Space Colonization?

 Once the 1960's dream!

Now soon to be a fact with several Moon bases, a new space station and going to to Mars, if not further afield?

Elon Musk is the man with the vision and the re-usable rocket is making way for this to happen, but what is the reality of living on a dust swept bowl and how will scientists cope with possible mental breakdowns as currently is occurring on the International Space Station (ISS)?

This will not be the first time, the Russians under the Soviet Union faced a prolonged flight, which is the longest for anyone to be in space alone!

There are so many questions related to space travel and the effects of it on the human body, China has done well with their station by introducing gravity and it is hoped that other things like converting water ice to hydrogen will power what is needed with solar and recycling urine?

But this can only go to a point, growing food and a change to metabolism and body strength will be new issues that are not yet known about fully, the money and the prestige will make people famous but it may be another seventy years before we see real population growth?

The Irish Navy is Shrinking!

 Smaller Ships?

Ireland has not really got a navy as such, neither has it a army or an air force, but rather a combined defense forces, since it is a small country sharing a land border with the U.K.

In recent years it has greatly updated its equipment and so its fishery protection forces, having eight new vessels, but it has also a reduced recruitment in the last year, which has lead to two of its new patrol ships being sidelined and smaller converted tugs from New Zealand and home built vessels coming into service!

These vessels might be small, but they are still designed to have a punch in their operations and so they replace two for four plus types of the south-east and south-west of the nation.