A lot of things are going on in the field of space. We have one group of scientists claiming they have evidence there could be another planet on the edge of our solar system. This has been spoken about for hundreds of years and some even named the planet Vulcan, long before Star Trek ever used this name. On the other hand there is another group of scientists who say they have proof there couldn’t possibly be another planet out there. This certainly messes us up and confuses us on what to decide to believe. To the layman the scales might be tipped just a little more in the favor of another planet being there, after all we have learned the solar system is far bigger than we thought and it doesn’t end after Pluto or Uranus. We really don’t know what large bodies may be beyond the last planet. The scientists who claim there can’t be another planet are using not only observations, but mathematics to prove their conclusion. It looks like we are going to have to wait to find out which group is right.

Perhaps we will learn more as we launch more advanced telescopes. The world’s biggest space telescope will be the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA has just begun testing the telescope in its cryogenic vacuum chamber which will mimic the temperatures in space. The telescope will remain there for three months. There is a huge difference however between the Hubble telescope and the James Webb telescope. The Hubble telescope is primarily an optical telescope, while the James Webb be mostly used for infrared viewing. The Hubble telescope is smaller and is in earth orbit while the James Webb telescope, which is much larger, will be stationed at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers in what is known as the Lagrange L2 point. That is an area in space where things remain stationary. The downside to all of this is the telescope will really be far away, much further than the moon from the earth which will make it impossible to repair with today’s technology for space travel. Neither of these telescopes was really designed to search for another distant planet in our solar system, but perhaps one of them could discover it by mistake someday.

Sometimes things don’t have to be nearby to be modified. An example of this are the Rovers which we have sent to Mars. NASA has been updating the software which controls them and has been using artificial intelligence more than ever. The problem with the Rovers is it takes too long to send them a command and it takes a long time to verify the command worked. If the Rovers could have artificial intelligence telling them what to do when they came across a situation, they wouldn’t have to contact the earth. This is why NASA has been updating the software.

Stephen Hawking seems to be very worried the earth is going to be destroyed. He suggested many times the reason there may not be any advanced intelligent life might be because when a race reaches a certain point it destroys itself with wars. He also has been talking about the inevitability of the earth being struck. Maybe this is why he is working so hard on the system which he believes will make it possible to travel to Alpha Centauri, the closest star system in about twenty years. As most of us know, even though this would be an incredible feat, it is far too slow for human travel and might only be suitable for sending a probe. If we want to reach other solar systems we have to go a lot faster than the speed of light, which many scientists believe is impossible.

The European space agency announced that is going to formally adopt the Planetary Transits and Oscillation of stars space observatory which is known as PLATO. Now that the idea was adopted construction can begin. PLATO is a space platform with instruments and twenty-six telescopes. The idea is to search for exoplanets. The Europeans want to launch this Observatory by 2026. I have always felt the money could be better spent on different space projects, perhaps on trying to develop ways of reaching some of these planets. As we discover exoplanets which are further and further away, I just don’t see what good it really does us since we can’t get to them. Yes we gain information there is no doubt about that, but at what cost? Sometimes money can be better spent in other ways and I can’t help but feel this is one of those times. One thing which makes more sense to me is finding out more about our own solar system first.

Years ago an engine was considered for the space shuttle and later disregarded. The engine was known as the Aerospike. It was hoped the Aerospike engine could be fitted to the next generation of space shuttles, because it would’ve allowed them to reach orbit in a single stage, but we all know the space shuttle program was canceled. The idea of this engine laid in limbo, now it is being resurrected. It is said the reason why the engine was never used initially was strictly budgetary. It was just too expensive. A company named ARCA, which is located in New Mexico has resurrected the engine and is going to conduct a test flight using their Demonstrator 3 rocket. This will be the first time this engine has ever flown into space, if the flight is successful. This could change the way we fire rockets since we will no longer need multistage rockets to get into orbit. In a conventional rocket which has a bell-shaped nozzle, the most reliable thrust comes at sea level and as the rocket rises the decreases in atmospheric pressure restrict the engines capability. With the Aerospike engine the thrust remains consistent right into space.

Scientists are now saying we may never be able to settle on Mars. They claim the radiation hitting the planet might be much worse than they first thought and that humans would not be able to survive it. It seems a little strange this is only coming out now. We have been studying Mars for quite a while and have all kinds of instruments up there and yet we never noticed this? It makes one wonder if there is more to this statement than we suspect. Maybe it is a way to keep us off of the red planet so we don’t discover there was intelligent life there.