Sci Station Canada

Astronomy in Canada, May - Aug 2005

2005-05-27T11:42:00.000-03:00

These are notices to Astronomy conventions, workshops and starparties which are scheduled to take place in Canada between May to August from the JPL Space calendar .

May 30-Jun 10 - Workshop: Astrobiology and the Origins of Life, Hamilton, Canada
Jun 05-08 - Planetary and Terrestrial Mining Sciences Symposium (PTMSS), Sudbury, Canada
Jun 12-17 - Conference: Solar Wind 11 / SOHO 16 - Connecting Sun and Heliosphere, Whistler, Canada
Jul 01-03 - Island Star Party 2005, Vancouver Island, Canada
Jul 08-10 -[May 25] Gateway to the Universe Star Party, Powassan, Ontario, Canada
Jul 08-10 -[May 26] Astro Festival, Mont-Megantic National Park, Canada
Jul 11-15 - Conference: Ultra-Relativistic Jets in Astrophysics, Banff, Canada
Jul 29-31 - 25th Annual Telescope Making Contest (CAFTA), St-Timothee, Canada
Jul 30-Aug 07- 22nd Annual Mount Kobau Star Party, near Osoyoos, Canada
Aug 02-06 - Conference: Neutron Stars at the Crossroads of Fundamental Physics, Vancouver, Canada
Aug 04-07 - Saskatchewan Summer Star Party, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Canada
Aug 04-07 - Starfest 2005, Mount Forest, Canada
Aug 29-31 - 37th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Systems and Applications Meeting, Vancouver, Canada

Lancements projetés, mai - août 2005 en français

2005-05-27T10:57:00.000-03:00

Lancements projetés pour le prochain quart pour Le Tricorder, le Fanzine de l'USS Magellan, du JPL Space Calendar et du Spaceflight Now Tracking Station. Ce sont les lancements projetés pour mai à août comme à 27/05/05

Mai 2005
Mai 27 - Egyptsat 1/ Saudisat 3/Saudicomsat 3-7/ AKS 1 & 2/N-Cube 1 Dnepr 1
May 31 - Foton M-2/Fotino Soyuz U
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Juin 2005
Juin ?? - Intelsat Americas 8 Zenit 3SL
Juin ?? - Compass 2 Shtil-N
Juin ?? - GPS 2RM F-1 Delta 2
Juin 17 - Progress M-53 Soyuz U (International Space Station 18P)
Juin 21 -[Mai 24] Cosmos 1 Volna (Solar Sail Mission)
Juin 21 -[Mai 23] Spaceway 2/ Telcom 2 Ariane 5ECA
Juin 23 - GOES-N Delta 4M
Juin 24 - Express AM-3 Proton K
Juin 26 -[Mai 23] Astro E-2/Cute 1.7 M-V
Juin 30 - Monitor E N1 Rokot KM
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Juillet 2005
Juillet ?? - Yamal 203/204 Proton K
Juillet ?? - FSW-21 CZ-2D (China)
Juillet ?? - STP R-1 Minotaur
Juillet ?? - TacSat 1/Celestis 5 Falcon 1 (Inaugural Test )
Juillet ?? - Resurs-DK1 N1 Soyuz U
Juillet ?? - Syracuse 3-A/ Galaxy 15 Ariane 5GS
Juillet 06 - Asteroid 9777 Enterprise Closest Approach To Earth (0.824 AU)
Juillet 10 - NROL-20 (B-26) Titan 4B (Final launch of the Titan 4B)
Juillet 10 - Galaxy 14 Soyuz FG-Fregat
Juillet 13 -[Mai 27] STS-114 "Return To Flight" , Space Shuttle Discovery, PCSat 2 (International Space Station LF-1)
Juillet 15 - TWINS-A Pegasus XL
Juillet 22 -[Mai 27] Cloudsat/ Calipso Delta 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Août 2005
Août ?? - Measat 3 Proton K
Août ?? - Inmarsat 4 F-2 Zenit 3SL
Août ?? - OICETS/INDEX Dnepr 1
Août ?? - Resurs O1 Zenit 2
Août ?? - Resurs F2 Soyuz U
Août ?? - Meteor-M-N1 Tsyklon 3
Août ?? - Topsat/ China DMC/ SSETI-Express/Mozhayets 5/N-Cube 2/Sinah 1 Cosmos 3M
Août 10 -[Mai 27] Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Atlas V
Août 23 -[Mai 23] Insat 4-A/ MSG-2 Ariane 5GS
Août 24 - Progress M-54 Soyuz FG (International Space Station 19P)
Août 30 -[Mai 27] NROL-22 Delta 4 Medium

Innovation Canada, Female achievers

2005-03-26T06:47:00.000-04:00

Following the recent International Womens Day, this Issue (#15 March/April 2005) of Innovation Canada, the high quality electronic magazine of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, available in English or en français focusses on women innovators in Canadian Science.

"My career as an inventor" By Margaret Atwood - Guest writer

"Measuring the Success of Research" By Heather Munroe-Blum, McGill University - Inside Innovation article

"Fuelling Around" Asha Suppiah - Young Innovator of Hydrogen fuel cells.

"Location! Location! Location!" University of Calgary - Perfecting the science behind global positioning systems.

"Small World" McMaster University - Studying the smallest of sub-atomic particles

"All in the Genes" Toronto Centre for Phenogenomics - Mouse genes and how they can find lifesaving cures

"Wonder Weed" Wilfrid Laurier University - Helping cancer patients by mimicing marijuana

"Sea-ing is Believing" University of Victoria - Traveling to the deepest reaches of the ocean

"Canadian Women Pioneers" Special
- A series of exceptional women in science over the last several hundred years, trailblazers who broke new ground and paved the way for future generations.

Quebec Integrated Health Research Network - A new integrated electronic health record system.

"Superstars of Innovation" Writing Competition

NEXT ISSUE
In its May issue, InnovationCanada.ca will "launch" you into orbit. Find out how space research is leading to innovation that improves our lives.

Subscribe to a publication summary newsletter in English or français.

Chandra falls foul of peer review

2005-03-13T04:42:00.000-04:00

The grinding wheels of peer review finally seem to have come around to a decision on the work of immunologist Ranjit Chandra and his 2001 paper which claimed a specific combination of vitamins and minerals significantly improved seniors' ability to think and reason. The prestigious scientific journal Nutrition this month printed a retraction citing significant statistical errors in the study as well as his 1992 study published in The Lancet.

There was also concern that "Chandra failed to declare that he holds a patent on the tested supplement formula and has a financial stake in it because the supplement was licensed to Javaan Corporation, a company founded by his daughter, that sells the supplement," Meguid wrote in the retraction. Chandra, now living in India, did not respond to E-mails seeking comment.

The paper was done when Chandra was working at Memorial University in Newfoundland and there have been sugestions that the university should do something although they say it is not their role. Spokesperson Jack Strawbridge told The Scientist. "Our point has been, all along, that we have a responsibility to create conditions that allow research to happen, but we don't vet it directly; we don't say that any piece of research done by any particular researcher should or should not be published. That's the role of the peers and the journal editors..."

A Levitating Liquid Lunar telescope!

2005-01-28T16:29:00.000-04:00

The Bush initiative says it wants to send men back to the Moon and Mars. The Moon is a controversial choice - many say we should go straight to Mars - but a group of scientists from the U.S. and Canada think the Moon's north pole could be the perfect place for a Deep-Field Infrared Observatory to rival the work done by Hubble using a technique pioneered in Canada.

Universe Today has an article about Dr. Roger Angel of the University of Arizona who is heading a study under a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) grant to put a Liquid Mirror Telescope (LMT) on the Moon.

It happens that the world experts on making spinning liquid mirror telescopes are all in Canada, so it was kind of essential that if we’re thinking of doing that on the moon that we bring them in,” Angel said. “Luckily, they have come in on their own ticket, so to speak, and are excited by the project.”

The Canadian members of the team are Emanno Borra, from Laval University in Quebec, who has been researching and building LMTs since the early 1980’s, and Paul Hickson, from University of British Columbia, who, with Borra’s help, built the 6 meter LMT in Vancouver. Other collaborators include Ki Ma at the University of Texas at Houston who is an expert on the cryogenic bearings, Warren Davison from the University of Arizona who is a mechanical engineering expert in telescopes, and graduate student Suresh Sivanandam.

The idea for supporting and spinning the mirror is pretty cool as well (if you'll forgive the pun!) using cryogenic levitation bearings, similar to those used on MagLev trains to get a frictionless motion by using a magnetic field. One of the advantages of siting this on the Moon is that it is so cold they could do this with very little electrical power.

News From NINT

2004-12-20T20:35:00.000-04:00

The National Institute for Nanotechnology is maintaining its' position in the forefront of the international Nanotech research community with a new one-of-a-kind transmission electron microscope (TEM), a Hitachi HF 3300 TEM equipped with a cold field emission gun - the first instrument of its kind in the world. More info on the microscopes can be found here.

In other news from NINT, Dr. Hicham Fenniri continues to push the boundaries of nanotube self-assembly. His team of Visiting Fellow Dr. Jose Raez and PhD candidate Jesus Moralez was able to align organic nanotubes using simple drop flow methods - the first time this has ever been done.
This accomplishment is a huge boost for the field of molecular electronics - the development of electronic devices based on components consisting of individual molecules rather than the continuous materials found in today's semiconductor devices.

'Alignment is a critical issue for molecular electronics,' explains Dr. Fenniri. 'The challenge is not only to make an electronic device from molecules; it is to put the molecules together in a configuration that takes advantage of their properties. We've shown this can be done using a very simple tool, there's no need for complex and expensive methods. This is a quantum leap.'

New microchip uses less energy

2004-12-19T11:58:00.000-04:00

ABC Science Online again ...

Canadian engineers say they have designed a microchip that uses analog, rather than digital, processing to save energy ... said to be 100 times more energy efficient than conventional chips ...

The University of Alberta researchers said the chip used analog processing, rather than conventional digital methods, to handle incoming transmissions. They said this needed fewer transistors and so consumed less power.

If successful, the chip could one day find use in mobile or communications devices as an error control decoder, translating voice and data transmissions.

You better watch out ...

2004-12-19T11:36:00.000-04:00

This is a serious safety problem, but I can't help but think that it reminds me of a "Simpsons" episode! ABC Science Online recently ran the following story that took place in Region 14 ...

The festive season can be a dangerous time for kids keen to explore and taste new things, like Christmas trees A child who inhaled part of a Christmas tree that got stuck in his lung has made medical history, Canadian doctors say.

The doctors, who described the first case of 'Christmas tree aspiration', warned of what could happen at a time of year when children explore and taste new things. They reported the case in the current issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The two-and-a-half-old boy had repeated bouts of pneumonia starting from when he was 10 months old, a few months after his first Christmas. He hadn't choked and there was nothing in the family's medical history that pointed to lung disease.

When doctors at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, x-rayed and performed CT scans of the boy's chest, they found a lump at the outer edge of his right lung. When they operated, they found part of a branch from an evergreen tree wedged there, 3 centimetres long and 0.5 centimetres round. This had blocked off part of the lung, causing the repeated bouts of pneumonia. Once the blockage was removed, the child made a full recovery."

That reminds me of a funny story about how we got the tradition of the Angel on the top of the Christmas tree *COUGHCYNDIJO*

Better luck next year, Arrow and da Vinci!

2004-11-28T04:20:00.000-04:00

*sigh* Looks like Feeney has thrown in the towel for this year at least! According to CBC ...

Brian Feeney, the pilot of the da Vinci Project, said some of the support people involved in the project are tied up because of Christmas holidays. The Toronto-based team plans to continuing tests at an old quarry in southern Ontario. Test flights are now set to begin in the Prairie town in January.

One can't help but think that perhaps with the imperative gone - of getting at least one shot in before SpaceShipOne took out the X Prize - Feeney has decided to take more time over his preperations.

He has to realise though that a lack of results is going to loose him whatever credibility he ever had. With the X Prize finished I don't see how he can rationalise continuing the veil of secrecy that he has always had thrown over the da Vinci project.

With their re-location from London, ON, still up in the air, Canadian Arrow - our other X prize entrant - might also be contemplating their future. Geoff Sheerin in the past has made veiled hints that he will have to move to Windsor, Barrie or Sarnia. I wonder how rules 7 & 8 of the new "America’s Space Prize" will affect that decision?

7) The contestant must be domiciled in the United States of America.
8) The contestant must have its principal place of business in the United States of America.

Could he be lured away from Canada altogether?

Will Feeney Shoot Or Not?

2004-10-26T08:48:00.000-03:00

As hopes of actually winning the X Prize dwindled as SpaceShipOnes' second launch approached, Feeney has always been adamant that they will still go ahead with their own attempt. On September 30th a member on the X Prize message board sent Feeney an open letter that was posted on the board along with his reply. "Bad_Astra" laid it on the line ...

"...many ...feel, perhaps justifiably, that you have been misleading to the public, by using, among other things, imagery of a diving suit prototype model suggestively as a space suit, images of a rocket firing that was not developed by your team, a scale test of a balloon that is not even made of the same material as the one to be used at launch. I realize that a degree of secrecy is necessary in such a project, but it does begin to seem as if there isn’t a lot of evidence to support that Wildfire Mk VI is anything more then a ploy on behalf of Golden Palace. ...Was the Kindersly launch ever actually a serious concern?"

Feeney rose to to reply ...

"In general we are close to making a final commitment to a new launch date. The team had a lot of courage to go forward with a competitive bid with our funding from Golden Palace.com having only been put into place the first week of August (the beginning of our 60 day notice)...I’ll make no apology for stepping out there. We knew we had an uphill battle and almost everything went as we needed it to. ...I was the last one to be convinced that a temporary hold had to be initiated. As long as a race is on I’ll give no ground and fight, inspire the team to overachieve, exceed there own limitations."

It is well worth reading the full reply as he goes into specific details that I haven't seen elesewhere. On October 2nd he goes into even more detail.

Wired News reported on october 1st that "Transport Canada's Launch Safety Office ...had granted a permit for the team, ...to conduct two launches from a site in west-central Saskatchewan between Oct 2 and Nov 1 ...The main question surrounding da Vinci's volunteer-driven effort now is whether it can launch by Nov. 1 as the new permit requires."

On Oct 4, as SpaceShipOne was gearing up for its' winning flight, skeptical eyes were once again aimed at Feeney who shrugged them off "...if the skeptics really want to be that skeptical, they can start their own space program and see how difficult it is. There's nothing I can stay or do at this time that's going to satisfy the skeptics, so I'm not going waste my time trying to do so" Being under scrutiny hasn't stopped Feeney and the Da Vinci project from being mentioned as possible contenders for the new Americas Space Race

Unfortunately the people of Kindersley in Saskatchewan, where the launch is planned to take off from, seem to have lost faith in Feeney, for as reported in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix of October 21 they report ...
"The town of Kindersley has closed its planning office for the launch of a privately-funded rocket ship. Town organizers say the Cape Kindersley office will remain closed until organizers hear from the da Vinci project's team leader and pilot Brian Feeney about a specific launch date. David Grossman, leader of ground logistics for the Toronto-based team, was in Kindersley last week. He went over plans with local emergency personnel but would not say when the team would shoot for the stars."

My own view is that it will happen but not within the Nov 1st deadline of this launch window however ultimately it will only be a spot in the record books. Perhaps it is the excessive secrecy that Feeney has enforced, but there is no evidence that this project has any commercial plans to back it up. Now Canadian Arrow on the other hand ...

New Canadian Science Web Portal

2004-10-26T08:39:00.000-03:00

The Government of Canada today launched a New Web Portal for Science.

"Science fans in Canada can now get the latest scientific news and information 24 hours a day through a new Canadian Internet source. The Honourable R. John Efford, Minister of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), launched the Web portal for science knowledge today on behalf of the Government of Canada. The portal, called science.gc.ca, presents a variety of features on Canadian science and technology, as well as links to related Internet sources.
Minister Efford made the announcement at the Canadian Museum of Nature to 140 high school students visiting Ottawa as part of 'Encounters with Canada' - a one-week educational trip to the nation's capital. The launch of the Web portal is a highlight in a series of activities by the Government of Canada's science departments and agencies marking National Science and Technology Week, which runs from October 15 to 24. "

Check out the new web site at Science.gc.ca (both sites with links en français)

CSI Montreal

2004-10-16T20:56:00.000-03:00

Although it is not listed on the NSTW web site, this weekend also marks the opening in Montreal of Autopsy of a Murder or en français Autopsie d'un meurtre at the Montréal Science Centre.

A murder has been committed. Sarah Melville, an ordinary young woman, is found dead in her apartment: she has been shot. Three suspects are identified...

... and so it begins! Created in collaboration with Christyne Brouillet, a well-know Québec author, the Montréal Science Centre worked with specialists from the Laboratoire des sciences judiciaries et de médecine légale du Québec, the Sûreté du Québec, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The company Forensic Technology also developed, in partnership with the Science Centre, an interactive ballistics game. Produced by the Montréal Science Centre, in collaboration with the Musée de la civilisation in Québec City and the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa

The popularity of TV programmes such as CSI has spawned a genuine interest that educators are trying to convert into people in seats at university. This exhibition, which runs through to March 28th next year is set to be a real winner!

Canadian National Science and Technology Week

2004-10-16T20:53:00.000-03:00

It came as a bit of a surprise to me, but it is National Science and Technology Week from October 15-24. Billed as "a week-long celebration of science and technology that affects your everyday life" it has two main events.

The Science Funfest! is a free event run by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) at their Booth Street Complex at Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario between 11am and 4pm. "Enjoy exciting exhibits and free activities for the whole family. Bring your rocks and fossils for identification. Find out how science and technology affects your daily life. Explore energy efficient automobiles. Plan and go on a Chocolate Chip Cookie Mining expedition. Go on a Global Positioning System (GPS) treasure hunt."

Natural Resources Canada is offering free presentations to school groups again this year at its Booth Street complex from Monday to Friday. These include Introduction to Rocks & Minerals, Fossils, Movie Critiques, New innovative, alternative fuel vehicle technologies, Remote Sensing, Global Positioning System, The Many Faces of Mapping, Introduction to Geomatics, Natural Hazards, Traditional Aboriginal Knowledge.
In addition you can visit the CANMET Energy Technology Centre-Ottawa, at the CETC's Bells Corners Laboratories, where scientists are developing a wide range of leading-edge clean energy technologies.
Also open is the Geomagnetic Laboratory at Anderson Road where you could learn about the earth's magnetic field and how it affects life and technology. The Canadian Space Weather Forecast Centre is where they track and predict potentially damaging magnetic storms.

These sound like great activities which makes it such a pity that they have not been better advertised. Perhaps I missed it, but I haven't seen any advance notice of this, at least not on the net. I don't want to appear critical but shouldn't a National Science and Technology Week have events in more than one city?

Important outcomes of the IAC 2004

2004-10-13T09:57:00.000-03:00

The International Astronautical Congress for 2004 is over and the news from it is starting to be digested by the Space industry around the world.

Dr. Marc Garneau, President of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) shared the podium with Paul Bush, Telesat Vice President to announce the operational debut of The world's largest commercial communications satellite, Telesat's Anik F2.

Later he joined with Mr. Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), as they highlighted "technological, scientific and industrial discovery, exploration and applications, the result of cooperation that has over the past 25 years delivered far reaching social and economic benefits."

Arianespace announced that fifty mini-satellites are to be sent into space to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of the first such object, Sputnik 1. The "nanosats", each weighing 1kg, will blast into orbit on board an Ariane rocket in 2007

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) team was selected by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) to receive the 2004 Laurels for Team Achievement award. The team consists of scientists, engineers, managers, and NASA, European Space Agency and Space Telescope Science Institute support staff.

In other news from the IAC 2004 ...

Dr K. Kasturirangan, a former chairman of Indias extremely successful ISRO, was awarded the Allan D. Emil Memorial Award by the President of IAF, Marcio Barbose

The ESA, the Russians and most significantly the Chinese were active participants.

Debate ranged from the future of the International Space Station to interest in using solar power from space for terrestrial energy needs and humans on Mars by 2030: NASA expert

Great Scientists, 17th Century (1600-1699), The late Renaissance & Reformation - Sir Isaac Newton

2004-09-21T13:10:00.000-03:00

Sir Isaac Newton - Dr Robert A. Hatch, University of Florida
An elegant and comprehensive biography.

Sir Isaac Newton: The Universal Law of Gravitation
Reasonably intensive, course text from the University of Tennessees’ Astronomy 161: "The Planets", a comprehensive on-line text book.

Sir Isaac Newton
Grade school biography

Google Web Directory: Science/Physics/History/People/Newton
Comprehensive Links, including subsection for kids

Newton in Star Trek
Player in Datas’ holographic poker game as seen on STNG Season 6 "Descent, Part 1"
StarTrek.com Episodes / Movies
Episode summary.

An Interesting Poker Game
Uses the poker game to compare the different concepts of physics of the players and asks the question - Can science prove God does not exist?

Canada gets James Webb Space Telescope contract

2004-09-21T08:15:00.000-03:00

Canada has been a partner in the JWST from the onset but on September 16th the Canadian Space industry saw it's first contract inked.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) recently awarded a $5-million contract to Ottawa-based EMS Technologies' Space and Technology Group for the design of the fine guidance sensor, in partnership with COM DEV of Cambridge, Ontario...
"Our instrument, the fine guidance sensor, is critical to the success of the mission. It will measure the positions of very faint stars to extremely high accuracy. This is necessary for JWST to achieve the high quality of images required by the scientific objectives," added Mr. Alan Haase, Senior Vice-President and General Manager of EMS Technologies' Space and Technology Group. "We are also including a tunable filter camera that will provide unique scientific capabilities."

So you think you know your Canadian Cities?

2004-09-18T09:13:00.000-03:00

Think you know your city like the back of your hand? Want to see them from a viewpoint few ever see? Checkout the Global contest at the Vancouver SpaceFest web site.

Daily prize winners receive a day pass to the Space Centre for a family of five. The grand prize winner receives a framed image of Vancouver taken from Space, a One-year membership and a Special Space Party at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre for a group of 20 people.

Might I suggest that if the prize were won by anyone outside Vancouver, it would make a good donation for a charity auction?

Asteroid crash Genesis

2004-09-12T09:09:00.000-03:00

According to a report in The Independant "a massive impact with a giant asteroid - the Haughton impact crater on Devon Island, Nunavut Territory, Canada - could have kick-started life on Earth more than four billion years ago by providing an ideal environment for incubating the world's first lifeform.

Charles Cockell, of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, said analysis of rocks has shown how asteroids can help life to flourish. The intense heat of an asteroid impact causes rock minerals to vapourise, leaving tiny cracks and crevices inside the rock where microbes can live. "We've discovered that rocks inside the crater are more heavily colonised by microbes than the rocks outside the crater," Dr Cockell told the British Association Festival of Science being held in Exeter.

The Haughton crater was created 25 million years ago when an asteroid about a kilometre wide hit Earth, releasing energy equivalent to about 1,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs. When they hit the ground most of the energy is released as heat and one of the effects of that is to provide the energy for simple organic compounds to form more complex compounds," Dr Cockell said.

The heat from a similar impact about four billion years ago could have lasted for between 1,000 and a million years. This may have kept any water collecting within the crater at a constant warm temperature, providing an ideal environment for the origins of life.

da Vinci must break the paper barrier first!

2004-09-02T10:26:00.000-03:00

According to The Saskatoon StarPhoenix ...

[Snip]

The Canadian government has not yet given its stamp of approval to the da Vinci Project's rocket launch in Kindersley, putting the Oct. 2 liftoff in some jeopardy.
The launch team still has to purchase an insurance policy to cover potential injuries and property damage. In addition, a document indemnifying the Canadian government against launch damages must also be filed by the project team, which is led by Brian Feeney.
Lucie Vignola, a spokesperson with Transport Canada in Ottawa, said the agency won't approve a launch licence until then. And even if the documents are filed soon, she could not guarantee the approval process will be completed by the intended launch date of Oct. 2.
'We're not in this to try and delay anything. We're working with Mr. Feeney,' she said. 'But we have to make sure everything is copasetic. We're not going to compromise the safety of the public or of property' by rushing the evaluation process"

[EndSnip]

Oops! The impression has always been that Feeney had government approval for his launch! Feeney is not letting a few pieces of paper slow him down though! ...

[Snip]

"The project ranks amongst the most complicated ever undertaken in this country. The team though rose to the challenge years ago and continues to push toward the launch line of Oct. 2," Feeney wrote ... "There were more than 30 engineers involved at our end in completing the evaluation part of the process with the Canadian government -- range safety, the works. It took more than a year. That part of the process was completed by April 7 of this year, a day following the announcement by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) of Burt Rutan's approval."

[EndSnip]

Nobody wants the Da Vinci project to end with a bang ... but we certainly don't want it to end with a whimper either! Just keep repeating to yourself "Beurocrats are our friends ... they are trying to protect us from ourselves ..."

Canada's Stake on the Very Small Frontier

2004-08-29T05:48:00.000-03:00

An article in the Toronto Star - Focusing on the nanorealm - has drawn public attention on the National Institute for Nanotechnology - click here for the official site and
This expansion is mirrored on the commercial front as can be seen from the Montreal based Canadian NanoBusiness Alliance. Which states that "there are over 130 organizations currently involved in nanotechnology in Canada. Virtually all activities are conducted in the vicinity of 5 nanotechnology hubs. The distribution of organizations and principle industrial nanotechnology clusters are as follows and are further detailed in the following sections:

Montreal (40%) with nanotech clusters developing in information technology & communications, chemicals & materials, aerospace & defence, and medical

Toronto (25%) with nanotech clusters developing in medical, and chemicals & materials

Ottawa (15%) with a nanotech cluster developing in information technology & communications

Edmonton (10%) with a nanotech cluster developing in information technology & communications

Vancouver (10%) with a nanotech cluster developing in energy"

Canada certainly has it's foot in the door but can it make a grand entrance?

If you can put up with the Wise-Cracks ...

2004-08-11T09:53:00.000-03:00

Slashdot has a forum with some gems buried amongst the dross. Canadian Team To Launch X-Prize Attempt Oct. 2 There is even an interesting comment on Canadian Arrow

This would seem to be about the latest photo I've seen of Wild Fire.

The X Prize ships in Paper

2004-08-09T05:30:00.000-03:00

With the X Prize competition hotting up it would be great to have a model of the X Prize ships, right? Well there is one of SpaceShipOne already on Currell Graphics where you will find a model of Burt Rutan's graceful spaceship to 1:48 scale (approx. 7 inches long). Ralph Currell also has a model of the WWII V2 to 1:32 which could perhaps be built as the Canadian Arrow - I've seen plans on the Net for it somewhere!

A big hello to all my friends on the PaperModels SmartGroup!

Canadian Arrow is still in the race

2004-08-08T04:14:00.000-03:00

Unlike da Vinci, Canadian Arrow has not been lucky enough yet to acquire a major sponsor. According to the London Free Press, Geoff Sheerin, head of the London-based Canadian Arrow , said ...

"... while Toronto's da Vinci Project may be among the first rockets to the launching pad, that doesn't mean it will win. If you look in the history books, all aviation races had some really well-funded groups ahead of the ultimate winners, You can be the fastest to the finish line and still trip and fall."

... the report states that four months of unmanned test flights will start within the next two weeks at an as yet undisclosed location off one of the Great Lakes, although Sheerin is on record as saying that the plan is for their competitive flights to launch from a barge in Lake Huron, near Sarnia. However unless they get local funding, Canadian Arrow might not be in London at that time.

"The London-area response to the project has not been as high as expected, The wealth is here, it's just not really waking up,' Sheerin said. The Fanshawe Park Road East site where the Canadian Arrow team is based has been sold to Hudson Boat Works, which will take over the site in September.

"Unfortunately for London it may mean they lose their space program, which in the long run is a serious blow. Unless someone steps up to take on the bulk of sponsorship, the Canadian Arrow team may find a new home in Windsor, Barrie or Sarnia." he said.

Entrepreneurs in space!

2004-08-07T08:00:00.000-03:00

Online casino GoldenPalace.com, which came to the rescue of da Vinci obviously sees the Ansari X Prize attempt as a way of expanding it's flamboyant on-line style into space! They are reported to be planning to send the infamous Beckham penalty outrage ball into space!

The ball David Beckham infamously booted over the bar during England's crucial Euro 2004 shoot-out with Portugal is supposedly going into space - for real.

Online casino GoldenPalace.com, which bought the ball for 28,050 Euros (18,500 UK pounds) in an online auction last month, has announced plans to store the sporting relic onboard a Canadian spacecraft entry in the $10m X-prize race. GoldenPalace.com is sponsoring the da Vinci Project's Wild Fire, which is due to blast off from the central Canadian province of Saskatchewan on 2 October, taking Beckham's ball with it.

It is a good day to Grade!

2004-08-05T10:54:00.000-03:00

Those of you who know that my fictional ater-ego is Kirok of L'Stok - a Klingon raised by Vulcans - will know that I have Taoist leanings in that I believe a complete person should develop themselves physically as well as mentally. Many who read my ramblings in the "Space Family Anderton" column in Tricorder will know that I train in Tae Kwon Do.

Well today might be the end of that era. I have been finding it increasingly hard to handle physically and think it is time to go on to something else. Gimme a break willya - I'm 50 years old! I feel that I have neither the flexibility nor stamina to do justice to what is needed.

Kirok went out in a blaze of glory though!

I made some small mistakes in my first form, Sem Jang, but I did well in Sah Jang and Yuk Jang - you can download short mpeg's of these from here, here and here. Bag kicking went well on the right leg (Jumping Roundhouse is a strong point) and although as ussual I had little power on my left, my technique was right. I fluffed some of the instructions in Korean but again showed reasonable technique in my 3 step sparring ... and then we got into the serious stuff ...

Tae Kwon Do is a contact sport ... if you are wearing helmets and guards etc on chest and shins. Without them we are told to watch our contact and stop kicks and blocks short of serious damage. However when we grade we are expected to show fighting spirit and have a bit of "slap and tap": Blocks connect and if your block doesn't catch a kick, hope your opponent doesn't hurt you too much!

I was ok with my training buddy, Brenton, but for my second match they paired me with a young 16-18 year old blue belt who had plenty of fire in his belly but didn't seem to have picked up the concept of control! Luckily, as the old saying goes, experience and cunning beat youth and speed as my conditioned reflexes kicked in - all my blocks worked - and I counterattacked by forcing him back against a wall.

Hah! Taught you, ya young whippersnapper! One of the young club members caught it as a movie for me but I'm having trouble uploading it to the Internet so if you are interested, drop me a line.

Tonight I'm a happy man. I can retire with honour! Red belt is just short of Black belt but it is still an achievement, I have achieved my goal. From this point on it takes serious commitment to training and the sparring gets pretty tough, so i think it might not be an appropriate risk for me to continue.

Besides my other training buddy - Cadet Ensign Christopher Anderton - wants to take up weight training and that might help me regain enough edge to go back to Tae Kwon Do!

You never know, I might get that Black belt yet before I turn 60!

Cyber-tourism in Montréal

2004-08-04T19:30:00.000-03:00

This years Commerce Design Montréal competition is featured in an online article in ArchitectureWeek. The main site for the competition can be found here

ArchitectureWeek is linked to Great Buildings Online an amazing free repository of articles, graphics and 3D models of buildings from all over the world and throughout history! For example a search of "Places" from their main page gives the following buildings that they have ...

CN Tower, by John Andrews, at Toronto, Canada, 1976.

German Pavilion, Expo '67, by Frei Otto, at Montreal, Canada, 1967.

Graham House, by Arthur C. Erickson, at West Vancouver, BC, Canada, 1963.

Habitat '67, by Moshe Safdie, at Montreal, Canada, 1967.

National Gallery of Canada, by Moshe Safdie, at Ottawa, Canada, 1986 to 1988.

US Pavilion at Expo '67, by Buckminster Fuller and Shoji Sadao, at Montreal, Canada, 1967.

... With the olympics soon to open in Athens, perhaps you might like to take a virtual stroll through the Parthenon? Or perhaps Angkor Wat in Cambodia or Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem? The possibilities are endless!

Da Vinci images

2004-08-02T11:02:00.000-03:00

In the wake of the recent announcement of Feeney's attampt, there is a nice series of graphics, most of which I haven't seen before at the SPACE.com Image Gallery Viewer

Evidently Nutco a BC firm that specialises in Deep sea diving suits, is looking at developing one of their suits as a space suit for Da Vinci.

Doing a bit of navigating, it looks like the graphics have come from the Gallery on the Da Vinci Web Site.

The Next space race

2004-07-28T11:51:00.000-03:00

CNN.com - Next space race:
Private craft prepare to launch - Jul 27, 2004:

"Aerospace engineer, Burt Rutan, leader of Scaled Composites of Mojave, California, has formally announced a timetable for back-to-back flights of the firm's SpaceShipOne rocket plane. Rutan and his team have given its official 60-day notice, with the first X Prize attempt set for September 29 from the inland Mojave Spaceport in California. To win the $10 million, SpaceShipOne will need to make a second flight within two weeks, by October 13.

Hot on Rutan's heels is Brian Feeney, leader of the Canadian da Vinci Project. Feeney also reported today that his team is rolling out on August 5 their completed X Prize vehicle -- the balloon-lofted Wild Fire rocket. The public unveiling will take place at the team's Dowsview Airport hanger in Toronto. The da Vinci Project Team, widely heralded as a contender for the $10 million purse, will pursue its own Ansari X Prize space flight attempts this Fall."

Stand by for an important News Flash!

2004-07-23T20:43:00.000-03:00

The suspense is killing me! Ansari X Prize, SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan and Brian Feeney, leader of the Da Vinci Project said they will make 'several key announcements' related to the competition on Tuesday. This is taken to mean that they will announce the first attempts to win its $10 million purse for privately developed spaceflight.

"X Prize officials have previously stated they would provide at least 60 days' notice of any upcoming attempts to win the prize."

SpaceShipOne and Wildfire in a neck and neck finish in the race to space!

Arctic yields fresh evidence for Elizabethan gold swindle

2004-07-18T11:07:00.000-03:00

Speaking of GeoSciences, the boundaries between disciplines is breaking down nowadays. A recent feature by EurekAlert shows how scientists are helping Archaeologists solve the mysteries of the past.

In 1578 British mariner Martin Frobisher found a strange black ore on what is now known was Kodlunarn Island, in Frobisher Bay. After having it tested by his own assayers he loaded 12 ships with tons of the black ore and sailed it back to London where it was hailed as an Arctic Eldorado. Was this a massive con job on Elizabeth I and her court, or did Frobisher's assayers mistakenly dupe themselves into believing they'd found gold?

Two Laval University scientists say there's solid evidence that Frobisher and his chemists were in on a massive fraud.

For more on this and other cases where Earth Scientists have aided archaology, see the June 2004, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, which has a number of articles in that vein.

Unique fossils from a forgotten time

2004-07-18T03:14:00.000-03:00

In an article from the BBC: "Rare fossil creatures from a mysterious time known as the Ediacaran are amongst the most exquisite examples of the earliest complex life, experts say. The 560-575-million-year-old specimens from Canada, of marine organisms called rangeomorphs, are preserved in three dimensions, Science magazine reports."

Dr. Guy Narbonne, of Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, found the new assemblage of fossils in an area called Spaniard's Bay in eastern Newfoundland and describes them as soft-bodied and plant-like, with 'frondlets' - leafy structures that branch from stems - that were probably free-floating, elevated above the sea floor by a stalk.

Their claim to fame? Dr Narbonne believes they are a single biological group, which can neither be classified as animals nor as plants. The period that they come from, the Ediacaran, was just before the 'Cambrian explosion', an evolutionary blossoming in which many important animal groups appeared for the first time.

They are also unusual in that they are a three dimensional fossil, even more amazing since they were a soft-bodied organism. They were probably buried in a mud-flow, which was then covered by ash from a nearby volcano. Talk about your bad luck days!

The Ediacaran was only accepted as a new geological time period this year - the first to be added in 120 years.

Just think of all those Geological wall charts in Science classrooms around the world that will have to be changed!

Feeney: Inspired amateur on a shoestring

2004-07-10T19:50:00.000-03:00

Good article on da Vinci on Wired.com Wired News: Self-Taught Pilot Going to Space

"Feeney hinted that Wild Fire will be ready for a first ascent by the end of September.
'One of the things I've been telling the media in the last few weeks is that (Rutan) beat us to the starting line by about 90 days,' Feeney said in a telephone interview. 'But we're going to make it to the starting line, too.'
A launch 90 days after SpaceShipOne's maiden flight would come sometime around Sept. 20. Feeney says the da Vinci Project will unveil further details for Wild Fire in Toronto on July 21. But he didn't go beyond that in talking about the group's schedule and also declined to discuss plans for test flights before a prize attempt."

So try to arrange to be in Saskatchewan arround that time! I never realised how little industry experience Feeney had ...

Feeney describes himself as being an "entrepreneur and inventor all of my life" who spent "part of a year" at the University of Toronto but has no formal training as an engineer. Unlike Melvill, a veteran test pilot with 7,000 hours' flight time in 138 different aircraft, Feeney's a relative novice to flying. He said he's put in about 25 hours flying light planes.

But Feeney said experience in planes isn't as important as it might seem. He pointed out he's been doing intensive simulator training at the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine in Toronto. He said the ground training is actually more relevant than conventional flight time.

"A ballistic rocket does not fly like an aircraft," he said. "The way that you fly is completely different."

That's because guiding the Wild Fire capsule will depend on continual use of the craft's RCS controls -- the reaction control system, an array of thrusters used to steer and orient the craft as it climbs out of the atmosphere. That's experience that can't be gained in a plane, said Feeney.

You've got to hand it to him - the man's got guts! The prime movers of the X-Prize teams seem to be split between long time AeroSpace industry warriors like Rutan and inspired amateurs like Feeney.

Another surprise from the article is the shoestring budget. I mean I knew that da Vinci was mainly volunteer effort but ...

[Feeney] estimates the entire effort, which dates back to 1996, has cost "$1 million Canadian in cash and $4 million Canadian in kind" -- the equivalent of $3.8 million in U.S. currency. That compares with the $20 million or more invested so far in SpaceShipOne by Allen.

"Burt Rutan said he developed his ship for the same money NASA would have spent on a study of the concept," Feeney said. "We did it for the price of the paper clips that would have held the study together."

Watch the skys.

A little bit of Canada in Sydney

2004-07-03T00:40:00.000-03:00

In honour of Canada Day, I thought I'd share with you some history about a little bit of Canada in the City of Sydney, Australia where I live. The following is from the website of "Canada Bay Local Government Area"

[Snip]
Canada Bay and the Canadian Exiles

In 1837 and 1838 there were revolts in Lower Canada (now known as Quebec) by French Canadian Patriotes who held a number of grievances against British government rule, most notably the need for greater participation in government and an increase in the legislative power of the lower house. Following the crushing of the revolts some of the rebels were executed while others were sentenced to transportation.

In 1840 the ship Buffalo transported 91 English speaking rebels to Tasmania and 58 French speaking Canadians to New South Wales. Originally the French Canadians were destined for Norfolk Island however due to representations to the Governor Sir George Gipps by the Roman Catholic Bishop, Dr John Bede Polding, they were sent to the Longbottom Stockade a less severe prison. Nevertheless conditions were still harsh for the convicts. At first there was no bedding while food and clothing was of poor quality. Work included breaking stones for the construction of Parramatta Road. Many of them collected oyster shells along the shores of Parramatta River to be be made into lime, a commodity then in high demand for building purposes. Most were Catholic and found some consolation in visits from Bishop Polding and his Secretary Fr John Brady, both of whom spoke French. Despite the harsh conditions the convicts found some time for relaxation and one prisoner fashioned a set of bowls, the first recorded instance of the game being played in the Canada Bay area.

In 1842 the good behaviour of the French Canadians led to their being granted a ticket-of-leave which allowed them to work outside the Stockade. They found work in the colony as clerks, gardeners, builders and in saw milling. Some worked in the construction of the Victoria Barracks in Paddington. Free pardons were granted to the French Canadians between November 1843 and February 1844. Eventually all but three of the Canadian Exiles returned to Canada: two died while one, Joseph Marceau, married a local women and settled at Dapto.

Following the disturbances Lord Durham (John George Lambton), Governor General and Lord High Commissioner to Canada, recommended that responsible self government should be granted to the Union of Upper and Lower Canada. This same principle of self government was later applied to the Australian colonies in the 1850s, thus establishing parliamentary democracy.

Longbottom Stockade was located in the vicinity of present day Concord Oval, St Luke's Park and Cintra Park. Remains of the Stockade were identified when foundations were laid for the new grand stand at Concord Oval in 1984. Several place names in the area reflect a link with the story of the French Canadian Exiles : Canada Bay, Exile Bay, France Bay, Durham Street, Marceau Drive, Polding Street and Gipps Street. A plaque was unveiled in Cabarita Park by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1970 to honour the Exiles and their role in the political history of Canada. In 1984 the monument was relocated in Bayview Park as this was where the Canadian Exiles disembarked in 1840 on their way to the Longbottom Stockade.
[EndSnip]

Australia, although ostensibly established for criminal convicts, was used on many occassions by the British government of the day for political prisoners, most notably Irish seperatists and political & trade union activists from England & Wales, for example survivors of the Tolpuddle incident. In the case of the Canadian activists their ordeal had a comparatively "happy ending" - for most others Australia became their home. However by "adding their cultural uniqueness" to Australia we have gained by their assimilation.

A country that ignores it's past is a country without a future as my History teacher used to say. The next time you excercise your right to vote, or your trade union negotiates for your livelyhood, or you watch your child graduate from High School or, heaven forbid, you draw on social security in time of need, remember that none of these would be ours without the efforts of those who went before us. Civil Liberties are not civil rights, they are worth respecting and protecting because they can be taken from us, whittled away in the name of the common good.

The Roddenbury dream is based on equality and repect for what makes us different as well as what we have in common. It will not come about by apathy and complacency but by boldy grasping the technological and social advances made possible by the affluent society built by our ancestors.

REMEMBER - the opinions voiced are my own and do not necessarily represent the USS Magellan or SFI

The Commercial Future For Space Travel

2004-07-01T08:14:00.000-03:00

"The bottom line at zero gravity" By ROBERT SAWYER

You really must read this upbeat, optimistic article by the Hugo winning author of "Hominids". Erudite, authoratative and backed by facts and figures - isn't that the formula for winning Science Fiction? - he reiterates what many have been saying recently about the commercialisation of space.

[Snip]
Now, yes, there will always be a role for government-funded manned space flight. Basic exploration should be done for reasons other than making a buck. I do believe governments should be working hard to establish permanent settlements off-Earth so that humanity will survive even the worst terrorist or environmental disaster.

In other areas, the government should butt out, and let the capitalists take their shot. Dan Goldin, former administrator of NASA, had a mantra: "Better, faster, cheaper." Of course, he was never able to make that work in the bloated bureaucracy he headed. But those same goals are routinely achieved by businesses. Where governments fail -- on Earth or out among the stars -- the private sector will succeed.
[EndSnip]

I am wary of capitalism as a philosophy. At it's best it has a sound basis for showing that ethics = profits but it can also be so wrong when corporations lose sight of the necessity of ethics & morals and drive for profits at any cost ... was that a tautology?

With intelligent, realistic government controls (neither too little nor too much) and public support it *WILL* happen.

Great Scientists, 16th C, The early Renaissance - Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 - 1519)

2004-06-30T09:48:00.000-03:00

Leonardo Da Vinci, A Man of Both Worlds
ThinkQuest site by three high schoolers (in 1996) with material aimed at three levels: Novice, intermediate and advanced. Good concept with some seldom seen graphics, but thin on actual content

Leonardo, Scientist, Inventor, Artist
Based on an exhibition at the Museum of Science, Boston in 1996

Leonardo Da Vinci, Renaissance Man
Biographical material that shows how, as a Renaissance man, Leonardo was accomplished at a wide range of arts and sciences. Was this the reason that, for all his genius and many projects started, he rarely finished anything?.

Exploring Leonardo
Part of a motivating, interactive website, this section is aimed at late elementary school and encourages the user to get thinking themselves.

Leonardo, Portrait of a Dyslexic Genius
Not only does this author give intriguing evidence that Leonardo might have been Dyslexic but it states that his Helicopter drawing was made into a paper model!

Leonardo Da Vinci - University of St Andrews, Scotland
Excellent information focussing on Leonardo as a mathematician & scholar

Vinci, Leonardo's Home Town
Charming and useful site with many useful sections - The Leonardo Museum (models of his ideas), the Leonardo Library ...

Leonardo da Vinci's Adding Machine
A controversial replica built in 1968. Was it a machine for showing ratios or gears ... or was it a calculating machine? You be the judge.

ArtCyclopedia, Leonardo Da Vinci
Mainly links to Art Galleries that show examples of Leonardos work on the web but many useful biographical and background links

Leonardo Da Vinci, Web Museum, Paris
Critical analysis of his most influential paintings

Leonardo Da Vinci, (1452-1529)
Good biographical material

Google Web Directory: Arts>Art History>Artists>D>Da Vinci, Leonardo
Although biased towards his artistic life, this has many links to his scientific achievements.

Leonardo in Star Trek
Leonardo was Cpt Janeway's holgraphic companion, first seen on VOY Season 3 "Scorpion, Part 1" and featuring in VOY Season 4 Concerning Flight"

Episode summary of "Scorpion, Part 1"

Episode summary of "Concerning Flight"

"Phillips Star Trek Reviews
Some pointed criticisms of this episode although, like everyone, this reviewer is fascinated by the concept of Leonardo da Vinci on a starship!

"Sliding Away
Mostly about the exit of John Rhys Davis from the series "Sliders" but it also includes the actors thoughts on his appearance in this episode.

Alberta's Heavy Oil: The Trillion-Barrel Tar Pit

2004-06-29T12:12:00.000-03:00

My colleague in Trek Science, Cyndi Jo has passed on yet another interesting lead. Wired.com this month has an article entitled The Trillion-Barrel Tar Pit which extols the virtues of extracting the "Heavy Oil" beneath Alberta. It all sounds financially sound, especially as the industry is expecting technological breakthroughs that will make it's extraction even more economical.
I wonder at the lack of environmental monitoring, though. My google searches came up with little other than industry statements and university courses.
In fact the only Web Article I have found so far has been a rather dated piece on peopleandplanet.net from Oct. 2002 that starts off "When Canada signs the Kyoto Protocol on climate change...". Well, we all know that that will never happen! The author's concern was that ...

"The problem is that it takes almost as much energy to produce tar sands as it generates. Indeed, it almost takes as much energy to mine, process, refine, and upgrade the bitumen oil out of tar sands as the oil-energy that would be produced from the tar sands."
"In the process much more carbon dioxide emissions are generated getting the tar sands oil out than would be the case with conventional oil. There are estimates that 5 to 10 times the amount of greenhouse gas emissions come from processing tar sands as it does processing conventional oil."

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that one side or the other is right or wrong. It's just that I would feel a whole lot more comfortable with the industry if it had a strong, independant environmental watchdog watching it's every move. It keeps 'em honest.

Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi - Long Ago Person Found

2004-06-26T10:27:00.000-03:00

The British Herald newspaper for June 23 is running an article entitled "Frozen body to reveal old American mysteries" about the remains of a 700 year old body that was discovered preserved in ice in a glacier in August 1999. Considering the advances a similar "iceman" found in the Italian Alps in 1991 nicknamed Otzi, academics are hopeful that this messenger from the past will help them gain a clearer picture of the British Columbia area before "First Contact" with Eurasians in the form of Russian traders approximately 250 years ago.

For more see the website of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations and the B.C. Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management.

Another one from Cyndi Jo - Thanks!

Policies of Canadian political parties

2004-06-25T19:20:00.000-03:00

Unfortunately in life politics cannot be avoided and on Monday, Canadians will go to the polls to elect a new government. The Mars Society of Canada has put together a website with the space policies of all the political parties that have responded, including so far ...

Liberal Party of Canada
New Democratic Party
Green Party of Canada
Bloc Quebecois

For your information so that you can make your vote count.

It wasn't as easy as it looked

2004-06-23T10:17:00.000-03:00

In years to come they'll make a film of the X Prize and it will be as exciting as anything B & B have dreamed up! Universe Today ran the following based on a Scaled Composites News Release

[Snip]
A few hours after the historic flight of SpaceShipOne, pilot Mike Melvill and designer Burt Rutan revealed that the trip to space wasn't worry free. Far from it, in fact. A technical glitch in the early moments of the rocket burn caused Melvill to lose control, and SpaceShipOne rolled back and forth. He was forced to switch to a backup system to keep the spaceship from being destroyed. Training and backup systems carried the day, though, and Melvill was able to regain control of SpaceShipOne, and gain enough altitude to just barely reach 100 km (62.5 miles). At least one more test flight is planned to ensure this mistake is resolved before risking the pilot and spacecraft on an official X Prize attempt.
[EndSnip]

Just as with the pioneers of the air, The road to space will be paved by the daring, skilled and adventurous.

The birth of Space Tourism?

2004-06-23T05:17:00.000-03:00

Did we see the birth of the Space tourist Industry on Monday with the Maiden spaceflight of SpaceShipOne? I'd bet money on it and I'm a tightwad of legendary proportions! The business analysts are weighing in already - The Space review ran a story last week entitled "How many winners?"
[Snip]
With more than 20 companies planning X Prize or similar vehicles, how many of them can actually be supported by the space tourism market? Sam Dinkin says that the magic number is most likely three.
[EndSnip]
... Space Adventures who were behind the tourist placements on the ISS has started taking bookings ...
Space Tourists Willing to Risk Their Lives
[Snip]
Summary - (Jun 21, 2004) Want to go to space? Well, you're not alone. More than 100 potential space tourists have put their money on the line, and have set aside a $10,000 deposit with Space Adventures so they can be one of the first to head up on a suborbital flight. The company recently did a survey with these clients to find out how much risk they'd be willing to take; 69% would be on the first flight of SpaceShipOne, regardless of the danger. The first flights on a suborbital spacecraft like SpaceShipOne are going to cost more than $100,000 initially, but prices should come down in the coming years.
[EndSnip]
... And what do the Canadian teams think? ...
"'I expect that by 2010 millions of people will have taken a flight into space,' Geoff Sheerin, team leader for Canadian Arrow - one of two Canadian teams vying for the prize - remarked to Asia Times Online." 'Most predictions of markets are either overly optimistic or pessimistic, I have never seen any experts in an industry get the future predictions correct.' Sheerin says that the market, though small, exists. 'Take for instance Mount Everest climbers; it costs $50,000 to get a license to climb it, not to mention all travel and logistical expenses, there is a five-year waiting list and a one-in-five chance that you won't make it back alive, and still there are over 200 attempts each year.' "
Feeney - ever the tease - is on-line as saying ...
[Snip]
"We're cheering him on," he said. "In fact, I will be down there for it. We're somewhere in the late summer time frame for an all-out manned flight into space. And knowing something of Burt's potential X Prize flights, we feel that we're actually extremely competitive against him on that."
[EndSnip]
In the Toronto Star, Sheerin is also quoted as saying ...
[Snip]
"I want to see people banging on Burt's door with cash in their fists, quite a bit of it, saying: `Can you take me next?'" said Sheerin, who plans to watch the flight live on television. What's good for one in this business, is good for all. Because it's profits that will inspire the industry. And that's the way to get the investment ... for people to see there's the potential for profit. If they see that, there will be people looking to invest in various sub-orbital tourist schemes."
..."Sheerin says that, in addition to rigorous technical safety analysis, engineers ask themselves a very basic question. What really drives the engineering team is: `Your mother's on board. Now how do you feel?'" he says. (The assumption, of course, is that the maternal bond is a good one.) ... Both Canadian teams, though they have dedicated sponsors, have yet to benefit from the Canadian version of Paul G. Allen, who invested a reported $20 to $25 million in Rutan's project. (If you happen to be such a person, Feeney or Sheerin would be delighted to hear from you.)
Feeney is even issuing a patriotic call for volunteers to help with his project. He's looking for people with special skills in composite materials like carbon fibre, along with skilled electricians, metal fabricators, welders and woodworkers. Good set builders from the film industry, he says, are welcome.
"It's a call to arms, in a way. It gives us a manpower fighting chance to beat the almighty (Burt Rutan) down south." If you're interested, show up next Saturday, June 26, at 60 Carl Hall Rd., Unit One, Downsview Park. Really.
[EndSnip]

Just like the aviation industry it will start off as the domain of the rich and famous - watch out for pop stars with astronauts wings - and eventually end up as another compenent of the Transport industry. The question is who will be the winners in the race to grab their section of this new industry? New Mexico? Saskatchewan? Woomera? [falls about laughing, thinking about the chances of that last one]
Yup, I've got my five dollars on it ... well I told you I was a tight wad!

Canadian firm to grab hubble and eyeball shuttle

2004-06-18T08:55:00.000-03:00

Space.com reports that MD Robotics of Canada, the makers of Canadarm, the Space Shuttle remote Manipulator, have been approached to "to work on a potential spaceflight mission to robotically service the Hubble Space Telescope ... a sole source Request for Proposal (RFP) to MD Robotics for the development of a robotic grapple arm and a double-armed dexterous robot ... to accomplish the hardware exchange ... to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), called the HST Robotic Servicing and De-orbit Mission (HRSDM)."

[Snip]
NASA is contemplating conducting either the HRSDM or a mission for disposal only of the orbiting telescope. If the HRSDM is approved, it must be accomplished before systems on Hubble fail and the observatory goes into a scientifically useless tumble mode.

The decision by NASA to link up with MD Robotics is being justified on several key factors. The Canadian firm has the only known system with the high level of maturity, NASA feels, needed to meet the critical schedule requirements for integration, test, training, and launch.

... In other related space work, MD Robotics recently got the NASA go-ahead to proceed with the development of an extension to the space shuttle's Canadarm to inspect the Shuttle's thermal protection system on-orbit. The Inspection Boom, almost as long as the Canadarm itself, will enable astronauts to survey the Shuttle's thermal protection system -- tiles and wing leading edge panels.
[EndSnip]

Now, no one more than me would like to see such a fantastic chance come the way of one of Canada's premier Space industry operators but for my money the CX Orbital Life Extension Vehicle is the best option for saving Hubble. Have a look at Dennis Wingo's Rebuttal to Comments by the Houston Chronicle and Robert Zubrin Regarding NASA's Hubble Repair Options Basically it gives details of the proposal for a Robotic mission (nice photo) to place Hubble close to the ISS so that it could be serviced by Shuttle missions that could use the ISS as a safe Haven.

Being Bilingual Could Protect Your Brain

2004-06-18T08:50:00.000-03:00

Jun 14 2004 - courtesy of Cyndi Jo from SFI's own Science-Lab

[Snip]
MONDAY, June 14 (HealthDayNews) -- Being fluent in two languages could protect against age-related cognitive decline, says a study in the June issue of Psychology and Aging.
Researchers from York University in Toronto compared the results of 154 bilingual and monolingual middle-aged and older adults on the Simon Task, which measures reaction time and aspects of cognitive function that decline with age. All the bilingual people in the study had used two languages every day since the age of 10.
The study found that both older and younger bilingual people performed better than those who spoke just one language. Being bilingual offers widespread benefits across a range of complex cognitive tasks, the authors concluded.
More information
The U.S. National Institute on Aging has information about forgetfulness and aging.
[EndSnip]

Geriatric Bilingual Canadians rule! Oy!

London Calling!

2004-06-12T21:42:00.000-03:00

London, Ontario is well served by a wide range of Museums and Galleries that always have things going on as can be seen from the London Free Press: Today Section. For example the LONDON REGIONAL CHILDREN'S MUSEUM has "Science Sunday, the egg drop" and "High Diversity, the biodiversity in Canada" (till June 20) whilst, at the other end of the science experience spectrum, the CANADIAN MEDICAL HALL OF FAME has an interactive learning environment featuring a laureate portrait gallery, biographical sketches; The Brain and Mind, The Vital Flow and Mother and Child exhibits; interactive multimedia stations, stamp display ...

Don't wait for the day after tomorrow

2004-06-12T19:52:00.000-03:00

If you are a fan of "The Day After Tomorrow", Saturdays National Post says that the Ontario Science Centre has a two-day presentation called "Disaster Flick Dos and Don'ts"

[Snip]
... explaining the science behind Hollywood disaster movies. An enhancement of the IMAX film Forces of Nature, the display also allows visitors to make the Earth quake, study tornadoes and more.
[EndSnip]

Taking the Longer View

2004-06-07T21:33:00.000-03:00

The big news last week was that Burt Rutan and SpaceShip-One are planning their first sub-orbital crack at the 100Km high barrier On June 21st from the Mojave Civilian Aerospace Test Centre in California. How does that affect the other 26 teams, including two from Canada, competing for the Ansari X Prize? The global competition for $10 million (U.S.) is for the first team that can make two flights to the edge of space in a manned, reusable vehicle within two weeks with three people - or one and the equivalent ballast for the two passengers.

The two Canadian teams in the X Prize quest, the Toronto-based da Vinci Project and London's Canadian Arrow wish Rutan well.
"Of course we wish them the best of luck," said Brian Feeney of the da Vinci Project (who will hurtle into space in his Wild Fire rocket some time later this year after a launch in Kindersley, Sask.)
"If you want to wake up Bay Street and Wall Street, there's no better way than having one of us fly to 100 kilometres," said Geoff Sheerin, Canadian Arrow team leader. "So we're thrilled. In the end, we all want to win that prize. But the real prize is the industry. Burt (Rutan) will have people beating down his door, paying money to fly that vehicle ... We've been taught that space flight is very expensive. Really, all the X Prize vehicles are like the Cessna of spacecraft."

Feeney sounds pretty laid back about it ...

"The Wright Brothers may have been first in flight," said Brian Feeney ... told United Press International. "But you don't fly on Wright Brothers' aircraft -- you fly on Boeings and Airbuses."

Feeney also said he's not worried about the pressure from SpaceShipOne, which soared to 211,400 feet over the Mojave Desert on May 13.
"It could literally come down to the fastest turnaround time between (the required two) flights."

In fact he has taken this opportunity to "leak" his long range plans for the Canadian Space Tourist industry ...

if Brian Feeney has his way. The astronaut's company, Orva Space Corp., is considering offering sub-orbital flights from Saskatchewan on a regular basis as early as 2006. Although ticket prices could start at $100,000 US each, Feeney wants to drop the cost to $19,900 within five years.
"It's still expensive but is not the high end of extreme vacations," Feeney said. "You can go to Antarctica and the top of (Mount) Everest and to African safaris in the $30,000-$50,000 (cost) range," he said. The launch site is the airport in Kindersley, southwest of Saskatoon...

"The thing we're putting together is for people to spend five to seven days with us as part of an in-house training program and having both a lot of fun and a grand experience," he said. The space tourism craft itself will have room for the pilot and seven passengers.
"The ship will be unveiled late this year as the prototype and be flown for the first time around the end of next year," said Feeney.
"Our business plan is to do a limited number of flights in 2005 and determine what the costs are to us. Then we'll have a better idea (what to charge)...

"The whole point [of the X-Prize] is to open people's minds (to space travel) and to give them the realistic opportunity of being able to afford it," said Feeney, who hopes to capitalize on that market. "We've got a longer-term business plan to expand into the commercial sub-orbital business over the next 10 years. Where we're now developing the logistics to do two flights in two weeks (for the X Prize), we're going to try and do two flights every week (for the business), or at least once a week or every two weeks."

The seven-passenger rocket will launch from an aircraft thousands of feet in the air, rather than a balloon.
Feeney doesn't expect to find many passengers willing to pay the $100,000 fare but a few will help build the business by bringing in revenue. Accumulating capital will enable Feeney to lower the ticket price and attract more people until he can offer flights that are affordable and profitable.
"It's like owning an airline and flying your aircraft once a month. Your cost per seat-mile is going to be enormous until you begin to fly it every day with more passengers and more aircraft," he said. "We've got to do several flights to build that base."

He hasn't decided if the business will be based at Cape Kindersley but says he is leaning that way. Feeney hasn't made a final decision on space tourism, focusing instead on the X Prize for now. Most of the team's money has come from American sponsors and a few Canadian backers. Although businesses in this province have been asked, the response had been non-existent until recently. The team just signed three Saskatoon-based companies as sponsors: Kindersley Transport, Hinz Automation and Titan Crane.

The project [Da Vinci] is based in Toronto but has team members in Regina, Vancouver, Montreal and St. Petersburg, Russia. Those involved include rocket scientists and mission control experts from NASA.

Who was it said "History is made by men of vision"?

Infertility and The Mark of Gideon.

2004-05-26T09:38:00.000-03:00

In Star Trek the Original Series, there was an episode entitled "The Mark of Gideon" where a planet was threatened with extinction because of overpopulation. Could this be the fate of the Earth? It is a complex question, but one of the factors in that equation is fertility rates. In news calculated to make my male audience reflexively cross their legs, the 18th World Congress on Fertility and Sterility, IFFS 2004, which convenes this week in Montreal is including in it's focus male infertility.

"Over the past 50 years, sperm counts have been declining in humans, in animals, even fish," [Serge Belisle, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal] said. "It's a reality we have difficulty grasping because it's a new reality for us. Now, 50 per cent of the problem is male. (But) we know more about the biological prerequisites of conception from the female standpoint than the male."

The drop in male potency is believed to be related to environmental toxins and drugs in the drinking water that are responsible for the "feminization" seen in animals and fish. While environmental toxins adversely affect sperm production, lifestyle habits can have an effect, too.

"Tobacco is a major killer for sperm," Belisle noted.

Other factors include sexually transmitted diseases and delaying childbirth to later years. The quality of human eggs and sperm declines with age. In Canada, one couple in five between the ages of 22 and 40 will have difficulty conceiving. For those older than 40, the difficulty jumps to one in every two.

This is one reason why concerns about the overpopulation of the planet are not a cut-and-dried equation.

In my opinion the quantity of the Earths population is not going to be a real issue in this century - The quality of our lives will. Poverty, malnutrition, disease ... we have enough Horsemen of the Apocalypse waiting in the wings already.

Canada rises above the USA

2004-05-23T11:25:00.000-03:00

More Plate Techtonics a little closer to home this time ...

The United States is slowly sinking, and Canada is on the rise – all thanks to a glacier that melted over 12,000 years ago. Scientists have discovered that the melting of North American glacial sheets is still shifting the makeup of the land. For one thing, the shift is causing Canada's Great Lakes to slip slowly southward. Chicago, for example, is sinking at a rate of 1 millimetre a year. At current rates, Chicago's Sears Tower will be below water in approximately 462,686 years.

This is according to Seth Stein, a Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) geological science professor who helped organize the new study. According to Stein, "Over 20,000 years ago the glacial sheets created depressions and other natural features in the North American landscape, including the Great Lakes. When the ice began to melt – a process that began 12,000 years ago – the land slowly began to “rebound” and return to its original shape.

"Rebound"? OK, the earths crust is elastic, but surely it still needs a force? Perhaps upward thrust from the core or (more likely, IMO) the lightening of the load on the Canadian crust with the retreat of the ice & glacier coverage?

Professor Richard Peltier, a physics professor at University of Toronto and leading expert in field ... said he had been predicting the shifting elevation patterns for years and was happy they had finally been confirmed.

Queen's University's part in underwater volcano discovery

2004-05-23T10:35:00.000-03:00

Sometimes one door will open when another closes. A US National Science Foundation expedition to investigate why the massive Larsen B ice sheet collapsed and broke up several years ago has made an unexpected discovery.

Queen’s geographer Robert Gilbert, the only Canadian researcher on this project led by Eugene Domack from Hamilton College in New York State, says that severe sea ice conditions prevented reaching the primary sites at Larsen Ice Shelf, so the researchers diverted to the sea mount where conditions were more favourable, to assess whether an anomaly recorded on the sea floor during a 2001 expedition was indeed a volcano.

...The volcano, which has yet to be named, is unusual in that it exists on the continental shelf, in the vicinity of a deep trough carved out by glaciers passing across the seafloor. Dr. Gilbert ... says the volcano may partially or completely post-date the last glaciation making it a relatively recent phenomenon, perhaps less than several tens of thousands of years old.

More Entangled Quantums

2004-05-18T20:06:00.000-03:00

Seems everyone is into Quantum entanglement these days =) This is from ScienceDaily...

University of Toronto physicists have developed a way to entangle photons which could ultimately lead to an extremely precise new measurement system.

Their findings could ultimately prove useful in developing ways to measure gravitational waves or the energy structure of atoms, and could also help in the development of "quantum computers." (Quantum computers work according to the principles of quantum mechanics, which describes atoms, photons, and other microscopic objects.)

Previous studies have theorized that quantum computers using entangled photons could perform calculations far more quickly than current computers. "We know that today's computers are approaching limits of size and speed," says lead author and post-doctoral fellow Morgan Mitchell. "Quantum computing offers a possible way to move beyond that. Our research borrows some tricks from quantum computing and applies them to precision measurement."

Hmmm ... Would the experimental rig they have the Photons run around on be a Holodeck? ... and if you thought that was so bad a joke you had to say something, you'll notice I now have a comments facility for feedback.

Transporter or Replicator?

2004-05-17T05:36:00.000-03:00

In what is billed as a true multinational effort, a collaboration between the University of Calgary, and the Australian National University (ANU) Quantum Optics Group have scored a new world first for the rarefied field of quantum physics by teleporting a laser to three recipients. This follows the major breakthrough two years ago when members of the Australian National University (ANU) Quantum Optics Group demonstrated teleportation of a laser beam between two points.

However the information is only recoverable if any two of the recipients collaborate, in what's called quantum secret sharing. Group leader Dr Ping Koy Lam said it would be expected that each of three recipients would gain one third of the information. But in quantum physics, that's not what happens. Rather, each has nothing. But by combining their efforts - in this case their laser beams - any two can recover all the information.

"That's the magic of it," he said. "If any two get together, you get back 100 per cent of the information."

Hmmm ...Does this mean that if I feed McCoy into one end I can get 100% of him from two stations? =) Just joking! This only works with Lasers and it is not expected to be able to be used for solid objects.

Da Vinci and Cape Kindersley in Saskatchewan

2004-05-15T21:21:00.000-03:00

SCOTT SIMMIE of the Toronto Star has done an excellent feature on the effect that the Da Vinci X-Prize attempt will have on Kindersley — a town whose fortunes have ebbed and flowed with the oil that's pumped from beneath the parched land of southwestern Saskatchewan ... [it is] potentially unbelievably lucrative. A bare minimum of 5,000 space visitors are expected (about 100 more than Kindersley's population). Then there are the hordes of media, the X Prize officials and sponsors (numbering 1,000), plus Brian Feeney's entourage.

"Just between myself, my friends and my family it'll be quite a platoon," laughed Feeney during a recent interview in Toronto. In total, the invasion could reach 50,000, perhaps even more.

"It's huge. Really huge," says Brenda Burton, development officer with the Regional Economic Development Authority. ... The town has only 300 hotel rooms and a handful of restaurants. "Nowhere near what you'd need to feed that many people. So it's a big undertaking,"

What is even more enlightening is further down the page ...

Feeney knows people are waiting. But it is, after all, a high-stakes race. As much as he'd like to, he just can't give anything away. There are others after this prize, too, including American aviation ace Burt Rutan (considered by some to be the front-runner).

"I can appreciate that everyone wants to know. I'd love to tell them," said Feeney, who does have a date scheduled. But he won't even confirm if, as local rumour has it, the launch will take place `in a month that starts with J.'"

"We want to beat Mr. Rutan," said Feeney. "If we come out with a date any sooner than we absolutely have to, it's like: `Here's our date, come and beat us.'"

As I suspected Feeney is on the final approach in stealth mode - I'll lay any odds you like he does have a launch permit in his pocket!

A Cyborg in New Brunswick?

2004-05-12T06:19:00.000-03:00

HALIFAX
-- With his new space-age arm, nine-year-old cancer patient Nicholas McConnell-Kinney is the ultimate "bionic" boy. The New Brunswick child underwent four hours of surgery Friday in a ground-breaking operation that replaced 15.5 centimetres of cancerous bone in his upper arm bone with a spring-loaded titanium and plastic rod that will grow as he grows.

The operation has been performed about 20 times in the United States. But Friday's surgery at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax was a medical first for Canada.

Good luck with your recuperation, Nicholas. Just think of all the arm wrestling you'll win - "Resistance is Futile!"
=)

How close is Da Vinci?

2004-05-12T06:18:00.000-03:00

Once again we have the media saying that Da Vinci have a launch Licence. This time it is the BBC

Other teams are also poised on the verge of a serious launch attempt. In particular, the Canadian Da Vinci team, which uses a balloon to help its craft reach altitude, is said to be making substantial progress ... The Da Vinci team has already obtained a launch licence in Canada.

Just how close is Da Vinci? is Brian Feeney playing his cards close to his chest?

Canadian Arrow announces test launch plans

2004-05-12T06:10:00.000-03:00

The Canadian Arrow team is making plans - first reported in the London Free Press for the first test flights of its rocket this summer.

"We're planning unmanned flights over a four-month period, beginning in August," said Geoff Sheerin, Arrow team leader.

The Arrow team is completing arrangements for tests at an Ontario location, he said ... The tests will include high-altitude flights, trials of a launch pad abort system, separation of the nose cone from the crew cabin, deployment of parachutes for recovery of the nose cone and crew cabin, and evaluation of aerodynamics to ensure the craft can maintain a correct flight path and altitude.

Arrow uses a splashdown recovery system, so the nose cone and cabin crew may have to be dropped in warmer waters off the eastern coast of the U.S. if the manned flight occurs in cold weather, Sheerin said.

"I'm sure Canadians would understand if we have to do that to beat the deadline and win the race," he said.

That last sentence sounds awfully like Sheerin saying that if he doesn't get the support he needs he will take the project elsewhere - remember he has to look for new premises anyway.

Canada moves to protect world fish stocks

2004-05-08T21:41:00.000-03:00

last week the Fisheries Minister was reported as saying that there will be a small cod fishery this spring in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where a year ago his predecessor expressed doubt a commercial harvest would reopen in his lifetime. Newfoundland and Quebec fishermen will be allowed to land 6,500 tonnes of cod in the northern and southern sections of the gulf ... A moratorium is still in place for northern cod.

He followed this later in the week with an announcment of expanded Canadian patrols to "police" the moratorium on dwindling fish stocks on the Grand Banks off the Newfoundland and Labrador coast.

"It is our hope that harassing these international, modern-day pirates on the sea with further boardings and inspections.. will help to keep them away." In the past, European fishing nations have ignored quotas set by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO). The quotas are set because of concerns over low stock levels. Canada hasn't arrested those on board the boats. It doesn't have the jurisdiction outside of a 320-km fishing limit. However, new rules give Canada the right to seize vessels outside that zone if it suspects illegal activity."

Although it has been suggested that these moves have a political motivation there should be no doubt that the dangers of commercial extinction of fish stocks are very real and scientifically verified. Take for example Last years study that showed that 90 percent of all large fishes have disappeared from the world's oceans in the past half century. Or look back to the furore in Europe over the EU's attempts to regulate the fishing inustry in 2002.

Unfortunately in any discussion of issues such as this where the solution to environmental concerns involves a threat to peoples livelihoods, it is very hard to remain unemotional. On the one hand we have radical "Greenies" [no denigration intended] who believe vehemently in the protection of the environment and on the other Trade Associations that see conservation as the commercial destruction of their industry. Any answer needs to take into consideration the concerns of both sides as is suggested by the recent call for the creation of an ocean policy trust fund to funnel billions in oil and gas revenue toward state and federal environmental programs, ocean education, science and exploration.

Shakespeare under the microscope

2004-05-07T23:15:00.000-03:00

This isn't new, but I saw a recent review of a book by Stephanie Nolen - "Shakespeare's Face" which is an in depth study of a portrait of William Shakespeare purported to have been done by John Sanders and had been kept in the Sanders family ever since, coming with them when they emigrated to Canada. When it had been originally appraised by A.M. Spielmann, a London expert on Shakespearean iconography, in 1909 he had dismissed it as a 17th century fake.

Modern scientific techniques and a reapraisal by other experts have left the door open to conjecture. It is now the centre of controversy - is this the face of genius? I doubt if there will ever be a definitive answer, but I know that I would like it to be genuine!

The Canadian Arrow Road Show!

2004-05-02T10:40:00.000-03:00

In the same X Prize newsletter (April 2004) we got the latest on Canadian Arrow ...

In coordination with the X PRIZE Presenting Sponsor, Champ Car World Series, X PRIZE participated in the Champ Car Long Beach Grand Prix. An estimated 75,000 viewers had a chance to appreciate the size and design features of the 54' long Canadian Arrow full-scale mockup as it was on display in Long Beach last weekend during Champ Car's Grand Prix Race event. Race-goers and exhibitors alike were both inquisitive and complimentary of the X PRIZE/ Canadian Arrow presentation, and volunteers from both the Team and the XP Foundation were on hand to answer questions and promote the X PRIZE Space Race.
Lori Sheerin and Lou van Amelsvoort, of Canadian Arrow, drove over 3000km with their rocket ship in tow, generating comments and gawks along the way. US Customs good-naturedly insisted on processing the rocket through their "WMD Screening" upon crossing the US border. The Canadian Arrow later turned heads parading up and down the "Strip" in Las Vegas, after which they were shown on one of the local morning TV shows.

I particularly liked the photo at the bottom of the page that showed the Canadian Arrow mock-up parked in front of a petrol bowser. Just imagine the driveway attendants expression if you asked him to check the oil and water as well!

After successfully testing its 57,000-pound thrust engine, the Canadian Arrow team is now developing the equipment needed for landing its X PRIZE vehicle. "We are now working on our recovery equipment since the main engine is finished and operating," said team leader Geoff Sheerin to journalist Leonard David of Space.com. "We just performed some successful drop tests of the crew cabin to measure water impact deceleration."

Elsewhere on the Web I note from the Brampton Guardian that Canadian Arrow, ...will be on display tomorrow, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at St. Marguerite d'Youville church on Sandalwood Parkway E.
Hmmm .. Brampton ... why does that ring a bell?

Dave - have you thought of inviting Arrow to one of your charity events? =)

da Vinci close but ...

2004-05-02T10:25:00.000-03:00

In the latest X Prize Newsletter - available from the subscription link on the X prize home page - they expanded on the situation as regards the da Vinci Launch licence ...

Brian Feeney, of the da Vinci Project, indicated that his X PRIZE Team's launch license under the Canadian CLSO, their AST-equivalent governmental launch office, is anticipated soon. da Vinci has completed its required application process and is well into the task of coordinating ground and air operations for their launches at Kindersley, the Saskatchewan site chosen for Canada's first manned space launch.

So last weeks quote was a slip of the tongue! ... but they're not far off! They go on to say ...

The Canadian da Vinci Project is pressing forward with the building and testing of its X PRIZE entry "Wild Fire MK VI" vehicle. Recent activities include sub-assembly installations inside the capsule. The project's flight simulator became operational about six months ago, and da Vinci is in the process of adding refinements to the trendicators that will aid in determining role, pitch and yaw rates, as well as to the pilot's flat screen display.

The Global Star satellite network is being used on the Wild Fire vehicle as the primary tracking data and audio link to the spacecraft and balloon. The tracking data shows up on a moving map display based on precise airborne GPS and INS equipment. Mission control receives the primary feed from the network's hub while mobile satellite receivers used by ground recovery teams have a direct tie into portable PC's. The result is real-time tracking in remote locations, ensuring that the recovery teams are directed to the spacecraft hardware as soon as it lands. Global Star satellite transmitters and receivers are undergoing system bench testing at the da Vinci facility in Toronto prior to installation in the spacecraft.

Canadan Arrow moving house

2004-04-30T01:49:00.000-03:00

In other news on the Canadian entrants to the X-Prize, The Canadian Arrow Space Centre on Fanshawe Park Road East is looking for a new home. Their current facilities are being taken over by another London business success story, Hudson Boat Works, one of the world's top three racing-boat makers.

Arrow may end up moving out of London altogether.

"Everything is up in the air," said Geoff Sheerin, team leader of Canadian Arrow. "I need to find a new location and I may need to move out of London," he said. "I'm not sure the money we need to propel this project is in this community. So, just from a financial perspective, we may have to move."

Canadian Arrow has been offered financial incentives to move. Windsor and Sarnia have expressed interest .. the big prize for Arrow and London isn't the contest but a new industry -- space tourism. Sheerin said a study by a Texas consulting firm estimated an established space tourism industry would generate about $95 million US in business each year and upward of 650 local jobs. Globally, it's estimated space tourism will eventually become a multi-billion industry as the world's wealthy elite look for ways to have fun. And that's an industry the city doesn't want to lose, says Steve Glickman, director of business growth and retention for the London Economic Development Corp.

...The Canadian Arrow team successfully tested its 25,900-kilogram thrust engine for its rocket last month Canadian Arrow Engine Test is a Go!. It's expected to launch an unmanned flight off a barge in Lake Huron in the next few months, followed by a manned flight later in the year. The uncertainty of where the company will locate has delayed the space centre's plans to train astronauts. But work on the X Prize project continues. Sheerin said he remains confident the Arrow can meet the Jan. 1 deadline for the prize.

Slip of the tongue?

2004-04-30T01:34:00.000-03:00

Peter Diamandis, chairman of the international X Prize competition http://www.xprize.org/ is reported on Space.com as saying "“We do expect the X Prize to be captured within three to five months,” ...

So far, the leader appears to be SpaceShipOne, an entry led by aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and his company Scaled Composites. With a launch license already in hand, and several test flights under his belt, Rutan appears poised to snag the X Prize. But Diamandis added that other teams are also well on their way, including the Canadian Da Vinci team headed by Brian Feeney, which has secured a launch license in Canada.

Da Vinci have got a Launch licence? Back up a bit, fella, is that a slip of the tongue or what? The only two private organisations that I have heard of that have been issued Licences are SpaceShipOne and XCor (who are not connected with the X-Prize) Is the Da Vinci team more advanced in their bid for space than we have been led to believe?

Scientific Reporting in Journalism

2004-04-27T19:04:00.000-03:00

I commented in a recent post to SFI-Canada that a report on Global Warming in Canada should be perhaps be taken with a grain of salt because it was journalism.

Research from the University of Alberta would seem to suggest otherwise. They found that only 11 per cent of newspaper articles based on studies in top-flight scientific journals contained "moderate to highly exaggerated claims." Another 26 per cent contained "slightly exaggerated" claims. And, even when those excesses occurred, the researchers found, journalists were not necessarily the source of the problem. Rather, scientists and the scientific journals that published research routinely hype their findings, and reporters make the mistake of parroting them..

The difference between popular journalism and scientific reporting is that it is one of the tenets of science in print - "Thou shalt always document thy sources!" The power of the news media to shape public opinion is self-evident and they should be accountable for their content. I always look for the tell-tale signs - has the author added his byline? Has he given his sources?

The oldest evidence of human impact on the marine environment?

2004-04-27T10:50:00.000-03:00

John Smol of Queen's University in Ontario & Marianne Douglas from the University of Toronto have found that lakes near abandoned Thule whaling sites are often loaded with nutrients and contain many types of diatoms that are different from those found in other lakes.
Take for example the Thule people who abandoned Somerset Island about 400 years ago, probably due to a decline in bowhead whales. James Savelle of McGill University, the archaeologist on the team, estimated that the Thule people used up to 60 percent of each whale carcass."They used bones (for rafters and wall supports), blubber for heat and the meat as food," Smol said. "They were an ecologically efficient people."
Efficient certainly, but they still made an impact on their environment by the waste products they left behind. This must though be put into context: we are talking about microscopic evidence of their impact here, not the destruction of forests and waterways. If modern man can say that they have as little effect on the environment as the Thule people we can truly say we have walked softly.

Sick Kids

2004-04-27T10:03:00.000-03:00

One thing I'll be doing is to draw attention to the work of organisations, companies and institutions in Canada in general but the South East in particular. Take for example The Hospital for Sick Children, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto, whose work was recently reported in the April 23, 2004 issue of the journal Science. In conjunction with the Yale University School of Medicine they have found that a compound in the spice turmeric corrects the cystic fibrosis defect in mice.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease that affects approximately 30,000 Americans (70,000 worldwide) and causes the body to produce an abnormally thick, sticky mucus that accumulates in the lungs and digestive system. People with CF have difficulty absorbing nutrients from food and develop recurrent lung infections. These lung infections and the subsequent pulmonary damage are often fatal. The median age of survival for people with CF is in the early thirties...
The Hospital for Sick Children... is Canada's most research-intensive hospital and the largest centre dedicated to improving children's health in the country. Its mission is to provide the best in family-centred, compassionate care, to lead in scientific and clinical advancement, and to prepare the next generation of leaders in child health.

Welcome

2004-04-27T09:28:00.000-03:00

Welcome to Sci Station R14, the Science Officers Log of the USS Magellan, a Star Trek Fan Club centred on Quebec and the Canadian Maritime Provinces. My name's Alan but I also answer to the name Kirok of L'Stok - Okay, so I'm a Trekkie: so sue me! Better still we'll settle it with Bat'leths at dawn!

I like science in my fiction and a little fun in my science. I'll be giving you links to breaking science related news stories along with a bit of comment. Needless to say, this is my personal Log and any comments do not reflect those held by the USS Magellan or Starfleet International.