How much has changed as things remain the same....

By the time this goes to press, most of you will have seen episode VII of Star Wars. A friend offered the view that it contained many of the same plot elements that made the first film, released in 1977, such a success. I don't think George Lucas would take that as negative criticism. He has been very open about the fact that he has been retelling the 'basic hero story' that's been retold for thousands of years.

Has it really been nearly forty years since we first saw a lightsaber, a droid, or the Millennium Falcon?! That's two whole generations! Perhaps retelling the hero story for them (with new and interesting twists, of course) is the right/ripe thing to do. And it's all such great fun!

That got me thinking: "How far have we come in that time with the real 'Star Wars' -- our effort to get off this planet and become a truly spacefaring civilization?"

It's easy enough to see what we have not accomplished: There are no colonies on the moon (let alone Mars), I can't take a hypersonic spaceplane to anywhere in two hours (let alone all the way to orbit), and there isn't a Hilton hotel in orbit as yet. Let's take a look at what we have done in that time:

The Space Shuttle Program has come and gone after 133 successful missions (and the tragic loss of two ships and fourteen lives).

Many of those shuttle missions built the International Space Station. Along with its scientific and technical benefits, it can be argued that working together with the Russians in space helped prevent armed conflict on the ground on more than one occasion.

NASA's Great Observatories (Hubble, Compton, Chandra, Spitzer) did nothing less than help revolutionize our understanding of the Universe. Putting these fantastic instruments above our atmosphere gives us views that ground astronomers can only dream of. We now know that the Universe is expanding at an ever increasing rate, that only four percent of the Universe is made of "normal" matter, and that the Universe is 13.8 billion years old.

NASA probes have now explored all eight planets (including the earth), as well as the three largest dwarf planets (Vesta, Ceres, and Pluto). There are presently five probes orbiting Mars from NASA, India, and Europe; and two NASA rovers are still kicking up Martian dust. Cassini has been orbiting Saturn for over eleven years, returning stunning images of the ringed giant and its enigmatic moons.

After surveying the outer planets, Voyagers 1 & 2 are currently exploring interstellar space, the first human artifacts to leave the Solar System.

The latest game-changer: SpaceX just succeeded at recovering a first stage rocket booster by having it detach at Mach seven, properly reorient itself, fall back through the sound barrier, relight its engines, extend landing gear, and touch down exactly where they wanted it -- intact! Other rocket makers are now going to have to explain to their customers why it makes good sense to drop their expensive hardware in the drink!

What can we soberly expect in the coming generations? Well, there's good news and bad. The latest issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology reports that "Congress plans to hike NASA's fiscal 2016 budget...."

There's steady talk of going to Mars, boosted by the success of the movie The Martian. However, I'm certainly not hearing any calls for an Apollo-style push to reach the Red Planet, which is what's necessary for me to see anyone on Mars in what remains of my lifetime.

The budget plan includes funding for a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa, which is known to have an ocean under a thick icy crust. The oceans of Europa may be our best chance for finding life elsewhere in the Solar System.

NASA is still developing the Space Launch System, a Saturn V-class rocket, which, along with the Orion spacecraft, will once again send people into deep space (which hasn't been done since 1972). The current plan is to capture a small asteroid and work with it in lunar orbit in the mid- to late-2020s. However, there are those who question whether such a mission would help us get to Mars.

The James Webb Space Telescope is in the process of final assembly and is due to be launched in 2018. With a mirror six times larger in area than the Hubble Space Telescope, Webb is designed to image the very first galaxies and stars in the early Universe. It will also be able to directly image planets around other stars.

The Shuttle Program was terminated so that the funds could be used to germinate private efforts to provide human access to low earth orbit. That effort is beginning to pay off. While Americans are still hitching expensive rides on 1970s-era Russian spacecraft, SpaceX and Boeing have firm orders to deliver NASA (and other) astronauts to the International Space Station long before this decade is out. Although both companies have reverted to the capsule configuration, both are reusable, dramatically reducing costs. Also, while Russia's Soyuz capsule carries three cosmonauts, both the SpaceX Dragon and the Boeing Starliner can carry up to seven astronauts. And there are other contenders, such as Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser, that are still in the game; and others that have yet to be conceived.

Bigelow Aerospace is planning to build its own commercial space station, which I'm sure Barron Hilton is watching closely.

And lest we forget the efforts in Mojave and elsewhere to offer suborbital spaceflight experiences for not-so-average citizens! Someone's going to break out soon.

We're still moving forward in space exploration, though certainly not at the pace we came to expect growing up in the 1960s. That's because conquering space has turned out to be far more difficult, dangerous, and expensive than we thought. Yet, the dream is clearly still alive and the future is still exciting.

Almanac

I'm boldly predicting that January's weather will be far more conducive to astronomy than December's! This prediction is based solely on the fact that I don't like the alternatives. The moon will dominate the latter part of the month, so enjoy the darkness of the early days.

On a rare clear morning (December 15th), I was able to see the dim fuzz ball in the morning twilight that is Comet Catalina.

Comet Catalina hasn't dazzled the masses. At fifth-magnitude, you have to look hard for it; with no tail, it doesn't jump out at you. However, there's something special about comets. Even though we have learned that the appearance of a comet does not mean that supernatural forces are arrayed against us (although we now know that comets certainly do represent a menace of another sort), there is still something fascinating about a fuzzy ball that moves comparatively quickly amongst the background stars.

Comet Catalina spent December approaching the bright orange-giant star Arcturus (easily found by extending the curve of the handle of the Big Dipper southward). It then moved very quickly northward toward Alkaid (the star at the far end of the Big Dipper's handle), passing it on January 15th. It then will head very quickly northward out of the Solar System, never to return. Yet another reminder of how fleeting all things are.

As with last month, planet-worshipers need to be early-risers; Jupiter rises late in the evening, followed by Mars after midnight. Starting January 23rd, when Mercury pulls away from the morning sun, all five of the classical planets will be visible in the morning sky.

On Jan. 9, Venus and Saturn will pass very close in the morning sky, then pull away quite rapidly as we head into February.

Sunrise/Sunset: 7:03 a.m./4:59 p.m. (Jan.9)