CHAPTER XIII--STONES HILL
When the decision was arrived at by the Gun Club, to the disparagement of Texas, every one in America, where reading is a universal acquirement, set to work to study the geography of Florida. Never before had there been such a sale for works like "Bertram's Travels in Florida," "Roman's Natural History of East and West Florida," "William's Territory of Florida," and "Cleland on the Cultivation of the Sugar-Cane in Florida." It became necessary to issue fresh editions of these works.
Barbicane had something better to do than to read. He desired to see things with his own eyes, and to mark the exact position of the proposed gun. So, without a moment's loss of time, he placed at the disposal of the Cambridge Observatory the funds necessary for the construction of a telescope, and entered into negotiations with the house of Breadwill and Co., of Albany, for the construction of an aluminum projectile of the required size. He then quitted Baltimore, accompanied by J. T. Maston, Major Elphinstone, and the manager of the Coldspring factory.
On the following day, the four fellow-travelers arrived at New Orleans. There they immediately embarked on board the Tampico, a despatch-boat belonging to the Federal navy, which the government had placed at their disposal; and, getting up steam, the banks of Louisiana speedily disappeared from sight.
The passage was not long. Two days after starting, the Tampico, having made four hundred and eighty miles, came in sight of the coast of Florida. On a nearer approach Barbicane found himself in view of a low, flat country of somewhat barren aspect. After coasting along a series of creeks abounding in lobsters and oysters, the Tampico entered the bay of Espiritu Santo, where she finally anchored in a small natural harbor, formed by the embouchure of the River Hillisborough, at seven P.M., on the 22d of October.
Our four passengers disembarked at once. "Gentlemen," said Barbicane, "we have no time to lose; tomorrow we must obtain horses, and proceed to reconnoiter the country."
Barbicane had scarcely set his foot on shore when three thousand of the inhabitants of Tampa Town came forth to meet him, an honor due to the president who had signalized their country by his choice.
Declining, however, every kind of ovation, Barbicane ensconced himself in a room of the Franklin Hotel.
On the morrow some of the small horses of the Spanish breed, full of vigor and of fire, stood snorting under his windows; but instead of four steeds, here were fifty, together with their riders. Barbicane descended with his three fellow- travelers; and much astonished were they all to find themselves in the midst of such a cavalcade. He remarked that every horseman carried a carbine slung across his shoulders and pistols in his holsters.
On expressing his surprise at these preparations, he was speedily enlightened by a young Floridan, who quietly said:
"Sir, there are Seminoles there."
"What do you mean by Seminoles?"
"Savages who scour the prairies. We thought it best, therefore, to escort you on your road."
"Pooh!" cried J. T. Maston, mounting his steed.
"All right," said the Floridan; "but it is true enough, nevertheless."
"Gentlemen," answered Barbicane, "I thank you for your kind attention; but it is time to be off."
It was five A.M. when Barbicane and his party, quitting Tampa Town, made their way along the coast in the direction of Alifia Creek. This little river falls into Hillisborough Bay twelve miles above Tampa Town. Barbicane and his escort coasted along its right bank to the eastward. Soon the waves of the bay disappeared behind a bend of rising ground, and the Floridan "champagne" alone offered itself to view.
Florida, discovered on Palm Sunday, in 1512, by Juan Ponce de Leon, was originally named Pascha Florida. It little deserved that designation, with its dry and parched coasts. But after some few miles of tract the nature of the soil gradually changes and the country shows itself worthy of the name. Cultivated plains soon appear, where are united all the productions of the northern and tropical floras, terminating in prairies abounding with pineapples and yams, tobacco, rice, cotton-plants, and sugar-canes, which extend beyond reach of sight, flinging their riches broadcast with careless prodigality.
Barbicane appeared highly pleased on observing the progressive elevation of the land; and in answer to a question of J. T. Maston, replied:
"My worthy friend, we cannot do better than sink our Columbiad in these high grounds."
"To get nearer the moon, perhaps?" said the secretary of the Gun Club.
"Not exactly," replied Barbicane, smiling; "do you not see that among these elevated plateaus we shall have a much easier work of it? No struggles with the water-springs, which will save us long expensive tubings; and we shall be working in daylight instead of down a deep and narrow well. Our business, then, is to open our trenches upon ground some hundreds of yards above the level of the sea."
"You are right, sir," struck in Murchison, the engineer; "and, if I mistake not, we shall ere long find a suitable spot for our purpose."
"I wish we were at the first stroke of the pickaxe," said the president.
"And I wish we were at the last," cried J. T. Maston.
About ten A.M. the little band had crossed a dozen miles. To fertile plains succeeded a region of forests. There perfumes of the most varied kinds mingled together in tropical profusion. These almost impenetrable forests were composed of pomegranates, orange-trees, citrons, figs, olives, apricots, bananas, huge vines, whose blossoms and fruits rivaled each other in color and perfume. Beneath the odorous shade of these magnificent trees fluttered and warbled a little world of brilliantly plumaged birds.
J. T. Maston and the major could not repress their admiration on finding themselves in the presence of the glorious beauties of this wealth of nature. President Barbicane, however, less sensitive to these wonders, was in haste to press forward; the very luxuriance of the country was displeasing to him. They hastened onward, therefore, and were compelled to ford several rivers, not without danger, for they were infested with huge alligators from fifteen to eighteen feet long. Maston courageously menaced them with his steel hook, but he only succeeded in frightening some pelicans and teal, while tall flamingos stared stupidly at the party.
At length these denizens of the swamps disappeared in their turn; smaller trees became thinly scattered among less dense thickets— a few isolated groups detached in the midst of endless plains over which ranged herds of startled deer.
"At last," cried Barbicane, rising in his stirrups, "here we are at the region of pines!"
"Yes! and of savages too," replied the major.
In fact, some Seminoles had just came in sight upon the horizon; they rode violently backward and forward on their fleet horses, brandishing their spears or discharging their guns with a dull report. These hostile demonstrations, however, had no effect upon Barbicane and his companions.
They were then occupying the center of a rocky plain, which the sun scorched with its parching rays. This was formed by a considerable elevation of the soil, which seemed to offer to the members of the Gun Club all the conditions requisite for the construction of their Columbiad.
"Halt!" said Barbicane, reining up. "Has this place any local appellation?"
"It is called Stones Hill," replied one of the Floridans.
Barbicane, without saying a word, dismounted, seized his instruments, and began to note his position with extreme exactness. The little band, drawn up in the rear, watched his proceedings in profound silence.
At this moment the sun passed the meridian. Barbicane, after a few moments, rapidly wrote down the result of his observations, and said:
"This spot is situated eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, in 27@ 7' N. lat. and 5@ 7' W. long. of the meridian of Washington. It appears to me by its rocky and barren character to offer all the conditions requisite for our experiment. On that plain will be raised our magazines, workshops, furnaces, and workmen's huts; and here, from this very spot," said he, stamping his foot on the summit of Stones Hill, "hence shall our projectile take its flight into the regions of the Solar World."
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
From the Earth to the Moon, Ch 12: URBI ET ORBI
CHAPTER XII: URBI ET ORBI
The astronomical, mechanical, and topographical difficulties resolved, finally came the question of finance. The sum required was far too great for any individual, or even any single State, to provide the requisite millions.
President Barbicane undertook, despite of the matter being a purely American affair, to render it one of universal interest, and to request the financial co-operation of all peoples. It was, he maintained, the right and duty of the whole earth to interfere in the affairs of its satellite. The subscription opened at Baltimore extended properly to the whole world— Urbi et orbi.
This subscription was successful beyond all expectation; notwithstanding that it was a question not of lending but of giving the money. It was a purely disinterested operation in the strictest sense of the term, and offered not the slightest chance of profit.
The effect, however, of Barbicane's communication was not confined to the frontiers of the United States; it crossed the Atlantic and Pacific, invading simultaneously Asia and Europe, Africa and Oceanica. The observatories of the Union placed themselves in immediate communication with those of foreign countries. Some, such as those of Paris, Petersburg, Berlin, Stockholm, Hamburg, Malta, Lisbon, Benares, Madras, and others, transmitted their good wishes; the rest maintained a prudent silence, quietly awaiting the result. As for the observatory at Greenwich, seconded as it was by the twenty- two astronomical establishments of Great Britain, it spoke plainly enough. It boldly denied the possibility of success, and pronounced in favor of the theories of Captain Nicholl. But this was nothing more than mere English jealousy.
On the 8th of October President Barbicane published a manifesto full of enthusiasm, in which he made an appeal to "all persons of good will upon the face of the earth." This document, translated into all languages, met with immense success.
Subscription lists were opened in all the principal cities of the Union, with a central office at the Baltimore Bank, 9 Baltimore Street.
In addition, subscriptions were received at the following banks in the different states of the two continents:
At Vienna, with S. M. de Rothschild.
At Petersburg, Stieglitz and Co.
At Paris, The Credit Mobilier.
At Stockholm, Tottie and Arfuredson.
At London, N. M. Rothschild and Son.
At Turin, Ardouin and Co.
At Berlin, Mendelssohn.
At Geneva, Lombard, Odier and Co.
At Constantinople, The Ottoman Bank.
At Brussels, J. Lambert.
At Madrid, Daniel Weisweller.
At Amsterdam, Netherlands Credit Co.
At Rome, Torlonia and Co.
At Lisbon, Lecesne.
At Copenhagen, Private Bank.
At Rio de Janeiro, Private Bank.
At Montevideo, Private Bank.
At Valparaiso and Lima, Thomas la Chambre and Co.
At Mexico, Martin Daran and Co.
Three days after the manifesto of President Barbicane $4,000,000 were paid into the different towns of the Union. With such a balance the Gun Club might begin operations at once. But some days later advices were received to the effect that foreign subscriptions were being eagerly taken up. Certain countries distinguished themselves by their liberality; others untied their purse-strings with less facility—a matter of temperament. Figures are, however, more eloquent than words, and here is the official statement of the sums which were paid in to the credit of the Gun Club at the close of the subscription.
Russia paid in as her contingent the enormous sum of 368,733 roubles. No one need be surprised at this, who bears in mind the scientific taste of the Russians, and the impetus which they have given to astronomical studies—thanks to their numerous observatories.
France began by deriding the pretensions of the Americans. The moon served as a pretext for a thousand stale puns and a score of ballads, in which bad taste contested the palm with ignorance. But as formerly the French paid before singing, so now they paid after having had their laugh, and they subscribed for a sum of 1,253,930 francs. At that price they had a right to enjoy themselves a little.
Austria showed herself generous in the midst of her financial crisis. Her public contributions amounted to the sum of 216,000 florins— a perfect godsend.
Fifty-two thousand rix-dollars were the remittance of Sweden and Norway; the amount is large for the country, but it would undoubtedly have been considerably increased had the subscription been opened in Christiana simultaneously with that at Stockholm. For some reason or other the Norwegians do not like to send their money to Sweden.
Prussia, by a remittance of 250,000 thalers, testified her high approval of the enterprise.
Turkey behaved generously; but she had a personal interest in the matter. The moon, in fact, regulates the cycle of her years and her fast of Ramadan. She could not do less than give 1,372,640 piastres; and she gave them with an eagerness which denoted, however, some pressure on the part of the government.
Belgium distinguished herself among the second-rate states by a grant of 513,000 francs— about two centimes per head of her population.
Holland and her colonies interested themselves to the extent of 110,000 florins, only demanding an allowance of five per cent. discount for paying ready money.
Denmark, a little contracted in territory, gave nevertheless 9,000 ducats, proving her love for scientific experiments.
The Germanic Confederation pledged itself to 34,285 florins. It was impossible to ask for more; besides, they would not have given it.
Though very much crippled, Italy found 200,000 lire in the pockets of her people. If she had had Venetia she would have done better; but she had not.
The States of the Church thought that they could not send less than 7,040 Roman crowns; and Portugal carried her devotion to science as far as 30,000 cruzados. It was the widow's mite— eighty-six piastres; but self-constituted empires are always rather short of money.
Two hundred and fifty-seven francs, this was the modest contribution of Switzerland to the American work. One must freely admit that she did not see the practical side of the matter. It did not seem to her that the mere despatch of a shot to the moon could possibly establish any relation of affairs with her; and it did not seem prudent to her to embark her capital in so hazardous an enterprise. After all, perhaps she was right.
As to Spain, she could not scrape together more than 110 reals. She gave as an excuse that she had her railways to finish. The truth is, that science is not favorably regarded in that country, it is still in a backward state; and moreover, certain Spaniards, not by any means the least educated, did not form a correct estimate of the bulk of the projectile compared with that of the moon. They feared that it would disturb the established order of things. In that case it were better to keep aloof; which they did to the tune of some reals.
There remained but England; and we know the contemptuous antipathy with which she received Barbicane's proposition. The English have but one soul for the whole twenty-six millions of inhabitants which Great Britain contains. They hinted that the enterprise of the Gun Club was contrary to the "principle of non-intervention." And they did not subscribe a single farthing.
At this intimation the Gun Club merely shrugged its shoulders and returned to its great work. When South America, that is to say, Peru, Chili, Brazil, the provinces of La Plata and Columbia, had poured forth their quota into their hands, the sum of $300,000, it found itself in possession of a considerable capital, of which the following is a statement:
United States subscriptions, . . $4,000,000
Foreign subscriptions . . . $1,446,675
—————-
Total, . . . . $5,446,675
Such was the sum which the public poured into the treasury of the Gun Club.
Let no one be surprised at the vastness of the amount. The work of casting, boring, masonry, the transport of workmen, their establishment in an almost uninhabited country, the construction of furnaces and workshops, the plant, the powder, the projectile, and incipient expenses, would, according to the estimates, absorb nearly the whole. Certain cannon-shots in the Federal war cost one thousand dollars apiece. This one of President Barbicane, unique in the annals of gunnery, might well cost five thousand times more.
On the 20th of October a contract was entered into with the manufactory at Coldspring, near New York, which during the war had furnished the largest Parrott, cast-iron guns. It was stipulated between the contracting parties that the manufactory of Coldspring should engage to transport to Tampa Town, in southern Florida, the necessary materials for casting the Columbiad. The work was bound to be completed at latest by the 15th of October following, and the cannon delivered in good condition under penalty of a forfeit of one hundred dollars a day to the moment when the moon should again present herself under the same conditions— that is to say, in eighteen years and eleven days.
The engagement of the workmen, their pay, and all the necessary details of the work, devolved upon the Coldspring Company.
This contract, executed in duplicate, was signed by Barbicane, president of the Gun Club, of the one part, and T. Murchison director of the Coldspring manufactory, of the other, who thus executed the deed on behalf of their respective principals.
The astronomical, mechanical, and topographical difficulties resolved, finally came the question of finance. The sum required was far too great for any individual, or even any single State, to provide the requisite millions.
President Barbicane undertook, despite of the matter being a purely American affair, to render it one of universal interest, and to request the financial co-operation of all peoples. It was, he maintained, the right and duty of the whole earth to interfere in the affairs of its satellite. The subscription opened at Baltimore extended properly to the whole world— Urbi et orbi.
This subscription was successful beyond all expectation; notwithstanding that it was a question not of lending but of giving the money. It was a purely disinterested operation in the strictest sense of the term, and offered not the slightest chance of profit.
The effect, however, of Barbicane's communication was not confined to the frontiers of the United States; it crossed the Atlantic and Pacific, invading simultaneously Asia and Europe, Africa and Oceanica. The observatories of the Union placed themselves in immediate communication with those of foreign countries. Some, such as those of Paris, Petersburg, Berlin, Stockholm, Hamburg, Malta, Lisbon, Benares, Madras, and others, transmitted their good wishes; the rest maintained a prudent silence, quietly awaiting the result. As for the observatory at Greenwich, seconded as it was by the twenty- two astronomical establishments of Great Britain, it spoke plainly enough. It boldly denied the possibility of success, and pronounced in favor of the theories of Captain Nicholl. But this was nothing more than mere English jealousy.
On the 8th of October President Barbicane published a manifesto full of enthusiasm, in which he made an appeal to "all persons of good will upon the face of the earth." This document, translated into all languages, met with immense success.
Subscription lists were opened in all the principal cities of the Union, with a central office at the Baltimore Bank, 9 Baltimore Street.
In addition, subscriptions were received at the following banks in the different states of the two continents:
At Vienna, with S. M. de Rothschild.
At Petersburg, Stieglitz and Co.
At Paris, The Credit Mobilier.
At Stockholm, Tottie and Arfuredson.
At London, N. M. Rothschild and Son.
At Turin, Ardouin and Co.
At Berlin, Mendelssohn.
At Geneva, Lombard, Odier and Co.
At Constantinople, The Ottoman Bank.
At Brussels, J. Lambert.
At Madrid, Daniel Weisweller.
At Amsterdam, Netherlands Credit Co.
At Rome, Torlonia and Co.
At Lisbon, Lecesne.
At Copenhagen, Private Bank.
At Rio de Janeiro, Private Bank.
At Montevideo, Private Bank.
At Valparaiso and Lima, Thomas la Chambre and Co.
At Mexico, Martin Daran and Co.
Three days after the manifesto of President Barbicane $4,000,000 were paid into the different towns of the Union. With such a balance the Gun Club might begin operations at once. But some days later advices were received to the effect that foreign subscriptions were being eagerly taken up. Certain countries distinguished themselves by their liberality; others untied their purse-strings with less facility—a matter of temperament. Figures are, however, more eloquent than words, and here is the official statement of the sums which were paid in to the credit of the Gun Club at the close of the subscription.
Russia paid in as her contingent the enormous sum of 368,733 roubles. No one need be surprised at this, who bears in mind the scientific taste of the Russians, and the impetus which they have given to astronomical studies—thanks to their numerous observatories.
France began by deriding the pretensions of the Americans. The moon served as a pretext for a thousand stale puns and a score of ballads, in which bad taste contested the palm with ignorance. But as formerly the French paid before singing, so now they paid after having had their laugh, and they subscribed for a sum of 1,253,930 francs. At that price they had a right to enjoy themselves a little.
Austria showed herself generous in the midst of her financial crisis. Her public contributions amounted to the sum of 216,000 florins— a perfect godsend.
Fifty-two thousand rix-dollars were the remittance of Sweden and Norway; the amount is large for the country, but it would undoubtedly have been considerably increased had the subscription been opened in Christiana simultaneously with that at Stockholm. For some reason or other the Norwegians do not like to send their money to Sweden.
Prussia, by a remittance of 250,000 thalers, testified her high approval of the enterprise.
Turkey behaved generously; but she had a personal interest in the matter. The moon, in fact, regulates the cycle of her years and her fast of Ramadan. She could not do less than give 1,372,640 piastres; and she gave them with an eagerness which denoted, however, some pressure on the part of the government.
Belgium distinguished herself among the second-rate states by a grant of 513,000 francs— about two centimes per head of her population.
Holland and her colonies interested themselves to the extent of 110,000 florins, only demanding an allowance of five per cent. discount for paying ready money.
Denmark, a little contracted in territory, gave nevertheless 9,000 ducats, proving her love for scientific experiments.
The Germanic Confederation pledged itself to 34,285 florins. It was impossible to ask for more; besides, they would not have given it.
Though very much crippled, Italy found 200,000 lire in the pockets of her people. If she had had Venetia she would have done better; but she had not.
The States of the Church thought that they could not send less than 7,040 Roman crowns; and Portugal carried her devotion to science as far as 30,000 cruzados. It was the widow's mite— eighty-six piastres; but self-constituted empires are always rather short of money.
Two hundred and fifty-seven francs, this was the modest contribution of Switzerland to the American work. One must freely admit that she did not see the practical side of the matter. It did not seem to her that the mere despatch of a shot to the moon could possibly establish any relation of affairs with her; and it did not seem prudent to her to embark her capital in so hazardous an enterprise. After all, perhaps she was right.
As to Spain, she could not scrape together more than 110 reals. She gave as an excuse that she had her railways to finish. The truth is, that science is not favorably regarded in that country, it is still in a backward state; and moreover, certain Spaniards, not by any means the least educated, did not form a correct estimate of the bulk of the projectile compared with that of the moon. They feared that it would disturb the established order of things. In that case it were better to keep aloof; which they did to the tune of some reals.
There remained but England; and we know the contemptuous antipathy with which she received Barbicane's proposition. The English have but one soul for the whole twenty-six millions of inhabitants which Great Britain contains. They hinted that the enterprise of the Gun Club was contrary to the "principle of non-intervention." And they did not subscribe a single farthing.
At this intimation the Gun Club merely shrugged its shoulders and returned to its great work. When South America, that is to say, Peru, Chili, Brazil, the provinces of La Plata and Columbia, had poured forth their quota into their hands, the sum of $300,000, it found itself in possession of a considerable capital, of which the following is a statement:
United States subscriptions, . . $4,000,000
Foreign subscriptions . . . $1,446,675
—————-
Total, . . . . $5,446,675
Such was the sum which the public poured into the treasury of the Gun Club.
Let no one be surprised at the vastness of the amount. The work of casting, boring, masonry, the transport of workmen, their establishment in an almost uninhabited country, the construction of furnaces and workshops, the plant, the powder, the projectile, and incipient expenses, would, according to the estimates, absorb nearly the whole. Certain cannon-shots in the Federal war cost one thousand dollars apiece. This one of President Barbicane, unique in the annals of gunnery, might well cost five thousand times more.
On the 20th of October a contract was entered into with the manufactory at Coldspring, near New York, which during the war had furnished the largest Parrott, cast-iron guns. It was stipulated between the contracting parties that the manufactory of Coldspring should engage to transport to Tampa Town, in southern Florida, the necessary materials for casting the Columbiad. The work was bound to be completed at latest by the 15th of October following, and the cannon delivered in good condition under penalty of a forfeit of one hundred dollars a day to the moment when the moon should again present herself under the same conditions— that is to say, in eighteen years and eleven days.
The engagement of the workmen, their pay, and all the necessary details of the work, devolved upon the Coldspring Company.
This contract, executed in duplicate, was signed by Barbicane, president of the Gun Club, of the one part, and T. Murchison director of the Coldspring manufactory, of the other, who thus executed the deed on behalf of their respective principals.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
From the Earth to the Moon, Ch 11: FLORIDA AND TEXAS
FLORIDA AND TEXAS
One question remained yet to be decided; it was necessary to choose a favorable spot for the experiment. According to the advice of the Observatory of Cambridge, the gun must be fired perpendicularly to the plane of the horizon, that is to say, toward the zenith. Now the moon does not traverse the zenith, except in places situated between 0@ and 28@ of latitude. It became, then, necessary to determine exactly that spot on the globe where the immense Columbiad should be cast.
On the 20th of October, at a general meeting of the Gun Club, Barbicane produced a magnificent map of the United States. "Gentlemen," said he, in opening the discussion, "I presume that we are all agreed that this experiment cannot and ought not to be tried anywhere but within the limits of the soil of the Union. Now, by good fortune, certain frontiers of the United States extend downward as far as the 28th parallel of the north latitude. If you will cast your eye over this map, you will see that we have at our disposal the whole of the southern portion of Texas and Florida."
It was finally agreed, then, that the Columbiad must be cast on the soil of either Texas or Florida. The result, however, of this decision was to create a rivalry entirely without precedent between the different towns of these two States.
The 28th parallel, on reaching the American coast, traverses the peninsula of Florida, dividing it into two nearly equal portions. Then, plunging into the Gulf of Mexico, it subtends the arc formed by the coast of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; then skirting Texas, off which it cuts an angle, it continues its course over Mexico, crosses the Sonora, Old California, and loses itself in the Pacific Ocean. It was, therefore, only those portions of Texas and Florida which were situated below this parallel which came within the prescribed conditions of latitude.
Florida, in its southern part, reckons no cities of importance; it is simply studded with forts raised against the roving Indians. One solitary town, Tampa Town, was able to put in a claim in favor of its situation.
In Texas, on the contrary, the towns are much more numerous and important. Corpus Christi, in the county of Nueces, and all the cities situated on the Rio Bravo, Laredo, Comalites, San Ignacio on the Web, Rio Grande City on the Starr, Edinburgh in the Hidalgo, Santa Rita, Elpanda, Brownsville in the Cameron, formed an imposing league against the pretensions of Florida. So, scarcely was the decision known, when the Texan and Floridan deputies arrived at Baltimore in an incredibly short space of time. From that very moment President Barbicane and the influential members of the Gun Club were besieged day and night by formidable claims. If seven cities of Greece contended for the honor of having given birth to a Homer, here were two entire States threatening to come to blows about the question of a cannon.
The rival parties promenaded the streets with arms in their hands; and at every occasion of their meeting a collision was to be apprehended which might have been attended with disastrous results. Happily the prudence and address of President Barbicane averted the danger. These personal demonstrations found a division in the newspapers of the different States. The New York Herald and the Tribune supported Texas, while the Times and the American Review espoused the cause of the Floridan deputies. The members of the Gun Club could not decide to which to give the preference.
Texas produced its array of twenty-six counties; Florida replied that twelve counties were better than twenty-six in a country only one-sixth part of the size.
Texas plumed itself upon its 330,000 natives; Florida, with a far smaller territory, boasted of being much more densely populated with 56,000.
The Texans, through the columns of the Herald claimed that some regard should be had to a State which grew the best cotton in all America, produced the best green oak for the service of the navy, and contained the finest oil, besides iron mines, in which the yield was fifty per cent. of pure metal.
To this the American Review replied that the soil of Florida, although not equally rich, afforded the best conditions for the moulding and casting of the Columbiad, consisting as it did of sand and argillaceous earth.
"That may be all very well," replied the Texans; "but you must first get to this country. Now the communications with Florida are difficult, while the coast of Texas offers the bay of Galveston, which possesses a circumference of fourteen leagues, and is capable of containing the navies of the entire world!"
"A pretty notion truly," replied the papers in the interest of Florida, "that of Galveston bay below the 29th parallel! Have we not got the bay of Espiritu Santo, opening precisely upon the 28th degree, and by which ships can reach Tampa Town by direct route?"
"A fine bay; half choked with sand!"
"Choked yourselves!" returned the others.
Thus the war went on for several days, when Florida endeavored to draw her adversary away on to fresh ground; and one morning the Times hinted that, the enterprise being essentially American, it ought not to be attempted upon other than purely American territory.
To these words Texas retorted, "American! are we not as much so as you? Were not Texas and Florida both incorporated into the Union in 1845?"
"Undoubtedly," replied the Times; "but we have belonged to the
Americans ever since 1820."
"Yes!" returned the Tribune; "after having been Spaniards or
English for two hundred years, you were sold to the United
States for five million dollars!"
"Well! and why need we blush for that? Was not Louisiana bought from Napoleon in 1803 at the price of sixteen million dollars?"
"Scandalous!" roared the Texas deputies. "A wretched little strip of country like Florida to dare to compare itself to Texas, who, in place of selling herself, asserted her own independence, drove out the Mexicans in March 2, 1846, and declared herself a federal republic after the victory gained by Samuel Houston, on the banks of the San Jacinto, over the troops of Santa Anna!— a country, in fine, which voluntarily annexed itself to the United States of America!"
"Yes; because it was afraid of the Mexicans!" replied Florida.
"Afraid!" From this moment the state of things became intolerable. A sanguinary encounter seemed daily imminent between the two parties in the streets of Baltimore. It became necessary to keep an eye upon the deputies.
President Barbicane knew not which way to look. Notes, documents, letters full of menaces showered down upon his house. Which side ought he to take? As regarded the appropriation of the soil, the facility of communication, the rapidity of transport, the claims of both States were evenly balanced. As for political prepossessions, they had nothing to do with the question.
This dead block had existed for some little time, when Barbicane resolved to get rid of it all at once. He called a meeting of his colleagues, and laid before them a proposition which, it will be seen, was profoundly sagacious.
"On carefully considering," he said, "what is going on now between Florida and Texas, it is clear that the same difficulties will recur with all the towns of the favored State. The rivalry will descend from State to city, and so on downward. Now Texas possesses eleven towns within the prescribed conditions, which will further dispute the honor and create us new enemies, while Florida has only one. I go in, therefore, for Florida and Tampa Town."
This decision, on being made known, utterly crushed the Texan deputies. Seized with an indescribable fury, they addressed threatening letters to the different members of the Gun Club by name. The magistrates had but one course to take, and they took it. They chartered a special train, forced the Texans into it whether they would or no; and they quitted the city with a speed of thirty miles an hour.
Quickly, however, as they were despatched, they found time to hurl one last and bitter sarcasm at their adversaries.
Alluding to the extent of Florida, a mere peninsula confined between two seas, they pretended that it could never sustain the shock of the discharge, and that it would "bust up" at the very first shot.
"Very well, let it bust up!" replied the Floridans, with a brevity of the days of ancient Sparta.
One question remained yet to be decided; it was necessary to choose a favorable spot for the experiment. According to the advice of the Observatory of Cambridge, the gun must be fired perpendicularly to the plane of the horizon, that is to say, toward the zenith. Now the moon does not traverse the zenith, except in places situated between 0@ and 28@ of latitude. It became, then, necessary to determine exactly that spot on the globe where the immense Columbiad should be cast.
On the 20th of October, at a general meeting of the Gun Club, Barbicane produced a magnificent map of the United States. "Gentlemen," said he, in opening the discussion, "I presume that we are all agreed that this experiment cannot and ought not to be tried anywhere but within the limits of the soil of the Union. Now, by good fortune, certain frontiers of the United States extend downward as far as the 28th parallel of the north latitude. If you will cast your eye over this map, you will see that we have at our disposal the whole of the southern portion of Texas and Florida."
It was finally agreed, then, that the Columbiad must be cast on the soil of either Texas or Florida. The result, however, of this decision was to create a rivalry entirely without precedent between the different towns of these two States.
The 28th parallel, on reaching the American coast, traverses the peninsula of Florida, dividing it into two nearly equal portions. Then, plunging into the Gulf of Mexico, it subtends the arc formed by the coast of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; then skirting Texas, off which it cuts an angle, it continues its course over Mexico, crosses the Sonora, Old California, and loses itself in the Pacific Ocean. It was, therefore, only those portions of Texas and Florida which were situated below this parallel which came within the prescribed conditions of latitude.
Florida, in its southern part, reckons no cities of importance; it is simply studded with forts raised against the roving Indians. One solitary town, Tampa Town, was able to put in a claim in favor of its situation.
In Texas, on the contrary, the towns are much more numerous and important. Corpus Christi, in the county of Nueces, and all the cities situated on the Rio Bravo, Laredo, Comalites, San Ignacio on the Web, Rio Grande City on the Starr, Edinburgh in the Hidalgo, Santa Rita, Elpanda, Brownsville in the Cameron, formed an imposing league against the pretensions of Florida. So, scarcely was the decision known, when the Texan and Floridan deputies arrived at Baltimore in an incredibly short space of time. From that very moment President Barbicane and the influential members of the Gun Club were besieged day and night by formidable claims. If seven cities of Greece contended for the honor of having given birth to a Homer, here were two entire States threatening to come to blows about the question of a cannon.
The rival parties promenaded the streets with arms in their hands; and at every occasion of their meeting a collision was to be apprehended which might have been attended with disastrous results. Happily the prudence and address of President Barbicane averted the danger. These personal demonstrations found a division in the newspapers of the different States. The New York Herald and the Tribune supported Texas, while the Times and the American Review espoused the cause of the Floridan deputies. The members of the Gun Club could not decide to which to give the preference.
Texas produced its array of twenty-six counties; Florida replied that twelve counties were better than twenty-six in a country only one-sixth part of the size.
Texas plumed itself upon its 330,000 natives; Florida, with a far smaller territory, boasted of being much more densely populated with 56,000.
The Texans, through the columns of the Herald claimed that some regard should be had to a State which grew the best cotton in all America, produced the best green oak for the service of the navy, and contained the finest oil, besides iron mines, in which the yield was fifty per cent. of pure metal.
To this the American Review replied that the soil of Florida, although not equally rich, afforded the best conditions for the moulding and casting of the Columbiad, consisting as it did of sand and argillaceous earth.
"That may be all very well," replied the Texans; "but you must first get to this country. Now the communications with Florida are difficult, while the coast of Texas offers the bay of Galveston, which possesses a circumference of fourteen leagues, and is capable of containing the navies of the entire world!"
"A pretty notion truly," replied the papers in the interest of Florida, "that of Galveston bay below the 29th parallel! Have we not got the bay of Espiritu Santo, opening precisely upon the 28th degree, and by which ships can reach Tampa Town by direct route?"
"A fine bay; half choked with sand!"
"Choked yourselves!" returned the others.
Thus the war went on for several days, when Florida endeavored to draw her adversary away on to fresh ground; and one morning the Times hinted that, the enterprise being essentially American, it ought not to be attempted upon other than purely American territory.
To these words Texas retorted, "American! are we not as much so as you? Were not Texas and Florida both incorporated into the Union in 1845?"
"Undoubtedly," replied the Times; "but we have belonged to the
Americans ever since 1820."
"Yes!" returned the Tribune; "after having been Spaniards or
English for two hundred years, you were sold to the United
States for five million dollars!"
"Well! and why need we blush for that? Was not Louisiana bought from Napoleon in 1803 at the price of sixteen million dollars?"
"Scandalous!" roared the Texas deputies. "A wretched little strip of country like Florida to dare to compare itself to Texas, who, in place of selling herself, asserted her own independence, drove out the Mexicans in March 2, 1846, and declared herself a federal republic after the victory gained by Samuel Houston, on the banks of the San Jacinto, over the troops of Santa Anna!— a country, in fine, which voluntarily annexed itself to the United States of America!"
"Yes; because it was afraid of the Mexicans!" replied Florida.
"Afraid!" From this moment the state of things became intolerable. A sanguinary encounter seemed daily imminent between the two parties in the streets of Baltimore. It became necessary to keep an eye upon the deputies.
President Barbicane knew not which way to look. Notes, documents, letters full of menaces showered down upon his house. Which side ought he to take? As regarded the appropriation of the soil, the facility of communication, the rapidity of transport, the claims of both States were evenly balanced. As for political prepossessions, they had nothing to do with the question.
This dead block had existed for some little time, when Barbicane resolved to get rid of it all at once. He called a meeting of his colleagues, and laid before them a proposition which, it will be seen, was profoundly sagacious.
"On carefully considering," he said, "what is going on now between Florida and Texas, it is clear that the same difficulties will recur with all the towns of the favored State. The rivalry will descend from State to city, and so on downward. Now Texas possesses eleven towns within the prescribed conditions, which will further dispute the honor and create us new enemies, while Florida has only one. I go in, therefore, for Florida and Tampa Town."
This decision, on being made known, utterly crushed the Texan deputies. Seized with an indescribable fury, they addressed threatening letters to the different members of the Gun Club by name. The magistrates had but one course to take, and they took it. They chartered a special train, forced the Texans into it whether they would or no; and they quitted the city with a speed of thirty miles an hour.
Quickly, however, as they were despatched, they found time to hurl one last and bitter sarcasm at their adversaries.
Alluding to the extent of Florida, a mere peninsula confined between two seas, they pretended that it could never sustain the shock of the discharge, and that it would "bust up" at the very first shot.
"Very well, let it bust up!" replied the Floridans, with a brevity of the days of ancient Sparta.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Science education gets big boost from Aerojet
From DChieftain.com (Socorro, NM): Science education gets big boost from Aerojet
Aerojet presented a check Monday to the Socorro Consolidated Schools District for $17,140, to be used for science and astronomy teaching workshops for local educators, classroom presentations, fieldtrips to local observatories and star parties. The award was the result of a grant application submitted to the GenCorp Foundation, a division of Aerojet’s parent company that supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in communities where the company’s employees live and work.
Aerojet presented a check Monday to the Socorro Consolidated Schools District for $17,140, to be used for science and astronomy teaching workshops for local educators, classroom presentations, fieldtrips to local observatories and star parties. The award was the result of a grant application submitted to the GenCorp Foundation, a division of Aerojet’s parent company that supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in communities where the company’s employees live and work.
The application, submitted by Socorro Consolidated Schools, was written by Magdalena Ridge Observatory’s Coordinator of Education and Public Outreach, Dr. Daniel Klinglesmith, Cottonwood Valley Charter School Principal Karin Williams and Socorro Schools Interim Superintendent Vannetta Perry. Together, they proposed a collaboration between the schools, MRO and National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array, to create unique opportunities for local students to get hands-on experience in how scientists and astronomers explore the universe, and why.
“It’s a great opportunity for the schools and the kids, and for Aerojet,” said Aerojet Business Analyst Kathy Spring, who was instrumental in moving the application through the necessary channels. “It should be very exciting.”
The funding will pay for a series of two-day teacher workshops to be held at New Mexico Tech’s Etscorn Observatory, and for students from New Mexico Tech to present a series of classroom demonstrations with those teachers. The presentations will include creating models of extra-planetary bodies and introductions to opportunities for students to participate in and contribute to astronomical research. The funding will also pay for field trips to the MRO and VLA, complete with transportation and tours guided by professional astronomers, and to the Etscorn Observatory. The star parties at Etscorn will be open to teachers and students, and also to their friends and family members.
Spring said Aerojet has been part of the Socorro community for 28 years. The GenCorp Foundation was started in 2000 as a way for the company to support the communities where it conducts business, and the causes that are important to its employees.
Since 2000, the foundation has donated more than $70,000 to the community. The funding for the Aerojet Astronomy and Space Science Program brings that total to close to $90,000.
Some of the causes Aerojet has participated in and supported locally include the annual Relay for Life events, Girl Scouts, DAV, NM Boys and Girls Ranches, NM Tech’s Performing Arts Series, Puerto Seguro homeless shelter and Socorro Storehouse food pantry. Aerojet also gives scholarships to seniors graduating from Socorro High School.
Spring herself takes advantage of a dollar-for-dollar matching grant program where, for every hour she volunteers at her granddaughter’s school, Aerojet donates an equivalent sum of money.
“Aerojet’s goal is to encourage our students to pursue careers in engineering and science — to help protect our soldiers, keep our nation safe, and provide America the ability to explore space,” Spring said, during the presentation of the check.
She said Aerojet has dozens of programs for investing in the future of the community, and her goal is to find out about and take adva
Aerojet presented a check Monday to the Socorro Consolidated Schools District for $17,140, to be used for science and astronomy teaching workshops for local educators, classroom presentations, fieldtrips to local observatories and star parties. The award was the result of a grant application submitted to the GenCorp Foundation, a division of Aerojet’s parent company that supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in communities where the company’s employees live and work.
Aerojet presented a check Monday to the Socorro Consolidated Schools District for $17,140, to be used for science and astronomy teaching workshops for local educators, classroom presentations, fieldtrips to local observatories and star parties. The award was the result of a grant application submitted to the GenCorp Foundation, a division of Aerojet’s parent company that supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in communities where the company’s employees live and work.
The application, submitted by Socorro Consolidated Schools, was written by Magdalena Ridge Observatory’s Coordinator of Education and Public Outreach, Dr. Daniel Klinglesmith, Cottonwood Valley Charter School Principal Karin Williams and Socorro Schools Interim Superintendent Vannetta Perry. Together, they proposed a collaboration between the schools, MRO and National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array, to create unique opportunities for local students to get hands-on experience in how scientists and astronomers explore the universe, and why.
“It’s a great opportunity for the schools and the kids, and for Aerojet,” said Aerojet Business Analyst Kathy Spring, who was instrumental in moving the application through the necessary channels. “It should be very exciting.”
The funding will pay for a series of two-day teacher workshops to be held at New Mexico Tech’s Etscorn Observatory, and for students from New Mexico Tech to present a series of classroom demonstrations with those teachers. The presentations will include creating models of extra-planetary bodies and introductions to opportunities for students to participate in and contribute to astronomical research. The funding will also pay for field trips to the MRO and VLA, complete with transportation and tours guided by professional astronomers, and to the Etscorn Observatory. The star parties at Etscorn will be open to teachers and students, and also to their friends and family members.
Spring said Aerojet has been part of the Socorro community for 28 years. The GenCorp Foundation was started in 2000 as a way for the company to support the communities where it conducts business, and the causes that are important to its employees.
Since 2000, the foundation has donated more than $70,000 to the community. The funding for the Aerojet Astronomy and Space Science Program brings that total to close to $90,000.
Some of the causes Aerojet has participated in and supported locally include the annual Relay for Life events, Girl Scouts, DAV, NM Boys and Girls Ranches, NM Tech’s Performing Arts Series, Puerto Seguro homeless shelter and Socorro Storehouse food pantry. Aerojet also gives scholarships to seniors graduating from Socorro High School.
Spring herself takes advantage of a dollar-for-dollar matching grant program where, for every hour she volunteers at her granddaughter’s school, Aerojet donates an equivalent sum of money.
“Aerojet’s goal is to encourage our students to pursue careers in engineering and science — to help protect our soldiers, keep our nation safe, and provide America the ability to explore space,” Spring said, during the presentation of the check.
She said Aerojet has dozens of programs for investing in the future of the community, and her goal is to find out about and take adva
NASA telescopes help find rare galaxy at dawn of time
From Astronomy Magazine: NASA telescopes help find rare galaxy at dawn of time
Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have discovered that one of the most distant galaxies known is churning out stars at a shockingly high rate. The blob-shaped galaxy, called GN-108036, is the brightest galaxy found to date at such great distances.
The galaxy, which was discovered and confirmed using ground-based telescopes, is 12.9 billion light-years away. Data from Spitzer and Hubble were used to measure the galaxy’s high star production rate, equivalent to about 100 Suns per year. For reference, our Milky Way Galaxy is about five times larger and 100 times more massive than GN-108036, but makes roughly 30 times fewer stars per year.
“The discovery is surprising because previous surveys had not found galaxies this bright so early in the history of the universe,” said Mark Dickinson from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. “Perhaps those surveys were just too small to find galaxies like GN-108036. It may be a special, rare object that we just happened to catch during an extreme burst of star formation.”
The international team of astronomers, led by Masami Ouchi from the University of Tokyo, Japan, first identified the remote galaxy after scanning a large patch of sky with the Subaru Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Its great distance was then carefully confirmed with the W.M. Keck Observatory, also on Mauna Kea.
“We checked our results on three different occasions over two years, and each time confirmed the previous measurement,” said Yoshiaki Ono from the University of Tokyo.
GN-108036 lies near the beginning of time itself, a mere 750 million years after our universe was created 13.7 billion years ago in the “Big Bang.” Its light has taken 12.9 billion years to reach us, so we are seeing it as it existed in the distant past.
Astronomers refer to the object’s distance by a number called its “redshift,” which relates to how much of its light has stretched to longer, redder wavelengths due to the expansion of the universe. Objects with larger redshifts are farther away and are seen further back in time. GN-108036 has a redshift of 7.2. Only a handful of galaxies have confirmed redshifts greater than 7, and only two of these have been reported to be more distant than GN-108036.
Infrared observations from Spitzer and Hubble were crucial for measuring the galaxy’s star-formation activity. Astronomers were surprised to see such a large burst of star formation because the galaxy is so small and from such an early cosmic era. Back when galaxies were first forming in the first few hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, they were much smaller than they are today, having yet to bulk up in mass.
During this epoch, as the universe expanded and cooled after its explosive start, hydrogen atoms permeating the cosmos formed a thick fog that was opaque to ultraviolet light. This period, before the first stars and galaxies had formed and illuminated the universe, is referred to as the Dark Ages. The era came to an end when light from the earliest galaxies burned through, or “ionized,” the opaque gas, causing it to become transparent. Galaxies similar to GN-108036 may have played an important role in this event.
“The high rate of star formation found for GN-108036 implies that it was rapidly building up its mass some 750 million years after the Big Bang when the universe was only about five percent of its present age,” said Bahram Mobasher from the University of California, Riverside. “This was, therefore, a likely ancestor of massive and evolved galaxies seen today.”
From the Earth to the Moon, Ch 10: ONE ENEMY v. TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS OF FRIENDS
ONE ENEMY v. TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS OF FRIENDS
The American public took a lively interest in the smallest details of the enterprise of the Gun Club. It followed day by day the discussion of the committee. The most simple preparations for the great experiment, the questions of figures which it involved, the mechanical difficulties to be resolved— in one word, the entire plan of work— roused the popular excitement to the highest pitch.
The purely scientific attraction was suddenly intensified by the following incident:
We have seen what legions of admirers and friends Barbicane's project had rallied round its author. There was, however, one single individual alone in all the States of the Union who protested against the attempt of the Gun Club. He attacked it furiously on every opportunity, and human nature is such that Barbicane felt more keenly the opposition of that one man than he did the applause of all the others. He was well aware of the motive of this antipathy, the origin of this solitary enmity, the cause of its personality and old standing, and in what rivalry of self-love it had its rise.
This persevering enemy the president of the Gun Club had never seen. Fortunate that it was so, for a meeting between the two men would certainly have been attended with serious consequences. This rival was a man of science, like Barbicane himself, of a fiery, daring, and violent disposition; a pure Yankee. His name was Captain Nicholl; he lived at Philadelphia.
Most people are aware of the curious struggle which arose during the Federal war between the guns and armor of iron-plated ships. The result was the entire reconstruction of the navy of both the continents; as the one grew heavier, the other became thicker in proportion. The Merrimac, the Monitor, the Tennessee, the Weehawken discharged enormous projectiles themselves, after having been armor-clad against the projectiles of others. In fact they did to others that which they would not they should do to them— that grand principle of immortality upon which rests the whole art of war.
Now if Barbicane was a great founder of shot, Nicholl was a great forger of plates; the one cast night and day at Baltimore, the other forged day and night at Philadelphia. As soon as ever Barbicane invented a new shot, Nicholl invented a new plate; each followed a current of ideas essentially opposed to the other. Happily for these citizens, so useful to their country, a distance of from fifty to sixty miles separated them from one another, and they had never yet met. Which of these two inventors had the advantage over the other it was difficult to decide from the results obtained. By last accounts, however, it would seem that the armor-plate would in the end have to give way to the shot; nevertheless, there were competent judges who had their doubts on the point.
At the last experiment the cylindro-conical projectiles of Barbicane stuck like so many pins in the Nicholl plates. On that day the Philadelphia iron-forger then believed himself victorious, and could not evince contempt enough for his rival; but when the other afterward substituted for conical shot simple 600-pound shells, at very moderate velocity, the captain was obliged to give in. In fact, these projectiles knocked his best metal plate to shivers.
Matters were at this stage, and victory seemed to rest with the shot, when the war came to an end on the very day when Nicholl had completed a new armor-plate of wrought steel. It was a masterpiece of its kind, and bid defiance to all the projectiles of the world. The captain had it conveyed to the Polygon at Washington, challenging the president of the Gun Club to break it. Barbicane, peace having been declared, declined to try the experiment.
Nicholl, now furious, offered to expose his plate to the shock of any shot, solid, hollow, round, or conical. Refused by the president, who did not choose to compromise his last success.
Nicholl, disgusted by this obstinacy, tried to tempt Barbicane by offering him every chance. He proposed to fix the plate within two hundred yards of the gun. Barbicane still obstinate in refusal. A hundred yards? Not even seventy-five!
"At fifty then!" roared the captain through the newspapers.
"At twenty-five yards! and I'll stand behind!"
Barbicane returned for answer that, even if Captain Nicholl would be so good as to stand in front, he would not fire any more.
Nicholl could not contain himself at this reply; threw out hints of cowardice; that a man who refused to fire a cannon-shot was pretty near being afraid of it; that artillerists who fight at six miles distance are substituting mathematical formulae for individual courage.
To these insinuations Barbicane returned no answer; perhaps he never heard of them, so absorbed was he in the calculations for his great enterprise.
When his famous communication was made to the Gun Club, the captain's wrath passed all bounds; with his intense jealousy was mingled a feeling of absolute impotence. How was he to invent anything to beat this 900-feet Columbiad? What armor-plate could ever resist a projectile of 30,000 pounds weight? Overwhelmed at first under this violent shock, he by and by recovered himself, and resolved to crush the proposal by weight of his arguments.
He then violently attacked the labors of the Gun Club, published a number of letters in the newspapers, endeavored to prove Barbicane ignorant of the first principles of gunnery. He maintained that it was absolutely impossible to impress upon any body whatever a velocity of 12,000 yards per second; that even with such a velocity a projectile of such a weight could not transcend the limits of the earth's atmosphere. Further still, even regarding the velocity to be acquired, and granting it to be sufficient, the shell could not resist the pressure of the gas developed by the ignition of 1,600,000 pounds of powder; and supposing it to resist that pressure, it would be less able to support that temperature; it would melt on quitting the Columbiad, and fall back in a red-hot shower upon the heads of the imprudent spectators.
Barbicane continued his work without regarding these attacks.
Nicholl then took up the question in its other aspects. Without touching upon its uselessness in all points of view, he regarded the experiment as fraught with extreme danger, both to the citizens, who might sanction by their presence so reprehensible a spectacle, and also to the towns in the neighborhood of this deplorable cannon. He also observed that if the projectile did not succeed in reaching its destination (a result absolutely impossible), it must inevitably fall back upon the earth, and that the shock of such a mass, multiplied by the square of its velocity, would seriously endanger every point of the globe. Under the circumstances, therefore, and without interfering with the rights of free citizens, it was a case for the intervention of Government, which ought not to endanger the safety of all for the pleasure of one individual.
In spite of all his arguments, however, Captain Nicholl remained alone in his opinion. Nobody listened to him, and he did not succeed in alienating a single admirer from the president of the Gun Club. The latter did not even take the pains to refute the arguments of his rival.
Nicholl, driven into his last entrenchments, and not able to fight personally in the cause, resolved to fight with money. He published, therefore, in the Richmond Inquirer a series of wagers, conceived in these terms, and on an increasing scale:
No. 1 ($1,000).— That the necessary funds for the experiment of the Gun Club will not be forthcoming.
No. 2 ($2,000).— That the operation of casting a cannon of 900 feet is impracticable, and cannot possibly succeed.
No. 3 ($3,000).— That is it impossible to load the Columbiad, and that the pyroxyle will take fire spontaneously under the pressure of the projectile.
No. 4 ($4,000).— That the Columbiad will burst at the first fire.
No. 5 ($5,000).— That the shot will not travel farther than six miles, and that it will fall back again a few seconds after its discharge.
It was an important sum, therefore, which the captain risked in his invincible obstinacy. He had no less than $15,000 at stake.
Notwithstanding the importance of the challenge, on the 19th of
May he received a sealed packet containing the following
superbly laconic reply:
"BALTIMORE, October 19.
"Done.
"BARBICANE."
The American public took a lively interest in the smallest details of the enterprise of the Gun Club. It followed day by day the discussion of the committee. The most simple preparations for the great experiment, the questions of figures which it involved, the mechanical difficulties to be resolved— in one word, the entire plan of work— roused the popular excitement to the highest pitch.
The purely scientific attraction was suddenly intensified by the following incident:
We have seen what legions of admirers and friends Barbicane's project had rallied round its author. There was, however, one single individual alone in all the States of the Union who protested against the attempt of the Gun Club. He attacked it furiously on every opportunity, and human nature is such that Barbicane felt more keenly the opposition of that one man than he did the applause of all the others. He was well aware of the motive of this antipathy, the origin of this solitary enmity, the cause of its personality and old standing, and in what rivalry of self-love it had its rise.
This persevering enemy the president of the Gun Club had never seen. Fortunate that it was so, for a meeting between the two men would certainly have been attended with serious consequences. This rival was a man of science, like Barbicane himself, of a fiery, daring, and violent disposition; a pure Yankee. His name was Captain Nicholl; he lived at Philadelphia.
Most people are aware of the curious struggle which arose during the Federal war between the guns and armor of iron-plated ships. The result was the entire reconstruction of the navy of both the continents; as the one grew heavier, the other became thicker in proportion. The Merrimac, the Monitor, the Tennessee, the Weehawken discharged enormous projectiles themselves, after having been armor-clad against the projectiles of others. In fact they did to others that which they would not they should do to them— that grand principle of immortality upon which rests the whole art of war.
Now if Barbicane was a great founder of shot, Nicholl was a great forger of plates; the one cast night and day at Baltimore, the other forged day and night at Philadelphia. As soon as ever Barbicane invented a new shot, Nicholl invented a new plate; each followed a current of ideas essentially opposed to the other. Happily for these citizens, so useful to their country, a distance of from fifty to sixty miles separated them from one another, and they had never yet met. Which of these two inventors had the advantage over the other it was difficult to decide from the results obtained. By last accounts, however, it would seem that the armor-plate would in the end have to give way to the shot; nevertheless, there were competent judges who had their doubts on the point.
At the last experiment the cylindro-conical projectiles of Barbicane stuck like so many pins in the Nicholl plates. On that day the Philadelphia iron-forger then believed himself victorious, and could not evince contempt enough for his rival; but when the other afterward substituted for conical shot simple 600-pound shells, at very moderate velocity, the captain was obliged to give in. In fact, these projectiles knocked his best metal plate to shivers.
Matters were at this stage, and victory seemed to rest with the shot, when the war came to an end on the very day when Nicholl had completed a new armor-plate of wrought steel. It was a masterpiece of its kind, and bid defiance to all the projectiles of the world. The captain had it conveyed to the Polygon at Washington, challenging the president of the Gun Club to break it. Barbicane, peace having been declared, declined to try the experiment.
Nicholl, now furious, offered to expose his plate to the shock of any shot, solid, hollow, round, or conical. Refused by the president, who did not choose to compromise his last success.
Nicholl, disgusted by this obstinacy, tried to tempt Barbicane by offering him every chance. He proposed to fix the plate within two hundred yards of the gun. Barbicane still obstinate in refusal. A hundred yards? Not even seventy-five!
"At fifty then!" roared the captain through the newspapers.
"At twenty-five yards! and I'll stand behind!"
Barbicane returned for answer that, even if Captain Nicholl would be so good as to stand in front, he would not fire any more.
Nicholl could not contain himself at this reply; threw out hints of cowardice; that a man who refused to fire a cannon-shot was pretty near being afraid of it; that artillerists who fight at six miles distance are substituting mathematical formulae for individual courage.
To these insinuations Barbicane returned no answer; perhaps he never heard of them, so absorbed was he in the calculations for his great enterprise.
When his famous communication was made to the Gun Club, the captain's wrath passed all bounds; with his intense jealousy was mingled a feeling of absolute impotence. How was he to invent anything to beat this 900-feet Columbiad? What armor-plate could ever resist a projectile of 30,000 pounds weight? Overwhelmed at first under this violent shock, he by and by recovered himself, and resolved to crush the proposal by weight of his arguments.
He then violently attacked the labors of the Gun Club, published a number of letters in the newspapers, endeavored to prove Barbicane ignorant of the first principles of gunnery. He maintained that it was absolutely impossible to impress upon any body whatever a velocity of 12,000 yards per second; that even with such a velocity a projectile of such a weight could not transcend the limits of the earth's atmosphere. Further still, even regarding the velocity to be acquired, and granting it to be sufficient, the shell could not resist the pressure of the gas developed by the ignition of 1,600,000 pounds of powder; and supposing it to resist that pressure, it would be less able to support that temperature; it would melt on quitting the Columbiad, and fall back in a red-hot shower upon the heads of the imprudent spectators.
Barbicane continued his work without regarding these attacks.
Nicholl then took up the question in its other aspects. Without touching upon its uselessness in all points of view, he regarded the experiment as fraught with extreme danger, both to the citizens, who might sanction by their presence so reprehensible a spectacle, and also to the towns in the neighborhood of this deplorable cannon. He also observed that if the projectile did not succeed in reaching its destination (a result absolutely impossible), it must inevitably fall back upon the earth, and that the shock of such a mass, multiplied by the square of its velocity, would seriously endanger every point of the globe. Under the circumstances, therefore, and without interfering with the rights of free citizens, it was a case for the intervention of Government, which ought not to endanger the safety of all for the pleasure of one individual.
In spite of all his arguments, however, Captain Nicholl remained alone in his opinion. Nobody listened to him, and he did not succeed in alienating a single admirer from the president of the Gun Club. The latter did not even take the pains to refute the arguments of his rival.
Nicholl, driven into his last entrenchments, and not able to fight personally in the cause, resolved to fight with money. He published, therefore, in the Richmond Inquirer a series of wagers, conceived in these terms, and on an increasing scale:
No. 1 ($1,000).— That the necessary funds for the experiment of the Gun Club will not be forthcoming.
No. 2 ($2,000).— That the operation of casting a cannon of 900 feet is impracticable, and cannot possibly succeed.
No. 3 ($3,000).— That is it impossible to load the Columbiad, and that the pyroxyle will take fire spontaneously under the pressure of the projectile.
No. 4 ($4,000).— That the Columbiad will burst at the first fire.
No. 5 ($5,000).— That the shot will not travel farther than six miles, and that it will fall back again a few seconds after its discharge.
It was an important sum, therefore, which the captain risked in his invincible obstinacy. He had no less than $15,000 at stake.
Notwithstanding the importance of the challenge, on the 19th of
May he received a sealed packet containing the following
superbly laconic reply:
"BALTIMORE, October 19.
"Done.
"BARBICANE."
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
From the Earth to the Moon, Ch 9: THE QUESTION OF THE POWDERS
THE QUESTION OF THE POWDERS
remained for consideration merely the question of powders. The public awaited with interest its final decision. The size of the projectile, the length of the cannon being settled, what would be the quantity of powder necessary to produce impulsion?
It is generally asserted that gunpowder was invented in the fourteenth century by the monk Schwartz, who paid for his grand discovery with his life. It is, however, pretty well proved that this story ought to be ranked among the legends of the middle ages. Gunpowder was not invented by any one; it was the lineal successor of the Greek fire, which, like itself, was composed of sulfur and saltpeter. Few persons are acquainted with the mechanical power of gunpowder. Now this is precisely what is necessary to be understood in order to comprehend the importance of the question submitted to the committee.
A litre of gunpowder weighs about two pounds; during combustion it produces 400 litres of gas. This gas, on being liberated and acted upon by temperature raised to 2,400 degrees, occupies a space of 4,000 litres: consequently the volume of powder is to the volume of gas produced by its combustion as 1 to 4,000. One may judge, therefore, of the tremendous pressure on this gas when compressed within a space 4,000 times too confined. All this was, of course, well known to the members of the committee when they met on the following evening.
The first speaker on this occasion was Major Elphinstone, who had been the director of the gunpowder factories during the war.
"Gentlemen," said this distinguished chemist, "I begin with some figures which will serve as the basis of our calculation. The old 24-pounder shot required for its discharge sixteen pounds of powder."
"You are certain of this amount?" broke in Barbicane.
"Quite certain," replied the major. "The Armstrong cannon employs only seventy-five pounds of powder for a projectile of eight hundred pounds, and the Rodman Columbiad uses only one hundred and sixty pounds of powder to send its half ton shot a distance of six miles. These facts cannot be called in question, for I myself raised the point during the depositions taken before the committee of artillery."
"Quite true," said the general.
"Well," replied the major, "these figures go to prove that the quantity of powder is not increased with the weight of the shot; that is to say, if a 24-pounder shot requires sixteen pounds of powder;— in other words, if in ordinary guns we employ a quantity of powder equal to two-thirds of the weight of the projectile, this proportion is not constant. Calculate, and you will see that in place of three hundred and thirty-three pounds of powder, the quantity is reduced to no more than one hundred and sixty pounds."
"What are you aiming at?" asked the president.
"If you push your theory to extremes, my dear major," said J. T. Maston, "you will get to this, that as soon as your shot becomes sufficiently heavy you will not require any powder at all."
"Our friend Maston is always at his jokes, even in serious matters," cried the major; "but let him make his mind easy, I am going presently to propose gunpowder enough to satisfy his artillerist's propensities. I only keep to statistical facts when I say that, during the war, and for the very largest guns, the weight of the powder was reduced, as the result of experience, to a tenth part of the weight of the shot."
"Perfectly correct," said Morgan; "but before deciding the quantity of powder necessary to give the impulse, I think it would be as well——"
"We shall have to employ a large-grained powder," continued the major; "its combustion is more rapid than that of the small."
"No doubt about that," replied Morgan; "but it is very destructive, and ends by enlarging the bore of the pieces."
"Granted; but that which is injurious to a gun destined to perform long service is not so to our Columbiad. We shall run no danger of an explosion; and it is necessary that our powder should take fire instantaneously in order that its mechanical effect may be complete."
"We must have," said Maston, "several touch-holes, so as to fire it at different points at the same time."
"Certainly," replied Elphinstone; "but that will render the working of the piece more difficult. I return then to my large-grained powder, which removes those difficulties. In his Columbiad charges Rodman employed a powder as large as chestnuts, made of willow charcoal, simply dried in cast- iron pans. This powder was hard and glittering, left no trace upon the hand, contained hydrogen and oxygen in large proportion, took fire instantaneously, and, though very destructive, did not sensibly injure the mouth-piece."
Up to this point Barbicane had kept aloof from the discussion; he left the others to speak while he himself listened; he had evidently got an idea. He now simply said, "Well, my friends, what quantity of powder do you propose?"
The three members looked at one another.
"Two hundred thousand pounds." at last said Morgan.
"Five hundred thousand," added the major.
"Eight hundred thousand," screamed Maston.
A moment of silence followed this triple proposal; it was at last broken by the president.
"Gentlemen," he quietly said, "I start from this principle, that the resistance of a gun, constructed under the given conditions, is unlimited. I shall surprise our friend Maston, then, by stigmatizing his calculations as timid; and I propose to double his 800,000 pounds of powder."
"Sixteen hundred thousand pounds?" shouted Maston, leaping from his seat.
"Just so."
"We shall have to come then to my ideal of a cannon half a mile long; for you see 1,600,000 pounds will occupy a space of about 20,000 cubic feet; and since the contents of your cannon do not exceed 54,000 cubic feet, it would be half full; and the bore will not be more than long enough for the gas to communicate to the projectile sufficient impulse."
"Nevertheless," said the president, "I hold to that quantity of powder. Now, 1,600,000 pounds of powder will create 6,000,000,000 litres of gas. Six thousand millions! You quite understand?"
"What is to be done then?" said the general.
"The thing is very simple; we must reduce this enormous quantity of powder, while preserving to it its mechanical power."
"Good; but by what means?"
"I am going to tell you," replied Barbicane quietly.
"Nothing is more easy than to reduce this mass to one quarter of its bulk. You know that curious cellular matter which constitutes the elementary tissues of vegetable? This substance is found quite pure in many bodies, especially in cotton, which is nothing more than the down of the seeds of the cotton plant. Now cotton, combined with cold nitric acid, become transformed into a substance eminently insoluble, combustible, and explosive. It was first discovered in 1832, by Braconnot, a French chemist, who called it xyloidine. In 1838 another Frenchman, Pelouze, investigated its different properties, and finally, in 1846, Schonbein, professor of chemistry at Bale, proposed its employment for purposes of war. This powder, now called pyroxyle, or fulminating cotton, is prepared with great facility by simply plunging cotton for fifteen minutes in nitric acid, then washing it in water, then drying it, and it is ready for use."
"Nothing could be more simple," said Morgan.
"Moreover, pyroxyle is unaltered by moisture— a valuable property to us, inasmuch as it would take several days to charge the cannon. It ignites at 170 degrees in place of 240, and its combustion is so rapid that one may set light to it on the top of the ordinary powder, without the latter having time to ignite."
"Perfect!" exclaimed the major.
"Only it is more expensive."
"What matter?" cried J. T. Maston.
"Finally, it imparts to projectiles a velocity four times superior to that of gunpowder. I will even add, that if we mix it with one-eighth of its own weight of nitrate of potassium, its expansive force is again considerably augmented."
"Will that be necessary?" asked the major.
"I think not," replied Barbicane. "So, then, in place of 1,600,000 pounds of powder, we shall have but 400,000 pounds of fulminating cotton; and since we can, without danger, compress 500 pounds of cotton into twenty-seven cubic feet, the whole quantity will not occupy a height of more than 180 feet within the bore of the Columbiad. In this way the shot will have more than 700 feet of bore to traverse under a force of 6,000,000,000 litres of gas before taking its flight toward the moon."
At this juncture J. T. Maston could not repress his emotion; he flung himself into the arms of his friend with the violence of a projectile, and Barbicane would have been stove in if he had not been boom-proof.
This incident terminated the third meeting of the committee.
Barbicane and his bold colleagues, to whom nothing seemed impossible, had succeeding in solving the complex problems of projectile, cannon, and powder. Their plan was drawn up, and it only remained to put it into execution.
"A mere matter of detail, a bagatelle," said J. T. Maston
remained for consideration merely the question of powders. The public awaited with interest its final decision. The size of the projectile, the length of the cannon being settled, what would be the quantity of powder necessary to produce impulsion?
It is generally asserted that gunpowder was invented in the fourteenth century by the monk Schwartz, who paid for his grand discovery with his life. It is, however, pretty well proved that this story ought to be ranked among the legends of the middle ages. Gunpowder was not invented by any one; it was the lineal successor of the Greek fire, which, like itself, was composed of sulfur and saltpeter. Few persons are acquainted with the mechanical power of gunpowder. Now this is precisely what is necessary to be understood in order to comprehend the importance of the question submitted to the committee.
A litre of gunpowder weighs about two pounds; during combustion it produces 400 litres of gas. This gas, on being liberated and acted upon by temperature raised to 2,400 degrees, occupies a space of 4,000 litres: consequently the volume of powder is to the volume of gas produced by its combustion as 1 to 4,000. One may judge, therefore, of the tremendous pressure on this gas when compressed within a space 4,000 times too confined. All this was, of course, well known to the members of the committee when they met on the following evening.
The first speaker on this occasion was Major Elphinstone, who had been the director of the gunpowder factories during the war.
"Gentlemen," said this distinguished chemist, "I begin with some figures which will serve as the basis of our calculation. The old 24-pounder shot required for its discharge sixteen pounds of powder."
"You are certain of this amount?" broke in Barbicane.
"Quite certain," replied the major. "The Armstrong cannon employs only seventy-five pounds of powder for a projectile of eight hundred pounds, and the Rodman Columbiad uses only one hundred and sixty pounds of powder to send its half ton shot a distance of six miles. These facts cannot be called in question, for I myself raised the point during the depositions taken before the committee of artillery."
"Quite true," said the general.
"Well," replied the major, "these figures go to prove that the quantity of powder is not increased with the weight of the shot; that is to say, if a 24-pounder shot requires sixteen pounds of powder;— in other words, if in ordinary guns we employ a quantity of powder equal to two-thirds of the weight of the projectile, this proportion is not constant. Calculate, and you will see that in place of three hundred and thirty-three pounds of powder, the quantity is reduced to no more than one hundred and sixty pounds."
"What are you aiming at?" asked the president.
"If you push your theory to extremes, my dear major," said J. T. Maston, "you will get to this, that as soon as your shot becomes sufficiently heavy you will not require any powder at all."
"Our friend Maston is always at his jokes, even in serious matters," cried the major; "but let him make his mind easy, I am going presently to propose gunpowder enough to satisfy his artillerist's propensities. I only keep to statistical facts when I say that, during the war, and for the very largest guns, the weight of the powder was reduced, as the result of experience, to a tenth part of the weight of the shot."
"Perfectly correct," said Morgan; "but before deciding the quantity of powder necessary to give the impulse, I think it would be as well——"
"We shall have to employ a large-grained powder," continued the major; "its combustion is more rapid than that of the small."
"No doubt about that," replied Morgan; "but it is very destructive, and ends by enlarging the bore of the pieces."
"Granted; but that which is injurious to a gun destined to perform long service is not so to our Columbiad. We shall run no danger of an explosion; and it is necessary that our powder should take fire instantaneously in order that its mechanical effect may be complete."
"We must have," said Maston, "several touch-holes, so as to fire it at different points at the same time."
"Certainly," replied Elphinstone; "but that will render the working of the piece more difficult. I return then to my large-grained powder, which removes those difficulties. In his Columbiad charges Rodman employed a powder as large as chestnuts, made of willow charcoal, simply dried in cast- iron pans. This powder was hard and glittering, left no trace upon the hand, contained hydrogen and oxygen in large proportion, took fire instantaneously, and, though very destructive, did not sensibly injure the mouth-piece."
Up to this point Barbicane had kept aloof from the discussion; he left the others to speak while he himself listened; he had evidently got an idea. He now simply said, "Well, my friends, what quantity of powder do you propose?"
The three members looked at one another.
"Two hundred thousand pounds." at last said Morgan.
"Five hundred thousand," added the major.
"Eight hundred thousand," screamed Maston.
A moment of silence followed this triple proposal; it was at last broken by the president.
"Gentlemen," he quietly said, "I start from this principle, that the resistance of a gun, constructed under the given conditions, is unlimited. I shall surprise our friend Maston, then, by stigmatizing his calculations as timid; and I propose to double his 800,000 pounds of powder."
"Sixteen hundred thousand pounds?" shouted Maston, leaping from his seat.
"Just so."
"We shall have to come then to my ideal of a cannon half a mile long; for you see 1,600,000 pounds will occupy a space of about 20,000 cubic feet; and since the contents of your cannon do not exceed 54,000 cubic feet, it would be half full; and the bore will not be more than long enough for the gas to communicate to the projectile sufficient impulse."
"Nevertheless," said the president, "I hold to that quantity of powder. Now, 1,600,000 pounds of powder will create 6,000,000,000 litres of gas. Six thousand millions! You quite understand?"
"What is to be done then?" said the general.
"The thing is very simple; we must reduce this enormous quantity of powder, while preserving to it its mechanical power."
"Good; but by what means?"
"I am going to tell you," replied Barbicane quietly.
"Nothing is more easy than to reduce this mass to one quarter of its bulk. You know that curious cellular matter which constitutes the elementary tissues of vegetable? This substance is found quite pure in many bodies, especially in cotton, which is nothing more than the down of the seeds of the cotton plant. Now cotton, combined with cold nitric acid, become transformed into a substance eminently insoluble, combustible, and explosive. It was first discovered in 1832, by Braconnot, a French chemist, who called it xyloidine. In 1838 another Frenchman, Pelouze, investigated its different properties, and finally, in 1846, Schonbein, professor of chemistry at Bale, proposed its employment for purposes of war. This powder, now called pyroxyle, or fulminating cotton, is prepared with great facility by simply plunging cotton for fifteen minutes in nitric acid, then washing it in water, then drying it, and it is ready for use."
"Nothing could be more simple," said Morgan.
"Moreover, pyroxyle is unaltered by moisture— a valuable property to us, inasmuch as it would take several days to charge the cannon. It ignites at 170 degrees in place of 240, and its combustion is so rapid that one may set light to it on the top of the ordinary powder, without the latter having time to ignite."
"Perfect!" exclaimed the major.
"Only it is more expensive."
"What matter?" cried J. T. Maston.
"Finally, it imparts to projectiles a velocity four times superior to that of gunpowder. I will even add, that if we mix it with one-eighth of its own weight of nitrate of potassium, its expansive force is again considerably augmented."
"Will that be necessary?" asked the major.
"I think not," replied Barbicane. "So, then, in place of 1,600,000 pounds of powder, we shall have but 400,000 pounds of fulminating cotton; and since we can, without danger, compress 500 pounds of cotton into twenty-seven cubic feet, the whole quantity will not occupy a height of more than 180 feet within the bore of the Columbiad. In this way the shot will have more than 700 feet of bore to traverse under a force of 6,000,000,000 litres of gas before taking its flight toward the moon."
At this juncture J. T. Maston could not repress his emotion; he flung himself into the arms of his friend with the violence of a projectile, and Barbicane would have been stove in if he had not been boom-proof.
This incident terminated the third meeting of the committee.
Barbicane and his bold colleagues, to whom nothing seemed impossible, had succeeding in solving the complex problems of projectile, cannon, and powder. Their plan was drawn up, and it only remained to put it into execution.
"A mere matter of detail, a bagatelle," said J. T. Maston
Monday, December 26, 2011
The 12 Most Anticipated Space Missions of 2012
From Space.com: The 12 Most Anticipated Space Missions of 2012
The space shuttle program is over, but that won't mean a lack of launches in 2012.
Between commercial and government spaceflight, manned and robotic, there's a lot on next year's spaceflight docket. For NASA, this year will bring the first private space cargo missions to the International Space Station, while China plans to launch its first crew to a brand-new space laboratory in orbit.
Meanwhile, new NASA probes are due to arrive at the moon and Mars, among other places. Here's a look at the 12 most anticipated space missions of 2012:
1. First Commercial Spaceship Flights to ISS
In the wake of this year's space shuttle retirement, NASA has been encouraging commercial companies to develop spaceships that can pick up the slack in carrying both cargo and crew to the International Space Station.
In 2012, the first of these private vehicles is set to make its maiden voyage to the orbiting laboratory. The Dragon space capsule developed by Hawthorne, Calif., company Space Exploration Technology (SpaceX) is scheduled to launch atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket Feb. 7. A few days later, the craft is due to autonomously rendezvous with the space station. When it comes within range, the astronauts aboard the station will grab hold of it with the station's robotic arm and berth it to the outpost.
Another private spacecraft, the Cygnus capsule being developed by Orbital Sciences Corp., of Dulles, Va., is also set to make its debut in 2012. Cygnus is due to fly atop Orbital's Taurus 2 rocket in May.
2. Virgin Galactic Powered Flight
Another burgeoning field of commercial spaceflight is the suborbital space tourist industry. A leader in this market is Mojave, Calif.-based Virgin Galactic, headed by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson. Virgin Galactic plans to fly paying passengers on suborbital joy rides to the edge of space and back, initially at $200,000 a pop.
Virgin Galactic's vehicles, the space plane SpaceShipTwo and its mothership WhiteKnightTwo, have so far made gliding test flights. The first powered flights have not been announced, but experts are hoping to see SpaceShipTwo's rocket engines ignited for flights sometime in 2012. These test flights will be a major step toward flying space tourists, more than 400 of whom have already paid in full.
3. China's Manned Space Laboratory
China, a growing player in space, is working on its own manned space station. This year the nation launched its first space station test module and conducted its first in-orbit rendezvous and docking. Though these spacecraft were unmanned, Chinese astronauts are expected to fly on a subsequent docking test flight in 2012.
The Tiangong-1 module, launched Sept. 29, is still in orbit. The robotic Shenzhou 8 mission launched Oct. 31 and met up with Tiangong-1 multiple times before returning to Earth in November.
The next docking missions, which will further develop this critical skill for building a space station, will be Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10. At least one of them will be crewed, Chinese officials have said.
4. NASA's GRAIL Probes Arrive at the Moon
On Sept. 10, NASA launched the $496 million Grail spacecraft (short for "Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory") on a mission to map the moon's gravity, to help learn about our natural satellite's interior and formation.
The twin probes are due to arrive at their target on New Year's Day. They will stay in orbit around Earth's moon for about three months, tracking the moon's gravitational field by measuring minute changes in the distance between the two spacecraft due to gravitational variations.
5. LightSail-1 Launches
LightSail-1 is an unmanned solar sail spacecraft being developed by the nonprofit Planetary Society, an organization that advocates space exploration.
Solar sail technology offers the potential to use the sun's radiation to push a spacecraft farther and faster than traditional propulsion does. The LightSail-1 vehicle is the first of three planned tests of the technology by the Planetary Society. It is due to launch sometime in 2012.
LightSail-1 is made of three small cube-shaped spacecraft attached to four triangular Mylar sails arranged like a kite. The vehicle will rely on pure sunlight for propulsion.
6. Dawn Probe Departs for Second Asteroid
NASA's Dawn probe, launched in 2007, has been in orbit around the asteroid Vesta since July 2011. Vesta is the second-most- massive body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. [Photos: Asteroid Vesta and NASA's Dawn Spacecraft]
In July, the $466 millionDawn spacecraft is due to depart Vesta and head toward the dwarf planet Ceres, the only larger body in the asteroid belt. Its arrival is set for February 2015. The probe aims to study these space rocks for clues about the history of our solar system and the formation of the planets.
7. Curiosity Rover Arrives on Red Planet
NASA's huge new rover Curiosity, the centerpiece of the space agency's Mars Science Laboratory mission, is expected to land on the Red Planet Aug. 6.
The $2.5 billion Curiosity lifted off Nov. 26, 2011. It's the largest and most ambitiously designed Mars rover to date, packed with 10 different science instruments to search for signs that Mars is, or ever was, habitable to life.
The landing is expected to be a nail-biter, as Curiosity is due to descend to the planet's surface as no vehicle has done before. NASA engineers devised a sky crane descent module that will parachute down to hover over Mars, then lower Curiosity on tethers to a gentle touchdown.
8. Dream Chaser Drop Tests
The Dream Chaser is a private space plane built by Sierra Nevada Corp., of Colorado. This orbital flier is another bid to take over the task of ferrying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.
When it launches to space, Dream Chaser will fly atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. But first, Sierra Nevada plans to conduct test flights of the vehicle closer to the ground during the summer.
For Dream Chaser's first test flight, the space plane will be lofted to high altitudes by Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo mothership. Then Dream Chaser will be dropped so it can glide back down to the ground, to test its landing capabilities. The test flight reportedly will take place from either Edwards Air Force Base in California or White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
9. Secret Air Force Space Plane Landing
The U.S. Air Force has a secretive spy spacecraft called X-37B in orbit right now. The unmanned space plane, operated by the Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office, launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 5, 2011. It is the second craft of its kind.
There's also a chance the Air Force will launch another version of the test vehicle next year. Though details are scarce, the spacecraft is designed as a prototype robotic long-duration platform for space-based Air Force activities. The X-37B's payload is classified.
An Air Force photographer snapped this profile view of the X-37B shortly after its landing on Dec. 3, 2010, which marked the end of the secret vehicle's maiden space mission.
10. Space Station Gets New Additions
The International Space Station, though practically complete, is not quite done with new facilities and tools.
The orbiting laboratory is a $100 billion, football field-size collaboration among the United States, Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and Canada.
In May 2012, Russia will launch the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MPLM), a new room to be added onto the space station's Zvezda nadir port, replacing the Pirs docking compartment currently there. Nauka will house science experiments and cargo and will be used for docking, as well as work and rest areas for the crew.
The same Russian Proton rocket that launches Nauka will carry the European Robotic Arm. This new tool will be attached to the Russian side of the space station to assist with work on the station's exterior.
11. Planetary Exploration Milestones
Many of the robotic probes currently exploring the solar system will reach milestones next year. For example, the Cassini orbiter, which has been circling Saturn since 2004, will make multiple flybys of the Saturnian moons Titan and Enceladus, as well as distant flybys of many other moons, including Helene, Mimas, Janus, Polydeuces, Telesto, Pallene and Dione.
NASA's Messenger mission, which arrived in orbit around Mercury this year, will continue its up-close study of the planet closest to the sun.
And the agency's New Horizons mission, which launched in 2006, will come closer to Pluto than any other spacecraft yet. New Horizons is due to reach its target in 2015, when it will fly by Pluto to study the dwarf planet and its moons. The craft has already passed the orbit of Uranus and is due to pass Neptune's orbit in 2014.
Many other planetary probes will continue plugging along next year to advance scientists' goals of better understanding the solar system.
12. Permanent Human Presence in Space
Expedition 29 crew
NASA astronaut Mike Fossum (right), Expedition 29 commander, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa (left) and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, both flight engineers, share a meal at the galley in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station on Sept. 16, 2011
It's easy to overlook because it's been happening for more than a decade, but the five partner space agencies behind the International Space Station will continue to send people to the outpost to maintain the human presence in space that's been constant since 2000.
Though NASA's space shuttles retired in 2011, the agency didn't stop sending astronauts to help crew the space station, which will continue to operate to at least 2020.
Twelve spaceflyers are scheduled to travel to the space station on four different launches in 2012. These men and women will spend around six months each living and working in space, performing experiments in a wide range of sciences inside humanity's only microgravity laboratory.
The space shuttle program is over, but that won't mean a lack of launches in 2012.
Between commercial and government spaceflight, manned and robotic, there's a lot on next year's spaceflight docket. For NASA, this year will bring the first private space cargo missions to the International Space Station, while China plans to launch its first crew to a brand-new space laboratory in orbit.
Meanwhile, new NASA probes are due to arrive at the moon and Mars, among other places. Here's a look at the 12 most anticipated space missions of 2012:
1. First Commercial Spaceship Flights to ISS
In the wake of this year's space shuttle retirement, NASA has been encouraging commercial companies to develop spaceships that can pick up the slack in carrying both cargo and crew to the International Space Station.
In 2012, the first of these private vehicles is set to make its maiden voyage to the orbiting laboratory. The Dragon space capsule developed by Hawthorne, Calif., company Space Exploration Technology (SpaceX) is scheduled to launch atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket Feb. 7. A few days later, the craft is due to autonomously rendezvous with the space station. When it comes within range, the astronauts aboard the station will grab hold of it with the station's robotic arm and berth it to the outpost.
Another private spacecraft, the Cygnus capsule being developed by Orbital Sciences Corp., of Dulles, Va., is also set to make its debut in 2012. Cygnus is due to fly atop Orbital's Taurus 2 rocket in May.
2. Virgin Galactic Powered Flight
Another burgeoning field of commercial spaceflight is the suborbital space tourist industry. A leader in this market is Mojave, Calif.-based Virgin Galactic, headed by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson. Virgin Galactic plans to fly paying passengers on suborbital joy rides to the edge of space and back, initially at $200,000 a pop.
Virgin Galactic's vehicles, the space plane SpaceShipTwo and its mothership WhiteKnightTwo, have so far made gliding test flights. The first powered flights have not been announced, but experts are hoping to see SpaceShipTwo's rocket engines ignited for flights sometime in 2012. These test flights will be a major step toward flying space tourists, more than 400 of whom have already paid in full.
3. China's Manned Space Laboratory
China, a growing player in space, is working on its own manned space station. This year the nation launched its first space station test module and conducted its first in-orbit rendezvous and docking. Though these spacecraft were unmanned, Chinese astronauts are expected to fly on a subsequent docking test flight in 2012.
The Tiangong-1 module, launched Sept. 29, is still in orbit. The robotic Shenzhou 8 mission launched Oct. 31 and met up with Tiangong-1 multiple times before returning to Earth in November.
The next docking missions, which will further develop this critical skill for building a space station, will be Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10. At least one of them will be crewed, Chinese officials have said.
4. NASA's GRAIL Probes Arrive at the Moon
On Sept. 10, NASA launched the $496 million Grail spacecraft (short for "Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory") on a mission to map the moon's gravity, to help learn about our natural satellite's interior and formation.
The twin probes are due to arrive at their target on New Year's Day. They will stay in orbit around Earth's moon for about three months, tracking the moon's gravitational field by measuring minute changes in the distance between the two spacecraft due to gravitational variations.
5. LightSail-1 Launches
LightSail-1 is an unmanned solar sail spacecraft being developed by the nonprofit Planetary Society, an organization that advocates space exploration.
Solar sail technology offers the potential to use the sun's radiation to push a spacecraft farther and faster than traditional propulsion does. The LightSail-1 vehicle is the first of three planned tests of the technology by the Planetary Society. It is due to launch sometime in 2012.
LightSail-1 is made of three small cube-shaped spacecraft attached to four triangular Mylar sails arranged like a kite. The vehicle will rely on pure sunlight for propulsion.
6. Dawn Probe Departs for Second Asteroid
NASA's Dawn probe, launched in 2007, has been in orbit around the asteroid Vesta since July 2011. Vesta is the second-most- massive body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. [Photos: Asteroid Vesta and NASA's Dawn Spacecraft]
In July, the $466 millionDawn spacecraft is due to depart Vesta and head toward the dwarf planet Ceres, the only larger body in the asteroid belt. Its arrival is set for February 2015. The probe aims to study these space rocks for clues about the history of our solar system and the formation of the planets.
7. Curiosity Rover Arrives on Red Planet
NASA's huge new rover Curiosity, the centerpiece of the space agency's Mars Science Laboratory mission, is expected to land on the Red Planet Aug. 6.
The $2.5 billion Curiosity lifted off Nov. 26, 2011. It's the largest and most ambitiously designed Mars rover to date, packed with 10 different science instruments to search for signs that Mars is, or ever was, habitable to life.
The landing is expected to be a nail-biter, as Curiosity is due to descend to the planet's surface as no vehicle has done before. NASA engineers devised a sky crane descent module that will parachute down to hover over Mars, then lower Curiosity on tethers to a gentle touchdown.
8. Dream Chaser Drop Tests
The Dream Chaser is a private space plane built by Sierra Nevada Corp., of Colorado. This orbital flier is another bid to take over the task of ferrying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.
When it launches to space, Dream Chaser will fly atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. But first, Sierra Nevada plans to conduct test flights of the vehicle closer to the ground during the summer.
For Dream Chaser's first test flight, the space plane will be lofted to high altitudes by Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo mothership. Then Dream Chaser will be dropped so it can glide back down to the ground, to test its landing capabilities. The test flight reportedly will take place from either Edwards Air Force Base in California or White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
9. Secret Air Force Space Plane Landing
The U.S. Air Force has a secretive spy spacecraft called X-37B in orbit right now. The unmanned space plane, operated by the Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office, launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 5, 2011. It is the second craft of its kind.
There's also a chance the Air Force will launch another version of the test vehicle next year. Though details are scarce, the spacecraft is designed as a prototype robotic long-duration platform for space-based Air Force activities. The X-37B's payload is classified.
An Air Force photographer snapped this profile view of the X-37B shortly after its landing on Dec. 3, 2010, which marked the end of the secret vehicle's maiden space mission.
10. Space Station Gets New Additions
The International Space Station, though practically complete, is not quite done with new facilities and tools.
The orbiting laboratory is a $100 billion, football field-size collaboration among the United States, Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and Canada.
In May 2012, Russia will launch the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MPLM), a new room to be added onto the space station's Zvezda nadir port, replacing the Pirs docking compartment currently there. Nauka will house science experiments and cargo and will be used for docking, as well as work and rest areas for the crew.
The same Russian Proton rocket that launches Nauka will carry the European Robotic Arm. This new tool will be attached to the Russian side of the space station to assist with work on the station's exterior.
11. Planetary Exploration Milestones
Many of the robotic probes currently exploring the solar system will reach milestones next year. For example, the Cassini orbiter, which has been circling Saturn since 2004, will make multiple flybys of the Saturnian moons Titan and Enceladus, as well as distant flybys of many other moons, including Helene, Mimas, Janus, Polydeuces, Telesto, Pallene and Dione.
NASA's Messenger mission, which arrived in orbit around Mercury this year, will continue its up-close study of the planet closest to the sun.
And the agency's New Horizons mission, which launched in 2006, will come closer to Pluto than any other spacecraft yet. New Horizons is due to reach its target in 2015, when it will fly by Pluto to study the dwarf planet and its moons. The craft has already passed the orbit of Uranus and is due to pass Neptune's orbit in 2014.
Many other planetary probes will continue plugging along next year to advance scientists' goals of better understanding the solar system.
12. Permanent Human Presence in Space
Expedition 29 crew
NASA astronaut Mike Fossum (right), Expedition 29 commander, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa (left) and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, both flight engineers, share a meal at the galley in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station on Sept. 16, 2011
It's easy to overlook because it's been happening for more than a decade, but the five partner space agencies behind the International Space Station will continue to send people to the outpost to maintain the human presence in space that's been constant since 2000.
Though NASA's space shuttles retired in 2011, the agency didn't stop sending astronauts to help crew the space station, which will continue to operate to at least 2020.
Twelve spaceflyers are scheduled to travel to the space station on four different launches in 2012. These men and women will spend around six months each living and working in space, performing experiments in a wide range of sciences inside humanity's only microgravity laboratory.
From the Earth to the Moon, Ch 8: HISTORY OF THE CANNON
HISTORY OF THE CANNON
The resolutions passed at the last meeting produced a great effect out of doors. Timid people took fright at the idea of a shot weighing 20,000 pounds being launched into space; they asked what cannon could ever transmit a sufficient velocity to such a mighty mass. The minutes of the second meeting were destined triumphantly to answer such questions. The following evening the discussion was renewed.
"My dear colleagues," said Barbicane, without further preamble, "the subject now before us is the construction of the engine, its length, its composition, and its weight. It is probable that we shall end by giving it gigantic dimensions; but however great may be the difficulties in the way, our mechanical genius will readily surmount them. Be good enough, then, to give me your attention, and do not hesitate to make objections at the close. I have no fear of them. The problem before us is how to communicate an initial force of 12,000 yards per second to a shell of 108 inches in diameter, weighing 20,000 pounds. Now when a projectile is launched into space, what happens to it? It is acted upon by three independent forces: the resistance of the air, the attraction of the earth, and the force of impulsion with which it is endowed. Let us examine these three forces. The resistance of the air is of little importance. The atmosphere of the earth does not exceed forty miles. Now, with the given rapidity, the projectile will have traversed this in five seconds, and the period is too brief for the resistance of the medium to be regarded otherwise than as insignificant. Proceding, then, to the attraction of the earth, that is, the weight of the shell, we know that this weight will diminish in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance. When a body left to itself falls to the surface of the earth, it falls five feet in the first second; and if the same body were removed 257,542 miles further off, in other words, to the distance of the moon, its fall would be reduced to about half a line in the first second. That is almost equivalent to a state of perfect rest. Our business, then, is to overcome progressively this action of gravitation. The mode of accomplishing that is by the force of impulsion."
"There's the difficulty," broke in the major.
"True," replied the president; "but we will overcome that, for the force of impulsion will depend on the length of the engine and the powder employed, the latter being limited only by the resisting power of the former. Our business, then, to-day is with the dimensions of the cannon."
"Now, up to the present time," said Barbicane, "our longest guns have not exceeded twenty-five feet in length. We shall therefore astonish the world by the dimensions we shall be obliged to adopt. It must evidently be, then, a gun of great range, since the length of the piece will increase the detention of the gas accumulated behind the projectile; but there is no advantage in passing certain limits."
"Quite so," said the major. "What is the rule in such a case?"
"Ordinarily the length of a gun is twenty to twenty-five times the diameter of the shot, and its weight two hundred and thirty-five to two hundred and forty times that of the shot."
"That is not enough," cried J. T. Maston impetuously.
"I agree with you, my good friend; and, in fact, following this proportion for a projectile nine feet in diameter, weighing 30,000 pounds, the gun would only have a length of two hundred and twenty- five feet, and a weight of 7,200,000 pounds."
"Ridiculous!" rejoined Maston. "As well take a pistol."
"I think so too," replied Barbicane; "that is why I propose to quadruple that length, and to construct a gun of nine hundred feet."
The general and the major offered some objections; nevertheless, the proposition, actively supported by the secretary, was definitely adopted.
"But," said Elphinstone, "what thickness must we give it?"
"A thickness of six feet," replied Barbicane.
"You surely don't think of mounting a mass like that upon a carriage?" asked the major.
"It would be a superb idea, though," said Maston.
"But impracticable," replied Barbicane. "No, I think of sinking this engine in the earth alone, binding it with hoops of wrought iron, and finally surrounding it with a thick mass of masonry of stone and cement. The piece once cast, it must be bored with great precision, so as to preclude any possible windage. So there will be no loss whatever of gas, and all the expansive force of the powder will be employed in the propulsion."
"One simple question," said Elphinstone: "is our gun to be rifled?"
"No, certainly not," replied Barbicane; "we require an enormous initial velocity; and you are well aware that a shot quits a rifled gun less rapidly than it does a smooth-bore."
"True," rejoined the major.
The committee here adjourned for a few minutes to tea and sandwiches.
On the discussion being renewed, "Gentlemen," said Barbicane, "we must now take into consideration the metal to be employed. Our cannon must be possessed of great tenacity, great hardness, be infusible by heat, indissoluble, and inoxidable by the corrosive action of acids."
"There is no doubt about that," replied the major; "and as we shall have to employ an immense quantity of metal, we shall not be at a loss for choice."
"Well, then," said Morgan, "I propose the best alloy hitherto known, which consists of one hundred parts of copper, twelve of tin, and six of brass."
"I admit," replied the president, "that this composition has yielded excellent results, but in the present case it would be too expensive, and very difficult to work. I think, then, that we ought to adopt a material excellent in its way and of low price, such as cast iron. What is your advice, major?"
"I quite agree with you," replied Elphinstone.
"In fact," continued Barbicane, "cast iron costs ten times less than bronze; it is easy to cast, it runs readily from the moulds of sand, it is easy of manipulation, it is at once economical of money and of time. In addition, it is excellent as a material, and I well remember that during the war, at the siege of Atlanta, some iron guns fired one thousand rounds at intervals of twenty minutes without injury."
"Cast iron is very brittle, though," replied Morgan.
"Yes, but it possesses great resistance. I will now ask our worthy secretary to calculate the weight of a cast-iron gun with a bore of nine feet and a thickness of six feet of metal."
"In a moment," replied Maston. Then, dashing off some algebraical formulae with marvelous facility, in a minute or two he declared the following result:
"The cannon will weigh 68,040 tons. And, at two cents a pound, it will cost——"
"Two million five hundred and ten thousand seven hundred and one dollars."
Maston, the major, and the general regarded Barbicane with uneasy looks.
"Well, gentlemen," replied the president, "I repeat what I said yesterday. Make yourselves easy; the millions will not be wanting."
With this assurance of their president the committee separated, after having fixed their third meeting for the following evening.
The resolutions passed at the last meeting produced a great effect out of doors. Timid people took fright at the idea of a shot weighing 20,000 pounds being launched into space; they asked what cannon could ever transmit a sufficient velocity to such a mighty mass. The minutes of the second meeting were destined triumphantly to answer such questions. The following evening the discussion was renewed.
"My dear colleagues," said Barbicane, without further preamble, "the subject now before us is the construction of the engine, its length, its composition, and its weight. It is probable that we shall end by giving it gigantic dimensions; but however great may be the difficulties in the way, our mechanical genius will readily surmount them. Be good enough, then, to give me your attention, and do not hesitate to make objections at the close. I have no fear of them. The problem before us is how to communicate an initial force of 12,000 yards per second to a shell of 108 inches in diameter, weighing 20,000 pounds. Now when a projectile is launched into space, what happens to it? It is acted upon by three independent forces: the resistance of the air, the attraction of the earth, and the force of impulsion with which it is endowed. Let us examine these three forces. The resistance of the air is of little importance. The atmosphere of the earth does not exceed forty miles. Now, with the given rapidity, the projectile will have traversed this in five seconds, and the period is too brief for the resistance of the medium to be regarded otherwise than as insignificant. Proceding, then, to the attraction of the earth, that is, the weight of the shell, we know that this weight will diminish in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance. When a body left to itself falls to the surface of the earth, it falls five feet in the first second; and if the same body were removed 257,542 miles further off, in other words, to the distance of the moon, its fall would be reduced to about half a line in the first second. That is almost equivalent to a state of perfect rest. Our business, then, is to overcome progressively this action of gravitation. The mode of accomplishing that is by the force of impulsion."
"There's the difficulty," broke in the major.
"True," replied the president; "but we will overcome that, for the force of impulsion will depend on the length of the engine and the powder employed, the latter being limited only by the resisting power of the former. Our business, then, to-day is with the dimensions of the cannon."
"Now, up to the present time," said Barbicane, "our longest guns have not exceeded twenty-five feet in length. We shall therefore astonish the world by the dimensions we shall be obliged to adopt. It must evidently be, then, a gun of great range, since the length of the piece will increase the detention of the gas accumulated behind the projectile; but there is no advantage in passing certain limits."
"Quite so," said the major. "What is the rule in such a case?"
"Ordinarily the length of a gun is twenty to twenty-five times the diameter of the shot, and its weight two hundred and thirty-five to two hundred and forty times that of the shot."
"That is not enough," cried J. T. Maston impetuously.
"I agree with you, my good friend; and, in fact, following this proportion for a projectile nine feet in diameter, weighing 30,000 pounds, the gun would only have a length of two hundred and twenty- five feet, and a weight of 7,200,000 pounds."
"Ridiculous!" rejoined Maston. "As well take a pistol."
"I think so too," replied Barbicane; "that is why I propose to quadruple that length, and to construct a gun of nine hundred feet."
The general and the major offered some objections; nevertheless, the proposition, actively supported by the secretary, was definitely adopted.
"But," said Elphinstone, "what thickness must we give it?"
"A thickness of six feet," replied Barbicane.
"You surely don't think of mounting a mass like that upon a carriage?" asked the major.
"It would be a superb idea, though," said Maston.
"But impracticable," replied Barbicane. "No, I think of sinking this engine in the earth alone, binding it with hoops of wrought iron, and finally surrounding it with a thick mass of masonry of stone and cement. The piece once cast, it must be bored with great precision, so as to preclude any possible windage. So there will be no loss whatever of gas, and all the expansive force of the powder will be employed in the propulsion."
"One simple question," said Elphinstone: "is our gun to be rifled?"
"No, certainly not," replied Barbicane; "we require an enormous initial velocity; and you are well aware that a shot quits a rifled gun less rapidly than it does a smooth-bore."
"True," rejoined the major.
The committee here adjourned for a few minutes to tea and sandwiches.
On the discussion being renewed, "Gentlemen," said Barbicane, "we must now take into consideration the metal to be employed. Our cannon must be possessed of great tenacity, great hardness, be infusible by heat, indissoluble, and inoxidable by the corrosive action of acids."
"There is no doubt about that," replied the major; "and as we shall have to employ an immense quantity of metal, we shall not be at a loss for choice."
"Well, then," said Morgan, "I propose the best alloy hitherto known, which consists of one hundred parts of copper, twelve of tin, and six of brass."
"I admit," replied the president, "that this composition has yielded excellent results, but in the present case it would be too expensive, and very difficult to work. I think, then, that we ought to adopt a material excellent in its way and of low price, such as cast iron. What is your advice, major?"
"I quite agree with you," replied Elphinstone.
"In fact," continued Barbicane, "cast iron costs ten times less than bronze; it is easy to cast, it runs readily from the moulds of sand, it is easy of manipulation, it is at once economical of money and of time. In addition, it is excellent as a material, and I well remember that during the war, at the siege of Atlanta, some iron guns fired one thousand rounds at intervals of twenty minutes without injury."
"Cast iron is very brittle, though," replied Morgan.
"Yes, but it possesses great resistance. I will now ask our worthy secretary to calculate the weight of a cast-iron gun with a bore of nine feet and a thickness of six feet of metal."
"In a moment," replied Maston. Then, dashing off some algebraical formulae with marvelous facility, in a minute or two he declared the following result:
"The cannon will weigh 68,040 tons. And, at two cents a pound, it will cost——"
"Two million five hundred and ten thousand seven hundred and one dollars."
Maston, the major, and the general regarded Barbicane with uneasy looks.
"Well, gentlemen," replied the president, "I repeat what I said yesterday. Make yourselves easy; the millions will not be wanting."
With this assurance of their president the committee separated, after having fixed their third meeting for the following evening.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Next trio launches on space station's 30th expedition
From Spaceflight Now: Next trio launches on space station's 30th expedition
In bitterly cold weather, a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a three-man all-veteran crew blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday, streaking into orbit and setting off after the International Space Station to boost the lab's crew back to six.
With commander Oleg Kononenko at the controls in the ferry craft's center seat, flanked by European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers on his left and NASA flight engineer Donald Pettit to the right, the Soyuz TMA-03M's booster roared to life and climbed away from its snow-covered launching pad at 8:16:15 a.m. EST (GMT-5; 7:16:15 p.m. local time), roughly the moment Earth's rotation carried the launch site into the plane of the station's orbit.
Trailing a brilliant plume of fiery exhaust, the workhorse rocket climbed away through a clear, dark sky, arcing to the east as it accelerated toward space a little more than an hour after sunset in Baikonur. Spectators braved temperatures near zero degrees Fahrenheit to watch the rocket's ascent.
But it was comfortable inside the Soyuz and live television views from inside the spacecraft's central command module showed the crew members as they monitored the automated ascent, all three looking relaxed in their white spacesuits.
The rocket appeared to perform flawlessly and about nine minutes after launch, the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft separated from the booster's upper stage and slipped into orbit, its solar panels and antennas unfolding as planned as it set off after the space station.
"Congratulations, guys, on a good insertion, (there are) no issues with telemetry or anything at all at this time," Russian mission control called. "We wish you best of luck. You are experienced people, I'm sure everything is going to go very well."
Kononenko plans to oversee an automated approach and docking at the station's Rassvet module at 10:22 a.m. Friday. Standing by to welcome them aboard will be Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank, Soyuz TMA-22 commander Anton Shkaplerov and flight engineer Anatoly Ivanishin, who were launched to the outpost Nov. 13.
Burbank and his crewmates originally were scheduled for launch in September, with Kononenko, Kuipers and Pettit following at the end of November. But the Russian launch schedule was disrupted after a Progress cargo ship was destroyed during launch Aug. 24 when its third stage engine, virtually identical to the one used in the manned version of the Soyuz booster, malfunctioned and shut down before the craft reached orbit.
An investigation concluded the shutdown was triggered by contamination in a propellant line. Engineers carried out extensive inspections of downstream engines and implemented improved quality control procedures before the Russian federal space agency successfully launched another Progress supply ship Oct. 30. The Soyuz TMA-22 carrying Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin was safely launched Nov. 13.
"The Russians are good engineers, and they know how to make their hardware, they know how to fix their hardware when it doesn't work right," Pettit said in a pre-launch interview. "But all of this falls in the category of riding rockets is a risky business. If you want to be able to venture into space at this point in time, you've got to ride a rocket and if you want to participate in exploring that particular frontier you just have to roll your dice with the universe and do the best you can."
One of the highlights of the Expedition 30 crew's stay aboard the station will be the planned berthing of a commercial cargo capsule built by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, of Hawthorne, Calif. Launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida is targeted for Feb. 7.
SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to provide 12 cargo flights to the station for delivery of more than 44,000 pounds of equipment and supplies. The contract may be expanded to cover additional flights, boosting its value to some $3.1 billion. NASA also has ordered eight space station resupply flights from Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., under a contract valued at $1.9 billion. Initial test flights are expected next year.
Three test flights were planned by SpaceX under a separate contract valued at up to $396 million. The first flight was successfully carried out last December when a Dragon capsule was lofted into orbit and guided to a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, the first commercial spacecraft ever recovered from orbit.
The original plan called for a second test flight to demonstrate rendezvous procedures, with berthing carried out during a third and final test flight. But earlier this month, NASA agreed to let SpaceX combine the second and third test flights into a single mission.
Unlike cargo ships supplied by Russia and the European Space Agency, the commercial craft built by SpaceX and Orbital Sciences will be pulled into port by the station's robot arm. For the planned berthing in February, Burbank and Pettit will operate the station's robot arm and communications gear.
Kuipers said the advent of commercial cargo ships is the start "of a new era where we have industry, commercial companies getting into the game and into space business."
"And I think this is also the whole idea of ESA, of NASA," he said. "New things should be developed by these kind of agencies because we have to invest, it's risky, you have to find out what is possible, what's not possible. You develop a rocket, you test it and then commercial companies take over, and I think the same thing is now happening with the space station."
Here is a launch-to-docking timeline for the Soyuz TMA-03M mission (in EST; best viewed with fixed-width font):
DD...HH...MM...SS...EST...........EVENT
00...00...00...00...08:16:15 AM...LAUNCH
00...00...08...45...08:25:00 AM...Orbital Insertion
00...03...36...29...11:52:44 AM...DV-1 (93.99 mph)
00...04...28...48...12:45:03 PM...DV-2 (46.12 mph)
12/22/11
01...01...21...16...09:37:31 AM...DV-3 (4.47 mph)
12/23/11
01...23...45...49...08:02:04 AM...AR&D automated rendezvous start
02...00...03...45...08:20:00 AM...US-to-Russian attitude control handover
02...00...08...08...08:24:23 AM...AR&D DV-4/impulse 1 (34.95 mph)
02...00...28...41...08:44:56 AM...AR&D impulse 2 (2.96 mph)
02...00...32...15...08:48:30 AM...Soyuz Kurs-A activation (T1)
02...00...34...15...08:50:30 AM...SM Kurs-P activation (T1)
02...00...51...29...09:07:44 AM...Range = 62.14 miles: Soyuz VHF-2 voice link
02...00...55...31...09:11:46 AM...AR&D DV-5/impulse 3 (31.49 mph)
02...00...56...49...09:13:04 AM...Range = 49.71 miles: Valid Kurs-P range data
02...01...05...22...09:21:37 AM...Sunrise
02...01...18...29...09:34:44 AM...Range = 9.32 miles: Kurs-A & Kurs-P short test
02...01...24...09...09:40:24 AM...Range = 5.59 miles: Soyuz TV activation
02...01...34...22...09:50:37 AM...AR&D impulse 4 (13.86 mph)
02...01...35...49...09:52:04 AM...AR&D ballistic targeting point
02...01...39...02...09:55:17 AM...AR&D impulse 5 (14.29 mph)
02...01...41...50...09:58:05 AM...AR&D impulse 6 (3.53 mph)
02...01...44...35...10:00:50 AM...AR&D flyaround mode start
02...01...51...00...10:07:15 AM...AR&D stationkeeping start
02...01...55...45...10:12:00 AM...AR&D final Approach start
02...01...55...58...10:12:13 AM...Daily Orbit 3 Russian ground station AOS
02...01...59...45...10:16:00 AM...ISS inertial snap-and-hold window open
02...02...02...07...10:18:22 AM...Sunset
02...02...06...26...10:22:41 AM...DOCKING
02...02...09...45...10:26:00 AM...ISS inertial snap-and-hold window close
02...02...16...00...10:32:15 AM...Daily Orbit 3 Russian ground station LOS
02...02...26...26...10:42:41 AM...Soyuz hooks closed
02...02...37...45...10:54:00 AM...Sunrise
02...03...03...45...11:20:00 AM...Russian-to-US attitude control system handover
In bitterly cold weather, a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a three-man all-veteran crew blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday, streaking into orbit and setting off after the International Space Station to boost the lab's crew back to six.
With commander Oleg Kononenko at the controls in the ferry craft's center seat, flanked by European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers on his left and NASA flight engineer Donald Pettit to the right, the Soyuz TMA-03M's booster roared to life and climbed away from its snow-covered launching pad at 8:16:15 a.m. EST (GMT-5; 7:16:15 p.m. local time), roughly the moment Earth's rotation carried the launch site into the plane of the station's orbit.
Trailing a brilliant plume of fiery exhaust, the workhorse rocket climbed away through a clear, dark sky, arcing to the east as it accelerated toward space a little more than an hour after sunset in Baikonur. Spectators braved temperatures near zero degrees Fahrenheit to watch the rocket's ascent.
But it was comfortable inside the Soyuz and live television views from inside the spacecraft's central command module showed the crew members as they monitored the automated ascent, all three looking relaxed in their white spacesuits.
The rocket appeared to perform flawlessly and about nine minutes after launch, the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft separated from the booster's upper stage and slipped into orbit, its solar panels and antennas unfolding as planned as it set off after the space station.
"Congratulations, guys, on a good insertion, (there are) no issues with telemetry or anything at all at this time," Russian mission control called. "We wish you best of luck. You are experienced people, I'm sure everything is going to go very well."
Kononenko plans to oversee an automated approach and docking at the station's Rassvet module at 10:22 a.m. Friday. Standing by to welcome them aboard will be Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank, Soyuz TMA-22 commander Anton Shkaplerov and flight engineer Anatoly Ivanishin, who were launched to the outpost Nov. 13.
Burbank and his crewmates originally were scheduled for launch in September, with Kononenko, Kuipers and Pettit following at the end of November. But the Russian launch schedule was disrupted after a Progress cargo ship was destroyed during launch Aug. 24 when its third stage engine, virtually identical to the one used in the manned version of the Soyuz booster, malfunctioned and shut down before the craft reached orbit.
An investigation concluded the shutdown was triggered by contamination in a propellant line. Engineers carried out extensive inspections of downstream engines and implemented improved quality control procedures before the Russian federal space agency successfully launched another Progress supply ship Oct. 30. The Soyuz TMA-22 carrying Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin was safely launched Nov. 13.
"The Russians are good engineers, and they know how to make their hardware, they know how to fix their hardware when it doesn't work right," Pettit said in a pre-launch interview. "But all of this falls in the category of riding rockets is a risky business. If you want to be able to venture into space at this point in time, you've got to ride a rocket and if you want to participate in exploring that particular frontier you just have to roll your dice with the universe and do the best you can."
One of the highlights of the Expedition 30 crew's stay aboard the station will be the planned berthing of a commercial cargo capsule built by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, of Hawthorne, Calif. Launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida is targeted for Feb. 7.
SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to provide 12 cargo flights to the station for delivery of more than 44,000 pounds of equipment and supplies. The contract may be expanded to cover additional flights, boosting its value to some $3.1 billion. NASA also has ordered eight space station resupply flights from Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., under a contract valued at $1.9 billion. Initial test flights are expected next year.
Three test flights were planned by SpaceX under a separate contract valued at up to $396 million. The first flight was successfully carried out last December when a Dragon capsule was lofted into orbit and guided to a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, the first commercial spacecraft ever recovered from orbit.
The original plan called for a second test flight to demonstrate rendezvous procedures, with berthing carried out during a third and final test flight. But earlier this month, NASA agreed to let SpaceX combine the second and third test flights into a single mission.
Unlike cargo ships supplied by Russia and the European Space Agency, the commercial craft built by SpaceX and Orbital Sciences will be pulled into port by the station's robot arm. For the planned berthing in February, Burbank and Pettit will operate the station's robot arm and communications gear.
Kuipers said the advent of commercial cargo ships is the start "of a new era where we have industry, commercial companies getting into the game and into space business."
"And I think this is also the whole idea of ESA, of NASA," he said. "New things should be developed by these kind of agencies because we have to invest, it's risky, you have to find out what is possible, what's not possible. You develop a rocket, you test it and then commercial companies take over, and I think the same thing is now happening with the space station."
Here is a launch-to-docking timeline for the Soyuz TMA-03M mission (in EST; best viewed with fixed-width font):
DD...HH...MM...SS...EST...........EVENT
00...00...00...00...08:16:15 AM...LAUNCH
00...00...08...45...08:25:00 AM...Orbital Insertion
00...03...36...29...11:52:44 AM...DV-1 (93.99 mph)
00...04...28...48...12:45:03 PM...DV-2 (46.12 mph)
12/22/11
01...01...21...16...09:37:31 AM...DV-3 (4.47 mph)
12/23/11
01...23...45...49...08:02:04 AM...AR&D automated rendezvous start
02...00...03...45...08:20:00 AM...US-to-Russian attitude control handover
02...00...08...08...08:24:23 AM...AR&D DV-4/impulse 1 (34.95 mph)
02...00...28...41...08:44:56 AM...AR&D impulse 2 (2.96 mph)
02...00...32...15...08:48:30 AM...Soyuz Kurs-A activation (T1)
02...00...34...15...08:50:30 AM...SM Kurs-P activation (T1)
02...00...51...29...09:07:44 AM...Range = 62.14 miles: Soyuz VHF-2 voice link
02...00...55...31...09:11:46 AM...AR&D DV-5/impulse 3 (31.49 mph)
02...00...56...49...09:13:04 AM...Range = 49.71 miles: Valid Kurs-P range data
02...01...05...22...09:21:37 AM...Sunrise
02...01...18...29...09:34:44 AM...Range = 9.32 miles: Kurs-A & Kurs-P short test
02...01...24...09...09:40:24 AM...Range = 5.59 miles: Soyuz TV activation
02...01...34...22...09:50:37 AM...AR&D impulse 4 (13.86 mph)
02...01...35...49...09:52:04 AM...AR&D ballistic targeting point
02...01...39...02...09:55:17 AM...AR&D impulse 5 (14.29 mph)
02...01...41...50...09:58:05 AM...AR&D impulse 6 (3.53 mph)
02...01...44...35...10:00:50 AM...AR&D flyaround mode start
02...01...51...00...10:07:15 AM...AR&D stationkeeping start
02...01...55...45...10:12:00 AM...AR&D final Approach start
02...01...55...58...10:12:13 AM...Daily Orbit 3 Russian ground station AOS
02...01...59...45...10:16:00 AM...ISS inertial snap-and-hold window open
02...02...02...07...10:18:22 AM...Sunset
02...02...06...26...10:22:41 AM...DOCKING
02...02...09...45...10:26:00 AM...ISS inertial snap-and-hold window close
02...02...16...00...10:32:15 AM...Daily Orbit 3 Russian ground station LOS
02...02...26...26...10:42:41 AM...Soyuz hooks closed
02...02...37...45...10:54:00 AM...Sunrise
02...03...03...45...11:20:00 AM...Russian-to-US attitude control system handover
NASA's Next Commercial Crew Solicitation Expected in February
Space.com: NASA's Next Commercial Crew Solicitation Expected in February
NASA will solicit proposals in February for the third phase of a program aimed at developing commercially operated astronaut transportation systems, an agency official said Tuesday (Dec. 20).
NASA wants to pick at least two winners by August, Ed Mango, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, said during a conference call.
Mango described the next phase of NASA’s commercial crew program as a “pretty big jump” from the previous two rounds, which focused on developing only individual components of crew transportation systems.
“Obviously, this next phase has to be a lot bigger than element designs,” Mango said on the Dec. 20 call.
In the third phase of the program, NASA hopes to get at least two competing crew transportation systems ready to enter production. More details about the award will be discussed in advance of the solicitation on a public conference call tentatively set for early February, Mango said.
With the U.S. space shuttle fleet retired, NASA is looking to get commercially operated successors up and running by 2017. In the interim, U.S., Canadian, Japanese and European astronauts will ride to the space station aboard Russian Soyuz craft at NASA’s expense. [NASA's Space Shuttle Fleet in Pictures]
NASA’s commercial crew program has now switched gears twice in 2011.
The agency was to have released a solicitation Dec. 19 for a “Commercial Crew Integrated Design Contract” — a 21-month fixed-price contract culminating in a critical design review of at least two proposed astronaut taxi systems.
However, the agency announced Dec. 15 that because of budget uncertainty, it was scrapping that contracting vehicle in favor of a similar program funded by Space Act agreements, which are not bound by the Federal Acquisition Regulations that govern traditional government contracts. NASA says it can use Space Act agreements to fund development efforts — as the agency has done in previous rounds of the commercial crew program — but not to purchase hardware or services.
In announcing the shift to Space Act agreements, NASA human spaceflight chief William Gerstenmaier said the strategy would save the government money, but that NASA would sacrifice its ability to manage the design and manufacturing processes. Space Act agreements do not give the agency legal authority to dictate requirements to industry, Gerstenmaier said.
NASA requested $850 million for its commercial spaceflight activities in 2012 and received an appropriation of $406 million. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010, which made funding recommendations for the agency through 2013, authorized only $500 million for commercial spaceflight.
It is not yet clear how much of the $406 million NASA received for commercial spaceflight activities in 2012 will be used for the third round of the commercial crew program.
“It will not be $406 million, I can tell you that,” Mango said. He added that “the vast majority” of the 2012 funding will be used to continue activities initiated under the Commercial Crew Development 2 program, which began in April and is set to wrap up next July.
NASA has been encouraging — and funding — the development of privately owned astronaut taxis since 2009. Awards made in the first two rounds are worth a combined $365.5 million.
Companies that have received NASA funds to work on crew transportation systems are Blue Origin, Kent, Wash.; Boeing Space Exploration Systems, Houston; Sierra Nevada Space Systems, Sparks, Nev.; Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, Calif.; and United Launch Alliance of Denver.
This story was provided by Space News, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Maturing Technology: NASA Selects 85 Small Business Research and Technology Projects for Continued Development
PR: Maturing Technology: NASA Selects 85 Small Business Research and Technology Projects for Continued Development
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has selected 85 small business proposals to enter into negotiations for Phase II contract awards through the agency's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.
The selected projects have a total value of approximately $63 million. NASA will award the contracts to 79 small high technology firms in 27 states. These competitive awards-based programs encourage U.S. small businesses to engage in federal research, development and commercialization. The programs also enable businesses to explore technological potential, while providing the incentive to profit from new commercial products and services.
"Small businesses are not only crucial to NASA's trailblazing achievements in space exploration; they are the backbone of the American economy," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "As the wheels of our economy continue to pick up speed, it is important to remember that small business is the engine that is getting us moving again. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small firms have generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years. And federal procurement for women-, minority- and veteran-owned small businesses are a big part of that equation."
NASA's SBIR programs address specific technology gaps in agency missions, while striving to complement other agency research investments. Program results have benefited many NASA efforts, including modern air traffic control systems, Earth-observing spacecraft, the International Space Station and the Mars rovers.
"Working with small businesses through Phase 2 SBIR awards, NASA helps mature novel technologies and concepts to demonstrate their applicability to NASA's current and future space and aeronautics needs," said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA's Space Technology Program. "This maturation process also provides NASA's small business partners to more fully explore opportunities to transfer that technology to the marketplace, while creating new jobs and growing our economy."
In addition to meeting NASA's needs, the proposals also provide innovative research in areas that have other commercial applications. Examples include:
-- Development of design and fabrication techniques that will be used to create better UV detectors useful to NASA's missions to monitor ozone, aerosols and air pollution, which also are essential in the semiconductor, food processing and healthcare industries, where bacterial sterilization is important.
-- A new composite material manufacturing process which could decrease manufacturing costs for NASA's future heavy lift launch vehicles, as well as military and commercial aircraft, wind blades and towers, civil and automotive infrastructure and marine vessels.
-- New high-performance lubricants beneficial to robotic spacecraft operations in extreme temperature ranges that also may benefit automobile performance.
-- A laser-ranging technology that can be used as the next generation air data system for aircraft that will measure velocity, wind speed, air pressure and temperature. This will help predict turbulence, ensuring a safer and more comfortable flight.
The SBIR program is a highly competitive, three-phase award system. It provides qualified small businesses, including those owned by women and the disadvantaged, with opportunities to propose unique ideas that meet specific research and development needs of the federal government.
Phase 1 is a feasibility study to evaluate the scientific and technical merit of an idea. Awards are for as long as six months. The selected Phase 2 projects will expand on the results of Phase 1 projects selected last year, with up to $750,000 to support research for up to two years. Phase 3 is for the commercialization of the results of Phase 2 and requires the use of private sector or non-SBIR federal funding.
Participants submitted 428 Phase 2 proposals. The criteria used to select the winning proposals included technical merit and innovation, Phase 1 performance and results, value to NASA, commercial potential and company capabilities.
NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., manages the SBIR program for the agency's Space Technology Program. NASA's 10 field centers manage individual projects.
For a complete list of selected companies, visit: http://sbir.nasa.gov
For more information about NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist and the agency's Space Technology Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/oct
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has selected 85 small business proposals to enter into negotiations for Phase II contract awards through the agency's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.
The selected projects have a total value of approximately $63 million. NASA will award the contracts to 79 small high technology firms in 27 states. These competitive awards-based programs encourage U.S. small businesses to engage in federal research, development and commercialization. The programs also enable businesses to explore technological potential, while providing the incentive to profit from new commercial products and services.
"Small businesses are not only crucial to NASA's trailblazing achievements in space exploration; they are the backbone of the American economy," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "As the wheels of our economy continue to pick up speed, it is important to remember that small business is the engine that is getting us moving again. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small firms have generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years. And federal procurement for women-, minority- and veteran-owned small businesses are a big part of that equation."
NASA's SBIR programs address specific technology gaps in agency missions, while striving to complement other agency research investments. Program results have benefited many NASA efforts, including modern air traffic control systems, Earth-observing spacecraft, the International Space Station and the Mars rovers.
"Working with small businesses through Phase 2 SBIR awards, NASA helps mature novel technologies and concepts to demonstrate their applicability to NASA's current and future space and aeronautics needs," said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA's Space Technology Program. "This maturation process also provides NASA's small business partners to more fully explore opportunities to transfer that technology to the marketplace, while creating new jobs and growing our economy."
In addition to meeting NASA's needs, the proposals also provide innovative research in areas that have other commercial applications. Examples include:
-- Development of design and fabrication techniques that will be used to create better UV detectors useful to NASA's missions to monitor ozone, aerosols and air pollution, which also are essential in the semiconductor, food processing and healthcare industries, where bacterial sterilization is important.
-- A new composite material manufacturing process which could decrease manufacturing costs for NASA's future heavy lift launch vehicles, as well as military and commercial aircraft, wind blades and towers, civil and automotive infrastructure and marine vessels.
-- New high-performance lubricants beneficial to robotic spacecraft operations in extreme temperature ranges that also may benefit automobile performance.
-- A laser-ranging technology that can be used as the next generation air data system for aircraft that will measure velocity, wind speed, air pressure and temperature. This will help predict turbulence, ensuring a safer and more comfortable flight.
The SBIR program is a highly competitive, three-phase award system. It provides qualified small businesses, including those owned by women and the disadvantaged, with opportunities to propose unique ideas that meet specific research and development needs of the federal government.
Phase 1 is a feasibility study to evaluate the scientific and technical merit of an idea. Awards are for as long as six months. The selected Phase 2 projects will expand on the results of Phase 1 projects selected last year, with up to $750,000 to support research for up to two years. Phase 3 is for the commercialization of the results of Phase 2 and requires the use of private sector or non-SBIR federal funding.
Participants submitted 428 Phase 2 proposals. The criteria used to select the winning proposals included technical merit and innovation, Phase 1 performance and results, value to NASA, commercial potential and company capabilities.
NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., manages the SBIR program for the agency's Space Technology Program. NASA's 10 field centers manage individual projects.
For a complete list of selected companies, visit: http://sbir.nasa.gov
For more information about NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist and the agency's Space Technology Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/oct
Monday, December 19, 2011
American Museum of Natural History heads for the heavens with its new exhibition
From Silive.com: American Museum of Natural History heads for the heavens with its new exhibition
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — How many museums let you play God?
The option arises more than once at the American Museum of Natural History’s new show, “Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration.”
The best might be the “Mars Terraforming Table,” a play station that starts as a wide touchscreen depicting a Martian panorama, dry, red and barren. The vista changes depending on the instructions. The idea is to “terraform” inhospitable Mars, tweak it until it becomes earth-like, a big job but apparently doable.
Mars has no atmosphere, no cloud cover, precipitation or ground water, no rivers or oceans, fauna or flora. One of the earthifying strategies involves establishing mines, factories and industries that would spew greenhouse gases: carbon and other organic goodies. Mars needs exactly what earth doesn’t.
Exercising this option, along with introducing genetically altered species, gradually remakes the grim red planet. In the final screen, a boy and his dad are hiking the terraformed Martian wilderness, now green and Earth-like
They aren’t wearing space suits (although they are carrying oxygen tanks). Apparently, even the new Mars won’t have quite enough oxygen. One more thing: This transformation will take just 100 years.
“Beyond Planet Earth,” which seems very kid- and family-friendly, is part history and part vision quest. The former is necessary, of course, but the latter is exciting.
The first sections track the USSR’s early space feats, in photographs, text and to-scale models. The Soviets sent the first man into space 50 years ago, in 1961, and they were way ahead of us for years.
Only a few years earlier, some observers didn’t think space presented much of a challenge. The cover story in a 1952 Collier’s magazine bragged: “Man Will Conquer Space Soon.” Today, there’s a more realistic sense of the hurdles involved and no one talks about “conquering” space.
By 1969, the American space program had more than caught up. It’s still pretty thrilling to hear moonwalker Neil Armstrong saying “That’s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.” Notice: He didn’t declare a partisan or American victory, he claimed the moment for all.
ASTEROID: SMASHEROID
No extraterrestrial voyages have been as exciting as the moon walk, and yet, progress has been made. The data produced by the shuttle and international space station will prove useful sooner rather than later.
This past spring, President Obama alluded to an expedition to an asteroid, a useful trip. Big rocks have beaned the Earth in the past; the more we learn about them the better.
An asteroid slammed into the Yucatan 65 million years ago, launching an ice age and ending the era of the dinosaurs. It needn’t happen again: An interactive station allows participants to disable/deflect an asteroid on a collision course with us.
Just think: By contemporary calculations, there is a 1 in 4,700 chance that a 450 ft. asteroid will smack Mother Earth on Feb. 5 2052. How worried should we be? The exhibit lets us decide for ourselves.
Much of “Beyond Planet Earth” is concerned with more realistic possibilities. One gallery is wholly devoted to a lunar base that might well be set up someday soon near the Shackleton Crater at the south pole of the Moon. Why there? There’s abundant sunlight for solar power, for one thing.
Bottle-shaped habitations — there’s a detailed model — would be made out fabric, designed to withstand pelting by micro-meteorites, which are pretty relentless on the moon by all accounts.
Carrying water to the moon colony would be a nearly insurmountable hurdle. Fortunately recoverable water is trapped on the surface.
So far, despite the claims of science fiction and the UFO faithful, there is no sign of intelligent life on any heavenly bodies. Signs of any kind of life, intelligent or otherwise, have been elusive. But Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, may have a liquid, salty ocean sloshing around under its frozen skin.
To find out, a Mission Europa probe would arrive equipped with a submersible robotic device that could melt the ice and then sink into the undersea, looking for living things.
“Beyond Planet Earth,” an enthusiastic endorsement of interstellar manifest destiny, acknowledges the enormity of such an undertaking without getting entangled in impediments.
Beyond Planet Earth:
The Future of Space Exploration”
Where
American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street; 212-769-5606
When
Daily, 10 a.m.-5:45 p.m.; through Aug. 12.
How much
Suggested donations: $16, general; $12, students/seniors; $9 for children.
More information
www.AMNH.org
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — How many museums let you play God?
The option arises more than once at the American Museum of Natural History’s new show, “Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration.”
The best might be the “Mars Terraforming Table,” a play station that starts as a wide touchscreen depicting a Martian panorama, dry, red and barren. The vista changes depending on the instructions. The idea is to “terraform” inhospitable Mars, tweak it until it becomes earth-like, a big job but apparently doable.
Mars has no atmosphere, no cloud cover, precipitation or ground water, no rivers or oceans, fauna or flora. One of the earthifying strategies involves establishing mines, factories and industries that would spew greenhouse gases: carbon and other organic goodies. Mars needs exactly what earth doesn’t.
Exercising this option, along with introducing genetically altered species, gradually remakes the grim red planet. In the final screen, a boy and his dad are hiking the terraformed Martian wilderness, now green and Earth-like
They aren’t wearing space suits (although they are carrying oxygen tanks). Apparently, even the new Mars won’t have quite enough oxygen. One more thing: This transformation will take just 100 years.
“Beyond Planet Earth,” which seems very kid- and family-friendly, is part history and part vision quest. The former is necessary, of course, but the latter is exciting.
The first sections track the USSR’s early space feats, in photographs, text and to-scale models. The Soviets sent the first man into space 50 years ago, in 1961, and they were way ahead of us for years.
Only a few years earlier, some observers didn’t think space presented much of a challenge. The cover story in a 1952 Collier’s magazine bragged: “Man Will Conquer Space Soon.” Today, there’s a more realistic sense of the hurdles involved and no one talks about “conquering” space.
By 1969, the American space program had more than caught up. It’s still pretty thrilling to hear moonwalker Neil Armstrong saying “That’s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.” Notice: He didn’t declare a partisan or American victory, he claimed the moment for all.
ASTEROID: SMASHEROID
No extraterrestrial voyages have been as exciting as the moon walk, and yet, progress has been made. The data produced by the shuttle and international space station will prove useful sooner rather than later.
This past spring, President Obama alluded to an expedition to an asteroid, a useful trip. Big rocks have beaned the Earth in the past; the more we learn about them the better.
An asteroid slammed into the Yucatan 65 million years ago, launching an ice age and ending the era of the dinosaurs. It needn’t happen again: An interactive station allows participants to disable/deflect an asteroid on a collision course with us.
Just think: By contemporary calculations, there is a 1 in 4,700 chance that a 450 ft. asteroid will smack Mother Earth on Feb. 5 2052. How worried should we be? The exhibit lets us decide for ourselves.
Much of “Beyond Planet Earth” is concerned with more realistic possibilities. One gallery is wholly devoted to a lunar base that might well be set up someday soon near the Shackleton Crater at the south pole of the Moon. Why there? There’s abundant sunlight for solar power, for one thing.
Bottle-shaped habitations — there’s a detailed model — would be made out fabric, designed to withstand pelting by micro-meteorites, which are pretty relentless on the moon by all accounts.
Carrying water to the moon colony would be a nearly insurmountable hurdle. Fortunately recoverable water is trapped on the surface.
So far, despite the claims of science fiction and the UFO faithful, there is no sign of intelligent life on any heavenly bodies. Signs of any kind of life, intelligent or otherwise, have been elusive. But Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, may have a liquid, salty ocean sloshing around under its frozen skin.
To find out, a Mission Europa probe would arrive equipped with a submersible robotic device that could melt the ice and then sink into the undersea, looking for living things.
“Beyond Planet Earth,” an enthusiastic endorsement of interstellar manifest destiny, acknowledges the enormity of such an undertaking without getting entangled in impediments.
Beyond Planet Earth:
The Future of Space Exploration”
Where
American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street; 212-769-5606
When
Daily, 10 a.m.-5:45 p.m.; through Aug. 12.
How much
Suggested donations: $16, general; $12, students/seniors; $9 for children.
More information
www.AMNH.org
Sunday, December 18, 2011
NSS Hails Stratolaunch Initiative – A Pioneering Investment in Space Transportation
From Nanotechnology Now: NSS Hails Stratolaunch Initiative – A Pioneering Investment in Space Transportation
Abstract:
The National Space Society (NSS) hails the announcement of Stratolaunch Systems, a Paul G. Allen Project, as a pioneering investment in space transportation.
NSS Hails Stratolaunch Initiative – A Pioneering Investment in Space Transportation
Washington, DC | Posted on December 18th, 2011
The company has been formed to build a mobile air-launch-to-orbit system that will include three primary components:
A carrier aircraft, developed by Scaled Composites, the aircraft manufacturer and assembler founded by Burt Rutan. It will be the largest aircraft ever flown.
A multi-stage booster, manufactured by Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies.
A state-of-the-art mating and integration system allowing the carrier aircraft to safely carry a booster weighing up to 490,000 pounds. It will be built by Dynetics, a leader in the field of aerospace engineering.
"The Stratolaunch Initiative is another bold step towards the key goal of reducing the cost of space travel" said, Gary Barnhard, Executive Director of the National Space Society. "By providing a less costly, more flexible, and timely launch capability than existing ground based systems, the Stratolaunch team intends to achieve routine airport-like space transportation services to orbital destinations. NSS wishes clear skies ahead for their efforts," he concluded.
With an envisioned payload capability of 13,500 pounds cargo and/or crewed spacecraft delivered to Low Earth Orbit, a fully reusable first stage air-launch carrier, and the potential for evolution to a winged returnable second stage, the initiative holds great promise. More background information on the proposed Stratolaunch concept can be found at their website: stratolaunch.com/presskit.html.
In their announcement yesterday, Stratolaunch said, "...space has long been on Allen's mind. In the close of his memoir, Idea Man, published earlier this year, he hinted at his plans, writing that he was 'considering a new initiative with that magical contraption I never wearied of sketching as a boy: the rocket ship.'" NSS thanks Paul for endeavoring to bring his boyhood dreams into reality in this historic way.
Since 1974, NSS has been working to bring forward the day when humans will be living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space are brought to bear for the dramatic betterment of humanity. Commercial space initiatives are bringing that day ever closer.
####
About The National Space Society
The National Space Society (NSS) is an independent, grassroots, non-profit organization dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring civilization. Founded in 1974, NSS is widely acknowledged as the preeminent citizen's voice on space. NSS counts thousands of members and more than 50 chapters in the United States and around the world. The society also publishes Ad Astra magazine, an award-winning periodical chronicling the most important developments in space; and hosts the annual International Space Development Conference, among other activities.
Abstract:
The National Space Society (NSS) hails the announcement of Stratolaunch Systems, a Paul G. Allen Project, as a pioneering investment in space transportation.
NSS Hails Stratolaunch Initiative – A Pioneering Investment in Space Transportation
Washington, DC | Posted on December 18th, 2011
The company has been formed to build a mobile air-launch-to-orbit system that will include three primary components:
A carrier aircraft, developed by Scaled Composites, the aircraft manufacturer and assembler founded by Burt Rutan. It will be the largest aircraft ever flown.
A multi-stage booster, manufactured by Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies.
A state-of-the-art mating and integration system allowing the carrier aircraft to safely carry a booster weighing up to 490,000 pounds. It will be built by Dynetics, a leader in the field of aerospace engineering.
"The Stratolaunch Initiative is another bold step towards the key goal of reducing the cost of space travel" said, Gary Barnhard, Executive Director of the National Space Society. "By providing a less costly, more flexible, and timely launch capability than existing ground based systems, the Stratolaunch team intends to achieve routine airport-like space transportation services to orbital destinations. NSS wishes clear skies ahead for their efforts," he concluded.
With an envisioned payload capability of 13,500 pounds cargo and/or crewed spacecraft delivered to Low Earth Orbit, a fully reusable first stage air-launch carrier, and the potential for evolution to a winged returnable second stage, the initiative holds great promise. More background information on the proposed Stratolaunch concept can be found at their website: stratolaunch.com/presskit.html.
In their announcement yesterday, Stratolaunch said, "...space has long been on Allen's mind. In the close of his memoir, Idea Man, published earlier this year, he hinted at his plans, writing that he was 'considering a new initiative with that magical contraption I never wearied of sketching as a boy: the rocket ship.'" NSS thanks Paul for endeavoring to bring his boyhood dreams into reality in this historic way.
Since 1974, NSS has been working to bring forward the day when humans will be living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space are brought to bear for the dramatic betterment of humanity. Commercial space initiatives are bringing that day ever closer.
####
About The National Space Society
The National Space Society (NSS) is an independent, grassroots, non-profit organization dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring civilization. Founded in 1974, NSS is widely acknowledged as the preeminent citizen's voice on space. NSS counts thousands of members and more than 50 chapters in the United States and around the world. The society also publishes Ad Astra magazine, an award-winning periodical chronicling the most important developments in space; and hosts the annual International Space Development Conference, among other activities.
Friday, December 16, 2011
NASA revamps, delays commercial space taxi work
From Reuters: NASA revamps, delays commercial space taxi work
(Reuters) - Budget cuts in a program to spur commercial space taxis will likely keep the United States dependent on Russia to fly astronauts to the International Space Station until 2017, NASA's head of space operations said on Thursday.
But the newly revamped program, intended to provide a commercial alternative following the recent retirement of NASA's space shuttles, comes with a silver lining: NASA is abandoning plans for traditional fixed-price contracts and instead will use less expensive and more flexible partnering agreements.
"It's one small step for Commercial Crew," said Bigelow Aerospace attorney Michael Gold, referring to NASA's space taxi development program. "And one giant leap for common sense."
The switch was spurred by the halving of NASA's $850 million Commercial Crew program budget request for the year that began October 1 and by NASA's determination to keep at least two space taxi designs in the running for the agency's future business.
"We would like to carry two providers at a minimum, actually more," NASA associate administrator Bill Gerstenmaier said during a conference call with reporters. "We think competition is a key piece."
Currently the agency is funding work at four firms: Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies, Sierra Nevada Corp., and Blue Origin, a start-up owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Other aspiring space transportation companies, including Stratolaunch Systems, the recently announced start-up backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, are not seeking or have not been awarded NASA funds to assist with spaceship development.
"Our investment helps to ensure that this capability gets done in as timely a manner as we can actually make it occur," Gerstenmaier said.
A solicitation for the next phase of the program was due to be released on Monday, but will be delayed until the first quarter of 2012, Gerstenmaier said. The selection of companies, however, should remain on schedule for next summer.
NASA, which has $406 million to spend on the program this year, is uncertain how much money it will receive to see the development effort through the planned 21-month period.
"We want to get enough work behind us that we've got a very solid design that we can then start taking into a certification," Gerstenmaier said.
The agency had hoped to have an alternative by 2016 to sending its astronauts into space aboard the Russian Soyuz capsule, which costs more than $60 million per person per ride.
"We got an increase in the budget in fiscal year '12, which was a good thing, but it wasn't quite the funding level that we anticipated. That moved the potential service capability at least into 2017," Gerstenmaier said.
MORE LAUNCHES, LESS LAWYERING
The alternative contracting arrangement, called Space Act Agreements, has been used in a related program to develop commercial U.S. cargo ships to fly to the space station, a $100 billion research laboratory built in partnership with Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada that flies about 240 miles above Earth.
Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is preparing for its trial cargo run to the station in February, launching a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo capsule. A second company, Orbital Sciences Corp. is expected to follow suit with its cargo craft later in 2012.
"Space Act Agreements yield amazing results, we need only look at the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket," SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, wrote in an email to Reuters.
"We applaud NASA's decision to use Space Act Agreements for the next round of Commercial Crew and look forward to the competition," she said.
The difference between traditional government contracting and Space Act Agreements is night and day, added Gold, who oversees business growth for Bigelow Aerospace, which is developing commercial orbital habitats for research, government and business lease.
"It's the difference between a 30-page contract and one that could involve 3,000 pages of regulations," Gold said. "Even understanding what you're up against can take months of review by lawyers. If you want to spend more money on lawyers and less on launches, FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) is a terrific way to proceed."
Gerstenmaier said the alternative partnering arrangement would not allow NASA to get as involved technically in the space taxis' design, but "essentially we can enable them."
(Reuters) - Budget cuts in a program to spur commercial space taxis will likely keep the United States dependent on Russia to fly astronauts to the International Space Station until 2017, NASA's head of space operations said on Thursday.
But the newly revamped program, intended to provide a commercial alternative following the recent retirement of NASA's space shuttles, comes with a silver lining: NASA is abandoning plans for traditional fixed-price contracts and instead will use less expensive and more flexible partnering agreements.
"It's one small step for Commercial Crew," said Bigelow Aerospace attorney Michael Gold, referring to NASA's space taxi development program. "And one giant leap for common sense."
The switch was spurred by the halving of NASA's $850 million Commercial Crew program budget request for the year that began October 1 and by NASA's determination to keep at least two space taxi designs in the running for the agency's future business.
"We would like to carry two providers at a minimum, actually more," NASA associate administrator Bill Gerstenmaier said during a conference call with reporters. "We think competition is a key piece."
Currently the agency is funding work at four firms: Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies, Sierra Nevada Corp., and Blue Origin, a start-up owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Other aspiring space transportation companies, including Stratolaunch Systems, the recently announced start-up backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, are not seeking or have not been awarded NASA funds to assist with spaceship development.
"Our investment helps to ensure that this capability gets done in as timely a manner as we can actually make it occur," Gerstenmaier said.
A solicitation for the next phase of the program was due to be released on Monday, but will be delayed until the first quarter of 2012, Gerstenmaier said. The selection of companies, however, should remain on schedule for next summer.
NASA, which has $406 million to spend on the program this year, is uncertain how much money it will receive to see the development effort through the planned 21-month period.
"We want to get enough work behind us that we've got a very solid design that we can then start taking into a certification," Gerstenmaier said.
The agency had hoped to have an alternative by 2016 to sending its astronauts into space aboard the Russian Soyuz capsule, which costs more than $60 million per person per ride.
"We got an increase in the budget in fiscal year '12, which was a good thing, but it wasn't quite the funding level that we anticipated. That moved the potential service capability at least into 2017," Gerstenmaier said.
MORE LAUNCHES, LESS LAWYERING
The alternative contracting arrangement, called Space Act Agreements, has been used in a related program to develop commercial U.S. cargo ships to fly to the space station, a $100 billion research laboratory built in partnership with Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada that flies about 240 miles above Earth.
Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is preparing for its trial cargo run to the station in February, launching a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo capsule. A second company, Orbital Sciences Corp. is expected to follow suit with its cargo craft later in 2012.
"Space Act Agreements yield amazing results, we need only look at the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket," SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, wrote in an email to Reuters.
"We applaud NASA's decision to use Space Act Agreements for the next round of Commercial Crew and look forward to the competition," she said.
The difference between traditional government contracting and Space Act Agreements is night and day, added Gold, who oversees business growth for Bigelow Aerospace, which is developing commercial orbital habitats for research, government and business lease.
"It's the difference between a 30-page contract and one that could involve 3,000 pages of regulations," Gold said. "Even understanding what you're up against can take months of review by lawyers. If you want to spend more money on lawyers and less on launches, FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) is a terrific way to proceed."
Gerstenmaier said the alternative partnering arrangement would not allow NASA to get as involved technically in the space taxis' design, but "essentially we can enable them."
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