The second really interesting talk in the session on comparative planetology (that I wrote about here, and Pamela wrote about here) was about how plate tectonics  effects the “habitability” of a planet.
Plate Tectonics or Not: Lithospheric Stress on Terrestrial Planets and Super-Earths (O’Neill C.J., Lenardic A., Jellinek A.M.)
This presenter started by pointing out that plate […]

Friday morning Pamela and I both went to the session on comparative planetology. While we’d worked pretty hard to make sure we were never both in the same session, this was sort of necessary. We had to leave mid-session in order to get to the airport in time for my 2.15 flight home – so […]

My trip home was not nearly as much of an adventure as my trip getting to Houston. I can walk on my own now, without the aid of crutches, so this trip just involved a lot of waiting.
I waited for my flight from Houston to Dallas. I waited in Dallas to see if I could […]

I spent Thursday afternoon in the lauded amphitheatre, with its comfortable chairs, tables and the ability to feed my (by then) hungry laptop. Today the amphitheatre was offering a double showing: 1.30 – 3.15, Enceladus. 3.30-5.15, Venus.
We were mere minutes late getting back from lunch, so the first session was in progress when I got […]

This morning, Pamela and I traded subjects – I went to the session on Mars, while she went back to the session on the Moon.
This session was about 10 feet over my head – but we’ll see what I can do to tell you about it.
The first talk I heard was probably the most understandable, […]

So this afternoon I attended this session. Pamela had previously suggested I go to the one on Mars impacts, but I was stubborn and thought this one looked interesting too. Reading over her post on it, I will admit to regretting it. My main reaction to this session was Wow… I’m not a geologist. Identifying […]

My last disappointment with the space centre museum was in the content. Don’t get me wrong – I was thrilled to learn about the Apollo missions, and to hear 10 minutes about the current shuttle mission. I would have loved to learn more, though. I heard a lot of “and with Orion we will go […]

I spent yesterday wandering around the Space Centre Museum at Johnson Space Centre. There were lots of things to do and see… but at the same time, it was sorely lacking.
There is one small area wherein they detailed the various incarnations of spacesuits/constant wear suits/etc. There were bios of a lot of astronauts as well. […]

Next I moved on to “Blast Off”, which was probably the best part of the whole trip, aside from the tram tour. The beginning was a little cheesy – they crammed a bunch of people into a small room with big screens and speakers, and then had us “experience” a shuttle launch. It was cute, […]

After my earlier post, I paid an obscene amount of money for a less than mediocre lunch. Then I wandered through the main exhibit halls, mostly killing time before this showing. This museum appears to be very much about (scheduled) shows (and the tour of JSC), with exhibits around to occupy you in between (but […]