decreasing NASA costs, but also is beginning to act as a stimulus plan for the US economy. The Obama administration believes if they can help push a new industry along, it may in just one decade ensure that we are brought out of this recession. It looks like a great idea but will it actually work?

The idea behind COTS as a stimulus plan is that it will create competition in the market place. The competition will create innovation leading to more jobs. Much like the World Wars brought us out of the depression, the newspace proposals will bring us from this recession, through innovation. These Jobs will be created because as more idea’s and technologies are developed, more segments of the industry will be developed. The Solar System is a vast place, and if we can begin to just tap a small portion of it there will be no shortage of jobs as mankind expands to the cosmos.

Will BSG Fans Embrace New SciFi TV Show ?

Bryan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:51:14 +0000

Think Lost meets Battlestar Galactica (BSG) meets Apollo 13. Well that’s what you get when you watch ABC’s new SciFi TV show: Defying Gravity. From the makers of Desperate Houswives and Greys Anatomy, Defying Gravity strives to bring sex and intrigue into space. I Just hope they take more from BSG’s book than either of those two TV shows for the SciFi community’s sake. Personally Ive been waiting in limbo for some kind of television show reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica, and hopefully this show can fill the void. Defying Gravity Recently Aired at 9PM EDT on Sunday with 2 hours of episode.

Possible Spoilers below

Defying Gravity is essentially a Soap Opera, about a crew that sets out to Explore our Solar System. But there’s a twist! Some invisible entity controls the crews destiny although only the commanders of the expedition know about it. Whether this is a new take on Lost’s time traveling plane crash victims, or BSG’s Biblical Time loop has yet to be revealed. For now we know that problems keep arising and its due to something that lies within module 4.

The Show begins by revealing our Hero, who has been traumatized by a mission to mars. During his mission he was forced to leave 2 crew members to die on the planet. Now he’s training new Astronauts for a trip of a lifetime, a manned Exploration of our Solar System. A love interest is revealed when one of the trainees turns out to be a woman he met at a bar. Now their In Space together along with a Sexy Russian woman who swoons over our Heroes Sexual Prowess, Cue Drama!

Defying Gravity shows a lot of promise, but currently lacks a distinction. I think it will get better as the series progresses and visits to exciting locations around the solar System. For now I’ll just have to get my fix watching the awesome space ship, that looks straight out of the movie Sunshine.

The show is also attempting to bring in more of a rounded audience appealing to a larger female base. You heard me… Girls! A plus for all you SciFi geeks out there (now you’ll have something to talk about on that first date ^^). This is a must See if you enjoyed BattleStar Galactica or Lost

You can Watch Defying Gravity here