Thursday - Space Quest, and Rock and Roll!

This is the maintenance deck, on the Galaxy Queen. Note the robot maintenance guy. This was not to be first mission to another star system. There had been two prior, both since the discovery of fusion ion propulsion engines, in 2275. The first the Star Explorer mission, launched by the ISU (international space union), in 2300. The target was the closest star system discovered at that time to have a solar system, with possibly habitable planets. This was the Xperion system, about .5 light years distant, in the same general section of the Milky Way as our solar system. That mission was much smaller in scale, with a crew of about 200, and no colonists, since it was basically an exploration mission, with no colonization envisioned. The mission, which too about 6 months at near light speed, was a success, by all accounts, although no habitable planets were discovered. The system had 10 planets, four of them with detectable atmospheres, mostly of the hygrogen/methane variety, similar to our gas giants. The second mission, dubbed Star Trek, in tribute to the late 20th century science fiction phenomenon, was aimed at a system 1.5 light years distanct, closer to the core of our galaxy, and took almost 2 years to reach it's destination. At this time, in 2230, the reach of our space telescopes had extended our ability to assess the characteristics and potential of other system in a much more sophisticated manner. This solar system, include on planet that was definitely Earth-type, with with abundant carbon-based life in evidence, at least plant life, as well as extensive liguid water, and an oxygen-rich atmosphere. The mix of gases appeared to be different than Earth's, but might possibly be breathable. More in the next installment of this story......

This is the bass player, again, from The Subways. Please don't think I may be obsessed with her, but who doesn't love a female rock bass player, especially one who is a young redhead. Enough sexist rubbish for now. Nothing new and interesting to talk about today. I purchased a TV show from iTunes, only to discover I couldn't play it except in Apple gadgets and computers. I.E., I couldn't burn it to DVD, and have it be playable on by DVD Player, for the TV. Something called DRM encoding, basically Apples way to make sure we only use Apple products - diabolical! They need to make things a lot simpler for us old folks.