October 2004

Centauri Dreams on the Air

October 30, 2004

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku interviewed me for his public radio show Explorations last Thursday. The show is to run November 1, but I’m told that some of the public stations that carry it are currently doing their fund-raising, so the schedule may be thrown off. Dr. Kaku’s Web page carries a list of stations, and […]

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Enigmatic Titan Has Everyone Stumped

October 29, 2004

The news from Titan could not be more curious. Radar imagery shows dark areas that may be smooth plains choked with ice, or perhaps pools of liquid methane. The early photographs showed few topographical features, due largely to the diffuse glare that reduces shadows under Titan’s thick atmosphere. But processed radar images showed rough terrain […]

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Early Planet Formation Around Beta Pictoris

October 27, 2004

Astronomers from Japan’s Ibaraki University, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the University of Tokyo, and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan have analyzed the dust disk surrounding the star Beta Pictoris, with intriguing results. Using an instrument called the Cooled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer (COMICS) and the Subaru telescope, the team found that ring-like distributions […]

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NASA TV Coverage on Titan Findings

October 27, 2004

A Cassini close encounter news briefing will be available on NASA TV at 12 PM EST today. Live interviews on the Titan flyby will appear in segments from 3 to 7 PM EST this afternoon. A science briefing occurs tomorrow at 12 PM EST (all programs subject to change without notice, adds NASA). For more, […]

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A View of Xanadu

October 26, 2004

We’ll soon have many more images, but for now, this view of Titan taken on the 24th may give a foretaste of what’s to come. Here’s the image, along with NASA’s description, of the extraordinary feature that recalls Coleridge: In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through […]

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The Key to Antimatter Propulsion: Dedicated Facilities

October 26, 2004

Antihydrogen, now produced for the first time in Switzerland at the CERN facility, may be the ultimate fuel, producing a thousand times more energy than fission or fusion methods. But what will it take to produce enough antihydrogen for practical use? After all, we now produce antimatter in the amount of mere nanograms per year. […]

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Long-Distance Repair for Cassini

October 25, 2004

Apropos of the Cassini material below, IEEE Spectrum Online is running a remarkable story telling how a Swedish engineer discovered a potentially fatal flaw in the communications procedures between Cassini and the Huygens probe that will land on Titan. Corrections to Cassini’s trajectory may have saved the mission. Must reading on the subject of spacecraft […]

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Cassini Titan Flyby Looms

October 25, 2004

The Cassini Saturn orbiter will make its closest approach yet to Titan tomorrow, traveling 1200 kilometers (745 miles) above the surface at a speed of 6.1 kilometers per second. This will be the first time Cassini has used its radar instruments to image the moon. Confirmation that data from the flyby were successfully received won’t […]

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Nanotechnology and the Interstellar ‘Needle’ Probe

October 23, 2004

Why keep a close eye on nanotechnology? The Foresight Institute’s Conference on Advanced Nanotechnology, closing tomorrow at the Crystal City Marriott in Washington DC, is loaded with reasons, but for interstellar theorists, the answer is mass. Ponder this: the Project Daedalus multi-stage starship, designed by the British Interplanetary Society and the first complete theoretical study […]

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New Tracking Options for Cosmos 1 Solar Sail

October 22, 2004

The Planetary Society has struck two agreements with US government agencies to track its Cosmos 1 solar sail. Although ground stations near Moscow will provide the bulk of the tracking, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will also monitor the mission from its National Environmental Satellite Data Information Service site in Alaska. The US […]

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