Aug 2003

For the last month or so, Mars has been hanging in the sky like a baleful red eye. Some of us have been staring back through binoculars and telescopes, perhaps rekindling childhood experiments with astronomy (hint – affordable binoculars with big front ends are way better than cheap telescopes). The boffins are also looking longingly at Mars, as the prospect of funding a mission there drifts further and further away. America doesn't want to do it on its own – it has other far more important crusades to spend its money on. The concept of “international cooperation” seems to have gone down the dunny too, but there is still hope. A Russian group is proposing landing a nuclear reactor on Mars. This gives visitors a ready source of power and the means of manufacturing their own fuel and oxygen, making a trip cheaper – if the Russians can pull it off. Another plus is the ever-decreasing cost of technology; eventually you'll be able to essentially go there for free. Might take a wee while though.

The Brazilians though have lost more than an opportunity. In a tragic accident, the 20 metre high VLS-3 rocket that was supposed to mark Brazil's entry into space detonated spectacularly during preparations for its launch four days off. Unfortunately it claimed the lives of 21 technicians, the exact identities of the remains still unclear due to the pyrotechnic effects of four massive solid rocket boosters. The two previous rockets in 1997 and 1999 were destroyed after launch after they veered off course. As many of Brazil's top rocket scientists perished in this month's blaze, the future of Brazil's space exploration programme is now in doubt.

Better news for the Hubble Space Telescope though. As there is no current way of bringing it down, and no way of attaching a de-orbiting motor to it now that the shuttle is grounded, they've decided to leave it up there where it can do the most good. Current best guess is that it'll stay up until 2010. Not bad for an old bird.

This edition is also on the web, just point your web browser to http://olliver.family.gen.nz.   vik@olliver.family.gen.nz
"Once a bad idea reaches print, it takes on a life of its own, and even its author can seldom drive a stake through its heeart."

- Eric Drexler

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