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Domain: usra.edu

Stories and comments across the archive that link to usra.edu.

Comments · 257

  1. Re:Looks pretty damn cool! by Wellspring · · Score: 5 · on Going To Space Inside Magnetic Bubbles
    (I would really like the read the whitepaper, if anyone has a link to it.)

    Ask and you shall receive:

    Phase One of his study: Read the Abstract, enjoy the Full Report.

    Phase Two of his study: Read the Abstract, enjoy the Full Report.

    You're welcome.

    Interesting idea. Note that the 15km bubble he talks about is only with a kilowatt of power and a 200kg spacecraft. A multiton behemoth would have a huge magnetic bubble. I think the economies of scale sound pretty good on this.

    Of course, the big problem of space travel, as everone else is also saying, is the earth to orbit phase.

    ps: 500 hits to this report before we slashdotted it!!!

  2. Re:Looks pretty damn cool! by Wellspring · · Score: 5 · on Going To Space Inside Magnetic Bubbles
    (I would really like the read the whitepaper, if anyone has a link to it.)

    Ask and you shall receive:

    Phase One of his study: Read the Abstract, enjoy the Full Report.

    Phase Two of his study: Read the Abstract, enjoy the Full Report.

    You're welcome.

    Interesting idea. Note that the 15km bubble he talks about is only with a kilowatt of power and a 200kg spacecraft. A multiton behemoth would have a huge magnetic bubble. I think the economies of scale sound pretty good on this.

    Of course, the big problem of space travel, as everone else is also saying, is the earth to orbit phase.

    ps: 500 hits to this report before we slashdotted it!!!

  3. Re:Looks pretty damn cool! by Wellspring · · Score: 5 · on Going To Space Inside Magnetic Bubbles
    (I would really like the read the whitepaper, if anyone has a link to it.)

    Ask and you shall receive:

    Phase One of his study: Read the Abstract, enjoy the Full Report.

    Phase Two of his study: Read the Abstract, enjoy the Full Report.

    You're welcome.

    Interesting idea. Note that the 15km bubble he talks about is only with a kilowatt of power and a 200kg spacecraft. A multiton behemoth would have a huge magnetic bubble. I think the economies of scale sound pretty good on this.

    Of course, the big problem of space travel, as everone else is also saying, is the earth to orbit phase.

    ps: 500 hits to this report before we slashdotted it!!!

  4. Re:Looks pretty damn cool! by Wellspring · · Score: 5 · on Going To Space Inside Magnetic Bubbles
    (I would really like the read the whitepaper, if anyone has a link to it.)

    Ask and you shall receive:

    Phase One of his study: Read the Abstract, enjoy the Full Report.

    Phase Two of his study: Read the Abstract, enjoy the Full Report.

    You're welcome.

    Interesting idea. Note that the 15km bubble he talks about is only with a kilowatt of power and a 200kg spacecraft. A multiton behemoth would have a huge magnetic bubble. I think the economies of scale sound pretty good on this.

    Of course, the big problem of space travel, as everone else is also saying, is the earth to orbit phase.

    ps: 500 hits to this report before we slashdotted it!!!

  5. The Becker copyright. by becker · · Score: 1 · on Sun Finds & Exploits Hole in the GPL *Update*
    Take a look at 3c509.c or 8390.c to see who I was assigning the copyright to in 1992 and 1993. As far as I can tell, I was the first person to get a GPL release of code through that system. I'm proud of that landmark!

    Going through a six month external release review cycle does make you very careful when selecting the next position.

    In 1994 I moved to USRA-CESDIS. USRA usually hosts visiting scientists that are working with NASA. Their home institutions usually want to control any inventions and copyright, so it's possible for people in research positions to retain their own copyright as long as the work product is made available. The GPL is significantly better in the long run than the usual limited benefit the government gets from sponsored research.

    One of the benefits of my current position working at Scyld is that we support projects released under GPL. Don't question how I'm able to keep my copyright, question why you haven't applied to work at Scyld or one of the other similar employers!

  6. Re:Ah, I *like* this idea... by boing+boing · · Score: 1 · on Macs In Space!

    Check out this power point presentation. This project is to build a high temperature super conductor in a low earth orbit and return it to the ground for use. Notice the sponsors of the work.

  7. Re:Why? by boing+boing · · Score: 1 · on A For-Profit Trip To The Moon

    Check out this site. It has several presentation about re-entry plans. It is not trivial and the US is probably the best in the world at it, but it has to be controlled. These objects you return are essentially meteorites in the way they enter the Earth without control. Very dangerous.

    I hope to see the day when launch costs get cheap enough ($1/pound vs 10K$/pound) to send humans into space; but before humans spend too much time in space, it is necessary to develop a good way to eliminate the dangers of radiation. This will be the most expensive and difficult challenge (IMO) for future space exploration.

    I thought the troll part was funny.