I'm still trying to let my schedule settle back to a more regular pace so I can post my regular insightful articles. Unfotunately today is not that day. But I've got a few links I've been saving.

AP News -- 'Robots take on social tasks', an article about the current hopeful market for robotics; Moving from the Roomba to more advanced household and hospital helpers.

Upgrade to all of the Russian Dnepr rockets will delay the launch of Genesis 2, the inflatable space hotel of Bigelow Aerospace. The launch will be delayed until the end of May.

NASA is working to protect us from a giant asteroid collision. I like the simplicity of the current popular plan: just push the thing enough, while it is very far away. The current plan calls for building a satelitte that will orbit the asteroid and change its course ever so slightly by exerting a small gravitational pull on the asteroid. The plan even has a catchy pop name -- asteroid tractor. One draw back has got to be that starting early is a huge priority.

Lunar ambitions for China, Japan, others

China will launch the Chang’e I, a lunar orbiter, in 2007. During its 1 year mission they will engage in imaging and studies of the moon's surface. They will also be looking at the distribution of 14 usable elements on the moon's surface.

Japan's JAXA will also launch a lunar orbiter in 2007. The mission is more extensive than China's mission, however they will be studying very much the same things as the Chinese (surface and subsurface architecture, mineral deposits).

The European Space Agency's SMART-1 recently completed a lunar orbiter mission.

Soon NASA will be taking requests from the public for photo targets from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The MRO evidently can take pictures of objects about the size of an 'Easy Chair' from the orbit of Mars. They accomplish this using the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) which has 14 CCD chips. This camera can take pictures having 300 times more pixels than an 8 mega pixel camera Check back with NASA for updates on the submission process.

Wired magazine reports that NASA's moon base project may set off a race to the moon for nuclear fuel. The moon is rich in Helium-3, which can be used to power nuclear fusion reactors. The Fusion Technology Institute headed by Harrison Hagan Schmitt and Gerald Kulcinski have produced a small helium-3 fusion reactor in a basketball sized device. The device continually provided about one milliwatt of power.

It was a good year for the Earth's space programs. So good, that I jumped on the bandwagon. This article contains a lot of great information about the highlights of space exploration in 2006.

Here are a few of the big ones.
• Aceize is founded, 150 year business plan set in motion.
• Bigelow Aerospace launches their first inflatable module onboard a Russian SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missle
• Anousheh Ansari travels to space. The deal was brokers by Virginia Based 'Space Adventures'
• Several launch services promote international cooperation including; International Launch Services (a U.S.-Russian venture), and Europe’s Arianespace and United Launch Alliance.

It seems as though crazy tourism adventures may really have a future, and offer a possible hope for driving near earth space travel in the near future. It's amazing what rich people will spend their money on. I mean, I was excited about buying n electric baseboard heater yesterday (because I refuse to [sic, cannot] pay for heating oil anymore).

Cyst removal in Zero G

A team of French doctors is preparing to perform a surgical procedure in zero gravity.