The Moon is Made of Cheese! No, not really

It's fitting for me to use this mash-up image of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon as a header picture on the heels of a recent announcement of the LCROSS mission that had come to fruition last month. For those of you, and by you I mean anyone who's not a total nerd like I am, who don't know, the LCROSS, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, mission was that of a rocket with a really big slingshot. This time, however, the pebble was a multi-million dollar probe that was jettisoned to the surface of the moon at dizzying speeds with one mission only--crash, really.

Fly Me to the Mo-I mean Mars...?

Scientists have developed a means by which to reach Mars in about 115 days using plasma propelled rockets! This is very interesting because the latest Mars Lander took about 295 days to reach Mars. The implications of these findings are astounding--namely that the idea of colonizing is becoming a much more real option in case, you know, this whole 2012 thing actually turns out to be true. Vasimr, or Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, steadily pulses its way around the earth for a month and then jettisons itself off to that cute little red-neighbor of ours. Maybe they'll develop some of this tech for the next generation of moon-walking.

Hit the Read Link to check out the NY Times' nifty diagram.

[READ]