Winning Slowly

We geek, we gush, and we even manage to say a few serious things about the future of humanity while talking about New Horizons, Rosetta, science fiction, nation-state rivalries, and how we would love to go visit other places in the solar system (or galaxy). Errata: Chris said New Frontiers was an ESA probe; it was in fact a NASA probe. He was thinking of Rosetta, an ESA project to land on a comet—which they did, after the greatest gravity boost sequence in history: Slingshot this!Note: yep, those are children fussing in the background at one point in the show. Chris has a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old daughter, and the 1-year-old happened to lose her mind mid-recording. This is one of the many times a better microphone might be nice! Links New Horizons XKCD What if?: New Horizons – on how incredibly fast New Horizons is traveling. Wikipedia Active solar system probes The Expanse – a delightful romp of a space opera Chris and his wife have read. SpaceX Sued the Air Force Virgin Galactic Mil