The Art Neuro Weblog

Mars And Back in 90 Days
This is a new proposal for developing a new propulsion system known as mag beam.

Under the mag-beam concept, a space-based station would generate a stream of
magnetized ions that would interact with a magnetic sail on a spacecraft and propel it through the solar system at high speeds that increase with the size of the plasma beam. Winglee estimates that a control nozzle 32 meters wide would generate a plasma beam capable of propelling a spacecraft at 11.7 kilometers per second. That translates to more than 26,000 miles an hour or more than 625,000 miles a day.

Mars is an average of 48 million miles from Earth, though the distance can vary greatly depending on where the two planets are in their orbits around the sun. At that distance, a spacecraft traveling 625,000 miles a day would take more than 76 days to get to the red planet. But Winglee is working on ways to devise even greater speeds so the round trip could be accomplished in three months.

But to make such high speeds practical, another plasma unit must be stationed on a platform at the other end of the trip to apply brakes to the spacecraft. "Rather than a spacecraft having to carry these big powerful propulsion units, you can have much smaller payloads," he said.

Winglee envisions units being placed around the solar system by missions already planned by NASA. One could be used as an integral part of a research mission to Jupiter, for instance, and then left in orbit there when the mission is completed. Units placed farther out in the solar system would use nuclear power to create the ionized plasma; those closer to the sun would be able to use electricity generated by solar panels.

A mag-beam mission could be feasible within 6-years, they think. All pretty interesting. Don't miss the article.

Yeah, But This Goes To Mach 10
The X-43a scramjet craft is scheduled for a Mach 10 flight.

The final flight of the small X-43A research aircraft is targeted to sustain a speed of up to Mach 10, or 10 times the speed of sound (about 7,000 mph), powered by a revolutionary airframe-integrated supersonic-combustion ramjet or "scramjet" engine. This is a very high-risk mission, but if successful, the flight will set a new speed record for an aircraft powered by an air-breathing engine.

Why We Have Manned Missions
The Soyuz automated docking system went awry, so the cosmonauts had to pilot the craft to dock with the International Space Station.

The unplanned switch, prompted by a yet-undiagnosed malfunction with the autopilot, added a touch of drama to the Expedition 10 crew's arrival at the station to begin a half-year mission of maintaining the outpost's systems, running science experiments, installing exterior equipment for future European cargo freighters and preparing U.S. modules for the return of space shuttles next year.

So most of the time an astronaut/cosmonaut is still a monkey in a capsule until it becomes absolutely necessary to pilot the craft. Obviously, the issue still isn't pussy, it's monkey.

More From Cassini
Here's an article covering the Cassini mission.

During Cassini's first brief pass over Saturn's rings, CAPS identified a previously unknown low-energy plasma trapped on the magnetic field lines threading the Cassini Division, the name given to the gap between the main A and B rings. With the four-year mission just beginning, including more than 70 orbits of the planet, CAPS is poised to provide scientists with a new level of understanding about Saturn's space environment, as well as clues about some of the space physics processes that operate more universally in the solar system.

So now we know more about Saturn's rings.

Yanks Lose
I rabbit on when they win. It's only fair to point out they lost 6-4 in the bottom of the 12th. Mariano Rivera blew a save and David Ortiz thumped a walk-off homer off Paul Quantrill. What a drag. Had some fun yacking about the game with Mr. Weasel today.
On to Game 5.

- Art Neuro