August
27, 1999
Track
hurricanes at home.
In this busy hurricane season you can follow the paths of both current
and previous hurricanes with your PC. The shareware program Tracking
The Eye - Hurricane Tracking Software from GenCode
Technologies provides a graphical interface that shows hurricane
tracks, and predicted tracks, using the most up-to-date information
received over the Internet from weather services. Also, the latest
satellite photos can be displayed. The program is a nice example
of a stand-alone (i.e. outside of a browser) program that
integrates the Internet into its operation.
MIR
cosmonauts soon abandon MIR forever. The Millennium
Rock will be in their luggage after its 1 year stay. The small
piece of volcanic rock comes from a site in England with historic
links to Charles Darwin and Lord John Cadman. The project was created
by Phill Parker who views the rock "as a '..token..' from our
millennium to inspire the continued exploration of space by human
beings during the third millennium." The rock will tour museums
and various space events in the coming year. See the earlier News
article.
News
briefs...CNN
has a nice article about the space artist Robert McCall. It includes
a gallery of a few of his works and also an IPIX 360 degree view
of his studio. CNN
- The soaring imagination of Robert McCall - August 26, 1999
.(Art )
Read the latest
updates to RLV News
August
26, 1999
News
briefs...The MIT
[--Error--]ThinkMars group
will host [--Error--]Mars Week
at MIT October 1 - 3, 1999. It will be devoted to "Hear about
the latest results and past, current and future missions".
Read James Cameron's
presentation
to the Mars Society convention.
The book Dragonfly,
about the Mir-Shuttle program and all the problems that occurred
while the astronauts were aboard, is being made into a movie by
Will Smiths production company -[--Link Dead--]Yahoo - Latest
Hollywood script deals...(Movies
)
August
20, 1999
News
briefs...Steve Bennett's
StarChaser group today
had a successful launch in the UK of its StarChaser 3A. The 6.6
metre (22ft) was attempted to break the UK amateur altitude record
of 4200m. The vehicle was recovered and instruments should reveal
the altitude achieved. BBC
News | Sci/Tech | Rocket man aims high Advanced
Rocketry
August
18, 1999
Mars
Society approves plans to develop
an arctic station in northern Canada to test techniques,
instruments, and structures for future human Mars expeditions. During
their recent
conference , the Society voted to support the research station
on Devon Island. A habitation module, greenhouse and other facilities
will be developed. The Society hopes to develop into a National
Geographic Society type organization that involves public support
of scientific projects. [--Link Dead--]Prototype Mars Base to
Rise on Arctic Island - Space.com Aug.8,1999.
James
Cameron plans Imax movie & 5-part mini-series about Mars
expeditions. Addressing the Mars
Society 's recent conference
, the director of Titanic gave his views on human exploration of
Mars. He is in the process of developing a 3-D Imax that he will
direct and producing a TV mini-series about the colonization of
Mars based primarily on Kim
Stanley Robinson's trilogy of novels. [--Link
Dead--]Mars Society Conference - Space.com * [--Link Dead--]Yahoo
- Cameron Chronicles Martian Projects . [Mars Society Bulletin
- [--Error--]Second International Convention of the Mars Society
a Smashing Success Aug. 22]
August
12, 1999
News
briefs...The Perseid
meteor showers reach their peak this week: Here
come the Perseid meteors * BBC
News | Sci/Tech | Meteors to shower Earth * The
Perseids, Live! - images from a NASA high-altitude balloon.
Whether meteor
shower watching or simply star gazing, looking into a moonless sky
from a site with little background light can truely be a startling
experience for us typical urban dwellers. One forgets just how vivid
and rich the cosmos can be.
The increasing
amount of background light pollution,
however, is eliminating for many people the opportunity to experience
the true nightsky. It also is making life more and more difficult
for astronomers both amateur and professional. See [--Link
Dead--]Boston Globe Online / Health | Science / 'Sky preserve' has
gazers seeing stars about one effort to protect an area
for star watching.
August
8, 1999
Watch
the August 11 solar eclipse broadcasts.
If you cannot observe the eclipse in person, there are several internet
broadcasts and it will also be on some TV channels:
Space
activists battle NASA budget cuts. Science took the brunt
of unexpectedly severe cuts on NASA funding in a recent vote in
a House appropriations committee. After several years of reductions,
many space supporters had been hoping that NASA might even get a
small increase this year. Instead it got a cut of nearly 10%, most
of which would hit basic science and planetary missions.
The appropriations
process, however, is a long and winding one and there will be several
opportunities to reverse these cuts. The major space activist
organizations are gearing up to fight them with lobbying and
mail-in campaigns.
See news articles
at [--Link Dead--]Mars Society Fights NASA Budget Cuts - Space.com
& Pro-Space
Groups Ready For NASA Fight - Space.com., [--Link Dead--]National
Space Society Action Alert!
Everybody
is looking for extra-terrestrials in their home. Nearly
1 million people have downloaded the SETI@Home
program to analyse radio data for indications of extra-terrestrial
signals. So much analysis is going on, in fact, that the organizers,
who had expected about 150 thousand participants, are having trouble
supplying enough data to users. See SpaceViews
Article: SETI@home Approaches One Million Users .
News
briefs...Terra
Server , Microsoft's huge online database of remote sensing images,
will soon begin selling photos to the public from Orbimage. Orbimage
is one of the first private companies to orbit an imaging satellite
capable of 1m resolution, approaching that of the best spy satellites.
Terra
Server to offer Orbimage pictures - Press Release Aug. 5, 1999
... Homer Hickam now has his own website .
Hickam is author of Rocket Boys on which the movie October
Sky was based.... Watch realtime images of meteors taken from a
high altitude balloon in a NASA project: [--Link Dead--]Yahoo
- Internet Users to Meteor-watch Via Their Computers
... Christies to hold big
auction of space memoribilia. See [--Link Dead--]CollectSpace
article.
August
5, 1999
A
total solar eclipse will occur on August 11 and
be visible in much of
Europe, Pakistan, India, northeast North America and parts of Asia
in the Northern Hemisphere. There are a number of sites dedicated
to eclipses
where you can obtain information on how safely to view and
photograph this spectacular natural event. NASA:
There goes the Sun -- the August 11, 1999 solar eclipse . Staying
Safe During an Eclipse - British Medical Journal
Note:
Ham radio operators can listen for effects of the eclipse on the
ionosphere: The
August 11, 1999 Audio Eclipse.
Space
off limits for British footballer. The BBC reports that
soccer star Stefan Schwarz signed up with one of the adventure travel
companies offering sub-orbital space
rides in 2002. However, his team management didn't like the
idea of its expensive talent taking such high risks and forbade
space travel for the duration of his contract. BBC
News | FA Carling Premiership | Footballer banned from space .
Celebrate
Space exploration with a joyous sound. Space music is
played in many styles and forms that range from symphonic
to pop to jazz
to electronic .
Music has even been performed in
space by astronauts and cosmonauts. Space activism is increasingly
being heard from new performers like ZIA
that write songs expressing support for
Space exploration and development. Explore the sounds of Space
in MusicSpace
.
News
briefs...The X-Prize organization expects several more
rocketeers to contest
for the $10 million jackpot. While the prize is only half funded
so far they expect full funding by the time serious launch attempts
begin. [--Link Dead--]New Contestants Expected In Race For First
Private Spaceship- Space.com ... Not only astronauts and college
students can ride NASA'S Vomit Comet. A NASA program to attract
more high school students into science provides rides on a KC-135
that flies a parabolic trajectory to provide periods of microgravity.
(Houston
Chronicle article .)
Space
Surfing - the ultimate extreme sport?
See the new space recreation subsection of HobbySpace
Future Hobbies . While you may not want to try reentry in your
own micro-pod, you might enjoy flying like a bird in lunar gravity
or a game of handball in zero-g.
July
30, 1999
More
Internet SpaceCasts
are streaming your way.
Space events, reports, news, etc. are increasingly becoming available
via streamed Internet audio and video. NASA TV, which broadcasts
both live events, such as launches, and various documentaries, is
available over the web from several sources .
However, other space events, such as the first Sea Launch and other
private launches, have been broadcast over the Internet independently.
New Internet TV
sites dedicated to space include
- [--Error--]Air&SpaceChannel
- [--Error--]TVontheWeb offers this
channel dedicated to aerospace in cooperation with the AIAA.
- LiveOnTheNet
- occasionally offers space related programs.
- Spacewatch
- offers 3 programs on space both live and from archives.
Some recent broadcasts of interest
include [--Error--]Art Bell's interview with
Robert Bigelow , owner of Budget Suites motel chain, about
his plans for space tourism. (Bigelow interview begins about an
hour into the program and the lunar cruise ship discussion starts
after about 2.5 hours.) [--Error--] Interactive
interview with Buzz Aldrin at the Air&Space channel,
and the Learning
Technologies Channel - End of Mission, Lunar Prospector .
July
28, 1999
News
briefs...For the latest on Lunar Prospector's planned
lunar slam go to the Lunar
Impact site. Broadcast of the event will be on Learning
Technologies Channel - End of Mission, Lunar Prospector ....
The Washington
Post reports on Bigelow Aerospace in [--Link Dead--] Space
Tourism's Boosters Start Countdown ....
Alabama Live gives
the history of 200,000 NASA nickel-silver alloy medalians with bolts
from the Apollo 11 capsule melted in with the mix. The medallians
were distributed to the thousands of workers at NASA contractors
and sub-contractors who built the lunar mission components -
[--Link Dead--]Apollo was in mint condition
Coin idea helped moon shot safety- Alabama Live -July 19,1999
By Mike Salinero....
Read the [--Link
Dead--]essay at Spacer.com by Dr. David James Johnson on
how amateur astronomers can contribute to the Spaceguard program
to monitor the skys for asteroids and comets that might collide
with earth...
MSNBC WAFF 48
in Huntsville, AL offers via RealVideo a [--Link
Dead--]documentary about Wernher von Braun.
July
24, 1999
.Space
riches? Eros asteroid worth $20 trillion in precious metals.
Analysis of data from the Near
Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (Near) spacecraft indicates that the
Eros asteroid contains more metals - gold, platinum, zinc, aluminum
and other rarer metals - than has been used in the history of the
human race. And this is just one of several thousand such asteroids.
See BBC
article . Also information on asteroids
at P.E.R.M.A.N.E.N.T . and
the SpaceDev company.
Amateur
astronomers save earth from killer asteroid (well, sort of).
Asteroid 1999 AN10 was previously thought to come periously close
to earth in 2027. However, analysis of its orbit by two German amateur
astronomers using images from the Palomer Sky Survey has shown that
the asteroid will miss the earth by a very large margin. See report
at Cosmic Mirror .
News
briefs... Mars Society will broadcast
July 26, 1999 on the internet a program from Northern Canada at
the site of its Haughton-Mars project
...The Artemis lunar project now
has published the first issue of its magazine - Artemis
Magazine Issue #1... The SAREX
ham radio station is now operating on the shuttle during STS-93.
July
21, 1999
Cosmic
Voyage 2000 contracts SpaceDev
for asteroid mission. Digital
messages and images from the public will be sent on a special CD
archive aboard Spacedev's spacecraft to the Nereus asteroid. [--Link
Dead--]Package deals begin at around $60. Make your reservation
for immortality now. (Tourism
)
Judy
Collins commissioned
by NASA for song to honor Eileen Collins, the
first woman commander of a space shuttle. The famous singer/songwriter
premiered the song Beyond the Sky at a pre-flight briefing
of STS-93 on July 19th. The NASA
Art program since 1962 has commissioned works of music and art
to commemorate space events. (Art ,
Music )
[RealVideo
of her performance - Space Chronicle ]
Space
Art train begins journey through Northeast US. The Artrain
carries 78 works from NASA
arts program that has commissioned over 2300 pieces from major
artists since 1962. The artists range from Norman Rockwell to Andy
Warhol. The 5 railroad car exhibit will stop at a dozen
stations for at least 3 days per stop. For more info on the
Artistry of Space
tour, see the Artrain
schedule . See also the articles at [--Link Dead--]ABCNEWS.com
: Space Art Exhibit Hits the Rails * [--Link Dead--]CNN -
TravelGuide - Space art exhibit makes tracks through Northeast -
July 20, 1999 (Space
Art )
Several
great new websites for the HobbySpacer
have recently appeared. Check out:
- collectSPACE
- dedicated to space related
collecting of all sorts (Collecting
)
- Inconstant
Moon
- beautifully designed multimedia
site dedicated to all phases of the Moon's personality including
"maps, photos, explanations, animations, selected links and
even music". (Astronomy
, Multimedia
)
- Moon
Project
- Benjamin Britton's provides
all sorts of lunar related multimedia experiences such as the interactive
Moon Museum , landing simulator , etc. See the [--Link
Dead--]Space.com article. (Astronomy
, Simulations , Multimedia
)
- Space.com
- for the space news junkie
this is a great place to OD on dozens of different pages on topics
ranging from NASA to astronomy to business to whatever. (News
)
News
briefs... Postal service releases stamp honoring [--Link
Dead--] ‘MAN WALKS ON MOON’ to commemorate the 30th anniversary
of Apollo 11... The recent [--Link Dead--]Commercial Lunar Base
Symposium brought together scientists, engineers and business
people to discuss the possibilities of commercial operations on
the moon. See Christian
Science Monitor article . and SpaceViews
article ....The Lunar Prospector will crash into the Moon on
July 30 in an attempt to throw up water in the debris. There is
an outside chance that amatuer astronomers can see see the plume.
See the article at NASA space science Bracing
for Impact . See also the Lunar
Prospector Impact page.
July
17, 1999
News
briefs... The next shuttle mission will be the last flight
of the SAREX ham radio station to avoid interfering with the busy
space station construction activity. However, there will eventually
be a Ham station on the station itself. STS-93
SAREX Information ... A NASA exhibit of space art is
now on tour. See press
release .... Amateur video cameras recorded meteor showers in
1997 of the Leonids outburst. See the short videos at NASA's space
science site .
July
11, 1999
The
tragic death of Pete
Conrad ,
third man to walk on the Moon, has elicited many comments of sadness
on the space newsgroups and forums. Pete Conrad was one of the most
personable and popular of the astronauts. Those who watched the
Tom Hanks series "From the Earth to the Moon" will remember
the Apollo 12 episode as the one in which the astronauts
- Conrad, Alan Bean and Dick Gordon - had the most fun of any of
the crews.
Conrad was still
involved with projects at the forefront of space development. He
helped manage the DC-X
reusable rocket project and had started a company, Universal Spacelines,
to develop new launchers. Another of his startups was Universal
Space Network that found a profitable niche in providing telemetry
and control services to micro-satellite projects.
For more information
about his life and work, see Space
Online and NASA
History 's page on Apollo
12 . Also, remembrances are being recorded at the Charles
"Pete" Conrad, Jr. Memorial site. (History )
From sci.space
newsgroup message by Curtis Roos: "If you wish to make a donation
in memory of Pete Conrad, the American Cancer Society
(a charity Pete supported for many years) will send a card to his
family acknowledging your thoughtful donation. If you wish, you
may add a personalized message to the card. You will also receive
a card to confirm that your donation has been received and that
a gift card has been sent. It will take you 5 minutes on line, [--URL
error--]https://www.cancer.org/donate/memhelp.html
or call 1-800-ACS-2345. Just provide your name address and credit
card information along with: Nancy Conrad 6301 Princeville Circle
Huntington Beach, CA 92648"
Help
astronomers understand Gamma Ray Bursts.
Among the most mysterious of celestial phenomena, gamma ray bursts
emit almost unbelievable amounts of energy in a short time. However,
only recently has a gamma ray burst been correlated with a source
visible in optical wavelengths. NASA is beginning a program to send
"rapid email notification when earth-orbiting gamma-ray observatories
detect and localize a cosmic gamma-ray burst. Amateurs could then
train their telescopes on the GRB coordinates and begin monitoring."
See the article
at NASA's space science news.
Checkout also
the American Association of Variable
Star Observers (AAVSO) and their Hands-On
Astrophysics program to find how you can get involved in doing
real science via variable star observation and analysis. (Astronomy )
Check
out the Kosovo
3-D flyover movies
and photos
from Space Imaging using
imagery from remote sensing satellites such as the US Landsat and
the IRS Indian satellite. Note that the IRS satellites provide 5
meter resolution and the Landsat 24 meters. Within a year, there
should be commercial satellites offering 1 meter resolution. See
the Eyes
in the Sky
section for information on obtaining satellite photos of areas of
interest to you.
News
briefs... Kennedy Space Center now offers an optional
guided tour that emphasizes the history of the early space program:
[--Link Dead--]Yahoo - Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Announces
Cape Canaveral: Then And Now Tour ... Jean-Michel Cousteau,
son of Jacques Cousteau and president of Ocean
Futures , recently participated in an underwater training exercise
at the Johnson Space Center Neutral Buoyancy Center. Jean-Michel
is a strong supporter of the use of space to study and protect the
oceans. He has also expressed strong support
for human space exploration ...Listen to an audio broadcast
of the [--Link Dead--]Commercial Lunar Base Development symposium
July 15-16 from the Artemis
Project Webcast .
July
9, 1999
Where
were you on July 20, 1969? With the 30th anniversary
of the first moon landing approaching, there are many commemorative
activities planned. Where
Were You? is a site that is collecting stories from the public
on their memories of that date. [--Link Dead--]MSNBC
is also collecting stories. See a list of other 30th
anniversary sites on the History
page. Also, see other sites that involve personal
memories of the space age.
Get the latest announcements of celestial events from
Sky & Telescopes AstroAlert
News Service . Amateur astronomers can receive email notifications
of supernovas, comets, meteor showers, asteroids and other phenomena
that they can try to spot with their telescopes. ([--Error--]New
e-mail alert service will be a blast for amateurs, professionals
)
News
briefs... Wall Street Journal reports (July 2,1999) that
Hilton International is working with the Space Island Group to design
a zero-gravity hotel that would orbit the moon...A salvage group
is back out in the Atlantic trying to bring Gus Grissom's Mercury
capsule to the surface (CNN
- Salvage team...July 1, 1999 ).
June 30, 1999
News
briefs... Space
Adventures offers a [--Link Dead--]Space Greetings service
in which Mir cosmonauts records a videotaped a message from space
to the person of your choice. Only $11,900 per message...Watch the
streamed program at [--Link Dead--]Discovery Online, Space and
Spacecraft with representatives from NASA, the X-Prize, and
Rotary Rocket discussing RLV developments.
June
27, 1999
Full
scale simulator built by college students in Kansas City.
The
U.S.D.C. machine weighs nearly 2 tons and holds up to 5 people
in a realistic flight deck. Thirteen displays show flight data and
graphics. Fourteen processors run the realistic simulations of the
Orpex
T-71 spacecraft, also designed by the group. Take
a tour
of this simulator and see what a group of dedicated space enthusiasts
can accomplish. (Simulators )
Wellesley students take microgravity to the classroom.
A group of physics students at Wellesley college recently rode on
NASA's KC-135 reduced gravity laboratory. They were videotaping
various physics demonstrations as part of their project that was
accepted in the NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities
program. The videos are intended to assist the teaching of basic
physics in introductory courses in high school and college. Some
of the students have since toured local high schools in Boston to
discuss their experiences in weightlessness. See the article in
the [--Link Dead--]Boston Globe Online and the VOGUE:
KC-135 Undergraduate Research Project at the Wellesley
Physics Dept . (Space
Tourism )
June
24, 1999
Space
activists clash over NASA's TransHab.
California Congressman Dana Rohrbacher added an ammendment to the
recent NASA authorization bill to prevent NASA from using funds
for the inflatable TransHab
module on the Space Station. The TransHab would be larger and better
able to resist punctures from space debris than the current hard
shelled US habitation module that was to be built by Boeing and
installed in the 2003 timeframe.
The Mars
Society and, in particular, it's leader Robert Zubrin see the
TransHab inflatable technology as very useful for Mars shelters
in some future manned missions and are leading a fight to have the
funding restriction removed. They have accused the Congressman of
intending to kill Mars exploration development .
However, other
activists say that it Zubrin is unfairly attacking Rohrbacher who
has often supported measures important to space development. He
just doesn't believe NASA should be developing and constructing
spacecraft but instead put such projects up for bid to the private
sector.
For more info:
[--Link Dead--]06.10.99. NSS Policy on TransHab * SpaceViews:Advocacy
Groups Split on TransHab . Activism
News
briefs...The Red
Herring financial news site offers a report about Space.com
and how Lou Dobbs got involved: Space.com:
the final frontier - 6/19/99 (Investing
)....Montreal Museum of Fine Arts offers the Cosmos: From
Romanticism to Avant-Garde that shows 2 centuries of art celebrating
the universe and man's relationship to it. See article at [--Link
Dead--]Ottawa Citizen .(Art
)
June
19, 1999
News
briefs...Couples
are already booking flights on suborbital flights for their weddings.
Vela Technology and Zegrahm
Expeditions are now taking reservations for rides on their space
tourist vehicle beginning in 2002. Some couples are planning to
use the opportunity to have their special day in space. See article
at The
Age .
Brian DePalma's
Mission to Mars
movie now will have [--Link Dead--]Connie
Nielsen as the female lead, replacing Monica Potter.
The South African
Sunsat student
satellite returns its first videos. See Amsat
News May 24 * Sunsat
Latest News * [--Error [--Time Out--]--]SUNSAT
streaming multimedia files .
Starshine
satellite observations begin although, due to the postponed launching
of Discovery, many students in the Northern hemisphere are leaving
for summer vacation. See articles [--Link Dead--]Student
trackers off for summer as satellite orbits - Dispatch.com
* North
Jersey students basking in NASA project's reflected glory .
.New York Times
reports on JPL's student project involving remote control of Mars
rover prototypes - New
York Times - Real-World Science From Internet Labs .
Space Frontier
Society and several other groups are sponsoring the [--Link Dead--]Commercial
Lunar Base Development Symposium on July 15-16,1999 in League
City, Texas. Astronaut John Young will lead off the discussion of
how commercial companies can bring people back to the moon to stay.
June
12, 1999
Win a sub-orbital ride on Thunderbird.
The British Starchaser
advanced rocketry group led by Steve Bennett announced a contest
for a ride on their entry in the X-Prize
contest. Their Thunderbird will provide a 15min ride that takes
the 3 occupants to 100km. A number of British [--Link Dead--]organizations
and companies are supporting the effort. Advanced
Rocketry
Bigelow
Aerospace
plans orbital hotels.
Owner of Budget Suites of America, a $600 million privately held
company, Robert Bigelow is planning a long term project to develop
space tourism. Greg Bennett, a founder of the Artemis
Project , has been hired to build a team of designers, engineers
and programmers. Full page ads seeking job applications have been
seen in major aerospace publications. A recent article in Space
News indicates that the company is a serious effort and Bigelow
is expecting to fund the company for several years before revenues
begin to arrive. Space
Tourism
Amateur astronomer contributes to near earth asteroid tracking.
Winner of the Planetary Society's Gene
Shoemaker Near-Earth Object (NEO) Grant in 1998, amateur sky
observer Frank Zoltowski used his new CCD camera to monitor the
asteroid 1999 AN10 from his home in Woomera, Australia. His measurements
have allowed researchers at the Minor Planet Center (MPC) to improve
their predictions of the objects future orbital path. It is now
expected to pass within 200,000 kilometers (about 120,000 miles)
of Earth in 2027, and possibly even closer in 2044 and 2046. Planetary
Society press release . Space
Science .
Amateur astronomers capture lunar occultation with camcorders.
Multiple views of a star as it is eclipsed by the Moon can provide
a precise mapping of the Moon's limb. Then during a solar eclipse
this mapping improves the measurements of the sun's diameter and
energy output and how these vary over time. The star Regulus is
bright enough to be visible from consumer camcorders without the
need for a telescope. Before the lunar eclipse of Regulus on May
21, the International
Occultation Timing Association issued a call for amateurs to
make videos of the event. See an animated
gif of the eclipse. For more info, see NASA's Space
Science News report . Space
Science
CNN's
Lou Dobbs quits to run Internet space venture.
The popular anchor of CNN's financial news show MoneyLine
and president of the CNN Financial News division will become chairman
of Space.com . The site opens
on July 20th, the 30th anniversary
of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and will provide " space news,
space fiction, live feeds, science and business content, and educational
material for children." [--Link Dead--]CNNfn Anchor
Quits - Wash.Post.
Starshine
satellite released by Discovery. The satellite, covered
with mirrors built by thousands of students, was carried in a shuttle
Hitchhiker canister and launched on June 5. It will be visible for
up to a year during morning and evening twilight periods to those
located between latitudes 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south.
Students will monitor the mirrored satellite and measure its orbital
decay. The rate of decay will be a measure of the upper atmospheric
density. BBC
News | ISS | Shuttle launches 'disco ball' * CNN
- Discovery astronauts eject satellite, prepare to land - June 5,
1999 * Shuttle
Launches Satellite For Student Studies . Satellite
Building , Satellite
Watching .
Other
news... Jean-Paul Costeau in an essay
defends human spaceflight and the Space Station...NASA opens a site
dedicated to the 30th
Anniversary of Apollo 11 ...Checkout as well the beautifully
high-resolution Apollo images at Full
Moon ...Richard Branson's interest in space tourism is confirmed.
The Virgin Galactic
Airways has been registered and they hope within 10years to
provide tourism trips to low earth orbit. An article in Space News,
however, says that they have no plans in the near future of major
investments in any of the RLV startups.
May
28, 1999
The
Mars
Society
received $200,000 in donations
for its Mars Arctic Research Station development. (earlier
report ). The funds will allow design and construction to begin
of the Devon
Island site in northern Canada and become operational in summer
of 2000. (The
Mars Society Bulletin [--Error--]Mars Society News - May
1999 ). Space
Science
JP
Aerospace breaks the amateur rocket
altitude record. Using
a balloon to lift the rocket to 26,000 ft, the rocket
then ignited and reached more than 72,223 ft. (last GPS verified
position) or 24km. High winds prevented a planned ignition at 100,000ft
and hopes then of reaching 300,000ft total altitude. See JP
Aerospace: Flight Summary . (Articles at Space
Frontier Foundation! SpaceViews
Article ) Advanced
Rocketry
Encounter
2001
transmitted messages from over 50,000 people
to four stars 50 to 70 light years away on
May 24. Using the the 230-foot (70-meter) Evpatoriya radio telescope
on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, a 150-kilowatt signal at 5 GHz was
coded with data about the earth and its inhabitants. In addition,
50,000 customers paid, at prices ranging from $9.95 to $69.95, to
add their own short messages. The higher price also includes sending
some hair samples and messages on a spacecraft to be launched in
2001. (Articles at [--Link
Dead--] MSNBC BBC
News ) Token
Space Travel
SETI@Home
has nearly 400
thousand users
analyzing SETI data just 2 weeks after
the screensaver software became available. SETI@home servers have
been overwhelmed by the huge response. Upgraded machines from Sun
Microsystems should soon ameliorate the problems. Team
analysis setups are now available for schools, clubs and other groups
to work together on the data. (ET,
phone SETI@home! NASA Science news) SETI
May
18, 1999
Starshine
satellite to be tracked by students.
The shuttle Discovery, on the upcoming STS-96 mission, will release
a small reflective beachball sized satellite covered with mirrors
polished by students from around the world. Easily visible to the
naked eye, students will track the satellite and report their measurements
online. They will also monitor sunspot activity to study correlations
between solar activity and the heating of the upper atmosphere that,
in turn, affects the lifetime of the orbit. See [--Link Dead--]
Salt Lake Tribune -- Schoolkids Look To the Sky to Track Giant Mirror
Ball. Satellite
Building , Satellite
Watching .
SETI@Home
releases software to analyse radio data for extraterrestrial
signals. The project will take advantage of thousands of idle computers
to examine the huge amount of data obtained from the Arecibo telescope
in Puerto Rico. A joint effort of the Planetary Society and groups
at the Univ. of California at Berkeley, the SETI@home software runs
as a screensaver that download small batches of data and then sends
the analysis results back to a central site. See also articles at
SpaceViews ,
BBC
News , Yahoo .
SETI
Amateur
rocketry group aims to develop ramjet booster.
A pneumatic launcher would provide the initial speed of ~1300mph
(2200kph) at which the ramjet could fire. The ramjet
stage would then reach up to 20mi ( 32km) and 3600mph (5900kph)
where it would release a rocket third stage. This Tri-Mode
Launch Assist concept was developed by
Glen Olson as part of his study into Amateur
Rocket Launch Assist . Initial
indications are that the development of the launcher
tube and ramjet
look well within reach of low cost amateur efforts.
Other
news...Melvin Schuetz
has published an extensive bibliography on Chesley
Bonestell 's artworks ...TERRIERS
student satellite from NASA/Boston University was launched on an
[--Link Dead--]Orbital Sciences Pegasus rocket
on May 18....Students in the JPL led [--Error--]LAPIS
project recently participated in a field test of a prototype Mars
rover in the Mojave desert. The [--Error--]FIDO
rovers are similar to those that will explore Mars on missions in
2003 & 2005....CalTech students make a detailed plan for a manned
mission to Mars in 2014 while MIT students develop a business plan
to help pay for it. (See Spaceviews
article.)...[--Error--]Apollo 18
simulator from AIM Software is now available in the US.
May
8, 1999
Students
will rove Mars in Planetary Society's [--Link
Dead--]Red Rover project. During Space Day festivities at
the Air & Space Museum the Planetary executive directory Louis
Friedman and Science Guy Bill Nye announced the. Students will be
selected from essay- and journal-writing contests. The students
will particpate in the Mars Surveyor 2001 mission and even operate
the spacecraft's rover and robotic arm. See articles at Spaceviews
and CNN .
[See also the entry below about another
Planetary Society project to put a nanoexperiment on the Mars rover.]
JP
Aerospace
goes for amateur altitude record.
On Saturday, May 22, 1999 (althernate: June 12/13, 1999) JP Aerospace,
an experimental rocket group in Sacramento, Ca. will attempt to
launch the first amateur rocket into space. Their rocket will ride
a balloon to 100,000 feet (inspired by rockoons designes
used by Van Allen and other scientists in the 1950s.) and then blast
off to an altitude of about 60 miles. [More publicity: [--Error--]Amateur
race to the sky -SF Gate (also discusses a San Jose group
led by Tom Rouse that will launch from Canada this summer), SpaceViews
Article: Amateurs Plan Space Launch May 18, 1999]
Other
news...
NASA
Space Science News discusses use of the J-Pass program for observing
spacecraft in low earth orbit...Another successful Space Day brought
out many people to celebrate space exploration. ([--Link Dead--]Yahoo
- News article...[--Link Dead--]Space Day net broadcasts)
... See the beautiful [--Link Dead--]reproduction of the
Rotan as a model rocket
byPatrick Underwood of Peenemunde, Texas....Updated
RLV News .
April
29, 1999
See
the view from a rocket during flight. Some sounding
rockets have had cameras mounted on them that look back to earth
or show payloads being released. Now such videos have been broadcast
live on the web. See the pages at White
Sands and Wallops
Island for clips and schedules of upcoming webcast launches.
April
26, 1999
Other
news...another article
about Richard Branson and space tourism. See [--Error--]The Times:
Business:Branson plans to go into orbit . See also the
BBC report on the recent symposium in Germany about space tourism.
[[--Link Dead--]MSNBC report.]
April
16, 1999
NASA
sends students on weightless flights.
A NASA program allows college students to propose experiments to
be carried out on its training aircraft that flies parabolic trajectories
to provide short periods of microgravity. If their proposals are
accepted, the students will fly along with their experiments. Recent
flights received lots of publicity. See articles at [--Link
Dead--]Boston Globe Online / Health | Science / zero-g whiz kids,
ABCNEWS.com
: Not Quite Outer Space, Part 1 , ABCNEWS.com
: How to Float in Zero-G Yourself, Part 6 .
Note
that some companies now sell tickets on their own aircraft for such
microgravity experiences. See the Tourism
section.
Richard
Branson expresses interest in space tourism.
The Virgin Group entrepreneur
and balloon adventurer, Richard Branson says that his company has
a long term interest in space tourism. He made comments to that
effect on a recent Discovery Channel special about space exploration
and in a [--Link Dead--]The Australian newspaper article.
Virgin is monitoring progress of the development of low cost launchers
by private companies such as Rotary
Rockets and may make some investments to help them along.
The
Advent - Mayflower space tourism project shuts down.
Due to an insufficient number of participants placing deposits,
the project was unable to begin construction on the Mayflower sub-orbital
rocket. For a ticket price of $10000, the rocket would have taken
off from a water launch in the Gulf of Mexico and given riders four
minutes of weightlessness and reached an altitude of 70miles. A
few hundred people had put down a deposit but the sign-up rate was
much slower than expected. So the organizers have decided to return
the deposits and cancel the project. SpaceViews
Article: Space Tourism Company Shuts Down
Amateur radio operators protest Swatch-Russian satellite.
A Swatch promotional project is sponsoring the launch of the [--Link
Dead--]Beatnik smallsat, formerly call RS-19 (see below
), built by Russia that will broadcast messages on an amateur radio
frequency. Unfortunately, this broadcast was done without prior
agreement or cooperation with the amateur radio community:
- "By deceiving AMSAT
organizations in Russia and France, the Russian SCSC (Space Flight
Control Centre) in cooperation with the Swatch company have decided
to use the two meter Amateur band for direct advertising via the
"Beatnik" satellite (a mini-Sputnik-99 project formerly to be
known as RS-19) across the entire world. To prevent this egregious
violation of amateur frequencies, immediate action is necessary.
By Rob Carlson, KC2AEI <rcarls2@umbc." Swatch
Protest and Boycott
See also the SpaceViews
Article: Amateur Radio Operators Protest Russian Satellite Plans .
*** April 16 - Satellite release canceled **
=>>
Spaceviews
article BBC
| Hams jam space spam
An
expedition to find Gus Grissom's Mercury capsule
began this
week. Grissom flew the second US sub-orbital flight on July 21,
1961 a few months after Scott Shepard's mission. After splashdown
the hatch blew off unexpectedly and caused the capsule to flood
and sink, almost taking Gus down with it. The project will spend
two-weeks hunting for the Liberty Bell 7 in 3-mile-deep water about
300 miles offshore of the US. See Yahoo:
AP article: Team To Search for Mercury Capsule .See History
section.
Other
news... Ham radio communications allow amateurs
to talk to Mir cosmonauts and visiting US astronauts. See the
recent article on a school in Wales where students used amateur
radios to talk to Mir: BBC
News | Sci/Tech | Mir calls Welsh school ..It's been a busy
spring for space conferences and activities. See SpaceViews
Article: Space 2000 Symposium Overview & SpaceViews
Article: March Storm Redux ....The The
NASA Star Trails Society sponsored meteor counting efforts during
a balloon launch to capture meteor dust: BBC
News | Sci/Tech | Balloon to bag space dust .
March
28, 1999
Spoutnik/RS-19 amateur satellite
will be hand launched from Mir. It will be delivered in April by
a Progress vehicle. The small satellite was built by the Amsat
France group and will broadcast up to 10 messages in many different
language. The messages, 7secs long, can be altered once a day. The
project is a follow-up to the successful Spoutnik
41 launched from Mir on Nov. 10, 1998.. [--Time
Out--]Spacenews article . Homepage
"1998"
Année Internationale de l'Air et de l'Espace [See Protest
above]
Student
NanoExperiment Challenge was announced
by the Planetary Society. The "students must construct nanoexperiments,
extremely compact designs that can fit within a cylinder that is
one (1) centimeter in diameter by one (1) centimeter in height.
Total mass allowance is three (3) grams or less. The experiment
must also be self-contained, since no power from the lander will
be available to power the student experiment." Deadline is
July 31, 1999.. CNN
article .
Students
in Shuttle simulator spent
two and one half days in space. This was the seventh annual Space
Shuttle Simulation by the Science Club at Westmont High School in
San Jose, Ca. The shuttle Exodus blasted off on the morning of March
25, 1999, carrying six student astronauts and landed on Saturday,
March 27, 1999. Live webcasts allowed those on earth to monitor
the progress of their mission. See the WHS-Shuttle
site for results of their mission. [--Link
Dead--]MercuryNews article.
James
Cameron, director of Titanic, joins the Mars Society.
A longtime supporter of space exploration, he also recently purchased
the rights to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green
Mars, Blue Mars) for a possible TV mini-series. "Both Cameron
and Robinson will attend the Second International Mars Society Convention
scheduled for Boulder, Colorado, this August". See [--Link
Dead--]Mars Society report.
SUNSAT ,
the South African student satellite, is
working and its amateur
radio system has now successfully been used for voice contact. Voice
quality was reported to be excellent and signals strong. See latest
reports at Amsat
news and at Sunsat .
March
21, 1999
British amateur rocketeers pursue
altitude records and the X-Prize. Groups such as Starchaser
and MARS are showing vigorous
efforts in advanced rocketry. Starchaser, led by Steve Bennett,
a lecturer at Salford University, recently had a successful launch
of a 14ft, 50lb rocket ( see
BBC article ). The group also has submitted its proposed Thunderbird
into the X-Prize competition. See the Advanced
Rocketry section for more info and links.
Other
news...A survey of
the American public shows broad supports for space efforts although
there is apparently little knowledge about the broad application
of space in their lives such as with telecommunications....Studies
inspired by the Lunar Prospector's discovery of water ice on the
lunar polls have led to a proposed site for a moonbase location
- BBC
News article .... Scientific
American Presents has a new issue out dedicated to space exploration
with the latest on new
rocket designs , making
money in space , interstellar flight, and more.
March
12, 1999
Tributes to Stanley Kubrick
as one of
the worlds' greatest directors were widespread after his sudden
death this week. Although he only made 12 films, they all had enormous
inpact. His 2001: A Space
Odyssey was a landmark in filmmaking due to its special effects,
which were not surpassed until Star Wars came out nearly decade
later, and also due to its unique visual narrative style and integral
use of music. While its vision of huge revolving space stations
and Moonbases will unfortunately not materialize by 2001, it remains
an inspiration for space pioneers who are working to make it happen
someday. NASA News is
collecting readers comments
about the impact 2001 had on them.
CNN
article , [--Link Dead--]Arthur C.
Clarke Mourns Kubrick - Reuters
, Movies
Another Mars Meteorite has been found.
Only 14 such meteorites have been authenticated so far. This
one was found in North Africa by an anonymous collector.
See the BBC
News article , Collecting
.
The
Millennium
Rock is flying on Mir.
The small piece of volcanic rock, together with a commemorative
plaque, accompanied cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev as part of a project
organized by Phill Parker of Newcastle-under-Lyme with the assistance
of Tasillio Roemisch. Parker "views the Millennium Rock as
a 'token carrier' for the people of the second millennium that can
carry their hopes, spirits and dreams forward to the people of the
third millennium - to encourage them to continue the human exploration
of space." After the rock is returned the summer, it will tour
museums and various space events. [corrected May 8, 1999]
MarsNews
has opened to report on all the latest
news about Mars such as recent mission reports and images, proposals
and plans for new probes, etc. News
, Mars
links .
ProSpace's
March
Storm hits Washington
D.C. during the week of March, 21st to March 26th. Register
to join other space supporters to lobby Congress in support of space
exploration and development. ProSpace ,
Activism
Other...
Hilton studies the feasibility of a space hotel (BBC
News ) ... Colorado students test their satellite on NASA's micro-gravity
airliner ([--Link Dead--]InsideDenver.com ).
Feb.
26, 1999
Broadcast
of the rollout of Rotary
Rocket 's ATV, sponsored
by Space
Frontier Foundation and ProSpace ,
displays the growing interaction among space activists and the new
generation of space companies. The live internet streamed event,
done in cooperation with broadcast.com, will show the 2 hour rollout
ceremony that includes speeches by NASA's Lori Garver [NASA's Daniel
Mulville showed up instead, 12-Mar-99], formerly with the National
Space Society , and by novelist and Rotary investor, Tom
Clancy. Rotary Rocket is developing a single stage, fully reusable
vehicle with 2 pilots that can carry a 7000lb payload to orbit.
The sub-orbital
Atmospheric Test Vehicle (ATV) will begin flights this spring to
test the innovative rotor landing system and other components. Orbital
vehicles will begin testing next year. Note that the broadcast will
be archived
for later downloads. Broadcast site is at www.rollout.org [available
in archive, 12-Mar-99].See also the article at [--Link Dead--]Prototype
spacecraft from our little corner of universe to roll out - Mercury
Center (2/24/1999). RLVCountdown ,
Activism .
[ See Rotary's
Rollout page , 12-Mar-99]
SUNSAT ,
the South African student satellite,
was launched Feb. 22 on a Boeing Delta II from Vandenberg AFB
as a piggyback payload along with the Danish Oersted smallsat and
the primary ARGOS payload. SUNSAT was built by graduate students
in the electrical engineering department at the University of Stellenbosch
in Cape Town. It holds several instruments including amateur
radio transponders. The project members have worked to use the
satellite to inspire South African high school students to pursue
interests in science and engineering. Satellite
Building , Space
Radio .
Brian
DePalma reportedly signed to direct Mission to Mars,
a Walt Disney movie in development. The plot involves the first
manned mission to Mars in 2007 and a mysterious radio beacon detected
emitting from the Mars surface shortly before launch.
Feb.22,
1999
SETI
with a 1000 small satellite TV antennas. UC Berkeley
professor Jack Welch, who holds the first endowed chair specifically
for SETI research, and the publically supported non-profit
SETI Institute
have announced the One Hectare
Project . Taking advantage of the relatively low prices of commercial
satellite TV antennas, an array of 500 to 1000 of the 3.7 to 5.5
meter dishes will be linked together to carry out searches for radio
signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. The $25 million array
will provide sensitivity equivalent
to much more expensive large single dish radio telescopes such as
at Arecibo. The SETI Insitute will raise the money from public
contributions . See Yahoo
News . SETI
Feb.20,
1999
-
-
Professional and amateur astronomers discuss asteroid
discovery and observation at the [--Error--]Minor
Planet Astrometry and Photometry Workshop - April 23rd and 24th
1999 . Astronomy
Name
the Mars ground probes
and win a computer. JPL is holding a competition to name the two
microprobes that will dive into the ground at 450mph when released
from the Mars Polar Lander when it reaches Mars in Dec. 1999. The
probes will search for the presence of water, which is suspected
of being on the Mars surface in large quantities at one time. See
the JPL
Press Release . Contests .
2000
Michigan fifth-graders given Space Camp trips by annonymous
donor. The $675 tuition for a weeks stay at one of the three space
camps will be covered by a $2.5 million grant to three Detroit area
school districts. See [--Link Dead--]Florida Today/Space
Online article. Spacecamping
Feb.13,
1999
October
Sky , the film based on Homer
Hickman's book The
Rocket Boys , opened last week to many good reviews.
The film portrays the true story of how Homer and his friends in
small company town in West Virginia are inspired by the launch of
Sputnik to build their own rockets. Overcoming discouragement from
his father and others in the town, they succeed in learning not
only about rocketry but also about their own potential.
Feb.9,
1999
The
NASA
Genesis mission is having a contest to design its
patch. The Genesis probe will liftoff in 2001 to gather particles
from the solar wind and return them to earth. The contest deadline
is April 1, 1999.
Sasha
Jones won the contest to name the
first spacecraft of the Earth
Observation System .
A 12th grader in St. Louis Missouri, Sasha had her essay for the
name Terra chosen out of 1100
entries in 1998. The EOS is a long term program dedicated to intensive,
coordinated observation of the earths environment from space.
Feb.5,
1999
One million people will
ride vicariously on the Stardust
probe to a comet when it lifts off (scheduled for Feb.6). Included
on the probe are two microchips , one etched with the names of 136,000
people and the other etched with the names of over a million people,
most of whom signed up over the Internet The former is in the return
capsule that will parachute back to earth in 2006 along with samples
of comet Wild-2. It will probably be put on display in a museum.
The latter chip is attached to the main craft that will continue
to travel through space for billions of years. [--Link Dead--]SpaceToday
article. TokenSpaceTravel
John
DeWitt Jr. who first bounced radar off the moon has died.
The amateur astronomer conceived of the experiment in 1940. After
several efforts he succeeded on January 25, 1946 with the use
of US Signal Corp equipment to send radar signals to the moon and
detect their reflection. Hailed at the time as one of the first
steps in space exploration. [--Link Dead--]CNN article.
Radio
A Simulated
Mars Station
in the arctic is being
developed by the Mars
Society . It will test tools and techniques to support Mars
exploration. The site will be on Devon Island in the Canadian arctic
where the dry, cold temperature and rocky terrain has similarities
to the Martian surface. CNN
article . Space
Science
Encounter
2001's
Cosmic Call will send
public messages to a nearby star. For a fee the project will include
messages on a radio signal to be beamed towards a star in hopes
it might be intercepted by a (friendly?) extraterrestrial civilization.
This precedes a more ambitious project to launch a spacecraft in
2001 out of our solar system carrying both messages and DNA samples
(from hair strands) for $49 per person. BBC
News ET call Earth . SETI
, TokenSpaceTravel
Jan.
28, 1999
The Mars
Polar Explorer
is now on its way along with a microphone to a December 1999 landing
on the south pole of Mars. An addition to its many other scientific
instruments, the microphone will send back the first recorded sounds
from the surface of another planet. The microphone, first proposed
several years ago by Carl Sagan, was funded by the publicly supported
Planetary
Society . Related Links
. Space
Science
The new Winds
of Mars CD uses sounds
derived from the Mars Pathfinder station via indirect measurements
and some artistic interpretation. Here the winds accompany Bach
piano music. Music
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