Let's Get Off This Rock Already!
An Author's Adventures in Space Travel, Science Fiction, and Worlds Beyond
This past summer, the sci-fi/horror cult classic Event Horizon got its first official tie-in comic: Event Horizon: Dark Descent. Regular readers may have seen the sneak peek I shared back in June. As of November 2, two issues are out, with three more on the way. Are they a promising start for an Event Horizon... Continue Reading →
Howdy, folks! I'm sorry about the unannounced hiatus. It's been a wild month for me, working 12-hour night shifts with lots of overtime, not to mention finalizing the text of my novel. I've been swamped! Today, though, we're kicking things off again with a special post: a showcase of the incredible work of my cover... Continue Reading →
I missed some interesting news a couple months ago, and I'm guessing you did, too. The launch of China's Tianwen-2 on May 28 took place without much fanfare. Just one space probe among many. Except, it isn't—China is flexing its muscles with an ambitious two-in-one mission, which will not only expand the nation's scientific knowledge... Continue Reading →
56 years ago today1, Apollo 11 made the first manned landing on another world. Ask the average American about it, and they'll likely be able to name the mission's commander, Neil Armstrong, who famously made his “one small step” speech as he climbed out of the Lunar Module Eagle; they might also remember Edwin “Buzz”... Continue Reading →
Avi Loeb believes aliens are real, and they've visited our Solar System. But this man is no fringe conspiracy theorist, dressed in ratty flannels and a tinfoil hat, broadcasting rants from a pirate radio station in the wilderness—he's a Harvard University professor, who has done world-renowned research on cosmology and astrophysics. This is a serious... Continue Reading →
Back in February I handed down the definitive ranking of all the planets in our Solar System. Today, I'm going to finish the job with a corresponding ranking of the Solar System's moons—rich and varied worlds in their own right, some larger than the smallest planets. This will not be an exhaustive list. Jupiter alone... Continue Reading →
When we last saw the Next Generation crew on the big screen, they took over from Captain Kirk with an awkward, confused, ultimately anticlimactic passing of the torch. Not the film debut they deserved. Thankfully, the next movie got things on the right track again—and boy is it a movie. It's got action! It's got... Continue Reading →
The good news is, nature has provided us with a planet startlingly similar to our own, orbiting almost within reach just 4.3 light-years from Earth. The bad news? It might not be a very good neighborhood. Despite being the best-studied exoplanet out there, scientists can scarcely make heads or tails of what it's really like,... Continue Reading →
Anyone who has worked retail knows that the customer is often wrong. By extension, the market is often wrong. Nowhere is that truer than at the box office, where a copy-paste rehash can rake in billions if it pushes the right buttons, while audiences turn up their noses at works of genuine beauty and creativity.... Continue Reading →
Robert Zubrin is a persistent man. An engineer, author, and above all, space advocate, he's lobbied for a human voyage to Mars for about three and a half decades now, even as the US government has dilly-dallied its way through various questionable exercises in pork-barrel spending. It's 2025 and human boots haven't even returned to... Continue Reading →
