Apollo 17 launched in December 1972, and it was the last time a human being went to the moon -- or even traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Since then, there have been several plans to return to the moon (or to skip it and go straight to Mars). Plenty of other countries (and even corporations) are now looking to land spacecraft on the moon again, and here are just a few of these competitors in the post-Apollo space race.

• Speculation on China's rocket technology suggests the country's Long March 9 rocket will be more than capable for sending astronauts to the moon, Mars, and perhaps other distant destinations within our solar system. The Long March 9 is expected to be in service around 2020-2025. [url]
• Google's Lunar X Prize is closed to new participants, but there are about 25 teams still competing for rewards totaling $30 million -- for these privately funded teams to send robots to the moon. The deadline for these teams is the end of 2015. Hopefully at least one team will succeed in its mission, and we'll have mini moon bases sending back all kinds of data before the end of the decade. [url]
• The Soyuz spacecraft has been a workhorse for decades, but Russia has recently announced plans for its next generation spaceship design that could be used for manned missions to the moon (or possibly Mars). Test flights are scheduled to begin in 2017, and this Prospective Piloted Transport System (PPTS) could also service the International Space Station (creating another backup solution to supply the ISS). [url]

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Humans -- not content to be stuck on this planet and itching to find alien life -- are hard at work developing better ways to send satellites and spacecraft into orbit and outer space. If we actually want to colonize Mars by 2023, then some new propulsion technologies might be in order. Here are a few examples of various efforts going on around the world.

• MIT researchers have developed a penny-sized rocket thruster that runs on jets of ion beams. The thruster is flat and square, like a computer chip, and covered with 500 microscopic tips that emit ion beams strong enough to propel a shoebox-sized satellite. Placing several of these thrusters on a small satellite could enable it to move to change its orbit, as well as turn and roll. [url]
• Engineers in the UK are testing some key technology for a propulsion system that could one day take a spaceplane, like the Skylon vehicle, straight into orbit without all the multiple propellant stages required with current throw-away rockets. The Sabre propulsion system, which is part jet engine and part rocket engine, burns hydrogen and oxygen to provide thrust. [url]
• Researchers at The Australian National University are working on a plasma thruster that could eventually be used to send satellites to Mars. The plasma thruster could be ready by 2014, and initial missions will attempt to send old satellites into "graveyard" orbits using the thruster. [url]
• The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA are both testing solar sail technology as a form of primary propulsion for spacecraft. The solar sail technology relies on the concept that surfaces exposed to electromagnetic radiation will experience "radiation pressure," which exerts a small pushing force against the surface. Japan's Ikaros 27-square-meter solar sail gets only 0.0002 pounds of force due to radiation pressure from the sun, but over a long period of time, incredibly high speeds could be achieved. [url]

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The Space Shuttle program is retired, but we still have the Soyuz (and maybe a mysterious secret mini-shuttle) to get people into space. On top of that, though, the private space industry is starting to kick in with more and more ambitious plans to offer rides into space -- or at least to the edge of space. Here are just a few more examples of these private efforts.

• Travel agents are already booking seats on Virgin Galactic -- for $200,000 (including a $20,000 upfront deposit). Over 450 passengers have already bought tickets. [url]
• Mars One is aiming for human settlement on our neighboring planet around 2023. It'll be a one-way trip, so plan accordingly. [url]
• The Hermes spacecraft received some Kickstarter funding to build its next test rocket. It's still far from developing a rocket system ready for humans, but it's still cool to see more engineers trying to re-invent space travel. [url]
• Alliant Techsystems (aka ATK), which manufactured the Space Shuttle's booster rockets, is developing a rocket system it calls Liberty. This Liberty rocket system is designed to hold 7 passengers and reach destinations like the International Space Station. [url]
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SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has recently demonstrated its capabilities by successfully docking with the International Space Station. It's the first example of a private company achieving this feat, and it's paving the way for more private space ventures. Cheaper space missions are becoming more commonplace, and here are just a few more experimental projects that are aiming to change the space race by creating a multitude of mini space missions.

• Nanoracks reportedly has the first commercial cargo flown in a SpaceX Dragon capsule. One of the commercial experiments includes components of Ardbeg whisky to determine how whisky ages in zero gravity. Maybe there are faster ways to produce aged whisky... in space? [url]
• Interplanetary CubeSats could dramatically lower the costs of space exploration in our solar system. Low Earth orbit CubeSats have already made affordable satellite experiments possible for universities as well as government space agencies, so floating a few of these satellites out beyond Earth's reach could open up even more possibilities. [url]
• The CleanSpace One project is planning to launch satellites that can clear out space debris in the Earth's orbit. Around 16,000 objects (>10 cm in diameter) are currently cluttering up space right above the Earth, and finding a good way to clean up this space pollution could make other space missions less risky. [url]
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International space races don't quite inspire the same awe or fear as they did in the 1960s. There are a bunch of countries still trying to launch rockets into orbit for various reasons, but there are also quite a few commercial and amateur organizations working on space-worthy rockets. Here are just a few examples.

• North Korea tried to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of its national founder Kim Il-sung with a big rocket launch. The rocket was also a thinly-disguised test for a long-range missile, but it failed by blowing up a little over a minute after launching. [url]
• The world’s first student-made rocket to hit space hasn't quite succeeded in reaching an altitude of 100 km, but there are a number of schools working on it. A pass or fail grade for this project seems like tough grading... [url]
• SpaceX is working on designing safer and cheaper manned spacecraft, anticipating an upcoming boom in commercial space ventures. For example, its launch abort system has integrated escape thrusters mounted to the side of the crew capsule, and these engines aren't jettisoned or wasted if the mission goes as planned. [url]
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The space race has been over for quite some time now, and we're headed into unknown territory now -- without a singular mission for space exploration. There are a few manned missions still on-going, and there's also a lot of experimental spacecraft under development. Here are just a few space projects that use some interesting technologies.

• A Japanese construction company says it might be possible to build a space elevator by 2050 using carbon nanotubes to form a cable 96,000 kilometers long. There's no way to estimate the cost for this gigantic elevator to space, though, since the materials to actually build it can't be manufactured (yet?). [url]
• Ion propulsion systems have been under development for decades, and the Dawn spacecraft used an ion thruster to get a closer look at a big asteroid named Vesta. Ion thrusters can run for a long time, unlike chemical propulsion, and achieve velocities far greater than conventional rockets. [url]
• Masten Space Systems' Xombie suborbital rocket had a successful test flight, demonstrating vertical takeoff and landing maneuvers for NASA. This rocket uses a flight control system that could help land spacecraft on asteroids or other non-terrestrial bodies. [url]
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Military technology is improving in a lot of ways. Armies all of over the world are constructing better robots and bombs. Considering the pace of progress for these weapons, we might need another pass at international treaties for using them. Here are a few links discussing some newer weapons of warfare.

• The ethics of using robots for military operations is getting some attention. Usually, military robots have been assigned to dull, dirty or dangerous jobs -- but now they're being assigned to dispassionate tasks... (aka Terminator-like killing) [url]
• A hypersonic vehicle could hit a target anywhere on the planet in under an hour. The aerodynamics of hypersonic flight is being studied with real rockets flying through the atmosphere at thousands of miles per hour. [url]
• US Air Force pilots who control drones are burning out at a concerning rate. Almost 30% of these pilots are showing signs of "clinical distress" as drone patrols increased from 10-15 missions at any given time in 2007 to over 60 now. [url]
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Over the last few years, there have been plenty of crowdsourcing platforms to find solutions to difficult problems. And we've seen some brilliant examples of challenges solved via this method. But it doesn't work every time (nor should anyone expect it to). Here are just a few more open contests to find some innovative answers.

• The DOE awarded Philips Lighting North America with the L Prize and $10 million for developing a replacement for the 60-watt incandescent bulb that only uses 10 Watts to achieve the same light output. Apparently, approximately 425 million 60-watt incandescent light bulbs are sold in the United States every year, so if incandescent bulbs could be replaced without a public outcry.... [url]
• Out of about 400 applicants, a solution for the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge to clean up massive oil spills like the BP-Deepwater Horizon disaster has been found that is three times better than previous techniques. Team Elastec/American Marine recovered oil at 4,670 gallons per minute and won a $1 million prize. [url]
• The US Air Force, NASA and the National Reconnaissance Office have opened up a competition for rocket launch contracts. The United Launch Alliance might not be the only way for the US military to fly to space -- if companies like Space X can really create suitable rocket systems. [url]
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Getting into space doesn't seem like a big deal anymore, especially since there have been so many space missions and even amateur projects that have reached the edge of space. But buying a ticket on Virgin Galactic isn't quite affordable, and the edge of space isn't really the same as going to Mars. Still, it's cool to see more rockets shooting off towards the heavens.

• NASA introduced its next generation rocket design for manned space exploration that's expected to take off sometime around 2017-2021. Senator Bill Nelson called it a "monster rocket" -- and we'll see if a certain cabling company sues over that nickname. [url]
• The Spaceship Company is an appropriately-named joint venture between Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites that will manufacture suborbital spaceships in California. And the company has opened the world's first facility dedicated to producing private, commercial manned space vehicles. [url]
• A Carmack Prize entry released a video of a relatively small rocket reaching 121,000 feet in about 92 seconds. Maybe there will be a credit card company space race someday.... [url]
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Getting into space is getting cheaper as more countries and more companies are able to launch space-worthy rockets. The space shuttle may be retiring, but unmanned missions seem to be (mostly) progressing nicely. It might be inspiring to see humans in space, but it seems far more practical to get more missions up and to explore with robots -- as long as the robots obey us. Usually, they do.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket successfully put its Dragon spacecraft into space. The privately-owned spaceship also made it back to Earth. Rinse. Lather. Repeat... And profit? [url]

NASA launches a nanosatellite from a microsatellite. I wonder if the Russians ever put a matryoshka doll in space... [url]

Schools can request a space shuttle heat shield tile from NASA. And it's only a matter of time before these tiles are auctioned off on eBay for school fundraisers. [url]

A malfunctioning satellite is taking out US weather services and could strike again. Remotely rebooting satellites ain't easy. [url]

Japan's Akatsuki probe missed Venus orbit, and now JAXA will have to wait 6 more years to try again. Betcha can't add 6 years to a human space mission as easily. [url]