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#1 Re: Unmanned probes » Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) » 2006-10-22 04:12:58

Stu

Did someone say "we need a poet"?  smile

Sleeping

There she is. See her? That tiny black
Speck on the crater’s crumbling edge,
Just above the ledge where the New World
Falls away and tan becomes grey
With berries hissing and pouring into Victoria’s
Dune-rippled heart.

See that dark dot? We made that – Man,
Women and men, thousands of them,
Worker ants in white coats or ties, eyes
Fat from days without sleep, creeping
Home after dawn from their offices, factories and labs,
Whispering “Sorry…” again as they slid into bed;
Another meal or birthday party missed.

See that ink spot on the edge of the abyss?
We made this! Built it by hand in spotlight-bright
Clean rooms; we groomed, evolved apes
Bent metal against its but to our will.
Imagine that… monkey paws
That once chipped flint and ripped
Bloodied skins from spear-skewered prey
Now shape steel into wheels that rove across Mars!
Electronically embroidering silicon
Into miniature medieval tapestries
Of glorious silver and gold, they gently
Turn wrenches, tightening bolts on panels and plates late
Night after late night, weary but thrilled by
The sight of their dreams taking shape
Piece by piece by piece by piece…

No, that’s no fleck on the lens,
That’s a metal Magellan exploring
An ocean of dust, sailing o’er rust-
Coloured cobbles and stones to stand
On the edge of Victoria and, hands shaking,
Roar at the pink sky “Ultreya!!”

One day men, women and children - Mars-born,
With faces pale from lack of sun and limbs lengthened
To long-fingered branches by their world’s
Begrudged gravity - will come to this place to
Stare at Her statue and be amazed,
Imagining the day when brave Opportunity,
Caked with dust and wearied from her trek
From Purgatory and over and through
A thousand deep dunes hauled herself to the edge
Of the Bay and said “Enough… let me rest here,
With the great sky above and gnarled, gargoyle-
Cluttered cliffs on all sides; let me hide
Here, peering down into this stadium of stone.
I am Home… let me sleep… Make me travel no more…”

See that mote on Mars’ sands? There we stand,
Each of us, each martian dreamer,
Fanatic and Fool. Our hearts are Her heart,
Her dust-dried eyes our own.
A mere machine is She no longer – if she ever was –
But a ship, as noble and strong as the creaking,
Slapping-sailed craft after which the great crater was named,
Carrying our hopes in her hold as she boldly goes
Where no ape-built machine has gone before:
To the shores of an amber-hued ocean of dreams.

There she is. See her? That tiny black
Speck on the crater’s crumbling edge.

Sleeping…

© Stuart Atkinson 2006

#4 Re: Unmanned probes » Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) » 2005-09-10 09:14:04

Stu

Hi guys,

Glad my make-believe image of Phobos and Deimos shining above Gusev went down well...  big_smile

Here's another - the view from  Meridiani on Christmas Day. From the bottom - Mercury, Venus, Jupiter - and Earth...  :shock:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/cumbriansky/xmas-day-small-b.jpg[/img]

#5 Re: Unmanned probes » Cassini-Huygens III - Continued from previous » 2005-01-18 18:12:56

Stu

If anyone needs further proof of just how spoiled we are right now, take a look at these...

Enceladus  1

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ...623.jpg

Enceladus 2

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ...571.jpg

Mimas

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ...562.jpg

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ...551.jpg

See? It really IS the Death Star!!!


yikes

Seriously, how priviliged are we to be living at this time when we can just click a mouse button and see pictures like this, either hot off the press or after a couple of hours/days delay?

And people moan about being able to explore the solar system from their armchair?

Unbelievable...

And we have YEARS more Cassini images to look forward to...  big_smile

#6 Re: Unmanned probes » Disappointment pictures from titan » 2005-01-17 16:06:05

Stu

Sigh...

If only we'd seen this ad sooner, would have saved us all a lot of heartache...


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/ … .jpg]Titan camera

:;):

#7 Re: Not So Free Chat » Piss Poor Hygens Camrea Shots - I am tired of the BS! » 2005-01-17 12:19:14

Stu

Sigh...

If only we'd seen this ad sooner, would have saved us all a lot of heartache...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/ … jpg]camera ad

big_smile

#8 Re: Unmanned probes » Disappointment pictures from titan » 2005-01-16 14:25:42

Stu

I posted this in a different thread... pasting it here cos it's been a long day and I can't be bothered typing it all in again!  :;):

----------------

For pity's sake...

Don't you get it? Don't you GET it? This isn't science fiction here, tho it feels like it at times. This is real life exploration and discovery. Not everything works perfectly, as designed. Things go wrong. Things, and people, disappoint and under-achieve. Expectations - often unrealistic in the first place - are dashed and more modest, more humble realities take their place.

So the pictures aren't pin sharp. Big deal. It's not the first time. Lewis and Clark probably lost some of their sketches of flora and fauna on their epic trek across the US. Charles Darwin probably missed out on the opportunity to study universe knows how many exotic species as he explored the Galapagos. The colour camera on Apollo 12 didn't work, depriving us of spectacular images from the Moon. Mars Observer, Polar Lander and more recently Beagle 2 failed for a hatful of reasons, and we all know what we might have lost there. IT HAPPENS. It's just the way of things. The universe charges us for the wonders she shows us, and keeps some things back for herself, or at least makes us wait for them until we deserve them. It's disappointing, and frustrating, but it's life.

Some of the people being criticised here spent decades on the project. They don't owe you, or me, or anyone else, a thing. They were working on our behalf, because we're not smart or dedicated enough to do the things they do. We sit here at our screens, sipping coffee, warm and cosy, while they've spent years of their lives holed up in labs or machine shops working away all hours to get these "p*** poor pictures" for us to enjoy. They've done all this for us, so that we might understand and appreciate the universe a little bit better. They designed, built and then sent a spacecraft literally half-way across the solar system, succesfully landed it on the most inhospitable, most alien world yet seen, and it sent back pictures which are as historic as the first imags beamed back from Viking or Voyager or any of its other ancestors. Think about that.

Thanks to those "p*** poor pictures" Titan has been transformed, literally overnight. On Thursday night before going to bed I set up my telescope in my yard and aimed it at Saturn. The planet was beautiful, sublime, its rings split by the Cassini Division there before my eyes. And off to the right in the eyepiece was a pinpoint of light - Titan itself, shining there, hugging close to Saturn just as it had appeared to Huygens himself three and a half centuries earlier. When I went to bed the next night Titan wasn't a mere pinprick of light to me any more. It was a real world, a world with, we think, rivers and streams which reflect an orange, cloudy sky, shorelines lapped by slow-moving waves, tall mountains and rolling hills. A world where one day astronauts will wade out a short distance from the land and stare in awe at the sight of the alien waves of an alien sea, a billion miles from Earth, rolling gently over their boots. Think about that.

I'm British, and - okay, I'm biased, being a space nut - but personally if Huygens had only returned one single picture of the surface, and one panorama, I'd have considered my contribution (probably around £1) money well spent. What happened with the delay in releasing pictures is annoying, yeah, but when politics intrudes that's what happens. Yes, ESA could learn a lot from NASa and JPL re picture release, and they will, but c'mon, this kind of stuff is still new to us, give us a break. The guys at JPL have huge press offices, people who are good on camera, astronomical budgets... ESA just isn't geared-up for this kind of global attention. Yet. Give us time. We'll get better, you'll see.

It's not a competition, you know. It's not some media wrestling match between ESA and NASA to see who gets their pictures out fastest. This is for the good of all of us. We've waited generations to see these pictures, so a few more days wait won't kill us now, will it? Better and better images will be released, not just by ESA but by many of the unofficial imaging sources - we have one of them here on newmars, hi Doug! - and then we'll all be smiling like we were when the panoramas started rolling in from SPirit and Opportunity.

Just be patient and stop griping. This time last year Titan was just a ball of orange on a Voyager picture. This time last week it was a world with vague light and dark markings - how we saw Mars in Lowell's time. Now, Titan is a living, breathing, gurgling world we can imagine walking on and flying over. I look at those coastal scenes and can easily imagine bays, inlets and coves.

We should all feel humble and grateful. Not disappointed or angry.


smile

-------------------------------

And as for the cost? That $3bn wasn't just for the Titan pics... you're forgetting the breathtaking images Cassini has returned of Saturn... its rings... the moons... Mimas silhouetted against the cloud tops... all the pictures of Jupiter and its moons before the probe even GOT to Saturn...

I say three cheers for Cassini, Huygens and everyone involved in it!  :up:

#9 Re: Not So Free Chat » Piss Poor Hygens Camrea Shots - I am tired of the BS! » 2005-01-16 13:16:44

Stu

Ok the war is long over and I hearby issue a truce on all our behalf. But, holding back the images is not acceptable.

"Mars Express is sending back breathtaking images of Mars too."

This is true! They are spectacular. Huygens should be almost as good but they are not. Why is the difference in them so great?

Truce accepted  :up:

On the question of the difference in picture quality, I think the different atmospheres of the two bodies has a LOT to do with it. After all, Mars Express is looking down through almost non-existent atmosphere, enjoying a virtually transparent view of the surface, while Huygens was peering and squinting through a dense, smoggy, foul atmosphere which blurred everything.

Ya think?

#10 Re: Not So Free Chat » Piss Poor Hygens Camrea Shots - I am tired of the BS! » 2005-01-16 12:56:14

Stu

<< JPL far exceeds Brittons caveman technology and attitude about it.UGA! UGA!UGA!. >>

<< Once you all come out of the stoneage at Stonehenge you may be able to compete with us. >>

<< it reminds me of the days when we kicked your butts out of our country for such stupidity.What were all you thinking taxing our tea and such? >>

sigh.

If there are any newcomers to New Mars reading this thread, please let me assure you that the standard of the debate is usually rather higher than this.  :;):

Seriously Errorist, chill out ok? If you think back our "stoneage technology" did pretty well taking pictures of Halley's Comet (Giotto) when the US decided against sending a probe to the comet, and Mars Express is sending back breathtaking images of Mars too.

And as for kicking us out of your country, well, that's just silly. Ancient history. And a Mel Gibson version of history at that. In today's world we're one of your closest - and few remaining, let's face it - allies, so let's try and remain civilised eh? We're on the same side here.

Jeez, how can we hope to get People Out There to support going to Mars when we're blowing juvenile raspberries at each other?  ???

#11 Re: Not So Free Chat » Piss Poor Hygens Camrea Shots - I am tired of the BS! » 2005-01-16 12:05:53

Stu

For pity's sake...

Don't you get it? Don't you GET it? This isn't science fiction here, tho it feels like it at times. This is real life exploration and discovery. Not everything works perfectly, as designed. Things go wrong. Things, and people, disappoint and under-achieve. Expectations - often unrealistic in the first place - are dashed and more modest, more humble realities take their place.

So the pictures aren't pin sharp. Big deal. It's not the first time. Lewis and Clark probably lost some of their sketches of flora and fauna on their epic trek across the US. Charles Darwin probably missed out on the opportunity to study universe knows how many exotic species as he explored the Galapagos. The colour camera on Apollo 12 didn't work, depriving us of spectacular images from the Moon. Mars Observer, Polar Lander and more recently Beagle 2 failed for a hatful of reasons, and we all know what we might have lost there. IT HAPPENS. It's just the way of things. The universe charges us for the wonders she shows us, and keeps some things back for herself, or at least makes us wait for them until we deserve them. It's disappointing, and frustrating, but it's life.

Some of the people being criticised here spent decades on the project. They don't owe you, or me, or anyone else, a thing. They were working on our behalf, because we're not smart or dedicated enough to do the things they do. We sit here at our screens, sipping coffee, warm and cosy, while they've spent years of their lives holed up in labs or machine shops working away all hours to get these "p*** poor pictures" for us to enjoy. They've done all this for us, so that we might understand and appreciate the universe a little bit better. They designed, built and then sent a spacecraft literally half-way across the solar system, succesfully landed it on the most inhospitable, most alien world yet seen, and it sent back pictures which are as historic as the first imags beamed back from Viking or Voyager or any of its other ancestors. Think about that.

Thanks to those "p*** poor pictures" Titan has been transformed, literally overnight. On Thursday night before going to bed I set up my telescope in my yard and aimed it at Saturn. The planet was beautiful, sublime, its rings split by the Cassini Division there before my eyes. And off to the right in the eyepiece was a pinpoint of light - Titan itself, shining there, hugging close to Saturn just as it had appeared to Huygens himself three and a half centuries earlier. When I went to bed the next night Titan wasn't a mere pinprick of light to me any more. It was a real world, a world with, we think, rivers and streams which reflect an orange, cloudy sky, shorelines lapped by slow-moving waves, tall mountains and rolling hills. A world where one day astronauts will wade out a short distance from the land and stare in awe at the sight of the alien waves of an alien sea, a billion miles from Earth, rolling gently over their boots. Think about that.

I'm British, and - okay, I'm biased, being a space nut - but personally if Huygens had only returned one single picture of the surface, and one panorama, I'd have considered my contribution (probably around £1) money well spent. What happened with the delay in releasing pictures is annoying, yeah, but when politics intrudes that's what happens. Yes, ESA could learn a lot from NASa and JPL re picture release, and they will, but c'mon, this kind of stuff is still new to us, give us a break. The guys at JPL have huge press offices, people who are good on camera, astronomical budgets... ESA just isn't geared-up for this kind of global attention. Yet. Give us time. We'll get better, you'll see.

It's not a competition, you know. It's not some media wrestling match between ESA and NASA to see who gets their pictures out fastest. This is for the good of all of us. We've waited generations to see these pictures, so a few more days wait won't kill us now, will it? Better and better images will be released, not just by ESA but by many of the unofficial imaging sources - we have one of them here on newmars, hi Doug! - and then we'll all be smiling like we were when the panoramas started rolling in from SPirit and Opportunity.

Just be patient and stop griping. This time last year Titan was just a ball of orange on a Voyager picture. This time last week it was a world with vague light and dark markings - how we saw Mars in Lowell's time. Now, Titan is a living, breathing, gurgling world we can imagine walking on and flying over. I look at those coastal scenes and can easily imagine bays, inlets and coves.

We should all feel humble and grateful. Not disappointed or angry.

smile

#12 Re: Unmanned probes » Opportunity & Spirit **8** - ...More... » 2005-01-13 15:00:19

Stu

I think it's a meteorite too. I collect them - small specimens, the bigger ones cost a fortune! - and the Meridiani object looks VERY familiar. Some iron meteorite piccies for ya…

http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.com/CSC- … eorite.JPG ( part of "Canyon Diablo" meteorite that made “Meteor Crater” in Arizona, 50,000 years ago… )

http://obswww.unige.ch/~bartho/EAAE/L2/ … _fig17.gif ( Recovery of the famous “Willamette” meteorite… )

http://www.lvaas.org/gallery/2001/bus-t … eorite.jpg ( Current location of the Willamette meteorite – the foyer of the Hayden Planetarium.)

That's why the more I look at that object on Meridiani the more I’m convinced it’s a meteorite. It’s got all the features of a meteorite, is the right shape, has the characteristic "thumbprint" regmaglypt features, and if Steve S says it’s made of metal - as many meteorites are, being fragments of asteroids - then that’s promising, right..?

Actually, I'm sat here packing a few of my (small!) meteorites up for a talk I'm giving in a school tomorrow, including a piece of Canyon Diablo which must have been held by several thousand pairs of schoolkid hands by now. That object on Mars isn't that big, so wouldn't have made much of a crater,especially as it landed on hard ground anyway. I mean, look how pathetic - sorry, disappointing! - the "crater" left by Oppy's heatshield was...

I know, I know, crazy idea, but... well... we find meteorites from Mars here on Earth, so what would be the odds of Oppy finding a piece of Earth there on Meridiani?

As the song said, “the chances of anything coming from Mars… are a million to one…”

True. But still they come…  :;):

#13 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » All 5 Naked-Eye Planets Visible » 2004-12-24 08:08:03

Stu

Very nice Cindy!  smile

Now imagine you're Opportunity, driving carefully around the wreckage of the heatshield... you look west as the sky darkens, and this is what you see...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/ … as-eve.jpg

... and if you zoomed in on the second bright "star" up from the horizon this is what you'd see...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/ … s-eve2.jpg

Not a bad view, I reckon...  big_smile

All the best everyone, and here's to a succesful Huygens release tomorrow!

#14 Re: Unmanned probes » Opportunity & Spirit **8** - ...More... » 2004-12-23 05:29:53

Stu

Happy Birthday Doug!  big_smile

Thanks from everyone here at newmars for all your amazing images, too.  :up:

Stu

#15 Re: Unmanned probes » Beagle II - inquiry » 2004-11-04 14:54:46

Stu

However, there was an article posted (somewhere at New Mars...needle/haystack) wherein the possibility of hooking up with a future US mission has been raised by UK scientists -- "hitching a ride" via NASA.  I'm all for it.  :up:  Joint endeavor would be great.

Not sure if NASA is game...last I knew, there was "no reply."  Hopefully discussions are still on the table and options are open.

Sadly, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of Beagle 2 v2 - or any other Beagle probe - hitching a ride to Mars on a NASA probe. Colin P put too many noses out of joint with comments he made about the rovers (along the lines of "The rovers are just toys, we'll do the real science") to beg any favours off NASA. In fact, as I understand it, he put so many noses out of joint at ESA too that there will be, shall we say, "some resistance" to allowing a Beagle on any Mars-bound European probe. Personally, as much as I hate to admit it, I think the best the Beagle team can hope for - unless they hitch a ride on a Russian probe, or find private launch funding - is contributing a Viking-type life detection instrument package to any future European Mars Lander element of the Aurora program.

#16 Re: Unmanned probes » Opportunity & Spirit **8** - ...More... » 2004-10-31 06:08:06

Stu

Look carefully at that second photo in Doug's posting, all the techs gathered around the rover... look at the guy staring lovingly at the sundial...

"Awww, don't worry, I know Mars is a long way away, and cold, but you'll be fine. And listen, I know you're only small, and I know there's lots of fancier bits and pieces on this rover, but you're my very favourite part, with your cute little colour charts and your shiny stalk... you're better than all those instruments and robot arms and spiky wheels put together, believe me... and don't tell anyone, but I'm going to re-write some of the software so that every other photo sent back to Earth is of you! You'll be a star, the most famous sundial in the history of the world, and millions of people all over the world will see you when they visit websites each day... okay, so they'll want to see rocks and sand dunes and cliffs at first, and when they see you they'll want to writhe your head off with frustration, but they'll come to love you... just like I do..."

#18 Re: Unmanned probes » Opportunity & Spirit **8** - ...More... » 2004-10-30 07:56:05

Stu

Oh for pity's sake...  :sleep:

Ok, I guess it's a 50/50 shot. Either this was a set-up, and all you guys petitioned JPL to MAKE them shoot the sundial for pic 50k, or it was just a coincidence.

As a firm believer in conspiracies I go with the former...

:;):

Seriously tho, wouldn't it have been more fitting for photo 50k to be an image of the Earth shining in Mars' sky, with Oppy or Spirit's shadow stretching out across the martian landscape beneath it..?

No complaints tho. The MERs are towering achievements, and one day in a hundred or so years time, native martian kids will file past them in the Marineris Smithsonian and marvel at how something so small and spindly and fragile-looking could travel so far and achieve so much.

I'd much rather have pics of sundials than no pics at all.

... but I have a wonderful image in my mind of one of my great grandchildren bouncing over to Spirit and pulling the ****** thing off...

big_smile

#19 Re: Not So Free Chat » BBC's "Space Odyssey" series - Most realitic manned Mars missions yet.. » 2004-10-21 09:47:13

Stu

Good news for all you US guys in an email from Chris Riley, one of the team behind SPACE ODYSSEY.  smile

"The series should air here in the UK on BBC-1 in mid-november (two one hour episodes on the 11th and 18th Nov).  In the US it is branded as "Walking with Spacemen" and the Discovery Channel will screen it in the spring as a single event.  The US verison (although only 4 x 3 rather than 16 x 9 widescreen as it will be in Europe) is a slightly longer version with approximately 6 minutes more material in it - a kind of "directors cut" if you like!"

So, there you go. You will see it.  smile

#20 Re: Unmanned probes » Cassini-Huygens - Cassini-Huygens Discussion » 2004-10-20 12:53:47

Stu

Anyone with any interest in Titan should definitely read Stephen Baxter's superb novel "TITAN", which tells the story of a manned mission to Titan using cannibalised shuttle and Saturn V technology. The descriptions of Titan's surface are breathtaking.

#23 Re: Not So Free Chat » BBC's "Space Odyssey" series - Most realitic manned Mars missions yet.. » 2004-10-16 07:41:01

Stu

Earlier this year, when all the hoo-hah about the Butler Report (about the BBCs coverage of the Iraq war) and its attack on the journalism of the BBC was in the news, I heard the new boss of the BBC talking on a 5 Live phone-in show, insisting why the licence fee (note to US members: over here in the UK we HAVE to pay an annual fee to watch our TVs. A "TV licence" costs over £100, and if you're found watching TV without a licence you can be fined £1000!) was such good value etc etc. Stressing that the days of filling the schedules with makeover, reality TV and DIY shows were over, he gave previews of some of the BBC's new shows, and one of them was "a space documentary series which will use the same technology and effects featured in WALKING WITH DINOSAURS..." Hmmm, interesting, I thought, but with no name and no more details to go on I couldn't find out anything more, and until today I'd pretty much forgotten about it to be honest...

...then this morning I was looking in the science section of Kendal's Ottakars, trying to track down "The Real Mars", the new - and, to my knowledge, first post-Spirit and Opportunity Mars title - book by Michael Hanlon, the Daily Mail's science correspondent. I found it, and a quick browse thru showed it was okay but not an essential buy (there are LOTS of friend-to-New Mars Kees Veenenbos's Mars renders in, which was good to see!) - then, on the shelf next to it, I saw a big glossy book called "Space Odyssey". Hadn't heard of it before, so obviously I pulled it out for a look - and saw the BBC logo there, and, beneath the book title, "The book of the BBC Series"...

Aha! Gotcha! Opened it... and five minutes later I was handing over £20 at the till.

Let me tell you, SPACE ODYSSEY is one of the most stunning "space" books I've seen, and if the TV series is a tenth as good as the book - and if WALKING WITH DINOSAURS is anything to go by, it will be - then boy, are we in for a treat when the show airs. So, this is a heads-up for British New Mars members to keep an eye on the TV schedules - and advance warning for US and international members to check their schedules too, because I'm sure this show will be broadcast worldwide.

What's the book like? Well, a mix of fact and fiction, written in the style of a crew flight diary or journal, "SPACE ODYSSEY" tells the story of an ambitious manned space journey of the future - a six year long mission during which the 6 man crew of the spaceship Pegasus travels to just about every planet in the Solar System, experiencing triumph and tragedy, adventure and danger...

Yes, I know, "yawn",  it's been done before, several times, but this time is different. In this book - and in the TV series - the journey is illustrated with photo-realistic images, not artwork or unconvincing photo-mosaics. And because the writers and illustrators have strained to be as accurate as possible, basing the whole thing on hard science, these pictures are probably snapshots stolen from the future. There are the inevitable pictures of astronauts walking on Mars, and looking out over Valles Marineris etc, but these are by far the best I've seen anywhere - superbly colour balanced, genuinely photo-realistic, they're just incredible. Cindy will particularly enjoy the very realistic depiction of an astronaut coming face to face with a dust devil...

There are also images of the crew walking on Venus, Io and Pluto; spacewalking amongst the rings of Saturn; exploring a comet; etc etc...

As a read, the book is good value too. Okay, so some of the diary entries are cheesier than a catering size box of cheddar slices, but it's not just a science book, or series, you have to remember it's entertainment too, and each of the six crewmembers has their own well-drawn character.

Anyway, just wanted to give you all a heads-up about this. The book is stunning, it really is, and bodes well for the TV series. Although I enjoyed it, the BBC's last hi-profile space series - "SPACE", narrated by Sam Neil - was criticised in some quarters for "dumbing down" astronomy and space science into sound-bites and special effects. SPACE ODYSSEY could be a classic. It's guaranteed world-wide sales, and lots of media attention too. I personally can't wait.

Stu

( The book details for those who want to buy it:

"SPACE ODYSSEY", ("A voyage to the Planets"), by Tim Haines and Christopher Riley. £20, BBC Books, ISBN 0-563-52154-6 )

#24 Re: Human missions » New X Prize Sets Sights - Science, Technology and Social Solutions » 2004-10-11 22:33:18

Stu

I think it's left to interpretation what happens in Space Oddity. After all, Major Tom appears in a later Bowie song, maybe he makes it out alive after all.

Okay, he is mentioned in ASHES TO ASHES (again, surely NOT a good choice for a sub-orbital flight soundtrack, with a re-entry to look forward to!  big_smile  ) but I still think it would be less than confidence-inspiring to hear "...there's nothing I can do" wafting out of the speakers while you're up there...

Thing is, over here in the UK, Virgin is a strange beast. Admired for its business dynamicism when it comes to selling records and mobile phones, it is ridiculed for its train services. Virgin runs one of the UK's largest and busiest cross-country routes - the one that serves my part of the country actually - and until recently it was condemned on an almost weekly basis for poor effeciency, bad time-keeping etc, so Branson's announcement that he was going to run a space tourism business was greeted with hoots of derision in some quarters. "If he can't get a train to run on time how will he launch a rocket?" etc. And, of course, the inevitable "Virgin Galactic? Would you trust a rocket that won't go all the way..?"

smile

#25 Re: Unmanned probes » Marsquakes - detecting marsquakes » 2004-10-11 15:24:01

Stu

Stu:  In fact, in places it looks like that part of the (Arizona?) desert where they detonated underground nuclear explosions in the past.

*What??  yikes  Hmmmm.  Don't want to go off-topic, though.

Can't swear it was AZ, but I definitely saw some desert area somewhere looking like - indeed, compared to - a lunar landscape, as a result of underground tests in the 50s or 60s. I'm wondering now if they actually said "nuclear", or if they were just huge conventional explosions meant to simulate nuke's popping. But still, they look v similar to the crater chains visible in the THEMIS mosaic.

I know what you mean about the pits vs mounds thing Cindy, I get spooked by that sometimes too  smile

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