Fantasist's Scroll

No, I’m not talking about Iraq or George W. Bush!

Thankfully, I don’t have to talk about politics on this weblog at all. But, I did find this particular article so interesting, I had to mention it. The SanFrancisco Gate on-line has an article about a fairly quiet U.S. Air Force project to make anti-matter weapons. Apparently, the U.S. Government has been studying anti-matter since the 1930’s with a bent toward military technology. At first, it may seem frightening, but it’s no worse than nuclear weapons or power, as far as I’m concerned. And, no matter your politics, any intelligent person has got to see that things developed for the military eventually find their way to the public sector, after all, look at the history of computers and the Internet.
In any case, the article goes on to talk about various applications, including, but not limited to: miniature bombs; tiny, but long lasting, engines and batteries; and electro-magnetic pulse weapons. More interesting, I think, is the neccessary advance in containment technology and the potential energy that we might tap. The potential is, quite literally, limitless. As a fan of science-fiction, I have to say that this is very, very exciting to me. Combine this with all the recent advances in private spacecraft and the future seems like an interesting place to be again. I hope it will inspire more science-fiction writers to start writing about it again!

Well, I guess it’s serious!

At least, the US Government thinks it’s enough of a possibility that they need to regulate space tourism, according to this article on CNN. That’s probably a good thing, I think. I’m all for free, open space, but a little bit of regulation for public safety is probably a good thing. Besides, how can you have a profitable industry without some government regulation to contend with?
In any case, I thought it was interesting that they’re looking into it. It’s nice that our government is forward thinking for a change, eh?

No, not the Jules Verne novel.

In this case, it’s actually someone going into the deepest cave on Earth. At least, according to this article on the Sydney Morning Herald, it’s the deepest cave known to mankind. (Based on this article over at Politiken.dk, I’d be impressed if they found something deeper!) It’s a cave in Georgia, the former Soviet block country, not the American State. And, the current expedition is going further down than anyone has before. They’re litterally miles down into the Earth where the whole ecology is different and sunlight has never penetrated. Cool. Of course, when I posted the review of Descent, it should have been apparent that I dig strange stuff like this. If the articles on the real cave intrigue you at all, get Descent. You’ll love it!

Wow, there’s been a lot of space-travel news lately.

And, that’s a good thing, I think. It means people are talking about it and doing things about it. Yesterday, I posted a story about India’s moonshot and last week I mentioned a couple of things about the X-Prize and SpaceShip One. Well, now I’ve read about Bigelow Aerospace and their work on inflatable space modules. The article is over at Spaceflight Now and is worth the read. One of the things that is mentioned is that Robert T. Bigelow, founder of Bigelow Aerospace, says that he’s planning to announce a new $50-million space launch contest called America’s Space Prize. That’s five times the size of the current X-Prize.
What I think is cool about all this is that it’s about private industry working on getting into space. It’s something we really need to do. We’re slowly choking this planet and pushing her resources to the limit, so we need to find more room to expand. And, before everyone starts sending me nasty e-mail, that will also teach us conservation and better resource management. How? A space mission has to use its very limit resources extremely carefully or everyone dies. The improvements in technology will spill over into the private, non-space, sector, just as they’ve done since the first launch.
Also mentioned on the same page as the article is a book that looks quite good: Moonrush: Improving Life On Earth With The Moon’s Resources. It certainly seems like an appropriate topic based on all these news stories. All you budding science-fiction writers better bone up on this stuff!

The Indians are making a moonshot.

No, not the American Indians! The Indian Indians! According to this article on XinhuaNet, in English, the Indian space agency is planning an unmanned moon mission, called Chandrayan. Chandrayan is expected to take place in 2007-08 if everything proceeds as planned, which it seems to be. If they do it, India will be on the cusp of being a real world power on the scale of the US, China, and Russia. As few ethnicities as we’ve seen in science-fiction, other than WASPs, that is, it’s interesting to me that the Chinese and Indians have become so space oriented lately. I really hope that writers take note of this and alter their views accordingly. One of the notable exceptions has been China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh and Chung Kuo: The Middle Kingdom, which is the first in a series by the same name, all by David Wingrove. I’d love to see more of it.

Today is Frank Herbert’s Birthday.

Of course, we haven’t had him with us since 1986, the year I graduated from high-school, but his work lives on. Mr. Herbert is primarily known for his seminal work, Dune, and the Dune books that followed. Though, interestingly enough, he never intended to write sequels.
Often refered to as the science-fiction Lord of the Rings, Dune and the books that followed detail an amazingly rich science-ficiton culture. The novels are some of the first to have detailed political and sociological sub-plots, not to mention ecological sub-plots! The way Mr. Herbert used religion in his work is quite interesting as well. In a genre that often avoids discussing religion, he explored the topic in detail and with a depth that was personally inspiring.

There hasn’t been anyone else quite like Frank Herbert and I am in awe of the ways in which he influenced the genre.

Three-dimensional books. Cool.

There’s a project afoot that makes 3-d books a reality. It’s called Black Magic. So far, they’re still in the experimental stage, but it looks good. They’ve done a story about America’s Cup in 3-d and have a “simulation” that can be downloaded to a PC. The viewer itself seems to be a set of googles or eyepieces on a handle, not unlike the Victorian stereoscopic viewer. I guess everything old is new again. In any case, it seems like an interesting technology and I’ll be watching to see where, or if, it goes.

A new age has dawned for spaceflight!

According to numerous sources, my favorite being National Geographic in this case, SpaceShipOne has won the X-Prize. What does that mean? It means that a privately built single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft has been built and successfully launched into space twice within a week. And, if you don’t understand the implecations of that, well… Well, I can’t imagine anyone who could find this blog on the web and not have some idea what that accomplishment means. Maybe I will see a mission to mars succeed in my lifetime. I might even see extraterrestrial mining. The possibilities are limitless.

Wow.