Dispatches from the future, in which astronauts farm the blackened mare plains on our Moon’s dark side for rich Helium-3 isotopes to be used in advanced fuel cells back on terra firma, sound far more like science fiction than anything we’re capable of right now (unless, of course, Newt Gingrich were to be elected… but I digress). Then again, potential candidates in the present U.S. election may not be the only ones with their eyes on the stars.

In fact, shortly after his historic solo descent to the depths of the Mariana Trench, filmmaker James Cameron has been named along with such names as Ross Perot Jr. in an alliance with the uber-company Google Inc, in a project that could seek to make not only galactic mining operations a reality, but which could move us ever more close to the privatization of space travel.

The Wall Street Journal reported this weekend that the new company,to be called Planetary Resources Inc., has said very little at the outset of their venture. A few things were made clear, however, in stating that the company planned to explore ways to “overlay two critical sectors—space exploration and natural resources—to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP”

Indeed, there could be a lot of potential outside our humble little mudball; this article’s nut graph describes the harvesting of what I referred to as “Helium-3 isotopes,” which, rather than being a snazzy-sounding reference to something sci fi sounding, is an actual radioactive isotope that, while abundant on Earth’s Moon, is seldom found here on our planet. At least since the presidency of George W. Bush, there has been legitimate discussion (if not merely hopeful for the time being) regarding the potentials for utilizing the space program to harvest such substances to further nuclear fusion research and providing clean, efficient energy sources.

However, the Moon is hardly the only place where valuable celestial commodities might be located. As reported by WSJ online, asteroids and their potential for supplying rare elements has been discussed with certain promise as of late:

The possibility of extracting raw materials such as iron and nickel from asteroids has been discussed for decades, but the cost, scientific expertise and technical prowess of fulfilling such as feat have remained an obstacle. NASA experts have projected it could cost tens of billions of dollars and take well over a decade to land astronauts on an asteroid.

Of course, economic conditions presently have cast dark shadows over the future of the American Space Program, causing many to question this sort of projected goal, at least so far as it coming to fruition any time in the next decade. Hence, the notion of private industry taking interest in space exploration has become, for some, particularly appealing.

This isn’t always the case, of course. During a brief chat I had with a former contractor who, during the 1960s, had worked on electrical circuitry for missile systems, he described the notion of private space endeavors as “terribly frightening,” citing the multitude of details that must be cared for in the circumstances surrounding a space launch. Will this indeed be an industry that will serve in furthering humankind, or is the privatization of space as an industry unto itself really just a dangerous gamble? Of course, it will be a few years, no doubt, before such projects really get “off the ground” (pun intended), and therefore, the emergence of better technologies suited for spaceflight could still help ensure the safety, precision, and ultimately, the success of such operations… one day, at least.

(The images used in this post are for illustration purposes only)

Perhaps no brand of weapon on Earth is feared as greatly as that which employs the power of the atom. Our early experiences as a civilization with nuclear weapons in times of conflict not only led to the end of the Second World War, but also to the frightening stalemate between emergent superpowers that persisted for decades afterward.

I must profess, I have been fascinated with atomic weaponry for some time now, both as a student of history, and with regard to how nuclear weapons have various tie-ins to the unexplained, fringe science, and alternative history. For instance, in the latest special issue of New Dawn Magazine, I discussed a subject I’ve featured here on this blog in the past as well: the notion that nuclear events may have occurred on Earth prior to the first test blast at Alamogordo toward the end of WWII. Some evidence even suggests blasts of this sort could have occurred as far back as several thousands of years ago.

And yet, there is at least some evidence that suggests how Planet Earth may not have been alone in this regard. So far as there being evidence of ancient historic nuclear events–a fairly difficult subject to accept at face value to begin with–could it actually be that evidence of this sort of thing may also exist on one of our nearby planetary neighbors?

Earlier this year, Dr. John Brandenburg with Orbital Technologies Corp. went on the record discussing the potential for what he described as a “massive nuclear explosion on Mars,” which curiously, “seems to defy natural explanation.” Granted, while the circumstances that could have allowed such a thing to occur seem to defy rational explanation, this event is still considered to be “natural.” (In fact, the same can be said of scientific interpretations regarding nuclear events believed to have occurred here on Earth long ago, specifically around the Great Lakes area, where evidence of some kind of nuclear event has been discovered, which dates back to Paleoindian times.) The problem with this “natural” interpretation, of course, is that while no scientist wants to commit to the possibility that some intelligence could have been behind such an “event,” finding a plausible alternative explanation becomes damned difficult, just as well.

While a violent solar storm or supernovae appear to be likely candidates, there are alternative views that have been expressed, too. For instance, Joseph P. Farrell, an alternative historian and author of the new book Saucers, Swastikas and Psyops: A History of A Breakaway Civilization: Hidden Aerospace Technologies and Psychological Operations, has put forth his own views on the subject as follows on his website:

Make no mistake, there is evidence here on Earth that natural nuclear reactors formed and operated for a period of time long ago. But these are fission reactors and fission processes would be, to my mind, next to impossible to generate this amount of energy naturally. And fusion processes of this magnitude occurring naturally on a planet… well, that too, does not to my mind compute very easily.

If Brandenburg is correct, that all this is evidence of a gigantic thermonuclear explosion on the red planet aeons ago, then my bet is that it was the product both of technology and deliberate action, in short, it was the occurrence of an act of war.

How likely is it that an ancient nuclear blast might have occurred on Mars, and as a result of some intelligent species? Furthermore, could evidence of such things on Earth be an indication that there might be similar skeletons in the proverbial closet right here in our midst just as well? Or do anomalies of this sort truly have more plausible explanations… however difficult they may seem at the outset?

Numerous allegations and claims have been made about the famous 1969 flight to the Moon of NASA’s Apollo 11. They include that the astronauts saw UFOs on the way to the Moon, that alien spacecraft were seen and filmed on the surface of the Moon, and that the whole event was nothing but a well-orchestrated hoax. And the conspiratorial list goes on and on. But, there’s yet another issue that directly concerns the Moon landings and that was quietly planned for way back in 1969. This one, however, is very different to all of the above matters, but is certainly no less intriguing…

There is one particular aspect of the Apollo missions to the Moon that was shrouded in deep secrecy for decades. It is an aspect of the project that offers much support for the notion that the astronauts really did set foot on the surface of the Moon, which I, personally, do believe occurred. Although the Neil Armstrong-Buzz Aldrin-Michael Collins flight proved to be a spectacular and historic success, behind the scenes both NASA and the White House knew that this never before attempted mission was an extremely dicey one.

There was a very real possibility that it could all have ended in awful tragedy, with Armstrong and Aldrin left stranded on the surface of the Moon, and faced with an inevitable and rapid death; while Collins, orbiting above the lunar surface, would have been forced to make the terrible decision to leave his friends and comrades behind, and head back to the safety of the Earth, utterly alone.

As a result, and in the event that the fate of Armstrong and Aldrin might very well have been forever and cruelly sealed far away from home, a brief speech was secretly and quietly drawn up for then President Richard M. Nixon, should he be forced to reveal to the world and the media that the very worst case scenario really had tragically come to pass.

A July 18, 1969 document sent from Nixon aide William Safire to Nixon’s White House Chief of Staff, H.R. “Bob” Halderman, reveals the text of the this speech. Given the title of In Event of Moon Disaster, it began thus:

“Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice. These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.”

The document continued: “They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown. In their exploration, they steered the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man. In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations.”

Its final words: “In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood. Others will follow and surely find their way home. Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts. For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of the world that is forever mankind.”

Thankfully, the speech was never needed during the course of any of the Apollo missions, and the secret documents languished in near obscurity, all but forgotten for decades.

The eventual discovery of alien life, and the hope that it exists in various life-conducive pockets within our universe, is hardly a motivation relegated just to ufologists. Physicists, philosophers, and historians will no doubt have equal interest in this paradigm-shifting eventuality, and for different reasons. Think of what technology we can hope to utilize, for instance, in the event that an intelligent alien race begins to interact with Earthlings? Even in the event that we were only to discover more primitive life than ours on a nearby planet, the implications regarding our own evolution as a species could be placed in a new perspective, through the simple observation of how life evolves on a non-Earth environment.

It remains the hope of many ufologists that unidentified aircraft with capabilities far exceeding our known laws of physics might represent extraterrestrials. Elsewhere, space programs employ cosmologists with hope of determining where “out there” such life might exist. However, it always seems to be the case that the search for intelligent life is something that, while hopeful (and even probable), requires a tremendous amount of diversity in thinking applied to the actual process.

It’s only natural that humans will tend toward anthropomorphizing any subject we approach; in the absence of any clear, concrete understanding of what extraterrestrial life might be like, what else might we use as a frame of reference, other than ourselves? Even when we begin to consider the implications of alleged ET contact in the form of alien abductions, we see the same reoccurring trends: painfully anthropomorphic, bipedal beings with heads, torso, arms, legs, and often humanesque features such as stereoscopic vision, ears, noses, mouths–or orifices resembling any of these, at very least–all tend to appear rather frequently. While one could argue that it is simply a likelihood that this bipedal form is the most advanced rendering a biological being might adopt through evolutionary processes anywhere in the universe, we must also question this criteria, especially from the perspective that advanced extraterrestrials may be thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years more technologically advanced than us.

Given such possibilities, it is hard to fathom exactly what forms technologically-enhanced “life” might take; and thus, supposing there is any veracity to the notion of extraterrestrial contact with humans via UFO abduction, the appearances of alien “greys” and the like could quite easily represent, for instance, psychic manifestations projected into the conscious human mind, which merely represent a form of intelligence that is simply far too advanced to be perceived by a biological being observing space-time in three dimensions. In other words, the perception that aliens might appear as biological beings might in itself be illusory; an artifact presented to us by advanced intelligence to help humans reconcile with the otherwise extraordinary (or perhaps even imperceptible) elements such an advanced technology might possess.

While we may be light years from being able to perceive nonhuman intelligence in terms of what I’ve described above, at very least, the scientific establishment seems to be taking measures toward broadening the criteria for finding life. Wired recently reported at it’s blog that a team headed by scientists that include Abel Mendez of the University of Puerto Rico at Aricebo have hoped to establish a new index that ranks planetary habitability:

The team proposes to rank planets on both an Earth Similarity Index (ESI) and also a broader Planetary Habitability Index (PHI). The first index looks at how close a planet is to Earth in mass, temperature, and composition while the second is based on the whether or not it possesses more exotic chemistries, liquids, and energy sources than found on our planet. Alien life could be based on elements other than carbon, require liquids other than water, and gain energy through means other than sunlight.

Granted, this new index also still relegates potentials for “alien life” to those which exhibit obvious biology; I’ve often wondered whether our hope for discovering advanced intelligence elsewhere in the universe might rest not on the search for life as we know it, but perhaps instead on finding “life-like” organism that could possess various degrees of animation and autonomy… or even sentience. Regardless, we have a long way to go, but for the time being, perhaps a trend toward diversifying our own thought processes will prove more useful in finding alien life than even the most advanced telescopes and space probes… in which case, solving this masterful riddle of the greater universe may involve using our greatest available technology: our own minds.

Nobody ever said being an astronaut was easy. However, if recent news regarding the perils of spaceflight present any indication of things to come, then future manned missions into the cosmos may be difficult, at very best.

Among some of the more common afflictions astronauts may endure is the potential for atrophy to occur; this results from the lack of gravitational pressures exerted on the muscles of those spending prolonged periods in orbit. Additionally, the spacesuits worn by astronauts boarding the International Space Station have purportedly led to more than 25 arm injuries, as detailed in a recent report released by the National Academies.

Aside from these more common afflictions, of potentially greater concern is a mysterious ailment that has been reported among a large number of astronauts in recent studies. The condition, called papilledema, is known for causing blurred vision, headaches, and even eventual blindness. The reasons for the prevalence of this condition among astronauts is undetermined at present, and as the Orlando Sentinel recently described, NASA had refused to comment on the situation.

The notion that mysterious illnesses might be affecting astronauts sounds reminiscent of science fiction films, especially in keeping with the release of this Fall’s speculative fiction thriller Apollo 18. But in the very real sense, other problems astronauts are being faced with involve not just their own physical health, but that of the technology used to keep them in space. The proposed “de-manning” of the International Space Station (ISS) has been another issue to have cropped up in recent weeks, following problems associated with the launch of manned Russian Soyuz rockets. In the event that the ISS were to actually be evacuated, the Space Station, while designed to operate autonomously if needed, would remain vulnerable to problems only an on-board crew could repair. This, in addition to finding evacuation methods that are safe for the astronauts in question, leaves a number of lingering concerns.

The question of astronaut health and safety, while of utmost concern to those involved in joint U.S. and Russian space programs, has also recently become the subject of parody. In August, Wired Magazine’s Blog featured a series of darkly artistic images created by photographer Neil DaCosta, described as “fictitious last moments of a distraught anonymous, unemployed astronaut.” The photos, while directly associated and inspired by the final launch of NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis in July of this year, almost hint at the greater underlying problem: the many challenges future space explorers are faced with. As the present situation with NASA indicates, part of this problem has to do with merely getting off the ground.

The other half of the equation, however, is whether there will be astronauts ready and able to go once American space exploration resumes, with projected dates for craft that will follow Atlantis set to arrive in space by 2017. According to recent NASA figures and statements provided by NASA committee co-chair Frederick Gregory, the number of astronauts on hand have fallen in the last decade to by more than half. Gregory, who oversaw three shuttle missions, told the AFP last week that the specialization required of certain astronauts for their respective missions presents problems when shortages like this occur.

The majority of the problems various space agencies are facing today stem from underlying economic issues, however. With time (and luck), geopolitical conditions of this sort will hopefully begin to calm, thus providing a more solid global economy suited for investment in industries like space exploration. This process, however, might still take years. If there are prevalent risks affecting the comfort and health of astronauts in the meantime, this will only increase the potential that future conditions for spaceflight and exploration will remain out of reach.

The recent discovery of a Jupiter-sized “dark planet” in our Universe–the darkest known to exist to-date–has created something of a buzz among astronomers and cosmologists. Producing only what is described as a “faint red glow,” the curious giant’s orbit is close enough to its nearby sun that it should reflect far more visible light than scientists have been able to measure. In fact, the dark planet’s observable properties appear to indicate that its surface must be really, really dark; darker, in fact, than a huge mound of coal floating in space.

There are a number of reasons for why the planet, dubbed TrES-2b, is suspected of remaining so shadowy. The presence of light-absorbing chemicals on the surface, or even a generally high temperature within its atmosphere, might contribute to its mysterious absence of light. Wilder speculation might involve the presence of antimatter; since we know that on the quantum level, particles can display an apparently “opposite” aspect hinting at a universal symmetry of positives and negatives, extending the same idea to the greater material world presents us with the notion that areas of matter could, in theory, also exist in this negative state. Therefore, is it possible that an entire planet could exist in such an anti-material way?

Whether or not TrES-2b is in any way representative of such a supposed anti-material planet, the idea alone is worth considering. But taking this notion a bit further, could the same anti-material properties also be applied to living beings–or at very least, what we might call life-like beings–that could similarly exist in an anti matter state?

One Princeton University scientist, if only in passing (and slightly tongue-in-cheek), has in fact mentioned this recently. David S. Spiegel with the University’s Department of Astrophysical Sciences, was quoted in the International Business Times as he joked about what a physical exchange between beings from this realm and that of an anti-material existence might be like:

“We are made of matter. Matter and anti-matter annihilates. Therefore, please check your composition first before making contact with us.”

Indeed, the idea that space aliens composed of anti matter might be capable of annihilating us, despite having the best intentions, seems slightly troubling. Also of certain synchronistic interest is the fact that Spiegel, who co-authored a paper on alien life and evolution on other planets called, “Life might be rare despite its early emergence on Earth: a Bayesian analysis of the probability of abiogenesis,” was also involved with the discovery and measurement of the alleged “Dark Planet” TrES-2b. Seems Spiegel is the kind who wants to keep his fingers on the anti-material equation, so to speak.

The notion that life could exist in such strange and seemingly-impossible states seems daunting, if not outright ludicrous to many. But despite the hardships, life in the known material realm often occurs in very extreme and strange circumstances. In fact, there is an entire classification for such organisms known to exist on Earth, comprising what are called extremophiles. While the realm of extremophilia mostly is comprised of microbial critters and more primitive hold-overs from ancient times, their presence in locations where the extreme heat of lava ducts, deep-earth pressure, and other adversities would make things uninhabitable for most living creatures points to the resilient–if sometimes counter-intuitive–propensities for life’s emergence.

So maybe the idea that life could exist in both the material and anti-material sense isn’t all that strange and impossible after all. However, if Dr. Speigel is right in his assumptions that contact with such beings might cause us to collapse into one another and disappear, then perhaps we’d be well advised to leave things at a mere fascination with the subject.

At 11.39 a.m. Eastern-Standard-Time, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger suffered an unmitigated disaster only 73-seconds into its flight, disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, and led to the tragic deaths of its seven crew-members: commander Dick Scobee, pilot Michael J. Smith, mission specialists Ronald McNair, Judith Resnik and Ellison Onizuka, and payload specialists Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe.

As NASA’s investigation concluded, the disintegration of the Shuttle began when an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster failed at the moment of lift-off, and caused a breach in the joint which it sealed, thus allowing pressurized hot gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside and impinge upon the external fuel tank. This, in turn, led to the structural failure of the same external tank, and unstoppable, and inevitable, tragedy, and death was the only possible outcomes.

Not everyone was convinced the event was an accident, however – as the Freedom of Information Act has now demonstrated. In the immediate wake of the affair, the FBI’s Washington Field Office found itself embroiled in a very curious saga relative to the destruction of the Shuttle.

The story is a truly odd one, indeed, involving psychic phenomena and the presence of a distinctly shadowy and all-powerful Japanese terrorist group. Interestingly, several extracts from the FBI file on this particularly-odd affair have been summarily blacked-out for reasons specifically relative to the national security of the United States. And, with that all outlined, now read on.

According to the heavily-redacted documentation that the FBI has been willing to release into the public domain, a source of some standing, one that was apparently very well known to Bureau agents, had come into contact with a woman – whose name the FBI has been extremely careful to completely delete from the available papers – who “claims to be in contact with certain psychic forces that provide her with higher information on selected subjects. She refers to these forces as ‘Source’ and when providing information from Source she often speaks in the collective ‘we.’ [The woman] claimed that she had come to Washington, D.C. to provide information concerning the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion on 1/28/86.”

The FBI continued: “On 2/24/86, [the woman] was debriefed concerning the information she wished to reveal. The enclosed audio tape [Note: which the FBI has not yet declassified] is a record of that entire session and is self-explanatory. The following points are emphasized during the course of the briefing:

“(A) The Space Shuttle explosion was not the result of a technical malfunction. Rather, it was an act of sabotage perpetrated by a terrorist organization.

(B) There were three saboteurs on the scene at Cape Canaveral. These included two ground crewmen and one of the astronauts who died in the explosion.

“(C) The terrorist organization is a Japanese based fanatical group with an ancestral lineage and a deep seated hatred toward the United States. Its motivation in destroying the Shuttle was to embarrass and discredit the United States and to impede the progress of the space program.

“(D) The three saboteurs were all of oriental heritage. They were apparently recruited by the terrorist organization after their employment by NASA.

“(E) The explosion was effected by a device placed inside the external fuel tank of the Shuttle. An individual whose description seems to match that of an engineer or technician placed this charge. The charge was triggered by a second saboteur using a hand-held transmitter while standing in the crowds watching the Shuttle liftoff. The individual matches the description of a guard or security person.

“(F) The astronaut saboteur chose to die in the explosion as a sort of ritual death or ‘cleansing’.

“(G) The descriptions of the saboteurs provided by [source] are probably complete enough to pinpoint the individuals. Although names and addresses are not available, in the case of the ‘guard’ [source] pinpointed his residence on a 1:24,000 scale topographical map of an area of Florida near Cape Canaveral. She also provided a description of his physical appearance as well as his life style. While actual names are difficult for source to acquire [source] claims she could easily identify the saboteurs from a list of names if NASA could provide one.

“(H) Source’s motivation in revealing this information is to assure the United States that its space program is a safe undertaking and that there is no major technical flaw in the Shuttle equipment…Source is concerned about possible lengthy delays in the progress of the space program that will allow other nations to surge ahead. [Source] predicted that wreckage of the Shuttle will be found within the next several days that will support the sabotage allegation.”

In essence, that is the extent of the declassified material on this particularly unusual, highly controversial, and probably unique conspiracy theory; but even though most may scoff at its contents, it’s notable that the FBI has admitted to withholding in their entirety, and in the specific name of national security, no less than 26-pages of secret documentation on this weird saga.

Is this notable food for thought or merely the result of overwhelming bureaucracy? Some might say the jury is still out…

With recent news of so-called “rouge planets” that could potentially harbor life drifting around elsewhere in the galaxy, the discovery of a new signal detected from deep space which NASA experts say could be extraterrestrial may have arrived at a far more appropriate moment than many realize. That is, of course, if the recent find is in fact anything from an alien race, let alone intelligent beings in the cosmos with more advanced methods of making contact that humankind.

“No one knows for sure what caused this signal,” a NASA statement said. “There is a slight possibility that it just might originate from an extraterrestrial intelligence.” Of course, when we hear this sort of terminology used, people tend to graft themselves instantly to the part that describes something extraterrestrial. What this actually means is that, while there are a number of possibilities (a tiny fraction among them including the possibility that aliens are even going to the trouble of using radio to communicate like we do), probability doesn’t dictate that we’ve received a post card from space brothers… yet, at least.

The image that indicates the wayward signal (which can be viewed by clicking here) is described as “an anomalous signal (that) was received here on Earth by a radio telescope involved in a Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).” SETI today, rather than referring to a singular entity that oversees attempts at contacting extraterrestrials, entails a variety of organizations–both official and civilian–that operate using radio and, on occasion, other technologies (such as optics) to attempt to receive information from intelligent races throughout the galaxy.

But the likely prognosis here, rather than indicating aliens trying to strike up a conversation, has more to do with natural emissions from various locations in space; and possibly one much closer to home than many would guess. “In this case,” the statement continues, “a leading possibility is that the signal originates from an unusual modulation between a GPS satellite and an unidentified Earth-based source.” They conclude with the advice that, “No signal has yet been strong enough or run long enough to be unambiguously identified as originating from an extraterrestrial intelligence.”

Granted, along with the many potential benefits of interaction with extraterrestrials, there could also be risks associated SETI programs. For an excellent primer on this, consider having a look at Russian trans-humanist and global risk assessor Alexei Turchin’s thesis on UFOs and Global Risk (available here), or my own piece on alien nanotechnology and artificial intelligence in the March issue of Intrepid Magazine. Perhaps, when it comes to SETI, we would do best to follow the logic espoused by Stephen Hawking, who suggested to “lay low,” rather than advertise our presence to potentially hostile aliens! After all, the universe is sort of like a box of chocolates (to paraphrase Forrest Gump)… and verily, we just don’t know what we’re gonna get!

On November 21, 1962, President John F. Kennedy said of the United States Space Program that “going to the moon is the top-priority project,” ranking it second only to defense among the most important focal points of  U.S. Government policy. By July 21, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the lunar surface, followed immediately by fellow Apollo 11 crew member Buzz Aldrin.

With the haste the U.S. once showed for space exploration, it was assumed by the early seventies that man would similarly set foot on Mars within the next two decades; this ended up not being the case, however, and as the space race began to dissolve by 1975, it left many wondering why future plans for stretching the boundaries of human accessibility had dwindled.

There has been some talk in recent years of Americans returning to the lunar surface, and according to a recent Associated Press report, U.S. President Barack Obama has indeed expressed new plans for NASA and the Space Program. Unfortunately, these don’t involve going back to the Moon. Instead, renewed focus on studies and innovation with the International Space Station will become a primary focus. Though budgetary issues are among the primary reasons cited for this decision, it has left many wondering what this will mean for the future of space travel, and even who will be the next among the nations of the world to enter worlds outside our own.

The following video, featuring U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, outlines the recent developments:

Click here to view the embedded video.

In lieu of the U.S. engaging in further interplanetary operations for the time being, countries like China appear to be moving forward with plans to launch a series of spacecraft capable of long term unattended automated functions, with the ultimate hope of building another space station. Will landing on the Moon be the next objective for the East?

In spite of the obvious budgetary concerns associated with sending men back to Earth’s sole natural satellite, there are a host of conspiracy theories associated with the moon also, among them those which claim evidence exists of foreign “structures” on the Moon. In one such instance, evidence of such was brought to the attention of Moon researchers in May of 2004 by researcher Joseph Skipper, who by scanning images of the lunar surface using the Clementine Lunar Map (version 1.5) discovered a strange object resting at the top of a large crater (to view the object, as well as the results of a forensic photo-analysis, click here). The Clementine imaging software, now available in version 2.0, shows no such “object” at the site referenced by Skipper and others, lending to the notion that it either a) moved, b) was airbrushed from the image or c) never existed to begin with. Although the 1.5-era Clementine images certainly appeared to show something, it remains in question whether any of the objects discovered over the years represent actual manufactured anomalies, or if they are optical illusions created by light and shadow, or perhaps even just digital and photographic artifacts.

If you care to dig around and see what you might be able to spot, feel free to have a look at the Clementine Software yourself, or you could zero-in on the landing sites of the Apollo astronauts on the Moon’s Equatorial Region using the handy Google Moon software. Finally, for a colorful analysis of the Moon’s many anomalies, you might enjoy the film Moon Rising by Jose Escamilla, available in several parts on YouTube.

It’s been the subject of books and films, and it’s destructive potential impact on the future of humankind is not only deadly, it’s also very real.

In William R. Forstechen’s best-selling novel One Second After, an unidentified enemy of the United States launches a nuclear missile into the upper stratosphere over the United States, creating an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) which knocks out the electrical grid in most–if not all–of the United States.

John Matherson, a resident of the small town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, struggles daily to protect his family and find food and other resources in a world where automobiles relying on solid state components, as well as computers, telephones, and anything else electronic is rendered useless. After months of depleting resources, the limits of human desperation begin to ensue, and the residents are ultimately forced to fight for their lives in an effort to survive the horrors of new and unexpected dark age. Even more terrifying than the mere story Forstchen outlines is the fact that this scenario could actually happen.

Having known Forstchen for several years, I caught up with him briefly at our local radio station, since the setting for his novel is his real life hometown of Black Mountain, a mere 30 minutes drive from where I reside. I told him his book scared the living crap out of me, and just grinning, he took a slight bow as he stood facing me in the doorway, and said “welcome to my nightmare.”

“No Bill,” I corrected him. “Our nightmare.”

What is most important about this nightmare scenario has less to do with the simple fact that an EMP could in fact wipe out the electrical grid in any vicinity affected by such phenomenon. Instead, the most chilling factor is that it would take far less than a nuclear attack to cause an EMP with the sort of destructive potential described in Forstchen’s book; Earth’s Sun, through the release of a massive concentration of heliospheric radiation, could do this easily if a powerful solar storm were to occur. In the event such a storm took place, would it be possible to predict when it would occur, and how potentially destructive such an act of nature might be?

Although there is much speculation regarding the latter of these, NASA has in fact predicted that the Sun has recently emerged from a period of inactivity it likens to “a deep slumber,” and that a strong likelihood exists for a potentially devastating solar storm to occur by 2013 that would make Hurricane Katrina look like a flash flood, with 20 times more destructive power.

The British Times Online reported on the story, quoting NASA scientist Dr. Richard Fisher about the destruction a solar storm of such magnitude might have:

He said large swathes of the world could face being without power for several months, although he admitted that was unlikely.

A more likely scenario was that large areas, including northern Europe and Britain which have “fragile” power grids, would be without power and access to electronic devices for hours, possibly even days.

So how do we protect ourselves from this kind of trouble… or can we? Fortunately, it is expected that many cars, and perhaps even a few homes, would act as natural Faraday Cages, protecting sensitive electronic components within. However, gas pumps, which are fueled electronically, would likely become inoperable, as would most broadcast and communications systems, unless measures are taken now to harden electrical infrastructure so that these sorts of things can be dealt with in preemptive ways. Still, even if there is a potential to protect against this sort of thing, will world leaders take the threat seriously, whether devastation lasts only a few days, or potentially several months, and mobilize an effort to ward off the threat in any ways we can? If not, one can only imagine the consequences… and what kind of a world we might have in the absence of modern conveniences we’ve grown so dangerously used to.