News and Commentary on Space
A potential booster concept not likely to win approval any time soon.
Update: More here.
This project has the makings of a great alternative-history tale. What if it had been built and flown, and had gone off-course over L.A. as feared?
Some bizarre comments on Mars life from Arthur C. Clarke:
Mars has a case of the munchies. That is, the red planet is spotted with vegetation with some sort of life feasting on the foliage. So says Arthur Clarke, the noted sci-fi writer and space visionary, making the claim during a recent conference on the space elevator.
Clarke was keynote speaker at the 2nd annual international conference on the space elevator, held in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sir Arthur beamed into the gathering by satellite link on September 13.
When asked what destination he’d like to travel to via the space elevator, Clarke said he was “ready and willing” to journey over to the red planet.
“Mars is the obvious place,” Clarke said. “I’m now quite convinced that Mars is infested with life. Mars orbiter photographs show huge areas of vegetation. I don’t think there’s any doubt anymore on that. And where there’s vegetation, they’ll be something nibbling on it,” he said.
Unfortunately, this snippet came without attribution, so I can’t confirm that he actually said this nor establish the context in which the remarks were made. Does anyone else have information on this?
[via Robby Gaines' "Spotlight on Space" newsletter]
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A young girl sets out to prove herself by resolving a long-forgotten mystery. But when she gets close to the truth, what she thought was a harmless adventure becomes a threat to the future of the independent commercial settlements on Mars.
