MetaFilter posts tagged with spacetravel

The Economist: The World in 2010

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:09:43 -0800

In 2010, Obama will have a miserable year, NATO may lose in Afghanistan, the UK gets a regime change, China needs to chill, India's factories will overtake its farms, Europe risks becoming an irrelevant museum, the stimulus will need an exit strategy, the G20 will see a challenge from the "G2", African football will unite Korea, conflict over natural resources will grow, Sarkozy will be unloved and unrivalled, the kids will come together to solve the world's problems (because their elders are unable), technology will grow ever more ubiquitous, we'll all charge our phones via USB, MBAs will be uncool, the Space Shuttle will be put to rest, and Somalia will be the worst country in the world. And so the Tens begin.

The Economist: The World in 2010. Previously: 2009, 2008, 2007. How did we do last time around? Guest contributions: President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso lines up Europe's priorities President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev argues for dialogue and cooperation President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed wants his island nation to remain above water President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would like for Islam and the West to live in harmony President of South Africa Jacob Zuma says Africa should rise to the occasion Director-General of the World Health Organisation Margaret Chan predicts the development of the flu pandemic Managing director of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn explains how to prevent another crisis CEO of Yahoo! Carol Bartz believes business leaders should tap into the information flood Chairman of HSBC Stephen Green argues that the financial sector should welcome emerging economies CEO of Fiat Group and Chrysler Group Sergio Marchionne thinks greener cars require bolder action CEO/CTO of SpaceX Elon Musk says the private sector should handle space travel

'I ask you to keep the images and albums with the numerous drawings and models that I created for you humans.'

brundlefly — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:35:46 -0800

The Leonardo of Wermsdorf: technical illustrations by Karl Hans (Joachim) Janke

Happy 40th anniversary, mankind.

sexyrobot — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:01:13 -0800

Moon Landing Tapes Found! All the videos you've seen of the first moon landing are crap. Remember, back in the day, video cameras and recorders were two different things. So it went like this: camera on moon sends footage to Australia, where it's recorded on tape (and then those tapes were lost), then downsized onto a smaller monitor, which is filmed by another video camera, uploaded to satellite, and disseminated around the world. America watches it on TV, cheers. Some of this footage is filmed off of a television onto 16mm film. This is what goes into the national archives. Crap. So, the original tapes have been found (spoiler: they never left Australia). So what, right? How good could they be, recorded back in the late 60's and all? Pretty darn good, apparently...seems recording heads were much better than the output available at the time (like playing a Blu-Ray disc on a B&W TV), and several recent projects have shown that it's possible to extract very high resolution data from these old analog tapes. How hi-rez? High enough to see Neil Armstrong's nipples get hard. (be sure to click on that picture) So when can we see this amazing footage? Probably soon.

Warp Drive

homunculus — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:26:02 -0800

Putting the Warp into Warp Drive.

the universe is bananas.

6am — Thu, 11 May 2006 15:49:47 -0800

Life Beyond Earth and the Mind of Man. Direct Google Video link to a fruitcake-tastic half-hour film of "a symposium held at Boston University on November 20, 1972 that explores the implications of the possible existence of extraterrestrial life within the galaxy and the universe. " Well worth scrubbing through for some good moments if you don't have time to watch the whole thing. Other cool old NASA videos on google video include Who's Out There?, starring a cigar smoking Orson Welles squinting a lot and reading off the cue cards, and Debrief: Apollo 8: "Happiness is bacon squares for breakfast".

One small st.... yeah yeah

sourbrew — Mon, 08 Nov 2004 21:07:54 -0800

Move over X-Prize - in order to win the next big space prize($50 million) one will have to build a spacecraft capable of taking a crew of no fewer than five people to an altitude of 400 kilometers and complete two orbits of the Earth at that altitude. Then they have to repeat that accomplishment within 60 days.

Booooyah

sourbrew — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 08:56:57 -0800

And so it begins

up, up, and...

casarkos — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 06:34:35 -0800

SpaceShipOne is set to take off around 9:30 ET today. Funded by that other guy who founded Microsoft, this (if successful) will be the first non-government-sponsored manned spaceflight.

Space elevator one step closer.

krisjohn — Sun, 16 Feb 2003 17:04:16 -0800

Highlift Systems may have found a better location for their space elevator in Perth, Australia. Calm waters, few thunderstorms, not too far from the equator, international airport. (Slashdot discussion) I live in Perth, so I'm excited about the prospect, but our current premier may need a little prod.

archimago — Wed, 23 Oct 2002 06:03:00 -0800

Who owns the moon? Apparently these people do, and they’re selling it off acre by acre. They are “The founders and leaders of the extraterrestrial real estate market.” Do we really need a Galactic Government with an embassy on the moon? I guess The Federation had to start somewhere. This just begs the question, “Does Venus have its own laws?”

JonnyX — Mon, 07 Oct 2002 10:29:35 -0800

Space Shuttle Atlantis is about to be launched from Cape Canaveral. Watch it live. Blast off at 3:45pm EDT 07/10/02.

ncurley — Mon, 20 May 2002 16:50:12 -0800

China to Mine Moon for 'Benefit of Humanity'. China says it is planning to establish a base on the Moon to exploit its mineral resources. Beijing has not yet put a human into space, but scientists say they expect to do so within three years and they have outlined an ambitious programme for the future. Chinese space official Ouyang Ziyuan said: "Our long-term goal is to set up a base on the moon and mine its riches for the benefit of humanity."

johnny novak — Tue, 21 Aug 2001 04:35:47 -0800

We've discussed whether the moon landings were faked, but now we have conclusive proof.

Aaaugh! — Mon, 05 Feb 2001 14:13:00 -0800

Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming toward me very fast? Very, very fast. So big and flat and round... Are you one of those people in search of a new extreme sport? Have you considered spacediving?

Skot — Thu, 01 Feb 2001 09:35:32 -0800

Mission To Mars What if we could get there in about two weeks?