For a while now I have been watching the Long Now foundation… post 2000 I have been looking for a new horizon. I like the Long Now because they do a number of things to change your perspective. Simple stuff like writing years with a leading 0 - 02008… or seriously hardcore things like the Rosetta disk. For the first time in years the future unfolded with the story of where the first disk was sent:
But it was not the very first disk. That one is in space. In 2004 the Rosetta Space Probe was launched by the European Space Agency. This small craft was created to land on a comet in 2014. Before it blasted off, the ESA contacted us because we share names. They asked if we’d like to mount a version of the disk on their probe. Of course we would! We had manufactured a pure nickel disc with a subset of 6,000 pages of language translations, which was mounted on the payload section of the probe.
So assuming the mission continues well, in 2014 the Rosetta Probe will land on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, where it will measure the comet’s molecular composition. Then it will remain at rest as the comet orbits the sun for hundreds of millions of years. So somewhere in the solar system, where it is safe but hard to reach, a backup sample of human languages is stored, in case we need one.
Gizmodo has a bunch of WKII photos. I saw the WIRED gallery yesterday… my first thought was that it wasn’t the prettiest airplane that Burt Rutan has created :-(. It’s horribly superficial, I know, and it makes me a bad fan boi - but the aesthetics of Burt’s design work has always been one of the big reasons that I love his work. I’m sure it flies like a dream.
A photo of the Phoenix parachuting … captured by the MRO. There is something about that photo that transforms my perception of space exploration - not too sure how to describe it. It’s a feeling of watching events unfold, rather than simply experiencing the results… and I know that at 15 light minutes there is no difference between those two positions, but the photo communicates that.
The first public taste of rocket racing will take place Aug. 1 and Aug. 2 in Oshkosh, Wis., Whitelaw said, at the annual Experimental Aircraft Association air show. It will involve two of the sleek aircraft developed for the league. The racers will also perform at air shows in Nevada and New Mexico.
And interestingly:
The engines will come from two companies, Whitelaw said: Xcor Aerospace of Mojave, Calif., and Armadillo Aerospace of Mesquite, Tex. Armadillo was founded by John Carmack, a high-tech businessman who created successful video games, including Doom and Quake.
After making it look really easy the Scaled Composites team have had their first and very lethal accident. Three people died. Poor Burt looks completely shell shocked in the video footage. I really feel for all involved. A N20 explosion must’ve come out of left field for these guys…
While NASA and the European Space Agency focus on Mars rovers and future missions to search for life on the Red Planet, a determined core of scientists is lobbying for equal attention to a place they feel is just as likely to harbor life - Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.
Popular Mechanics has a feature on Burt Rutan and his work on SpaceShipTwo:
Details on SpaceShipTwo […] are secret, but the goal is not — to create a craft that flies for decades. “We hope we’re building the DC 3 or Tri-Motor,” Rutan says, “not the barnstorming airplane.”
According to Arstechnica Nasa and Virgin Galactic are looking to team up on aspects of space flight…
The areas of interest to the two entities range from from hypersonic vehicles to space suits for astronauts. “This understanding with Virgin Galactic affords NASA an opportunity to work with an emerging company in the commercial human space transportation industry to support the agency’s exploration, science and aeronautics mission goals,” said S. Pete Worden, director of the NASA Ames Research Center
Great to see Burt getting more attention… and hopefully make an even greater impact.
