It’s a new year and a new PN! I have changed the core engine of PN to use WordPress instead of plain old HTML. I am still early in the process and have just moved the site from the test directory to the site root so there might still be some problems. After several years with no change, this is a big one! I can even add some other folks as authors later on.
The old content still exists but will no longer be updated. Once I have kicked the tires a bit, expect some bigger content changes to come. If you read blogs, you can subscribe to the RSS feed on the right side of this page.

For those looking to subscribe to the Dome-L email list, the page has changed to this one. I was getting spam bots posting over emails 100 per hour and had to use a new method. Just leave a comment on the Dome-L sign-up page if you need to join. Comments are moderated and your post will not be made public. The other feedback forums will be up and running shortly (e.g. Trouble Report).
Let’s kick off 2007 with a bang!

NASA seeks to reverse youth apathy to manned space exploration

This story presented last week highlights some of the difficulty NASA is going to have in gaining the needed public support to get serious about returning to the moon or heading to Mars. Is YouTube the answer? I think PR is only a part of the issue. Better educational opportunities in the classroom and planetarium will also have to follow to put some substance behind the PR.

Just a quick update to say I added the new logo to the site. I actually had this logo done a couple of years ago but never got around to changing all the pages. Now, with includes, its done!

I need to think of a name for this guy in the logo. Any ideas?

NASA | Year in Review 2006

Even though it is a few days into the new year, I found this review of space-related events in 2006 worth the time.

From the decision to service Hubble to the strategy for returning to the moon, 2006 seemed to represent a turning point for NASA’s future direction.

Cassini Imaging Diary

Outstanding pictures released last week from the Cassini team!

Rocket Science 101

Cool new game from NASA to build a rocket. Now this is rocket science!

I found the post in this article: Building a New Rocket: It IS Rocket Science

SpaceWeather.com — News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

From the site:

“Comet McNaught has continued to brighten as it approaches the sun and it is now the brightest comet in 30 years. For observers in the northern Hemisphere, tonight is probably the best time to see it: Go outside this evening and face the sunset. A clear view of the western horizon is essential, because the comet hangs very low. As the twilight fades to black, it should become visible to the naked eye. Observers say it’s a fantastic sight through binoculars.“

Wired 15.01: One Giant Screwup for Mankind

This is an interesting story about missing tapes of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. A couple of retired NASA video engineers are searching tirelessly to find what might be video images with significantly higher quality than what we have all come to know from that historic landing.

I highly recommend this story.

Within recent weeks, there have been a number of moderation emails returned to me after I have approved them to the Dome-L email list. I am not sure what is causing this to happen but it might be an overload on the Topica.com servers. In some instances these still post to the list and on others they are lost. I sent through a test post this weekend. After a successful test, I sent through a post with content and it never made it to the list. If you do not see a post appear for a couple of days, try sending it again!

(Note: all posts are manually moderated, sending the same post over and over in a short period of time hoping to see it go out to the list does not make it go out faster)