NotesToday, 20th September 2024, is the 40th anniversary of the day the world first experienced Elite, the 3D space trading and combat game written by Ian Bell and David Braben, first on the BBC Microcomputer in conjunction with Acornsoft. To commemorate this, I have added further sources (Apple, Atari, C64, NES, SNES (unfinished) "Elite"; and BBC "Elite II" (unfinished)) to the Elite Archive. Unfurl
NotesAs we recall from bitter memory, the Hubble and the space station are in vastly different orbits. Getting from one to the other requires so much energy that not even space shuttles had enough fuel to do it. The telescope is 353 miles high, in an orbit that keeps it near the Equator; the space station is about 100 miles lower, in an orbit that takes it far north, over Russia.
To have the movie astronauts Matt Kowalski (Mr. Clooney) and Ryan Stone (Ms. Bullock) zip over to the space station would be like having a pirate tossed overboard in the Caribbean swim to London. Unfurl
NotesSo a couple of nights ago, I went through the familiar steps of manually adding the Freespace Source Code Project files to my GOG copy of Freespace 2. This time, however, I added all the extra high-resolution stuff from the MediaVPs (i.e. all the optional stuff) because I figured my new rig could run it (my last one totally choked when I added all the optional MediaVPs). Once it was all said and done, I ran the launcher and set up everything as ordered (as well as adding Spidey’s lighting settings) and ran the game at maximum resolution with everything set as high as possible for my first time ever. What resulted was nothing short of breathtaking.EmbedUnfurl
NotesA digital copy of Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" along with works by other science fiction legends was flown into space in 2007 by NASA's Phoenix spacecraft, which touched down on the Martian arctic plains.Unfurl
NotesA BBC team have been working closely with Dr Venn's team to help recover the signals. BBC Television historian Peter Wells, explained "We now know these are original broadcasts. So far we have recovered about 7 weeks of old television signals from space. Every day in our lab is like traveling back in time. And speaking of which we have just started the digital recovery of signals that contain lost Doctor Who episodes.FeedUnfurl
NotesAmateur radio enthusiasts using a restored dish antenna in Germany say they have successfully picked up telemetry from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, now outward bound for Mars carrying a one-ton nuclear powered robot rover named Curiosity towards a date with destiny in the Elysium Planitia.FeedUnfurl
NotesSince being redirected away from Bush-era plans for a base on the Moon towards a manned Mars mission, NASA has realigned its nuclear-tech-in-space efforts away from a Moonbase powerplant and towards an atomic-powered rocket able to get astronauts to the red planet quickly, without receiving dangerous exposure to cosmic radiation.FeedUnfurl
NotesThe technology to launch an orbiter from the sky, rather than the ground, already exists. The Pegasus rocket launcher, for example, has performed over 40 aerial launches: A carrier aircraft flies the rocket up, and then fires it off — satellite included — into the stratosphere. But to refine that system, then strip it of human personnel, is a tall order — the launching system would need to be entirely self-sufficient. Indeed, Darpa notes that ALASA is looking for a launcher requiring “no recurring maintenance or support, and no specific integration to prepare for launch.”Unfurl
NotesDon't worry—if we do find evidence of Martians, it will still be on Mars, we'll probably just have to dig a little deeper to find it. A new NASA study has concluded that if life ever thrived on the Red Planet, it probably did so underground, just below the planet's surface. In other words, life...Unfurl
NotesThe video, originally shot back in July at TAM 2011 Las Vegas, is of a panel featuring Bill Nye, astronomers Neil DeGrasse Tyson & Pamela Gay, and theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss—and the entire discussion is moderated by Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait. The subjects raised are consequential, the discussions thought provoking, and the opinions of the panelists refreshingly diverse (and often conflicting).Unfurl
NotesNew research conducted by Abraham Loeb from Harvard and Edwin Turner from Princeton shows that electric, artificial lights on remote planets could be detected using next-generation ground and space telescopes. The basic approach is simple: planets that are exclusively illuminated by a local sun will have one “light signature,” while a planet with artificial lights will have another. Loeb and Turner say that this technique, with our current telescopes, would be able to pick out a major terrestrial city on the edge of the Solar System, in the Kuiper belt (50 AU) — but future telescopes, or the telescopes belonging to advanced, alien races, could see farther. Unfurl
Notes"Robert Harrison used his ingenuity and a collection of cheap parts worth just £500 to take the spectacular shots using a Canon camera which he launched 35km above the planet's surface."Unfurl
Notes"If we succeed in doing it, it's going to look nothing like the Starship Enterprise. Or even New Horizons. The whole reference frame we instinctively assume when we hear the word "ship" is just so wrong it's beyond wrong-ness: it's on a par with Baron Munchausen's lunar exploits as seen in light of the Apollo Program. We need a new handle for discussing and analyzing such a venture. And the sooner we consign the "-ship" suffix to the dustbin of failed ideas, the better."FeedUnfurl
Notes"if space flight is really going to take thousands of years, hundreds of generations, and immense resources that could be better spent on having a good time, why should millions of sentient beings be expected to sink their lives into making it happen?"Unfurl
Notes"It's not often that Britain can claim a win in the space race. But these teddy bears drifting nearly 20 miles above Earth have become the first soft toys to take part in extra-vehicular activity (to use correct NASA jargon) at such an altitude."FeedUnfurl
Notes"Either way, the direct costs of the Iraq war exceed the maximum cost estimate for a manned Mars expedition, infrastructure and all, by 20%"FeedUnfurl
Notes"Ever imagine what it'd be like to play Asteroids against your friends? Want to savor the satisfaction of blasting people out of space in some addictive side-scrolling 2D spaceship shooter action?"Unfurl
Notes"I wonder if survival is different for some people, like we evolved from different apes. Some people panic, scream and run while some people just turn off and sublimate."Unfurl
Notes"Though an unprotected human would not long survive in the clutches of outer space, it is remarkable that survival times can be measured in minutes rather than seconds, and that one could endure such an inhospitable environment for almost two minutes withUnfurl
NotesThe conceit, originating on LJ, that Spirit is a disgruntled goth, while Opportunity is an what we'd call in High School days - a "social" has gone mainstream.Unfurl
Notes"The re-establishment of contact half an hour later was met with jubilation from the mission team at the US space agency's (Nasa) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, California."Unfurl
Notes"AN EXTRAORDINARY "hyperspace" engine that could make interstellar space travel a reality by flying into other dimensions is being investigated by the United States government."Unfurl
NotesFinally waking up from the shuttle disaster? (The whole program, that is.) "Building on the best of Apollo and shuttle technology, NASA's creating a 21st century exploration system that will be affordable, reliable, versatile, and safe."Unfurl
Notes"After three years of being laughed out of meetings, the U.S. Marine Corps' futuristic plans to deploy through space may finally be getting some traction"Unfurl
Notes"The first mission by Space Adventures could happen in 2008 or 2009 and is planned as a stepping stone to an eventual lunar landing by private citizens."Unfurl
Notes"As tempting as it is to picture a blood-spattered Canadarm flinging goat carcasses into the void, we know that the Shuttle is the fruit of what was supposed to be a rational decision making process."Unfurl
Notes"...the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will also snap the first close-range pics of Apollo relics we've seen for three decades." But, of course, they still won't believe we've been to the moon...Unfurl
Notes"How long could a human survive if exposed to vacuum?" Just watched a Farscape marathon and, damn, those people end up exposed to hard vacuum a lot. Wondered how feasible it would be to make an airlock-to-airlock jump, suitless.Unfurl
Notes"These earthly bacteria, exposed to intense ultraviolet radiation on the lunar surface, could have acquired mutations that allow them to digest Moon rocks, he suggests."Unfurl
Notes"The rocket plane SpaceShipOne separated from its carrier aircraft and launched toward the outer limits of Earth's atmosphere at 7:50 a.m. Monday (10:50 a.m. ET), controllers said."Unfurl
Elite 40th Anniversary
New Hardware Rave: Freespace 2 Looks F%#*ing AMAZING! | Space Game Junkie
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