I know that many of you are tapped out from the successful disaster relief fundraising, but we have to think about the future as well. The X-Prize Foundation has some matching grants up that expire at midnight, if you want to make a contribution to keeping the effort going for space prizes. I think that this is one of the most effective ways that a private citizen can contribute to opening up the frontier for all of us.

Here’s a study that says people derive more happiness from life experiences than from material possessions. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s not obviously wrong, and it buttresses my long-held belief that public space travel is the largest near-term market for space products.

Clark Lindsey has an interesting roundup of links, and some plausible speculation about the potential development path for orbital passenger vehicles.

Jay Manifold has some personal memories of a Christmas thirty six years ago.

JPL has started maintaining a status page on potential earth impactors.

I still think that we need to get the Corp of Engineers working on this.

[via emailer Paul Breed]

I missed the Delta 4 Heavy Launch yesterday–couldn’t justify driving up to the Cape on a weekday. But I’m bemused by the reporting. To read this story, it was spectacular success, but SpaceFlightNow says that it underperfomed significantly, something you’d never know from the space.com piece, which reads like a Boeing press release.

I missed the Delta 4 Heavy Launch yesterday–couldn’t justify driving up to the Cape on a weekday. But I’m bemused by the reporting. To read this story, it was spectacular success, but SpaceFlightNow says that it underperfomed significantly, something you’d never know from the space.com piece, which reads like a Boeing press release.

I missed the Delta 4 Heavy Launch yesterday–couldn’t justify driving up to the Cape on a weekday. But I’m bemused by the reporting. To read this story, it was spectacular success, but SpaceFlightNow says that it underperfomed significantly, something you’d never know from the space.com piece, which reads like a Boeing press release.

CrushKerry.com says has spotted a potential dark horse candidate for 2008–Sam Brownback. Regardless of your views on his other views, this would be potentially the best possible president to continue to carry out the president’s Vision for Space Exploration, with emphasis on entrepreneurs.

[Update at 11 PM EST]

Nick Kristof is fascinated as well despite his “right-wing” views.

On Friday, I threatened to write a review of the year in space. Jeff Foust has preempted me this morning, over at The Space Review, and it’s unlikely I’ll do any better.

Lots of other good stuff over there as well, with items on Bigelow, and a well-deserved slapdown of Alex “Eeyore” Roland by Dwayne Day.