Tsiolkovsky, Goddard, Oberth

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Oberth

Oct. 30, 1938: The Martians Have Landed in New Jersey!

Here I have a photo taken in the exact location.

Links:

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/10/dayintech_1030

http://lasers-in-the-jungle.blogspot.com/2006/08/my-chronicles-from-sprawl-5n-grovers.html

the underground caves of mars

In "http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070528.html"

we can read

"Black spots have been discovered on Mars that are so dark that nothing inside can be seen. Quite possibly, the spots are entrances to deep underground caves capable of protecting Martian life, were it to exist. The unusual hole pictured above was found on the slopes of the giant Martian volcano Arsia Mons. The above image was captured three weeks ago by the HiRISE instrument onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently circling Mars. The holes were originally identified on lower resolution images from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, The above hole is about the size of a football field and is so deep that it is completely unilluminated by the Sun. Such holes and underground caves might be prime targets for future spacecraft, robots, and even the next generation of human interplanetary explorers."

Perhaps Paul French (aka Isaac Asimov) knew something.

Coda:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070528.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Starr%2C_Space_Ranger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Starr_series

From the cold

I had the privilege to meet 2 friends from Scandinavia



(The picture was taken with my PDA, so the quality is poor)

We meet here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.713880000,+-9.138780000&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=38.714033,-9.13878&spn=0.001833,0.006748&t=k&om=1&iwloc=addr

and had dinner here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.751450000,+-8.967600000&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=38.751607,-8.967601&spn=0.001832,0.006748&t=k&om=1&iwloc=addr

Sunshine, or true meaning of the word solarisation

Picture1: Film poster

Picture2: Oxigen Generator


Thanks to a nice invitation of Castello Lopes Multimedia I had the fun to go to an avant-avant-premiere screening of the SF film "sunshine".

The film is OK.

I am not going to tell the story, but just to answer to my answers to a serie of question that crossed my mind during the projection.

Q - To lose communications BEFORE the orbit of Mercury. Isn't that completely preposterous

A - Yes with today Sun. Not necessarily with the altered Sun of the movie.

Q - How do they braked the ship after the gravitational slingshot at Mercury, to dock with Icarus I.

A - By heliobraking (cf. aerobraking, lithobraking)

Q- How could some one name Icarus I and Icarus II spaceships send to the sun

A- They are absolutely ignorant of the Greek mythology

Q- Any homage To Kubrik / Clarke

A- Several. First, the strange scenes near the end. Second, "2001", "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", "Friedrich Nietzsche", "God is dead". Third the solarisation.

Q- In the film the sun suffers strange phenomena. Wouldn't such phenomena be detectable in other stars?

A- No necessarily, if it is a rare and transient phase.