Found a Letter #writing101 (five word flash fiction)
Who’s letter? “Dear Santa,…”? Me!
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Bill Housley
Science Fiction and Fantasy Author
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To contact Bill, click here.
Into the Dark–Escape of the Nomad
In a world where space travel is forbidden, former astronaut Stan McPherson wants to return to space but finds himself caught up in a dangerous game of interstellar cloak-and-dagger. Click the image above to read Chapter 1 online for free.
Where’s The Cat?
On a long cargo flight to the outer solar system, Pauline gets a visitor she didn't expect, and learns of a marvelous friend she never knew she had. Click on the image above to read this short fiction online for free.
Another Man’s Terrorist
Two orphaned child soldiers sell all they have to leave their war-torn planet on a quest for peace, but when they arrive at their new home they find that the war has beaten them there. Now the older sister Jessica must struggle to keep the only family she has left from being lost in a conflict that she no longer wants. Click the image above to read this story for free online. For a limited time only!
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Space.com Top Stories
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- August Full Moon 2017: See the Lunar 'Sturgeon' Aug. 7, And a Lunar Eclipse! July 27, 2017Look for the Full Sturgeon Moon overhead the evening of Aug. 7. In addition, if you're in Africa, Asia or Australia you'll see a partial lunar eclipse — as the moon passes through the Earth's shadow on its way to eclipsing the sun on Aug. 21.
- Inside Mars 160: The Mars Society's Red Planet Simulation in Pictures July 27, 2017In July 2017, six explorers embarked upon a lengthy simulated Mars mission in the Canadian arctic, kicking off the second part of the two-phase Mars 160 expedition. See photos of both phases (the first of which took place in the Utah desert) here.
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- Image of the Day July 27, 2017The European Space Agency's Rover Autonomy Testbed, or RAT, takes a test drive at night during testing in the moon-like environment of Teide National Park of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands.
- Unhackable Data: In a First, Secure Quantum Communications Is Tested Via Microsatellite July 27, 2017For the first time, scientists have demonstrated laser communications between a microsatellite and a ground station while using the quantum nature of photons to secure the data being transmitted.
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- Cool! 'Star Wars'-Like Tech Warps Light into 360-Degree 3D Images July 27, 2017When Alexander Lippert first saw Princess Leia's holographic image projected by R2-D2 to deliver her famous message to Obi-Wan ("Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope") in "Star Wars: A New Hope," a childhood fascination began.
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- Senate Bill Finds Middle Ground for NASA Funding July 27, 2017A Senate appropriations subcommittee approved a spending bill July 25 that would provide NASA with $19.5 billion, striking a middle ground between the administration’s original request and a more generous House bill.
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- Bazinga! 'Big Bang Theory' Catchphrase Inspires New Compound July 26, 2017The catchphrase "bazinga" — a zinger commonly uttered by Dr. Sheldon Cooper, a fictional theoretical physicist on the TV show "The Big Bang Theory" — has inspired the creation of a novel compound.
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- Perseid Meteor Shower 2017: When, Where & How to See It July 26, 2017The Perseid meteor shower will burst into light this August as Earth passes through the long trail left by Comet Swift-Tuttle. This year, though, the moon may interfere with the show. Here's how and when to see the Perseids.
NASA Breaking News
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LiveScience.com – Top Stories
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- Photos: 33 Stunning Locations Where 'Game of Thrones' Was Filmed July 27, 2017The HBO hit show "Game of Thrones" takes place in a world of fantasy, but dozens of the scenes were filmed at real medieval castles and in wild forests and craggy mountainsides across Europe and Iceland.
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Discover Magazine — Space
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NASA Image of the Day
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Masten-space.com Blog updates–X-Prize winner!
- Masten Achieves First Hot-Fire of Broadsword Rocket Engine May 11, 2017Mojave, CA – On September 30, 2016, Masten Space Systems successfully concluded the 13-month design, build, and test period for the first development unit of the Broadsword 25 rocket engine, funded as a technology demonstration under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program. This first phase of the engine […]
- What’s the Point? April 27, 2017That is a question that comes up from time to time when people see Xaero-B and Xodiac. Both vehicles seem to be doing what other rocket companies have already *demonstrated* and to greater lengths at that. The underlying premise of the question is this: you are not seeing anything that hasn’t already been done. And
- Masten’s Green Bipropellant: MXP-351 March 23, 2017As part of our partnership with NASA through the Lunar CATALYST (Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown) program, we have been actively developing a proprietary new bipropellant – MXP-351. This propellant is intended to be flown on our XL-1 lunar lander which is capable of bringing up to 100 kg (221 lb) softly
- Summer 2017 Internship December 5, 2016Masten is now accepting intern applications for the Summer of 2017. If you’ve followed us you know we’ve had a great history of outstanding interns working with us. There are few places like us that can deliver an internship with this level of responsibility and hands on work. We’re not looking for gophers, we’re looking for
- Introducing Xodiac and XaeroB June 7, 2016Introducing the next generation of reusable rockets – Masten’s Xodiac and XaeroB. These two new rockets are designed and built on the success of their predecessors – Xombie, Xoie, and Xaero. For those who have followed us, you will see the obvious connection to our previous vehicles. With this new iteration, we are bringing greater capability
- Masten Space Systems selected by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for XS-1 Program July 23, 2014Mojave, CA (July 23, 2014) — Masten Space Systems, Inc. (Masten) announced today that the company has been awarded a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as part of Phase 1 of the Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program to develop a reusable launch vehicle. Over the last decade, Masten has built three highly
- Astrobotic Technology And Masten Space Systems Perform Visually Guided Precision Landing June 30, 2014Contact John Thornton contact@astrobotic.com Sean Mahoney smahoney@masten.aero FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ASTROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY AND MASTEN SPACE SYSTEMS PERFORM VISUALLY GUIDED PRECISION LANDING Groundbreaking effort integrates two privately developed technology platforms to validate performance of autonomous precision landing capability Mojave, CA: Astrobotic Te […]
- Project Prometheus May 19, 2014A lot has been going on in the past year, and while we have been busy with clients and flying customer payloads, the Masten Team has also been thinking about ways we could engage the broader community and increase accessibility to our VTVL vehicles. One of the largest barriers to entry for any technology developer
- NASA Partners with Masten for Lunar CATALYST April 30, 2014We’re excited to be part of opening the moon to commercial enterprises. Masten has been investing private money for years building core technologies to open the Moon for business. The CATALYST program is a great step towards unlocking the Moon’s potential. (Source: NASA)
- Masten featured on PBS documentary December 2, 2013We get asked on a regular basis what life is like working at Masten. Well, the good folks at KQED (San Francisco Bay Area PBS affiliate) came out in May to capture a slice of Mojave with a healthy dose of Masten rockets. Watch for Masten to appear around time marker 13:47. We really enjoyed hosting
Discovery Space News
- Huge Tsunamis May Have Ravaged Ancient Mars May 25, 2016When Mars was a wet world, did its oceans experience powerful tsunamis spawned by meteorite impacts?
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- Mystery Plumes: Did the Sun Bruise Mars? May 24, 2016Strange plumes have been spotted high in the Martian atmosphere that have, so far, defied explanation. Now scientists think space weather is to blame.
- NASA Probe Tracks Object in Solar System's Badlands May 23, 2016While coasting through the outer solar system, NASA's New Horizons is busying itself with astronomical observations of a distant Kuiper Belt Object.
- Solar Superflares Set Stage for Life on Earth May 23, 2016Earth could have grown warm enough for liquid water as far back as 4 billion years ago thanks to massive and frequent solar flares.
- See the Red Planet with Your Own Eyes This Weekend May 21, 2016Mars reaches opposition this weekend, making Saturday and Sunday (May 21 and 22) an opportune time to see the Red Planet with your own eyes.
- Extreme Exoplanets Reveal Migration Mystery May 20, 2016A star hosting 4 massive gas giant exoplanets has been spotted -- is this how our solar system looked in its ancient past?
- How to Form Io's Mountains? Just Squeeze! May 20, 2016On Earth, mountains form along tectonic boundaries, but Io, Jupiter's volcanic moon, is awash with molten rock and dotted with solitary mountains -- how did they form?
- DNews: Meet a Black Hole 17 Billion Times the Sun's Mass May 20, 2016DNews sits down with U.C. Berkeley astronomy professor Chung-Pei Ma to learn all about supermassive black holes, including one nearby that's just honking huge.
- LHC Opens the Quantum Physics Floodgates May 20, 2016As it restarts its mission to discover weird and exotic things about our universe, the Large Hadron Collider is about to become a firehose of quantum data.
New Scientist
- First exomoon might have been spotted 4000 light years away July 27, 2017Astronomers may have found the first exomoon around a distant planet, and have asked to use Hubble to confirm whether the tantalising hints are a real discovery
- Half the atoms inside your body came from across the universe July 27, 2017Intergalactic winds carry gas and dust from one galaxy to the next, bringing half of the matter in our galaxy from up to a million light years away
- Smallest satellite ever paves way for planned interstellar fleet July 26, 2017Breakthrough Starshot, the $100 million project to send tiny spacecraft to Alpha Centauri, successfully operated a mini-satellite in orbit for the first time
- We could build a galactic internet but it may take 300,000 years July 25, 2017By using the timing of planets’ orbits around their stars, all the advanced civilizations that may exist in the Milky Way could communicate
- When is a black hole not a black hole? When it’s a boson star July 25, 2017Astronomers are confident they know what the mysterious massive object at the Milky Way’s heart is – but our first direct view this year could bring a shock
Forgot how to count. Fixed it though.