Will Terrestrial Planet Finder Ever Get Off The Ground?

Will Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) ever get off the ground? Now if you know what TPF is you are probably asking that same question, but if you don't know what TPF is you beater to know. TPF is a proposed project by the NASA for a telescope system which is intended to detect extrasolar planets. If TPF gets off the ground the goal will be it might be able to detect a planet much like our own, but it is only a proposed project. I think NASA should go for it. The possibility of finding another earth would be the discovery to beat all discoveries. However, as of June 2008, actual funding has not materialized, and TPF remains without a launch date. Sadly from were I see it this project is not lifting off any time soon. To find out more info about TPF and the search for extraterrestrial life visit

PlanetQuest: Exoplanet Exploration

Should Sedna Become A Dwarf Planet ?

Should Sedna become a dwarf planet? Now there's a question that you probably have never heard before. Sedna is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) witch is in other words is an object beyond Neptune. Now to help answer that question we must learn a little bit about Sedna. Sedna is about 2/3 the size of Pluto. It also has a highly elliptical obit. The object's path takes it far beyond the Kuiper belt. Even though it has such along orbit its tiny compared to the orbits theorized for comets in the much more distant Oort cloud. An other fact about Sedna is that it has an rotational period of only 10 hours. The reason that I am telling you this is that when Sedna was first discovered, Sedna was believed to have an unusually long rotational period (20 to 50 days). Now I have clearly have drifted off topic. I sill haven't answered the question should Sedna become a dwarf planet? Before that answer can be determind we must know whether or not Sedna is round. Now is Sedna round? That answer has not yet bin determined. If Sedna is round it will be classified as a dwarf planet.

Ares 1x-V2.1 Test Flight

"NASA's first test flight for the agency's next-generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system is launching in 2009. The test flight, called Ares I-X, will bring NASA one step closer to its exploration goals -- to return to the moon for more ambitious exploration of the lunar surface and to travel to Mars and destinations beyond."