SpaceX rockets update

Space

I’ve been catching up on space things in preparation for the Mars Society Convention next week. Today I ran across an exciting summary of the progress that SpaceX has made toward launching their next Falcon 1 rocket as well as their much larger Falcon 9 rocket. According to the “monster progress update“, the next launch is scheduled for January 2008, with a launch of the Falcon 9 (the one big enough to carry people) in late 2008. They’ve also been doing lots of engine testing and other groundwork, plus they’ve been granted access to Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, bringing their total number of launch sites to 3.

Nicely done all around. I can’t wait to hear what SpaceX founder Elon Musk talks about at the convention.

on keywords and importance

Blog, Plain foolishness

I’ve been looking for a few choice keywords to describe what we talk about here at Global Spin. You know, “science, culture, politics, writing, foolishness” kind of thing. One of the places I checked was Compete, which offered the oddest suggestion yet: “important punctuation.”

So, yeah. I just had to Google it. There on page 2 was an old article on the importance of punctuation. The link was bad and it needed an update, but there it is. Science, culture, politics, writing, foolishness, and punctuation.

aerogel, my new favorite thing

Science, Space, Technology

A brick supported by a wisp of aerogelI’m just about running out of awe lately. It’s like awesome things are showering down from the sky, perhaps in an attempt to counteract all the craptacular things that we are usually made aware of.

So you can imagine that I started reading this article about the wonders of aerogel with a depleted awe supply. Yeah, yeah, it’s really light. Great, it was developed by NASA. Sure, it’ll have all sorts of space applications. Fine, it was used as shoe insulation by a mountain climber whose only trouble was that her feet got too hot.

What was that last thing again? Really? And 6mm of it protects against a dynamite blast? Huh. And photos of it look really spooky, like there’s nothing really there. Well, now.

So now I want to get some. You know, just to have. I’m sure I could think of something to do with it…

hologram for you, sir!

Technology

3D image projected in mid-airSo you take a laser and you shoot it into the air, creating a true 3-D image that anyone can view from any angle. Can’t be done, you say? Science fiction, you say?

Well, the Japanese Institute for Doing The Impossible[1] has proven you wrong again by creating just such a device. Take that! It’s no trick, either. The device uses a high-powered laser to ignite the atmosphere[2], tracing its trail of destruction into pleasing shapes for us. Better yet, while I wasn’t looking they improved the contraption, making the image brighter and apparently giving it the ability to display Japanese. In Japan, no less!

Will wonders never cease?

[Thanks, Nick!]

[1] a loose translation
[2] tiny parts of it, admittedly

Green Roofs: An Introduction with Pretty Pictures

Architecture, Art, Environment

green roofMake that drool-inducing gorgeous photos of places I’d love to see in person. EcoGeek (now added to my regular feeds) has a fun piece on green roofs. Not just solar tiles or recycled materials, though; these roofs are actually green, with grass and other plants.

It’s not just for hobbits anymore. The logic of green roofs is becoming more apparent. We can minimize our bills while maximizing the beauty of the urban landscape. And every day it’s becoming a little easier to live in a house that just happens to have plants growing on it.

Maybe for you, my friend. Maybe for you. The rest of us will just watch and dream.