Space yays

[Jubal]

In news of great concern to Doctor Who fans everywhere, it turns out there are waters on Mars...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32287609

[Silver Wolf]

So with some proper planning and genetic engineering the first steps of terraforming might not be so far away after all. 

[comrade_general]

http://www.iflscience.com/space/spacex-wins-permission-launch-government-satellites

[Jubal]

One step closer to Mars, or world domination, or whatever they're after...

[Jubal]

So this is pretty awesome:
'Earth 2.0' found in Nasa Kepler telescope haul



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33641648

A haul of planets from Nasa's Kepler telescope includes a world sharing many characteristics with Earth.
Kepler-452b orbits at a very similar distance from its star, though its radius is 60% larger.
Mission scientists said they believed it was the most Earth-like planet yet.
Such worlds are of interest to astronomers because they might be small and cool enough to host liquid water on their surface - and might therefore be hospitable to life.
Nasa's science chief John Grunsfeld called the new world the "closest so far" to Earth.

[comrade_general]

[Clockwork]

There's one of those but with all the different sci-fi spacecraft, they're awesome

[comrade_general]

Know exactly what you're talking about.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://orig03.deviantart.net/494a/f/2014/171/0/1/size_comparison___science_fiction_spaceships_by_dirkloechel-d6lfgdf.jpg

'Course that can't include V'Ger at 97,500 meters or the Death Stars at 120,000 and 160,000 meters. portugal that whale probe thing.

[Jubal]

It's hilarious how tiny all the DW ships are (Also, did they get some of those from the comics? I'm not sure all those appear in the TV series...)

In other news, apparently solar storms might have blasted Mars' atmosphere out the way:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34736574

[Jubal]

SpaceX rocket in historic upright landing



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35157782

OK, this is a fairly big one. SpaceX have managed a vertical landing after launching satellites, which means - if this can be done regularly - potentially a vastly, vastly decreased financial and environmental cost of space launches. 

[comrade_general]

portugal yeah.

[comrade_general]

[Jubal]

You must've missed the signpost to the space sads thread

[Glaurung]

Some nice pictures of Earth and other planets in this BBC News article. They are all in an exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London, open from 22 January to 15 May, if you're able to get there and willing to pay the £9.90 exhibition charge.

[comrade_general]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3454486/Could-travel-Mars-just-THREE-days-Nasa-s-photonic-propulsion-uses-light-lasers-produce-thrust.html
This is awesome, makes me think of that episode of Next Gen where they propel the ship to warp using a soliton wave generator. We'd just need to send the robots first to install a second laser either on Mars or in orbit so there could be a return journey. The Moon took 4 days in the past so this is an amazing step in space travel.