"Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars." - Carl Sagan

Wanderers is a vision of humanity’s expansion into the Solar System, based on scientific ideas and concepts of what our future in space might look like, if it ever happens. The locations depicted in the film are digital recreations of actual places in the Solar System, built from real photos and map data where available. Watch the breathtaking short film on Vimeo.

Interestellar (Christopher Nolan, 2014)

"Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Gaze up at the stars at the Coit Observatory at Boston University. The observatory is open to the public on most Wednesday nights, weather permitting!

Well, at long last, NASA’s New Horizons probe woke up. Yesterday it did its final wake up on its way to Pluto.

By early July we’ll have the first full color, close up images of Pluto and other Kuiper Belt objects. Everything we know about the outer solar system will be revolutionized.

What is hiding out in the far solar system? Are there even more dwarf planets than we know out there? Could there be a “Planet X”?

If you want an idea of how good the camera is, look at the photograph it took of Jupiter and Io. It’s the highest resolution color portrait ever made of Jupiter. It includes some near infrared light which is why it seems a little redder than usual. You can also see a blue plume emerging from Io’s north pole, this is a volcanic eruption.

It’ll be a real exciting Summer

The Journey to Mars Begins Tomorrow

• NASA is preparing for the first test flight of the Orion crew vehicle set for an unmanned launch on Dec. 4 at 7:05 a.m. EST from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
  
  
• The Orion spacecraft is designed to eventually take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to destinations never explored by humans. It will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to distant planetary bodies, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel, and provide safe reentry from deep space.
  
  
• This mission is the first of three trial runs that the Orion mission must overcome before NASA deems it safe enough for human space travel. 
  
  
• The next test flights in 2018 and 2021 will use NASA’s Space Launch System rocket (SLS), which is currently in development. When it’s finished, SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built, boasting even more thrust than the Saturn V booster that blasted astronauts toward the moon in the Apollo era.
   
• The spacecraft will launch atop a Delta IV Heavy, a rocket built and operated by United Launch Alliance. While this launch vehicle will allow Orion to reach an altitude high enough to meet the objectives for this test, a much larger, human-rated rocket will be needed for the vast distances of future exploration missions.
  
  
• Exploration Flight Test-1, will mark the farthest distance traveled by a human spaceflight vehicle since 1972 made by Apollo 17.
  
  
• During its grueling four-and-half-hour test mission, NASA’s Orion space capsule must shoot 3,600 miles away from Earth (15 times higher than the International Space Station!), orbit the planet twice, and brave a thick belt of cosmic radiation. 
  
  
• Upon re-entry it must deploy 11 parachutes to slow down from 20,000 miles per hour to 20 mph, while withstanding 4,000-degree Fahrenheit temperatures before plunging into the Pacific Ocean. 
  
  
• Check out these incredible photos from the development and testing of the spacecraft.
  
  
• Countdown, launch and mission coverage will begin at 4:30 a.m. on NASA TV which is available on air and streaming at nasa.gov/nasatv