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Domain: space.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to space.com.

Comments · 2,905

  1. space.com series of Dune articles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Sci-Fi Channel Making Dune Miniseries

    space.com ran a series of articles about Dune some time back, including one about the mini-series. Go here for a complete list of their Dune stories.

  2. space.com series of Dune articles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Sci-Fi Channel Making Dune Miniseries

    space.com ran a series of articles about Dune some time back, including one about the mini-series. Go here for a complete list of their Dune stories.

  3. Space vs. Cyberspace - what are our priorities? by apsmith · · Score: 1 · on Report from Orlando: The Lost City of Epcot

    Katz talks about the tragedy of technology. I'm not sure quite what he's getting at, but I think it IS tragic that Wall Street has found billions of dollars to pour into cyberspace, but can't seem to find the few millions needed to make viable some of the companies REALLY looking at revolutionizing space travel.

    Space.com actually has pretty good news on some of the latest companies and technologies. I think the Rotary Rocket idea is the most interesting, though I suspect they may have run into some technical issues relating to angular momentum conservation... But there's also Kistler Aerospace and many others that promise to reduce costs to orbit by a factor of 10 or more. There are 17 entrants in the X-prize $10 million race to be the first single-stage-to-orbit vehicle. NASA has some nice new ideas too, but the bureaucracy makes that agency close to useless.

    Anyway, even a single $1 billion internet entrepreneur involved in this business would be a huge boost. Most of the companies are scrounging for financing at the $10 million to $100 million level - some are getting it, some are not. But there's clearly not nearly enough money being put into it yet to take full advantage of the new materials and other revolutionary ideas that are just itching to be put into space vehicle design.

    The NASA dream died when the argument went around that this has no relevance to solving our "real problems" - poverty, etc. etc. Well, I think the argument Arthur Clarke made about this recently should resonate with the techies here on /.: here on Earth we're on a single planet, with no redundancy. The Earth goes "down" for very long, and we're finished. Getting into space is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL for the long-term survival of humanity. And that's pretty important in my book, anyway.

  4. Atmospheric effects apparently can be ignored by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Ikonos 1-Meter Resolution Earth Images from Space
    Optical theory says that a Hubble-sized diffraction-limited telescope pointed at earth from the Hubble orbit can resolve no better than 7 centimeters, ignoring atmospheric effects (which in reality cannot be ignored).

    I'd be curious to hear if you have any insights regarding why this technology can't be applied on a space-based platform to overcome the traditional limitations of atmosphere and fixed-lens optics.

  5. Re:Engineering problems by georgeha · · Score: 1 · on Space Station Funding Safe - For Now.

    Other Nasa programs are addressing it though, like the X-33.

    George