Happy Thursday!
As I sit here in the suburbs of Chicago, I’m watching the last of the April Showers, looking ahead to May Flowers and saying goodbye to Poetry Month.
As part of the festivities for that annual celebration, I participated in the Poetry Reading sponsored by the St. Charles Public Library. It was another opportunity to enjoy the works of local poets and share my attempt at rhyme and humor. I hope you enjoy my contributions in Alien Invasion Limericks. You can also download a souvenir booklet of our little buddy Gluck’s adventure here: https://wstevewilson.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Alien-Invasion-Limericks.pdf
On the blog front, I’ve been a little at loose ends on just what to write about. Artemis II was a success. Artemis III is next year. The next SpaceX Starship launch isn’t for a few weeks, and disappointingly, NASA cancelled the construction of The Gateway, the way station planned for orbit around the Moon.
But all is not lost. I’ve recently binge watched a few robot movies, all dealing with apparently self-aware, or at least maybe sentient robots. Add to that the buzz around AI, it’s effect on work in the future, among other things, and, well, I think I’ll go there. The Science Fiction universe is full of cautionary tales and we’re experiencing what AI might be capable of. Oh—and then there’s the robot that clocked a record-breaking time in a half-marathon. What are we supposed to think about that?
So – a temporary detour from space travel and we’ll dive into the robot realm. Stay tuned.
Thanks for reading.
From the Last Issue
Season 5 of The Tharsis Plateau is complete. You can download the chapbook here, or read along online, beginning with Season5, Week 1, Episodes 1 thru 7.
If you’d like to re-read past seasons or download your copies, Seasons 1 thru 4 are available.
Now to Mars. So—Elon Musk has decided to concentrate on developing Starship focusing on the Moon. Not that I have to follow SpaceX in my Blog writing, but since the Moon seems to be the focus for the moment, I’ll re-direct my efforts to exploring topics related to getting there, building a base, and, in current parlance, developing the cis-Lunar economy. I’ll leave Mars to fiction for now. (See update above)
While you’re there, check out what else is available at wstevewilson.com.