Breakthrough Watch and European Southern Observatory Achieve First Light on Upgraded Planet-finding Instrument “Pete Worden, Executive Director of the Breakthrough Initiatives, said: “We’re delighted to collaborate with the ESO in designing, building, installing and now using this innovative new instrument. If there are Earth-like planets around Alpha Centauri A and B, that’s huge news for everyone on our planet.” “ESO is glad to bring its expertise, existing infrastructure, and observing […]
Understanding NASA’s Global Reach, SpaceRef “A young boy in Chile wearing a NASA t-shirt explains a computer game to Pete Worden from Breakthrough Initiatives. How did he get that t-shirt? Why is he wearing it? Worden sent me this picture today. He is currently in Chile to announce that Breakthrough Initiatives has teamed with the European Southern Observatory to use the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to observe Alpha Centauri. Alpha […]
SpaceResources.lu: New space law to provide framework for space resource utilization, Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy “The Luxembourg Government forges ahead with the SpaceResources.lu initiative by presenting an overall strategy to be implemented progressively for the exploration and commercial utilization of resources from Near Earth Objects (NEOs), such as asteroids. Amongst the key actions undertaken is the establishment of an appropriate legal and regulatory framework for space resource utilization activities […]
Looking for extraterrestrials – The optimistic gamble, Economist “Mr Milner reckons there are three reasons why the moment is right to go big on SETI. One is that Kepler, a space telescope run by NASA, has shown that there are a lot of potentially habitable planets out there. Geoff Marcy, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, who will run Breakthrough Listen, says Kepler-based studies suggest that perhaps one […]
Keith’s note: NASA Ames Research Center Director Pete Worden will announce this afternoon that he is leaving NASA at the end of March. Keith’s update: NASA ARC Memo: All Hands Meeting: Pete Worden is Leaving NASA “On Wednesday, Feb. 25, I informed NASA Administrator Bolden that I have decided to retire from federal service and pursue some long-held dreams in the private sector.” Worden Announces Retirement as NASA Ames Center […]
NASA is turning science fiction into fact (Interview with NASA ARC Center Director Pete Worden), New Scientist “Is science fiction a big source of inspiration? Here, there’s almost a secret handshake among engineers who have read lots of science fiction. It lets you dream – how can we make that technology real, how can we make a better future? What are your dreams for exploring space? A principal tenet of […]
No Tax Dollars Went To Make This Space Viking Photo, NPR “The inspector general won’t discuss how much all this cost, but [Ved] Chirayath did a quick calculation, totaling up the number of interviews, multiplied by the work hours, multiplied by the salary of the investigator and others involved. “I came to a lower-end budget of around $40,000, and an upper end of around $600,000,” he says. That’s far more […]
Wolf says NASA prompted hiring of person linked to Chinese espionage; may be dozens more in agency, Washington Examiner “Today, Wolf said he has not received a response from Pete Worden, the retired Air Force general who is director of the Ames facility.” NASA ARC Centerwide Announcement: Ames and National Security (12 Feb 2013) “I have offered to talk to the news reporter, meet with the US representatives and/or testify […]
GOP Chairmen Go After Pete Worden, Aviation Week “The official in question, Ames Research Center Director Simon P. “Pete” Worden, vehemently denies he has been lax in protecting technology covered by International Trade in Armaments Regulations (ITAR), and says he has never been approached by federal law enforcement officials about the matter.” NASA ARC Centerwide Announcement: Ames and National Security “I have offered to talk to the news reporter, meet […]
House Chairmen Say NASA May Have Released DOD Secrets To China, Aviation Week “According to sources at Ames and on Capitol Hill, the case involves Ames Center Director Simon P. “Pete” Worden and members of the center’s staff who are not U.S. citizens. … Among the charges mentioned in the congressional letters are allegations that the protected technology information has been disseminated in public conferences overseas “with Chinese and other […]