Modem Noise

Charlie--thanks for the support. You'll be interested to note that a certain Sir Charles Stuart features in the new story in rather a decisive role, a man who must make a terrifying gamble. Heh. :)

As for the shuttle programme: some years ago there was a big push for "single-stage-to-orbit" launchers, which would go from the ground to orbit and back again, all with one cheap ship. The Delta Clipper (aka DC-X) was a very promising start, but the whole thing got shut down in favour of keeping the shuttles going. Just the other day I read a piece in the New York Times about a new booster programme underway at NASA in which they're planning to use existing shuttle technology and infrastructure to build two new boosters (one small, based on a single SRB, for launching crew capsules; and another HUGE one, for launching massive payloads, and which would stand nearly as tall as the old Saturn V). They reckon they can get this thing built up pretty fast, and the technology's already proven. In both boosters, the payload (crew capsule or cargo pod) would sit on top of the stack, rather than ride alongside fuel tanks, etc, like the current shuttle orbiter, and thus avoid all possible shedding of foam and such during launch. It sounds pretty good.

I'd love to see more being done about getting people out exploring the solar system. Weirdly, the US currently seems to have a president who likes this idea--even though he's spending way more on Iraq and cutting taxes. Strange. I'm more troubled by the rumblings I'm hearing about a decline in support for the manned space programme itself. I know I'd be one sad puppy if that went away.

Go, Adrian!

Now it's my turn for a stall. I hammered out 10,000 words of a new novel on my week off last month, and haven't written more than a sentence or two since. I know I've been far too distracted with employment issues. I have been researching, which I hope will get the ball rolling again. *knock on wood*

I too breathed a big sigh of relief when Discovery touched down. Mind you, I think the shuttle has had its heyday. Time to design and build something much better, methinks. Easier said than done, what with the USA spending a thousand times as much on the military as they do on NASA, something that always drives me crazy when I hear people say things like 'we need to spend the money down here instead of space.' Cripes, the price of one stealth bomber would fund NASA for years.

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