November 2002

The last Roundabout of 2002 swings by, and the Earth has completed another year in its orbit without bumping into anything substantial during the trip. Great, our no-claims planetary insurance is still intact. The good news is that this state of affairs turns out to be slightly less precarious than previously thought. The old figure was that a lump of rock capable of natural disaster-type events would hit us every 200-300 years, but that just got re-estimated to around 1,000 years. Why? Because of some declassified American military information from what was a top-secret satellite.

The US sent up a series of satellites over a decade ago to see who was testing nuclear weapons. I mean, they couldn't let just anyone become a powerful nation, could they? So they improved their computer simulation technology to the point where it was no longer necessary to test actual weapons, and supported a world-wide ban for anyone else who wanted to test them. To ensure nobody “cheated”, they used satellites to look out for anything bright and going “Bang!” They must've been very confused when the first few months of data showed several bangs, each the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. But they kept really quiet about it...

Anyway, the more accurate count of stray bits of rock has led to the revised figure. Personally, I don't see that anything has changed – it still takes us weeks to search the whole sky just once for that kind of size of rock, and it's still just as likely to hit this week as next. Whether anything would be said or not if a rock was spotted is debatable, but there's not a lot we can do about it at this point.

Canadian Arrow

So here we are, sat on this nice, intact planet and starting to be able to see pleasant amounts of stars in the sky when we look up instead of cloud and water droplets. At least, that's if you're one of those reading this in the right hemisphere – the one with Laingholm in it. In one or two parts, you get to see rockets flying up and falling down. Occasionally these contain very concerned-looking people. The number of both is set to rise, as we approach the time when X-Prize contenders are starting to get their act together. A Canadian bunch are taking the simple and concise approach to claiming the trophy for getting people into space twice in a fortnight. They're reproducing the German V2 rocket (seen in the top right), equipping the pointy end with niceties like seats, ejection rockets and a parachute, and plan to fire off willing victims. The back-end floats down on its own parachute, and the whole thing is recycled within 2 weeks for the next flight so the Canadian Arrow team can claim the X-Prize.

The original German V2's, as some may recall, delivered a very unhealthy tonne of explosive each; the lower part of the previous V2 image shows the end result. They ran off oxygen and alcohol, as did many of the operators, and were quite reliable. But with even the most rabid yahoo on the top, it appears we now have this necessity to insist on safety devices. So to rescue the passengers in the event of the rocket creating a spacesuit-soiling emergency on the launchpad, several large JATO rockets normally used to make heavy planes take off short runways are ignited under the capsule. The whole pointy bit comes off the top and files away to safety, so long as the parachute is undamaged. I Hope it's well protected.

Should the occupants be lucky enough to take off without incident, the JATO rockets are fired when the main engine runs out of fuel and the back end falls off (Zis vas not in zer original plans!). These scary, big, firework-type rockets take the passengers up and over the magical 100km boundary at which one suddenly becomes an astronaut. Through all this, I cannot help but remember a curious fact about the V2: It was filled with a very low-powered explosive. Why? Because otherwise they warmed up on re-entry so much that they kept blowing up prematurely. Hope they've got a good heat shields.

Chinese Whispers

At the time of going to press, it looks like the Chinese are going to send up another Shenzou rocket on New Year's Day 2003. Like its three predecessors it is not going to be manned, and very little else is known about it. The date for a manned launch has still not been set, and judging from the orbits used by previous vessels, it does not look like they're planning a rendezvous with the ISS.

Trust The ISS

The International Space Station celebrated two years of continuous human habitation on the 2^nd November this year. The shuttle – as is becoming normal – suffered several fits and starts before finally taking off with the birthday present. First, an oxygen leak canceled the countdown. Then, they broke the shuttle's arm while looking for the leak. Finally, the panel-beaters did their whatever, and the shuttle Endeavour nudged its way skywards.

The birthday-come-Xmas present is the P1 Truss, circled in the image on the left; 'P' is for portside. Darn! The picture I use alongside ISS articles (the one in the top right) is out of date! Oh well.

The starboard S1 Truss has already been delivered and stored; this shuttle crew will have to fit not only the new truss, but the one brought up last time. Once fitted, they'll hold up the radiators that help get rid of the station's waste heat. This heat is generated from the equipment they're running off the solar panels. Just as an aside, I should point out that the trusses will also be holding four new massive solar panels when completed. I guess they'll need more radiators...

So spare a thought though for the three people this year who will celebrate Christmas looking down at the rest of us, half of whom seem to be intent on blowing up the other half. It must occur to them that these little invisible specks down there are quibbling over who owns what part of that amazing blue globe a couple of hundred km down below. Deliver one box of homegrown peace and goodwill please, Santa, and Happy New Year!

This edition is also on the web, just point your web browser to http://olliver.family.gen.nz.   vik@olliver.family.gen.nz
"In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time." - Edward P. Tryon

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