Universe Today - June 27, 2001 |
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the U N I V E R S E T O D A Y Space Exploration News From Around the Internet Updated Every Weekday. June 27, 2001 - Issue #447 http://www.universetoday.com info@universetoday.com An HTML version including pictures is available at: http://www.universetoday.com/html/misc/today.html For information on unsubscribing or changing your email address, check the bottom of this newsletter. ************************************** A note from Fraser... For the second story today, I mention that a group of space tourism advocates invaded Washington today to present their case. If you're interested in knowing what Dennis Tito and Buzz Aldrin said, check out the following links: Dennis Tito http://www.house.gov/science/space/jun26/tito.htm Buzz Aldrin http://www.house.gov/science/space/jun26/hawes.htm This should be in interesting debate, so keep watching as this unfolds further. Fraser Cain Publisher Universe Today P.S. Thanks for all the feedback yesterday. To answer a bunch of questions... my new job involves web development strategy for airline industry; the baby (our first) is due November 5th (we don't know the gender yet); and I play a 44th level warrior on the Saryrn server in Everquest (named Rogok). ************************************** -- UNIVERSE TODAY STORY SUMMARY -- * Solar Plane Could Replace Some Satellites * Serious Debate About Space Tourism * Watch the Skies for Bootid Meteor Shower * Hubble Spots Planets Drifting through Globular Cluster SOLAR PLANE COULD REPLACE SOME SATELLITES ------------------------- Engineers from NASA are working on a solar-powered plane that will be able to reach an altitude of over 30,000 metres and eventually stay aloft for months at a time. Named the Helios prototype, the plane is expected to take off from a modified runway in Hawaii and test how well it performs in the air - high altitude and long-duration tests are set to follow. NASA sees this solar-powered aircraft as a viable alternative to some communication and Earth-observing satellites because of its relatively low cost. Original Source: http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Projects/Erast/helios.html Internet Coverage: http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/06/26/space.plane.reut/index.html http://dsc.discovery.com/news/reu/20010625/helios.html Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/nasa.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/nasa.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/nasa.html SERIOUS DEBATE ABOUT SPACE TOURISM ------------------------- Buzz Aldrin, Dennis Tito and other space tourism advocates addressed congressional leaders on Tuesday, and presented their ideas on how NASA should incorporate wealthy tourists into its budget plans. They believe that NASA could energize a new industry by making open seats on shuttle flights available to paying passengers - like the $20 million Tito spent on his trip earlier this year. Internet Coverage: http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/06/27/tourism.space/index.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/592916.asp http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/tourism_conference_010626.html Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/nasa.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/spacetourism.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/nasa.html WATCH THE SKIES FOR BOOTID METEOR SHOWER ------------------------- The June Bootid meteor shower is expected to reach its peak on Wednesday and should produce meteors for about a week. Created by the dust trail left by Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke, the shower usually only produces a few meteors an hour; however, for brief times and shower has been known to burst for up to 100 meteors/hour. The best time to see the shower is to look West between midnight and 4:00am local time. Internet Coverage: http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/06/26/meteor.shower/index.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/586894.asp Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/meteorites.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/meteorshowers.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/meteorshowers.html HUBBLE SPOTS PLANETS DRIFTING THROUGH GLOBULAR CLUSTER ------------------------- New images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope show what seem to be planet-sized objects wandering through globular star cluster M22. The astronomy team used a technique called microlensing, to spot the objects and calculate their mass (no greater than 80x the mass of the Earth, they believe). Microlensing works when a dark object passes in front of a star, and the gravity of the object focuses the light of the star to make it appear much brighter for a brief time. One theory for these objects is that they are orphan planets torn away from their stars by the chaotic gravity of the cluster. Original Source: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/2001/20/pr.html Internet Coverage: http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/06/27/hubble.cluster/index.html Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/hubble.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/astronomy.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/hubble.html ------------------------- To unsubscribe from this newsletter, just reply with only the subject line "UNSUBSCRIBE !*EMAIL*!". If you just want to change your address, just reply to this email with a quick note on what your old and new email addresses are. It's actually a bit of a manual process. :-) All contents copyright (c) 2001 Universe Today |