Looks like the Arecibo radio telescope (for a long time the largest in the world), slated for de-funding by the National Science Foundation, collapsed yesterday morning. Consistent with the reason for defunding (unsafe to repair, etc.), the instrument platform that was suspended over the huge dish built into a natural sink hole fell onto the […]

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After streaming series, Away, reached top viewing at Netflix upon its release it was fairly promptly rewarded with a *non-renewal*. That’s not very easy to explain, though Netflix cites the problems with keeping up with costs of making a sci fi series. That makes this the second series (along with Hulu’s The First) that took […]

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I recall taking a look at Netflix Original SciFi series, Another Life (starring Battlestar Galactica reboot alum Katee Sackhoff), when it first came out but for some reason, I didn’t look much past the first episode. More recently I took another look, following it to the end of the first season (they were recently renewed […]

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Since the 1920’s it became progressively more clear that Venus did not have much oxygen and its atmosphere was thick and carbon dioxide dominated. Since 1962, as the planetary probe Mariner II passed close to the planet, it became quite evident that Venus was very hot, but this was just a firm observation of what […]

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This week I watched the Netflix documentary, Challenger: The Final Flight regarding the 1986 Space Shuttle disaster. There are a few things that struck me much more forcefully than they had at the time, but perhaps that’s just simply that I am older and more willing to look at some of the details, or more […]

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Or perhaps if we were going for pitching a “high concept” related to the Netflix original series, Away, we could call it “No Exit” meets “Lost in Space.” Maybe the astronauts on their way to Mars think space is hell, or that Mars is hell, or that even Earth is or will be hell. But […]

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In a recent episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, Ensign Mariner is approached by a hostile being that appears to be pure energy (she tricks it into using up nearly all of its energy to produce a fancy tricorder). In classic Star Trek: The Original Series, there are at least two episodes that feature such […]

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It looks like Netflix is going to have its go at a series dealing with both a first astronaut mission to Mars and family drama (“Away”). This sounds much like Hulu’s “The First,” which came out about 2 years ago but was cancelled around the same time that its star, Sean Penn, was cancelled due […]

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If you are really hurting for some new Star Trek (and in my opinion, there’s actually been a little bit too much. Maybe try extending for re-visiting something besides Star Trek or Star Wars), CBS All Access has a third addition to the Star Trek universe, the animated series, Star Trek: Lower Decks. This marks […]

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Since I spoke a bit about the Crew Dragon launch in May I thought I’d follow up by announcing that the crew is now back, having successfully splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, and now being released from the capsule onto a medical facility on the ship that retrieved them (they are ok, its […]

Read more "Bob and Doug are Back!"