April 2005 Archives

NASA Administrator Mike Griffin Hits the Ground Running
The following was written by my SpaceRef business partner Keith Cowing after he attended Mike Griffin's first press conference.

"Mike Griffin met with the press for the first time on Monday - after only 3 days on the job. The obvious difference between Griffin and his two predecessors is that he had a deep understanding of the issues facing the agency the moment he was sworn in."

With a 45.5% increase from the same time last year Apple appears to be reaping the benefits of its iPod/iTunes fortunes. I also think the introduction of the new low cost Mac mini will boost these numbers up higher.

Fuzzy math in Apple harvest?: "Blog: Apple Computer saw its personal computer shipments jump considerably during the first quarter, as we reported Friday. The..."

(Via CNET News.com.)

Considering how much space debris is out this appears to be a step in the right direction. I'll have a video in a few days which illustrates the problem.

Space debris mitigation: The case for a code of conduct: "There is a lot of junk orbiting the Earth and the problem will worsen unless there are changes in how spacecraft operators operate. But it is not all doom and gloom. The first steps toward a comprehensive solution are already well underway including a European code of conduct for space debris mitigation."

(Via EurekAlert!.)

Case Western University
Excerpts from today's press release.

"A Case Western Reserve University engineer has created the "seeds" that can grow into today's and tomorrow's computer and phone chips."

"What makes this discovery significant, Tabib-Azar says, is that, while there are some technical issues yet to be addressed, carbon nanotube bridges may open the door for manufacturers to utilize carbon nanotubes in building the tiniest computer and communication chips. Carbon nanotubes are being explored for many applications in nanoelectronics, nano-electromechanical systems, biosensors, nano-composites, advanced functional materials and meta-materials."

Apple Computers
Mark April 29th on your calendar if your an Apple user. That's the day the public will get its hands on Tiger the next major upgrade to the Mac OS X operating system.

It's a significant release with major improvements across the board including the Apple web browser Safari which while pleasing to the eye, has seen its market share drop slightly as Firefox, the independent browser, has stormed the market in the last six months. According to Apple, Safari is now faster than Firefox and also incorporates RSS into the browser, an important feature.

Yuri Gagarin
Well 44 years ago on this day humanity sent our first voyager to space, Major Yuri Gagarin of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The event escalated the space race to a new level and led to the first humans on the Moon in 1969. To commemorate the event a group of space enthusiasts created Yuri's Night several years. Each year on this day they gather at parties around the world to celebrate the event and the continuing exploration of space.

The Soviet news agency TASS released the following announcement of the event as it happened.

When the Space Engineering and Science Institute announced last fall the Space Exploration 2005 & 1st Biennial Space Elevator Workshop I was immediately interested. However it was not until last week that I finally decided to go to the workshop being held in Albuquerque. It took some time for the Institute to post the agenda which made me wonder if the conference would be worthwhile. But then on March 23rd NASA announced the First Centennial Challenges Prizes which were for two key technologies needed for a Space Elevator. The Spaceward Foundation would be NASA's partner and would oversee the competition. Then the foundation announced its multi-year Space Elevator competition roadmap.

It was at this point that I decided to go and so here I am. I'm primarily here to discuss the Space Elevator competition with the principles involved and to see how I can help them. Aside from that there are some interesting talks on moon and Mars habitats and bases.


The view from my room from the Marriott Pyramid North hotel.

If you book your own travel several new meta search engines have recently come online which can help you find that low fare or last minute hotel deal you've been looking for.

I stopped using a travel agent about 5 years ago and while it can take a little time to find that deal you want, with a little work it can be done. Aside from going directly to the airline web sites looking for fares I also compare fares using Travelocity and Expedia. But three new meta search engines have emerged that offer another avenue to help you. They are Kayak, Mobissimo and Sidestep.