I’VE BEEN VERY LAME REGARDING SPACEBLOGGING OF LATE, but maybe this post will make up for some of my omissions. First, Jeff Bezos is coming out of the closet regarding Blue Origin, his commercial space operation:

Bezos’ Seattle-based Blue Origin suborbital space venture is starting the process to build an aerospace testing and operations center on a portion of the Corn Ranch, a 165,000-acre spread that the 41-year-old billionaire purchased north of Van Horn, Texas. Over the next six or seven years, the team would use the facility to test components for a craft that could take off and land vertically, carrying three or more riders to the edge of space.

Blue Origin’s team has been laying the groundwork for the hush-hush project from a 53,000-square-foot warehouse in Seattle, but this week’s announcement fills out a puzzle that previously could only be guessed on the basis of isolated rumors. Blue Origin has been the most secretive of several space ventures bankrolled by deep-pocketed private backers — a club that also includes software pioneer Paul Allen (SpaceShipOne), Virgin Group entrepreneur Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic) and video-game genius John Carmack (Armadillo Aerospace).

I love it that we’re seeing competition — and I hope that they all succeed. Meanwhile, the Huygens/Cassini probe is a success, with a landing on Titan. Miles O’Brien is blogging it.

This is a big deal, and deserves more attention than I’ve given it, but I’ve been a bit busy this week. Sorry. I’ll try to have more later.