Hewlett Packard has demonstrated what looks like a practical and affordable way to generate no-special-glasses-required 3D images and video from an LCD type of display:
http://youtu.be/Y1m7xEzlhWA
John Hare considers the capability of a monster (in more ways than one) rocket that combines a stretched SpaceX Falcon 9 with Shuttle solid rocket boosters to put about 140 tons into orbit: SFalconLS – Selenian Boondocks.
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Chuck Lesher notes that Navy railgun development has reached a level of capability already sufficient to hurl small amounts of material from the Moon at escape velocities: Is the US Navy Preparing to Conquer Space? – Moonandback
Even at this early stage, the railgun is already capable of launching a 23 pound payload off the surface of the moon. We have our mass driver but getting it operational on the moon along with all the support needed to supply it with payloads… well, solving that problem must wait for another blog entry.
Charles Bolden continues to assert that NASA has a clear long term strategy and it starts with a human mission to an asteroid in 2025 time frame: Combating the perception of a lack of consensus – Space Politics.
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And more about NASA’s budget:
Glad to see that the crowd-sourcing campaign to support the recovery of images of the Moon on magnetic tape date from unmanned lunar probe missions in the 1960s has succeeded in raising substantial funding: Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project – RocketHub.
They didn’t reach their goal of $75k but $62,560 is a lot more than the $10k or so they had just a couple of weeks ago. Help from Boing Boing and others made a big difference in the final push.
Jeff Foust reports on the House hearing on Tuesday about the threat of asteroid impacts on earth: NASA to Congress: don’t “pour money” into NEO programs – Space Politics.
And here are a couple of items about a Senate hearing on Wednesday about the same issue:
Update: Stephen C. Smith (Space KSC blog) has posted videos of both hearings:
* March 20, 2013 – the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Science and Space held a hearing titled, “Assessing the Risks, Impacts, and Solutions for Space Threats.” The invited witnesses were:
* March 19, 2013, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing titled, “Threats from Space: A Review of U.S. Government Efforts to Track and Mitigate Asteroids and Meteors, Part 1.”
Invited witnesses were: