"ET is not a nice guy" warn scientists.

There have been 20-30 major Hollywood alien apocalypse movies released in the last year or so, and more are on the way. They’re unavoidable. As such, it’s no wonder that scientists have hostile aliens on the brain. Several researchers have released a study that says there is a good chance aliens will come and wipe us out if they think we’re irresponsible, expanding too quickly, or a number of other reasons, reports the IB Times. The researchers point to humanity’s own history of hostility toward unfamiliar humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas as evidence.

“Just as we did to those beings, the extraterrestrials might proceed to kill, infect, dissect, conquer, displace or enslave us, stuff us as specimens for their museums or pickle our skulls and use us for medical research,” says the study, published in the journal Acta Astronautica.

Another argument is that, by nature, if we contact aliens through programs like SETI, which will be relaunching in September, the aliens we contact will have to be more technologically advanced than us to even communicate properly. And if they have more advanced technology than us, they could come to harm us.

“A core concern is that ETI will learn of our presence and quickly travel to Earth to eat or enslave us,” says the study.

But what has really changed since programs like SETI began? Well there are more of us, but that’s about it. There will always be remote danger in discovering something (or someone) you don’t know. That’s science. Honestly, we think the only real danger here is in how much time scientists are spending watching the trailer for Battleship. Perhaps Hollywood is taking its toll.

(P.S. If you meet an alien, please don’t tell it that we’re planning on leaving earth anytime soon. Also, show it that you are compassionate and recycle. And whatever you do, don’t show it Avatar. Maybe then it won’t kill us all.)

Via Digital Trends

ET Go Home, you F@#%!

A great father and son activity; send a camera to space and get it back.

I'm mad about science and space exploration. I was around when Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. So when I saw this story about a father teaching his son about space by building and sending a high definition camera with a weather balloon to the outer atmosphere, I knew it was cool story to blog. Here's the gist of the story.

Like many youngsters, and those young at heart, seven-year-old Max Geissbuhler and his dad dreamed of visiting space -- and armed with just a weather balloon, a video camera, and an iPhone, in a way they did just that.

The father-and-son team from Brooklyn managed to send their homemade spacecraft up nearly 19 miles, high into the stratosphere, bringing back perhaps the most impressive amateur space footage ever.

The duo housed the video camera, iPhone, and GPS equipment in a specially designed insulated casing, along with some hand-warmers and a note from Max requesting its safe return from whomever may find it after making it back to solid ground. All told, father and son spent eight months preparing for their homemade journey into space, in hopes of filming "the blackness beyond our earth."

Then, one day in August, Max and his father headed out to a nearby park to see their dreams realized. After attaching their equipment to a 19-inch weather balloon and switching on the camera, they watched as their simple craft disappeared high into the sky.

After a little over an hour, the craft reached the stratosphere, 100 thousand feet overhead, and captured some incredible footage of space before the balloon popped and fell back towards earth. They found their spacecraft 25 miles away from where they had let it go -- stuck up in a tree.

Although the camera's battery died some minutes before touching down, the footage the camera returned is impressive. And despite the fact that the craft didn't technically reach the boundaries of space, Max and his father are undoubtedly proud of their accomplishment.

Here's their extraordinary video.

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

Space Hotel to be opened in 2012!

Cool! 2001 is coming...only 11 years late!

BARCELONA (Reuters) - A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project.

The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost 3 million euro ($4.4 million) for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island.

During their stay, guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes. They would wear velcro suits so they can crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman.

Galactic Suite Ltd's CEO Xavier Claramunt, a former aerospace engineer, said the project will put his company (www.galacticsuite.com) at the forefront of an infant industry with a huge future ahead of it, and forecast space travel will become common in the future.

"It's very normal to think that your children, possibly within 15 years, could spend a weekend in space," he told Reuters Television.

A nascent space tourism industry is beginning to take shape with construction underway in New Mexico of Spaceport America, the world's first facility built specifically for space-bound commercial customers and fee-paying passengers.

British tycoon Richard Branson's space tours firm, Virgin Galactic, will use the facility to propel tourists into suborbital space at a cost of $200,000 a ride.

Galactic Suite Ltd, set up in 2007, hopes to start its project with a single pod in orbit 450 km (280 miles) above the earth, traveling at 30,000 km per hour, with the capacity to hold four guests and two astronaut-pilots.

It will take a day and a half to reach the pod - which Claramunt compared to a mountain retreat, with no staff to greet the traveler.

"When the passengers arrive in the rocket, they will join it for 3 days, rocket and capsule. With this we create in the tourist a confidence that he hasn't been abandoned. After 3 days the passenger returns to the transport rocket and returns to earth," he said.

More than 200 people have expressed an interest in traveling to the space hotel and at least 43 people have already reserved.

The numbers are similar for Virgin Galactic with 300 people already paid or signed up for the trip but unlike Branson, Galactic Suite say they will use Russian rockets to transport their guests into space from a spaceport to be built on an island in the Caribbean.

Ok, you train in the Caribbean, ride on a Russian rocket, stay for 3 days and stick to the walls in a velcro suit like Spiderman? And this cost 4.4 million?

What do you guys think?

A small step for a stuffed bear, one giant leap for Stuffed bear-kind

Recently, some students in England did a very curious experiment...

From SKY News...

Four teddies have taken a giant leap for bear-kind after being blasted to the edge of space by Cambridge University.
The cuddly toys were attached to a helium balloon and launched 30,000m into the atmosphere from Churchill College.
They were kitted out in space suits designed by schoolchildren from the city as the toys braved freezing temperatures. The computer-controlled toys, fitted with a GPS system and a camera, landed safely just north of Ipswich, Suffolk, following their pioneering flight of just over two hours.The project was overseen by the Cambridge University spaceflight team - a student-run society launched two years ago. Ed Moore, one of its 10 members, said: "There can be few more worthwhile things for us to do than to try and provide that spark for the current generation of school kids."

You see, if we make science fun, it will produce better and more scientists. And believe me, we need more scientists! We already have too much reggaeton floozies and jerks.

We should do this type of experiments in Puerto Rico.

First the Russians, then the Americans, now it's the Hindu's chance to go to the Moon!

Surprise! India has launched it's first Moon mission! Read on...

The unmanned Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft blasted off smoothly from a launch pad in southern Andhra Pradesh to embark on a two-year mission of exploration. The robotic probe will orbit the Moon, compiling a 3-D atlas of the lunar surface and mapping the distribution of elements and minerals. The launch is regarded as a major step for India as it seeks to keep pace with other space-faring nations in Asia. It was greeted with applause by scientists gathered at the site.

More on this news here!

I'm seeing a Sci-Fi Bollywood movie in the works!