Sept.30, 2003 Space News

Smallsats rising... More about the growing popularity of smallsats: A Big Leap for Small Satellites - Wired News - Sept.29.03. Note that these were pioneered by the AMSAT and student satellite programs. Surrey Satellite, for example, which is mentioned in the article, is a spinoff from the University of Surrey's satellite program.

Reentry via inflatable shield... The IRDT (Inflatable Reentry and Descent Technology) is a joing German/Russian project - RRSS (Return & Rescue) at Space Systems GmbH - that is developing a potentially low cost way to return vehicles and cargo from space. More links.

Parts via bits... Rapid prototyping has occasionally been suggested as a way to create products in space from a bulk medium of some sort. This would be great for creating replacement parts for support equipment. Looks like this technique might also work for electronics: Want a PC this Xmas? Then print it -CNN.com - Sep.29.03

Rocket history ... This site Frank J. MALINA engenieur en astronautique (link via Andrew Case) offers several interesting rocket history articles including:

• The culmination : Creation of the WAC Corporal by Benjamin Zibit
  
• Memoir on the GALCIT Rocket Research Project: 1936-38 - by Frank J. Malina, June.6.1967

Now this is REALLY low cost access to space:

More great comic book ads at SUPER MARKETING: Ads from the comic books (via Boing, Boing.)

Past & future exploration... This link (via the Spacecraft weblog ) reviews the planetary science missions since 1978 and those planned for the next few years: Long, Strange Trips - Astrobiology Magazine - June.30.03 - planetary exploration timeline since the 1970s. The next Mars orbiter will approach spysat imaging capability: If You Thought That Was a Close View of Mars, Just Wait - JPL - Sept.23.03 - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - 2005

Smallsat to the Moon... The lessons of the student and amateur satellite accomplishments have started to reach the government space programs. The ESA launched yesterday an innovative small scientific probe to the Moon: Europe's lunar adventure begins - BBC - Sept.28.03. The SMART-1 shows that a lot can be done with high degree of miniaturization.

With its low thrust ion drive the probe will take a long time to reach the Moon but the engine is very efficient and will deliver a much larger payload that a chemical rocket could have done.

Congrats to Sven Grahn, long time space radio and AMSAT enthusiast, who was a top manager on Smart-1 at SSC (Swedish Space Corp.).

Six other smallsats were launched on a Russian booster last week Kosmos 3M Booster Carries Six Satellites to Earth Orbit - Space.com - Sept.27.03.

On the manifest were three disaster imaging satellites: Disaster aid satellites launched - BBC - Sept.27.03, including NigeriaSat-1. More about NigeriaSat-1 at Country's First Earth Satellite for Launch Sept 26 - AllAfrica - Sept.26.03. * NigeriaSat-1 micro-satellite for launch - Vanguard - Sept.16.03 * National Space R&D Agency of Nigeria.

Also, the payload included a satellite (Mozhayets-4) built by students at Mozhaiskiy Military Space Engineering Academy in Russia.

Spacecraft reviews... In his weblog Prof. Chris Hall at Virginia Tech regularly reviews a particularly interesting satellite or deep space probe. Here is his list so far: Spacecraft of the Day - Spacecraft: September 2003 Archives

Disney space DVD... The famous Disney documentaries made in the 1950s with the help of Wernher von Braun will be released on DVD in December. The Walt Disney Treasures: Tomorrowland (DVD) includes Man In Space, Man And The Moon,Mars And Beyond, and Eyes In Outer Space. The first three programs were hugely influential in convincing Americans of the feasibility of space exploration and helped to set up the response to Sputnik and the Space Race that followed.

The disk also includes a science program called Our Friend The Atom and segment about EPCOT by Walt Disney not long before he died.

My thanks to a HS reader for telling me about the release of this DVD.

Tomorrowland at Amazon.com (commission link)

ISS life goes on... While arguments and battles continue over how to get the shuttle flying again and what to replace it with, life and work goes on aboard the ISS. For example, the crew does science : Space Station Ingenuity: Researchers have dreamed up some ingenious experiments using odds and ends onboard the ISS.- Science@NASA - Sept25.03....

... they chat over ham radio with students: ARISS News * Astronaut Relives High School Days via Amateur Radio - ARRLWeb - Sept.19.03 * Ed Lu Answers Questions from Students at his Alma Mater - ARRLWeb - Sept.11.03...

... and they play music: Space Station Notes: A surprising number of astronauts are also musicians--and they love to play in space. - Science@NASA - Sept.4.03 * Ed Lu is "The Piano Man" Aboard the ISS - ARRLWeb - July.23.03

Tech: Magic paper... One of the oldest visual mediums - pigments in oil - could make for high tech flexible display: New electronic paper displays video too - CNN.com - Sep.24.03 * E-paper may offer video images - New Scientist - Sept.24.03

More Tech briefs... Another good article about quiet supersonic flight and the recent successful tests: Curvy aircrafts could silence sonic booms - New Scientist - Sept.24.03 ...

... Cyborgs on the horizon: Brain waves drive man's bionic arm - CNN.com - Sep.25.03

Mars essay contest... The Mars Society is sponsoring this essay contest : Mars Society Launches 'Why Should We Go There' Contest - Martian Soil. Deadline is November 15.

Boeing teaches space... Boeing offers some nice educational materials including this extensive Forces of Flight website that covers topics in both aviation and spaceflight. You can download several posters (in pdf format) with instructions on experiments for youngsters. This Boeing file, via the Satellite Industries Association website, provides an intro to satellites: Sat101- What is a Satellite - Boeing (12 page, pdf)

Moon rock trek... There have been several stories this week about the lunar rock first given to Honduras that somehow got into private hands and after various shenanigans over the years was retrieved by NASA and now returned to Honduras: Strange journey of a lunar rock: Official gift that landed on black market formally returned - MSNBC - Sept.22.03

Tech: Ultimate RAM... Spintronics may keep Moore's Law in business for several mor years at least: New Spin for Electronics - Computerworld - Sept.22.03

Jumping to Mars... This sequence - Opportunity Rockets Toward Mars - APOD - Sept.22.03 - was taken with a camera strapped to a lower stage booster and shows the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover probe separating and then firing its onboard engine to head for the Red Planet. Reminds me of those jump to lightspeed scenes in Star Wars and Star Trek.

More great rocketcam sequences at the Gallery of the company Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation that runs the systems. Now includes videos from the launch of Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, on June 10.

Gunning with conductors... Not quite big enough to hurl rocks from the Moon to build space habitats or to propel asteroids away the path of earth, but still pretty cool. Checkout these amateur railgun sites Amateur Railgun Production Journal * Railgun-Rail gun-Railgun @ www.ezboard.com (via Geek Press).

Stellar release... Long time space music creator & space enthusiast Fred Becker let me know that his Inner, Stellar album from 1991 has recently been re-released by Space For Music. Check out the mp3 sample. See also the review at RollingStone Reviews.

Space multimedia extravaganza... The Hayden Planetarium will soon open a new multimedia show run by a million dollar high performance cluster of Sun computers. It includes a soundtrack by Moby: A Light Show Beyond Lasers - NY Times - Sept.19.03 -

"...35 minutes of soaring, churning and immersive visualizations set to a thumping score of techno-electronica and contemporary rock mixed by the recording artist Moby. A recent test screening revealed vast, surreal three-dimensional visions that morphed back and forth from the purely abstract - a kind of kinetic, cosmic tie-dye - to whirling wheeled machines, seas of blinking human eyes, architectural forms and optical puns. All of it is computer-generated and none of it involves lasers."

Tech: The Ultimate EV ... Finally there is an electric car with super performance - 0-60mph (97kmph) in 3.7secs - and long range - 300 miles (483km). Only problem is that it costs $220,000: Lots of Zoom, With Batteries - NY Times - Sept.19.03. See the AC Propulsion web site. (The TZero page, however, currently refers to the older version with lead-acid batteries that had less range and slightly slower acceleration.)

Mapping space... This entry at the Sharp Blue weblog speaks about the mapping of Mars and how we are gradually getting to know the planet and its wonderfully diverse landscape and fascinating features. See, for example, these beautiful Mars Maps at Ralph Aeschliman's Planetary Cartography and Graphics site. I especially like this topographic map, which indicates how a wet Mars might appear if we warmed the place up with a bit of global warming.

The Maps of Planets & Moons sub-section in Multimedia lists several links to more such maps of our Solar System.

Rocket weekend ... Check out the items in the Advanced Rocketry News about some ambitious amateur/student launches planned for this weekend including the first liquid-fueled aerospike engine powered rocket (not just for amateurs but for anyone) and an attempt at a UK/European team high altitude record.

Review of the next space nation by James Oberg at China's Great Leap Upward -- By boosting astronauts into orbit, China hopes to become the newest superpower in space - Scientific American - Sept.03

Tech News:

• Wonderful flying machine ... Check out the video of the flight of the largest Fanwing built so far. Glad this concept was developed in time for the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers flight.
• Wish I knew how this 3-D floating image system worked. The SciTech section has more links to 3-D imaging systems.

Sci-Fi writers & space music... I've mentioned before that one of the most surprising and gratifying aspects of creating HobbySpace has been the development of the Space Music section. I originally expected to list a dozen songs or so, such as Elton John's Rocket Man and Gustav Holst's Planets Suites, and that would be it. Instead the section has become one of my largest and most elaborate.

And I keep coming across new space music niches I wasn't aware of. Today I saw this article posted at rec.music.filk: Jeff Berkwits surveys SF Songwriters - Locus Online - Sept.13.03. Mr Berkwits writes about songs and musical projects that involved authors in science fiction and fantasy genres.

Ursula K. Le Guin, for example, collaborated on a concept album based on one of her short stories. Michael Moorcock wrote many songs for the Space Rock group Hawkwind and even had his own band for awhile. In fact, I had not heard of most of the works mentioned in the article. Check it out for a fascinating look at the intersection of music and sci-fi creativity.

Note: I'm a bit surprised, though, that he didn't mention Filk, which is sci-fi/fantasy themed music created usually by fans but not always. One of the best of the Filkers, for example, is Julia Ecklar who is known for her powerful voice and beautiful songs but also for her sci-fi & fantasy writing.

Get a business to LEO & you're halfway to a million... The Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize for Accomplishments in Commercial Space Activities will provide a "cash award of $500,000 to an individual or individuals for practical accomplishments in the field of commercial space activities. The establishment of the Heinlein Prize and details of its application process will be announced at the 54th International Astronautics Federation Congress in Bremen, Germany on Monday, September 29, 2003."

Space sci-fi lull... Speaking of Heinlein, the author Spider Robinson regrets the current lack of interest and enthusiasm for hard science based space sci-fi, like the wonderful Heinlein novels, but is optimistic about a revival in the long run: Forward, into the past by Spider Robinson - The Globe and Mail - Sept.8.03

Mars return vehicle design contest... The Mars Society has announced a contest to design a viable Earth Return Vehicle, which is an essential part of Robert Zubrin's Mars Direct concept. See the Contest & Rules Descripton (pdf) file for details. (Via Louisiana Mars Society - Sept.14.03).

Commercializing space discussion... Michael Mealling in Lessons Learned - RocketForge - Sept.9.03 responds to the proposals of C. Blake Power for commercializing space in these two postings: A Business Plan For Space - The Laughing Wolf - Sept.7.03 and Near-Term, Incremental Space Business Development - The Laughing Wolf (C. Blake Power) - Sept.8.03

SETI influence ... The project climateprediction.net will use massively distributed computing patterned after the SETI@home project to do climate modelling.

Satcom recovery ... Aviation Week confirms my recent posting about signs of life in the satellite industry: CEOs and Analysts See Satcom Industry Vitality--China Included - Aviation Week - Sept.15.03

Space science for hire ... NASA recently signed an agreement with Team Encounter to test a prototype stellar compass on the company's solar sail for $6.5M. This follows an earlier agreement with NOAA for the study of using solar sails as "pole sitters" that would use the force of the solar light to balance the earth's gravitational pull and remain in stationary (or nearly so) above the North or South pole. Such pole sitters could carry out continual monitoring of the atmosphere, the aurora, and other aspects of the polar environment.

This has prompted me to open a new subsection called Piggyback Space Research in the New Space Business Concepts section. Such commissions to private space enterprises for scientific and engineering research projects is an excellent "win-win" approach that will encourage commercial space development while producing useful data.

Sci-Tech notes ... Here are some miscellaneous science and technolgy items of interest that I've come across recently:

• I've added several links for solar ovens to the Technology for Developing Countries section. Most of the oven designs are very simple and low cost and could offer real benefits in areas with diminishing forests.
• At the other end of the tech scale, if what I see on American highways is any guide, I could imagine someday looking out on a river and seeing this RV towing this car.
• Fuel cell progress continues moving along rapidly. Typical announcements that I see about everyday include this item on better materials for methanol powered cells and an alternative hydrogen storage material. Small fuel cells for powering laptops for more than 12 hours could begin appearing next year.
• Efforts to reduce sonic booms from supersonic aircraft made a big advance. While we aren't likely to see Boeing or Airbus restarting their supersonic airliner projects anytime soon, this development could spur more efforts to build a small supersonic business jet.
• Speaking of small jets, the groundbreaking Eclipse Aviation low cost jet aircraft project is back on track after a severe crisis. The engine they originally planned to use was found to provide insufficient power partly due to weight growth on the vehicle. They have since found a new supplier - Pratt & Whitney. Test flights for certification have restarted and first deliveries of the 6 passenger Eclipse 500 are planned for 2006. Prices will still be around $1M per plane.
• Mass produced high quality diamonds could put the monopoly controlled diamond business in trouble while opening up new markets.

Spaces songs soon... The long promised album of space songs from Prometheus Music and the National Space Society is getting closer to release. A title of the collection has now been chosen (To Touch the Stars), the web site for the CD has been nicely revamped, and word is that the CD will be released within months.

Several of the songs are available on MP3s. For example, check out the song "Others Standing By" by Kristoph Klover. It offers this inspiring refrain:

"Why would you go there?" they say.
"There's nothing up there anyway,
We could use the money here.
Don't you know that life's too dear?"

Dreamers never ask why.
Spend their money in the sky.
We'll send the best from Earth,
To find out what it's worth.

Space business turns up... After a brutal recession in the satellite industry, there are finally signs of revival. If true, it could not come too soon. The bankruptcies of the satellite phone constellation projects Iridium, Globalstar and ICO happened just as the whole telecommunications industry entered a severe downturn around 2001. This devastated the satellite construction and space services companies, especially in the US where imposition of heavy export controls have also cut sales abroad. Loral, for example, which has both satellite manufacturing and satellite broadcasting businesses, recently entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It expects to emerge from bankruptcy in a few months but will have to sell its profitable US fixed satellite services business to Intelsat to get the money to pay down debts.

Fortunately, there are several comsat areas that now look very promising. Here's a quick scan of recent events in different segments of the industry.

Satellite radio looks stronger and stronger and the stock prices of XM Radio and Sirius reflect that. Here are articles about satellite radio that are typical of those that seem to come out everyday:

• XM Satellite Radio to be Standard Equipment on Honda Accord Models - Honda - Sept.9.03
• Sirius Sees Financial Turnaround in 2003 - Space News - Sept.8.03

Satellite broadband may finally get back into gear in the coming year. While DSL and cable modems have made big gains in cities and suburbs, there are still large numbers of people in rural areas who don't have access to such systems and probably never will. Satellite broadband offers them a real alternative.

Starband went into bankruptcy a couple years ago after a fallout with Echostar, its main backer. Now it expects to come out of Chapter 11 later this year: StarBand Files Plan of Reorganization to Exit Chapter 11: Nationwide High-Speed Internet Provider Prepares for Emergence by Year End - Starband - Aug.15.03.

ICO has restarted the construction of its constellation of medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites, which can provide both broadband and telephone service: Boeing restarts work on ICO satellites - Spacetoday.net - Aug.20.03 (This is also a boost for Boeing's satellite business.)

Aviation broadband also shows signs of getting into the air. Boeing's Connexion has recently signed up Nippon Airways and Scandiavia Airlines to try the system. British Airways tested the system successfully.

Digital film distribution... Prodded by George Lucas, filmmaking is moving towards high resolution digital video recording and projection. The expectation is that the films will be distributed primarily via satellites to movie houses. Costs of the projection equipment have slowed the conversion but it probably will happen over the next five to ten years as cinemas try to compete with home high definition TV on large screens showing pay-per-view movies and DVDs.

Such a big screen broadcasting distribution system could also provide for other types of entertainment and bring new income sources to moviehouses. This week, for example, a live concert by David Bowie was broadcast via satellite to 20 cinemas around the world: Bowie beaming launch to cinemas - CNN.com - Sep.8.03

Satellite phones... Even the satphone business looks to survive. Concentrating on niche businesses such as for remote areas and emergency communications, the total number of users of satellite phones probably reaches about 600,000 worldwide counting subscibers to Inmarsat, Thurarya, Iridium, and Globalstar. Use of such satphones by both civilian and military customers in Iraq and Afghanistan has been especially heavy.

ICO took over majority control of Globalstar and may use its MEO satellites, which will launch in a few years, to replace the aging Globalstar birds: ICO wins majority stake in Globalstar - Spacetoday.net - Apr.28.03. Currently Globalstar has about 93,000 subscribers according to its Second Quarter Results.

So we can hope that space equipment and service businesses will finally emerge from this tough recession into a sustained period of stable if not booming profits.

First person Martian... An open source Mars mission simulation project has been unveiled: Annoucing the Mission to Mars Half Life 2 Mod - Mars Mod - Sept.03. The Mars Mod Half Life 2 will be built on the Half-Life game engine and will simulate NASA's Mars reference mission 3.0. The project welcomes programmers who would like to contribute to the project. Checkout the Mars Mod forum for the latest info.

This item found via Martian Soil.

Jupiter plunge ... The aging and ailing Galileo spacecraft will end its life by diving into Jupiter's atmosphere later thsi month: Galileo, 13, To Commit Cosmic Suicide - Popular Science - Sept.03. Follow the Countdown at JPL.

Space radio news... Here's some miscellaneous space radio items I came across.

Amateur webcam on the Space Station... A slow-scan video camera will be installed in the coming year on the Space Station. Developed jointly by the MAREX-MG club and the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), the video would be transmitted via the amateur radio transmitters already on the station and used routinely for communications with hams, schools and others. Ham-radio cam built for outer space - MSNBC - Sept.6.03

Mars calling ... The Mars Relay transmitter on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, which is currently orbiting Mars, was recently tested again by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). (See news entry at the ARRLWeb - Aug.27.03). Some amateur space radio enthusiasts were able to pick up the signals from this low power UHF transmitter when it was tested once before during the spacecraft's flight to Mars. However, it was only a third of the way to Mars at the time of that test and no word yet on whether any amateurs picked up signals this time. (This could have implications for communications with the planned amateur Mars mission - P5-A).

Extra-Terrestrial QSL Cards... If some amateurs do find the Mars Relay signals, they will well deserve the SETI League Extra-Terrestrial QSL Cards which are awarded to those hams who manage to get a confirmed contact with a non-terrestrial radio source.

Moonbouncing & SETI... Speaking of the SETI League, besides looking for signals form extraterrestrials, they also run a EME Station, where EME for stands for Earth-Moon-Earth communications, otherwise known as moonbouncing. In this hobby, radio signals are transmitted towards the Moon and the reflected signals are picked up. Good practice for SETI work.

And speaking of EME, don't miss the 11th International EME [Earth-Moon-Earth] Conference will be held on Aug. 6-8, 2004 in New Jersey.

Music in Orbit... This article - Space Station Notes: A surprising number of astronauts are also musicians--and they love to play in space. - Science@NASA - Sept.4.03 - reports on music performed by astronauts aboard the Space Station. They were allowed to take flutes, keyboards, and other instruments with them to help them enjoy their long stays away from home. Also, check out this report - Mobile Space Station- Stargazer - on an Elvis in space sighting!

The last space waltz... The space band ZIA will perform its final concert in New York City this Saturday. According to the press relase, "Elaine Walker is moving to a different planet (with a very warm climate) to create her cosmic music. Liz will also be flying solo with her piano vocal performances in NYC, and Matt will continue to play with Space Robot Scientists and pursue his acting career." I believe that Elaine is referring to the planet Arizona rather than Venus or Mercury.

Check out the spacey sounds this Saturday, September 6, 2003 @ 9:30PM at Downtime/Albion-Batcave 251 West 30th Street (7th/8th Ave) www.albion-batcave.com/flyer.html

News briefs ... The winner of the ESA science fiction contest has been announced: Winner announced for science fiction competition - ESA - Sept.3.03 ...

... Glad to see that the Team American Rocketry competition will return for the 2004 school year: Students Apply For 2004 Team American Rocketry Challenge - AIA - Sept.3.03 ...

... Also, nice to see that Lance Bass is taking the time to support space education even though his own trip didn't happen. As Youth Spokesman for the World Space Week, he is sponsoring the Lance Competition where students must submit essays on how to develop a Lance Lab where he could live and work in space. ...

... Rand Simberg talks about the difference between apparent and genuine space economics: Broken Windows and Shattered Dreams by Rand Simberg - FOXNews.com - Sept.4.03. This jives with my own editorial about the importance of productivity in raising living standards.

Goddard biographer interview... The Kojo Nnamdi [Radio] Show yesterday had an interview with David Clary, the author of Rocket Man: Robert H. Goddard and the Birth of the Space Age (Amazon). You can listen to the interview via audio streaming. This will eventually move to the show archives. (Thanks to Andrew Case for this item.)

News briefs ... Michael Mealling at Rocketforge surveys attitudes towards space development: We Want To Go, Damn It! - RocketForge - Aug.30.03 ...

... Consider attending the Space Frontier Foundation - Space Frontier Conference XII in Los Angeles, California, on Oct. 10 - 12, 2003.

Why Space Science over Space Engineering? This article - Failure Is Always an Option - NY Times - Aug.29.03 - reminds me of a long time gripe I've had about the higher degree of prestige given to science relative to engineering in the US. I have a doctorate in experimental physics so I'm not griping out of envy. I just don't understand why, for example, it is a greater accomplishment or more meaningful to mankind to understand the geology (or areology) of Mars than it is, say, to develop the technology for building a base on Mars?

Many scientists portray technology as the trivial consequence of good science. In fact, the opposite has usually been the case. New technologies developed for practical applications allowed new types of experiments that produced scientific advances and even created whole new sciences.The invention of the vacuum pump, for example, one of the most important tools in the history of science, can be traced back to a device used to pump water out of coal mines. Computers developed for financial bookkeeping became the essential computational engines for modern scientific advancements.

(Historian James Burke in his Connections books, columns, and TV mini-series has long had great fun in following the paths of practical inventions that led up to great scientific breakthroughs and milestones.)

We constantly hear politicians and NASA managers claiming that the shuttle and space station are essential because of the great science they will provide. On the other hand, many, if not most, scientists actually want to stop human spaceflight funding completely and grab the rest of the NASA budget for science missions with robotic spacecraft. (They believe they can do this despite the fact that the NASA space science funding is already of the same scale as the entire National Science Foundation budget.)

There is more than a little ingratitude and shortsightedness in their attitude. Most of the early pioneers in rocketry such as von Braun were not in the field to help science. They had long term goals of exploration and settlement of the solar system in mind and sought to develop the technology to make it happen. (This primary interest in the engineering of rocketry and space development was also true for Goddard and Oberth, though both had high academic science credentials.)

The accomplishments of the rocketry engineers made possible the discoveries of Van Allen and all the other space scientists that followed. Similarly the technologies developed today to make human spaceflight and settlement in space more practical will lead to great scientific discoveries in the future. A base on Mars, for example, would make the study of Mars geology much more efficient and effective than with a long sequence of robotic landers. (See Humans vs Robots in the Space Controversies section for more about this debate.)

Critics of human spaceflight ridicule claims that it produces spinoffs and indirect benefits. However, scientists should realize that if the human spaceflight programs went away, the same demands for direct short term payoffs would soon be made on their research. Only a minuscule fraction of space science will ever have any direct practical benefit. In fact, this is true of most basic science research.

I certainly believe that accumulation of knowledge is a great good in and of itself. Yet I don't hold scientific knowledge in greater esteem than engineering knowledge, which is what comes mostly from human spaceflight projects. It's time to proclaim proudly that we go into space to learn how to live, work, and settle there and that this will lead to great advances in both engineering and scientific knowledge.

News briefs... A reader sent me these links to interesting articles in the Economist magazine : Fly me to the moon : The first European mission to the moon is scheduled to blast off in October - Economist - Aug.21.03 and NASA Backgrounder, which links to other Economist articles...

... Checkout the striking images of Mars taken by the Hubble Space Telescope: Mars: Closest Encounter - HubbleSite - Aug.22.03

Continue to August 2003 articles in archive