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I have posted a comment on Chad's site requesting a retraction. Here is the note.Chad: Thank you for saying that I'm the sane one around here. You should see the other inmates. As for your passionate note: 1) As I...

Going Up?...all the way to Geosychronous Orbit

A couple of articles on a concept found in science fiction from Arthur C. Clarke and others: a tethered orbital elevator system! At first glance if one is unfamiliar with the concept it sounds like something from a hallucination - but the physics works, and with recent new developments in materials technology, the means are also now available.

The big advantage: CHEAP cost to orbit, especially compared to rocketry. Check these articles out: one from this weeks Sunday (London) Telegraph, and the other from none other than the big gorilla of the blogosphere hisself: Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds writing on Tech Central Station.

Click on image to enlarge. (Image from liftport.com)

Stairway to heaven

The race is on to build the first "space elevator' - long dismissed as science fiction - to carry people and materials into orbit along a cable thousands of miles long.

In a significant step, American aviation regulators have just given permission for the opening trials of a prototype, while a competition to be launched next month follows in the wake of the $10 million (£5.6 million) "X Prize'', which led to the first privately developed craft leaving the Earth's atmosphere, briefly, last year.

Folks, this isn't pie in the sky conceptualizing - it's going into the engineering phase - that's about as concrete as it gets!

Space Program: Looking Up

I've written here in the past about NASA's work on space elevators, and on the new leaner, meaner, prize-oriented approach favored by NASA Administrator Mike Griffin. Now there are some signs of real progress on a number of fronts. As I noted earlier, NASA was offering prizes for space elevator research. That's still going on, but there are some new studies suggesting that space elevators may be closer to practicality than previously thought.

Indeed!

From Rush Limbaugh: The money sound bite is from Lieutenant General Russell Ragin' Cajun Honore. He has a press conference. (sigh) I guess I gotta play all of these. I don't want to play all of these. I got four...

Red State seems to have some inside knowledge. Word in legal circles is that Priscilla Owen is set to become the next justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately, I have received reliable information late this afternoon that...

The Rapid City Journal has a brief piece by Celeste Calvitto on Johnson's decision to support John Roberts.The individual he (Roberts) is going to replace was a very conservative member of the court, so his confirmation does not change the...

While most of the rest of us were working, a hundred thousand protesters armed with Ipods descended on the Mall in Washington D.C. Cindy Sheehan was there, of course, apparently complaining that everyone was paying too much attention to the...

Today was my first day back at work after surgery, and blech, what a day it was. I knocked off a little early and came home and napped. Or maybe it wasn't the surgery that knocked the pins out from...

State, mine officials sign Homestake pact

Plans are moving ahead for conversion of the Homestake mine in the SD Black Hills to an underground laboratory. The mine is one of two sites being considered by the National Science Foundation for setting up a deep underground research lab. For the Homestate, this would be at around 7400 feet below ground. The mine is 8000 feet deep.

While the NSF plans are still pending, SD Gov. Mike Rounds is pursuing plans for a state-financed lab to be started sooner at the 4800 foot level. In addition to being a research asset in its own right, this would also give Homestake a leg up in the NSF selection process.

The agreement with the mining company opens the way for the state to complete financing and to start to implement plans for the intermediate level lab.

A good move for the state.

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