Water on the moon

Following on from my last post, The Economist writes that water has been confirmed to exist on the moon. As they rightly point out, it's not really all that amazing when you consider water is made from the commonest element in the universe (hydrogen) and the third most common (oxygen). However, as part of Constellation program NASA intends to build a lunar outpost between 2019-2024 and water matters. With it there is drinking water, oxygen to breath, hydrogen rocket fuel and liquid oxygen to burn that fuel. Having available in orbit around the earth makes subsequent space exploration and exploitation much easier and cheaper.

China in Space

CNN has an article on China's space programme. It's kind of interesting how massive "space programmes" were seen as relics of the cold war. Now they're back. The USA, Russia, China, ESA (European Space Agency), India and Brazil (which has the luxury of launching almost directly from the equator, which gives their rockets a huge sling-shot effect) all have serious space programmes producing results. Meanwhile smaller countries are also getting in on the act, South Korea now has its own working rockets. And that doesn't even begin to mention the private companies involved, most publicly Virgin Galactic, but also a series of other companies many of them working with the security of government contracts (i.e NASA will buy private rides to space from 2011 until it has new rockets in 2015-2017ish), plus there are first section of a space hotel already in orbit. Then of course there is the international space station which will be complete next year. I will definitely right more about all of this because I'm fascinated that decades after everyone thought space would become another regular "human space", and then nothing happened, everything is starting to happen now.