LaserMotive’s laser-beaming powered robot climber ascends the 3,000-foot cable suspended from a helicopter at the Space Elevator Games. The real thing, big enough to carry passengers in their own cabins, might take a day or two to get into space. But with no gravity stresses to speak of.
UPDATE: The games are over and LaserMotive won $900K. The big prize, however, is still out there.
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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space
Tagged Lasermotive, space elevator, Space Elevator Games, wireless power beaming
This is a very sad story but, nevertheless, one of the best novels I’ve read. Life, as the literature professors will tell you, is a tragedy. Yet there is often joy and humor along the way and so it is here. So I was sorry to see Thomas A. Day’s tale end, especially the way it did. But I didn’t feel tricked or surprised. At least the protagonist had one companion left, even if it was only a worry-wart robot with a Welsh accent.
I always assume space colonization stories will be hopeful, but the colonists often wind up losing much of their high technology as it wears out and they are unable to replace it. They often can’t even go back into the black, let alone travel through space again. This one is a little different. But it’s also a vindication of Murphy’s Law. What they hope to escape, they wind up taking with them. The technology they create to help them turns on them. But the turning is to their ultimate benefit, once they figure it out. They succeed in spite of themselves, something you may only realize after you’ve thought about it a bit.
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Tagged A Grey Moon Over China, high technology, literature, Murphy's Law, robots, space colonization, space war, Thomas A. Day, Welsh accent
Even at a significant fraction of light speed, it looks like getting through this mess would be a challenge: the tangled Web created by a supernova first seen in 1054 C.E.
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Posted in Space
The worst thing about meteor showers is the best time to see them often is right before dawn. So, unless you can afford to stay up all night, you need to get up early Wednesday to see the Orionids–a stream of debris from Halley’s Comet falling through the atmosphere. Where to look? Overhead.
The next-to-worst thing about meteor showers is that the skies are often cloudy. So you go back to bed. Then, the astronomers who predict the next one will be the best in a long time are often wrong. They’re predicting the Orionids this year will be the best in a while. Dozens an hour. But, once again, if they’re wrong, you can always go back to bed. And, if they’re not and the skies are clear, enjoy the show.
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Posted in Science/Engineering, Scribbles, Space, Weather/Climate
Tagged 2009 Orionids Meteor Shower
Don’t recall where I got this, but it’s in honor of David Nelson, an old OCS classmate in MA, who awoke this morning to thirty-four degrees and heavy snow. As he says: "Good infantry weather!"
Via AlphaInventions.
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Posted in Infantry OCS, Science/Engineering, Space, Troops, Weather/Climate
Tagged Aurora, heavy snow, Infantry OCS, snow
Comparing the previous solar minimum (June ’96 to Sept. ’98) with the current one (June ’07 to Sept ’09) shows something strange is happening to Sol. (Scroll down at the link to the yellow-headlined comparison "latest trend charts" on the right side for the chart of the spotless days in each period). Not that solar science has enough observation history behind it to be sure of much of anything.
Meanwhile, the weather is confirming the old idea that Sol controls what happens down here. When you consider that 1998 was the warmest year recorded globally, and the planet has been cooling ever since, it’s not hard to understand why winters are coming earlier and part of the country’s northern tier already is covered with snow that is not melting but is increasing. Not that we mind the rain we’re getting after our long drought, but you have to wonder. Whatever is going on it seems to have very little to do with the CO2 that has the Democrats hot to tax coal and oil out of existence.
Via the Seablogger. PLUS: Record October cold in Minnesota.
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Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering, Space, Weather/Climate
Tagged 1998 warmest recorded global year, CO2, early snows, early winter, Sol, solar cycle 24, solar minimum
Science fiction writer Charles Stross ruined his Merchant Princes series for me with its explicit anti-Bush politics, but I agree with him about Star Trek. I liked it when it was new in the 60s, even retained some interest in it in the 80s. Now I see it’s as bad as the old Edgar Rice Burroughs’ tales of Mars.
That’s because, as CS says, ST merely pastes the sci and tech on top of its storyline, whereas good scifi builds the storyline out of plausible sci and tech which informs the story’s world. Now if he’d just forgone using his fiction for his personal political propaganda, I’d still be looking forward to his books.
Via Instapundit.
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Posted in Library, Science/Engineering, Scribbles, Space
Tagged Charles Stross, Merchant Princes, Star Trek
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 