AstroNews Aug-Sept 2001

FALLING STARS SPECIAL

• CORE KNOWLEDGE CAUGHT 
• OH SAY CAN YOU SEE 
• SPEED OF LIGHT MAY CHANGE? 
• IN PRAISE OF DENNIS TITO 
• SPACE TOURISM WHO'S WHO 

High in the northeastern evening sky lies that W - a constellation known as CASSIOPEIA. The right side of the W is tilted up. 

High in the east is the big, rather dim Great Square of PEGASUS - it's a bit larger than your fist held at arm's length. 

Shiny orange MARS is the brightest point in the south to southwest after dark 

Sept 22 was the day of the autumnal EQUINOX. The Sun crossed the equator moving south for the year. That marks the beginning of autumn in the Northern
Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. 

CORE KNOWLEDGE CAUGHT 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
The Deep Space 1 spacecraft defied NASA's expectations by surviving a risky comet rendezvous. 

Mission planners predicted Deep Space 1 would be destroyed by dust and debris as the probe raced through comet Borrelly's gaseous outer layer. 

But no! Deep Space 1 snapped dozens of black-and-white pictures of the comet's nucleus, took infrared spectrometer readings and measured the magnetic field
and plasma waves around the comet --­ and survived! 

DS1 whizzed by just 2,200 kilometers (1,400 miles) from the rocky, icy nucleus of the 10-kilometer-long (more than 6-mile-long) comet. 

The photos show that comet nuclei are far more complex than imagined. They have rugged terrain, smooth rolling plains, deep fractures and very, very dark material.

All this from a spacecraft that completed its mission in 1999. NASA then extended the mission, taking advantage of the ion propulsion and other systems to
undertake this chancy but exciting encounter with the comet. 

Deep Space 1 home page: 
http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1/ 

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SETI@home WAY COOL!

SETI@home has over 3 million users. They use this software to search for ET. You can too! Use your home computer to help search for extraterrestrials!

How? The SETI@home screen saver is a scientific analytical software. It performs a mathematical operations on data you download from the SETI program.

SETI@home uses the largest telescope in the world, the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, to continuously scan the sky for radio signals. So far no signs of life. So if you want to help, maybe you can be the lucky one who finds ET!
 

Get SETI@home NOW:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu

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ASTROTIP

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE

Light pollution creates nights that are no darker than twilight for much of the world's population.

An estimated 99 percent of all people in the continental United States and Europe, and two-thirds of the world's population as a whole, never see a truly dark sky.
 

DISTANT DISCOVERIES

SPEED  OF LIGHT MAY CHANGE?

OK, what gives? Researchers studied how light was absorbed by atoms in gas clouds 12 billion light-years away. They found that the fine structure constant, as it is called, may be changing subtly as the universe grows older. Remember that the universe is roughly 13 billion years old, so the light observed was emitted when the universe was a billion years old.

What's the fine structure constant? It explains how electromagnetic forces hold atoms together. The apparent change in the fine structure constant, also called alpha, was very small, amounting to 1 part in 100,000.

No wonder this research was met with caution by other scientists. If it is accurate then the adjustment to theories would be significant and far-reaching.

The research suggests that something in the early universe behaved differently. Because the speed of light is one factor in the fine structure constant equation, it might be it that has changed over time.

And there is precedent for this sort of evolution in scientific thinking. Both the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics were forced to incorporate classical mechanics as a special case.

Read the article:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/generalscience/constant_changing_010815.html

BARGAINS IN THE AMAZON

• Up to 50% off toys and electronics and up to 60% off kitchen essentials
• Books under 5 bucks, CDs under $7, and videos under $10

FAR OUT FACTS

Dennis who? He's the billionaire who paid $20 million to the Russian Space Agency for a trip to the International Space Station.

Mr. Tito only approached the Russians after NASA rejected his application to go into space; later NASA administrator Daniel Goldin said it would be "a cold day in hell" before his agency ever welcomed a space tourist on a mission.

Mr. Tito represents the commercialization of space. NASA reacted to Mr. Tito as if he were an irresponsible crackpot. But he has two degrees in aeronautics and has worked for NASA's jet propulsion program. He was willing to spend his wealth to realize his dream.

Mr. Tito is now dedicated to promoting space tourism. Companies are already selling seats on future spaceshots to wealthy individuals.

There is an emerging entrepreneurial industry dedicated to reducing the cost of spaceflight to a level that permits space tourism. Take for example XCOR Aerospace, in its third generation of rocket development. XCOR says "The primary obstacle to us is the perception that it takes an ungodly amount of money to put people into space. But who spreads this perception? NASA. The tank outside the shuttle costs $50 million and they throw it away every time. We have been astronished at how cheaply we think we can put people into space."

How cheap? "The cost of developing an engine is a few hundred thousand dollars to a few million for the first one. Then it's fairly cheap per unit."

NASA believes space is too dangerous and expensive for ordinary citizens; it thinks it has a monopoly on space. It is wrong. Like the Internet, like the Human Genome Project, space travel will be characterized by an initial government investment followed by commercialization and popularization.

Until then, the Russian space agency is the leader in space tourism. Dennis believes "America is much more controlled [than Russia] and there is a lot of effort put into protecting people from themselves. Russia is not nearly as regulated and paternalistic."

Read the complete Red Herring article here:
http://www.redherring.com/story_redirect.asp?layout=story_generic&doc_id=RH960019896&channel=70000007
 

SPACE TOURISM WHO'S WHO
So you want to be the next SPACE TOURIST after Dennis? Keep an eye on these people, groups, and ideas:

MirCorp:
Tried to commercialize Russia's Mir space station. MirCorp's partner, Russia's RSC Energia, has the only commercial space transportation system in the world for putting people into space -- the Soyuz.

SpaceHab:
Wants to attach commercial module to the International Space Station (ISS) called Enterprise. New interior design of the module shows it can be outfitted with galley, toilet, window, life support gear. This cozy "bed and breakfast" module is ideal for stopover tourists, keeping visitors distant from primary crews as they operate the station.

Bigelow Aerospace:
Working to further the design and development of new technologies supporting future space-based habitats. Las Vegas-based real estate property owner and hotel mogul Robert Bigelow is fabricating inflatable habitat modules. His pop-up space segments will offer nearly three times the habitable volume size of modules used in the ISS.

Astrium:
European aerospace consortium has procured Soyuz seats on behalf of German TV game show, Brainpool. Astrium has a contract for a total of seven space flights with Russian Soyuz rockets over the period from 2002 until 2008.

Space Adventures:
Helped seal the deal to get Dennis Tito airborne. Also working with Russian Space Agency and others to package medical and flight training tests to pre-qualify and certify individuals ready for out-of-this-world travel.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/tourism_sidebar_010629.html
 
 

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My god! It's full of stars!