SciFi Saturday News – Star Trek Beyond Leonard Nimoy Tribute, New Star Wars Characters, And Awesome Space Photos

By Cynthia Sax on August 29, 2015

These are some of the interesting SciFi developments I spotted this week.


Awesome Photo Of The Twin Jet Nebula

The Hubble Space Telescope snapped one of the most gorgeous photos I’ve ever seen. As Amanda Kooser shares

“A two-lobed nebula blossoms outward from a central star system. Jets of gas extend in elongated bubbles.” Read the entire article if you wish to learn more about nebula.


Astronauts Drink Recycled Urine

From the beautiful to the gross. (grins) Ellen Brait shares

“What’s the difference between American and Russian astronauts on the International Space Station? The Americans drink their urine, the Russians don’t.

“It tastes like bottled water,” Layne Carter, water subsystem manager for the ISS at Nasa’s Marshall Space Flight Center told Bloomberg. “As long as you can psychologically get past the point that it’s recycled urine and condensate that comes out of the air.”

Condensate is the collected breath and sweat of the crew, shower runoff, and urine from animals on board the station.”

A Closer Look At Ceres

I love referring to real planet names in my stories. I usually add something to them. Ceres would become Ceres IV because they’re not the same planet. But I think it’s important that we are familiar with the names.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft snapped this awesome photo of Ceres. Ceres is small, no bigger than 590 miles at its widest point (compared to Earth at 7,926 miles – http://www.space.com/17638-how-big-is-earth.html ) but it is fascinating, a great setting for a story.

More Planets! Kepler 452b

Dirk Schulze-Makuch shares

“The discovery of Kepler 452b, a planet orbiting a star similar to our own sun and just 4 percent larger and 10 percent brighter, hit the news recently. Detected by the Kepler Space Telescope, the planet is a so-called “super Earth” with five times the mass of Earth and a 60 percent larger diameter. Kepler 452b orbits its star every 385 days, again very similar to our own world.”

John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate spoke at the NASA’s headquarters in Washington.

“On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun”.

Star Wars, JJ Abrams and Kylo Ren

JJ Abrams continues to drive me and all other Star Wars fans crazy with teasers about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This week, he was talking about Kylo Ren, the mysterious broadsaber wielding hooded character.

“Kylo Ren is not a Sith.” JJ Abrams shares. “He works under Supreme Leader Snoke, who is a powerful figure on the Dark Side of the Force.”

Star Trek Beyond Tribute To Leonard Nimoy

Because the Star Wars hype isn’t enough to drive me bonkers, the cast of Star Trek is adding to the excitement.

Alyssa Montemurro shares

“The cast of ‘Star Trek Beyond’ have paid a moving tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy through a new video created as part of their Star Trek: To Boldly Go charity campaign — a cause that was near and dear to his heart.”

Zachary Quinto, Star Trek Beyond’s Spock, shares.

“Leonard was an actor, a champion of the arts and a true inspiration to so many. Through his legendary portrayal of Spock, he influenced countless scientists and artists, myself and the rest of the cast included. It was an honor and a privilege to know him and to call him a friend. Leonard’s love for the human spirit shone through everything he did. He touched lives around the world and he is greatly missed.”

So true!


What SciFi news did you find interesting this week?

***

Subscribe To My Release Day Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/

Half Man. Half Machine. All Hers.

Rage, the Humanoid Alliance’s most primitive cyborg, has two goals—kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that’s all he’s been programmed to experience.
Until he meets Joan.

Joan, the battle station’s first female engineer, has one goal—survive long enough to help the big sexy cyborg plotting to kill her. Rage might not trust her but he wants her. She sees the passion in his eyes, the caring in his battle-worn hands, the gruff emotion in his voice.

When Joan survives the unthinkable, Rage’s priorities are tested. Is there enough room in this cyborg’s heart for both love and revenge?

Buy Now:
On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Releasing-Rage-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B00ZOL1DRO

On ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-releasingrage-1850041-340.html

On B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/releasing-rage-cynthia-sax/1122455646

Topics: Guest Post | Comments Off on SciFi Saturday News – Star Trek Beyond Leonard Nimoy Tribute, New Star Wars Characters, And Awesome Space Photos

SciFi Saturday News – Star Trek’s Marta, Star Wars VII Favorite Characters And More

By Cynthia Sax on August 22, 2015

I always privately track SciFi developments (a requirement for any SciFi erotic romance writer). I was chatting with a reading buddy this week and she mentioned that she’d love to know about them also.

So I’m starting a weekly round up on my blog with some of the SciFi news I found especially interesting.

RIP Yvonne Craig

Others might remember Yvonne Craig as Batgirl. She will always be Marta, the green slave girl on Star Trek to me. A trained ballerina by training, she enthralled Captain Kirk with her sexy dancing. Though it never took much to do that. (grins) Captain Kirk hit it with every female alien he met.

More Star Wars Trailers

OMG I can’t wait until Star Wars – The Force Awakens releases and the studio is killing me slowly with the trailers.

Here’s a link to one…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCc2v7izk8w

You had me at “The Force is strong in my family.”

Favorite Star Wars VII Character

Still on the topic of Star Wars, J.J. Abrams, the director, talked about his favorite character.

“I can only say that Gwendoline Christie is my favorite. She just killed it. You think, “Well, what? It’s wearing a costume.” But it’s a lot to wear and to have a performance when you’re wearing that requires a different kind of skill set and an additional talent, and she’s got it. It’s an incredible thing to work with her. I am glad that a character has been designed that is visually as stunning as that is, because she deserves it and the fans do to. When I first saw that design my mind was blown because it looked so undeniable.”

Did I mention how excited I was about this movie?

Mars Rover Selfies

Curiosity, that playful Mars Rover, has jumped on the selfie trend. His latest photo was taken at Buckskin, one of the rock targets.

As Jonathan Amos shares, “Curiosity manages this smart piece of planetary photography in the same way that any human would take a selfie – by holding a camera at arm’s length and framing its own form.”

Space Elevators

Some crazy Canadians are working on a space elevator.

As Andre Mayer shares, “The classic conception of a space elevator is a giant cable tethered to the Earth’s surface near the equator, with a counterweight out in space beyond geostationary orbit (approximately 36,000 kilometres up).”

On a side note: The inventor of the latest space elevator is kind of cute.

Aurora Borealis From Space

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly snapped some great photos of Aurora Borealis (aka Northern Lights) from the International Space Station.

What SciFi news did you find interesting this week?

***

Subscribe To My Release Day Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/

Half Man. Half Machine. All Hers.

Rage, the Humanoid Alliance’s most primitive cyborg, has two goals—kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that’s all he’s been programmed to experience.
Until he meets Joan.

Joan, the battle station’s first female engineer, has one goal—survive long enough to help the big sexy cyborg plotting to kill her. Rage might not trust her but he wants her. She sees the passion in his eyes, the caring in his battle-worn hands, the gruff emotion in his voice.

When Joan survives the unthinkable, Rage’s priorities are tested. Is there enough room in this cyborg’s heart for both love and revenge?

Buy Now:
On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Releasing-Rage-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B00ZOL1DRO

On ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-releasingrage-1850041-340.html

On B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/releasing-rage-cynthia-sax/1122455646

Topics: SciFi News | Comments Off on SciFi Saturday News – Star Trek’s Marta, Star Wars VII Favorite Characters And More