It sure isn't going to use that fancy new heat shield to enter Mars atmosphere either, much less land with parachutes! That PR picture of it in Mars orbit is really one of NASA's more egregious lies.

So here is the story: inside NASA, "Deep Space" used to mean (prior to 2003) anything beyond the orbit of the Moon. This was intended to be the domain of work for science and telecommunications ops of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), an FFRDC operated by Caltech as a NASA center. Inside the Moon's orbit was the domain of scientific work for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). This included Earth observing science and telecom as well as astrophysics spacecraft. During the Constellation program, when simply returning to the Moon was not enough justification for the program and seeking a way to justify control of the design of deep space telecom for manned spaceflight, the Constellation Program Office at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and NASA GSFC sought to redefine deep space as anything beyond HEO. This was also an attempt by GSFC to put JPL's Deep Space Interplanetary Network (aka "DSN) on the sideline of the design process for Constellation deep space telecom. (Furthermore, GSFC at the time was lobbying to get new Earth orbiting telecom spacecraft launched and needed additional justification, ergo "they are good for Constellation"). I don't think the issue was every resolved one way or another as far as "official" definitions go and in the end, not much changed before Constellation was cancelled. The lesson is this: Words like "deep space" can mean a lot when government research centers are fighting to protect their charters and business base. I'm glad I'm out of that biz!

This is simply a rebranded Orion capsule. I worked on Constellation (from inside NASA) for years and helped the program get started. There is no rocket to launch the capsule. There is no mission for it. Nothing on the books, nothing remotely near ready for approval. Just how "deep" into space will it go with a mission time of 21 days? Hint: The Moon is not "deep space". Mars is deep space. Mars is at least 6 months away - one direction. Finally, how many times (altogether now) have we heard "advanced avionics"? That means they are up to Web 0.42 now, maybe. Bottom line: This is pure pork for Lockheed-Martin (Lockheed HQ is in Maryland; Dem. Senator Mikulski is on the Appropriation Committee). It is a multiple billion dollar gift. It will never fly. Ever. I'll bet a fair share of the related jobs go to Houston and to Huntsville, AL (Rep. Sen. Shelby, also on the Appropriations committee).

No they won't. g-mod organisms, stem cell research, cloning, synthetic biology, ethical treatment of robots ... none of these issue will ever be something that comes before voters. No decisions by voters matter. Scientific advance and technological engineering HAPPENS. All this will simply be part of the emerging future. The tragedy is the danger of a populace ill equipped to deal with it.

I totally agree. Worse yet, they are actively opposed to it in their ignorance.

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to communicate with other people nearby in the city, then peer-to-peer networking is the way to do it. Set up mobile hotspots with open access. With VoIP you can even use your mobile handsets. Vulnerable to jamming, snooping and RDF. If you want to reconnect with the global network, then a satellite link is one way, or packet data over ham freq, maybe bounced off the ionosphere.

There are upward of 70 microprocessors, 20 million lines of code (if you include multimedia tech) and hundreds of I/O ports in a typical upscale modern car. Manufacturers are moving towards in-car wireless networking to replace the enormous amount of cabling that current exists. Researchers have already demonstrated to seize control of the engine and brakes by hacking a couple of 2009 model year cars. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18901-modern-cars-vulnerable-to-malicious-hacks.html Considering that they won't let me use my ipod on an aircraft during takeoff and landing because IT MIGHT CRASH (tell me about it), yeah, count me worried about automobiles and other transportation as well.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of the brain using induced currents has been around for quite a while. Google it. TMS of certain regions of the brain can induce spiritual feelings (in the religious sense). That said, TMS is a procedure for studying the brain, and uses sophisticated and precisely calibrated equipment you are unlikely to find in a haunted house!

Right. The lead time is quite long on some parts. Contracts with suppliers have expired and manufacturing lines shut down. I doubt that another Shuttle flight is actually possible.

Sorry to burst the bubble, but automatic classification of galaxies from sky survey data using machine learning techniques was accomplished in the early '90s by the SKICAT system developed at JPL and Caltech. http://adsabs.harvard.edu//abs/1995PASP..107.1243W is a good overview of the system and its accomplishments as of 1995.

The instrumentation is clearly not sensitive enough to detect residual neural activity. Patients in emergency situations are on EEGs, which are far less sensitive than fMRI or other non-invasive methods of monitoring brain activity.,

This "loophole" in the law augers an era where gangs of clones can commit crimes with impunity. You heard it here first.